History 103 Midterm 1 Study Questions

What happened to Cheif Joseph in 1877 and what was his famous speech?

"I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, to see how many I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." And then, the story goes, Joseph put his blanket over his head in a token of shame and went back into his tent. Well, rather than being sent back to the reservation, Joseph and about 400 of his followers were instead sent to a military prison at Fort Leavenworth Kansas. Then, for seven years they were relocated to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Only in the late 1880s were allowed to go back to Oregon, but NOT on the reservation with the rest of the Nez Perce, but to a different area entirely. Well, Joseph and his people actually received a lot of sympathy from these circumstances, especially as Joseph himself had always been a strong advocate for peace. And for the remainder of his life he was a calm but determined voice calling for justice for his people and for all Native Americans.

What was the Zimmerman Telegram?

. In the meantime, expecting war with the United States the Germans sent the Zimmermann Telegram. The German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann sent a coded telegram to the German Embassy in Mexico City telling the ambassador to make an offer to Mexico. If Mexico joined the war with Germany, when Germany won it would make sure that Mexico received large chunks of the land it lost to the United States in the Mexican-American War in 1848 (Texas, New Mexico, Arizona). The British decoded the telegram and released a transcript right about the time the first American ships were sunk by German submarines. Americans were outraged! How dare the Germans offer to give BACK to Mexico land we stole fair and square in 1848!" (Such land transfers after war were (and still are) rather common in Europe.)

What was Muckraking?

A group of writers for popular magazines and newspapers, who became known as "MUCKRAKERS." These were individuals willing to examine the deepest, dirtiest secrets of American Society.

Who is George Armstrong Custer?

A junior office serving under the great cavalry officer Phil Sheridan during the Civil War. After the war he became famous

Who was John D. Rockefeller?

A key figure of horizontal integration was JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER and his Standard Oil Corporation. Through hook and crook Rockefeller came to control one aspect of the oil industry-OIL REFINING-all across the board. Through a series of disreputable (and often illegal) business practices he undersold competitors and forced them out of business. Eventually Standard Oil became the dominant refiner of oil in the world, with a monopoly on production.

Who was Andrew Carnegie?

A key figure who used vertical integration was ANDREW CARNEGIE. As a boy he immigrated with family from Scotland. Working his way up from a message runner, be came the owner of a railroad, and then the first to invest in new technology to manufacture steel. Carnegie came to realize that if he own the mines providing materials to his steel mills, and railroads linking mines to mill, and mill to market, he could cut costs all along the way, invest more money in his business and undersell his competition. He did and Carnegie Steel became the largest steel producer in the world

What were political machines and what was the most famous (or notorious) political machine?

A political machine was simply a political organization intending to win elections and control government offices. The best known as well as the most notorious of the political machines of the period was Tammany Hall which controlled Democratic politics in New York City and New York State. Under Tammany, New York City, for example was organized into Wards and Blocks, with bosses and block captains over each, who were responsible for knowing what was going on in those areas every day. Who was having problems? Who needed help? Who had a birth, marriage, or death to attend to?

What was the Ghost Dance?

A religion that started inn western Nevada in the late 1860s when a Paiute holy man claimed a series of visions in which the Great Spirit called him to have his people perform a traditional circle dance, and if they did so in unity, the spirits of departed Indians would return, and whites would disappear, and a glorious age would dawn among Native Peoples. He also gave a series of prophecies which were widely believed among Native American groups in western Nevada and eastern California and Oregon. However, his influence waned when his prophecies were not fulfilled at the appointed times. BUT, some twenty years later another Paiute holy man named Wovoka (more commonly known as Jack Wilson) had his own dramatic vision during a solar eclipse in 1889. Also emerging with a message from the Great Spirit, Wovoka claimed the first prophet had not been prepared enough spiritually to fully convey what Native Americans needed to do. Introducing a new type of round dance, which became known as the GHOST DANCE, his followers were also instructed to dance wearing clothing with sacred markings. The Great Spirit told him that his people needed to live together in love and not fight each other. That Jesus would return to the earth in a few years and when he did, whites would disappear from the west (although not from the eastern U.S.), and the dead Indians would return to a new perfect land of abundance. IN the meantime, Indians should not fight or steal, and should try to remain in peaceful relations with the white.

What was the Bolshevik revolution and why did Americans care about it?

A revolution led by radical socialists, or COMMUNISTS in what became known as the BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION (because that is what the dominant communist faction in Russia was called), took Russia out of the war. They also talked about spreading worldwide communist revolution and even set up a body known as the Communist International, or Comintern, to promote it. Some were inspired by the possibility of the complete reordering of society, many more Americans were terrified by it. Having made progress during the war in regard to wages and working conditions, some unions tried to aggressively press their advantage in the postwar period. A series of violent strikes occurred, with some labor leaders inspired by events in Russia to take things to the extremes. In addition, acts of terrorism took place, most spectacularly when bombs were mailed to prominent businessmen and conservative political leaders. A bomb was also placed on the front porch of the attorney general of the United States, A. Mitchell Palmer. It exploded and blew in the door, but it also killed the bomber. When police examined the remains of the body, they found flyers for a radical anarchist organization in the pocket of his overcoat. This led to the first red scare

What was the (first) Red Scare about?

A series of violent strikes occurred, with some labor leaders inspired by events in Russia to take things to the extremes. In addition, acts of terrorism took place, most spectacularly when bombs were mailed to prominent businessmen and conservative political leaders. A bomb was also placed on the front porch of the attorney general of the United States, A. Mitchell Palmer. It exploded and blew in the door, but it also killed the bomber. When police examined the remains of the body, they found flyers for a radical anarchist organization in the pocket of his overcoat. All of this led to what became known as the (FIRST) RED SCARE. (There was a second after World War II.) For his part, Palmer launched a crackdown on radical groups and organizations, including the IWW, known as the PALMER RAIDS. It was at this point that Big Bill Heywood was arrested, then jumped bail, and headed for Communist Russia. Well, thousands were arrested and hundreds, many of whom had immigrated to this country decades before as children or young adults, were stripped of their citizenship and deported to Russia.

Who is Black Kettle?

A southern Cheyenne leader who tried to keep his people out of the conflict happening in Colorado.

What was the new middle class?

A whole new class of workers known as the NEW MIDDLE CLASS. The NEW MIDDLE CLASS were wage workers, who had special skills that earned them a middle class income, but WERE NOT independent. These are what we often call "white-collar workers" today who do all the paper work necessary to run a business but don't shovel coal or do the hard physical work. This loss of independence for increasing number of American workers is something that comes to characterize society starting in the Gilded Age.

What was the Great Migration?

AFRICAN AMERICANS also found greater opportunity during the war. Even before the United States entered the conflict American industry began to expand to meet the weaponry need of European nations. This create a significant expansion of industrial production in the north even as European nations were starting to stop the emigration (leaving of the country) of their people because they wanted their own citizens to stay and serve in the army. Consequently African American began to find much greater opportunity in northern cities than ever before. This prompted the GREAT MIGRATION. Between 1912 and 1920, about half a million African Americans left the South, where they were trapped in near-slavelike conditions as share-croppers or tenant farmers, and made their way to jobs that provided economic opportunity in places like Chicago, St. Louis, or New York. In the postwar period about ten million African Americans would make such a move.

What was the purpose of the New York State Factory Commission and what groups were represented on it?

Al Smith and ROBERT WAGNER created the New York State Factory Investigating Commission to investigate and recommend reforms. Perkins, would be a member and a tireless contributor to its successful reforms. Surprisingly, the commission also had the support of organized labor, including Samuel Gompers. Labor generally opposed government intervention in the workplace, because government tended to oppose unions and work against their interests. But this was a circumstance where Gompers and other union leaders saw that government could make a contribution that would help workers. Over the next two years 56 laws dealing with fire hazards, unsafe machinery, people working out of their homes, as well as wages and hours regulations for women and children were passed through the New York State Legislature. Inspired by the tragedy, other states would soon follow New York's lead.

What were the Fourteen Points and who wrote them?

American president Woodrow Wilson issued his so-called "FOURTEEN POINTS," laying out conditions for what he felt would be a just peace ending the conflict. Among those points was the idea of national self-determination for all peoples, and, something very important to Wilson, the creation of an international body-which would come to be known as "the League of Nations," where international conflicts could be resolved short of war.

Who was Washington Gladden? Richard Ely? Walter Rauschenbusch?

Among the earliest and most influential proponents of the Social Gospel was WASHINGTON GLADDEN. He was pastor of the First Congregational Church of Columbus Ohio. In 1886, which, as you undoubtedly recall (or perhaps don't...), was the year of the Haymarket Riot, he published APPLIED CHRISTIANITY. A response to labor troubles of the time, in it he advocated that Christians pursue a broad program of social reform while working to create social services to address the needs of the working classes. RICHARD ELY was NOT a minister. Instead, he was a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In 1889, he published SOCIAL ASPECTS OF CHRISTIANITY, in which he, like Gladden advocated that churches get involved in pursuing a broad agenda of social reform. He supported efforts to regulate child labor, promote universal childhood education (rather than sending children to work in factories), as well as provisions for childcare and recreation. In addition, he was a strong advocate for political reform. WILLIAM STEAD was the son of a devout British minister. Stead himself became a crusading journalist and editor who often focused of moral issues and on social justice. In 1893 he spent several months in Chicago during which he attended the WORLD COLUMBIAN EXHIBITION, a World's Fair that marked the 400th anniversary of the arrival of Columbus in the new world. Like other such fairs, it was filled with displays of mechanical and agricultural progress. The centerpiece of the exhibition was the so-called "White City," where many of the displays were housed in pavilions constructed of dazing white plaster. Spotless, it represented an ideal vision of the possibilities of the American republic.

Whose idea was the League of Nations and what was it supposed to do?

