Outline of Us History by Us State Dept

OUTLINE OF
U.S.
History
Early Settlement
Colonial Period
Road to Independence
Forming a Government
Westward Expansion
Sectional Conflict
Civil War
Economic Growth
Discontent and Reform
War, Prosperity, and Depression
The New Deal and World War II
Postwar Prosperity
Civil Rights and Social Change
A New World Order
Bridge to the 21st Century
2008 Presidential Election
OUUT
TLL II N
NEE O
OFF
U.S. HISTORY
O
Bureau of International Information Programs

U.S. Department of State
2011
U.S. HISTORY
OU
O UT
TLLIIN
NEE O
OFF
C O N T E N T S
CHAPTER 1 Early America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CHAPTER 2 The Colonial Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
CHAPTER 3 The Road to Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
CHAPTER 4 The Formation of a National Government . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
CHAPTER 5 Westward Expansion and Regional Differences . . . . . . . 110
CHAPTER 6 Sectional Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
CHAPTER 7 The Civil War and Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
CHAPTER 8 Growth and Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
CHAPTER 9 Discontent and Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
CHAPTER 10 War, Prosperity, and Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
CHAPTER 11 The New Deal and World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
CHAPTER 12 Postwar America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
CHAPTER 13 Decades of Change: 1960-1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
CHAPTER 14 The New Conservatism and a New World Order . . . . . . 304
CHAPTER 15 Bridge to the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
CHAPTER 16 Politics of Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
PICTURE PROFILES
Becoming a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Transforming a Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Monuments and Memorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Turmoil and Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
21st Century Nation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
4
1
CHAPTER
EARLY
AMERICA
Mesa Verde settlement in

Colorado, 13th century.
CHAPTER 1: EARLY AMERICA
“Heaven and Earth never

agreed better to frame a place
for man’s habitation.”
Jamestown founder John Smith, 1607
THE FIRST AMERICANS ancestors had for thousands of years,
A along the Siberian coast and then

t the height of the Ice Age, be- across the land bridge.
tween 34,000 and 30,000 B.C., much Once in Alaska, it would take
of the world’s water was locked up these first North Americans thou-
in vast continental ice sheets. As a sands of years more to work their
result, the Bering Sea was hundreds way through the openings in great
of meters below its current level, and glaciers south to what is now the
a land bridge, known as Beringia, United States. Evidence of early life
emerged between Asia and North in North America continues to be
America. At its peak, Beringia is found. Little of it, however, can be
thought to have been some 1,500 ki- reliably dated before 12,000 B.C.; a
lometers wide. A moist and treeless recent discovery of a hunting look-
tundra, it was covered with grasses out in northern Alaska, for exam-
and plant life, attracting the large ple, may date from almost that time.
animals that early humans hunted So too may the finely crafted spear
for their survival. points and items found near Clovis,
The first people to reach North New Mexico.
America almost certainly did so Similar artifacts have been found
without knowing they had crossed at sites throughout North and South
into a new continent. They would America, indicating that life was
have been following game, as their probably already well established in
6
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
much of the Western Hemisphere by ing earthen burial sites and forti-
some time prior to 10,000 B.C. fications around 600 B.C. Some
Around that time the mammoth mounds from that era are in the
began to die out and the bison took shape of birds or serpents; they
its place as a principal source of probably served religious purposes
food and hides for these early North not yet fully understood.
Americans. Over time, as more and The Adenans appear to have
more species of large game van- been absorbed or displaced by vari-
ished — whether from overhunting ous groups collectively known as
or natural causes — plants, berries, Hopewellians. One of the most im-
and seeds became an increasingly portant centers of their culture was
important part of the early Ameri- found in southern Ohio, where the
can diet. Gradually, foraging and remains of several thousand of these
the first attempts at primitive agri- mounds still can be seen. Believed
culture appeared. Native Americans to be great traders, the Hopewel-
in what is now central Mexico led lians used and exchanged tools and
the way, cultivating corn, squash, materials across a wide region of
and beans, perhaps as early as 8,000 hundreds of kilometers.
B.C. Slowly, this knowledge spread By around 500 A.D., the
northward. Hopewellians disappeared, too,
By 3,000 B.C., a primitive type of gradually giving way to a broad
corn was being grown in the river group of tribes generally known
valleys of New Mexico and Arizo- as the Mississippians or Temple
na. Then the first signs of irrigation Mound culture. One city, Ca-
began to appear, and, by 300 B.C., hokia, near Collinsville, Illinois, is
signs of early village life. thought to have had a population of
By the first centuries A.D., the about 20,000 at its peak in the early
Hohokam were living in settlements 12th century. At the center of the
near what is now Phoenix, Arizo- city stood a huge earthen mound,
na, where they built ball courts and flattened at the top, that was 30
pyramid-like mounds reminiscent meters high and 37 hectares at the
of those found in Mexico, as well as base. Eighty other mounds have
a canal and irrigation system. been found nearby.
Cities such as Cahokia depend-
MOUND BUILDERS AND ed on a combination of hunting,
PUEBLOS foraging, trading, and agriculture
T for their food and supplies. Influ-

he first Native-American group enced by the thriving societies to the
to build mounds in what is now the south, they evolved into complex hi-
United States often are called the erarchical societies that took slaves
Adenans. They began construct- and practiced human sacrifice.
7
In what is now the southwest the indigenous population practi-

United States, the Anasazi, ancestors cally from the time of initial con-
of the modern Hopi Indians, began tact. Smallpox, in particular, ravaged
building stone and adobe pueblos whole communities and is thought
around the year 900. These unique to have been a much more direct
and amazing apartment-like struc- cause of the precipitous decline in
tures were often built along cliff the Indian population in the 1600s
faces; the most famous, the “cliff than the numerous wars and skir-
palace” of Mesa Verde, Colorado, mishes with European settlers.
had more than 200 rooms. Another Indian customs and culture at the
site, the Pueblo Bonito ruins along time were extraordinarily diverse,
New Mexico’s Chaco River, once as could be expected, given the ex-
contained more than 800 rooms. panse of the land and the many dif-
Perhaps the most affluent of the ferent environments to which they
pre-Columbian Native Americans had adapted. Some generalizations,
lived in the Pacific Northwest, where however, are possible. Most tribes,
the natural abundance of fish and particularly in the wooded eastern
raw materials made food supplies region and the Midwest, combined
plentiful and permanent villages pos- aspects of hunting, gathering, and
sible as early as 1,000 B.C. The opu- the cultivation of maize and other
lence of their “potlatch” gatherings products for their food supplies.
remains a standard for extravagance In many cases, the women were
and festivity probably unmatched in responsible for farming and the
early American history. distribution of food, while the men
hunted and participated in war.
NATIVE-AMERICAN By all accounts, Native-American
CULTURES society in North America was closely
T tied to the land. Identification with

he America that greeted the first nature and the elements was integral
Europeans was, thus, far from an to religious beliefs. Their life was
empty wilderness. It is now thought essentially clan-oriented and com-
that as many people lived in the munal, with children allowed more
Western Hemisphere as in West- freedom and tolerance than was the
ern Europe at that time — about 40 European custom of the day.
million. Estimates of the number of Although some North Ameri-
Native Americans living in what is can tribes developed a type of hi-
now the United States at the onset of eroglyphics to preserve certain
European colonization range from texts, Native-American culture was
two to 18 million, with most histori- primarily oral, with a high value
ans tending toward the lower figure. placed on the recounting of tales
What is certain is the devastating ef- and dreams. Clearly, there was a
fect that European disease had on good deal of trade among various
8
groups and strong evidence exists Columbus never saw the main-
that neighboring tribes maintained land of the future United States,
extensive and formal relations — but the first explorations of it were
both friendly and hostile. launched from the Spanish posses-
sions that he helped establish. The
THE FIRST EUROPEANS first of these took place in 1513
T when a group of men under Juan

