History 134 Final Review
Communes
What: a large gathering of people with similar lifestyles. When: popular in the 60s and early 70s Significance: allowed participants in the counterculture to separate themselves from suburban lifestyles of conformity while sharing their own lifestyle. Showed the severity of their disapproval of traditional life.
JFK & Peace Corps
What: 25th president of the united states, a volunteer program run by the United States government. The stated mission of the Peace Corps includes providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand American culture, and helping Americans to understand the cultures of other countries. The work is generally related to social and economic development. Each program participant, a Peace Corps Volunteer, is an American citizen, typically with a college degree, who works abroad for a period of two years after three months of training. When: created in 1961 Significance: JFK was a president who young Americans looked up to. He called them to focus on more than just the materialism they were raised on. They then became empathetic and socially motivated, feeling strongly about issues like the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement. Young citizens were called to action and they went. Sacrifice!!! Service!!!! JFKs assassination hit young people hard, it was a foreshadowing of the country's descent.
"Our American Cousin"
What: A 3 act play by English playwright John Taylor. When: Premiered in 1858, but was performed in 1865 on the night of President Lincoln's assassination. Significance: It was the play Lincoln was seeing at Ford's Theater the night of his assassination.The play is a farce whose plot is based on the introduction of an awkward, boorish, but honest American, Asa Trenchard, to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate.
Knights of Labor
What: A labor union established by Terence Powderly that welcomed all laborers whether they were women, African American, foreign born, skilled, or unskilled. When: established in 1869 Significance: The union fought for better wages, specifically an 8 hour work day. As their numbers expanded and their argument strengthened, the 1877 strikes also grew. As a result, some states passed 8 hours a day laws. Unfortunately, lawyers often flouted and timid politicians refused to enforce their legislation. Law enforcement also sided with employers when labor unrest occurred, so the union inspired others like it, but also more violence and rebellion (brutal police response, danger of outright protest/striking)
"Sic Semper Tyrannis"
What: A lyric from the song "Maryland, My Maryland", which translates to "thus always to tyrants"-a jab at and rebellion against the Union Army. When: Important in 1865 Significance: The line that John Wilkes Booth delivers after falling from the theater balcony where he assassinated President Lincoln. The line is now famous as a sign of rebellion against the government, a statement of allegiance to the confederacy and racism.
Military Trial vs. Civilian Trial
What: A military tribunal is an inquisitorial system based on charges brought by military authorities, prosecuted by a military authority, judged by military officers, and sentenced by military officers against a member of an enemy army. A civilian trial is conducted under normal conditions, with a jury of the suspects own peers. When: important for Lincoln conspiracy trials 1865 Significance: The Lincoln assassination conspirators were tried in a Military tribunal and therefore received harsher convictions. As confederate sympathizers presented in front of a panel of Union officials, the conspirators had little chance at a fair trial. John Surratt Jr., however, was tried in a civilian court and never convicted. The plotters were not granted a jury of their peers, which resulted in several hangings, most importantly the first execution of a woman by the federal hand. Set precedent for when military tribunal's were legal-if civilian courts are up and running, they should be utilized.
The Haymarket Riot
What: A protest in Chicago's Haymarket Square was organized just days after the McCormick Plant murders to protest the events and the treatment of laborers in general. A permit for the event was administered by the Mayor of Chicago, Carter Harrison, and things went well until the police officers present at the protest decided to try and disband it because of a line seeming to incite violence against law force from Samuel "Big Red" Fielden. A riot followed the force of the law enforcement agents, and eventually a bomb was thrown that killed Mathias Degan several other officers. When: May 4, 1886 Significance: The riot and the trials that followed gave attention to the defendants' cause. More than once courtroom officials had to be reminded that the defendants were on trial for murder, not their beliefs. Even still, they were charged of conspiracy despite seriously lacking evidence-no one actually knew who threw the bomb. The Haymarket verdict-sentencing all accused to death-merited a major response that targeted the Governor of Illinois, whoe received petitions from all over the world asking clemency for the anarchists/defendants. Statues were eventually erected for both the killed police officers and the laborers involved- the police one being relocated several times as a result of vandalism. The Haymarket Riot expanded the labor movement, though later labor leaders distanced themselves from Haymarket out of fear, others credit May Day in celebration/remembrance of it. May Day was May 1st for the initial shootings, but eventually labor day (first Monday in September) was created to remove the revolutionary aspect of the labor holiday.
Weather Underground
What: A radical splinter group from Students for a Democratic Society that began at the University of Michigan When: organized in 1969 Significance: they plotted a revolutionary overthrow of the US government. With positions characterized by black power and opposition to the Vietnam War, the group conducted a campaign of bombings through the mid-1970s and took part in actions such as the jailbreak of Dr. Timothy Leary. The "Days of Rage", their first public demonstration on October 8, 1969, was a riot in Chicago timed to coincide with the trial of the Chicago Seven. In 1970 the group issued a "Declaration of a State of War" against the United States government, under the name "Weather Underground Organization". The bombing campaign targeted mostly government buildings, along with several banks. The group stated that the US government was exploiting other nations by waging war as a means of solidifying America as a greater nation. Most were preceded by evacuation warnings, along with communiqués identifying the particular matter that the attack was intended to protest. No people were killed in any of their acts of property destruction, although three members of the group were killed in the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion. Worked against the "establishment" stood for social issues, drew attention.
Surratt's Boarding House
What: After John Surratt senior died in 1862 and left debt, Mary Surratt decided to lease the lower part of their building-the tavern-to John Lloyd, then moving to a townhouse to rent it out. She converts it into a boarding house. When: 1862-65 Significance: This is the site of a lot of the Lincoln kidnapping/assassination plotting happened here. John Lloyd serves as a witness against the conspirators, and the boarding house is the most incriminating evidence against Mary Surratt. Lewis Powell gets arrested there.
Lincoln & Habeas Corpus
What: After the Pratt Street Riot, Lincoln ordered General Winfield Scott to suspend Habeas Corpus along the route between Washington and Philadelphia. When: 1861 Significance: At the outbreak of the Civil War, D.C. was largely undefended. Rioters in Baltimore threatened to disrupt the reinforcement of the capital by rail, and Congress was not in session. The military situation made it dangerous to call Congress into session so Lincoln responded how he felt necessary. This led to an increase in arrests and opposition to the Republican president, but gave the government a bit of power needed at the time.
Richard Nixon & the Silent Majority
What: After the Tet Offensive in 1968, Lyndon B Johnson's disapproval was so high that he announced he would not be running for reelection. While the democratic party scrambled to put an alternate candidate up, the Republican party offered Richard Nixon. Nixon won the presidential election by appealing to what he called "the silent majority." When: 1968 Significance: A lot was going on at the time of Nixon's election. The youth counterculture was thriving and being as riotous as ever, the war in Vietnam was dragging on, and the Chicago 7 trial was still in full swing. Nixon did not have sympathy for the Chicago 7's efforts and planned to prosecute them once in power, making use of the Civil Rights Act of 1968 which contained a poison pill in Article 1 section 8 which allowed the justice department to allege that the Chicago 8 lured protesters across state lines to Chicago under the pretense of peaceful protest, and then incite violence and police retaliation and thereby radicalizing the more moderate protesters.
Rise of Corporations
What: After the end of the civil war, the economy boomed with the return of soldiers as laborers, and America's status as the number one producer/exporter of goods. This meant that workers developed specific skills/trades that business owners ultimately profited on. Previously unimaginable wealth was now attainable. When: 1870-1890 Significance: As the owners of corporations like Rockefeller and McCormick earned more money, they felt entitled to it. They started living like the aristocracy did in England, which is what the colonists were trying to escape. They created monopolies and suffocated smaller businesses until all workers were cramped into the same spaces. This led to rough conditions, longer hours, less pay, and therefore revolts. Workers rebelled against the moneymakers, started riots and protests that often got people killed. Which led to more riots-Haymarket.
National Origins Act of 1924
What: Also called the Johnson-Reed Act, the bill restricted immigration quotas to 2% of the foreign born population from each country as recorded in the 1980s. Asian immigration was stopped entirely. Calvin Coolidge was quoted saying "America must be kept American" When: 1924 Significance: Further divided a society already well submurged in turmoil. Immigrants were often the victims of and people deeply invested in working conditions/ labor protests and this progression into prejudice against them showed an American struggle to empathize, everyone felt entitled and threatened. Further demonstration of a society of change: different views on people, religion, societal customs. Eventually eugenics was developed-the self direction of human evolution-which often profiled certain racial groups.
Kent State Shootings
What: Also called the Kent State Massacre, the shootings of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard during a mass protest against the Vietnam War at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Twenty-nine guardsmen fired approximately 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. Some of the students who were shot had been protesting the Cambodian Campaign, which President Richard Nixon announced during a television address on April 30. Other students who were shot had been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance. When: May of 1970 Significance: There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of 4 million students, and the event further affected public opinion, at an already socially contentious time, over the role of the United States in the Vietnam War.
The Butler Act
What: Also called the Tennessee Statute, law passed that banned the teaching of evolution in Tennessee schools When: March 5, 1925 Significance: The American Civil Liberties Coucil (established in 1920) ran an ad in the Chattanooga Times in May of 1925 looking for a teacher to volunteer as a test run for opposing the law passed in Tennessee. This is the legislation that sparks the Scopes Trial endeavors and more social debate over science, religion, morality, and changing times.
Civil Rights Act of 1968
What: Also called the fair housing act and the "Rap Brown Law" When: 1968 Significance: made it illegal to discriminate in housing based on race, color, religion, or national origin. Opponents of the bill slipped in a "poison pill"- the anti-riot provision. Article 1 section 8 was a regulation of commerce among several states. Allows Nixon to prosecute the Chicago 7. The justice department will allege that the chicago 8 lured protesters across state lines to Chicago under the pretense of peaceful protest, and then incite violence and police retaliation, thereby radicalizing the more moderate protesters.
First Amendment
What: Amendment to the constitution that forbids Congress from both promoting one religion over others and also restricting an individual's religious practices. It guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the press or the rights of individuals to speak freely. It also guarantees the right of citizens to assemble peaceably and to petition their government. When: written in 1789, important conceptually for the scopes trial in 1925 Significance: thought to be a good defense for the Scopes trial-Scopes was just expressing himself and congress can't establish an official religion, right? But that was exactly why the amendment was not good for the Scopes defense...congress was not creating an official religion, the state of Tennessee was. 14th amendment!!