An idea presented by Woodrow Wilson in the fourteen points that described the creation of an international body-which would come to be known as "the League of Nations," where international conflicts could be resolved short of war. International problems could be resolved short of warfare. He had been chief negotiator on behalf of the United States in Paris and came home with the treaty that included provisions for the League of Nations. However, treaties have to be ratified by 2/3 of the Senate, and the Senate was controlled by the Republicans who didn't fully support the treaty, in particular the parts about the League.

What did the National War Labor Board do?

And then, once the manufacturing got going there was a concern about possible problems with workers and strikes. So this lead to the creation of the NATIONAL WAR LABOR BOARD. It sought to prevent trouble in the workplace by establishing decent wages, a safe workplace, reasonable hours, and allowing workers to establish unions-all things Progressives had tried to establish for some time, but had been prevented from doing so by the courts and the contract clause of the Constitution. HOWEVER, the Nation War Labor Board WAS able to introduce these reforms BECAUSE they were part of the CONTRACTS issued by government! Union membership soared during the war, and wartime production was generally trouble-free. Progressives hoped to maintain these changes after the war.

What were the initiative, referendum, and recall?

At the state level, there were a number or reforms pushed by Progressives in their efforts to fix the problems of American society. Among them was the INITIATIVE. This was a legal reform that allowed the voter to bypass often corrupt state legislatures and make laws by placing items on the ballet through petition. (We call these kinds of things PROPOSITIONS in California.) Why would you need that? Well, in California, for instance, the state legislature was controlled by the Southern Pacific Railroad, which meant that if something was not good for the railroad, it didn't get past the legislature. In Wyoming, cattle interests controlled the legislature, in Colorado, mining corporations, in places like Pennsylvania or New York, corrupt political machines. The initiate was thus seen as a way to take control from these often corrupt institutions. A referendum is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a new policy or specific law, or the referendum may be only advisory. Another Progressive measure was RECALL which allowed voters to recall and replace an elected official before the end of his term if he was seen as corrupt or inept. Back in 2003, Californians, for example, angry about rising energy costs and car taxes recalled Governor Gray Davis and at the same time elected Arnold Schwarzenegger (aka the GOVERNOR) who then fixed all of our problems...or didn't as case may be. So, sometimes recall is good, sometimes, not so much.

Who was Booker T. Washington and what did his "Atlantic Exposition Address" say?

BOOKER T. WASHINGTON was born into slavery of Virginia, and about nine years old when he and his family was freed near the end of the Civil War. Intelligent, strong-willed and ambitious, he taught himself to read and was able to save up money to attend Hampton Institute, a school set up to educate former slaves. After Hampton he continued his education at Wayland Seminary, in Washington D.C. At age 25, he was chosen as the first director of The Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama. The school was a teacher training college, but Washington also had the students learn construction, mechanical, and farming skills so they could then teach them to students when they returned to their communities after the completion of their education. Washington hoped through these means to help his community develop the knowledge and skills that would serve as the tools needed to raise themselves up economically and socially. In these way, he believed, they could most rapidly gain social and civil equality. Washington's work attracted a great deal of attention from the white community. In 1895 he was invited to speak about his work at "The Atlanta Cotton States and International Exhibition," a fair held to celebrate the economic development of the "New South." Washington agreed, on the condition that his own people be allowed to attend. So, speaking before a racially mixed (albreit segregated) audience, Washington delivered what is known as "The Atlanta Exhibition Address," also sometimes known as "The Atlanta Compromise." In this speech Washington advocates whites and blacks working together for common economic gain, saying that in so doing, the differences that separate the races will slowly fade away. What he is NOT advocating, is an aggressive push for full civil and social equality for blacks right away. This became known as the policy of ACCOMMODATION. Whites love this, because it requires them to do nothing and seems to push the issue of racial equality to some point in the distant future. But not members of the African American community loved it.

What was Conservation?

CONSERVATION, which means WISE USE OF NATURAL RESOURCES. While PRESERVATION means preserving nature (this is what national parks seek to do), CONSERVATION means WISE USE of NATURAL RESOURCES. The first forest reserve act was passed under Grover Cleveland to manage the dwindling amounts of uncut forest lands in the nations. Roosevelt added more than 12.5 million acres to national forests, brought mineral lands and water power sites into system. He also established the NATIONAL FOREST SERVICE to manage them and appointed the first head forester: GIFFORD PINCHOT, who had been trained in Germany about forest management. In 1902 also backed the Newlands Reclamation Act, that set aside proceeds from land sales for irrigation projects in the west. Roosevelt is closely associated with this issue

Who was Woodrow Wilson? The New Freedom?

During the 1912 election, the Democratic candidate was Woodrow Wilson, and he ran against ROOSEVELT, NOT Taft. He was moderately progressive and ran with a platform known as the NEW FREEDOM. Whereas Roosevelt argued for aggressive national regulation that would PREVENT problems from emerging. Wilson took a more moderate approach. He said that rather than presenting problems, the nation should have the tools to address them AFTER they arose. A seemingly small but significant shift in focus.

What was the Gentlemen's Agreement?

During this same time period Japan joined in the informal GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT. So, like China, Japan had been locked in self-imposed isolation until forced to open its doors by outsiders- in Japan's case, starting with the United States in the 1850s. But while China was unable to take control of the process of interaction with the larger world, Japan aggressively adapted, and by 1900 (in one of the greatest accomplishments in world history) had become a fully modern world power. As part of this process, many Japanese citizens began to migrate to other lands. A significant number ended up on the west coast of the United States, many in San Francisco. Given the racial (meaning RACIST) attitudes of the day, the children of Japanese immigrants were segregated into separate schools. The Japanese government was angry about this and protested. As a result, President Theodore Roosevelt stepped in to negotiate the so-called Gentleman's Agreement. In this, San Francisco agreed NOT to segregate Japanese children (there was only something like 93 or so of them) and in return, Japan agreed to encourage its citizens to go somewhere else! Like to South America! That SEEMED to resolve the issue, but I think you can see why the Japanese remained kind of steamed about it: It implied that their citizens were not good enough to go to the United States!

What was the Chinese Exclusion Act?

In 1882, Chinese immigrant were almost completely cut of through passage in Congress through the CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT.

What was Urban Liberalism?

Earlier in the 1800s, as businesses grew big and powerful, economists talk about Laissez Faire or classical liberalism, which meant the government stayed out of the way of business to promote freedom. BUT, even as business grew very big and powerful, first in the Europe and then in the United States, a new kind of liberalism emerged. This said that in order to protect the liberty or freedom of the COMMON PEOPLE against the power and abuse of big business and wealthy individuals, government had to do more than simply stay out of the way. Rather, government had to actively protect workers through laws that regulated workplace safety, or even limited how many hours a week they could work. This is URBAN LIBERALISM.

What was The Maine?

Early in 1898, one of the brand-new battleships-the U.S.S. MAINE-had been sent to Havana Harbor to protect American citizens living there. This angered Spain, who saw the move a potential interference in Spanish affairs, and it angered many conservative supporters of the Spanish government in Cuba. Well, on the morning of February 15, 1898, the Maine exploded and settled to the bottom of the shallow harbor. In the tremendous blast, 264 sailors were killed. Many jumped to the conclusion that it was an act of sabotage. That the Spanish (or those sympathetic to the Spanish in Cuba) exploded a bomb or mine alongside the hull of the Maine that set off its powder magazine-where all the gunpowder for the ship's weapons was stored. Newspapers fed such views. Others, however, thought it might have been an accidental explosion-the result of a new model of ship that was poorly designed-the coal bunker shared a common bulkhead with the powder magazine. And perhaps a smoldering fire in the coal bunker could have detonated the powder. Over a period of a century three different investigations were undertaken, and with each, a different conclusion was reached. While an accidental explosion might seem more likely, the evidence is less than conclusive. Many Americans at the time BELIEVED it was Sabotage! Well, Americans had been outraged over Spanish treatment of the Cuban people and were demanding that Spain agree to reform. Spain had repeatedly promised to do so, but failed to deliver. Spain had also refused offers on the part of the United States to mediate the dispute to stop the fighting. Now with the sinking of the Maine, newspapers-with Pulitzer and Hearst in the lead-were writing sensationalistic accounts of Spanish atrocities and pushing strongly for war. And American public opinion began to shift strongly toward a pro-war position after the sinking of the Maine.

What was the so-called "Red Summer"?

One of the areas where this became very visible soon after the war was in race relations. The wave of African American migration from the South to northern cities was followed by a series of race riots during the summer of 1919. So many, in fact, that the period became known as "RED SUMMER." Racial tensions and economic competition with returning servicemen eventually led to dozens of outbreaks of violence, including in Washington D.C. and Chicago. In the latter case, riots that last several days left dozens dead.

What did Frederick Jackson Turner write about?

FREDERICK JACKSON TURNER was a professor at the University of Wisconsin (eventually he would move to Harvard) he presented a paper at the 1893 meeting of the American Historical Association, held that year in Chicago-on the grounds of the World Columbian Exhibition. In his paper, titled "THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FRONTIER IN AMERICAN HISTORY," Turner argued that the distinctive aspects of American democracy were due to the presence of an enormous bank of open land along the western frontier that Americans were able to expand westward into with each generation. Each generation was able clear land and establish farms, ranches and other businesses and prosper according to their energy and ability. As they raised themselves up with each generation, he argued, they left behind intrenched social hierarchies and outmoded practices, enriching themselves economically, but also reinvigorating American democracy! The problem was, according to Turner, the census of 1890 revealed there WAS NO MORE FRONTIER to expand into! SO how was American democracy going to remain vital and alive? Well, Turner said, almost in passing, maybe we can reinvigorate American democracy by doing what the Europeans are doing: teaching democracy to other peoples!

What were Jim Crow Laws?

For a period after the end of Reconstruction, racial violence towards Blacks in the South declined. Scholars say that is because whites had won the battle over race relations. But, by the latter 1880s, a new generation of African Americans were coming to maturity who had not been conditioned by "the lash" or other forms or racial violence to be naturally deferential to whites. They were desiring greater equality and greater opportunity and access to the full benefits of citizenship. In consequence, whites began to find means to prevent Blacks from challenging the racial hierarchy of the South. In legal terms this gave rise to "Jim Crow" laws and new state constitutions that placed Blacks in an unequal positions. The term "Jim Crow" has its origins in a racist stereotype of African Americans, and has came to refer during this period to legal efforts to disadvantage African Americans.) Mississippi was one of the first states to enact such measures but they quickly spread throughout the South in the 1880s and 1890s.

