There were a variety of factors that influenced the Civil Rights Movement. The ultimate goal of the movement was to eliminate racial segregation and discrimination of African Americans. The segregation means the separation of people according to their racial groups. In United States, the segregation displayed itself in the variety of social and legal norms that established a separation within public facilities and in services that were rendered on a separate basis to whites and blacks. De jure segregation was sanctioned by the means of infamous Jim Crow laws that created the system of discriminate practices in economic, social and educational spheres. Another major objective of Civil Rights Movement was to put an end to discriminate state practices of disfranchisement.
One of the major achievements in struggle for civil rights was the adoption of series of legislative acts which banned the practice of discrimination and segregation. Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination in public accommodations based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, as well as eliminated discriminative voter registration requirements, segregation in schools and at the workplace. The adoption of Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibited any racial discrimination in voting. Civil Rights Act of 1968 commonly known as Fair Housing Act established equal housing opportunities. It seems that the adoption and enforcement of these acts is the strongest indicator of the success of Civil Rights Movement. From the historical point, these changes were more than significant. The movement made tremendous efforts and eventually succeeded in the eradication of one of the most shameful forms of racial discrimination – racial segregation. The main purpose of the Civil Rights Movement was to exert pressure on the government in order to force it to take all necessary legislative and executive steps that would ensure the collapse of humiliating system of racial segregation, destruction of any barriers that prevent African-Americans from exercising their right to vote, creating equal employment and housing opportunities. As we know, almost all of these objectives were attained. The government adopted necessary statutes and took steps to ensure that those acts are duly enforced. Even though the movement played a major role in the fight against racial discrimination, from the modern perspective, we see that the outcome of this struggle resulted only in partial defeat of racism. Despite the success of the movement, racial discrimination did not disappear and until this day remains one of the main problems of the American society. Many of the sociologists define modern-day racism as “hidden”, the one that does not openly manifests itself but still exists in the conscience of many citizens and strongly influences their beliefs and choices. Most commonly, it exists in the form of racial prejudices and stereotypes. The Civil Movement showed us that the mere annulment of discriminatory laws and practices, along with the adoption of statutes that create favorable and equal opportunities, will not alone solve the problem of racism. Government`s efforts to fight racism must be complemented by the general willingness of the society to overcome the problem. The problem of racism will be gone only when we realize the fallacy of our convictions.
HISTORY 109 QUESTION 5
Radical changes in American society during the Market Revolution in 1800-1850 were caused by the worldwide Industrial Revolution. The industrial revolution is characterized by the transition from manual labor to machine, from manufacture to the factory. Another aspect is transition from agrarian economy to industrial production which results in the transformation of agrarian society into industrial.
Many historians note that the Market Revolution began with Eli Whitney’s invention of cotton gin in 1793. The invention significantly improved the cotton harvesting process. By the middle of the nineteenth century, U.S. cotton industry had been world`s second in terms of cotton production. Technical re-equipment of the American textile industry had been completed by the beginning of 1830. Northeast became the main center of textile manufacturing in the United States.
Technological revolution of the U.S. heavy industries of metallurgy, mining and engineering occurred in relatively short period. In 1837, the first blast furnace that used coal was produced, and 1840-50s were the years of a widespread displacement of charcoal stone. During 1830-50, the production of iron increased by 3 times, coal mining - more than 20 times.
In the 1820s., the United States laid the foundation of its engineering. In 1828, the first company to manufacture steam engines was established. By 1830, the construction of locomotives had already begun, and the middle of the XIX century was marked by a rapid development of American engineering: there were large engineering plants in New York and other north-eastern cities (locomotive factories in Baltimore and Philadelphia).
The creation of a transport network system was crucial for economic development of the country; long distances and dense forests constrained economic activity. In this regard, the first quarter of the XIX century was marked by the construction of channels that involved the entire country into a single water network.
As much as in the Western Europe, railways played the most important role in the industrial revolution of the United States. The first railway line was built in 1827. In the middle of the XIX century this industry was considered as the preferred area of investments.
The federal government provided a substantial support for railroad companies, particularly with building materials and interest-free loans. By 1860, the United States had seized the world lead in the total length of railways; it was 50% of the world's railway network. However, most of the rails had to be imported from England.
In the middle of the XIX century, in Pennsylvania, and then in other states oil fields were discovered. Oil producing and refining industry shortly became one of the leading industries of the U.S. economy.
U.S industry labor shortages stimulated resourcefulness. The most significant inventions of this period were: Fulton`s steamship (1807), McCormick`s reaper (1836), an electromagnetic telegraph invented by S. Morse (1837). Singer`s sewing machine (1851) became a significant invention that literally gave life to the entire industry with the largest enterprises of "Singer" and "Becker.".
During this period, the United States experienced gradual changes in the social structure due to the emergence of the working class. American workers were in much better position than European. In Europe, impoverished peasants moved to cities, while in the U.S. there was an outflow of labor from towns to the western lands. At the same time, constantly increasing flow of European immigration generated national heterogeneity of the American working class.