Gitlow vs. New York
What: Another trial led by defense attorney Clarence Darrow, in which he again tried to use freedom of speech as his primary defense. Gitlow was arrested for criminal anarchy and there were limitations to the freedom of speech argument, and Gitlow was found guilty. When: june of 1925 Significance: Showed that Darrow was building a reputation, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 8, 1925, that the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment protection of free speech, which states that the federal "Congress shall make no law...abridging the freedom of speech," applied also to state governments. The decision was the first in which the Supreme Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause required state and federal governments to be held to the same standards in regulating speech. Applied to the Scopes trial as the state of Tennessee was the problem, not congress or the federal government.
Killing of Anwar al-Awlaki
What: Anwar al-Awlaki was born in New Mexico and grew up to earn a B.S. in engineering in Colorado. He eventually studied for his doctorate at G.W. Afterward, he moved to Yemen where he produced pro- al queda videos. Authorization for use of military force was passed a week after 9/11, so Anwar was killed in response to his behavior. When: 2001 Significance: This instance determined that the president has the power to authorize the killing of an american citizen if an informed high level official deems them an advocate for extremists.
1968 Democratic Convention
What: As President Lyndon B. Johnson had announced he would not seek re-election, the purpose of the convention was to select a new presidential nominee to run as the Democratic Party's candidate for the office When: 1968 Significance: It was the site of the Chicago 7 protests and riots. Drew the Yippies, the Mobe, and the Black Panthers together for a sort of cultural and political movement. Law enforcement was also a major player in the riots, inciting violence of their own. Everything was emotionally fueled, a lot of the officers had family in Vietnam so everything the protesters stood for and did enraged them.
Booth's Kidnapping Plot
What: Booth recruits 2 old friends from Baltimore school: Samuel Arnold and Michael O'Laughlen. They are members of the Knights of the Golden Circle-confederates. He plans to take advantage of Lincoln's lax security habits and kidnap the president, chloroform him, leave D.C. and head east-cross from southern Maryland to Virginia by boat. Booth needed introductions to Confederate underground in Charles county. He travels to Montreal, which is filled with confederate agents, and takes money to fund his kidnapping plot (equivalent of 25,000 today). There he also gets a note of introduction to 2 confederate sympathizers in Charles County, one of which is Samuel Mudd, who Booth asks to house the conspirators and a captured Lincoln after the plot is executed. When: Begins in fall of 1864 Significance: The plot draws in a lot of conspirators who are willing to commit a drastic act, but not murder. Booth recruits, John Surratt (therefore implicating Mary Surratt), George Atzerodt, David Herold, Lewis Powell, and a few others who are later dragged down with him when the murder plot begins. Booth decides to assassinate Lincoln after listening to the president suggest suffrage for some African Americans, but jumping from the already established kidnapping plot to murder wasn't hard for the racist actor.
Manson Family Murders
What: Charles Manson established a commune in California in the late 1960s, and drew members of the counterculture youth. The group gained national notoriety after the murder of actress Sharon Tate and four others on August 9, 1969 by Tex Watson and three other members of the Family, acting under the instructions of Charles Manson. Group members were also responsible for a number of other murders and assaults. When: August 1969 Significance: The murders were performed by members of the youth counterculture who had been taken in by Manson and convinced to kill. They were seen by many as a youth culture gone terribly awry, which spoke to the Woodstock festival which was occurring at the same time as the murders. Traditionalist whites were really panicking at the direction their children were heading. The counterculture's involvement in drug use, promiscuity, and racy music were signs to their parents of mayhem to come, and in a way, the Manson family murders confirmed those fears. Drew a lot of attention. Sparked debate.
Federal Conspiracy Laws
What: Conspiracy is a crime where 2 or more persons conspire to commit any offense against the US. There are four elements to the crime: agreement between at least 2 parties, illegal goal, knowledge of the conspiracy and willing participation, at least one conspirator participating in one overt act. When: important in Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy trials 1865 Significance: contributes to mass conviction in Lincoln conspiracy trial. Conflict over Mary Surratt's involvement in the assassination. Will later be cited in the haymarket trial.
Harlem Renaissance
What: Creative social movement that occurred as a result of the mass migration of African Americans from the south to cities in the north. Creative types like Langston Hughes, Billy Holiday, and Duke Ellington brought art, literature, poetry, and music to places like New York and DC. When: began in 1920 Significance: Creative outpouring that enticed white youth, "The Jazz Age" was a term coined by F. Scott Fitzgerald to describe the social conditions. Flappers evolved, and Al Capone and speakeasies grew as sources of art and places to celebrate indulgence: drinking, sex, progressive art. Rise in KKK activity in response to African American prominence. Created a lot of really important art that told the stories of minorities. Caused more tension between traditionalists and modernists-drove wedges between white parents and children.
Theory of Evolution
What: Darwin's scientific theory that describes the process by which organisms change over time as a result of changes in heritable physical or behavioral traits. Changes that allow an organism to better adapt to its environment will help it survive and have more offspring. Evolution by natural selection is one of the best substantiated theories in the history of science, supported by evidence from a wide variety of scientific disciplines, including paleontology, geology, genetics and developmental biology. When: first formulated in Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species" in 1859 Significance: There was major societal disagreement on whether or not Darwin's theory should be taught in schools. John T. Scopes, the defendant of the Scopes trial, was accused of teaching illegal information in his classroom because he taught out of the book "Hunter's Civic Biology," which included passages on Darwin's theory of evolution. Religious fundamentalists raged against this belief system, sparked heavy debates in society between them, scientists, and religious modernists.
The Jazz Age
What: F. Scott Fitzgerald's term for the Harlem Renaissance. A time of creativity and expression specifically for African Americans who had migrated north. They brought life and music to major cities like DC. When: began in 1920s Significance: Jazz music, the created by and often performed for blacks, was very popular among white youth, which concerned a lot of their parents/general elders. The music was too progressive, and the environments in which it was played (bars, clubs, speakeasies), were scandalous and gateways to trouble. Called social conformity into question. Increased tension between traditionalists and modernists.
Levittown
What: First american suburban community created by William Levitt. When: sales began in 1947 after WWII Significance: Americans were receiving GI bills after their service in the second world war, they could afford to buy their own houses rather than continue renting space in crowded cities. Increase in car development/sale meant that people didn't have to live so close to where they worked anymore. Served as a sort of representation of the conformity of the era-all the houses looked the same. Televisions in these houses idealized home lives that didn't really exist, family tensions, rebellions of college students.
Electrification of Cities
What: For the first time in history, virtually everyone in American cities had electricity. When: 1920s Significance: Transformed cities into a desirable place to live, for the first time more Americans lived in cities than in rural areas. They were enticing, exciting, and no longer foul. This was thanks, in part, to progressive reforms and a more efficient urban government. There were improvements in housing, sewers, parks, playgrounds, hospitals, and sanitation. Electricity also meant faster reception of news and information. Radio!! Allowed for Scopes trial to be broadcast-the first time a court case had been presented live over radio to the American people.
Speakeasies
What: Gangsters like Al Capone had private/hidden clubs where they would allow artists, musicians, youths, and questionable social characters to visit and drink illegally When: Roaring 20s up until 1933 Significance: Places that cultivated illegal behavior and enhanced the already growing divide between the traditionalist older generation and the modern and expressive youth. Also led to violence having to do with gang activity/warfare and illegal exchanges in such underground settings.
Buck vs. Bell
What: In 1924, Virginia passed a law stating that inmates in state institutions had to be sterilized before admission When: 1927 Significance: the Supreme Court ruled that a state statute permitting compulsory sterilization of the unfit, including the intellectually disabled, "for the protection and health of the state" did not violate the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The decision was largely seen as an endorsement of negative eugenics, outraged religious fundamentalists, contributed to the hatred of science that was the base of arguments against teaching evolution in schools. Lovelessness.
MLK & RFK Assassinations
What: assassinations of two major social figures following the assassination of JFK, another major figure. All three men were shot. When: 1968 Significance: sparked the plans to protest at the democratic convention in Chicago, their deaths were devastating to the counterculture and those influenced by the civil rights movement, they became angrier than before- being subjected to torment like that. Information spread quickly in times of newly advanced technology.
Illinois Accessory Law
What: In Illinois, a criminal charge of aiding and abetting or accessory can usually be brought against anyone who helps another person commit a crime. First, you must know someone else is going to commit a crime AND do something to make it succeed. When: important for Haymarket trial-1886 Significance: This law and others similarly based in conspiracy contributed to the convictions that followed the Haymarket riot. The prosecution did not even know who threw the bomb that killed Mathias Degan and his fellow officers, but they were still able to round up a group of 7 suspects and get them hanged (aside from 2 exceptions who got life in prison, and Louis Lingg who committed suicide with a bomb that was smuggled into his jail cell).
Baby Boom
What: Increase in births after the war ended and couples were reunited/ not afraid to have kids anymore When: 1945-1963 Significance: By 1960, children under 14 constituted 33% of the population-today they account for about 18%. These kids grew up to be the radicals like those of the Chicago 7 conspiracy-raised in a life of conformity they searched for and created a counter culture opposed to traditional morals, bland music, sexual purity, and the Vietnam war efforts.
Emancipation Proclamation
What: Lincoln says that the civil war is meant to save democracy, the union. He doesn't thing southern succession is a valid response to confederate candidates losing the election. But then the war becomes something else--institution of slavery becomes threatened and more bloodshed occurs. Proclamation freed slaves and rebels, and then allowed them to join the Union Army. When: January 1, 1863 Significance: 180,000 African Americans joined the Union Army. Confederate response was drastic. Jefferson Davis calls the proclamation "the most despicable measure in the entire history of guilty man". Confederates threatened officers and soldiers in African American regiments, enslavement and re-enslavement occurred, both sides stop exchanging prisoners of war, awful fighting/capture conditions.
