Sothers Unit 6 Learning Objectives
abuses in the railroad industry and how these led to the first efforts at the industrial regulations by the federal government
-Crédit Mobilier scandal where railroad men would sub hire themselves to earn extra profits. With this, they also bribed government official to look the other way and give them kickbacks, or frequent bribes. -stock watering, pools/cartels, rebates for the large companies, free passes to members of press for good publicity. -Interstate Commerce Act 1887 was meant to control the railroading business by outlawing rebates and pools as well as making the railroads openly publish their rates.
how transcontinental railroad network provided basis for the post-civil war industrial transformation
-businesses could now grow and expand due to their ability to move their products to different parts of the country easier. -east and west markets and goods now linked -linked the nation together in a new way -fortunes and millionaires came out of this -travel was easier, and settlers could now form more civilizations out west -cities out west boomed
how industrialists attempted to explain and justify great wealth and increasing class division through "social darwinism" and the "gospel of wealth"
-in social darwinism, the wealthy believed that, just like organisms having to adjust to their changing environments to stay alive, that humans need to adjust to the changing economic ways in order to become wealthy, and if they don't, they are not right for the time. -in the gospel of wealth, it was as simple as the idea that some people are meant to be wealthy and others are not, and that it is uncontrollable. However another take on it is that the wealthy have a moral duty to help and give away money to the less wealthy.
how the economy came to be dominated by the giant "trusts" such as those headed by Carnegie and Rockefeller in the steel and oil industries
-once people, such as Carnegie and Rockefeller, made it to the top, the business means used by their trusts kept them their. They used strategies such as undercutting where they would run the smaller companies out of business. -also, their means of getting the money in the first place is a big part of how they become so big: Carnegie used vertical integration and Rockefeller used horizontal integration.
discuss the growing class conflict caused by industrial growth and the early efforts to alleviate it.
-with the growth of the economy, trusts, and other large companies, came the growing of the millionaires and billionaires as well as the middle class and the working/labor class. This came about due to where the majority of the money lands: into the bands of the already wealthy. -10% of people get 90% of the wealth, where as 90% of people get 10% of the wealth -the gospel of wealth meant to some (carnegie) that they should distribute their money to the lower classes
Indicate how the disputed Hayes-Tilden election of 1876 led to the Compromise of 1877 and the end of Reconstruction.
Due to the corruption of his administration, Grant was no longer considered for the election of 1876. Instead, the Republican party nominated Rutherford B. Hayes, governor of Ohio. Hayes running mate was Democrat nominee Samuel J. Tilden. What made the election so controversial was that the two nominees were in a deadlock for 185 votes needed to win. Both parties sent representatives to southern states of Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida. However, each state sent back two sets of returns, one democratic and one republican. The decision was then handed over to Congress where the deadlock would be broken by the electoral committee. As it would seem, members of the commission finalized a deal with both parties. Republican Hayes would be president while under the condition that he removed all federal troops from the south, South Carolina and Louisiana. Democrats were also assured a spot on the presidential patronage trough and support for a bill subsidizing the Texas and Pacific Railroad's construction of a southern transcontinental line. With the signing of the Compromise of 1877 and the removal of federal troops from the south Reconstruction was officially over. Republicans quickly abandoned racial equality in the south leaving freed black americans to fend for themselves.
Explain the intense political partisanship of the Gilded age, despite the parties' lack of ideological difference and poor quality of political leadership.
During the Gilded Age the two primary political parties were the Republicans and Democrats.Though the leading parties had changed several times and new parties emerged. Most of the parties agreed on similar ideologies, only differing in small reform movements. The Republican party relied strongly on good morals. The party itself was supported by the North and West. In contrast, Democrats got their support from the South, by Lutherans and Catholics. The two parties still continued to clash due to their ideals and morals. In the 1870's the Republican Party split into the Stalwarts, led by Roscoe Conkling, and the Half-Breeds, led by James G. Blaine. Due to the challenges of the two parties to communicate and work together, the needs of the classes were often ignored. As a result many new parties were introduced to fend for the everyday citizen. One of which was the Liberal Republicans, the party was developed as a result to the corruption within the Grant administration. The Greenback Labor Party was started in 1878 with the purpose to support cheap money, or the backing with silver. The Populist Party also emerges from the Farmers Alliance. The party supported the idea of inflation through cheap money.
