History Midterm
Henry Frick
Chairman of Carnegie Steel (1889) during the Homestead Strike, wanted to introduce new machinery to steel plant. New machines would decrease number of workers. Couldn't agree with unions and set out to break unions and cut costs
Zitkala-Sa
Became an educator and promoted protection and preservation of Indian rights and culture—working toward full citizenship rightis She became highly politically active and remained so throughout most of her adult life. During her time on the Uintah-Ouray reservation in Utah she joined the Society of American Indians, a progressive group formed in 1911 and dedicated to preserving the Native American way of life while lobbying for their right to full American citizenship. Zitkala-Ša served as the SAI's secretary beginning in 1916 and edited its journal American Indian Magazine from 1918 to 1919. The SAI and Zitkala-Ša have since been criticized as misguided. Some felt their strong advocacy of citizenship and employment rights for Native Americans contributed to the further deterioration of cultural identity because more Native Americans were brought into mainstream American society and in the process lost their "Indian-ness." Part of her duty as the secretary for the SAI was to correspond with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. However, Zitkala-Ša began to criticize the corrupt practices of the BIA, such as their prohibition of the use of native languages and practices within the school systems set up for Native American children and reported incidences of abuses in the schools. Her criticism of the BIA resulted in the dismissal of her husband, who also worked for the BIA in 1916. The couple relocated to Washington D.C. and Zitkala-Ša began lecturing nation-wide on behalf of the SAI to promote the preservation of cultural and tribal identity of Native Americans. During the 1920s she devoted a great amount of effort to promoting a pan-Indian movement that would unite all of America's tribes in the cause of lobbying for citizenship rights and in 1924 saw the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act which granted citizenship rights to many though not all indigenous peoples. In 1926 she and her husband founded the National Council of American Indians, dedicated to the cause of uniting the tribes throughout the U.S. in the cause of gaining full citizenship rights through suffrage. From 1926 until her death in 1938, Zitkala-Ša served as president, major fundraiser, and speaker for the NCAI. She ran the organization almost single-handedly until 1938 when the organization came under male leadership. In her work for the NCAI in 1924 Zitkala-Ša ran a voter-registration drive among Native Americans in order to raise their support for the Curtis Bill, which was subsequently passed by Congress. Though the bill granted Native Americans citizenship it did not grant them the right to vote and Zitkala-Ša continued to work for civil rights and better access to health care and education for Native Americans up until her death in 1938. Zitkala-Ša was also active in the 1920s in the movement for women's rights, joining the General Federation of Women's Clubs in 1921, a grassroots organization by that time dedicated to diversity in its membership and to maintaining a public voice for women's concerns. Through the GFWC she created the Indian Welfare Committee in 1924, dedicated to protecting Indians from bad land deals and exploitation by mineral extraction corporations. Her work exposed several corporations that had robbed and even murdered Native Americans in Oklahoma to gain access to their lands. This work that she did through the auspices of GFWC was pivotal in moving the federal government to adopt the Indian Reorganization Act, which returned Management of Indian lands to Native Americans in 1934. Basically it reestablished the reservations.
Jacob Riis
A Danish immigrant, he became a reporter who pointed out the terrible conditions of the tenement houses of the big cities where immigrants lived during the late 1800s. He wrote How The Other Half Lives in 1890.
Carrie Chapman Catt
(1859-1947) A suffragette who was president of the National Women's Suffrage Association, and founder of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. Instrumental in obtaining passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920. From 1870 to 1890 the movement had been divided into two factions—AWSA led by Lucy Stone and Henry Ward Blackwell--and NWSA led by ECS and SBA. These two factions had split in 1870 over the issue of supporting the 15th Amendment with the American conceding that it was more important that Black men get the vote before women and the National breaking away from historic alliance with the racial justice movement in favor of focusing more tightly on votes for women. In 1890 the two factions reunited to form the NAWSA, ending the bitter divide. In 1900, Carrie Chapman took over the presidency from SBA and led the movement into its mass movement stage within a decade. [She stepped down from the presidency but not the movement in 1906 but then resumed the presidency in 1915] She developed a strategy she called the "Winning Strategy" that combined state by state campaigns by state branches of the NAWSA with the national lobbying campaign for a Constitutional Amendment to guarantee woman suffrage - Catt's plan though was to pour most of NAWSA's time, energy, and resources into the State-by-State Campaign During these years, the movement remained segregated by race. Even progressive women were afraid of losing the support of women in southern states' if they conceded membership to African American women b/c they knew they needed the support of the solid segregationist South in the event that a Constitutional Suffrage Amendment made it the floor of the Congress.
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
(1911) 146 women killed while locked into the burning building (brought attention to poor working conditions)
Muller v. Oregon
1908 - Supreme Court upheld Oregon state restrictions on the working hours of women as justified by the special state interest in protecting women's health. An oregon case brought to the supreme court by laundry owner. Case deliberated on whether it was constitutional to regulate women's work day. The oregon legislature had established a 10 hr work day, 6 day a week limit on women's working hours. Court ruled it was constitutional because women needed protection (unlike men who were free contractors). The brandeis brief- louis brandeis argued the case. Josephine Goldmark and florence kelly prepared the brief which cited a great deal of evidence about the negative impact of long hours on women. The outcome—women represent a special class of worker by virtue of their actual or potential maternity that warrant special protection as a class of worker. The health of the mother has ramifications for the health of the child, the future population of citizens and therefore the health of the nation state.
Knights of Labor
1st effort to create National union. Open to everyone but lawyers and bankers. Vague program, no clear goals, weak leadership and organization. Failed.
Jane Addams
1860-1935. Founder of Settlement House Movement. First American Woman to earn Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 as president of Women's Intenational League for Peace and Freedom. Jane Addams was from an upper middle-class native-born family. She received a college education graduating from the Rockford female seminary in Illinois and inherited a small fortune from her father in 1881. Traveling to England the next year she visiting Toynbee hall, a settlement house serving the needs of a poor working class neighborhood in London. Inspired, she returned to Chicago determined to put her small fortune to good use. She purchased a dilapidated mansion named Hull House located in one of the poorest immigrant neighborhoods in the city in 1889 [Settlement house work included poor relief, education, health services—classes in domestic science, english literacy, job skills, help with cultural assimilation, day care services and host of services to the community] Lillian Wald was a middle-class woman of German Jewish family who became a public health Nurse, indeed she invented the term, in NYC. She served the Jewish immigrants on the lower east side of NY as a visiting nurse giving hygiene and health instruction in the homes and community gathering places of the neighborhood. In 1895 she founded the Henry Street settlement to further this work and hired a squadron of visiting nurses to do the public health work she had pioneered. Wald was also active in the labor movement, the peace movement.
American Federation of Labor
1886; founded by Samuel Gompers; sought better wages, hrs, working conditions; skilled laborers, arose out of dissatisfaction with the Knights of Labor, rejected socialist and communist ideas, non-violent.
Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906
1906 - Forbade the manufacture or sale of mislabeled or adulterated food or drugs, it gave the government broad powers to ensure the safety and efficacy of drugs in order to abolish the "patent" drug trade. Still in existence as the FDA.
Cultural assimilation vs cultural preservation
1850s-1860s—Federal Day schools off the Reservations to assimilate, educate, Christianize Indian children—the idea was that the children would then help the parents assimilate but in fact the parents persisted in teaching their children their native language, religion and customs in an effort to keep these alive. The Dawes act was intended to inculcate the value and custom of private ownership of land and get the nomadic tribes of the Miiid-West, West, and the Plains to adopt European style farming and settled living patterns. Under the Dawes Act of 1887 the reservations that had been set up to relocate Eastern tribes and contain the movements of Western tribe to avoid contact with white settlers were broken up. After lands were allotted to tribe members they would be sold by the government to white settlers to further disrupt the cohesiveness of Native communities and cultures.
Robert La Follette
1855-1925. Progressive Wisconsin Senator and Governor. Staunch supporter of the Progressive movement, and vocal opponent of railroad trusts, bossism, WWI, and League of Nations.