LBJ, The Great Society & Vietnam
What: Lyndon B Johnson became president after John F Kennedy's assassination. When: began in 1963-64 Significance: Immediately Lyndon Johnson started passing legislation. He had previously been known as the king of the senate, and used his powers of persuasion to get things passed. Civil Rights Act of 1964- federal commerce powers and jim crow. Voting Rights Act of 1956-African American suffrage. War on poverty, medicare/medicaid, national endowment for the humanities, housing and urban development, clean water and air acts, endangered species acts. LBJ had reservations about Vietnam, he thought it was about more than just communism, and that it was essentially unwinnable because the US was fighting against the country it was trying to defend. College students recognized this and opposed it, also opposing LBJ despite his efforts to continue and finish JFKs work. Led to protesting and rioting like what happened with the Chicago 7
The Gilded Age
What: Mark Twain's title for the Age of Capital. Out of it came a the Habakkuk Thesis: the us had a lot of land but limited labor. This created an incentive for replacement of manual labor with machines and therefore increased invention. When: 1870-1890 Significance: Fascination with machinery and invention ensued, led to the transportation revolution which produced the Erie Canal and railroads which were accessible to everyone at the time of the Haymarket trial, Wallstreet Booms, revolution means specialized work, previously unimaginable wealth was now attainable, led to a societal divide
May Day vs. Labor Day
What: May Day was a holiday created by laborers in response to the events at Haymarket and the murders they were protesting. It was on May 1st in honor of those initial shootings at the McCormick Plant. Labor Day was later created as a replacement holiday that stood for the same things. When: May 1st (established in 1886), first Monday in September (established in 1897) Significance: The second holiday was created to stifle the revolutionary essence of May Day, taking labor issues into larger hands like society had become accustomed to doing.
The Pratt Street Riot
What: Mobs in Baltimore attack the 6th Massachusetts regiment as it headed for Washington. When: 1861 Significance: This riot resulted in Lincoln ordering General Winfield Scott to suspend Habeas Corpus between Washington and Philadelphia. Habeas Corpus meant a warrant had to be issued by a court requiring that officials produce a person being held so the court could deterine if the prisoner was being legally detained. Many felt that this was a right, and rebelled when Lincoln decided that this be suspended in cased of Rebellion and invasion. It has often been seen as a questionable decision on his part, but something he saw as necessary to protect the country in a time of turmoil.
The Mobe
What: National mobilization to the end of the war-a coalition of antiwar activists formed to organize large demonstrations in opposition to the Vietnam War When: 1967 Significance: plan to bring anti-war protesters to Chicago for demonstrations, Rennie Davis and Tom Hayden, cultural radicals, were charged in the Chicago 7 trials, raised awareness of societal issues, applied for permits for protesters, organized.
Reconstruction Era
What: Period of attempted transformation of the South after the Civil war When: 1863-1877 Significance: Union Army remained in the south, Southern states had to ratify the 13th amendment and abolish slavery, confederate leadership was disenfranchised, suffrage was allowed for some African American men.
Sherman's March
What: Sherman told President Lincoln and General Grant that he could "make Georgia howl" and proceeded to cut a swath from Atlanta to Savannah and into the Carolinas. The patch of land was 50 miles wide, 400 miles long. As he went, he tied "Sherman's Neckties"-patches of railroad tracks-around trees. When: November-December 1864 Significance: Sherman's justification for his march was that war is cruelty, you cannot refine it, cannot change hearts in the south, but you can make them hate war and stop the appeal of it. The point was to destroy the economy of the south-make it impossible for them to afford continued fighting. It crushed the will of a lot of confederates-led to desertions of soldiers who could not be replaced.
Dayton, TN
What: Small town in southern tennessee When: important during the Scopes trial of 1925 Significance: The site of the Scopes Trial, had just passed the Tennessee Statute banning the teaching of Darwin's theory of evolution in public schools. It was a small town and heavily populated by religious fundamentalists so the Scopes trial was by no means smooth sailing, the jury ended up being entirely older, white, fundamentalists that opposed everything Scopes stood for.
The Great Uprising of 1877
What: The 1870s were a time of depression in the US. Unemployment was at 25% and the 4 largest railroad companies colluded to lower workers' wages by 10%, the second major wage cut since the great depression, one of many factors that led to anger in mistreated laborers. July of 1877, those laborers decided to take action. Railroad workers walked off the job in Baltimore and West Virginia, choosing instead to block the tracks. The strike spread to 14 cities and created a general strike in St. Louis. The federal army was sent in to crush the uprisings, specifically in Pittsburgh where 200 locomotives and 2,000 rail cars burned. When: 1877 Significance: This was a major rallying point for laborers who recognized the unfair treatment that they were receiving. It acted as inspiration for future riots and protests like the one that happened in Haymarket square. The rioting also served to incite fear in the middle and upper classes, which fueled more mistreatment. It was a brutal cycle. Also, up to this point, there had been the absence of government involvement in the workforce. Workers were then interested in the thought of unionizing-organizing labor. This led to more political movements and more social groups invested in activism.
ACLU
What: The American Civil Liberties Union When: established in 1920 Significance: The organization looking for a teacher to volunteer as a test run for opposing the Tennessee Statute (the Butler act). The union formed in response to the post WWI Palmer raids and the Red Scare. It provided lawyers to defendants in key cases involving the constitution and civil liberties, eventually providing the defense team for John T. Scopes during the Scopes trial (Clarence Darrow) about teaching evolution. Their goal was not to get Scopes acquitted of his charges, but to move to a higher court and get those charges deemed unconstitutional.
Ku Klux Klan's Second Rise
What: The Ku Klux Klan formed during reconstruction, but eventually faded away when reconstruction failed. They were a national organization with 4 million members from Maine-Oregon. In Chicago alone, the KKK had 50,000 members. Their second rise came during the prohibition era, and they no longer restricted their efforts to African Americans, but extended them to Jews, Catholics, Union members, flappers, and loose women. When: Prohibition 1920s-1933 Significance: At a time of social reformation and cultural experimentation, millions banded together to defend a traditionally Christian America with traditional morals. They represented an extreme view of the growing divide between the traditionalist older generations and the modern and expressive youth. Demonstrated hate that was long from being over after the abolition of slavery-1865. Threatened by Scopes trial-teaching evolution over creationism
"The Revenge Circular"
What: The article that August Spies published and printed 2500 copies of to inform the public of the violence at the McCormick plant, the killing of 6 strikers. When: 1886 Significance: The Revenge Circular eventually became major anarchist propaganda, it was dangerous to even have the article on your person. It called laborers to arms, and that is what they eventually ended up doing. Led to the events at Haymarket-getting the word out about the McCormick massacre meant making already upset laborers furious.
"The Rap Brown Law"
What: The civil rights act of 1968 When: 1968 Significance: made it illegal to discriminate in housing based on race, color, religion, or national origin. Opponents of the bill slipped in a "poison pill"- the anti-riot provision. Article 1 section 8 was a regulation of commerce among several states. Allows Nixon to prosecute the Chicago 7. The justice department will allege that the chicago 8 lured protesters across state lines to Chicago under the pretense of peaceful protest, and then incite violence and police retaliation, thereby radicalizing the more moderate protesters. Named for Rap Brown-an activist with a reputation for hate speech and conspiring to incite violence
"Robber Barons"
What: The name not so affectionately given to big name businessmen. It insinuated that they were thieves, taking over and taking money from smaller businesses and regular people. When: Late 1800s Significance:As the owners of corporations like Rockefeller and McCormick earned more money, they felt entitled to it. They started living like the aristocracy did in England, which is what the colonists were trying to escape. They created monopolies and suffocated smaller businesses until all workers were cramped into the same spaces. This led to rough conditions, longer hours, less pay, and therefore revolts. Workers rebelled against the moneymakers, started riots and protests that often got people killed. Which led to more riots-Haymarket.
"Maryland, My Maryland"
What: The official state song of Maryland, written in 1861 by James Randall. It was used as a confederate anthem during the Civil War, calling for a fight against the Union, and referring to Lincoln as the Tyrant. When: Written in 1861, quoted by John Wilkes Booth in 1865 Significance: John Wilkes Booth quoted a line from the song: " "Sic semper tyrannis" when he fell onto the playhouse stage after assassinating Lincoln. Identifying piece of evidence, strong memory.
Nativism
What: The opposition of any further immigration into the US by Asians, Jews, Africans, and Eastern europeans. Henry Ford was known to be a vicious nativist, so like many others he believed in American/white superiority and promoted their interests over those of immigrants. When: surge in this belief set during the early 1900-20s, bringing about legislation in 1924 Significance: Led to the National Origins Act of 1924, further divided a society already well submerged in turmoil. Immigrants were often the victims of and people deeply rooted in working conditions/labor protests and this progression into prejudice against them shows an american struggle to empathize, everyone felt entitled and threatened. Intense debates over the issue ultimately leads to debates over other similar issues like religion.
Peremptory Challenges
What: The right for an attorney to challenge a juror without assigning a reason-provided in limited number. When: important for Haymarket-1866, Scopes trial-1925, Chicago 7-1969 Significance: The only reason the defendants in the Haymarket trial, Scopes trial, and Chicago 7 trials had any chance for a fair jury. Judge Joseph Easton Gray, who presided over the Haymarket proceedings denied many of the defense's challenges which resulted in an all white-collar, non immigrant jury that couldn't exactly behave as a jury of the defendants' peers. The same thing happened with the Scopes trial, in which Judge John T Raulston also denied many juror challenges made by the defense, which left a jury full of older, traditionally religious, non-scientific men to decide the fate of John T Scopes. The Chicago 7 faced the same issue when their jury ended up being composed of older, white, traditionalists, with no background in social movements or artistic expression. In all three of these cases, the defendants were convicted the first run through. All three trials were later deemed farces, and unfairly run.
Appomattox Courthouse
What: The site of the Battle of Appomattox, where General Robert E. Lee, a leading force of the confederacy, surrendered to Union leader Ulysses S. Grant and his army. When: April 9, 1865 Significance: This battle is sometimes considered the end of the civil war, it drastically changed the momentum of the confederate army. There were still 170,000 unsurrendered confederates and their president Jefferson Davis vowed to go on, but there is no question of how the confederate loss Appomattox destroyed their efforts. As promising as the Union victory was, Lincoln was not in a celebratory mood afterwards. He was concerned about legislation and what would happen after the war-ended up giving a very complex speech that hinted at giving some African Americans the right to vote. John Wilkes Booth listened to this speech and decided to alter his kidnapping plot to an assassination plot.