Describe the political corruption of the Grant administration and the mostly unsuccessful efforts to reform politics in the Gilded Age.
During the Gilded Age, corruption scandals were very common, especially in the Grant administration. Due to the idea that a general will always make a good president, Ulysses S. Grant was elected. In politics Grant would serve to be a failure. His administration was plagued with graft and abuse. Even his election is questionable, seeing that Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia votes were not counted at all! The Credit Mobilier scandal was the largest of its time, implicating Vice President Schuyler Colfax. Union Pacific Railroad officials formed the Credit Mobilier construction company and hired themselves at inflated prices to build the new railroad. By doing so they collected astronomical dividends, as high as 348%. Fearing congress would halt this scandal, they paid off key congressmen with stock in their company. In return for shielding the scandal, a censure was distributed to Vice President Colfax and two other congressmen. Other scandals, such as the Whiskey Ring which robbed the Treasury of millions in excise-tax revenues. President Grant had declared "let no guilty man escape." Grant didn't know his private secretary was even found guilty of being involved in the crime. In turn, Grant went against his words and wrote a private letter to the jury to help pardon his secretary. Even Secretary of War William Belknap was forced to resign after taking bribes from suppliers to the Indian reservations. Not only was the Grant administration corrupt, but it also faced difficulty in stabilizing the nation. President Grant was not able to fill the presidential responsibilities. His hardships only worsened in 1873 when economic panic broke throughout the US. Lack of money circulation led to loans going unpaid and profits failing to materialize. Grant failed to utilize his powers to reform the country during the age of Reconstruction. In 1870, the Force Acts were passed, preventing the use of violence to prevent people from voting based on their race. The acts did not assist blacks, white voters used other methods such as holding literacy tests in order to stop blacks from voting. Similarly, most policies enacted during the Gilded Age only set back Reconstruction.
Show how the farm crisis of the depression of the 1890s stirred growing social protests and class conflict, and fueled the rise of the radical Populist Party.
Grover Cleveland is the only president to be reelected after defeat. His second presidency began with a boom. The first recession of the industrial age began titled the Depression of 1893. It was the most punishing economic failure in the 19th century. Over 8,000 businesses filed bankruptcy in only 6 months. Now, Cleveland had a money deficit, rather than a surplus he had had his first presidency! The gold supply was reaching an increasing low. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1890 required the government to buy silver and print paper money to pay for it. People would then turn in the paper money in exchange for gold. At one point, their was less than $100 million in gold supply. Eventually the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was repealed, by much argument by the foremost spokesman for "cheap money", William Jennings Bryan. The decision to repeal the act deeply angered the Populist party who supported it for its ease in paying off their debts. Cleveland turned to J.P. Morgan for assistance. In return J.P. Morgan agreed to lend the U.S. $65 million in gold. The bankers would profit $7 million. The deal only hurt Cleveland's reputation as his actions were viewed as "sneaky" by others.
Explain the rise of political conflict in the early 1890s, and the failure of Cleveland to address growing farm and labor discontent.
Grover Cleveland was the first Democratic President since President Buchanan. He strongly believed in the concept of laissez-faire, the idea that the government should not get involved within the economy or businesses. Cleveland was able to please the South by placing two former Confederates on his cabinet. He was known through his term for vetoing bills passed by Congress. Under his administration, Cleveland had a budget surplus, thus arose the name "Million Dollar Congress." Cleveland decided to lower taxes in order to get rid of the surplus via the McKinley Tariff. However the Tariff angered farmers because the act forced them to buy manufactured foods from high-price protected American factories and also made them sell their own agricultural products to an unprotected and high-priced market. Disturbed farmers form the Populist Party, or the People's Party. The Populists demanded inflation through "cheap money." They believed inflation would make it easier to pay off their debts which was their main goal. They also called for graduated income tax, government ownership of the railroads, telegraph, and telephones. As well as the direct election of U.S. senators and a one term limit on the presidency. Cleveland was unable to cope with the economic crisis in which the nation was struggling.