Theodore Roosevelt
1858-1919. 26th President. Increased size of Navy, "Great White Fleet". Added Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine. "Big Stick" policy. Received Nobel Peace Prize for mediation of end of Russo-Japanese war. Later arbitrated split of Morocco between Germany and France. On the one hand Roosevelt was a rampant expansionist and imperialist. He famously expressed pro-natalist views by encouraging the "fit" population of educated, middle-class whites to reproduce to ensure they would not commit "race suicide" in the face of what he along with eugenicists of the day saw as the detrimental influx of of unfit hordes of immigrants into America. But, President T. Roosevelt was in many respects an ardent progressive. He believed the president should use his office to influence the media and leglislation. He believed that a modern industrial society like the U.S. need a strong federal government and he promised to give all Americans, including workers a fair or "Square Deal." But he also believed that big business was important to the well-being of the nation. There were good trusts and then there were bad trusts who exploited workers and CONSUMERS. As President he championed a range of progressive legislation. New york assemblyman, new york city police commissioner, assistant secretary of the navy and hero of the spanish american war of 1898, new york reform governor eager to clean up new york, political machines 1899 bosses kicked him upstairs. Mckinley's vp for 6 months 1900-1901. Assumed office upon mckinley's assassination in 1901 and then elected to second term in 1904. Meat Insp. Act set up a fed. Inspection program while the PFDA required corp. to label their products accurately. Conservation commission took an inventory of the nation's natural resources with the ultimate goal of using them responsibly. Elkins (1903) and Hepburn (1906) Acts Finally tried to effectively regulate the RR trusts by setting max rates, and requiring public notification of rate changes Another key aspect of TRs progressivism was management an conservation of the nation's natural resources—he appointed conservationist Gifford Pinchot to head the National forest Service [responsible harvest of forest & other resource]---others, like John Muir believed in environmental Preservation—setting up wildlife and forest reserves reserves. In keeping with Pinchot's idea of responsible development the Newlands Act of 1902 set aside $ from the sale of public lands to irrigate arid territories in the SW. 1902 coal strike of 140k coal miners in PA lasted 5 months, no coal, no heat. Workers demanded 8 hr day, closed shop, 20% pay raise. Rederal arbitration by roosevelt. Schools, factories began to shut down. The coal company refused to negotiate. This time neither PA's gov. nor TR intervened on behalf of the owners. Instead, TR pushed coalmine owners to negotiate and when they refused he "invited" both sides to come to the White House and personally arbitrated a contract. He pressured the company owner by threatening a federal takeover of the mines in the national interest/public welfare. The compromise gave workers a 9 hour day, 10% pay increase but they gave up the demand for closed shop and agreed not to strike for 3 years.
Andrew Carnegie
A Scottish-born American industrialist and philanthropist who founded the Carnegie Steel Company in 1892. By 1901, his company dominated the American steel industry. Carnegie had immigrated to America from Scotland in 1848 with his family. A poor Scottish boy, he found employment with an Ohio telegraph company as an operator and clerk in and then later worked as a secretary for the Pensylvania RR. Through hard work, impressing his employers, and clever investment he eventually went into the RR and Oil industry but after the Civil War he proceeded to invest in the iron and steel industry through his company Keystone Brighe Company. By the early 1880s he was on his way to buying up the rest of the American steel industry. Carnegie pioneered the business model called "horizontal consolidation" in which industries are gradually monopolized by one corporation that buys out and merges with its competitors. In 1892 he founded the Carnegie Steel Corporation and in 1901 he retired when he sold his empire to banker J. Pierpont Morgan for 1 billion dollars.
Tenement
A building in which several families rent rooms or apartments, often with little sanitation or safety
IWW (Industrial Workers of the World)
A labor organization for unskilled workers, formed by a group of radical unionists and socialists in 1905. Sometimes called Wobblies. "One big union". Many radicals like anarchists and socialists
Social Gospel
A movement in the late 1800s / early 1900s which emphasized charity and social responsibility as a means of salvation. Early moves toward progressivism, William Gladden The efforts of these social gospelers—both men and women—preceded, foreshadowed and coexisted with the more concerted, formal, and scientific efforts of the progressive era reformers. Serve the poor by providing relief, building churches, playgrounds and schools in poor communities. Stressed private citizen's social responsibility. Most often church sponsored with a program of cultural assimilation.
White Man's Burden
A poem by British poet Rudyard Kipling commenting on American imperialism. It created a phrase used by imperialists to justify the imperialistic actions the U.S. took. This racial imperialism was most famously expressed in a poem written for an American audience by British writer, Rudyard Kipling in reaction to the Spanish American War "The White Man's Burden": Kipling's Ode to U.S. Imperialism In February 1899, British novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem entitled "The White Man's Burden: The United States and The Philippine Islands." In this poem, Kipling urged the U.S. to take up the "burden" of empire, as had Britain and other European nations. Published in the February, 1899 issue of McClure's Magazine, the poem coincided with the beginning of the Philippine-American War and U.S. Senate ratification of the treaty that placed Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, and the Philippines under American control. Theodore Roosevelt, soon to become vice-president and then president, copied the poem and sent it to his friend, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, commenting that it was "rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view." Not everyone in America agreed with Roosevelt. The racialized notion of the "White Man's burden" became a euphemism for imperialism, and many anti-imperialists responded with clever satires of the poem.
Anarchism
A political philosophy that offered a critique of all forms of institutionalized power-the state, the church, the capitalist system. They believed these three things all relied upon coercion, social control, and violence. They dreamed of a stateless society based on the voluntary cooperation of individuals. Extremely utopian.
Albert Beveridge
A senator from Indiana. He is known for being a imperialist that believed we should expand everywhere we could because other countries were not capable of governing themselves. When I asked about Beveridge's gendered argument I wasn't asking about what wasn't there in the document (women), I was asking about what was there-- all that language about Saxon forefathers, manliness, virility, and the superiority of American manhood. That is all highly gendered language. Why do you think he emphasized masculinity so much? Remember that gender is not a term that simply substitutes for "woman" or "women" or the feminine. Men are also gendered beings... The perspectives of both Condict (a woman) and Beveridge beg the question about the role of women in American Imperialism. While Beveridge ignores women's role, they probably had a role, just like with western settlement of the Frontier. It's true women served as missionaries and bearers of Western culture in imperial holdings. Condict certainly had a missionary reformist mindset. They were often every bit as imperialistic as their male counterparts, like Condict, (or the figurative giant blond woman floating across the great plains :). One thing I often say when I teach about gender and women's roles is that women often serve as critical transmitters of cultural values and uphold tradition more frequently than they challenge it. This is in fact why they were such critical participants in colonizing America, settling the West, and then in aiding American imperialism in the 20th Century. That means women imperialists get to share in both the credit and blame for the good and the bad though, the accomplishment and the transgressions against humanity. So for example Alice Byram Condict, like Helen Hunt Jackson, may have had good intentions and had a gentler more "feminine" approach to cultural imperialism than say Beveridge or Roosevelt. But they were cultural imperialists none-the-less, whose good intentions ended up running roughshod over colonized people by inherently devaluing and attempting to erase their indigenous culture. Imperialism-good or bad? Beneficial or Costly. It's not so black and white. Not everyone agrees now or then actually on the benefits and negatives of imperialism. Clearly the U.S. benefitted economically, but our political entanglement was not without costs and obligations. And, there were some benefits that were brought to the Philippines, after we occupied it—sanitation, hospitals, schools for example. But when I asked "at what cost?" I was thinking not just about American lives and costs. If we were trying to help, why then, did we have to wage a brutal 3 year war to crush their independence movement? Some of you were sensitive to just how culturally imperialistic both Condict and Beveridge were. What connections might you have made to U.S. Imperialism at home with Native Americans and abroad in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific? How might Filipinos themselves have viewed the American take over and occupation of their country? I did address this a bit in my lecture capture. The American anti-Imperialists themselves thought we were being more than a little hypocritical by trying to impose our values, impose democracy, and rule over a people who clearly wanted independence and self-rule. So much for the revolutionary principles of our founding fathers.