he first Europeans to arrive in Ponce de León landed on the Florida
North America — at least the first coast near the present city of St.
for whom there is solid evidence Augustine.
— were Norse, traveling west from With the conquest of Mexico in
Greenland, where Erik the Red 1522, the Spanish further solidi-
had founded a settlement around fied their position in the Western
the year 985. In 1001 his son Leif is Hemisphere. The ensuing discov-
thought to have explored the north- eries added to Europe’s knowledge
east coast of what is now Canada and of what was now named America
spent at least one winter there. — after the Italian Amerigo Ves-
While Norse sagas suggest that pucci, who wrote a widely popular
Viking sailors explored the Atlan- account of his voyages to a “New
tic coast of North America down World.” By 1529 reliable maps of the
as far as the Bahamas, such claims Atlantic coastline from Labrador
remain unproven. In 1963, however, to Tierra del Fuego had been drawn
the ruins of some Norse houses dat- up, although it would take more than
ing from that era were discovered at another century before hope of dis-
L’Anse-aux-Meadows in northern covering a “Northwest Passage” to
Newfoundland, thus supporting at Asia would be completely abandoned.
least some of the saga claims. Among the most significant ear-
In 1497, just five years after ly Spanish explorations was that of
Christopher Columbus landed in Hernando De Soto, a veteran con-
the Caribbean looking for a west- quistador who had accompanied
ern route to Asia, a Venetian sail- Francisco Pizarro in the conquest of
or named John Cabot arrived in Peru. Leaving Havana in 1539, De
Newfoundland on a mission for Soto’s expedition landed in Florida
the British king. Although quickly and ranged through the southeast-
forgotten, Cabot’s journey was later ern United States as far as the Missis-
to provide the basis for British claims sippi River in search of riches.
to North America. It also opened Another Spaniard, Francis-
the way to the rich fishing grounds co Vázquez de Coronado, set out
off George’s Banks, to which Eu- from Mexico in 1540 in search of
ropean fishermen, particularly the the mythical Seven Cities of Cibo-
Portuguese, were soon making reg- la. Coronado’s travels took him to
ular visits. the Grand Canyon and Kansas, but
9
failed to reveal the gold or treasure European settlement in what would

his men sought. However, his par- become the United States.
ty did leave the peoples of the re- The great wealth that poured into
gion a remarkable, if unintended, Spain from the colonies in Mexico,
gift: Enough of his horses escaped the Caribbean, and Peru provoked
to transform life on the Great Plains. great interest on the part of the other
Within a few generations, the Plains European powers. Emerging mari-
Indians had become masters of time nations such as England, drawn
horsemanship, greatly expanding in part by Francis Drake’s success-
the range of their activities. ful raids on Spanish treasure ships,
While the Spanish were pushing began to take an interest in the New
up from the south, the northern por- World.
tion of the present-day United States In 1578 Humphrey Gilbert, the
was slowly being revealed through author of a treatise on the search
the journeys of men such as Giovan- for the Northwest Passage, received
ni da Verrazano. A Florentine who a patent from Queen Elizabeth to
sailed for the French, Verrazano colonize the “heathen and barba-
made landfall in North Carolina in rous landes” in the New World that
1524, then sailed north along the At- other European nations had not yet
lantic Coast past what is now New claimed. It would be five years before
York harbor. his efforts could begin. When he was
A decade later, the Frenchman lost at sea, his half-brother, Walter
Jacques Cartier set sail with the hope Raleigh, took up the mission.
— like the other Europeans before In 1585 Raleigh established the
him — of finding a sea passage to first British colony in North Amer-
Asia. Cartier’s expeditions along the ica, on Roanoke Island off the coast
St. Lawrence River laid the founda- of North Carolina. It was later aban-
tion for the French claims to North doned, and a second effort two years
America, which were to last until later also proved a failure. It would
1763. be 20 years before the British would
Following the collapse of their try again. This time — at Jamestown
first Quebec colony in the 1540s, in 1607 — the colony would succeed,
French Huguenots attempted to set- and North America would enter a
tle the northern coast of Florida two new era.
decades later. The Spanish, viewing
the French as a threat to their trade EARLY SETTLEMENTS
T
route along the Gulf Stream, de-
stroyed the colony in 1565. Ironical- he early 1600s saw the begin-
ly, the leader of the Spanish forces, ning of a great tide of emigration
Pedro Menéndez, would soon estab- from Europe to North America.
lish a town not far away — St. Au- Spanning more than three centuries,
gustine. It was the first permanent this movement grew from a trickle
10
of a few hundred English colonists woods. The settlers might not have
to a flood of millions of newcomers. survived had it not been for the
Impelled by powerful and diverse help of friendly Indians, who taught
motivations, they built a new civi- them how to grow native plants —
lization on the northern part of the pumpkin, squash, beans, and corn.
continent. In addition, the vast, virgin forests,
The first English immigrants extending nearly 2,100 kilometers
to what is now the United States along the Eastern seaboard, proved
crossed the Atlantic long after thriv- a rich source of game and firewood.
ing Spanish colonies had been estab- They also provided abundant raw
lished in Mexico, the West Indies, materials used to build houses, fur-
and South America. Like all early niture, ships, and profitable items
travelers to the New World, they for export.
came in small, overcrowded ships. Although the new continent was
During their six- to 12-week voy- remarkably endowed by nature,
ages, they lived on meager rations. trade with Europe was vital for ar-
Many died of disease, ships were ticles the settlers could not produce.
often battered by storms, and some The coast served the immigrants
were lost at sea. well. The whole length of shore pro-
Most European emigrants left vided many inlets and harbors. Only
their homelands to escape political two areas — North Carolina and
oppression, to seek the freedom to southern New Jersey — lacked har-
practice their religion, or to find op- bors for ocean-going vessels.
portunities denied them at home. Majestic rivers — the Kennebec,
Between 1620 and 1635, economic Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna,
difficulties swept England. Many Potomac, and numerous others —
people could not find work. Even linked lands between the coast and
skilled artisans could earn little the Appalachian Mountains with
more than a bare living. Poor crop the sea. Only one river, however, the
yields added to the distress. In ad- St. Lawrence — dominated by the
dition, the Commercial Revolution French in Canada — offered a water
had created a burgeoning textile passage to the Great Lakes and the
industry, which demanded an ever- heart of the continent. Dense forests,
increasing supply of wool to keep the resistance of some Indian tribes,
the looms running. Landlords en- and the formidable barrier of the
closed farmlands and evicted the Appalachian Mountains discour-
peasants in favor of sheep cultiva- aged settlement beyond the coastal
tion. Colonial expansion became plain. Only trappers and traders
an outlet for this displaced peasant ventured into the wilderness. For
population. the first hundred years the colonists
The colonists’ first glimpse of built their settlements compactly
the new land was a vista of dense along the coast.
11
Political considerations influ- they chose a site about 60 kilometers