Explain how the mistakes of President Johnson and the white southerners led to more radical polices
Johnson's presidential Reconstruction Andrew Johnson's presidency would be known primarily for the non enforcement and defiance of Reconstruction laws passed by the U.S. Congress and would be in constant conflict constitutionally with the Radicals in Congress over the status of freedmen and whites in the defeated South. Although resigned to the abolition of slavery, many former Confederates were not willing to accept the social changes nor political domination by former slaves. The defeated were unwilling to acknowledge that their society had changed.
Explain why William McKinley proved able to defeat Bryan's populist campaign and how the Republicans' triumph signaled the rise of urban power and the end of the third party system in American politics.
McKinley was a Senator of Ohio first. McKinley's campaign was based on gold a higher value. Hanna proved to show how the gold was worth more and easier to back the money. The end of the third party system was shown because Bryan was on the edge between democrats and populists. So, he became the demo-pops and that caused both the democrats and the populist parties to lose the election. Replaced by the Fourth Party System
describe the various labor unions of the time, their memberships and their goals
National labor union(1866)- unskilled workers, goals were a)settling conflicts with a mediator b)8 hour work day Knights of Labor(1881)- Terence V. Powderly, skilled and unskilled, a)pool money together b)better working conditions c)8 hour work day American Federation of Labor(1886)- Samuel Gompers, skilled workers, a)better wages, b)better hours, c)better working conditions
ESSAY
Opening: -Discuss what "social Darwinism" is: It is the belief (similar to the biological stand point) that the people who are able to adapt to the changing economy will be the most successful. It is just nature's way. -Discuss what "the gospel of wealth" is: It is the belief that the wealthy have either been chosen to control the wealth that they have, or that it is their duty to spread their wealth to less fortunate people. Body: -contrast social Darwinism to the gospel of wealth: Social Darwinism compared to the gospel of wealth are very different: they come from two opposite beliefs: religion and science/evolution. However, they are both excuses for the rich to have their money. Social darwinism, in a sense, is more about how everyone is given a chance in life to make it, but since the poor cannot, it shows how much more advanced, smarter, and all in all better the wealthy are over the other people. On the other hand, the gospel of wealth has a message that there is no specific reason why one person is rich while another person is not; it is just god's way, and no one can control it. -name people associated with each and examples: Social Darwinism: Reverend Russel Conwell was very often associated with it. For example, he made several speeches where his main ideas were that all of the poor people must be very lazy because everyone is given an equal chance at life. The Gospel of Wealth: Andrew Carnegie is associated with this. For example, he said that it was his moral duty to give away a lot of the money he earned through the U.S. Steel. Closing: -opinion: Social Darwinism is just not true and I agree with the Gospel of wealth even though I believe in evolution.
Describe the democratic party's revolt against President Cleveland and the rise of the insurgent William Jennings Bryan's free silver campaign.
The Democratic party thought he seemed to change to a Republican due to the Pullman Strike and depression. Bryan was the new delegate for the Democrat party. He wanted free silver because it was 16oz of silver to 1oz of gold. It would be cheaper to make coins.