"Remember the Maine"
A slogan of the Spanish-American war referring to the sinking of a battleship in Cuba. Stirred up by yellow journalism, this lead McKinley to declare war.
Helen Hunt Jackson
A writer. Author of the 1881 book A Century of Dishonor. The book exposed the U.S. governments many broken promises to the Native Americans. For example the government wanted Native Americans to assimilate, i.e. give up their beliefs and ways of life, that way to become part of the white culture.
Teddy Roosevelt's "Big Stick Diplomacy"
According to T. R., using the big stick was justified in "uncivilized" or backward nations to preserve international order and stability -both political and economic. "Speak softly but carry a bit stick". Speak softly to "civilized", economically developed Anglo-Saxon or "teutonic" nations. Use the big stick on "uncivilized" nations.
Turner's Frontier Thesis
According to Turner's "Frontier Thesis," the frontier was a westward moving line across which white American settlers had been moving since colonial times in order to develop and civilize wild and mostly uninhabited territories. The availability of a vast supply of "free" land and the advance of American settlement and civilization across the North American continent had contributed to the development and continual renewal of the popular American ideals of democracy and individualism. All one had to do to succeed as an individual in America was to literally strike out to the west and take opportunity in the form of land and the resources it contained, whether that be farmland, mineral resources, grazing ground for cattle, or new markets to exploit as white settlers poured into the WEST. This somewhat monolithic, triumphal, and self-congratulatory story of how the west was won and civilized by Americans reigned supreme in American history and in American popular memory for decades. It was challenged as inadequate and inaccurate by historians only in the second half of the twentieth-century. Turner's thesis portrayed the WEST as a mostly desolate and empty place until it was settled and developed by White men—the quintessential rugged individuals and entrepreneurs of 19th century America. Turner wrote his thesis just as the frontier was "closing" in the 1890s-- meaning whites had settled much of the land to West and there was now no further West for white Americans to push toward. Turner wondered what the loss of the frontier might mean for American character. As we will see in the follow up to this week's lecture next week, the loss of the American frontier was taken in stride, with the United States turning its expansive spirit toward its neighbors in Latin America Turner's interpretation was elegant. It appealed to turn of the century historians and to white Americans who identified with this process of white settlement. But Turner's theory left many western people, and the historical processes that took place in the west out of this story.
Florence Kelley
An advocate for improving the lives of women and children. (Social Welfare). She was appointed chief inspector of factories in Illinois. She helped win passage of the Illinois factory act in 1893 which prohibited child labor and limited women's working hours. A Woman lawyer, Florence Kelley was one of the main reformers active in the fight to protect the rights of laborers. Florence Kelley, a member of the social welfare reform community in Chicago in the 1890s resided at Jane Addams' Hull House. She became one of the most proficient labor reformers. Daughter of well-to-do PA abolitionist, she was a graduate of Cornell University. She studied at University of Zurich and earned her law degree at Northwestern. While in Zurich she'd been introduced to socialism and she determined to become an advocate labor reforms. She married and had 3 children but her marriage was marred by domestic violence and she fled with her 3 children to Chicago's Hull House. As a resident of Hull House she became particularly interested in helping working class women and children. In 1893, progressive governor of Illinois, John Altgeld appointed Kelley the Chief Factory Inspector for the state and together they won passage of the Illinois Factory Act of 1893, which protected women and children from exploitation in factories. The law became a model for other states. Kelly developed and "entering wedge strategy" for securing worker rights—children and women 1st, then men. The goal of the entering wedge was to set the precedent for regulating work conditions of workforce by achieving protections for workers seen as dependent and easily exploited—women and children. Once the precedent had been set labor reformers could then argue that male workers also deserved protections when their "liberty of contract" turned into the liberty to be exploited.
American Protective Association
An organization created by nativists in 1887 that campaigned for laws to restrict immigration. American Protective Association: was formed by Henry Bower, a lawyer who professed hatred for Catholics and foreignersii—based on fear of losing white protestant predominance and prejudice- IRL was founded by 5 Harvard alumni who wanted the U.S. to develop a more discriminating immigration policy that allowed only "desirable" immigrants in—undesirables included illiterates, paupers, convicts, and the mentally incompetent. But the govt was reluctant to restrict the supply of cheap immigrant labor its rapidly growing industrial economy needed Scientific racism emerged strongly in this period, it was used to justify restriction of immigration based on the theory that the "New Immigrants" of the Gilded Age came from an inferior gene pool and represented the worst cast offs of Europe—those who had been unable to compete in the Old World.
Emma Goldman
An outspoken radical who was deported after being arrested on charges of being an anarchist, socialist, or labour agitator. Emma Goldman (a Russian born American anarchist who came to this country in 1885, took up the anarchist cause in the early 1890s, and become its most infamous propagandist known as Red Emma, the Anarchist Queen, and called "the most dangerous woman in America" The most radical and "fringe" response to the negative aspects of late industrial capitalism was Anarchism
Philippine American War
Another huge consequence of the Spanish-American War was the outbreak of the Philippine American War. When hostilities broke out in Cuba, TR, still Asst. Secretary of the Navy—though soon to resign that post to join the cuban invasion—had ordered US Troops soon found themselves facing the same determined guerilla tactics that the Spanish had fought in Cuba. For 4 years the US fought independence fighters led by E. Aguinaldo and they used increasingly brutal tactics to suppress the rebellion. [ After 4 years the US defeated the Filipinos, established a civil governor on the Islands, [William Howard Taft]. They occupied the island as a territory until 1946. Why the Philippines? A vital naval base and refueling station for the Pacific fleet.
Anti-suffragism
Anti-Suffrage forces were formidable and consisted of complex array of forces that included anti-temperance interests who feared voting women would outlaw the liquor industry, nativists who feared the enfranchisement of immigrant women, and conservative business interests who feared the power of progressive social feminists who wanted to regulate industry, protect workers, promote "big government." In the solid south, no state east of the Mississippi had conceded the right to vote to women—often the southern "anti" argument was that woman suffrage would double the Black vote, threatening white supremacy. Social conservatives believed that the very social fabric of American society would be undermined if women left the home to pursue voting and politics—long considered a dirty, masculine pursuit—b/c they would challenge the authority of fathers and husbands and ignore their duties at home, particularly their social reproductive duties of transmitting traditional cultural values to future generations.
Spanish-American War
As long lasting as America's control of Hawaii was, America's interactions with Cuba, just 90 miles south of the U.S. border, are what led to America's rise as an imperial power. Americans had long been interested in and active in buying up cuban land and the lucrative cuban economy. Prior to the Civil War in fact slave owning southerners hiuiad hoped to broker an annexation of Cuba since it too had a slave-based plantation economy. But the U.S. was distracted by its own war to end slavery in the 1860s and by 1868 Cuba was engaged in its own protracted Civil War—The Ten Years War—which was a war for independence in which both sides promised freedom to enslaved afro-cubans who supported them. When the Ten Years war ended, with the Spanish retaining a loose hold on the island, they lived up to their promise and finalized the emancipation of all Cuban slaves. But tensions remained high and Cuban exiles in NY actively advocated for Cuban liberation from Spanish rule. During all these years the U.S. government maintained an active naval presence off the coast of Cuba and a keen interest in Cuban affairs in efforts to protect U.S. sugar interests. By the 1890s, Spanish efforts to suppress the "Cuba Libre" movement had reached the level of massive human rights violations. This resulted in international criticism and some in the U.S. started calling for the U.S. to start flexing its imperial muscles by intervening to help the Cubans In 1896, William McKinley took the Presidential office— He was sympathetic to Cubans but hoped to broker a détente between them and Spain But bad publicity and events were worked against that possibility for the next two years: "Butcher" Valeriano Weyler, concentration camps...Newspapers also printed stories of Spanish General Valeriano Weyler's devastating policy of "reconcentration" in which tens of thousands of Cubans were confined to concentration camps where they died of disease brought on by poor sanitation, and starvation. Weyler was given the nickname, "Butcher Weyler"
Alfred T. Mahan
Author who argued in 1890 that the economic future of the United States rested on new overseas markets protected by a larger navy. Wrote "The Influence of Sea Power Upon History"
Homesteaders
Despite the rise of commercial farming--Building Farms and Communities mostly took place in the context of family activity and Women's Work was a vital component of this process. Women bore children in the lonely isolation of sod houses, farmed the land with their husbands, put in vegetable gardens and canned and pickled stores for the winter. They helped establish schools, and became involved in local politics.