enced many people to move to up the James River from the bay.
America. In the 1630s, arbitrary rule Made up of townsmen and ad-
by England’s Charles I gave impetus venturers more interested in finding
to the migration. The subsequent re- gold than farming, the group was
volt and triumph of Charles’ oppo- unequipped by temperament or abil-
nents under Oliver Cromwell in the ity to embark upon a completely new
1640s led many cavaliers — “king’s life in the wilderness. Among them,
men” — to cast their lot in Virginia.Captain John Smith emerged as the
In the German-speaking regions of dominant figure. Despite quarrels,
Europe, the oppressive policies of starvation, and Native-American
various petty princes — particularly attacks, his ability to enforce disci-
with regard to religion — and the pline held the little colony together
devastation caused by a long series through its first year.
of wars helped swell the movement In 1609 Smith returned to Eng-
to America in the late 17th and 18th land, and in his absence, the colony
centuries. descended into anarchy. During the
The journey entailed careful winter of 1609-1610, the majority of
planning and management, as well the colonists succumbed to disease.
as considerable expense and risk. Only 60 of the original 300 settlers
Settlers had to be transported nearlywere still alive by May 1610. That
5,000 kilometers across the sea. Theysame year, the town of Henrico (now
needed utensils, clothing, seed, tools,
Richmond) was established farther
building materials, livestock, arms, up the James River.
and ammunition. In contrast to the It was not long, however, before
colonization policies of other coun- a development occurred that revo-
tries and other periods, the emigra- lutionized Virginia’s economy. In
tion from England was not directly 1612 John Rolfe began cross-breed-
sponsored by the government but by ing imported tobacco seed from the
private groups of individuals whose West Indies with native plants and
chief motive was profit. produced a new variety that was
pleasing to European taste. The first
JAMESTOWN shipment of this tobacco reached
T London in 1614. Within a decade it

he first of the British colonies had become Virginia’s chief source
to take hold in North America was of revenue.
Jamestown. On the basis of a char- Prosperity did not come quickly,
ter which King James I granted to however, and the death rate from
the Virginia (or London) Company, disease and Indian attacks remained
a group of about 100 men set out for extraordinarily high. Between 1607
the Chesapeake Bay in 1607. Seeking and 1624 approximately 14,000 peo-
to avoid conflict with the Spanish, ple migrated to the colony, yet only
12
1,132 were living there in 1624. On nized government, the men drafted
recommendation of a royal commis- a formal agreement to abide by “just
sion, the king dissolved the Virginia and equal laws” drafted by leaders
Company, and made it a royal colony of their own choosing. This was the
that year. Mayflower Compact.
In December the Mayflower
MASSACHUSETTS reached Plymouth harbor; the Pil-
D grims began to build their settle-

uring the religious upheavals ment during the winter. Nearly half
of the 16th century, a body of men the colonists died of exposure and
and women called Puritans sought disease, but neighboring Wampa-
to reform the Established Church of noag Indians provided the informa-
England from within. Essentially, tion that would sustain them: how
they demanded that the rituals and to grow maize. By the next fall, the
structures associated with Roman Pilgrims had a plentiful crop of corn,
Catholicism be replaced by simpler and a growing trade based on furs
Calvinist Protestant forms of faith and lumber.
and worship. Their reformist ideas, A new wave of immigrants ar-
by destroying the unity of the state rived on the shores of Massachusetts
church, threatened to divide the Bay in 1630 bearing a grant from
people and to undermine royal King Charles I to establish a colony.
authority. Many of them were Puritans whose
In 1607 a small group of Sepa- religious practices were increasingly
ratists — a radical sect of Puritans prohibited in England. Their leader,
who did not believe the Established John Winthrop, urged them to cre-
Church could ever be reformed — ate a “city upon a hill” in the New
departed for Leyden, Holland, where World — a place where they would
the Dutch granted them asylum. live in strict accordance with their
However, the Calvinist Dutch re- religious beliefs and set an example
stricted them mainly to low-paid la- for all of Christendom.
boring jobs. Some members of the The Massachusetts Bay Colony
congregation grew dissatisfied with was to play a significant role in the
this discrimination and resolved to development of the entire New Eng-
emigrate to the New World. land region, in part because Win-
In 1620, a group of Leyden Puri- throp and his Puritan colleagues
tans secured a land patent from the were able to bring their charter with
Virginia Company. Numbering 101, them. Thus the authority for the col-
they set out for Virginia on the May- ony’s government resided in Massa-
flower. A storm sent them far north chusetts, not in England.
and they landed in New England Under the charter’s provisions,
on Cape Cod. Believing themselves power rested with the General
outside the jurisdiction of any orga- Court, which was made up of “free-
13
men” required to be members of the deep, rich soil. These new commu-
Puritan, or Congregational, Church. nities often eliminated church mem-
This guaranteed that the Puritans bership as a prerequisite for voting,
would be the dominant political as thereby extending the franchise to
well as religious force in the colony. ever larger numbers of men.
The General Court elected the gov- At the same time, other settle-
ernor, who for most of the next gen- ments began cropping up along the
eration would be John Winthrop. New Hampshire and Maine coasts,
The rigid orthodoxy of the Pu- as more and more immigrants
ritan rule was not to everyone’s lik- sought the land and liberty the New
ing. One of the first to challenge the World seemed to offer.
General Court openly was a young
clergyman named Roger Williams, NEW NETHERLAND AND
who objected to the colony’s seizure MARYLAND
H
of Indian lands and advocated sepa-
ration of church and state. Another ired by the Dutch East India
dissenter, Anne Hutchinson, chal- Company, Henry Hudson in 1609
lenged key doctrines of Puritan the- explored the area around what is
ology. Both they and their followers now New York City and the river
were banished. that bears his name, to a point prob-
Williams purchased land from ably north of present-day Albany,
the Narragansett Indians in what is New York. Subsequent Dutch voy-
now Providence, Rhode Island, in ages laid the basis for their claims
1636. In 1644, a sympathetic Puri- and early settlements in the area.
tan-controlled English Parliament As with the French to the north,
gave him the charter that established the first interest of the Dutch was the
Rhode Island as a distinct colony fur trade. To this end, they cultivated
where complete separation of church close relations with the Five Nations
and state as well as freedom of reli- of the Iroquois, who were the key to
gion was practiced. the heartland from which the furs
So-called heretics like Williams came. In 1617 Dutch settlers built a
were not the only ones who left Mas- fort at the junction of the Hudson
sachusetts. Orthodox Puritans, seek- and the Mohawk Rivers, where Al-
ing better lands and opportunities, bany now stands.
soon began leaving Massachusetts Settlement on the island of Man-
Bay Colony. News of the fertility of hattan began in the early 1620s. In
the Connecticut River Valley, for in- 1624, the island was purchased from
stance, attracted the interest of farm- local Native Americans for the re-
ers having a difficult time with poor ported price of $24. It was promptly
land. By the early 1630s, many were renamed New Amsterdam.
ready to brave the danger of Indian In order to attract settlers to the
attack to obtain level ground and Hudson River region, the Dutch en-
14
couraged a type of feudal aristocra- and to avoid trouble with the British
cy, known as the “patroon” system. government, they also encouraged
The first of these huge estates were Protestant immigration.
established in 1630 along the Hud- Maryland’s royal charter had
son River. Under the patroon sys- a mixture of feudal and modern
tem, any stockholder, or patroon, elements. On the one hand the
who could bring 50 adults to his es- Calvert family had the power to
tate over a four-year period was giv- create manorial estates. On the oth-
en a 25-kilometer river-front plot, er, they could only make laws with
exclusive fishing and hunting privi- the consent of freemen (property
leges, and civil and criminal juris- holders). They found that in order
diction over his lands. In turn, he to attract settlers — and make a
provided livestock, tools, and build- profit from their holdings — they
ings. The tenants paid the patroon had to offer people farms, not just
rent and gave him first option on tenancy on manorial estates. The
surplus crops. number of independent farms grew
Further to the south, a Swedish in consequence. Their owners de-
trading company with ties to the manded a voice in the affairs of the
Dutch attempted to set up its first colony. Maryland’s first legislature
settlement along the Delaware Riv- met in 1635.
er three years later. Without the re-
sources to consolidate its position, COLONIAL-INDIAN
New Sweden was gradually absorbed RELATIONS
B
into New Netherland, and later,
Pennsylvania and Delaware. y 1640 the British had solid
In 1632 the Catholic Calvert fam- colonies established along the New
ily obtained a charter for land north England coast and the Chesapeake
of the Potomac River from King Bay. In between were the Dutch and
Charles I in what became known as the tiny Swedish community. To the
Maryland. As the charter did not ex- west were the original Americans,
pressly prohibit the establishment of then called Indians.
non-Protestant churches, the colony Sometimes friendly, sometimes
became a haven for Catholics. Mary- hostile, the Eastern tribes were no
land’s first town, St. Mary’s, was longer strangers to the Europeans.
established in 1634 near where the Although Native Americans ben-
Potomac River flows into the Chesa- efited from access to new technol-
peake Bay. ogy and trade, the disease and thirst
While establishing a refuge for for land that the early settlers also
Catholics, who faced increasing per- brought posed a serious challenge to
secution in Anglican England, the their long-established way of life.
Calverts were also interested in cre- At first, trade with the European
ating profitable estates. To this end, settlers brought advantages: knives,
15
axes, weapons, cooking utensils, The steady influx of settlers into