Who was Geronimo?

GERONIMO was an Apache who was famous for his ongoing fights of resistance against U.S. and Mexican forces. As a young man, Geronimo's wife, mother, and young daughter were murdered by a Mexican raid on his village. For the next thirty years, he led small bands of his people on raids of vengeance on Mexican villages. In the late 1870s and 1880s this actually led to some rare cross-border cooperation when U.S. and Mexican troops joined together to try to track Geronimo and his followers down, when they fled the reservation on three separate occasions. On each of these three times, Geronimo surrendered to U.S. forces, not because he was defeated in battle, but because he and his people were just too tired to keep on running. On the third occasion, Geronimo was arrested and held in custody for the rest of his life. While not in a prison cell, he was kept on army bases and under guard, but allowed to attend a number of events such as fairs and celebrations. Like Sitting Bull, he learned to make money on such occasions by selling photographs of himself and other items like bows and arrows. He became, over time a symbol of someone who had fought to preserve traditional practices, but also representative of a people whose world had been changed forever and who were forced to adapt to modern ways.

Why did sweatshops, slums, and child labor rise dramatically in the latter 1800s?

One of the consequences of the use of new machinery in industry was the de-skilling of labor, meaning that it didn't take as much experience or skill to work in this new environment that had previously been the case when, cloth, for example, had been hand woven by skilled artisans. Far less knowledge and skill was needed to help operate machinery in textile mills, and consequently, workers did not need as much training and could be relatively easily replaced. This also meant they could be paid less. In industrial areas, therefore, workers often worked long hours for little pay. This often meant ENTIRE FAMILIES had to work to make ends meet, leading to CHILD LABOR. In addition, SWEATSHOPS arose in the garment industry where workers (generally women) sewed as fast as they could because they were payed by the "piece" of a garment they sewed. But even when everyone worked, the pay was so low, and competition for housing so high that people lived in overcrowded apartments or TENEMENTS, in run down, poorly served parts of cities known as SLUMS.

Who was George Washington Plunkitt and what did he say about graft?

George Washington Plunkitt was a successful Tammany Hall "boss" who was very well-known in the latter nineteenth and early twentieth century. He believed in honest graft- by not gambling or be disloyal but instead buying up property when someone tells you it will soon become valuable.

What was the Transcontinental Railroad Act?

HE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD ACT encouraged the building of railroads crossing the nation by subsidizing their construction through gifts of government land for every mile of track laid. The first line was completed when the Union Pacific building westward, and the Central Pacific building eastward met at Promontory Utah on May 10, 1869, marked by the ceremonial driving of the Golden Spike. For every mile of track laid by each of those railroads, the government gave them alternating sections of land (a section being one-mile square) stretching back for seven miles on each side. Later railroads would be given twenty, and even forty square miles of government land for every mile of track laid. The railroads could then market and sell that land to cover the cost of construction. As they did so they attracted even more farmers and ranchers from the Midwest and Europe. But he railroads also rendered mineral deposits more accessible, leading to mining booms, with the creation of smelters, as well, drawing many thousands westward, including miners from southern and eastern Europe and up from Mexico as well. In your text there is a map that shows the percentage of those who were foreign born in the nation in 1910. In larger portions of the West, the majority of the population was foreign born and had been drawn into the western United States only in the decades after the Civil War.

Who was Hiram Johnson?

HIRAM JOHNSON was a key player in this regard in CALIFORNIA. He gained prominence when he had successfully prosecuted San Francisco machine boss Abe Reuf. With middle-class support he was elected governor in 1910, running against political machines and the influence of the Southern Pacific Railroad which controlled much of the state. He promised to "kick the Southern Pacific Railroad out of politics." He pushed for and saw enacted the direct primary, recall, and the initiative. He then established railroad regulation through a powerful railroad commission-which, however, benefitted big agribusiness. All in all, however, the agenda of his first term served the interests of middle-class Californians. But in his SECOND TERM he supported a series of social reforms and his constituency was now largely working-class and immigrant Californians. His goals including enacting measures establishing employers' liability for workplace injuries and deaths (workman's comp) as well as free textbooks for public schools. His second term agenda was part of what came to be called URBAN LIBERALISM.

Who was Queen Liliuokalani?

Hawaii was a constitutional monarchy. Back in the late 1700s and early 1800s the warrior King Kamehameha united all the Hawaiian Islands under his leadership. His descendants and then members of a related high-status family continued to rule the islands after his death. In 1887, a new constitution was forced on the monarchy to accept a parliamentary system of government. When the king at the time died, and his sister-LILIUOKALANI-rose to the throne, it became clear she wished to cast aside the limitation of that constitution to reclaim the broader powers her brother had been forced to give up.

What was the Square Deal?

He ran on a platform known as THE SQUARE DEAL. He advocated a stronger role for the national government-trying to recover some of the powers it had gathered during the Civil War but had been stripped of in the subsequent decades. Primarily concerned with reigning in abuses of coporate power

What about the New Nationalism?

Roosevelt called his platform the NEW NATIONALISM. He saw the central issue in 1912 as involving human welfare vs. property rights, and he said property had to be controlled "to whatever degree the public welfare may require it." As he saw it, the Government would become "the steward of the public welfare." What did he mean by that? Ultimately, he advocated government price fixing for corporate industry. He sought to pursue goals of social justice by pushing through congress laws regulating child labor, establishing a federal workman's compensation measure, and having government step in to regulate labor relations. He also called for a national minimum wage for women.

Who was Henry Laurens Dawes and what was the Dawes Act?

Henry Laurens Dawes was Senator from Massachusetts and had a plan that he advocated that he felt would provide a solution to the problems faced by the Indians. Dawes's plan was to allocate reservation land to individual tribal members (with careful protections), and grant them citizenship, which they did not enjoy, with the intent of assimilating them into the American mainstream. Dawes's plan was debated on and off for the next ten years when growing sympathy for Native Americans led to its passage. The Dawes Act was the result of the best efforts of well-intended people to help the Indians. It allowed the president of the United States to designate tribes for "allotment." That meant that their reservations would be distributed to individual tribal members on the following basis: male heads of household would receive 160 acres of land (an acre being about a football field and a half in size, a 160 acres was commonly believed to be the most land that any one farmer could profitably farm), males NOT heads of household over 18 years of age received 80 acres of land, and males under 18 received 40 acres of land. And women, received NOTHING.(This is especially ironic because in those tribes that did practice agriculture, it was generally the women who did.) This land would then become the private property of the individuals to whom it had been allotted, but it couldn't be sold, or traded or TAXED for twenty years. (The framers of the law didn't want Native Americans cheated out of their land.) If the land was not really fit for farming, then the allotments would be doubled (320 acres rather than 160) so the land could be used for ranching. Well, after tribal members received their allotments, then the rest of the reservation land would be auctioned off to the highest bidder. A portion of the proceeds from those sales would then be used to support Indian schools, where Indians would be given a basic education, and schooled in market agriculture so they could move into the mainstream of the nation's economy. The Dawes Act was a disaster. By this point the Indians had already been moved to areas where the land wasn't very good, so the auctions didn't bring in much money for the schools. In the meantime, because

What was Plessey v. Ferguson?

Homer Plessy was a mixed-race resident of New Orleans who purposely rode on an all white railroad car to challenge Louisiana's legal segregation laws. Arrested and charged, he took his case to through the court system, reaching the Supreme Court in April of 1896. In the case PLESSY V. FERGUSON the court ruled 7-1 that states COULD separate people on the basis of race, as long as they provided equal facilities. So for the next 60 years, the principle of SEPARATE BUT EQUAL was upheld under the Constitution.

Who was Ida B. Wells?

IDA B. WELLS had been a young girl living in Mississippi when freed from slavery by the Emancipation Proclamation during the Civil War and a young woman when both her parents died in a Yellow Fever epidemic. This left here to care for several younger siblings. She became a school teacher for a time, then moved to Memphis, Tennessee where she co-owned and wrote for a newspaper-The Memphis Free Speech-which dealt with issues of racial equality. In the 1880s she sued a railroad to overturn its segregation policies (and won), and by the 1890s, was turning her attention to the rise of racial violence in the South. When lynchings first began to rise, they were frequently justifying the white community by saying these were cases of rapes of white women by black men. Wells wrote in her autobiography that, while she deplored the violence, she understood the anger because all communities want to protect their wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers. BUT, she wrote, then she learned the truth when a friend of hers was murdered along with his two business partners for starting a grocery store in a black neighborhood, which challenged the economic control of two white grocers in the area. A growing conflict emerged which led to the death of her friend and his business partners. In the white community this was described as another case of rape, but Wells knew that was not the case. So, she began to investigate other such murders and found that they were the result of individuals (most often black men, but sometimes black women, as well as some white men, and women) who had violated or challenged established racial, social, or political hierarchies. In other words, rapes were NOT the reason all this violence was taking place. She began to publish her findings, despite the stream of death threats that came her way. Eventually, for her safety, she left Tennessee and moved to Chicago, where she continued her work. She kept a running tally of lychings which she titled THE RED RECORD. She hoped by exposing this violence it would shame the nation into taking concrete steps to end it-in particular she hoped for the establishment of a national anti-lynching law. She would not live to see it-she died in 1931-but because of her effor

Who was Ida Tarbell and hat did she write about?

IDA TARBELL was a mudracker. She was the daughter of an oil refiner in Ohio who was forced out of business by John D. Rockefeller. In a series of articles that first appeared chapter by chapter in McCLURES, a popular muckraking journal at the time, and then in published volume, Tarbell took on Standard Oil and exposed all the dishonest, disreputable, illegal, and immoral ways that John D. Rockefeller made his fortune. This eventually led to Standard Oil being taken to court by the government with the result that the corporation was forced to break up into a series of smaller competing units, ending its monopoly.