Vertical & Horizontal Integration
What: Vertical-when a firm gains control of every step of the production/distribution process. Horizontal: control of the market for a single product-monopoly When: Late 1800s Significance: These were the methods robber barons used to make the most of their money, everything was about control. Limited competition in industries meant limited employment opportunities-it was working in a crowded factory or not working at all. This led to poor conditions, built up anger, and ultimately rioting.
Hamdi vs. Rumsfeld
What: Yasser Hamdi was born in the US but moved to Saudi Arabia as a child. He allegedly fought with the Taliban, so his father files a Habeas corpus petition to see if his sons detainment for his acts was lawful. When: 2004 Significance: The supreme court ruled that the government has the power to detain and try enemy combatants, even if they are technically US citizens, but they must also receive due process and have the ability to challenge their combatant status before some form of impartial authority.
Haymarket Statue
What: Years after the Haymarket riot and deaths, a statue was erected in honor of the fallen police officers. When: 1890s Significance: The statue was put through all sorts of relocation and reconstruction because of vandalism and destruction that anarchists and labor sympathizers forced on it. More riots and protests broke out around the statue because emotions and loyalties were so high/strong. Eventually another statue was erected to honor the laborers. The whole statue situation was a demonstration of how tense things were in the states regarding this issue of working conditions and the protests it spurred.
"Inherit the Wind"
What: a 1960 Hollywood film adaptation of the 1955 play of the same name (based in fear that came from the Cold War), written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, directed by Stanley Kramer. When: produced in 1960 Significance: retold the story of "the monkey trial," simplified the story to a plot of flat eathers/creationists against scientists. Did a good job of recreating the societal tension that existed at the time, showed the levels of intolerance and frustration, hinted at themes of moderation
Epperson vs. Arkansas
What: a United States Supreme Court case that invalidated an Arkansas statute that prohibited the teaching of human evolution in the public schools. When: 1968 Significance: The Court held that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits a state from requiring, in the words of the majority opinion, "that teaching and learning must be tailored to the principles or prohibitions of any religious sect or dogma." The Supreme Court declared the Arkansas statute unconstitutional because it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. After this decision, some jurisdictions passed laws that required the teaching of creation science alongside evolution when evolution was taught. These were also ruled unconstitutional by the Court in the 1987 case Edwards v. Aguillard.
Ex Parte Vallandingham
What: a United States Supreme Court case, involving a former congressman Clement Vallandigham of Ohio, who had violated an Army order against the public expression of sympathy for the Confederate States and their cause. Vallandigham was tried before a military tribunal by Major General Ambrose E. Burnside for treason after he delivered an incendiary speech at Mount Vernon; he then appealed the tribunal's verdict to the Supreme Court, arguing that he as a civilian could not be tried before a military tribunal. When: 1864 Significance: The Supreme Court avoided ruling on the question by instead unanimously holding that they could not take appeals from military tribunals at all. This ruling also came before ex parte milligan and the Lincoln conspiracy trials, so it also maintained a precedent that established the constitutionality of their trial by military tribunal. Happened very closely to the events of the assassination and was therefore on the minds of many officials, justified their ultimate decision to treat the Lincoln conspirators the way they did.
Hunter's Civic Biology:
What: a biology textbook written by George William Hunter, published in 1914. It is the book which the state of Tennessee required high school teachers to use in 1925 and is best known for its section about evolution that was ruled by a local court to be in violation of the state Butler Act. When: importance for the Scopes trial of 1925 Significance: This was the textbook John T Scopes was teaching from in Dayton tennesee, it was the most incriminating evidence against him, as all that needed to be proved to convict was that he taught evolution, and Scopes admitted to teaching from the book even though it contained passages on Darwin's theory.
The New Left
What: a broad political movement consisting of activists, educators, and others in the Western world who campaigned for social change and for a broad range of reforms on issues such as civil rights, gay rights, abortion, gender roles, and drugs, in contrast to earlier leftist or Marxist movements that had taken a more vanguardist approach to social justice and focused mostly on labor unionization and questions of social class. When: 1960s-1970s Significance: Challenged "the establishment", tackled social issues listed above, rejected respectable norms in clothing, language, sexual behavior, and drug use. Helped to introduce the birth control pill. Protests, riots like the Chicago 7 conspiracy/events.
The Counterculture
What: a counterculture developed in response to the age of materialism and conformity. College age students rejected respectable norms in clothing, language, sexual behavior, and drug use. When: 60s Significance: this change in cultural/societal behavior brought about the birth control control pill (1960) which allowed for the promiscuity the youth pursued. They lived in communes and separated themselves from the society they hated, organized events like the summer of love and institutions like the mobe, yippies etc., to protest the Vietnam war and civil rights issues. Drew a lot of attention to their causes.
Woodstock
What: a major music festival in the United States. Scheduled for August 15-17 on a dairy farm in the Catskill Mountains of southern New York State, northwest of New York City, it ran over to Monday, August 18. When: August 1969 Significance: The festival drew over 400,000 young people. It was a major symbol of their counter culture: one space full of people with similar lifestyles (like a commune) one place for people to dress how they wanted, act how they wanted, drink/smoke what they wanted, listen to whatever kind of music/expression they wanted. Gatherings like these horrified traditionalist whites. The same summer their children were celebrating at Woodstock, the Mason Family Murders were being committed. They were seen by many as a youth culture gone terribly awry-Woodstock was supposedly playing a part in that.
Port Huron Statement
What: a political manifesto of the North American student activist movement Students for a Democratic Society. It was written primarily by Tom Hayden, a University of Michigan student and then the Field Secretary of SDS, with help from 58 other SDS members, and completed on June 15, 1962, at a United Auto Workers retreat in Port Huron, Michigan (now Lakeport State Park), for the group's first national convention. A call for participatory democracy. When: 1962 Significance: SDS helps to lead anti-war movement on campuses and by 1964 had rounded up 7 million students. They contributed to the rise of the "new left" which was different from the "old left". It challenged the "establishment" and tackled issues like alienation, women's rights, anti-war, anti-materialism, and civil rights. Played a major role in the rise of the youth counterculture.
Black Panthers
What: a revolutionary socialist organization founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. When: October 1966 Significance: They were a party that advocated for self defense of blacks against law enforcement. They encouraged black power, economic empowerment, honest education in terms of American history, exemptions for black men from military service, and serve to remind the yippies that their "summer of love" was a summer of riots and anger in Detroit. Bobby Seale went to the democratic convention in Chicago to speak, and ended up being tried with the Chicago 7. He was the Chicao 8th member who was later dropped.
"Father Knows Best"
What: a sitcom centered around the home life of a "typical" 50s domestic family When: ran on network television from 1954-1963 Significance: idealized the 50s style of living, brings nostalgia now because the show ignores major social tensions/reforms/racism. Demonstrates how the US glazes over the darker bits of the 50s (vietnam). While the Vietnam war was consistently televised, so were many shows like this one which focused on an ideal family that didn't exactly reflect real life, contrast to actual tensions of traditional parents and radicalized children. Perhaps spoke to the "silent majority" as Nixon called those less extreme
Summer of Love
What: a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people sporting hippie fashions of dress and behavior, converged in San Francisco's neighborhood of Haight-Ashbury. Although hippies also gathered in many other places in the U.S., Canada and Europe, San Francisco was at that time the most publicized location for hippie subculture. When: 1967 Significance: Hippies, sometimes called flower children, were an eclectic group. Many were suspicious of the government, rejected consumerist values, and generally opposed the Vietnam War. A few were interested in politics; others were concerned more with art (music, painting, poetry in particular) or spiritual and meditative practices. Showed the unity of this group that separated themselves from everyone else, demonstrated their ability to organize, messy combination of people.
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
What: a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main representations of the New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly Tom Hayden founded it with 35 other students. When: 1960-1969 Significance: Lead anti-war movements on campuses. Challenged "the establishment" and tackled issues like alienation, women's rights, anti-war, anti-materialism, and civil rights. Contributed to the rise of youth counterculture.
Anarchists
What: a term originating from the Greek word "anarkhos," meaning "without ruler." Anarchists often referred to their belief system as "the idea"-the idea to abolish the government and their restrictions, and start from scratch. They believed that government systems are never for the people and felt that if those systems were to be abolished, men would be free and return to a system of peace and order. Religion, police, elected officials, rulers, and laws all kept people down. Called themselves "social revolutionaries," and ultimately came to the conclusion that violence was the only answer to their problems. When: Prominent in the 60s-80s with the labor movement. Significance: In Chicago, anarchists established a workingmen's militia. There was also the creation of the "International Working People's Association" (1883) in which members were pledged to revolutionary change by any means necessary. Anarchists advocated for violence, often through use of bombs. Many participated in labor unions, but those unions were majority regular workers who just wanted better conditions. Anarchists and anarchism were at the center of both the Haymarket trial and the Sacco and Vanzetti trial.
Fourteenth Amendment
What: amendment to the US constitution during reconstruction, most famous for the ways in which it addresses the rights of citizens, specifically African Americans. It was important for the Scopes trial in its discussion of due process, and the fact that no one may be deprived of rights without it. When: created in 1868, important for Scopes trial in 1925 Significance: Used by the defense team of the Scopes trial to quash the indictment on grounds that the law violated both the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which states that no one may be deprived of rights without due process of law, and the freedom of religion clause of the First Amendment. Helped the defense describe the butler act as a brazen move against education, a sign of censorship to come.
Military Tribunals
What: an inquisitorial system based on charges brought by military authorities, prosecuted by a military authority, judged by military officers, and sentenced by military officers against a member of an enemy army. When: important for Lincoln conspiracy trials-1865 Significance: The Lincoln assassination conspirators were tried in a military tribunal and therefore received harsher convictions. As confederate sympathizers presented in front of a panel of Union officials, the conspirators had little chance at a fair trial. Raised questions of constitutional status of such proceedings, and when they should be allowed.
