Chapter 16: Reconstruction
The period preceding the World War 1 between 1860 and 1877 saw America undergo major reconstruction. The country faced numerous challenges and controversies among them handling of freed slaves. There were also challenges about land and labor particularly in the south. The government was also challenged on how to engage former slaves, slave holders, Union military commanders and Federal government officials. There were also challenges on the expansion of federal and black rights, the southern resistance and the black codes (Roark et al 138).
The Fourteenth Amendment to the constitution in April 1866 gave universal citizenship to both native and naturalized persons living in America. The Amendment was significant in that it provided for “equal protection of all American citizens by the laws” (Roark et al 140). It also prohibited states from curtailing the privileges/immunities of citizens in matters regarding property ownership and voting rights of adult male citizens. Johnson rallied the Southern States where there were larger proportions of African Americans to reject the Fourteenth Amendment since it excluded Northern Blacks from voting.
The radical reconstruction was a move to overturn the Johnson-approved governments of the Southern States after he lost the 1866 congressional elections. The reconstruction saw moderate Democrats join radicals within the Republican Party, a move aimed at teaching whites in southern states the folly of trusting Johnson. The Military Reconstruction Act divided ten unreconstructed states confederate states into five military districts. A union general was then placed in charge of each district. The act mandated the generals to oversee political reforms in the districts.
Chapter 17: Settlement in the West
European-American settlers comprising of laborers, farmers, miners and ranchers moved to the West. They moved to the West because there was land to start new lives and do business. Moreover, the Republicans instituted policies to subsidize businesses in the arid West thus attracting people to the West.
The homesteaders were newly arrived immigrants who owned small farmlands (160 acres) “homestead” at no cost as provided for in the Homestead Act of 1862 (Roark et al 145). Speculators were rich bankers who started big businesses and cities in the west. Ranchers were European settlers who established ranches in the southern states such as Texas. Cowboys were white men seeking adventure who tended animals in the ranches. Tenants were well-off African-Americans who migrated to the West as business leaders or landowners. Sharecroppers were African-Americans who had previously worked in farms and moved to the west to become farmers (Roark et al 145).
The land speculators commercialized land by buying lowly-priced land, developing it using manure from factories and utilizing excremential siliconium to produce better crops. They later sold the land at high prices. Ranchers on the other hand industrialized ranching by using barbed wire to fence ranches in place of free range grazing thereby revolutionizing the cattle business (Roark et al 148).
Chapter 18: The West during the Gilded Age
The political culture was anchored on how to handle the former slaves and on the restructurings brought about by the Fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments. The political concerns among the populace and their subsequent participation in American politics were based on land ownership, voting rights, African-American emancipation and women rights. The political culture was also marked by radicals mostly whites from the Northern states who were opposed to the abolition of slavery.
Race and gender were two issues at the heart of American politics. Provisions in the Fourteenth Amendment barred black men from the Northern States from voting. The amendment also ignored politicized and energized women who were demanding for their voting rights.
Chapter 19: The city and its workers
The Poor working class (City dwellers) enjoyed cheap amusements in the cities’ streets, music and dance halls, ballparks and amusement arcades. Baseball also gained popularity and became a national pastime in the 1870s. The city dwellers did not enjoy the benefits of these amusements equally due to socio-economic and work constraints. Moreover, the amusements posed a challenge to the traditional rituals of courtship as prostitution became associated with dance halls.
Domesticity was a prevailing value system in the nineteenth century among Upper and middle class women. The system required women to embrace femininity by keeping to their homes and tend to domestic chores and their families. The system aimed at making working and middle class women as passive, virtuous and caring creatures who turned homes into peaceful havens.
Municipal governments took the responsibility to develop American cities and instituted massive public works. City governments were run by city bosses who presided over political parties (machines) organized at the grassroots. When a certain political party won elections it rewarded its supporters with jobs in the city’s payroll and improved services in their neighborhoods.
The Ambivalence among many Americans concerning the city resulted from their association with corruption and sin. In fact people feared the city for being “a loci of sin (Roark et al 158). Chicago’s white City built in 1893 exemplified the city’s ambivalence. It was synonymous with Chicago’s harmony, and pristine beauty which contrasted with Chicago’s slums, stockyards and bustling terminals. Due to the great depression the fair closed doors in 1893. In the winter 1894, unemployed and homeless Chicagoans took over the building vandalizing it and disrupting the comfort of the city’s comfortable citizens.
Chapter 20: Depression, Dissent and war
The American expansion was motivated by the numerous strikes witnessed in the late 1890s such as the Farmers’ Revolt, the Pullman Strike and the Cripple Creek Miner’s Strike. American businesses had to expand. Moreover, the great economic depression of the 1890s prompted commercial expansions. America also wanted to assert itself as a world power against its colonial masters.
America became a super power by using the Open Door Policy which allowed it to secure access to the massive markets in Asia such as China. In addition Americans invested heavily in foreign countries such as Cuba. Its intervention in the Cuban fight for independence ensured continued businesses that brought $100 million annually to the economy of America.
The debate on American Imperialism was influenced by the following factors. Although Cuba had gained independence from Spanish rule it was not fully autonomous. Filipino revolutionaries fought America troops while vocal democrats and former populists resisted the American attempt to declare an empire terming it as immoral, unwise and unconstitutional
Chapter 21: Progressivism
In his attempt to lower tariff the Payne-Aldrich bill Taft’s move actually raised the tariffs! This move benefited big businesses at the expense of consumers. Taft also refused to endorse Roosevelt’s methods of bending laws to protect the country’s resources. Taft’s attempts to progressive reform therefore stalled leaving many progressives disgruntled. The Republican progressives failed became dissatisfied with Taft’s policies an issue they used to campaign during the 1912 congressional elections. Woodrow Wilson rode to victory in the 1912 on his platform of giving farmers and small businesses better opportunities at the marketplace. He promised to institute tariff, trusts and banking reforms.
Chapter 22: Progressivism at home and abroad
The postwar period in America saw several threats to democracy. First there were the labor upheavals and the economic hardships. The millions of soldiers forced to leave the army caused unemployment rate to increase while strikes directed postwar hostility towards labor militancy in the public domain. Postwar recession, difficulty in integrating returning veterans and labor unrests brought out the “Red Scare”. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia also increased the anxiety among Americans. The Great Migrations of Mexicans and African American also threatened the democracy due to segregation and violence.
The war brought about reforms in policies affecting the Americans such as minimum living wages, enactment of the 8-hour working day, collective bargaining rights among others. The progressives also hoped the war would transform recruits into men possessing high moral and civic purposes. Women also benefited by increased access to jobs and demand for more constitutional rights. The barrier and millions of against hiring women fell and women sought for political offices. Alice Paul led the radical wing of suffragists to picket the White House.
Works cited
Roark, James, Johnson, Michael, Cohen, Patricia, Cline, Stage, Sarah Lawson, Alan &
Hartmann Susan M “The American Promise, Volume II: A History of the United States:
From 1865, Volume 2”. 4th Ed. Bedford/St. Martin's. 2008.