What was Imperialism?

Imperialism is the practice, theory or attitude of maintaining or extending power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing not only hard power, but also soft power. Imperialism focuses on establishing or maintaining hegemony and a more or less formal empire.

What was the Seneca Falls Convention about? Who was Elizabeth Cady Stanton? Susan B. Anthony?

In 1848, at Seneca Falls, New York, the Seneca Falls Convention marked the beginning of the organized women's rights movement. It continued through and beyond the Civil War and for the remainder of the 1800s, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her close friend and associate, Susan B. Anthony became prominent faces in the struggle for women's rights. Remember, women had few legal rights at the time, even to their own property they brought to a marriage. Most women couldn't vote or hold political office either. By the last decades of the 1800s, however, there had been slow, grinding progress to give women the right to vote on a state-by-state basis. This started in the West, and slowly made its way eastward, but by 1910, most women (who lived in eastern states) still could not vote.

What was Social Darwinism and whose idea was it?

In 1859 naturalist Charles Darwin had published his volume The Origin of Species which talked about natural selection. Soon some social scientists began to argue that the same principles that Darwin talked about could be used to understand human society. Among the main theorists of Social Darwinism was the British economist HERBERT SPENCER and the American political scientist WILLIAM GRAHAM SUMNER. They argued that people had different capacities and society had naturally developed to reflect those differences. It is from the Social Darwinists that we get the term SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST. So, according to Social Darwinism, some people work in dangerous conditions in factories because of their natural atributes-namely that they are lazy and stupid! If they were smart and energetic, the theorists argued, such people would have OWNED the factory! And as society is the result of such complex biological processes and interactions we cannot hope to fully understand, we had best let things run their course without interference. Social Darwinist like Spencer and Sumner thus argued that society should not provide free public schools for the children of poor parents, because it will just encourage poor parents to have more children who will grow up to be just as lazy and stupid as they are! In addition, society should not vaccinate people against infectious diseases because that will just allow "weak" people to survive to pass on their weak traits to the next generation! Better to let them die out and make the race stronger as a result! Social Darwinism is what we call a pseudo-science. Which means it SOUNDS scientific, but it really ISN'T. Its assumptions were overthrown eventually and shown to be the ill-informed theories that they were. BUT, for a time, such ideas were very influential and gave comfort to businessmen who ran dangerous operations.

What was the "Gospel of Wealth" and who wrote about it?

In 1889, Andrew Carnegie wrote an article that appeared in a national magazine that is generally known as THE GOSPEL OF WEALTH. In this article Carnegie asserts that is the duty of those who became wealthy to provide services so that others of talent and ability can use them to raise themselves up. Carnegie, who had come from humble origins himself used the metaphor a beautiful flower might bloom in the midst of a forest to indicate that genius might arise in all kinds of circumstances. This is a good thought, but NOT Social Darwinism, which says insteand that genius will rise no matter what, so no need to do anything to help it! Carnegie, however, argued inherited wealth was a curse and "The man who dies rich dies disgraced." Further that "The kept dollar is a stinking fish." What should the wealthy do? Give away one's fortune in a way that makes the world a better place! Of Carnegie's $400,000,000 fortune (the largest in the world at the time), he gave $350,000,000 away in such gifts, $20 million for a peace endowment, another $30 million in pensions to employees, tenants, friends. He did provide a trust fund for wife and daughter, but for their lifetimes only. He also gave funds for church organs, over 3,000 public libraries in U.S., Britain, Europe, Africa, and Fiji. He also gave funds for the establishment of hospitals. So while his conception of Social Darwinism was somewhat skewed, perhaps his generosity was another way he dealt with his feelings of guilt about the dangerous conditions in his steel mills.

What did Alfred T. Mahan write?

In 1890, ALFRED T. MAHAN, who retired as a Rear Admiral after teaching for many years at the U.S. Naval War College, published a book called: THE INFLUENCE OF SEAPOWER UPON HISTORY. In this volume, Mahan looked at Spain, England, and France, and discussed how each had become a great power because they had a great navy that could protect their colonies and routes of trade. And then he showed how Spain and France went into decline because they lost their naval dominance. Mahan's purpose was to inspire American policymakers to upgrade America's navy. His book was widely read in the United States and got people thinking, not only about the navy, but also about the need for colonies and imperial possessions. (His book was widely read internationally as well, feeding an arms race in naval weaponry that would come to involve Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and the United States.)

What was Muller v. Oregon about? Who was Louis Brandeis and what was the Brandeis Brief?

In 1908, in the case of MULLER v. OREGON, the matter of protective legislation won a major victory. An Oregon law regulating the number of hours women could work was challenged all the way up to the Supreme Court. Protective legislation was most often overturned by the courts at this time because it was seen as in violation of the freedom of contract clause of the Constitution. The Oregon law seemed doomed for the same reason. However, defending the law was talented lawyer named LOUIS BRANDEIS. Brandeis had a sister-in-law who lived at Hull House (Josephine Goldmark) who provided him with some research that was done in Europe which said that if women worked too many hours in the workplace, they wouldn't have enough energy to perform their "basic societal functions." In 1908 that meant taking care of their family and their homes, etc. He argued his case making use of such evidence (a major departure for the time when cases were based almost exclusively on legal theory) backed up with references to social science research-with footnotes it stretched to over a hundred pages. In response to what became known as THE BRANDEIS BRIEF, the Supreme Court bought his argument and the Oregon law survived! And within two years nearly every state in the nation had followed Oregon's lead. With his new type of bried (or legal argument) Brandeis was drawing upon exactly the kinds of ideas-real life experiences-that Holmes had referred to in his Lockner dissent. (Today, such protective legislation as advocated by Brandeis is criticized by scholars because it tended to prevent women from obtaining fully equality in the workplace by keeping them out of certain jobs or professions-which is true. But to be fair, many reformers at the time saw it as an merely an opening wedge to get such legislation to protect ALL workers. What they didn't anticipate was that would not BEGIN to happen for another quarter century.)

What happened at little bighorn?

In June 1876 Custers Scout began to see signs of large numbers of Indians gathering in a small river in modern day Montana aka the Greasy Grass. Custer men began to scout out the era but his men were soon noticed by the Indians so he ordered his men to prepare to attack. Dividing his men he sent one portion of about 100 men under Marcus Reno to attack the village from the south while he rode up behind a ridge line with about 250 men to attack what he believed was the center of the village.

What happened during The Pullman Strike?

In THE PULLMAN STRIKE George Pullman built a factory to produce his railcars on the outskirts of Chicago. Next to it he built a town to house his workers which he called PULLMAN, Illinois. Neat little homes made of uniform yellow burnt brick along tree-lined streets, each home with gas for lighting and heat, and running water. However, all was not perfect. For example, the utility rates for gas and water were 70% higher than in nearby Chicago, and the water pipes only ran to the basements-it would have cost another couple of dollars to run them upstairs. There was a library in town, which everyone had to pay a fee to use whether they used it or not. And there was no church in Pullman, other Pullman's own church, and there was no town council-Pullman gave his workers what HE thought they needed. Nevertheless, by standards of a company town, still pretty nice, and everything seemed to be going fairly well for Pullman's workers. Then came the PANIC of 1893 (commonly known as simply the Panic of '93) which was a major, world-wide economic downturn. The recently industrialized United States with strong and growing ties to the international community was hit especially hard. Unemployment was 50% in manufacturing areas, and up to 80% in mining districts, and would remain high for much of the rest of the decade. During severe economic downturns, people don't travel as much, and when they do, they generally don't go first class. In 1893, this meant that the railroads were not renting Pullman's cars as much. His revenue began to dry up, so to make ends meet, he cut the wages of his workers-generally about 20%, but in some cases up to 70%. But Pullman did not cut the rents on the houses in his town. "I'm running a business," he said, "Not a charity!" Well, his workers muddled through, but then in 1894, there was ANOTHER round of wage cuts. His workers became truly desperate! A small group went in to talk to Pullman and asked him to please rescind some of the last wage cut or perhaps lower their rent! Pullman fired, them. When the rest of the crew heard about this, they walked off the job, and Pullman fired them too! Now ALL of his workers decided to go off on strike! Most of the Pullman workers had recently joined a

Who was Lincoln Steffens and what did he write about?

In a series of Muckraking articles entitled "THE SHAME OF THE CITIES" published in McClure's magazine, another Muckraker, LINCOLN STEFFENS took on the issue of political corruption in the cities. Going to such cities as St. Louis, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, and Chicago, he examined efforts to clean up corrupt municipal governments, and showed what worked, and what didn't.

What happened during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877?

It began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad cut wages for the third time in a year. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was the first strike that spread across multiple different states in the U.S.

What did the Granger Laws regulate?

It regulated railroad freight rates and the amount railroads could charge to store the grain of farmers at silos or grain elevators while it awaited shipment to market. For ten years, these laws provided some relief until the increasingly conservative courts struck them down on the basis that the states were trying to do a job (regulating activities that took place in more than one state) the belonged to the national government.

What was the purpose of the Poll Tax? The Literacy Test? The Grandfather clause?

One important part of this effort was to take the vote away from those African Americans in the South who still exercised the franchise. The POLL TAX was established to discourage Blacks from voting: simply put, you had to pay a tax in order to vote. It might be only a dollar or two, but if you were a share-cropper or tenant farmer in the South, you were likely chronically in debt, and unlikely to have the extra cash that would allow you to cast your ballot. Another way to take the vote away from Blacks was the LITERACY TEST. You would have to take a test to demonstrate to the county-registrar recorder that you are educated enough to cast your vote. These tests took several forms, including simply interpreting a section from the Constitution. But, simply put, if you were Black, and the registrar didn't want you vote, you would not pass. However, if you really were ignorant or illiterate, but were white and the registrar knew you were going to vote the "right way," you could vote anyway if your grandfather voted. This was known as the GRANDFATHER CLAUSE. But, of course, if you were Black, your grandfather did not vote, so it was no help to you.