Context of the 1950s
What: at this time Americans were distancing themselves from WWII and the Great Depression. There was a major economic boom in response to pent-up consumer demand. Americans go on an unprecedented spending spree and 58 million cars are produced-vehicles become a sort of obsession for people because before this time, not everyone had access. American corporations were supplying the world. Suburbanization and homeownership boomed. Before WWII, most Americans rented space in crowded cities, now many were receiving GI bills from the war and able to afford homes in neighborhoods. Standard of living rose. Television!!!-idealization of home/family life. Korean war :/-seemed to be glossed over. Materialism. Assassination of Kennedy. When: 1950s Significance: Now the 50s are shrouded in nostalgia, they were a time of economic profit and really productive cultural development like suburban living. But the life of conformity that came from this time drove a wedge between the older, more traditional generations, and the younger, more experimental ones. A counterculture developed in response to this wedge, which grew for other reasons as well (Assassination of pres. Kennedy-who told the youth to focus on more than materialism and was as sort of idol, Vietnam war concerns, rejection of tradition/moral/social/sexual standards. Protests and riots came from this-Chicago 7 (1969)
Edwards vs. Aguillard
What: case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (7-2) that a Louisiana statute barring the teaching of evolution in public schools unless accompanied by the teaching of creationism was unconstitutional under the First Amendment's establishment clause, which prohibits laws respecting an establishment of religion. When: 1987 Significance: US supreme court decision struck down the Louisiana law as it was still establishing a sort of official religion. Made the progress that the scopes trial was trying to make, finally shifted societal arguments in favor of science and separation of church/state sorts of things
Pigasus
What: domestic pig who was nominated for President of the United States as a theatrical gesture by the Youth International Party just before the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. When: August 23, 1968, Significance: showed that the Yippies were more culturally/socially oriented than politically oriented. They were about theatrics and drawing attention/criticizing the absurdity of the conformity and glossing over of violence that they protested.
Factory Work & Child Labor
What: even though manual labor in factories was increasing, so was the use of machines, often requiring operation by a small person. Children were convenient workers and desirable because they could be payed less ($4 a week vs $16 for an adult man) When: Late 1800s Significance: Conditions led to rioting, showed the selfishness of corporate men. How could they live with themselves? They're facing cutthroat competition, the cheapest product wins, they rationalized by saying that they were creating goods that made lives better, and that no one was forcing the workers to put up with what they did. There really wasn't an option though.
"Voir Dire"
What: is a legal phrase that refers to a variety of procedures connected with jury trials. It originally referred to an oath taken by jurors to tell the truth (Latin: verum dicere), i.e., to say what is true, what is objectively accurate or subjectively honest, or both. It comes from the Anglo-Norman language. When: important for Scopes trial in 1925 Significance: concept was not upheld in the Scopes trial which contributed to the majorly biased jury that resulted: one entirely composed of creationists. Everything that was subjectively true to the jurors was biased against Scopes and his entire case.
Yippies
What: members of the youth international party, an American radically youth-oriented and counter-cultural revolutionary offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the 1960s. When: founded on December 31, 1967 Significance: They employed theatrical gestures, such as advancing a pig ("Pigasus the Immortal") as a candidate for President in 1968, to mock the social status quo. They have been described as a highly theatrical, anti-authoritarian and anarchist youth movement of "symbolic politics". Since they were well known for street theater and politically themed pranks, they were either ignored or denounced by many of the "old school" political left. According to ABC News, "The group was known for street theater pranks and was once referred to as the 'Groucho Marxists'. Coordinated with Mobe to make the protests at the democratic convention in Chicago, members Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin were members of the Chicago 7, who stirred problems in court.
Tet Offensive:
What: one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, launched on January 30, 1968, by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam. When: January 1968 Significance: Changed america's view on the war. Up until this point the general belief was that we were doing well, now it was up front that we weren't. Led to panic and disappointment in war efforts. Lyndon B Johnson disapproval is so high, he announces that he won't be running for reelection. Even higher number of anti-war protests on college campuses. More reason for people to turn against the war, middle class people were concerned for their family members there.
Red Scare
What: promotion of widespread fear by a society or state about a potential rise of communism, anarchism, or radical leftism. The term is most often used to refer to two periods in the history of the United States with this name. The First Red Scare, which occurred immediately after World War I, revolved around a perceived threat from the American labor movement, anarchist revolution and political radicalism. The second red scare came during the late 1940s and 1950s during the cold war-fear of communists and radcals. When: began after ww1-1917-20s Significance: this fear that existed influenced the perception civilians/officials had of Sacco and Vanzetti and how they treated them. The fact that Sacco and Vanzetti labeled themselves anarchists made them inherently terrifying. Their ownership of anarchist newsletters was evidence against them, even though they were on trial for murder, not their beliefs. Raised suspicions, important questions of politics. Massachusetts specifically during this time was concerned with maintaining morality and tradition. The second red scare influenced the youth of the 50s, their parents idealized the time and conformity, but radicalized college students recognized the damages of war and international conflict.
8 Hour Workday
What: self explanatory, the goal of most labor unions. They wanted 8 hours for work, 8 hours for leisure, and 8 hours for rest. A reasonable request. When: Important in 60s and 70s Significance: Was the platform/argument of most labor unions, always the request that workers referred to when they were questioned by their bosses and other authority figures. A basis for protesting and striking, while wages were a major concern, so were the inhumane working conditions which were largely influenced by the length of time spend enduring them.
Kitzmiller vs. Dover Area School District
What: the first direct challenge brought in the United States federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching of intelligent design. In October 2004, the Dover Area School District of York County, Pennsylvania, changed its biology teaching curriculum to require that intelligent design be presented as an alternative to evolution theory, and that Of Pandas and People, a textbook advocating intelligent design, was to be used as a reference book. The prominence of this textbook during the trial was such that the case is sometimes referred to as the Dover Panda Trial, a name which recalls the popular name of the Scopes Monkey Trial in Tennessee, 80 years earlier. When: 2005 Significance: The plaintiffs successfully argued that intelligent design is a form of creationism, and that the school board policy violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The judge's decision sparked considerable response from both supporters and critic
Roaring 20s
What: the period of Western society and Western culture that occurred during and around the 1920s. It was a period of sustained economic prosperity with a distinctive cultural edge in the United States and Western Europe, particularly in major cities such as Berlin, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, and Sydney. When: 1920s Significance: Brought about progressive era urban reforms which resulted in improvements in housing, sewers, parks, playgrounds, hospitals, and sanitation. There was also a more efficient urban government. Virtually everyone in the city had electricity, and they were generally no longer foul which was very exciting for residents and outsiders. For the first time, more Americans lived in cities than in rural areas. African Americans started migrating north, bringing with them the Harlem Renaissance. Artists, poets, and musicians like Langston Hughes, Billy Holiday, and Duke Ellington brought a creative outpouring to DC. Jazz!!! Young white people loved it, became more adventurous in their own lives. The evolution of "the flapper"- hip, young, urban women with short hair & skirts, who danced, smoked, and flouted sexual conformity. All of these societal changes resulted in major tension between two conflicting livelihoods- the traditionalists and the modernists, especially in terms of science and religion. Brought up questions of constitutionality in terms of religion, education, and free speech/expression.
Eugenics
What: the self direction of human evolution with the hopes of creating a genetically superior race When: term coined in 1883, became prominent in the early 1900s Significance: Laws allowing the execution of eugenics were passed in thirty states. They allowed the forced sterilization of people with intellectual disabilities, epilepsy, deafness, blindness, drug addiction, or criminal pasts. There ended up being 60,000 forced sterilizations. Buck V. Bell eventually happened arguing the sterilization, but the practice of eugenics was upheld by the supreme court. This practice enraged religious fundamentalists and sparked heated cultural debates. Contributed to the idea that science was the "law of evil"-phrase coined by William Jennings Bryan.
"Black Flag" Warfare
What: warfare beyond the bounds of what was considered moral When: 1865, mid 1860s Significance: The south recruited agents from Canada to plan and execute plots that would destabilize the Union Army. A vital location for this was St. Albans. Some of the attacks organized included the spread of yellow fever in Union territories, "Sons of Liberty" moved to the Midwest, plot to blow up the White House, plots to kidnap Lincoln and using him as a bargaining chip in the war
Brandenburg vs. Ohio
What:Brandenburg, a leader in the Ku Klux Klan, made a speech at a Klan rally and was later convicted under an Ohio criminal syndicalism law. The law made illegal advocating "crime, sabotage, violence, or unlawful methods of terrorism as a means of accomplishing industrial or political reform," as well as assembling "with any society, group, or assemblage of persons formed to teach or advocate the doctrines of criminal syndicalism." Question: Did Ohio's criminal syndicalism law, prohibiting public speech that advocates various illegal activities, violate Brandenburg's right to free speech as protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments? When: 1969 Significance: The Court's Per Curiam opinion held that the Ohio law violated Brandenburg's right to free speech. The Court used a two-pronged test to evaluate speech acts: (1) speech can be prohibited if it is "directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action" and (2) it is "likely to incite or produce such action." The criminal syndicalism act made illegal the advocacy and teaching of doctrines while ignoring whether or not that advocacy and teaching would actually incite imminent lawless action. The failure to make this distinction rendered the law overly broad and in violation of the Constitution.
John D. Rockefeller & "Cutthroat Pricing"
Who/What: Rockefeller was a big name businessman and industrialist specializing in oil. His method of "cutthroat pricing" meant charging below price of profit for a while, forcing competitors who can't afford to do that to try and compete/go out of business. When: Late 1800s Significance: Big company owners grew accustomed to winning, to making a lot of money and then adopted an aristocratic lifestyle that concerned the common man. They deemed the businessmen "robber barons"-thieves and rebelled against them.
Lewis Powell
Who: 22 year old occasionally living under the alias of Lewis Payne. He was the son of a baptist minister from Florida, and staunchly pro-slavery. He had a violent temper and spent a lot of time around/in confederacy: fighting and living in/working POW camps. He stayed at the Surrattsville Tavern under the alias of Reverend Wood. When: Important in 1865 Significance: Major player in the Lincoln kidnapping and murder conspiracies. His role in Booth's assassination plan is to kill William Seward in his home at Lafayette Square. He poses as a nurse with medicine but the butler still wont let him pass. Stabbing, gun misfires, more stabbing, shouts "I'm mad". He arrives at the Surratt Tavern while Mary is being interrogated, pretty much incriminates himself. Powell's guilt is beyond dispute, his lawyer asks for life in prison rather than hanging. Half insanity plea, half claims he was a simple minded youth, wax in Booth's hands. Ruthlessness of military tribunal.