fishhooks, and a host of other goods. the backwoods regions of the Eastern
Those Indians who traded initial- colonies disrupted Native-American
ly had significant advantage over life. As more and more game was
rivals who did not. In response to killed off, tribes were faced with the
European demand, tribes such as the difficult choice of going hungry, go-
Iroquois began to devote more ating to war, or moving and coming
tention to fur trapping during the into conflict with other tribes to the
17th century. Furs and pelts pro- west.
vided tribes the means to purchase The Iroquois, who inhabited the
colonial goods until late into the area below lakes Ontario and Erie
18th century. in northern New York and Pennsyl-
Early colonial-Native-American vania, were more successful in re-
relations were an uneasy mix of co- sisting European advances. In 1570
operation and conflict. On the one five tribes joined to form the most
hand, there were the exemplary rela- complex Native-American nation
tions that prevailed during the first of its time, the “Ho-De-No-Sau-
half century of Pennsylvania’s exis- Nee,” or League of the Iroquois. The
tence. On the other were a long series league was run by a council made
of setbacks, skirmishes, and wars, up of 50 representatives from each of
which almost invariably resulted in the five member tribes. The council
an Indian defeat and further loss of dealt with matters common to all the
land. tribes, but it had no say in how the
The first of the important Native- free and equal tribes ran their day-
American uprisings occurred in Vir- to-day affairs. No tribe was allowed
ginia in 1622, when some 347 whites to make war by itself. The council
were killed, including a number of passed laws to deal with crimes such
missionaries who had just recently as murder.
come to Jamestown. The Iroquois League was a strong
White settlement of the Con- power in the 1600s and 1700s. It
necticut River region touched off the traded furs with the British and
Pequot War in 1637. In 1675 King sided with them against the French
Philip, the son of the native chief in the war for the dominance of
who had made the original peace America between 1754 and 1763.
with the Pilgrims in 1621, attempted The British might not have won that
to unite the tribes of southern New war otherwise.
England against further Europe- The Iroquois League stayed
an encroachment of their lands. In strong until the American Revolu-
the struggle, however, Philip lost tion. Then, for the first time, the
his life and many Indians were sold council could not reach a unani-
into servitude. mous decision on whom to support.
Member tribes made their own de-
16
cisions, some fighting with the Brit- established in the Carolinas and the
ish, some with the colonists, some Dutch driven out of New Nether-
remaining neutral. As a result, ev- land. New proprietary colonies were
eryone fought against the Iroquois. established in New York, New Jersey,
Their losses were great and the Delaware, and Pennsylvania.
league never recovered. The Dutch settlements had been
ruled by autocratic governors ap-
SECOND GENERATION OF pointed in Europe. Over the years,
BRITISH COLONIES the local population had become
T estranged from them. As a result,

he religious and civil conflict in when the British colonists began en-
England in the mid-17th century croaching on Dutch claims in Long
limited immigration, as well as the Island and Manhattan, the unpopu-
attention the mother country paid lar governor was unable to rally the
the fledgling American colonies. population to their defense. New
In part to provide for the defense Netherland fell in 1664. The terms
measures England was neglect- of the capitulation, however, were
ing, the Massachusetts Bay, Plym- mild: The Dutch settlers were able to
outh, Connecticut, and New Haven retain their property and worship as
colonies formed the New England they pleased.
Confederation in 1643. It was the As early as the 1650s, the Albe-
European colonists’ first attempt at marle Sound region off the coast of
regional unity. what is now northern North Caroli-
The early history of the British na was inhabited by settlers trickling
settlers reveals a good deal of con- down from Virginia. The first pro-
tention — religious and political — prietary governor arrived in 1664.
as groups vied for power and posi- The first town in Albemarle, a re-
tion among themselves and their mote area even today, was not estab-
neighbors. Maryland, in particular, lished until the arrival of a group of
suffered from the bitter religious ri- French Huguenots in 1704.
valries that afflicted England during In 1670 the first settlers, drawn
the era of Oliver Cromwell. One of from New England and the Carib-
the casualties was the state’s Tolera- bean island of Barbados, arrived
tion Act, which was revoked in the in what is now Charleston, South
1650s. It was soon reinstated, howev- Carolina. An elaborate system of
er, along with the religious freedom government, to which the British
it guaranteed. philosopher John Locke contribut-
With the restoration of King ed, was prepared for the new colony.
Charles II in 1660, the British once One of its prominent features was a
again turned their attention to failed attempt to create a hereditary
North America. Within a brief span, nobility. One of the colony’s least ap-
the first European settlements were pealing aspects was the early trade in
17
Indian slaves. With time, however, refuge where the poor and former
timber, rice, and indigo gave the col- prisoners would be given new
ony a worthier economic base. opportunities.
In 1681 William Penn, a wealthy
Quaker and friend of Charles II, re- SETTLERS, SLAVES, AND
ceived a large tract of land west of SERVANTS
M
the Delaware River, which became
known as Pennsylvania. To help en and women with little active
populate it, Penn actively recruited interest in a new life in America were
a host of religious dissenters from often induced to make the move to
England and the continent — Quak- the New World by the skillful per-
ers, Mennonites, Amish, Moravians, suasion of promoters. William Penn,
and Baptists. for example, publicized the oppor-
When Penn arrived the follow- tunities awaiting newcomers to the
ing year, there were already Dutch, Pennsylvania colony. Judges and
Swedish, and English settlers liv- prison authorities offered convicts
ing along the Delaware River. It was a chance to migrate to colonies like
there he founded Philadelphia, the Georgia instead of serving prison
“City of Brotherly Love.” sentences.
In keeping with his faith, Penn But few colonists could finance
was motivated by a sense of equal- the cost of passage for themselves and
ity not often found in other Amer- their families to make a start in the
ican colonies at the time. Thus, new land. In some cases, ships’ cap-
women in Pennsylvania had rights tains received large rewards from the
long before they did in other parts sale of service contracts for poor mi-
of America. Penn and his deputies grants, called indentured servants,
also paid considerable attention to and every method from extravagant
the colony’s relations with the Del- promises to actual kidnapping was
aware Indians, ensuring that they used to take on as many passengers
were paid for land on which the Eu- as their vessels could hold.
ropeans settled. In other cases, the expenses of
Georgia was settled in 1732, transportation and maintenance
the last of the 13 colonies to be were paid by colonizing agencies like
established. Lying close to, if not the Virginia or Massachusetts Bay
actually inside the boundaries of Companies. In return, indentured
Spanish Florida, the region was servants agreed to work for the agen-
viewed as a buffer against Spanish cies as contract laborers, usually for
incursion. But it had another unique four to seven years. Free at the end of
quality: The man charged with this term, they would be given “free-
Georgia’s fortifications, General dom dues,” sometimes including a
James Oglethorpe, was a reformer small tract of land.
who deliberately set out to create a
18
Perhaps half the settlers living in There was one very important
the colonies south of New England exception to this pattern: African
came to America under this system. slaves. The first black Africans were
Although most of them fulfilled brought to Virginia in 1619, just 12
their obligations faithfully, some ran years after the founding of James-
away from their employers. Never- town. Initially, many were regarded
theless, many of them were eventu- as indentured servants who could
ally able to secure land and set up earn their freedom. By the 1660s,
homesteads, either in the colonies in however, as the demand for planta-
which they had originally settled or tion labor in the Southern colonies
in neighboring ones. No social stig- grew, the institution of slavery be-
ma was attached to a family that had gan to harden around them, and Af-
its beginning in America under this ricans were brought to America in
semi-bondage. Every colony had its shackles for a lifetime of involuntary
share of leaders who were former in- servitude. 9
dentured servants.
19
THE ENDURING MYSTERY OF THE ANASAZI
Time-worn pueblos and dramatic cliff towns, set amid the stark, rugged me-
sas and canyons of Colorado and New Mexico, mark the settlements of some of
the earliest inhabitants of North America, the Anasazi (a Navajo word meaning
“ancient ones”).
By 500 A.D. the Anasazi had established some of the first villages in
the American Southwest, where they hunted and grew crops of corn, squash,
and beans. The Anasazi flourished over the centuries, developing sophisticated
dams and irrigation systems; creating a masterful, distinctive pottery tradi-
tion; and carving multiroom dwellings into the sheer sides of cliffs that remain
among the most striking archaeological sites in the United States today.
Yet by the year 1300, they had abandoned their settlements, leaving their
pottery, implements, even clothing — as though they intended to return — and
seemingly vanished into history. Their homeland remained empty of human
beings for more than a century — until the arrival of new tribes, such as the
Navajo and the Ute, followed by the Spanish and other European settlers.
The story of the Anasazi is tied inextricably to the beautiful but harsh
environment in which they chose to live. Early settlements, consisting of simple
pithouses scooped out of the ground, evolved into sunken kivas (underground
rooms) that served as meeting and religious sites. Later generations developed
the masonry techniques for building square, stone pueblos. But the most dra-
matic change in Anasazi living was the move to the cliff sides below the flat-
topped mesas, where the Anasazi carved their amazing, multilevel dwellings.
The Anasazi lived in a communal society. They traded with other peoples
in the region, but signs of warfare are few and isolated. And although the Ana-
sazi certainly had religious and other leaders, as well as skilled artisans, social
or class distinctions were virtually nonexistent.
Religious and social motives undoubtedly played a part in the building
of the cliff communities and their final abandonment. But the struggle to raise
food in an increasingly difficult environment was probably the paramount fac-
tor. As populations grew, farmers planted larger areas on the mesas, causing
some communities to farm marginal lands, while others left the mesa tops for
the cliffs. But the Anasazi couldn’t halt the steady loss of the land’s fertility
from constant use, nor withstand the region’s cyclical droughts. Analysis of tree
rings, for example, shows that a drought lasting 23 years, from 1276 to 1299,
finally forced the last groups of Anasazi to leave permanently.
Although the Anasazi dispersed from their ancestral homeland, their
legacy remains in the remarkable archaeological record that they left behind,
and in the Hopi, Zuni, and other Pueblo peoples who are their descendants. 
20
21
Major Native American cultural groupings, A.D. 500-1300.