Who was Jane Addams? What was Hull House?

JANE ADDAMS. came from an upper-middle class family in a relatively small town in the Mid-Western state of Illinois-a background that was fairly typical for leaders of the Progressive generation. Her father owned a lumber mill and had served in the Illinois state legislature alongside Abraham Lincoln. Her father became friends with Lincoln and came go greatly admire him. Among her earliest memories was when she was a small child Lincoln was killed and her family went into mourning. She was a young girl when her mother died. Her father soon remarried, but she was a young woman when he died, leaving her in the care of her stepmother. Inspired by her father and by Lincoln, Adams wanted to do something meaningful with her life. She came from the best educated generation of American women up to that time. But, as they say, all dressed up and nowhere to go! There were few opportunities for young women back then other than to become a school teacher (a job you had to give up if you got married-that whole pregnancy thing was too scandalous for the time...), or, as was the case with a few women (but a surprising significant number given the times) to become a physician. Professionally, there were almost no other options. As she pondered her future, she saw little opportunity in marriage. All of her friends who had marriage, she noted, either became "dolls" (like so-called trophy wives with nothing meaningful to do but look nice) or "drudges" (slaves to the hard work required of Victorian housewives). Neither option appealed to her. Then her stepmother took the family on a tour of Europe (something that for the first time was becoming popular with upper-middle-class Americans) where in London, the came across something called Toynbee Hall. This was established by college students from Cambridge and Oxford Universities. It was located in London's poor East End and the students who volunteered to live there sought ways to serve the needs of the neighborhood. Inspired, Addams came back to the United States, and in the late 1880s she and a friend rented the old Hull Family Mansion in a working class, immigrant section of Chicago and began what they called "an experiment in doing good." Many others soon joined them, gener

Who was William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer?

JOSEPH PULITZER and California's own, WILLIAM RANDOLPH HEARST. Pulitzer, who owned the NEW YORK WORLD newspaper, and for whom the Pulitzer Prize for excellence in journalism is named, was an immigrant from what is today the nation of Hungary. He was locked in a cut-throat competition to sell newspapers with William Randolph Hearst, who owned the NEW YORK JOURNAL. Hearst was the son a wealthy mining engineer and used his inherited wealth to buy up a string of newspapers across the country. Hearst and Pulitzer would do almost ANYTHING to sell newspapers! They would advertise lurid and sensationalistic accounts of crimes on the front page with GIANT TYPE, things like GRISLY MURDER IN THE BOWERY! All this was to get peoples attention and sell newspapers. Sometimes they would even use COLORED INK! WOW! No one had done that before! Red and yellow! THAT got people's attention. In fact, Pulitzer published a comic strip called THE YELLOW KID, using red and yellow ink. It was kind of a political strip in which a bald kid wore a yellow smock that had snarky political comments written on it. The comic strip was so popular, that Hearst stole it and put it in his paper.

Who was Helen Hunt Jackson? What was A Century of Dishonor about?

Jackson had been married to an army officer who had died during the Civil War. She had remarried a railroad executive, so came from a privileged background. She had written some children's stories and some travel literature, but a turning point in her life came when she listened to Standing Bear speak. Inspired, she decided to write a history about the relationship of Native Peoples and the American Government. She titled her work: A Century of Dishonor because the United States had behaved dishonorably to the Indian people by breaking treaties and forcing them repeatedly from their lands. The book was a best seller and Jackson personally sent a copy to every member of Congress. Jackson would devote the rest of her life to the cause of helping the Indian, then turning her attention to fiction to engage a larger share of readers. She wrote a number of novels, the most famous of which was Ramona, which was set in the last days of Mexican California. It was a kind of Romeo and Juliet story about Ramona, a mixed-blood-women who loved a Native American young man named Alessandro. Well, in addition to that, along with Dawes and others, she helped found "The Friends of the Indians," who lobbied government officials for improved policies to help Native Americans. With growing support, in 1887, this finally led to passage of the DAWES SEVERALTY ACT, or more commonly known as the Dawes Act.

What was Coxey's Army?

Jacob Coxey was a successful businessman in Massilon, Ohio. He had long been politically active and was a former member of the Greenback Labor Party. In the wake of the Panic of 1893 Coxey believed that the government should fund large-scale public works programs to provide employment for laboring men. In a particular, he felt the government should pay such workers $1.50/day (not a great wage, but a decent one for the time) to build such improvements like roads. Coxey, who had taken up that wild fad of bicycling riding was especially aware of the need for better roads. He would finance his plan simply by having the government print up more paper money, about $500 million worth! This would not only put people to work, and create better roads, BUT it would also create inflation that would help the farmers! Well, being somewhat politically experienced, he knew that if you had a good idea, you had to get it some attention, so he decided to mount, what hid called "a petition with boots," and began a march from Ohio to Washington, D.C., gathering supporters and signatures for his petition along the way. Joined by some colorful figures, who at times created a circus-like atmosphere, the newspapers jumped on the story. Who joined his march? Unemployed workers, reformers, nuts with nothing else to do. COXEY'S ARMY as the papers referred to Coxey's group, while small in number, struck fear in the hearts of government officials and many of the residents of Washington. Cleveland was still president at this point, and the previous year had given the go-ahead to use troops to deal with the Pullman Strike. Now, bowing to the concerns of Washington residents, he called out the Army again to deal with Coxey and his supporters. On May 1st, Coxey and his followers made their way to the Capitol to present their petition to Congress. They were stopped by the Capitol police, however, (backed up by larger numbers of military men who outnumbered Coxey's group) and told they could not enter the Capitol. Coxey then asked if he alone, could then enter to present his petition, and was given permission to do so. Well, he asked, could he speak to his followers form the Capitol steps? Yes, he was told, but NO BANNERS on the Capitol grou

What did Woodrow Wilson hope to achieve by leading the United States into World War I?

On April 6, 1917, Woodrow Wilson then went to Congress and asked for a declaration of war against Germany. He was not doing this, he said, for territorial expansion or national glory, but to "make the world Safe for Democracy." In other words, while war was a bad thing, the United States joined in for a noble purpose-to protect the democracies of Europe against the authoritarian nations like Germany and Austria-Hungary.

What is the NAACP?

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois, Mary White Ovington, Moorfield Storey, and Ida B. Wells.

What happened at Wounded Knee?

On December 29, 1890, U.S. Army forces were sent to round up Ghost Dancers who had encamped at WOUNDED KNEE Creek to perform their ritual dance. Surrounded by the soldiers, the leaders of the encampment agreed to surrender their hunting rifles and return to their village on the reservation. As they were turning over their guns, however, a fight broke out-perhaps involving a young warrior who was deaf and confused about what was going on-and one of the soldiers was shot. At this, the soldiers began to fire into the camp, and an exchange of gunfire ensued. When the fighting was done some 300 Native Americans had been killed. In the bitter cold temperatures of the day, their bodies soon froze into grotesque shaped before they were buried in mass graves. This peaceful religious movement has thus ended tragically and violently. In the eyes of many this MASSACRE at WOUNDED KNEE was the symbolic end of the Indian Wars.

What events surrounded the construction of the Panama Canal?

One of the first areas where the United States got involved was Panama. Beginning in the 1880s, the French had sought to build a canal across the isthmus at Panama that would link the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean. This would spare ships from making the lengthy and often dangerous trip around Cape Horn (the southern tip of South America) or from having to go through the time-consuming process (with its risk of contracting tropical diseases) of transferring cargo and passenger by land across the isthmus. The French efforts were hindered, however, by severe engineering challenges and by the extremely high death rate inflicted by diseases like malaria and yellow fever. After a decade of trying, the French had made little progress. As the French efforts flagged, the United States expressed interest in taking on the task. By the time Teddy Roosevelt became president, negotiations had begun to pay the French for their rights AND to pay the nation of Columbia, of which Panama was province, for the right to build and manage the canal. A treaty was negotiated and signed and passed successfully through the U.S. Senate. HOWEVER, the Columbian senate, concerned about some aspects of the agreement, refused to ratify it. IN THE MEANTIME, PANAMA was seeking independence from Columbia! As the negotiations over the canal were taking place, another attempt at Panamanian independence was moving forward. Frustrated with Columbia, Roosevelt threw the support of the United States behind Panamanian independence. The first to recognize Panama as a sovereign state, the U.S. Navy moved in to help insure independence by blocking Columbian forces from regaining control. With Panama a new nation, the United States now negotiated the same terms as it had previously with Columbia. The Panamanian government quickly accepted and construction went forward.

What was the Lusitania and why was it important?

One of the things Germany thought it had in its favor was its naval build up had brought a large number of submarines. These could be used to stop goods from getting to Britain. If shipping was attacked, the Germans believed they could serious harm the Allied (British, French, Russian) war effort. So in 1915 they declared the zone around the British Isles a war zone, and said any ships carrying wartime cargo to Britain was liable to be sunk. Many ships were sunk, and this deep hinder British efforts to gain needed wartime supplies. But then in May, of 1915, a British ocean liner, the LUSITANIA was sunk off the coast of Ireland. It sank in 15 minutes, killed 1,200 passengers, including 128 Americans. President Wilson condemned the action and threatened to bring American into the war if the Germans did not back off. Not wanting to bring the Americans in at this point, the Germans backed off!

What was the Eighteenth Amendment? What was the Volstead Act? What were speakeasies? Flappers?