David Herold
Who: 22 year old who worked in the pharmacy at the DC Navy yard. He was an avid hunter who knew the woods of southern Maryland well. When: important in 1865 Significance: Involved in the Lincoln kidnapping and murder conspiracies. He was valuable to the crew in that he had access to chloroform and could lead the conspirators through their escape route after having kidnapped/murdered the president. Ruthlessness of military tribunal.
George Atzerodt
Who: 29 year old German immigrant who settled in Germantown with his family. He made a living illegally ferrying confederate men across the Potomac river. When: Important in 1865 Significance: Involved in the Lincoln kidnapping and murder conspiracies. When the time comes to commit the act however, he chickens out, has a drink, and flees. Incriminating evidence is found in his hotel room and he is ultimately arrested at his family farm in German town. Ruthlessness of military tribunal.
Samuel Mudd
Who: Doctor recruited by John Wilkes Booth to provide a safehouse during the conspirator's escape after the Lincoln kidnapping/assassination plot. When: Important in 1865 Significance: He was a relatively major player in the Lincoln assassination conspiracy. A doctor who lived on John Wilkes Booth escape route (Waldorf Maryland)-Mudd was recruited as the host of a safe-house. It is still unclear if he was informed of the switch from the kidnapping plot to the assassination plot. Even still, he provided a residence for Booth and Herold after the assassination was complete. One day after Booth's visit, Mudd contacted a unionist cousin and had him contact the authorities. He was one vote short of the death penalty in after the conspiracy trial was complete.
John T. Scopes
Who: A 24 year old general science instructor and football coach at a high school in Dayton Tennessee during the heavy debates over whether or not evolution should be taught in schools. He accepted the theory of evolution but was not an expert on it, also taught physics, math, and general science. He taught out of the textbook "Hunter's Civic Biology" which contained passages on Darwin's theory of evolution. When: trial in 1925 Significance: George Rappleyea and Sue Hicks, another regular at Robinson's drug store agree to prosecute John T Scopes and use him as the test defendant for the ACLU's purposes. He ends up being the famous defendant of the "monkey trial" over the teaching of evolution in schools-but more broadly, the war between science and religion. His trial stood for social issues, sparked more societal debate over tradition and progress, and was the first trial to ever be broadcast live over the radio. It was a time of major debate because even Scopes' defense team didn't want him acquitted, they wanted his case taken to a higher court and his charges deemed unconstitutional. Started his case pretty apathetic, grew to believe in cause for the teaching of evolution.
Louis Lingg
Who: A German-born American, one of the suspects of the Haymarket bombing. He was sentenced to death with Spies, Parsons, Fischer, and Engel, but committed suicide in his jail cell with a bomb smuggled to him before the authorities could get him. When: Haymarket-1866 Significance: Demonstrated the radicalism and passion for their cause in anarchists. Fought for injustice in labor situations after his father was severely injured by a machine at his job. Proved his own easy access to dynamite after 2 spherical bombs and 4 pipe bombs were found in his apartment during its raid after the Haymarket riot/accusations.
William Jennings Bryan
Who: A famous religious fundamentalist who advocated for the "law of love"-traditional religion, over the "law of hate"-the progression of science and theories like Darwin's of evolution. He was also a populist democrat, three-time candidate for president. A member of the anti-imperialist league and the Secretary of War under Woodrow Wilson. He was appalled by the way Darwinism was used to justify concentrations of wealth, and held other issues with religious modernists and academic/societal/cultural progression. When: Important during the Scopes trial of 1925. Significance: Helped drive the teaching of evolution out of schools, ultimately 15 states prohibit Darwin's teachings arguing that atheists could make their own schools. Tennessee statute-bans teaching of evolution. Bryan also acts as the head of the prosecution team during the Scopes trial. He actually volunteered for the roll as the issue was something he was passionate about. In court he argues that if evolution comes, religion goes, and that taxpayers have a right to decide what is taught in their schools. He offers a straightforward case, presenting evidence that Scopes had broken laws placing restrictions on education, where the defense focused more on the constitutionality of it all.
Det. John Baptiste Jourdain
Who: Afro-Creole, lead detective assigned to the Digby case. He was aggressive in wanting colored people in the workforce, involved in politics, and serving on legal councils, hated the black codes which restricted the rights of Afro-Creoles in terms of owning land, participation in agricultural labor, and meeting in groups, participates in mob, disgust for white men who did not respect his people When: 1870-Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case Significance: Radical reconstruction in New Orleans at the time of the Digby case gave Jourdain an opportunity to prove his worth by volunteering, was perceived as "slightly colored" and exhibiting little African lineage, shows no remorse for the lies he tells Louisa Murray and the threats he administers to Ellen and Minnie, participated in a movement/petition for voting rights for afro-creoles. Knew his actions would affect all blacks in the south.
Albert & Lucy Parsons
Who: Albert Parsons was a man from Alabama, which was a sort of exception for anarchists at the time, who were mostly immigrants from Germany and eventually Italy. He was a former confederate soldier that came to run thee English Language Workers' Paper. Like others who opposed labor conditions, Parson was labeled a "scalawag." He was married to Lucy Parsons, who was an African American anarchist. She was probably born a slave in Texas (1853). They married in 1871 and moved to Chicago because of intolerance of interracial marriage in the south. When: Important during labor movements-1880s Significance: the Chicago tribune reported Lucy Parsons as calling for "a war of extermination" against the rich. The couple received death threats from businessmen and Albert and Lucy, like many other militant unionists, urged fighting with dynamite-"the great equalizer." Play a role in the Haymarket riot, Parsons giving a speech that does not call for the incitement of violence, but for workers to arm themselves (this was in response to the May 3 attack on strikers at the McCormick Plant-police opened fire on them and 6 were killed.) Revenge. After the bombing at Haymarket, Albert fled the scene, but Lucy convinced him to turn himself in and go down for his cause. He ultimately did get convicted and sentenced to death with the other supposed conspirators. After Albert's death, Lucy went on to live a life of radicalism.
Ellen Follin
Who: An Afro-Creole woman of 36 years of age at the time of the Digby trial. She was the older sister to Louisa Murray, both women suspected of kidnapping Molly Digby despite their appearances of beauty, grace, and status. She had several children by an Italian man named Blass, despite the fact that she was never married. She made her money by running a "lying-hospital", where aristocratic white women who had gotten pregnant out of wedlock would live to escape the prying eyes of their elitist neighbors. When: Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case-1870 Significance: Ellen and her sister were accused of conspiring to and actually kidnapping Molly Digby. Their histories and the high-profile status of their case made the Afro-Creole sisters easy targets for the Democratic media, ex confederates used them as examples of crime and vulgarity in the black community. She was a threat to a racist society: a beautiful, sophisticated woman with dark skin.
Edmund Spangler
Who: An employee at Ford's Theater in Washington, his job being that of a carpenter and stagehand. When: Important on the night of Lincoln's assassination-1865 Significance: He was implicated in the Lincoln assassination conspiracy for holding John Wilkes Booth behind Ford's theater. After Booth had shot Lincoln and fled the theater, some witnesses heard Spangler tell his coworkers not to tell authorities which way Booth had rode off. His defense attorney argued that he was not in fact involved in the conspiracies, only held a horse for a few moments then fell pray to witnesses who stirred trouble. He was convicted of conspiracy anyway, but pardoned by president Johnson in 1869.
John Wilkes Booth
Who: Famous Maryland actor who sympathized with confederate efforts during the Civil War. His father opposed slavery, but enrolled Booth in fancy private schools that gave him an elitist outlook on life. He learned to consider himself a "southern gentleman" and slavery a "positive good" When: Assassinated President Lincoln in 1865 Significance: He is the leader of the Lincoln kidnapping and assassination conspiracies, ultimately killing Lincoln himself in Ford's theater in Washington D.C. Contributed to confederate war efforts-sending spies to Canada for insight/action on plots. Believed that something "decisive and great must be done" to advance the confederate effort-war times had become dire as the Union seemed to be drastically pulling ahead.
Flappers
Who: Hip, young, urban women with short hair & skirts who danced, smoked, drank, and flouted sexual conformity. They became popular in movies as the motion picture industry grew. Clara Bow was an actress well known for playing such promiscuous characters. When: prominent in 1920s Significance: Started a sort of social movement, populated speakeasies and places of concern during the prohibition era, increased tensions between traditionalists and modernists, drew people into the cities as symbols of excitement.
Lewis Weichman & John Lloyd
Who: John Lloyd was the man Mary Surratt sold her family tavern to. He played a minor role in the conspiracies, stashing weapons under the floorboards of his bar and turning a blind eye to the plotting, but ultimately remains uninvolved. Lewis Weichman was also close to the kidnapping and assassination plots as the personal driver for the Surratt family. When: Important during Lincoln conspiracies-1865 Significance: Despite his proximity to the conspiracies and questionable involvement in them, John Lloyd ending up being a witness for the prosecution against the Lincoln assassination conspirators. Weichmann also served as a chief witness for the prosecution, describing the drive he had with Mary Surratt the night of the Lincoln assassination. Weichmann testified that on that day, he accompanied Mary Surratt to her other property in Surrattsville, (now Clinton, Maryland), where she delivered items that Booth later retrieved hours after the assassination. He further testified that Mary Surratt met with Booth no fewer than three times on that fateful day. He played a major role in her conviction.
Abbie Hoffman
Who: Leader of the Yippies involved in the Democratic convention protests When: important during Chicago 7 trial 1969 Significance: arrested for public indecency- he had the word "****" written on his forehead. Undercover cops at the protest heard him make statements that suggested plans to incite violence, raised hell in the courtroom, a walking challenge of the establishment, spends his life as a community organizer and goes underground
Ex Parte Quirin
Who: Member of the plot to land German U-Boats in Long Island and Florida. They meant to land 8 saboteurs, 2 of them being Americans who had traded sides, but their plan was foiled when someone reported them to the FBI. The agents were sent to trial by military tribunal and six were sentenced to death. The defendants appealed, citing that they were not working within military zones and that civilian courts were open so they should have been tried there, but the Supreme court upheld the initial ruling. When: 1942 Significance: A supreme court decision in the same realm of discussing the use of military tribunals for civilians except prior to ex parte Milligan. This supreme court ruling upheld the use of military tribunals against civilians in cases where they were political radicals with the intent to cause destruction. This was the precedent that officials were going by when they put the Lincoln conspirators before a panel of Union Army officials.