22
2
CHAPTER
THE
COLONIAL
PERIOD
Pilgrims signing the

Mayflower Compact
aboard ship, 1620.
CHAPTER 2: THE COLONIAL PERIOD
“What then is the American,

this new man?”
American author and agriculturist
J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, 1782
NEW PEOPLES were even more so among the three
M regional groupings of colonies.

ost settlers who came to Amer-
ica in the 17th century were English, NEW ENGLAND
T
but there were also Dutch, Swedes,
and Germans in the middle region, he northeastern New England
a few French Huguenots in South colonies had generally thin, stony
Carolina and elsewhere, slaves from soil, relatively little level land, and
Africa, primarily in the South, and a long winters, making it difficult to
scattering of Spaniards, Italians, and make a living from farming. Turn-
Portuguese throughout the colonies. ing to other pursuits, the New Eng-
After 1680 England ceased to be the landers harnessed waterpower and
chief source of immigration, sup- established grain mills and saw-
planted by Scots and “Scots-Irish” mills. Good stands of timber en-
(Protestants from Northern Ire- couraged shipbuilding. Excellent
land). In addition, tens of thousands harbors promoted trade, and the
of refugees fled northwestern Eu- sea became a source of great wealth.
rope to escape war, oppression, and In Massachusetts, the cod industry
absentee-landlordism. By 1690 the alone quickly furnished a basis for
American population had risen to prosperity.
a quarter of a million. From then With the bulk of the early settlers
on, it doubled every 25 years until, living in villages and towns around
in 1775, it numbered more than 2.5 the harbors, many New England-
million. Although families occa- ers carried on some kind of trade or
sionally moved from one colony to business. Common pastureland and
another, distinctions between indi- woodlots served the needs of towns-
vidual colonies were marked. They people, who worked small farms
24
nearby. Compactness made possible Under William Penn, Pennsylvania

the village school, the village church,
functioned smoothly and grew rap-
and the village or town hall, whereidly. By 1685, its population was al-
citizens met to discuss matters of most 9,000. The heart of the colony
common interest. was Philadelphia, a city of broad,
The Massachusetts Bay Colony tree-shaded streets, substantial brick
continued to expand its commerce. and stone houses, and busy docks.
From the middle of the 17th centuryBy the end of the colonial period,
onward it grew prosperous, so that nearly a century later, 30,000 people
Boston became one of America’s lived there, representing many lan-
greatest ports. guages, creeds, and trades. Their tal-
Oak timber for ships’ hulls, tall
ent for successful business enterprise
pines for spars and masts, and pitch
made the city one of the thriving
for the seams of ships came from the
centers of the British Empire.
Northeastern forests. Building their Though the Quakers dominated
own vessels and sailing them to ports
in Philadelphia, elsewhere in Penn-
all over the world, the shipmasterssylvania others were well represent-
of Massachusetts Bay laid the foun-ed. Germans became the colony’s
dation for a trade that was to growmost skillful farmers. Important,
steadily in importance. By the end too, were cottage industries such as
of the colonial period, one-third of
weaving, shoemaking, cabinetmak-
all vessels under the British flag were
ing, and other crafts. Pennsylvania
built in New England. Fish, ship’s was also the principal gateway into
stores, and woodenware swelled the the New World for the Scots-Irish,
exports. New England merchants who moved into the colony in the
and shippers soon discovered that early 18th century. “Bold and indi-
rum and slaves were profitable com-gent strangers,” as one Pennsylvania
modities. One of their most enter- official called them, they hated the
prising — if unsavory — trading English and were suspicious of all
practices of the time was the “trian-
government. The Scots-Irish tended
gular trade.” Traders would purchase
to settle in the backcountry, where
slaves off the coast of Africa for New
they cleared land and lived by hunt-
England rum, then sell the slaves in
ing and subsistence farming.
the West Indies where they would New York best illustrated the
buy molasses to bring home for salepolyglot nature of America. By 1646
to the local rum producers. the population along the Hudson
River included Dutch, French, Danes,
THE MIDDLE COLONIES Norwegians, Swedes, English, Scots,
S Irish, Germans, Poles, Bohemians,