One of them had to do with passage of the EIGHTEENTH AMENDMENT. Proposed by Congress at the end of 1917, it went out to the states and was ratified in January 1919, two months after the end of the war. This was the PROHIBITION AMENDMENT that made it illegal to manufacture or transport intoxicating beverages. Such a move had been pursued by many reformers for decades as a way to deal with the scourge of alcoholism. It gained more support during the Progressive Era and during the war was portrayed as a needed wartime reform because it could save all that grain that would otherwise be used to make booze, and instead send it to feed the hungry people of Europe. When the measure passed, it enjoyed overwhelming support from Americans who saw it as a noble experiment. BUT it was also generally believed when the amendment went into effect, SOME alcohol consumption would be allowed. Instead, when Congress passed the enabling act for the amendment, THE VOLSTED ACT, it allowed virtually NO ALCOHOL to be available. Still most American supported the measure, but now came the big problem: enforcement. It wasn't that it COULDN'T be enforced, rather no level of government wanted the responsibility or the cost of enforcement. The federal government was tiny back then, and there were only one thousand agents in the entire nation who could aid in enforcement. Federal officials expected to rely on state and local authorities to carry out the law. But they were lacking in funds and resources so did not want to take on the job. Consequently, poorly enforced, it was easy to violate. And while it did not create organized crime, criminals saw the opportunity to take advantage of the situation. Illegal bars (known as "SPEAKEASIES") sprang up, and with all the money to be made in the trade, police who might otherwise be interested in cracking down were paid off to look the other way. So not only was prohibition widely violated, it was seen as source of police corruption as well. Things had changed dramatically by the 1920s! Dresses were shorter, sometimes to the knee. Sleeveless dresses were acceptable, and rather than an hourglass shape, a loose shift with a boyish figure was the ideal. Hair was now cut short ('bobbed") and lots of

What was the Knights of Labor? Who was Terence Powderly

One union became known as the KNIGHTS OF LABOR. It had a broad vision of what it was trying to achieve and who should join with them to carry it out. Under its dynamic leader TERENCE POWDERLY it sought to reverse the changes in American society that were causing people to lose income and status. For industrial workers, the Knights hoped to have workers gain the right to share in the ownership of the factories that employed them. Then, the interests of the employees would have to be acknowledged, not just the desire for gain on the part of rich businessmen. Generally, the Knights OPPOSED STRIKES and instead sought ARBITRATION of disputes. This was because they felt that strikes were divisive in a community and unlikely, under the circumstances of the time to be successfu. For farmers, the Knights hope to have them form COOPERATIVES which would allow them to purchase farm goods in bulk (seeds, machinery, even the burlap sacks used to ship their grain to market) so that their collective power could compensate for the power of the big corporations (especially the railroads) that they were dealing with. The Knights also believed that all workers were in this together, so they invited anyone who was a producer could join the Knights, from farmers to factory workers or shop keepers. In fact, practically everyone EXCEPT big businessmen and lawyers (whom they felt were parasites). The Knights also invited unskilled workers, women, and IMMIGRANTS to join. These were groups often excluded from other unions because they were felt to be so disadvantaged and desperate that they would work for almost any wage. Often they were seen as "union busters." But the Knights disagreed. The problem the Knights had, however, was that they were TOO inclusive. The interests of a farmer (a high price paid for his wheat, for example) are different than the interests of the factory work (cheap wheat, making inexpensive bread so he can feed his family), and the Knights were so big and unwieldy that they eventually fell apart before the turn of the century.

What was the Treaty of Versailles?

Peace negotiations that took place in Paris after the war and resulted the Treaty of Versailles. Wilson hoped with his Fourteen Points to create a "victory without victors," and establish conditions that would prevent future conflicts. Instead the treaty is generally seen as creating conditions that led to the even greater conflict of the Second World War.

What did the War Industries Board do?

Progressives had long been critical of American industry which engaged in unregulated, inefficient, cut-throat competition. Now they saw a chance to bring some order to the economy through the creation of the WAR INDUSTRIES BOARD. Again, representatives of industry, government, and the military came together to coordinate wartime production. This was a big job! Needed items-everything from uniforms, to gunpowder, to tanks, had to be manufactured in thousands of factories across the nation, then transported, generally by train, to ports, loaded on ships, and sent to Europe to be there (and be located) so our troops could fight. It was a tremendous undertaking that required a great deal of organization and progressives LOVED it and hoped that kind of regulation would remain after the war!

What was Progressivism? What was Protective Legislation?

Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political reform. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, technology, economic development, and social organization.

Who was Robert LaFollette?

ROBERTY M. La FOLLETTE of Wisconsin rose up through Wisconsin's Republican Machine, which was notoriously corrupt, but served three terms as Congressman without problems. When people said, Bob, how can you serve that corrupt political organization, he would reply, "Well, nobody ever asked ME to take a bribe!" Until they did. A Republican boss offered him a bride to fix a judge in a railroad case and this changed La Follette's thinking and focus entirely. He broke with the machine and became a tireless advocate for political reform. He told his audiences "Go back to the first principles of democracy; go back to the people." In 1900, after nearly a decade of stumping for reform he won the governorship of Wisconsin, then worked to push through the legislature the initiate, the recall, and the direct primary. Under his leadership, Wisconsin becomes (as Teddy Roosevelt would put it) a laboratory of reform. Then, after cleaning up Wisconsin, he won election to the Senate and pursued progressive reform at the national level.

What was the Bull Moose Party?

Roosevelt decided to run against Taft in 1912 to try to win the Republican nomination for the presidency. The Republic leadership if FURIOUS at Roosevelt! They fought tooth and nail to stop Roosevelt. In those states that hold direct primaries, Roosevelt wins. But the party bosses still controlled the caucuses and the nomination, and it went to Taft. So Roosevelt BOLTED THE PARTY and launched a third party challenge! He ran on the PROGRESSIVE PARTY ticket. But the party was more commonly known as the BULL MOOSE PARTY. When asked how he felt Roosevelt commonly replied that he felt as strong as a bull moose! He uttered this most notably in the aftermath of an assassination attempt in October, 1912, when he was preparing to step out of an open touring car to give a campaign address at Milwaukee Wisconsin. I deranged man stepped ouf the crowd and shot Roosevelt in the chest. The bullet passed through his glasses case and the 50 page speech (folded in half) in his front coat pocket before entering his chest. Aides wanted to take him to the hospital but he refused, determined to deliver his address. As he began his address he said:"Ladies and gentlemen, I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose."

What was the Social Gospel?

Rooted in American Protestantism, it can be traced back to the Second Great Awakening, a series of intense religious revivals that occurred during the early decades of the 1800s. Among the ideas that emerged from that period was the belief, held by many American Protestants, that if we are truly a Christian nation (and remember, the United States was OVERWHELMING Protestant Christian at the time), we should be concerned not only with our OWN salvation, but also with the salvation of the ENTIRE nation. The goal of Social Gospelers became that of putting Christ's teachings to work in daily life, and to use them to solve the problems of modern society.

Who was standing Bear?

STANDING BEAR was apart of the Ponca tribe who, according to a treaty established in 1868 (the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie), the Ponca were to surrender their traditional homeland, located along the Niobara River in what is today the state of Nebraska, to the Sioux. The PONCA were then to be relocated southward to Indian Territory in what is today the state of Oklahoma. The Ponca did not wish to go, but in 1877 (the year after Little Bighorn and the year of the flight of the Nez Perce) the Ponca were forcibly relocated. During this relocation one of Standing Bears children died along the way. In Oklahoma, the Ponca found harsh circumstances which made it difficult to survive. When a son died sickened and died, Standing Bear promised him before his death that he would bury him at their old home back along the Niobara. So, in 1879, joined by thirty warriors of the tribe as an honor guard, Standing Bear headed north with the shrouded remains of his son. The group was welcomed by members of the Omaha Tribe, where they were able to rest and regain their strength. But white settlers along the way feared this might be an Indian uprising, and which brought their movement eventually to the attention of the Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. He ordered the military to arrest the group and take them back to Indian Territory. The military leader, however (General George Crook, who was a veteran of the Civil War and earlier conflicts with the Indians) felt a great deal of sympathy toward this group of Ponca. Rather than taking them immediately back, he held them in "jail" at a military post, where they continued to rest up and be well fed while he listened to their story. Crook alerted a friend to their plight, an activist newspaper editor in the city of Omaha, who published a series of front page stories highlighting the difficulties the Ponca had faced, and the poignant purpose that had brought them back to their old homeland. This raised a groundswell of support from the people of Omaha, and the services of two prominent lawyers in the region who petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus. (This is an order by a court that requires a detailed person to be brought before the court to determine whether or not

What was the Homestead Act?

THE HOMESTEAD ACT was first introduced in the 1850s with the intent of bringing eastern factory workers out to the West, to give them free government land and allow them to have a decent life. However, it was blocked before the Civil War by Southerners who didn't want northerners moving west and creating more states that would be against slavery. The Transcontinental Railroad resulted from the effort to tie the nation together after California (with its gold mines) came into the Union. But arguments about whether the railroad-along with the prosperity it would bring, should use a southern route or a northern route, prevented any construction before the Civil War. BUT, when the war came, southern senators and congressmen withdrew from Congress, and, as they say, "while the cat's away the mice will play..." without southern opposition both measures sailed through to passage. The Homestead Act gave 160 acres (that magic number of what any one farmer could profitably cultivate) to anyone who "stake a claim," meaning that they would literally go out there and drive stakes into the ground indicating the land they wanted, then lived on it for five years and made improvements upon it. At the end of that time, the claimant paid a small filing fee and the land was theirs! It didn't draw many factory workers to the west-they didn't know much about farming and weren't interested in learning-but it drew lots of Midwestern farmers further west, and also attracted lots of Europeans hungry for more land. It was passed in 1862

What was the Open Door Policy?

THE OPEN DOOR POLICY. Essentially stated: "HEY! Wouldn't it be great if everybody could trade everywhere in China with no restrictions?" The initial response of Europe, Russia, and Japan, was" "Ah....NO." But over time, the U.S. view prevailed to everyone's advantage! EXCEPT, of course, it was NOT to the advantage of CHINA which had lost control of affairs within its own borders. A very humiliating circumstance that shapes China's world view to this day.

Who was Theodore Roosevelt?