Taft's Dollar Diplomacy
Dollar diplomacy of the United States—particularly during President William Howard Taft's term— was a form of American foreign policy to further its aims in Latin America and East Asia through use of its economic power by guaranteeing loans made to foreign countries
Trust busting legislation
Elkins (1903) and Hepburn (1906) Acts Finally tried to effectively regulate the RR trusts by setting max rates, and requiring public notification of rate changes
Blacklists and Yellow Dog Contracts
Employees would fire people if they were unionized. They were put onto a blacklist that was used across their industries so they couldn't get hired. Yellow dog contracts was when employers would hire people on the condition that they wouldn't get unionized.
cultural imperialism
Domination of one culture over another by a deliberate policy that encourages cultural assimilation of neighboring foreign peoples or by economic or technological superiority. Intellectuals like American Author Mark Twain and organizations like the Anti-Imperialist League launched a firm critique of American Imperialism that pointed out the contradictions inherent in forced civilizing missions and a cultural imperialism that imposed rather than exemplified and promoted America's democratic values. Critics also exposed the racial overtones of American and Western Imperialism This racial imperialism was most famously expressed in a poem written for an American audience by British writer, Rudyard Kipling in reaction to the Spanish American War "The White Man's Burden": Kipling's Ode to U.S. Imperialism In February 1899, British novelist and poet Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem entitled "The White Man's Burden: The United States and The Philippine Islands." In this poem, Kipling urged the U.S. to take up the "burden" of empire, as had Britain and other European nations. Published in the February, 1899 issue of McClure's Magazine, the poem coincided with the beginning of the Philippine-American War and U.S. Senate ratification of the treaty that placed Puerto Rico, Guam, Cuba, and the Philippines under American control. Theodore Roosevelt, soon to become vice-president and then president, copied the poem and sent it to his friend, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, commenting that it was "rather poor poetry, but good sense from the expansion point of view." Not everyone in America agreed with Roosevelt. The racialized notion of the "White Man's burden" became a euphemism for imperialism, and many anti-imperialists responded with clever satires of the poem. "The Black Man's Burden": A Response to Kipling African Americans, among many others, objected to the notion of the "white man's burden." Among the dozens of replies to Kipling's poem was "The Black Man's Burden," written by African-American clergyman and editor H. T. Johnson and published in April 1899. A"Black Man's Burden Association" was even organized. The satirical poem and the organization had the the goal of exposing the parallel between the mistreatment of brown people in the Philippines and the mistreatment of black Americans at home. "The Poor Man's Burden": Labor Lampoons Kipling Another parody of "The White Man's Burden" came from labor supporter and news editor George McNeill who wrote "Poor Man's Burden," published in March, 1899.
Square deal
Economic policy by Roosevelt that favored fair relationships between companies and workers. 3 cs.
Herbert Spencer
English philosopher and sociologist who applied the theory of natural selection to human societies (1820-1903). Not everyone agreed with Carnegie's philanthropic bent. In fact some thought providing help to the exploited, the poor, the overworked was ultimately a bad idea that would lead to the weakening of both the human species, the economy, and even the nation. Social thinkers and critics called Social Darwinists adapted the scientific theories of biologist Charles Darwin who had argued that those animals with the most adaptive and advantageous traits survived to pass on their successful traits to their offspring and this process of natural selection strengthened each species. The weak and those who could not adapt and compete died before passing their genes on. Social Darwinism applied these ideas to humans & human society as well the economy and the international political scene. Only the strongest people Would survive, succeed, and pass on their genes. Only the strongest businesses would likewise experience economic success and survive to benefit the larger economy. Only the healthiest, most competitive nation states would rise to power. And social darwinists like Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner believed this was how it should be! Charity, business regulation, and even artificial attempts to prevent competition between nations would, in their view, have only long term negative effects. The human race would be weakened by allowing the weak to survive and pass on their genes. Economies would be debilitated if the unprofitable industries and businesses were subsidized and propped up. , Dependent and weak nation states would be unable to sustain themselves and thus create a drain on other nations and cause international instability. Only the strong should be allowed to survive and capitalist free mark competition was promoted as the best way to ensure the "survival of the fittest" and the evolution of the species. The competition and inequality engendered by capitalism was good for the species and human civilization and progress since it weeded out the weak.
John Gast, American Progress, 1872
Frontier women were generally major contributors to the economic survival of their families, often respected partners in marriage, and community builders. Like the giant woman in the painting who carries a schoolbook and a telegraph wire with her, women were understood to be transmitters of cultural values and knowledge. IN JOHN GAST'S "AMERICAN PROGRESS," (1872) A DIAPHANOUSLY AND PRECARIOUS CLAD AMERICA FLOATS WESTWARD THRU THE AIR WITH THE "STAR OF EMPIRE" ON HER FOREHEAD. SHE HAS LEFT THE CITIES OF THE EAST BEHIND, AND THE WIDE MISSISSIPPI, AND STILL HER COURSE IS WESTWARD. IN HER RIGHT HAND SHE CARRIES A SCHOOL BOOK-- TESTIMONIAL OF THE NATIONAL ENLIGHTENMENT, WHILE WITH HER LEFT SHE TRAILS THE SLENDER WIRES OF THE TELEGRAPH THAT WILL BIND THE NATION. FLEEING HER APPROACH ARE INDIANS, BUFFALO, WILD HORSES, BEARS, AND OTHER GAME, DISAPPEARING INTO THE STORM AND WAVES OF THE PACIFIC COAST. THEY FLEE THE WONDEROUS VISION--THE STAR "IS TOO MUCH FOR THEM."--PRECIS OF A CONTEMPORARY DESCRIPTION OF THIS PAINTING BY GEORGE CROFUTT WHO DISTRIBUTRED HIS ENGRAVING OF IT WIDELY.
Samuel Gompers
He was the creator of the American Federation of Labor. He provided a stable and unified union for skilled workers. The problem: Capitalism puts pressure on skilled laborers, leads to deskilling of trades, lower wages, and lessens the ability of skilled male workers to be adequate breadwinners. The solution--Skilled male workers should come together in Craft Unions to negotiate better work terms with their employers. Don't change capitalism, but as workers we need to come together to bargain for a bigger slice of the economic pie. Women and other unskilled workers are not our concern for now. Exclude them from our organization. Their participation in the workforce lowers wages and threatens our job security.
Eugene V. Debs
Head of the American Railway Union and director of the Pullman strike; he was imprisoned along with his associates for ignoring a federal court injunction to stop striking. While in prison, he read Socialist literature and emerged as a Socialist leader in America.