ociety in the middle colonies Portuguese, and Italians. The Dutch
was far more varied, cosmopolitan, continued to exercise an important
and tolerant than in New England. social and economic influence on
25
the New York region long after the the world. Not bound to a single
fall of New Netherland and their in- crop as was Virginia, North and
tegration into the British colonial South Carolina also produced and
system. Their sharp-stepped gable exported rice and indigo, a blue dye
roofs became a permanent part of obtained from native plants that was
the city’s architecture, and their used in coloring fabric. By 1750 more
merchants gave Manhattan much than 100,000 people lived in the two
of its original bustling, commercial colonies of North and South Caroli-
atmosphere. na. Charleston, South Carolina, was
the region’s leading port and trading
THE SOUTHERN COLONIES center.
Ithen middle In the southernmost colonies, as

contrast to New England and everywhere else, population growth
colonies, the Southern in the backcountry had special sig-
colonies were predominantly rural nificance. German immigrants
settlements. and Scots-Irish, unwilling to live in
By the late 17th century, Virgin- the original Tidewater settlements
ia’s and Maryland’s economic and where English influence was strong,
social structure rested on the great pushed inland. Those who could not
planters and the yeoman farmers. secure fertile land along the coast, or
The planters of the Tidewater re- who had exhausted the lands they
gion, supported by slave labor, held held, found the hills farther west a
most of the political power and the bountiful refuge. Although their
best land. They built great houses, hardships were enormous, restless
adopted an aristocratic way of life, settlers kept coming; by the 1730s
and kept in touch as best they could they were pouring into the Shenan-
with the world of culture overseas. doah Valley of Virginia. Soon the in-
The yeoman farmers, who worked terior was dotted with farms.
smaller tracts, sat in popular assem- Living on the edge of Native
blies and found their way into political American country, frontier families
office. Their outspoken independence built cabins, cleared the wilderness,
was a constant warning to the oligar- and cultivated maize and wheat.
chy of planters not to encroach too The men wore leather made from
far upon the rights of free men. the skin of deer or sheep, known
The settlers of the Carolinas as buckskin; the women wore gar-
quickly learned to combine agricul- ments of cloth they spun at home.
ture and commerce, and the mar- Their food consisted of venison,
ketplace became a major source of wild turkey, and fish. They had their
prosperity. Dense forests brought own amusements: great barbecues,
revenue: Lumber, tar, and resin from dances, housewarmings for newly
the longleaf pine provided some of married couples, shooting matches,
the best shipbuilding materials in and contests for making quilted
26
blankets. Quilt-making remains an land colonies, except for Rhode Is-

American tradition today. land, followed its example.
The Pilgrims and Puritans had
SOCIETY, SCHOOLS, AND brought their own little librar-
CULTURE ies and continued to import books
A from London. And as early as the

significant factor deterring the 1680s, Boston booksellers were do-
emergence of a powerful aristocratic ing a thriving business in works of
or gentry class in the colonies was classical literature, history, politics,
the ability of anyone in an estab- philosophy, science, theology, and
lished colony to find a new home on belles-lettres. In 1638 the first print-
the frontier. Time after time, domi- ing press in the English colonies and
nant Tidewater figures were obliged the second in North America was in-
to liberalize political policies, land- stalled at Harvard College.
grant requirements, and religious The first school in Pennsylvania
practices by the threat of a mass exo- was begun in 1683. It taught reading,
dus to the frontier. writing, and keeping of accounts.
Of equal significance for the Thereafter, in some fashion, every
future were the foundations of Quaker community provided for the
American education and culture es- elementary teaching of its children.
tablished during the colonial period. More advanced training — in classi-
Harvard College was founded in cal languages, history, and literature
1636 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. — was offered at the Friends Public
Near the end of the century, the School, which still operates in Phila-
College of William and Mary was delphia as the William Penn Charter
established in Virginia. A few School. The school was free to the
years later, the Collegiate School of poor, but parents were required to
Connecticut, later to become Yale pay tuition if they were able.
University, was chartered. In Philadelphia, numerous private
Even more noteworthy was the schools with no religious affiliation
growth of a school system main- taught languages, mathematics, and
tained by governmental authority. natural science; there were also night
The Puritan emphasis on reading schools for adults. Women were not
directly from the Scriptures under- entirely overlooked, but their edu-
scored the importance of literacy. In cational opportunities were limited
1647 the Massachusetts Bay Colony to training in activities that could
enacted the “ye olde deluder Satan” be conducted in the home. Private
Act, requiring every town having teachers instructed the daughters
more than 50 families to establish of prosperous Philadelphians in
a grammar school (a Latin school to French, music, dancing, painting,
prepare students for college). Shortly singing, grammar, and sometimes
thereafter, all the other New Eng- bookkeeping.
27
In the 18th century, the intel- primitive cabins, were firm devotees
lectual and cultural development of scholarship, and they made great
of Pennsylvania reflected, in large efforts to attract learned ministers to
measure, the vigorous personalities their settlements.
of two men: James Logan and Benja- Literary production in the colo-
min Franklin. Logan was secretary nies was largely confined to New
of the colony, and it was in his fine li- England. Here attention concen-
brary that young Franklin found the trated on religious subjects. Ser-
latest scientific works. In 1745 Logan mons were the most common
erected a building for his collection products of the press. A famous Pu-
and bequeathed both building and ritan minister, the Reverend Cot-
books to the city. ton Mather, wrote some 400 works.
Franklin contributed even more His masterpiece, Magnalia Chris-
to the intellectual activity of Phila- ti Americana, presented the pag-
delphia. He formed a debating club eant of New England’s history. The
that became the embryo of the most popular single work of the day
American Philosophical Society. His was the Reverend Michael Wiggles-
endeavors also led to the founding worth’s long poem, “The Day of
of a public academy that later devel- Doom,” which described the Last
oped into the University of Penn- Judgment in terrifying terms.
sylvania. He was a prime mover in In 1704 Cambridge, Massachu-
the establishment of a subscription setts, launched the colonies’ first
library, which he called “the mother successful newspaper. By 1745 there
of all North American subscription were 22 newspapers being published
libraries.” in British North America.
In the Southern colonies, wealthy In New York, an important step
planters and merchants imported pri- in establishing the principle of free-
vate tutors from Ireland or Scotland dom of the press took place with the
to teach their children. Some sent case of John Peter Zenger, whose
their children to school in England. New York Weekly Journal, begun in
Having these other opportunities, the 1733, represented the opposition to
upper classes in the Tidewater were the government. After two years of
not interested in supporting pub- publication, the colonial governor
lic education. In addition, the diffu- could no longer tolerate Zenger’s sa-
sion of farms and plantations made tirical barbs, and had him thrown
the formation of community schools into prison on a charge of seditious
difficult. There were only a few free libel. Zenger continued to edit his
schools in Virginia. paper from jail during his nine-
The desire for learning did not month trial, which excited intense
stop at the borders of established interest throughout the colonies.
communities, however. On the fron- Andrew Hamilton, the prominent
tier, the Scots-Irish, though living in lawyer who defended Zenger, argued
28
that the charges printed by Zenger Christian churches that believe in