THEODORE ROOSEVELT (aka TEDDY or TR) was born in 1858 into the old New York Dutch aristocracy-he could trace his family to the earliest European settlers in the region. His family was comfortably wealthy-although not fabulously rich like Carnegie or Rockefeller. As a child, he was sickly and suffered from severe asthma. Doctors told his parents to get him involved in vigorous physical activity or he wouldn't survive. So he took up boxing! And eventually became a member of the HARVARD University boxing team! In 1881 he was elected to the New York state legislature. Roosevelt had been given a very moralistic upbringing and throughout his life "always identified himself-loudly-with the side of righteousness." Nevertheless, as he began to serve in the New York legislature in Albany, he showed that he respected professionalism in politics. Absolutely dedicated to serving his constituents and the state, he skillfully translated his moral fervor into broad popular support for his actions. Armed with this, he forced himself on state Republican bosses who grudgingly came to respect his efforts, even if they didn't always agree with him. He had married in 1880, and was thrilled when his wife became pregnant. But after successfully giving birth to a healthy daughter, he wife contracted a post-partum infection. She ended up dying on the same day his mother died of infectious disease (typhoid fever). Emotionally devastated, Roosevelt left his infant daughter in the care of an aunt and traveled west to Dakota Territory where he bought a ranch and took up the life of a cowboy. After two years of strenuous life there (where despite his nerdy-eastern ways he earned the respect of the other cowboys) he returned home, married his high school sweetheart, retrieved his daughter, had a bunch more kids, and got back into politics. He was appointed to U.S. Civil Service Commission from 1889-1895 to try to improve the quality of federal appointees. Then he served for two years as head of the New York state police commission. With the election of William McKinley as president in 1896, he earned post as assistant secretary of the Navy and plays a significant role in leading the nation towards war with Spain in 1898. When war came, he

The American Federation of Labor? Who was Samuel Gompers?

The American Federation of Labor (AFL) DID exclude such groups. The AFL under its leader, Samuel Gompers, believed that ONLY workers with special skills had any chance or rising up economically, because other workers were too easily replaced. Consequently, they excluded most workers (and most immigrants) because they generally lacked the special skills that gave leverage to labor negotiations. The AFL, with its limited membership and agenda survives and succeeds, and of the three discussed here, it is the only organization still around. HOWEVER, decades later it WOULD recruit immigrants and unskilled labor too.

What happened during the Haymarket Riot?

The HAYMARKET RIOT grew out of a strike at the McCormick Reaper plant on the outskirts of Chicago. Back in the 1830s Cyrus McCormick had invented a mechanical harvest drawn by horses or mules that could do the work of ten men working with scythes or sickles. This allowed farmers to cultivate more land and potentially make more money. So McCormick sold lots of reapers which he continued to improve. By 1886, he had died but his son had taken over the company which employed hundreds of workers. But the McCormick workers had gone on strike to try to get a little better wages and working conditions, especially better hours. Most workers in industry worked 12-14 hour shifts 6 or 7 days a week. In the face of this grinding schedule, an international 8 hour day movement had arisen, first in Europe, but it had now made it to the United States. The McCormick workers did not expect an 8 hour day, but they hoped for progress. Instead, McCormick Jr. hired strike breakers to take the jobs of the employees. Well, the strike dragged on for months, and on May 1, 1886, a big march was held in downtown Chicago where 40,000 workers marching in support of the 8 hour day movement and the McCormick workers. Two days later in front of the McCormick plant, frustrated workers began to go after the strikebreakers. At this point, company guards fired on the strikers, killing three. WELL, the next night an Anarchist immigrant group, the German Workers Party planned a big rally in HAYMARKET SQUARE in Chicago to protest the killings. At first the mayor of Chicago was there to show sympathy for the dead, but after a while, on what was a cold rainy evening, few hundred radical supports of the German Workers Party remained, and the speeches got more and more radical. The police had been looking on to all this and decided it was time to move the crowd out and send people home. As they sought to do so (none too gently, by the way) someone in the crowd threw a dynamite bomb at the police. When it exploded, the police then fired into the crowd and a fight broke out. When the shooting was done, 7 of the police were dead, another 70 injured, and an unknown number of the crowd killed and injured (members of the crowd took their injured away with th

Why was the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire important?

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire that took place in New York City, on the early afternoon of Saturday, March 25, 1911. It swept through the 9th through 11th floors of a garment factory that manufactured women's blouses, and killed 146 workers, most of whom were young immigrant women. Dozens jumped to their death rather than dying in the flames. Taking place as it did, on a Saturday afternoon, in a busy section of New York City, the fire and its aftermath attracted an enormous amount of attention from the newspapers and the public-including the large crowds who had gathered to watch it. This was a horrible tragedy with a very sympathetic set of victims-young women-which took place in a very visible setting. It was exactly the kind of things that can led to significant change. There were a number of problems at the Triangle factory. Emergency exits had been locked and the fire escape collapsed because it had not been properly maintained. The fire moved so swiftly some women were killed at machines, others collapsed from smoke inhalation, blocking exits. Those who leaped to their death, hit with such force it cracked the sidewalks.

What happened during The Homestead Lockout?

The Homestead Strike involved one of Andrew Carnegie's steel mills located in Homestead Pennsylvania. Carnegie had depicted himself as the friend of the working mad, and in "The Gospel of Wealth" had even championed the right of workers to form unions to counterbalance the power of big business. But by 1892, Carnegie saw unions in his own operations as limiting his ability to cut cost and dominated the industry, so he wanted the unions out. Not trusting his one strength of resolve (fearing that his workers would get his sympathy and he would change his mind), he left the country to go to a castle he had bought in Scotland, and placed in charge in his absence someone whom he had vertically integrated into his operations, Henry Clay Frick. Frick had owned a company that prepared coal for use in steel mills and had gotten rid of unions in his operations by simply firing all of his workers and refusing to hire anyone back unless they promised to never join a union. Well, after Carnegie's departure, Frick announced that the steel mill was going to close for a few weeks over the summer for repairs, and when it was over, everyone would have to reapply for their jobs. The workers understood immediately what was happening. Well, Carnegie had told them for years that the steel plant was theirs as much as it was his, and they had come to think of Carnegie as sympathetic to them and as their friend. So they decided to storm the plant, seize it, and get word to Carnegie about what was going on, because they that this was all Frick's doing. Well Frick had anticipated this possibility and so had contracted for 300 security guards to come up the river that ran past the steel mill and storm the mill in the middle of the night to take control of it. The workers were ready and a gunfight broke out. The guards were trapped on the barges that had been used to bring them up the river, and after several hours there in a desperate situation, agreed to surrender. By that time several had been killed on both sides. The workers agreed to give the guards safe passage to the city hall where they were to be turned over to the sheriff on charges relating to the death and injury of the workers. Up until this point, newspaper reporters a

The Industrial Workers of the World? Who was Big Bill Heywood?

The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) most important member was Big Bill Heywood. He grew up on the mining districts of Utah and a childhood accident cost him his right eye, so you always see Bill in profile from the left. He joined the radical Western Federation of Miners around the turn of the century, but it wasn't radical enough for him, so he helped organize the IWW. This was a truly radical union, promoting a radical socialist/communist agenda. It called for collective ownership of property and a complete restructuring of society to give workers control over things. And it advocated radical means to achieve its goals: the general strike, industrial sabotage, and even targeted assassinations. And like the nights, the IWW felt all workers were in this together, so they also invited unskilled workers, women, and IMMIGRANTS. The IWW, however was TOO radical. Most workers didn't want to completely reshape society, they just wanted a bigger piece of the pie. And the IWW's radicalism led to a government crackdown against it during World War I, that essentially destroyed the union.

What was the New Immigration and who did it include?

The NEW IMMIGRANTS came from southern and eastern Europe: Italy, Poland, Russia, Greece, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, etc. They were much poorer than the old immigrants-peasant farmers, small peddlers, etc., and spoke very different languages. In religion, they were mostly ROMAN CATHOLIC, EASTERN ORTHODOX, or JEWISH. They worked in the factories.

What was the Niagara Movement and who organized it?

The Niagara Movement was a black civil rights organization founded in 1905 by a group of activists—many of whom were among the vanguard of African-American lawyers in the United States—led by W. E. B. Du Bois and William Monroe Trotter

What was The Populist Movement and the Peoples Party ?

The POPULIST MOVEMENT and its political manifestation, THE PEOPLE'S PARTY emerged when three groups came together in common interest: The Farmers' Alliance, the Knights of Labor, and the WOMAN'S CHRISTIAN TEMPERANCE UNION (WCTU). At their convention, the Populists adopted what became known as the "OMAHA PLATFORM' which called for a broad range of reforms, included the FREE COINAGE OF SILVER, THE SECRET BALLOT (up to this time, people often used a "ticket" provided to them by their political parties, which they simple slipped into the ballot box. As the tickets were on different colors of paper according to party, everyone knew how you voted), the DIRECT ELECTION OF SENATORS (As originally spelled out in the Constitution, Senators were elected by state legislatures. But by the latter part of the 1880s, state legislatures were notorious corrupt and under the influence of corrupt party machines or big business interests. It was thought that direct election-by the people themselves, went improve matters),. AN INCOME TAX ( to tax the wealth of the super rich to provide public services), A PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAM (to employ out of work laborers in hard economic times to build needed improvements like roads), THE NATIONALIZATION of RAILROADS AND TELEGRAPHS (meaning government takeover and public ownership so they could be managed for the good of the people), SHORTER WORK DAYS FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS, and POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS (Banks were notorious for being poorly run at the time and frequently went out of business, leaving depositors without their money. A system of savings accounts available through local post offices was seen as a more convenient, safer alternative). In general, the Populists want A MORE ACTIVE ROLE for the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, protecting the common people against the enormous power of wealth individuals and big business.

What was Progressive about the Selective Service Act?