Explain why the legacy of Reconstruction and assess its successes and failures
The Reconstruction implemented by Congress, which lasted from 1866 to 1877, was aimed at reorganizing the Southern states after the Civil War, providing the means for readmitting them into the Union, and defining the means by which whites and blacks could live together in a nonslave society. The South, however, saw Reconstruction as a humiliating, even vengeful imposition and did not welcome it. During the years after the war, black and white teachers from the North and South, missionary organizations, churches and schools worked tirelessly to give the emancipated population the opportunity to learn. Former slaves of every age took advantage of the opportunity to become literate. Grandfathers and their grandchildren sat together in classrooms seeking to obtain the tools of freedom. After the Civil War, with the protection of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, African Americans enjoyed a period when they were allowed to vote, actively participate in the political process, acquire the land of former owners, seek their own employment, and use public accommodations. Opponents of this progress, however, soon rallied against the former slaves' freedom and began to find means for eroding the gains for which many had shed their blood. The constitutional amendments and legislative reforms that laid the foundation for the most radical phase of Reconstruction were enacted from 1865 until 1870. By the 1870s Reconstruction had made some progress to provide the former slaves with equal rights under the law, including the right to vote, and with education to achieve literacy. During Reconstruction, most states in the South established public education, although funding was variable. However, much of the initial progress towards equal rights was rolled back between 1873 and 1877, when conservative whites (calling themselves "Redeemers") took power throughout the former Confederacy. In 1877 President Rutherford Hayes withdrew federal troops, causing the collapse of the remaining three Republican state governments. Through the enactment of Jim Crow laws and through extralegal means, the Redeemers subsequently enforced a system of racial segregation which stayed in place throughout the South into the 1960s. During the Civil War, Republican leaders agreed that slavery and the Slave Power had to be permanently destroyed, and that all forms of Confederate nationalism had to be suppressed. Moderates said this could be easily accomplished as soon as Confederate armies surrendered and the Southern states repealed secession and ratified the 13th Amendment—all of which happened by September 1865. President Abraham Lincoln was the leader of the moderate Republicans and wanted to speed up Reconstruction and reunite the nation as painlessly and as quickly as possible. Lincoln formally began Reconstruction in late 1863 with his Ten percent plan, which went into operation in several states but which Radicals opposed. Lincoln pocket vetoed the Radical plan, the Wade-Davis Bill of 1864, which was much more strict than the Ten-Percent Plan. The opposing faction of Radical Republicans were skeptical of Southern intentions and demanded more stringent federal action. Congressman Thaddeus Stevens and Senator Charles Sumner led the Radical Republicans. Radical Republican Charles Sumner argued that secession had destroyed statehood alone but the Constitution still extended its authority and its protection over individuals, as in the territories. Thaddeus Stevens and his followers viewed secession as having left the states in a status like newly conquered territory. The election of 1866 decisively changed the balance of power, giving the Radicals control of Congress and enough votes to overcome Johnson's vetoes and even to impeach him. Johnson was acquitted by one vote, but he remained almost powerless regarding Reconstruction policy. Radicals used the Army to take over the South and give the vote to black men, and they took the vote away from an estimated 10,000 or 15,000 white men who had been Confederate officials or senior officers. The Radical stage lasted for varying lengths in the different states, where a Republican coalition of freedmen, scalawags, and carpetbaggers took control and promoted modernization through railroads and public schools. They were charged with corruption by their opponents, the conservative-Democratic coalition, who called themselves "Redeemers" after 1870. Violence sponsored by the Ku Klux Klan was occasionally overcome by federal intervention. The Republicans believed that the best way for men to get political experience was to be able to vote and to participate in the political system. They passed laws allowing all male freedmen to vote. In 1867, black men voted for the first time. Over the course of Reconstruction, more than 1,500 African Americans held public office in the South. They did not hold office in numbers representative of their proportion in the population, but often elected whites to represent them. (The question of women's suffrage was also debated but was rejected.) The South's white leaders, who regained power in the immediate postwar era before the vote was granted to the freedmen, renounced secession and slavery, but not white supremacy. People who had previously held power were angered in 1867 when their state governments were ousted by federal military forces and replaced by Republican lawmakers elected by blacks, scalawags and carpetbaggers, but there were leaders in the South who tried to accommodate new conditions. Every Southern state subsidized railroads, which modernizers felt could haul the South out of isolation and poverty. Millions of dollars in bonds and subsidies were fraudulently pocketed. One ring in North Carolina spent $200,000 in bribing the legislature and obtained millions in state money for its railroads. Instead of building new track, however, it used the funds to speculate in bonds, reward friends with extravagant fees, and enjoy lavish trips to Europe.