were true and hence not libelous. personal conversion and the iner-
The jury returned a verdict of not rancy of the Bible) and the spirit of
guilty, and Zenger went free. revivalism, which continue to play
The increasing prosperity of the significant roles in American reli-
towns prompted fears that the dev- gious and cultural life. It weakened
il was luring society into pursuit of the status of the established clergy
worldly gain and may have contrib- and provoked believers to rely on
uted to the religious reaction of the their own conscience. Perhaps most
1730s, known as the Great Awaken- important, it led to the proliferation
ing. Its two immediate sources were of sects and denominations, which
George Whitefield, a Wesleyan re- in turn encouraged general accep-
vivalist who arrived from England tance of the principle of religious
in 1739, and Jonathan Edwards, who toleration.
served the Congregational Church
in Northampton, Massachusetts. EMERGENCE OF COLONIAL
Whitefield began a religious re- GOVERNMENT
Ivelopment,
vival in Philadelphia and then moved
on to New England. He enthralled n the early phases of colonial de-
audiences of up to 20,000 people at a striking feature was the
a time with histrionic displays, ges- lack of controlling influence by the
tures, and emotional oratory. Reli- English government. All colonies ex-
gious turmoil swept throughout New cept Georgia emerged as companies
England and the middle colonies as of shareholders, or as feudal propri-
ministers left established churches to etorships stemming from charters
preach the revival. granted by the Crown. The fact that
Edwards was the most prominent the king had transferred his immedi-
of those influenced by Whitefield ate sovereignty over the New World
and the Great Awakening. His most settlements to stock companies and
memorable contribution was his proprietors did not, of course, mean
1741 sermon, “Sinners in the Hands that the colonists in America were
of an Angry God.” Rejecting theat- necessarily free of outside control.
rics, he delivered his message in a Under the terms of the Virginia
quiet, thoughtful manner, arguing Company charter, for example, full
that the established churches sought governmental authority was vested
to deprive Christianity of its func- in the company itself. Nevertheless,
tion of redemption from sin. His the crown expected that the com-
magnum opus, Of Freedom of Will pany would be resident in England.
(1754), attempted to reconcile Cal- Inhabitants of Virginia, then, would
vinism with the Enlightenment. have no more voice in their govern-
The Great Awakening gave rise ment than if the king himself had
to evangelical denominations (those retained absolute rule.
29
Still, the colonies considered Calverts in Maryland, William Penn

themselves chiefly as common- in Pennsylvania, the proprietors in
wealths or states, much like England North and South Carolina, and the
itself, having only a loose association proprietors in New Jersey specified
with the authorities in London. In that legislation should be enacted
one way or another, exclusive rule with “the consent of the freemen.”
from the outside withered away. The In New England, for many years,
colonists — inheritors of the long there was even more complete self-
English tradition of the struggle government than in the other col-
for political liberty — incorporated onies. Aboard the Mayflower, the
concepts of freedom into Virginia’s Pilgrims adopted an instrument for
first charter. It provided that Eng- government called the “Mayflower
lish colonists were to exercise all Compact,” to “combine ourselves to-
liberties, franchises, and immuni- gether into a civil body politic for our
ties “as if they had been abiding and better ordering and preservation ...
born within this our Realm of Eng- and by virtue hereof [to] enact, con-
land.” They were, then, to enjoy the stitute, and frame such just and equal
benefits of the Magna Carta — the laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions,
charter of English political and civ- and offices ... as shall be thought most
il liberties granted by King John in meet and convenient for the general
1215 — and the common law — the good of the colony. ...”
English system of law based on legal Although there was no legal basis
precedents or tradition, not statutory for the Pilgrims to establish a system
law. In 1618 the Virginia Company of self-government, the action was
issued instructions to its appointed not contested, and, under the com-
governor providing that free inhab- pact, the Plymouth settlers were able
itants of the plantations should elect for many years to conduct their own
representatives to join with the gov- affairs without outside interference.
ernor and an appointive council in A similar situation developed in
passing ordinances for the welfare of the Massachusetts Bay Company,
the colony. which had been given the right to
These measures proved to be govern itself. Thus, full authority
some of the most far-reaching in the rested in the hands of persons re-
entire colonial period. From then siding in the colony. At first, the
on, it was generally accepted that the dozen or so original members of the
colonists had a right to participate in company who had come to America
their own government. In most in- attempted to rule autocratically. But
stances, the king, in making future the other colonists soon demanded
grants, provided in the charter that a voice in public affairs and indi-
the free men of the colony should cated that refusal would lead to a
have a voice in legislation affecting mass migration.
them. Thus, charters awarded to the The company members yield-
30
ed, and control of the government the settlers had come to a land of
passed to elected representatives. seemingly unending reach. On such
Subsequently, other New England a continent, natural conditions pro-
colonies — such as Connecticut and moted a tough individualism, as
Rhode Island — also succeeded in people became used to making their
becoming self-governing simply by own decisions. Government pene-
asserting that they were beyond any trated the backcountry only slowly,
governmental authority, and then and conditions of anarchy often pre-
setting up their own political sys- vailed on the frontier.
tem modeled after that of the Pil- Yet the assumption of self-gov-
grims at Plymouth. ernment in the colonies did not go
In only two cases was the self- entirely unchallenged. In the 1670s,
government provision omitted. the Lords of Trade and Plantations,
These were New York, which was a royal committee established to en-
granted to Charles II’s brother, the force the mercantile system in the
Duke of York (later to become King colonies, moved to annul the Massa-
James II), and Georgia, which was chusetts Bay charter because the col-
granted to a group of “trustees.” In ony was resisting the government’s
both instances the provisions for economic policy. James II in 1685
governance were short-lived, for the approved a proposal to create a Do-
colonists demanded legislative rep- minion of New England and place
resentation so insistently that the au- colonies south through New Jersey
thorities soon yielded. under its jurisdiction, thereby tight-
In the mid-17th century, the ening the Crown’s control over the
English were too distracted by whole region. A royal governor, Sir
their Civil War (1642-49) and Edmund Andros, levied taxes by ex-
Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan Com- ecutive order, implemented a num-
monwealth to pursue an effective ber of other harsh measures, and
colonial policy. After the restora- jailed those who resisted.
tion of Charles II and the Stuart When news of the Glorious Rev-
dynasty in 1660, England had more olution (1688-89), which deposed
opportunity to attend to colonial James II in England, reached Boston,
administration. Even then, how- the population rebelled and impris-
ever, it was inefficient and lacked oned Andros. Under a new charter,
a coherent plan. The colonies were Massachusetts and Plymouth were
left largely to their own devices. united for the first time in 1691 as
The remoteness afforded by a vast the royal colony of Massachusetts
ocean also made control of the colo- Bay. The other New England colo-
nies difficult. Added to this was the nies quickly reinstalled their previ-
character of life itself in early Amer- ous governments.
ica. From countries limited in space The English Bill of Rights and
and dotted with populous towns, the Toleration Act of 1689 affirmed
31
freedom of worship for Christians in stand the importance of what the

the colonies as well as in England colonial assemblies were doing and
and enforced limits on the Crown. simply neglected them. Nonetheless,
Equally important, John Locke’s Sec- the precedents and principles estab-
ond Treatise on Government (1690), lished in the conflicts between as-
the Glorious Revolution’s major semblies and governors eventually
theoretical justification, set forth became part of the unwritten “con-
a theory of government based not stitution” of the colonies. In this way,
on divine right but on contract. It the colonial legislatures asserted the
contended that the people, endowed right of self-government.
with natural rights of life, liberty,
and property, had the right to reb- THE FRENCH AND
el when governments violated their INDIAN WAR
F
rights.
By the early 18th century, almost rance and Britain engaged in a
all the colonies had been brought succession of wars in Europe and
under the direct jurisdiction of the the Caribbean throughout the 18th
British Crown, but under the rules century. Though Britain secured
established by the Glorious Revolu- certain advantages — primarily in
tion. Colonial governors sought to the sugar-rich islands of the Carib-
exercise powers that the king had bean — the struggles were generally
lost in England, but the colonial as- indecisive, and France remained in a
semblies, aware of events there, at- powerful position in North Ameri-
tempted to assert their “rights” and ca. By 1754, France still had a strong
“liberties.” Their leverage rested on relationship with a number of Na-
two significant powers similar to tive American tribes in Canada and
those held by the English Parlia- along the Great Lakes. It controlled
ment: the right to vote on taxes and the Mississippi River and, by estab-
expenditures, and the right to ini- lishing a line of forts and trading
tiate legislation rather than merely posts, had marked out a great cres-
react to proposals of the governor. cent-shaped empire stretching from
The legislatures used these rights Quebec to New Orleans. The British
to check the power of royal gover- remained confined to the narrow
nors and to pass other measures to belt east of the Appalachian Moun-
expand their power and influence. tains. Thus the French threatened
The recurring clashes between gov- not only the British Empire but also
ernor and assembly made colonial the American colonists themselves,
politics tumultuous and worked in- for in holding the Mississippi Valley,
creasingly to awaken the colonists to France could limit their westward
the divergence between American expansion.
and English interests. In many cases, An armed clash took place in
the royal authorities did not under- 1754 at Fort Duquesne, the site where
32
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is now lo- conflict with France, known as the