Alice Paul
Head of the National Woman's party that campaigned for an equal rights amendment to the Constitution. She opposed legislation protecting women workers because such laws implied women's inferiority. Most condemned her way of thinking. In the meantime, Alice Paul considered the movement to be a bit stalled by 1914 Paul's 1916 Congressional Union formed the Woman's Party, comprised of the enfranchised members of the Congressional Union. In 1917, the two organizations merged to create the National Woman's Party (NWP). Paul adopted the philosophy of holding to the party in power responsible f for women's second class citizenship until women had gained the right to vote. She "punished" those parties in power who did not support suffrage by launching a negative publicity campaign against them. Under her leadership, the NWP targeted Congress and the White House through a revolutionary strategy of sustained dramatic, nonviolent protest. The colorful, spirited suffrage marches, the suffrage songs, the violence the women faced (they were physically attacked and their banners were torn from their hands), the daily pickets and arrests at the White House, the hunger strikes and brutal prison conditions, the national speaking tours and newspaper headlines—all created enormous public support for suffrage. Alice Paul was a fresh voice in the movement by 1912. Paul was a well-educated, Quaker woman working and studying in England in 1907 when she became interested in the issue of women's suffrage. That year she met Emmeline and Christabel & Sylvia Pankhurst, 3 militant English suffragists whose radical tactics ranging from marches, hunger strikes, and window breaking inspired Paul. Between 1907 and 1910 Paul participated in meetings, demonstrations, hunger-strikes and speeches to Parliament. These activities led to multiple arrests and force-feedings. She returned to the United States in 1910 and completed a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Pennsylvania in 1912. She then turned her attention to the American suffrage movement which. Paul believed that the movement needed to focus on the passage of a federal suffrage amendment to the U.S. Constitution. She joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and assumed leadership of its Congressional Committee in Washington, DC. But her radical, English-inspired tactics, were not to the liking of Catt and the NAWSA. Paul created a new organization, the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage which split from NAWSA in 1914.
Homestead Act of 1862
Homestead Act, 1862-gave 160 Acres to citizens or those heads of household intending to become citizens on the condition they improve the land by building a dwelling on it, living on it for 5 years, and cultivating it. [heads of household were usually, but not always male] The act, however, proved to be no panacea for poverty. Comparatively few laborers and farmers could afford to build a farm or acquire the necessary tools, seed, and livestock. In the end, most of those who purchased land under the act came from areas quite close to their new homesteads (Iowans moved to Nebraska, Minnesotans to South Dakota, and so on). Many Americans too advantage of the Homestead Act but unfortunately, the act also invited fraud. Congress modified the law to open federal homesteading lands to speculators, cattlemen, miners, lumbermen, and railroads. Of some 500 million acres dispersed by the General Land Office between 1862 and 1904, only 80 million acres went to homesteaders. Indeed, small farmers acquired more land under the Homestead Act in the 20th century than they did in the 19th.
Annexation of Hawaii (1898)
In 1840s, us tried to make a treaty with Hawaii so no other country could take it for themselves. America was occupied with North American Expandion at the same time toward the pacific. I wanted to secure a privileged relationship with Hawaii which could serve as a Pacific whaling and shipping station in the future. Hawaii's climate also made it a prime location for the lucrative sugar industry and by the 1860s American investors began to move onto the island along with christian missionaries. The missionaries were a cultural advanced guard preparing Hawaiians for the arrival of sugar planters who then quickly bought up or took over through coercion and negotiation, Hawaiian's lands. Planters wanted to be annexed to avoid tarriff on their foreign grown sugar. In 1893 Queen Liliuokalani's wanted to empower her people with a new Constitution. Group of americans led by samuel b dole tried to overthrow her. Monarchy eliminated. Provisional government established which became Republic of Hawaii. Coup. In fact American planters enacted a partial coup in 1887 when they forced the Hawaiian monarchy to sign a new constitution into law that stripped the monarchy of much of its authority and placed it in the hands of a white-controlled cabinet and legislature. This virtual overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy was completed at gunpoint and the Constituion became known as the "bayonet constitution." When President McKinley took office in 1896 the annexation of Hawaii, which President Cleveland had not supported, was now supported by both the Executive branch of the government and the U.S. Congress. In 1898 Hawaii was formally annexed and signed into law.
Annexation of Puerto Rico
In nearby P.R. which had recently been granted independence by Spain, the US seized an opportunity and occupied the island with troops— the major us interest in P.R. was, once again the sugar industry. P.R. offered little resistance, its economy was tightly tied to exports to US and need to import all food and mfg. goods. Foraker Act of 1900 set up a colonial govt with an American Governor and a 2 house legislature, the upper house of which was appointed by the U.S. The harsh irony of this was the P.R. had won its independence from Spain earlier in 1898 but the U.S. instituted a military occupation of the island when hostilities broke out with Spain. In 1917, the Jones act made P.R. a US territory and granted all Puerto Ricans US citizenship
Initiative and Referendum
Initiative allowed reformers to circumvent state legislatures by submitting new legislature to the voters in general direct election. Referendum is the method by which actions of the legislature could be returned to the electorate for approval.
Yellow Journalism
Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers. Yet the American media and other evijjuents pushed McKinley and the U.S. Congress to action. First to provoke American's patriotic ire was the interception of a telegram from the Spanish minister in D.C. containing insulting comments about President McKinley. Less than two weeks later The USS Maine that had been sent to Cuban waters to protect American lives and property, blew up in Havana Harbor killing nearly 300 american sailors. War hawks, inc. Asst. Secretary of the Navy, T.R., immediately suspected the Spanish of attacking the ship and began calling for war. Newspaper mogels, William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pultizer whipped the public into a frenzy of revenge with sensationalized, lurid reports of the "Attack." The fact that they offered unsubstantiated and highly emotional accounts of the explosion, claiming the Maine had been blown up by a Spanish mine led them be labeled "Yellow Journalists" Cuban exiles in major American cities also joined in this Chorus. Despite his best efforts, McKinley was unable to stem the flow of American public opinion and despite Spain's willingness to close the concentration camps and its denial of any culpability in the explosion of the Maine, by April, the U.S. was embroiled in a short war that ended with enormous consequence for US global power. McKinley quickly capitulated to congressional calls for a declaration of war. The rallying cry of the American press and public during the war became, "Remember the Maine! To hell with Spain!" Later investigations exonerated Spain and pinpointed the explosion to a failure in the ship's boiler room.
Muckrakers
Journalists who attempted to find corruption or wrongdoing in industries and expose it to the public. One of the first lines of attack -journalism—publicizing the problems plaguing American cities—fill in some info on steffens who appears in the photography with "Fightin Bob La Follette" progressive gov. of Wisconsin—maybe read an excerpt
Rose Schneiderman
Key organizer of the WTUL for the Shirtwaist strike of 1909. She advocated a ten hour day, pay increases, union recognition, increased unionization for women, and safer conditions.
Homestead Steel Strike (1892)
Labor conflict at the Homestead steel mill near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents hired by the factory's management. Carnegie steel plant in homestead pa managed by henry frick. Workers locked out after failed contract negotiations. Workers went on strike, picketed and attacked scabs. Pinkerton detectives and state militia sent in.
Uprising of the 20,000
Labor strike involving primarily Jewish women working in New York shirtwaist factories that began in November 1909 and ended with the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire in March 1911.
Chief Joseph
Leader of Nez Perce. Fled with his tribe to Canada instead of reservations. However, US troops came and fought and brought them back down to reservations. Assimilation is necessary if indians are going to survive in a world dominated by white americans and the us government. White americans and the us government have abused, lied to, murdered, and stolen from indians. That should be recognized, condemned and stopped. The government should apply their own law equally to white and indian alike and follow their principles of governance in good faith rather than having one standard for native american and another for white men. Chief joseph wants indians to be able to preserve and retain key aspects of their own cultures like language, some traditions, and religion, and group identity while agreeing to abide by us law and becoming citizens with the same rights and obligations as other americans.
Platt Amendment
Legislation that severely restricted Cuba's sovereignty and gave the US the right to intervene if Cuba got into trouble. They stayed for 3 years, agreeing to withdraw troops only when Cuba agreed to add The Platt Amendment to its constitution. 1901, Platt Amendment was forced on Cuba. The US refused to remove its troops until the Cuban legislature approved it. It gave the US the power of approval of all foreign Treaties Required Cuba wanted to enter into. It reserved for the U.S. the right to intervene in domestic affairs of Cuba. It granted the U.S. a permanent Naval Base on the island at Guantanamo Bay. U.S. investors continued to dominate the island's economy and this domination along with the political concessions Cuba was forced to agree to sparked Long-lasting resentment that served as the historical spark of animosity between the once allied nations.