[31] Taxes were quadrupled across the South to pay off the railroad bonds and the school costs. There were complaints among taxpayers, because taxes had historically been very low, since there was so little commitment to public works or public education. Taxes historically had been much lower than in the North, reflecting a lack of public investment in the communities.[32] Nevertheless thousands of miles of lines were built as the Southern system expanded from 11,000 miles (17,700 km) in 1870 to 29,000 miles (46,700 km) in 1890. The lines were owned and directed overwhelmingly by Northerners. Railroads helped create a mechanically skilled group of craftsmen and indeed broke the isolation of much of the region. Passengers were few, however, and apart from hauling the cotton crop when it was harvested, there was little freight traffic. As Franklin explains, "numerous railroads fed at the public trough by bribing legislators...and through the use and misuse of state funds." The effect, according to one businessman, "was to drive capital from the State, paralyze industry, and demoralize labor." Reconstruction changed the tax structure of the South. In the U.S. from the earliest days until today, a major source of state revenue was the property tax. In the South, wealthy landowners were allowed to assess the value of their own land. These assessments were almost valueless and the pre-war tax rate was almost nothing. Pre-war southern states did not educate their citizens or build and maintain any infrastructure. State revenues came from fees and from sales taxes on slave auctions. Some states assessed property owners by a combination of land value and a capitation tax, a tax on each worker employed. This tax was often assessed in a way to discourage a free labor market, where a slave was assessed at 75 cents, while a free white was assessed at a dollar or more, and a free African American at $3 or more. Some revenue also came from poll taxes. These taxes were more than poor people could pay, with the designed and inevitable consequence that they did not vote. During Reconstruction, new spending on schools and infrastructure, combined with fraudulent spending and a collapse in state credit because of huge deficits, forced the states to dramatically increase property tax rates. In places, the rate went up to ten times higher—despite the poverty of the region. The infrastructure of much of the South--roads, bridges, and railroads--scarce and deficient as it was--had been destroyed during the war. In part, the new tax system was designed to force owners of large estates with huge tracts of uncultivated land either to sell or to have it confiscated for failure to pay taxes. The taxes would serve as a market-based system for redistributing the land to the landless freedmen and white poor. By 1872, President Grant had alienated large numbers of leading Republicans, including many Radicals by the wanton corruption of his administration and his use of federal soldiers to prop up Radical state regimes in the south
Describe the economic crisis of the 1870's and explain the growing conflict between "hard-money" and "soft-money" advocates.
The economic crisis of the 1870s is the Panic of 1873 which brought economic troubles. The Panic was initiated by the over-spending of borrowed money by large corporations as railroads and factories. The economy had been over-expanding to a point in which the market could no longer sustain the growth. In turn, bankers had too many loans and when they were not being paid the economy began to crumble. The Panic led to the bankruptcy of more than 15,000 businesses. The unemployed swamped the streets holding rallies and riots. The hardest hit community were the blacks. With the Freedman's Savings and Trust Co. bankrupt, black Americans lost more than $7 million in savings. Debtors wanted paper money, or greenbacks, to be printed in order to create inflation that way it would be easier for them to pay their debts. The strategy was called soft money, or cheap money. The wealthy bankers opposed their strategy and favored that of hard money. Hard money would keep the amount of money stable and backed by gold rather than just distributing paper money willy-nilly without any substance or backing. President Grant announced the Resumption Act, which favored the hard money strategy, it lowered the amount of greenbacks in circulation. As retaliation, debtors demanded that the government issue more silver coins. More silver coins would mean more inflation and would make it easier to pay off debt. The nation entered a period of contraction, decreasing the amount of money in circulation and raising the value of the dollar bill.
Describe the responses of both whites and African Americans to the end of slavery.