Ex Parte Milligan
Who: Part of the Sons of Liberty plot to free tens of thousand confederate prisoners of war. He guarded suitcases of cash from agents in Canada and was eventually tried for treason, subjected to conviction by military tribunal. When: Arrested October 1864, important in 1866 Significance: The decision made during Milligan's first trial was repealed in a unanimous 9-0 decision by the second court involved. It was determined that constitutional rights could never be undermined "where the courts are open and their process unobstructed. This set the precedent for John Surratt Jr.'s trial by a civilian court. Would have made a difference in the Lincoln conspiracy trials because no one involved was an actual confederate soldier.
August Spies
Who: The editor of "Socialists from Scandinavia and Germany", an laborer and anarchist who became radicalized when a labor union meaning was infiltrated/attacked by the police and left his brother dead. When: Important during Haymarket riot/trials-1886 Significance: Spies writes and prints 2500 copies of an article disclosing information on the striker deaths at the McCormick Plant, calling other laborers to arms. This article was called "The Revenge Circular" and was regularly used as evidence against people suspected of being anarchists-even having a copy on your person was dangerous. Spies eventually finds himself at Haymarket Square, and delvers a speech saying that laborers were not called there to riot, but to shed light on issues. Several witness for the prosecution during the Haymarket trial, one of which being an employee of Spies at the press, said that Spies owned a copy of Johansin Most's "Science of Revolutionary Warfare" with enthusiastic annotations on it, had experimented with explosives, and had suggested using bombs as defense against the police. August was also supposed to be the one who lit the fuse of the bomb that killed Mathias Degan and several other cops. 7/8 Jury members voted that Spies and the other conspirators were guilty of murder, and they were all ready to die for their cause. The trial was eventually considered a farce, so it raised important questions labor conditions and the prosecution of those with radical beliefs.
Gov. John Peter Altged
Who: The governor of Illinois following Richard Oglesby When: served from 1893-1897 Significance: He pardoned the 2 anarchists (Michael Schwabb & Samuel Fielden) still serving jail time for the events at Haymarket, and called the entire trial a farce, thus receiving major backlash. He acknowledged that the defendants were unfairly treated in terms of jury selection and submission to a prejudiced judge, and that the prosecutions argument was actually very weak.
Judge Joseph Easton Gray
Who: The judge who presided over the Haymarket trials. When: Important in 1866 Significance: Labor leaders thought he might be sympathetic to their cause because he was a former carpenter, but it turned out that Gray was adamantly against organized labor, immediately putting the defendants at a disadvantage. After the peremptory challenges were used up for the Haymarket trial, the defense had a very hard time getting challenges approved by Gray, resulting in an all white-collar jury without a hint of immigrant influence.
Knights of the Golden Circle
Who: The knights were confederate sympathizers who hoped to take advantage of Lincoln's lax security practices. They wanted to create melee as the president traveled from Calvert St Station to Camden yards, and shoot Lincoln in the process. Lincoln got wind of the plot through Prinkerton detectives then and changed his travel arrangements. When: February 23, 1861 Significance: The plot itself and the response to Lincoln's change in travel plans exposed the deep rooted but unjustified hatred that confederate sympathizers had for Lincoln-they called him a coward for not maintaining his initial plans and then defending himself like a "real man." Perhaps inspired other kidnapping/assassination plots like Booth's.
Mayor Richard Daley
Who: The mayor of Chicago at the time of the Democratic convention. When: 1955-1976 Significance: He was a law and order mayor and head of one of the most powerful political machines in the country. He was unsympathetic to the riots and King's assassination. Denied most of the permits except for Grant park bandshell rally and then prepared for invasion. Set the standard for violent response to protesters in Chicago.
Mayor Carter Harrison
Who: The mayor of Chicago at the time of the Haymarket riot. When: important during Haymarket riot/trials-1886 Significance: Harrison issued the permit for the laborers at Haymarket to hold their protest. He hung around the event to make sure that everything ran smoothly, and that there were no threats of violence. He only attended the meeting until 10 because he quickly came to the conclusion that things were safe, told the police to go home. The chief of police had his own plans though, and stayed until Samuel "Big Red" Fielden spoke and responded to a line in the immigrants speech suggested violence against law enforcement. Police response incited the actual Haymarket violence. Harrison is later called as witness for the defense at the Haymarket trial, says that he did not hear any calls for violence and that he had told the police to go home some believe that his testimony in combination with others insinuated that the police were looking for something to respond to, they wanted a riot.
Clarence Darrow
Who: The nations most famous defense attorney. He was agnostic and thought that the biblical concept of original sin was all wrong. When: important for the Scopes trial in 1925 Significance: He was the defense attorney appointed to the Scopes trial by the ACLU and looked forward to his task because he wanted to embarrass Jennings Bryan. He believed that the Scopes trial pit the future against the past and wanted to be a part of the social commentary. Believed that prohibiting teachers from teaching Darwin's theory of evolution and requiring the teaching of creationism was unconstitutional. He didn't want to win his case the first go around, he wanted to appeal to a higher court and have the charges against Scopes deemed a unconstitutional.
Molly Digby
Who: The small child thought to have been abducted by two voodoo priestesses for sacrifice. When: 1870 Significance: As a tiny white child, Molly was the ultimate victim for ex confederates to use against the Afro-Creoles who were rising into a sort of social power in the south. Racists whites jumped on the first opportunity they got to frame her story as a brutal one brought about by the Afro-Creole community. She came from a working-class family in a rougher neighborhood and was therefore easy to sympathize with and grieve for. Her case gave Afro-Creoles a much needed platform during that time of radical reconstruction in the south. Both suspects were poised and ultimately acquitted, while Detective Jourdain, who worked the case, was also an intelligent Afro-Creole. They had something to prove.
John Surratt, Jr
Who: The son of Mary Surratt and the late John Surratt sr. His parents owned a tavern in Surrattsville Maryland, which also acted as a post office that John Surrat Jr worked out of. His brother fought in the confederate army, while John himself just worked as a confederate sympathizer, moving confederate messages and mail through the post system. When: Important during Lincoln conspiracies-1865 Significance: Advocated for and made efforts to advance confederate war efforts. Was a major player in the Lincoln conspiracy plots until he left for Elmira, NY, where he plotted POW releases for the confederacy. Priests hid him in their rectory. His home was the site of a lot of the plotting. Eventually found after conspirators in Maryland were hanged, tried by civil court and acquitted.
William H. Seward
Who: United States Secretary of State during President Lincoln's term. When: 1861-1869 Significance: He was a dominant figure in the Republican party during its formative years, seriously advocating against slavery. Booth's plot to assassinate Lincoln did not just stop there with the president. He also targeted Ulysses Grant, Johnson, and William H. Seward. Seward was Lewis Powell's assigned target, but having been previously injured and dressed in a neck brace, Seward survived the attack of Powell's attempted stabbing, though he was left with a scar that inspired only side profile portraits of him in the future. He could therefore identify his attacker, and continue in his position during Andrew Johnson's presidency, going on to negotiate the Alaska purchase in 1867.
Mary Surratt
Who: Wife to John Surratt Sr. and mother to John Surratt Jr. It was her decision to buy a town house and convert it into a boarding house where tenants would pay rent. When: Important in Lincoln conspiracies-1865 Significance: Her home was the site of a lot of the Lincoln conspiracy plotting-"Surratt kept the nest that hatched the rotten egg." Lewis Powell flees to her after he attempts to murder William Seward and though Mary Pretends to never have seen him, they are both arrested. Mary is convicted of conspiracy and sentenced to death with Powell, Herold, and Atzerodt. She was the first woman to have been put to death on federal authority and therefore stirred public uproar. There was an appeal to President Johnson to spare her as a woman, but she was hanged anyway. Tried in a military tribunal, Surratt's conviction showed their ruthlessness.
Henry Clay Warmoth
Who: a 28 year old Union Army veteran from Illinois, who compensated for his inexperience with idealism, cunning, and exuberance. Republican. He had a bold plan for reconstructing Louisiana, specifically the legal system. When: 1870-Great New Orleans Kidnapping Case Significance: He modernized and professionalized the New Orleans police force, which had been poorly paid, notoriously corrupt, and often staffed by illiterate thugs as violent as the criminals they pursued. He wanted a diverse force that would pass literacy tests, background checks, and health evaluations. He hoped his modernized force could control the violence, change the city's image, and win over law-abiding citizens. The Digby Case was a huge test-could Afro-Creoles function as efficient officers/detectives?
H.L. Mencken
Who: a Baltimore Sun reporter who believed that Americans were generally idiots. When: important for the Scopes trial in 1925 Significance: He was assigned to cover the "monkey trial" in Dayton, which he called a "backwards town." He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians and contemporary movements. His satirical reporting on the Scopes trial during its live broadcasting also gained him attention. He spread news, kept people involved on a prominent issue that was coming to light in a very small town.
George Rappleyea
Who: a Dayton local who often spent his free time at Fred Robinson's drug store. He was a transplanted New Yorker with a Phd in chemical engineering, ended up managing a coal mine. He was a modernist methodist and wanted to "put Dayton on the map" the small town was too small town for him. When: important for the Scopes trial of 1925 Significance: he was the one that called the ACLU on behalf of John T Scopes, he wanted the major evolution v religion case to happen in his town, draw some attention, sparked major cultural debates and encouraged the teaching of science in schools
Judge Webster Thayer
Who: a judge of the Superior Court of Massachusetts When: important for Sacco and Vanzetti case which lasted from 1920-27 Significance: Most famous for his role as the judge during the Sacco and Vanzetti proceedings. He was known for being a product of traditional Massachusetts, prejudiced against radicals like Sacco and Vanzetti, and dedicated to the idea of duty to his state and the people, which he let get in the way of his responsibility as a legal official. He disliked Fred Moore and his defandants and could not separate himself from that elitist mindset. He convicted Sacco and Vanzetti of first degree murder and denied their appeals for a retrial, most people think, for the sake of saving Massachusetts reputation.