Trade craft union vs industrial union
National labor union 1866, 8 hour day for government employees. American federation of labor 1886, Samuel L Gompers, skilled workers only, collective bargaining Industrial union-knights of labor-1868 Uriah stephens and terrence powderly Egalitarian union, accepted all workers including women and african americans Preferred abritration and boycotts over strikes
Chief Quanah Parker
On May 19, 1836, a group of Comanche, Kiowa and Kichai warriors on the Texas frontier attacked a community of white settlers led by a man named John Parker. UThe Indians attacked the small fort the group of settlers had and quickly overpowered the outnumbered defenders. Most of the women were raped and the men were tortured and killed. They took John Parker, his granddaughter Cynthia Ann Parker, and some others alive. John Parker was castrated, scalped, and killed. Cynthia Parker and five captives were led away into Comanche territory. Texans mounted a rescue force and eventually all of the other captives were released over the years as ransoms was paid. However, Cynthia remained with the Indians for nearly twenty-five years. Following a common native American custom of adopting child captives, she was adopted and integrated into the tribe. She was given to a Comanche couple who raised her like their own daughter. She forgot her European ways, and became Comanche in every sense. She married Peta Nocona, a chief and the couple had three children, famed Comanche chief Quanah Parker, another son named Pecos (Pecan), and a daughter named Topsannah (Prairie Flower) In December 1860, after years of searching, Texas Rangers deep in Comanche territory, discovered a band of Comanche rumored to hold American captives. In a surprise raid, the Texas Rangers surprised and attacked a camp of Comanches. In the absence of most of the Comanche band's warriors, the Rangers massacred many of the women and children but they discovered amongst the fleeing Comanche, a woman rider who as the rangers neared, held a child over her head. The woman was Cynthia Ann Parker whose blue eyes alerted the rangers to her whiteness. In all other respects she appeared to be Comanche. The rangers took her back to white society and her white relatives with her baby daughter, who shortly thereafter died. Parker was grief stricken at the loss of her daughter and by the separation from her sons and husband [who she was not sure was alive or dead]. She languished among her white family members and failed to readjust to white society. She is believed to have died a few years later in 1864. Cynthia Ann parker's oldest son was Quanah Parker (ca. 1845 or 1852 - February 23, 1911) . After fighting and evading the U.S. army for many years he and his band eventually surrendered and QP emerged as a dominant figure after the 'Comanches' final defeat in 1875. Quanah was a Comanche chief, a leader in the Native American Church, and the last leader of the powerful Quahadi band before they went to a reservation in Indian Territory. Parker's was the last tribe of the Staked Plains to come to the reservation. Quanah was named chief over all the Comanches on the reservation, and proved to be a forceful, resourceful and able leader. Through wise investments, he became perhaps the wealthiest American Indian of his day. At this time, Quanah embraced much of white culture and adopted the surname Parker. He was well respected by the whites. He went on hunting trips with President Theodore Roosevelt, who often visited him. Nevertheless, he rejected both monogamy and traditional Protestant Christianity in favor of the Native American Church Movement, of which he was a founder. This was a modified version of Christianity in which N.A.s took peyote as part of their holy sacrament. "White men go to church to talk about Jesus. Indians go to church to speak with Jesus." QP walked a path midway between Indian and White cultures. He was both a survivor, a leader and a mediator. Although praised by many in his tribe as a preserver of their culture, Quanah also had Comanche critics. Some claimed that he "sold out to the white man" by adapting and becoming a rancher. He dressed and lived in what some viewed as a more European-American than Comanche style. Quanah did adopt some European-American ways, but he always wore his hair long and in braids. He also refused to follow US marriage laws and had at one point as manya as eight wives simultaneously. Indigenous leaders like Quanah Parker and Zitkala Sa were important cultural mediators between white and Indian society. As Indians, they used the culturally imperialistic ideas of well-meaning white reformers—like Helen Hunt Jackson, or even Richard Pratt—to walk a middle path between cultural preservation and Indian rights advocacy and practical strategies of assimilation and accommodation to white institutions of power in order to survive.
Indian Boarding School System
Oral History: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDshQTBh5d4 Despite the traumatizing effects of many of these boarding schools, some ofui their graduates went on to become civil rights leaders fighting on behalf of Native peoples—Zitkala Sa [Gertrude Bonnin Simmons] http://www.pbs.org/cgi-registry/mediaplayer/videoplayer.cgi?playertype=quicktime&speed=hi&;playeraddress=videoplayer.cgi;media=%2Findiancountry%2Fboarding_lo.rm%2C%2Findiancountry%2Fboarding_hi.rm%2C%2Findiancountry%2Fboarding_lo.mov%2C%2Findiancountry%2Fboarding_hi.mov;title=Indian%20Boarding%20Schools;playertemplate=%2Findiancountry%2Fincl%2Fvideo_template.html;widescreen=true The federal government began sending American Indians to off-reservation boarding schools in the 1870s, when the United States was still at war with Indians. An Army officer, Richard Pratt, founded the first of these schools. He based it on an education program he had developed in an Indian prison. He described his philosophy in a speech he gave in 1892. Pratt modified the prevailing opinion of many Americans that "an only good Indian is a dead one," by insisting that Indians could be saved if they were forced to assimilate. Pratt strategy was "that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man." Pratt's first "pupils" were actually captured prisoners he had confined in a Florida prison. He taught them English and, after they learned English they were educated about western civilization and Christianity. At the same time they taught these captured plains Indians agriculture and working trades. This experiment was a success by Pratt's standards. By April, 1878, 62 of the younger, more easily educated Indians joined the Hampton Institute in Virginia — a "normal school" or teacher training institute founded by abolitionists for blacks. Pratt's Indians were grooomed to becoming teachers who would go back to the Indian communities and spread his teachings. He publicized the success of his experiment through a series of "then-and-now" photographs showing the "savage" versus the "civilized" Indians. The photos were designed to garner public and financial support for the schools and justify their continued existence. By 1879, Pratt was ready to extend the experiment. He went to the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux reservations in the Dakotas and convinced parents and tribal elders to allow him to take 60 young boys and 24 girls to a new boarding school. Older federal day schools had been near the reservations, this one was in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1,500 miles away. His hope was that the long distance would help to sever the hold that tribal life had on students.
Election of 1912
Presidential campaign involving Taft, T. Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson. Taft and Roosevelt split the Republican vote, enabling Wilson to win. Democrat-conservative south, northeastern immigrant cities. Republican-2 wings-conservative pro business/laissez fair capitalism. Progressive-reform and regulation. Progressive/Bull Moose-Roosevelt's answer to pushing republicans toward more progressive policies but also to get on the ticket. Socialist challenge by debs.
Sources of new immigration
Pushed out of countries by:religious persecution of eastern european jews. Overcrowding, poverty, in europe and asia. Political unrest, intolerance of political dissent in european nation states. Pulled into america by: economic opportunity, recruitment into industry. Religious freedom, cheap land (homestead act 1862)
19th Amendment (1920)
Ratified on August 18, 1920 (drafted by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton), prohibits any United States citizen from being denied the right to vote on the basis of sex. The Constitution allows the states to determine the qualifications for voting, and until the 1910's most states disenfranchised women. The amendment was the culmination of the women's suffrage movement in the U.S.
Robber Barons
Refers to the industrialists or big business owners who gained huge profits by paying their employees extremely low wages. They also drove their competitors out of business by selling their products cheaper than it cost to produce it. Then when they controlled the market, they hiked prices high above original price.
Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
Roosevelt's 1904 extension of the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States has the right to protect its economic interests in South And Central America by using military force. According to T. R., using the big stick was justified in "uncivilized" or backward nations to preserve international order and stability -both political and economic. On the economic side—order and stability depended upon develop nations continuing to produce industrial and manufactured good while underdeveloped nations supplied raw materials and consumer markets. On the political side—the U.S. was clearly joining the imperial powers of the West. For T.R. and other imperialists maintaining order meant maintaining the international hierarchy in which industrialized Western nations dominated weaker nations and negotiated with eachother who would get to extract profit from which nations. This power differential also clearly broke down along racial lines with so called Anglo-Saxon and Teutonic nations ruling over nation's and resources belonging rightfully to people of color. Not surprisingly in this racialized international context, social darwinism was applied
Trust Busting Presidents
Roosevelt, Taft, Wilson
Hull House
Settlement home designed as a welfare agency for needy families. It provided social and educational opportunities for working class people in the neighborhood as well as improving some of the conditions caused by poverty.