The SELECTIVE SERVICE ACT which was passed by Congress in May 1917, to build up the army from a force of 200,000 to 4 million. The idea was that candidates would be SELECTED by a panel of EXPERTS ("expertise" being a big Progressive buzz word), to SERVE (again, "service" a big part of Progressive thinking) your country! (In the army...) Doesn't that sound much better than: "You've been DRAFTED! Which is exactly what that means. However, as that panel of physicians and psychologists began to examine America's young men to make sure they are fit (to be blown up on the battle fields of Europe...), it was believed this would be merely a formality because America, the land of boundless opportunity, had the healthiest young men on earth, right? Only we didn"t! And as many as one-third of all inductees were rejected because they had health problems (bad teach, skin or bone disease, flat feet, etc.) there were often the result of poor diet or lack of medical care, or were deemed mentally unfit-many because they could not read or write. This was a huge surprise for Americans, and reforms saw in it an opportunity to bring about reforms to improve the health of American children. They would pursue such reforms, by saying we needed healthy young men to defend the nation-linking health care with national defense, but they really didn't care about making better soldiers, simply healthier children.

Who wrote the Jungle?

The best-known Muckraker today, UPTON SINCLAIR, who wrote a novel intended to reveal the horrible conditions working men and women found themselves in. This was THE JUNGLE. In order to gather material for the volume, Sinclair lived for several months in Chicago in a poor, working-class neighborhood, whose residents were mostly from eastern Europe, most of whom worked in the meatpacking industry. While he wanted to focus on the horrible working and living conditions of his subjects, he also touched on the unhealthy conditions in America's meat supply. This led to a public health outcry about meat, rather bringing calls for social reform. Sinclair was extremely disappointed by this. He said, " I was aiming for America's heart, instead, I hit them in the stomach!" And indeed, while Sinclair was himself a socialist, his novel did not further that cause. Instead, it gave support to legislation that would regulate the meatpacking industry.

What was the Farmers' Alliance?

The goal of the Alliance was to have the farmers join together in ways to pursue their common interests. The Alliances encouraged the organization of cooperatives, or CO-OPS where farmers could buy services or needed supplies in bulk, gaining savings from the suppliers, and then pass those savings on to their members. The Alliances also called for the FREE COINAGE OF SILVER to supplement the limited amount of gold in circulation and that backing paper money. (There had been a number of major silver strikes made in the U.S. around this time, making that metal much more abundant than gold.) Again, the goal was to create inflation (through which each dollar would buy less) which would mean the farmers would get MORE dollars for their crops and have more money to pay down their debts.

What was The Greenback Party?

The goal of the party was to have the government issue more paper money or "greenbacks" to expand the monetary system and create inflation to help the farmers

Who was Franz Ferdinand? What led to the First World War?

The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was Archduke Franz Ferdinand. He arrived in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina on June 28, 1914 to try to access the situation there and smooth down tensions. By this point, Serb nationalists had already perpetrated acts of terrorism against Austro-Hungarian authorities, and terrorist cells were waiting to assassinate the archduke. One among their number, Gavrilo.Princip, shot and killed the archduke and his beloved wife Sophie. Austrio-Hungarian leaders gave an ultimatum to Serbia to track down those responsible or it would be war. Serbia sought to comply, but found it was unable to meet all of the demands, so Austria-Hungary declared war. Now, one by one, all the alliances began to click in, and soon all of Europe was at war. German's Schlieffen plan was put into place, but it didn't work! They got bogged down fighting the French even as the Russians hit them weeks sooner than anticipated in the east! This was the time to hit the "reset" button! But no one did! People thought it would be a short work and that it would help ease the tensions that had been hanging over Europe. Instead, it was a long war with disastrous consequences.

What was Protective Legislation?

The kind of laws that created a safer work environment, or regulated hours became known as PROTECTIVE LEGISLATION.

Who was Cheif Joseph?

The leader of the Nez Perce tribe peace faction urged the tribe to pack up and flee eastward. He and other like-minded leaders knew that trouble was coming after the killing of the whites by a handful of the young men in the tribe. They decided to head east to the lands of their traditional allies and cousins, the Crow. There they would wait until things settled down, and then they would return and take steps to make things right. HOWEVER, as they moved eastward they were pursued by the army and forced into a number of skirmishes and some major battle. The Nez Perce won every one of these fights which made army leaders only more determined to stop them. The Nez Perce then fled through what is now northern Idaho, into Montana, back into Idaho, then through northwester Wyoming (and the brand-new first-in-the-world national park: Yellowstone-giving the tourists a thrill), before finally getting back into Montana and the homeland of their allies and cousins the Crow. When they reached the Crows though they asked when they where going to leave as they wanted no trouble so the Nez Perce headed northward toward the Canadian border, trying to find refuge like Sitting Bull had attempted to do the year before. Yet, with the army in hot pursuit, the Nez Perce became scattered. Some died of exposure in the mountains, others in running fights with the army. Finally, about thirty miles south of the border, the main portion of the band under Joseph was cornered and forced to surrender.

What were the causes of the Spanish American War?

The sinking of the USS Maine

Who was Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell?

Thomas A. Edison, best known for his invention of the electric light bulb, and Alexander Graham Bell, who invented the telephone. Both inventions benefitted industry in particular, allowing for better illumination for night work, in Edison's case, and for detailed, long-distance communication in Bells. But these inventions also benefitted individuals as well. Many thousands of such invents flooded the world during these years while stimulating economic growth and factories were able manufacture relatively inexpensive consumer and industrial goods.

What happend to Sitting Bull by the end of 1876?

Though the battle at little bighorn looked like a big victory for the Sioux tribes and for Sitting Bull and his people it proved to be a fleeting one, as within a year those Indians who had been off the reservation, were either ON the reservation, or dead, or like Sitting Bull and about one hundred of his people, they had fled northward hoping to find refuge up in Canada. (The reception there was not welcoming, however, and in a year they were back.)

What happened to Black Kettle?

Though the commander of the Colorado Militia, John Chivington, order an attack on Black Kettle village in 1864 and killed around 270 Black Keetle survived. On a separate occasion though in 1869 George Armstrong Custer, a junior officer, who was pursuing a group of warriors who had killed some settlers, surrounded Kettles tribe and killed him, his wife, and many children and women.

What is the difference between Vertical and Horizontal Integration?

VERTICAL INTEGRATION is controlling all aspects of an industry from mining raw materials to delivery of finished products. HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION is controlling only ONE aspect of an industry across the board.

Who was W.E.B. DuBois and what did he say in "The Souls of Black Folk"?

W.E.B. Du BOIS was NOT born into slavery he was born in Massachusetts into a relatively racially tolerant community, Du Bois did not encounter the full extent of racism in America until he traveled to Nashville, Tennessee to attend Fisk University, which had been established to educated African Americans. From Fisk, he continued his studies and Harvard, then won a scholarship to pursue graduate work at the University of Berlin. He completed his graduate studies back at Harvard, becoming the first African American to earn a Ph.D. there. While admiring some of the work Washington was doing, he came to believe that Washington's policy of Accommodation slowed progress for Blacks. In a key collection of his essays published in 1903 in a volume entitled The Souls of Black Folk. One of the chapters in that book was "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others," which criticized Washington for not pressing more forcefully for full social and civil equality immediately, not at some far away day in the future. Also, he criticized Washington for seeming to settle for Blacks becoming carpenters, or mechanics, when they could be physicians, or diplomats.

Who was Wilhelm II?

Wilhelm II was the German Kaiser who tried to make his empire strong, and possibly take over all of Europe

Who was William Howard Taft?

William Howard Taft. Taft was a big admirer of Roosevelt, but he was somewhat more conservative. It was not long before trouble arouse between the two men. Roosevelt had actually left the country to get out of Taft's way to let him be his own man as president. But before long he began to hear disturbing rumors about Taft. In particular, he learned of concerns some conservationists had that Taft was turning away from Roosevelt's policies. The culminated in the PINCHOT-BALLENGER AFFAIR. Roosevelt's close friend and first head of the National Forest Service, Gifford Pinchot, supported one of his subordinates who accused Taft's Secretary of the Interior, Richard Ballenger, of using his influence to benefit his friends seeking coal leases on federal lands in Alaska. Taft had these allegations investigated and rejected them, firing the whistleblower who brought them to public attention. When this happened, Pinchot denounced Taft's actions and was fired for insubordination. This alienated Roosevelt and created a big division in the Republican Party, many of whose members had been strong supporters of conservation. Then Taft had his attorney general take legal action against many of the big businesses Roosevelt had brokered deals with. Roosevelt was outraged! He had given these businesses his word that if they changed their behavior to allow more competition, he would leave them alone. He felt Taft's actions had made him out to be a liar and made the government to be a liar as well. From Taft's perspective, however, he HAD to go after those businesses, because he didn't think they were keeping their part of the bargain. Well, Roosevelt became extremely angry at Taft. This became one of the GREAT HATREDS in American history! This was on the magnitude of Jackson v. Clay, or Hamilton v. Jefferson (we won't count Trump in this...). And the interesting thing is that Taft could never quite figure out what he did wrong! Roosevelt ended up so angry about all this that he decided to run against Taft in 1912 to try to win the Republican nomination for the presidency

What is nativism?

an anti-immigrant backlash that privileged native-born Americans over immigrants

What is yellow journalism?

over the top, sensationalistic journalism, willing to do anything to get people's attention, became known as YELLOW JOURNALISM, due to the yellow ink.

Who was William Jennings Bryan and what was the Cross of Gold speech?

the Populists jointly ran a presidential candidate with the Democratic Party. This was a young man, WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN. Only thirty-six years old (barely old enough to run for the presidency under the Constitution) he captured the nomination with his "CROSS of GOLD SPEECH," at the Democratic convention held in Chicago in early July. In that speech he called for leaving the gold standard, and for the free coinage of silver, at ratio of sixteen ounces of silver being equal to one of gold. The key line of the speech was: "You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns!" (meaning the gold standard), "You shall not CRUCIFY mankind upon a cross of gold!" Today, some might consider this somewhat sacrilegious or disrespectful to Christians, but it was not seen that way at the time, nor was it meant to be. Indeed, Bryan was an intensely devout Christian-as we shall see in a later lecture. But it was a metaphor that struck his audience powerfully, who rose in wild cheers! Having gained the nomination, Bryan campaigned hard.