The freed slaves would be very pleased to see the end of slavery and to be free men/women. However a lot of them did not know what to do, where to go etc all they had known all their lives was slavery. They might have been free, but for some of them they had no homes, no job and worse no money! The Northern Whites would have been pleased to hear about the freedom of the slaves. For the Southern Whites it meant an end to cheap labor and many lost their homes and land because they could not afford to pay people to do the work.
Summarize Frederick Jackson Turner's thesis regarding the significance of the frontier in American history, describe its strengths and weaknesses, and indicate the ways in which the American West became and remains a distinctive region of the United States.
The frontier was a state mind and symbol of opportunity. Strengths: uproot and start a new life with cheap or free land, grow family and life Weaknesses: very hard, droughts, no wood, tough life, rely on government assistance for subsides It inspired authors, areas of racial populations.
Explain how militant white opposition gradually undermined the Republican attempt to empower Southern African Americans
They had laws restricting blacks the right to vote, one such law was the grandfather clause. If your grandfather was considered a slave then you did not have the right to vote. There was also a convict system in which white corporations or just rich whites would hire current convicts (mainly blacks) to work for them for no pay and horrible hours.them for no pay and horrible hours. Of course there was attacks by the KKK and other ex confederate organizations that kept the blacks in constant fear and convinced them to not speak out.
Describe the economic forces that drove farmers into debt, and describe how the Populist Party organized to protest their oppression, attempted to forge an alliance with urban workers, and vigorously attacked the two major parties after the onset of the depression of the 1890s.
They had to buy expensive equipment to tend to their farms. With all the equipment meant they could produce more crop in less time. More crop meant it wasn't worth as much and the world was in a depression so it wan't worth as much any more and the farmers couldn't pay back there loans as quickly. The Populist Party wanted to free silver and attacked Wall Street, in order to get their voice heard. The Pullman Strike of 1894 was the most dramatic. The American Railway Union overturned Pullman cars and paralyzed railway traffic from Chicago. Richard Olney told Cleveland that the Pullman Strike was making it hard to get mail into Chicago. Debs was thrown into jail.
Analyze the brief flowering and decline of the cattle and mining frontiers, and the settling of the arid West by small farmers increasingly engaged with a worldwide economy.
Trains brought the people out. Gold and silver were found, brought too many people - not enough gold, eventually machines took over and put the small men out of business. Similar to the cattle industry. One point they were able to get huge herds of cattle across the plains to railroads across the country. Once more people came out the cattle ate to much and land became scarce and large corporations took over to survive.
Describe the nature of the cultural conflicts and battles that accompanied the white American migration into the Great Plains and the Far West.
the white Americans tried to wipe out the Indian way of life through the Dawes Severalty Act. The white people didn't like the migratory life of the Indians and tried to change that so they would settle. Indians killed the buffalo to survive and the white man killed the buffalo for sport and didn't care if they wiped it out. The white people brought disease and alcohol which was harmful, but in return the Indians fought them. Forced them onto reservations and killed them if they acted up
Describe how the end of Reconstruction led to the loss of black rights and the imposition of the Jim Crow system of segregation in the South.
By passing the COmpromise of 1877 and removing federal troops from the south, white southerners reasserted their power over the freed blacks. Most blacks were forced to become sharecroppers. Where they farmed land that they didn't own and when harvest season came had to give most of their profit to the land owner. The fees were so high that the black workers would never get out of debt. Now "free" workers were working under the same conditions and the same families they had been slaves for before the Civil War. In order to further segregate the states enacted the Jim Crow laws. Southern states also performed literacy tests, registration laws, and poll taxes to prevent the black population from voting. The Supreme Court gave their approval to the segregation in 1896 during Plessy v. Ferguson. The Supreme Court declared "separate but equal." If one did not follow the laws placed before them they would be punished by the law or worse, the would be lynched by white civilians. The worst year was 1892, when a total of 230 people were lynched. Reconstruction ended before reconstruction could be completed because of that black americans would be tortured because of their race for years to come.