Dawes Act of 1887
Sought to "Americanize" Native Americans. The Dawes act was intended to inculcate the value and custom of private ownership of land and get the nomadic tribes of the Miiid-West, West, and the Plains to adopt European style farming and settled living patterns. Under the Dawes Act of 1887 the reservations that had been set up to relocate Eastern tribes and contain the movements of Western tribe to avoid contact with white settlers were broken up. After lands were allotted to tribe members they would be sold by the government to white settlers to further disrupt the cohesiveness of Native communities and cultures.
Coal Strike of 1902
Strike by the United Coal Workers of America, threatening to shut down the winter coal supply. Theodore Roosevelt intervened federally, and resolved the dispute
Social Darwinism
The belief that only the fittest survive in human political and economic struggle. Not everyone agreed with Carnegie's philanthropic bent. In fact some thought providing help to the exploited, the poor, the overworked was ultimately a bad idea that would lead to the weakening of both the human species, the economy, and even the nation. Social thinkers and critics called Social Darwinists adapted the scientific theories of biologist Charles Darwin who had argued that those animals with the most adaptive and advantageous traits survived to pass on their successful traits to their offspring and this process of natural selection strengthened each species. The weak and those who could not adapt and compete died before passing their genes on. Social Darwinism applied these ideas to humans & human society as well the economy and the international political scene. Only the strongest people Would survive, succeed, and pass on their genes. Only the strongest businesses would likewise experience economic success and survive to benefit the larger economy. Only the healthiest, most competitive nation states would rise to power. And social darwinists like Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner believed this was how it should be! Charity, business regulation, and even artificial attempts to prevent competition between nations would, in their view, have only long term negative effects. The human race would be weakened by allowing the weak to survive and pass on their genes. Economies would be debilitated if the unprofitable industries and businesses were subsidized and propped up. , Dependent and weak nation states would be unable to sustain themselves and thus create a drain on other nations and cause international instability. Only the strong should be allowed to survive and capitalist free mark competition was promoted as the best way to ensure the "survival of the fittest" and the evolution of the species. The competition and inequality engendered by capitalism was good for the species and human civilization and progress since it weeded out the weak.
Pacific Railway Acts (1863, 64, 65, 66)
The government also passed the Pacific Railroad Acts 1863 , 1865/ to support the development of a transcontinental transportation network, These Land Grants gave land and "contiguous rights of way" to the Union Pacific and Central Pacific RR co.s to build the trans-continental rail roads For every mile of track laid, a rr co. was granted 10 sq. miles of additional contiguous land By 1871, the federal govt. had given the RRs 175 million acres The Railroads enabled substantial white settlement of the west with more than 400,000 homesteaders managing to hold onto to their claims long enough to earn permanent title to the land. The number of American farms doubled between 1865 and 1900 and some farms became large mechanized business ventures called bonanza farm. These farms specialized in the production of grain crops in high demand globally, wheat & corn. They employed hundreds of workers and made use of new farming technologies -including mechanical reapers, improved strains of seeds, and more effective chemical fertilizers. Despite the rise of commercial farming--Building Farms and Communities mostly took place in the context of family activity and RR corps. could take the land in the path of the RR and that within 200 ft. of the track laid. Telegraph companies laid their wires along the paths of the transcontinental tracks. RR corps resold much of the land to private settlers at huge profits.
Socialist Party of America
This party was dedicated to the welfare of the working class. The platform called for more radical reforms such as public ownership of the RRs, utilities, and even of major industries such as oil and steel. The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a democratic-socialist political party in the United States. It wanted to incorporate socialist policies in American government by participating in the political process and shaping public policy. It did not officially advocate socialist revolution though there were more radical socialists within its ranks who did. It wanted to vote in candidates who would support its goal of worker and government control of the means of production and distribution. This rested on creating a government that was controlled by the working people of America as opposed to one influenced and controlled by big industry. The SPA was formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and deserters from the Socialist Labor Party which had split from the main organization in 1899. In the first decades of the 20th century, the SPA drew support from trade unionists, industrial unions like the IWW, progressive social reformers, populists, and immigrants. From 1901 to 1920 the party elected two United States Representatives to Congress (Victor L. Berger[milwaukee, WI] and Meyer London [NYC), dozens of state legislators, more than a hundred mayors, and numerous lesser officials. From 1901 (before its formal union) to 1912, the Socialist Party ran Eugene Debs for President at each election. The best showing ever for a Socialist ticket was in 1912, when Debs gained 901,551 total votes, or 6% of the popular vote. In 1920 Debs ran again, this time from prison, and received 913,693 votes, 3.4% of the total. The party's pacifism during World War I, led to defections from the ranks, official repression and vigilante persecution. Scaffolding questions to pose: What is capitalism? How did socialists propose to alter capitalism? In what ways would socialism liberate American workers, according to Debs? Then do the questions in the book.
Gospel of Wealth
This was a book written by Carnegie that described the responsibility of the rich to be philanthropists. This softened the harshness of Social Darwinism as well as promoted the idea of philanthropy. Segway by discussing Andrew Carnegie's "Gospel of Wealth" Students take 4-5 minutes to answer the following questions on paper. Individual responses handed in after we share out student responses and I Socratically guide students through the main points. What did Carnegie think should be done with all his excess wealth? (The successful capitalist should redistribute his own excess wealth through philanthropy not hold onto it all or pass it all on to his children—giving to worthy causes that create educational and business opportunities for people. Private philanthropy more effective than government taxation and redistribution because successful capitalists know how to reinvest wealth to the betterment of the economy AND SOCIETY. This was not about simple charity-ie feeding the hungry-- rather it was about giving back to society in productive, creative and meaningful ways that would foster education and opportunity for ambitious poor and innovation.] Why? [Some answers discussed in class: Guilty conscience? Carnegie felt bad about his earlier cut-throat and exploitative business practices. Also, he had personal experience of being a "self-made man" or a "rags to riches story" so he knew that talent and ability needed to be nurtured and tapped and fostered through mentorship and provision of opportunities. Talented individuals were not simply born into the upper echelons of society. Rather they came from all social classes and it was the responsibility of those who benefitted/profited from the workers of the world to provide talented people of humble origins with a fair opportunity at also becoming "self-made" success stories. This would ultimately foster both social and economic progress]
Uriah Stephens
U.S. labor leader. He led nine Philadelphia garment workers to found the Knights of Labor in 1869, a more successful early national union.
Big Bill Haywood
United States labor leader and militant socialist who was one of the founders of the Industrial Workers of the World (1869-1928)
Vertical and horizontal integration
Vertical integration-control full industry, own raw materials, suppliers, transports, mfg Horizontal consolidation-buy out and merge with competitors
Pullman Strike (1894)
Wage cute, lay offs, high housing costs in company towns of George Pullman's rail road car company. National strike. Railroads paralyzed in 27 states. Governor John altgeld refused to send troops in, pressing Pullman to meet worker demands.
John D. Rockefeller
Was an American industrialist and philanthropist. Revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of modern philanthropy. Rockefeller, born in central NY grew up in a working class family in cleveland Ohio. He was the son of a travelling salesman. After earning a basic education in business in bookkeeping became a clerk at the age of 16, a successful commission merchant in grain and meat in Ohio during the civil war before moving into the oil industry on the business hunch that oil would soon provide the nation with fuel and light. He began invested in oil wells and oil refineries with partners until by 1870 he founded the Standard Oil company. By 1879 Standard Oil refined about 90% of all oil in the U.S. Rockefeller pioneered the practice of "vertical integration" and was also one of a growing number of industrial capitalists who controlled their industry through the business model of the TRUST COMPANY. The industry was managed by a board of trustees who ran the industry for the owners who in return received dividends and profits.