Jerry Rubin
Who: a yippie who worked alongside Abbie Hoffman to be involved in the democrats convention protests. When: important during Chicago 7 trial 1969 Significance: called before the house unamerican affairs committee in 1968 because members believed that communists were behind the yippie and counterculture violence. Rubin entered in costume with a toy gun. a walking challenge of the establishment. After his charges were overturned, he became a yuppie-wallstreet broker. Perhaps an insinuation of the yippie lifestyle appeal to youth-wasn't all that deep.
Edwin Stanton
Who: an American lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War When: 1860s Significance: Stanton's management helped organize the massive military resources of the North and guide the Union to victory. He also organized the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth. However, he was criticized by many Union generals for perceived over-cautiousness and micromanagement. After Lincoln's assassination, Stanton remained as the Secretary of War under the new President Andrew Johnson during the first years of Reconstruction. He opposed the lenient policies of Johnson towards the former Confederate States. Johnson's attempt to dismiss Stanton ultimately led to President Johnson being impeached by the Radical Republicans in the House of Representatives.
Jefferson Davis
Who: an American politician who served as the President of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. When: Prominent in 1860s (61-65) Significance: Many historians attribute the Confederacy's weaknesses to Davis' poor leadership. His preoccupation with detail, reluctance to delegate responsibility, lack of popular appeal, feuds with powerful state governors and generals, favoritism toward old friends, inability to get along with people who disagreed with him, neglect of civil matters in favor of military ones, and resistance to public opinion all worked against him. Historians agree that he was a much less effective war leader than his Union counterpart Abraham Lincoln. While not disgraced after the war, Davis had been displaced in ex-Confederate affection after the war by his leading general, Robert E. Lee. By the late 1880s, he began to encourage reconciliation, telling Southerners to be loyal to the Union.
Tom Hayden
Who: an American social and political activist, author and politician, who was director of the Peace and Justice Resource Center in Los Angeles County, California. Known best for his major role as an anti-war, civil rights, and radical intellectual counterculture activist, Hayden was for a time the husband of actress Jane Fonda, and was the father of actor Troy Garity. When: important for the Chicago 7 trial Significance: founded Students for a Democratic Society along with 35 other students. In 1961 he joined the Freedom riders and then continued lead anti-war movements on campuses. Challenged the "establishment" and tackled issues like alienation, women's rights, anti-war, anti-materialism, and civil rights. Rise of youth counterculture. One of the Chicago 7 conspirators, organized the protesting events at Chicago. After his convictions were overturned, he married Jane Fonda and continued a life of activism.
Judge John Raulston
Who: an American state judge in Rhea County, Tennessee, who received national publicity for presiding over the 1925 Scopes Trial, a famous creationism-evolution debate. When: important for the Scopes trial in 1925 Significance: While presiding over a trial largely about the debate between creationists and evolutionists, Raulston was a Methodist and a major fan of William Jennings Bryan, who was the prosecutor for the case. He often quoted scripture during his court proceedings and his handling of jury member challenges also suggested bias on his part. Because of his denial of challenges by Clarence Darrow, the jury of the Scopes trial ended up being entirely older, white, traditionalists who could not be subjective about the trial they were overseeing.
Fred Moore
Who: the first lead defense attorney assigned to Sacco and Vanzetti during their seven year journey with the law. When: 1920-27ish Significance: Moore was passionate about his work but mostly for selfish reasons, he was looking to make a name/build a reputation and therefore did not act in a way beneficial to his clients. He was actually quite incompetent during the Sacco and Vanzetti trials, antagonizing the judge, completely disregarding courtroom decorum, and even forgetting to mention key pieces of evidence (the cap, Vanzetti's gun, the Italian clerk who had provided an Alibi for Sacco. Judge Thayer also had prejudice against the defense attorney so that didn't work in anyone's favor either. Had William Thompson been Sacco and Vanzetti's lawyer for the primary trial instead of Moore, they might have been acquitted.
Bartolomeo Vanzetti
Who: an Italian immigrant who became an anarchist in America after spending time in factories and ultimately becoming an eel salesman, becoming disillusioned with its labor system. In 1920 he, along with Nicola Sacco, was accused of murdering a paymaster and his bodyguard in Braintree Massachusetts. When: case continued from 1920-27 Significance: The high profile nature and the duration of the Sacco & Vanzetti trial gave the men a valuable platform, not so much in terms of anarchism, but their status as mistreated laborers. They were relatable as victims. Both men were convicted and sentenced to execution by electrocution, but their story did not die with them. They became famous for their personalities that did not fit the profile of murderers, most of the evidence on their characters coming from personal letters of theirs that were published after their executions. Their trial was also significant in the way it exposed the unfairness of the legal system at the time-judge Thayer had significant prejudices against their social group and their defense lawyer Fred Moore. Additionally, the jury was not one of the defendants' peers. A series of appeals followed, funded largely by the private Sacco and Vanzetti Defense Committee. The appeals were based on recanted testimony, conflicting ballistics evidence, a prejudicial pre-trial statement by the jury foreman, and a confession by an alleged participant in the robbery. All appeals were denied by trial judge Webster Thayer and also later denied by the Massachusetts State Supreme Court. By 1926, the case had drawn worldwide attention. In 1927, protests on their behalf were held in every major city in North America and Europe, as well as in Tokyo, Sydney, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and Johannesburg. Celebrated writers, artists, and academics pleaded for their pardon or for a new trial.
Nicola Sacco
Who: an Italian immigrant who became an anarchist in America after working as a shoe trimmer and becoming disillusioned with its labor system. In 1920 he, along with Bartolomeo Vanzetti, was accused of murdering a paymaster and his bodyguard in Braintree Massachusetts. When: case continued from 1920-27 Significance: The high profile nature and the duration of the Sacco & Vanzetti trial gave the men a valuable platform, not so much in terms of anarchism, but their status as mistreated laborers. They were relatable as victims. Both men were convicted and sentenced to execution by electrocution, but their story did not die with them. They became famous for their personalities that did not fit the profile of murderers, most of the evidence on their characters coming from personal letters of theirs that were published after their executions. Their trial was also significant in the way it exposed the unfairness of the legal system at the time-judge Thayer had significant prejudices against their social group and their defense lawyer Fred Moore. Additionally, the jury was not one of the defendants' peers. A series of appeals followed, funded largely by the private Sacco and Vanzetti Defense Committee. The appeals were based on recanted testimony, conflicting ballistics evidence, a prejudicial pre-trial statement by the jury foreman, and a confession by an alleged participant in the robbery. All appeals were denied by trial judge Webster Thayer and also later denied by the Massachusetts State Supreme Court. By 1926, the case had drawn worldwide attention. In 1927, protests on their behalf were held in every major city in North America and Europe, as well as in Tokyo, Sydney, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, and Johannesburg. Celebrated writers, artists, and academics pleaded for their pardon or for a new trial.
Bobby Seale
Who: founder of the black panthers When: important during Chicago 7 trial 1969 Significance: gave a speech at the democratic convention and ended up being detained as a conspirator with the other Chicago 7. Advocated for black empowerment (specifically financially), self defense against police violence, honest education, exemptions for black men from military service and reminds the yippies that their summer of love was a summer of riots and anger in Detroit. Treated unfairly in the Chicago 8 trials- Judge Hoffman going so far as to deny him his lawyer and bind/gag him. A social symbol, raged against the machine.
Judge Julius Hoffman
Who: judge born in Chicago in 1895, 75 years old at the time of the Chicago 7 trial. He attended law school before WWI and was not sympathetic at all to the conspirators' efforts. When: important for Chicago 7 trial- 1969 Significance: prejudiced against defendants, denied fair jury selection, denied Bobby Seale his choice of a defense attorney, bound and gagged the Black Panther leader in the courtroom, gave out citations for behavior frequently, basically it was his fault that all the charges were overturned because there were so many technical faults in the proceedings.
Religious Fundamentalists
Who: members of the religious community who believed that the Bible should be interpreted literally. When: existing long term, became prominent/important in 1920s, specifically for the Scopes trial in 1925 Significance: Published books like "The Fundamentals: A Testimony to Truth" (1915) which was a series of essays by R. A. Torrey that outlined what theologians saw as the main tenants of Christianity. They strongly opposed Charles Darwin's theories and therefore fought for legislation that kept his teaching out of schools. Heavily influenced the Scopes trial as William Jennings Bryan, a famous fundamentalist, served as the prosecution's lawyer, and the jury was full of older, white fundamentalists. They argued that Scopes' teaching of Darwin's Theory of Evolution should not be allowed-accused of trying to establish an official religion.
Religious Modernists
Who: members of the religious community who believed that the Bible was written by humans and contained valid human perceptions of how God acted. They claimed that scientific or historical accuracy in the Bible was not important, it was the messages that should be focused on. They interpreted the Bible with knowledge of cultural scholarship. When: became prominent/important in 1920s, specifically for the Scopes trial in 1925 Significance: sparked intense religious debates between themselves ad religious fundamentalists, the feuds influencing legislation and concepts/behavior allowed in academic settings, several attempted to assist the Scopes trial defense efforts by testifying, but they were regularly denied influence. They believes that if the Bible was read as a blend of metaphors and parables, it could coexist or even work with scientific theories like evolution.
Little Richard & Elvis Presley
Who: rock and roll singers When: prominent in 50s-60s Significance: they were symbols for the youth counter culture, called for expression and pursuit of pleasure. Both were fairly sexual figures. Their music was intoxicating to young whites. It started with blacks but moved into the mainstream, which horrified the older generations. Put people in environments where they could be honest about what they didn't like about their situations, put them in close proximity to the civil rights movement and people affected by it.
William Kuntsler
Who: the first of the Chicago 7 defense attorneys- former ACLU lawyer famous for defending radicals. When: important for the Chicago 7 trial-1969 Significance: asked Judge Hoffman to approve 54 questions for jurors about youth. They were denied and the jury ended up being middle aged. Defense challenged prosecution charges and mocked the court. He didn't restrain his defendants as they made a mockery of courtroom decorum, even participated. Used the chance to highlight the motives of the protesters, give them an actual political purpose instead of leaving them to be viewed as riotous hippies.