Explain the rise of class conflict between business and labor in the 1970s and the growing hostility to immigrants, especially the Chinese.
The Panic of 73' caused tension within the classes. in 1877, the four largest railroads got together and cut employee wages by 10%. In retaliation the workers went on strike. President Hayes was forced to call in federal troops to ease the unrest of the striking workers. Unfortunately the strike failed, exposing the weakness of the labor movement at the time. Ethnic clashes was also a problem. The largest was that of the Chinese and Irish. Clashes started when Chinese competed for low-paying jobs. In the minds of the Irish, the Chinese were stealing what is theirs. In 1880, 75,000 Asian newcomers were reported by California. The Chinese immigrants were mostly poor, uneducated, single males. They frequently got jobs building railroads. But after the railroads were built many left and returned back home to China. Many others stayed and struggled for odd jobs. Irishman Denis Kearney from San Francisco fired up his followers to abuse the Chinese. It was said that the "rice-eater" had no chance against the "beef-eater" in a life and death struggle for jobs. In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. The act prohibited further immigration from China. The act would finally be lifted in 1943. Many attempted to strip Chinese Americans of their citizenship. The Supreme Court ruled in U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark that the 14th amendment guaranteed citizenship to all persons born in the United States.
Describe the actual effects of congressional Reconstruction in the South.
The Radical Republican Congress sought to safeguard the rights and liberties of African-Americans, and for a time, it succeeded at least in part. Black men held public office at the local, state, and federal levels. Black communities established their own churches, schools, and associations. The South as a whole received some of its first public hospitals and public schools. Reconstruction did not last longer than a decade in most places, but it was a critically important time that would be remembered for generations by blacks and whites alike (though usually in very different ways).
Explain why the radical Republicans impeached Johnson but failed to convict him
The Radical Republicans wanted to impeach Tennessee-native President Andrew Johnson because they perceived him to be a Southern sympathizer who wanted to allow the Southern states that had seceded back into the Union immediately and almost unconditionally. They saw Johnson as a threat to their Reconstruction plans. The conflict over Reconstruction was the underlying reason for Johnson's impeachment; the stated reason for impeachment was that he violated the 1867 Tenure of Office Act by (attempting to) fire Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, among other things. In February 1868, the US House of Representatives voted to bring eleven articles of impeachment against Johnson. He was later acquitted at his senate trial
Define the major problems facing the South and the nation after the Civil War
The biggest problem for both sides was that there was a huge population of freed slaves and no good ideas on how to integrate them into society, since they were often unskilled and illiterate. The Freedmen's Bureau was set up as a sort of welfare agency to help them. The original idea was that a few freemen could be helped and integrated into society and they would turn around and help other freedmen. This failed because they were not enough jobs in the north for the freed slaves and so they stopped trying. The South had been completely and totally destroyed during the Civil War and had to face the daunting task of rebuilding. Their age-old socioeconomic structure had collapsed along with slavery, something the white southerners were particularly bitter about. They managed to find a way to legally reinstate slavery under a new name through sharecropping and Jim Crow laws and the Ku Klux Klan developed to prevent free blacks from voting. The Reconstruction failed to help freedmen gain footing in the nation, and in some ways, set the stage for the civil rights movement that was to come in the sixties.
analyze social changes brought by industrialization, particularly, the altered position of working men and women
-with industrialization, things changed, such as the way people worked in comparison to old farming ways (less reliable wages that depended on economy, specific times of work), standards of living went up -now, anyone could have a job. Even immigrants who do not have any desirable skills could now get jobs working in factories and so could women, even though their pay was significantly lower. -also, at this time, it was beginning to become more and more common to have a single person in a family as the "breadwinner". The only problem was that if this person became ill or for some reason could not work, their family would be without money.
Explain the development of federal policy towards Native Americans in the late nineteenth century.
Reservation system: created boundaries for tribes and attempted to separate Indians into North and South with white settlements in between. Dawes Severalty Act: to wipe out Indian culture and get them to behave like white people