Municipal Housekeeping
Women's christian temperance union and the do everything policy and the home protection ballot. General federation of women's clubs-waged local municipal campaigns for housing improvements and sanitation, public libraries, pure milk, juvenile rights. National Consumer's League-1899, white label campaign. Buy the union label. WCTU—"Do Everything and Frances Willard—the WCTU morphed from being strictly interested in temperance to being a major force for social reform—espoused causes ranging from est. of kindergardens to social purity (anti-prostituion) to suffrage, and worker education and unionization. Developed the concept of the "Home Protection Ballot" WCTU and Women's Clubs existed in every state and most communities by the late 19th c. Local branches were generally segregated by race
Henry Street Settlement
by Lillian Wald in NY in 1892; providing social services, healthcare, and shelter to the poor
Women's Trade Union League
a U.S. organization of both working class and more well-off women formed in 1903 to support the efforts of women to organize labor unions and to eliminate sweatshop conditions
National American Woman Suffrage Association
a group formed by leading suffragist in the late 1800s to organize the women's suffrage movement. Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Sod House
a home made from sod or grass
Clara Lemlich
a leader of the Uprising of 20,000, and the massive strike of shirtwaist workers in New York's garment industry in 1909.
Josiah Strong
a popular American minister in the late 1800s who linked Anglo-Saxonism to Christian missionary ideas. Saw cities and saloons as places where wasted and drunkenness prevail. Saloons are evidence that immigrants are corrupting the country by imposing their culture on America. Sees political corruption (influence of the liquor lobby/power)
Bully pulpit
a public office or position of authority that provides its occupant with an outstanding opportunity to speak out on any issue.
Richard Henry Pratt
captain in the US army who worked with the education of American Indians in the late 1800s. He viewed them as "human beings," but his aim was to reform them; making him in every other way except skin color, a Anglo-Saxon Protestant. He thought the Indian must die to become a civilized man. His education was based on imitating the white man.
National Women's Party
a women's organization founded in 1916 that fought for women's rights during the early 20th century in the United States, particularly for the right to vote on the same terms as men. A decades long divide in the women's movement. Equal rights feminists vs labor feminists. The Equal Rights Amendment Campaign In 1920, the 72-year struggle ended with the ratification of the 19th Amendment, the "Susan B. Anthony" Amendment, granting women the vote. Paul believed that the vote was just the first step in women's quest for full equality. In 1922, she reorganized the NWP with the goal of eliminating all discrimination against women. In 1923 Paul wrote the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), also known as the Lucretia Mott Amendment, and launched what would be for her a life-long campaign to win full equality for women. This campaign was deeply divisive within the women's movement. It pitted the equal rights "feminists"—mostly middle class white women and educated professionals in the NWP against social or labor feminists like Kelley and her successors in the U.S. Dept. of Labor's, newly established Women's Bureau)—Labor feminists thought an equal rights amendment would undo the years of protective labor legislation they helped create on behalf of working women. ER feminists saw protection as a barrier to women's equal participation in the workforce since professionals could not compete with men in their fields if they were restricted by laws limiting their hours, prohibiting them from night work, and restricting them from equal opportunity to compete in general. The current version of the ERA reads: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States on account of sex." Congress passed the ERA in 1972 but remains three states short of ratification today. For over fifty years, the ERA has been introduced in every session of Congress. International Women's Rights In addition to working on issues affecting American women, the NWP was extensively involved in the international women's rights movement beginning in the early 1920s. In 1928, the NWP assisted in the establishment of the Inter-American Commission of Women (IACW), which served as an advisory and policy-planning unit on women's issues for what is now the Organization of American States. The NWP sought equality measures for women at the League of Nations through Equal Rights International and the International Labor Organization. The Party also provided assistance to Puerto Rican and Cuban women in their suffrage campaigns. In 1938, Alice Paul founded the World Woman's Party, which, until 1954, served as the NWP's international organization. In 1945, the NWP among other women's groups, were instrumental in the incorporation of language regarding women's equality in the United Nations Charter and in the establishment of a permanent UN Commission on the Status of Women
National Conservation Commission
commission created in 1908 by TR to encourage efficient, responsible management of the nation's resources (may be considered a forerunner of today's EPA); Taft & Congress didn't support the agency & stopped funding it after one year
Equal Rights Amendment
constitutional amendment passed by Congress but never ratified that would have banned discrimination on the basis of gender
National Consumers League
formed in the 1890's under the leadership of Florence Kelly, attempted to mobilize the power of women as consumers to force retailers and manufacturing to improve wages and working conditions. White label campaign, buy the union label.
Lillian Wald
founded the Henry Street Settlement and Visiting Nurse Service which provided nursing and social services and organized educational and cultural activities. She is considered the founder of public health nursing
"The Great White Fleet"
he Great White Fleet was the popular nickname for the powerful United States Navy battle fleet that completed a journey around the globe from 16 December 1907, to 22 February 1909, by order of United States President Theodore Roosevelt.
George Pullman
made his fortune by designing and building sleeper cars that made long distance rail travel more comfortable. Built a company town near Chicago for his employees.
Equal Rights Feminist
mostly middle class white women and educated professionals in the NWP against social or labor feminists like Kelley and her successors in the U.S. Dept. of Labor's, newly established Women's Bureau
Upton Sinclair
muckraker who shocked the nation when he published The Jungle, a novel that revealed gruesome details about the meat packing industry in Chicago. The book was fiction but based on the things Sinclair had seen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2ppaJwQ9UM --Chicago's flourishing meatpacking industry developed in the 1870s due to its position as and East/West RR crossroads. The Union stockyards included a number of large slaughter houses and processing plants run by Armour, and Swift. By the 1890s a half dozen companies were processing upwards of 20,000 animals per day under generally appalling sanitary conditions and dangerous work B/c these industries were ought to maximize their profits no part of the animal was let go to waste and spoiled meat was chemically treated and processed to mask its foul order. In fact, the tinned meat products that came out of Chicago's meatpacking industry were one reason that soldiers in the Spanish American war of 1898 fell ill so frequently—food poisoning from their preserved meat rations out of Chicago. In 1904, writer, socialist, and muckraker, Upton Sinclair decided to write an investigative report on Chicago's meat industry, signing up for tours that were regularly given tourists and making note of the work and sanitary conditions...he set to work authoring a powerhouse piece of social protest literature. Though he had set out to expose the plight of the workers he also effectively alerted the nation to wretched quality of the meat products chicago's meat industry was selling them.
Anti-Imperialist League
objected to the annexation of the Philippines and the building of an American empire. Idealism, self-interest, racism, constitutionalism, and other reasons motivated them, but they failed to make their case; the Philippines were annexed in 1900
labor feminists
term used to describe advocates for equal pay for equal work, good working conditions, maternity leave. Labor feminists thought an equal rights amendment would undo the years of protective labor legislation they helped create on behalf of working women. ER feminists saw protection as a barrier to women's equal participation in the workforce since professionals could not compete with men in their fields if they were restricted by laws limiting their hours, prohibiting them from night work, and restricting them from equal opportunity to compete in general.
Nativism
the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants. American Protective Association: was formed by Henry Bower, a lawyer who professed hatred for Catholics and foreignersii—based on fear of losing white protestant predominance and prejudice- IRL was founded by 5 Harvard alumni who wanted the U.S. to develop a more discriminating immigration policy that allowed only "desirable" immigrants in—undesirables included illiterates, paupers, convicts, and the mentally incompetent. But the govt was reluctant to restrict the supply of cheap immigrant labor its rapidly growing industrial economy needed Scientific racism emerged strongly in this period, it was used to justify restriction of immigration based on the theory that the "New Immigrants" of the Gilded Age came from an inferior gene pool and represented the worst cast offs of Europe—those who had been unable to compete in the Old World.
A Century of Dishonor
written by Helen Hunt Jackson in 1881 to expose the atrocities the United States committed against Native Americans in the 19th century