cated, between a band of French reg- French and Indian War in Ameri-
ulars and Virginia militiamen under ca and the Seven Years’ War in Eu-
the command of 22-year-old George rope. Only a modest portion of it was
Washington, a Virginia planter and fought in the Western Hemisphere.
surveyor. The British government In the Peace of Paris (1763),
attempted to deal with the conflict France relinquished all of Canada,
by calling a meeting of representa- the Great Lakes, and the territory
tives from New York, Pennsylvania, east of the Mississippi to the Brit-
Maryland, and the New England ish. The dream of a French empire in
colonies. From June 19 to July 10, North America was over.
1754, the Albany Congress, as it Having triumphed over France,
came to be known, met with the Iro- Britain was now compelled to face
quois in Albany, New York, in order a problem that it had hitherto ne-
to improve relations with them and glected, the governance of its em-
secure their loyalty to the British. pire. London thought it essential to
But the delegates also declared a organize its now vast possessions to
union of the American colonies “ab- facilitate defense, reconcile the diver-
solutely necessary for their preserva- gent interests of different areas and
tion” and adopted a proposal drafted peoples, and distribute more evenly
by Benjamin Franklin. The Albany the cost of imperial administration.
Plan of Union provided for a pres- In North America alone, British
ident appointed by the king and a territories had more than doubled.
grand council of delegates chosen by A population that had been predom-
the assemblies, with each colony to inantly Protestant and English now
be represented in proportion to its included French-speaking Catholics
financial contributions to the gen- from Quebec, and large numbers of
eral treasury. This body would have partly Christianized Native Ameri-
charge of defense, Native American cans. Defense and administration
relations, and trade and settlement of the new territories, as well as of
of the west. Most importantly, it the old, would require huge sums of
would have independent authority to money and increased personnel. The
levy taxes. But none of the colonies old colonial system was obviously
accepted the plan, since they were inadequate to these tasks. Measures
not prepared to surrender either the to establish a new one, however,
power of taxation or control over the would rouse the latent suspicions
development of the western lands to of colonials who increasingly would
a central authority. see Britain as no longer a protector
England’s superior strategic posi- of their rights, but rather a danger
tion and her competent leadership to them. 9
ultimately brought victory in the
33
AN EXCEPTIONAL NATION?
The United States of America did not emerge as a nation until about 175
years after its establishment as a group of mostly British colonies. Yet from the
beginning it was a different society in the eyes of many Europeans who viewed
it from afar, whether with hope or apprehension. Most of its settlers — whether
the younger sons of aristocrats, religious dissenters, or impoverished inden-
tured servants — came there lured by a promise of opportunity or freedom not
available in the Old World. The first Americans were reborn free, establishing
themselves in a wilderness unencumbered by any social order other than that
of the primitive aboriginal peoples they displaced. Having left the baggage of
a feudal order behind them, they faced few obstacles to the development of a
society built on the principles of political and social liberalism that emerged
with difficulty in 17th- and 18th-century Europe. Based on the thinking of the
philosopher John Locke, this sort of liberalism emphasized the rights of the
individual and constraints on government power.
Most immigrants to America came from the British Isles, the most
liberal of the European polities along with The Netherlands. In religion, the
majority adhered to various forms of Calvinism with its emphasis on both
divine and secular contractual relationships. These greatly facilitated the
emergence of a social order built on individual rights and social mobility. The
development of a more complex and highly structured commercial society in
coastal cities by the mid-18th century did not stunt this trend; it was in these
cities that the American Revolution was made. The constant reconstruction
of society along an ever-receding Western frontier equally contributed to a
liberal-democratic spirit.
In Europe, ideals of individual rights advanced slowly and unevenly; the
concept of democracy was even more alien. The attempt to establish both in
continental Europe’s oldest nation led to the French Revolution. The effort to
destroy a neofeudal society while establishing the rights of man and democrat-
ic fraternity generated terror, dictatorship, and Napoleonic despotism. In the
end, it led to reaction and gave legitimacy to a decadent old order. In America,
the European past was overwhelmed by ideals that sprang naturally from the
process of building a new society on virgin land. The principles of liberalism
and democracy were strong from the beginning. A society that had thrown off
the burdens of European history would naturally give birth to a nation that
saw itself as exceptional. 
34
THE WITCHES OF SALEM
In 1692 a group of adolescent girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, became

subject to strange fits after hearing tales told by a West Indian slave. They
accused several women of being witches. The townspeople were appalled but
not surprised: Belief in witchcraft was widespread throughout 17th-century
America and Europe. Town officials convened a court to hear the charges of
witchcraft. Within a month, six women were convicted and hanged.
The hysteria grew, in large measure because the court permitted wit-
nesses to testify that they had seen the accused as spirits or in visions. Such
“spectral evidence” could neither be verified nor made subject to objective
examination. By the fall of 1692, 20 victims, including several men, had been
executed, and more than 100 others were in jail (where another five victims
died) — among them some of the town’s most prominent citizens. When the
charges threatened to spread beyond Salem, ministers throughout the colony
called for an end to the trials. The governor of the colony agreed. Those still
in jail were later acquitted or given reprieves.
Although an isolated incident, the Salem episode has long fascinated
Americans. Most historians agree that Salem Village in 1692 experienced a
kind of public hysteria, fueled by a genuine belief in the existence of witch-
craft. While some of the girls may have been acting, many responsible adults
became caught up in the frenzy as well.
Even more revealing is a closer analysis of the identities of the ac-
cused and the accusers. Salem Village, as much of colonial New England,
was undergoing an economic and political transition from a largely agrarian,
Puritan-dominated community to a more commercial, secular society. Many
of the accusers were representatives of a traditional way of life tied to farming
and the church, whereas a number of the accused witches were members of a
rising commercial class of small shopkeepers and tradesmen. Salem’s obscure
struggle for social and political power between older traditional groups and a
newer commercial class was one repeated in communities throughout Ameri-
can history. It took a bizarre and deadly detour when its citizens were swept
up by the conviction that the devil was loose in their homes.
The Salem witch trials also serve as a dramatic parable of the deadly
consequences of making sensational, but false, charges. Three hundred years
later, we still call false accusations against a large number of people a
“witch hunt.” 
35
Map depicting the English colonies and western territories, 1763-1775.

37
John Smith,
the stalwart
English explorer
and settler whose
leadership helped
save Jamestown from
collapse during its critical
early years.
B ECOM I N G A
NATION A PICTURE PROFILE

The United States of America was transformed in the two centuries
from the first English settlement at Jamestown in 1607 to the
beginning of the 19th century. From a series of isolated colonial
settlements hugging the Atlantic Coast, the United States evolved
into a new nation, born in revolution, and guided by a Constitution
embodying the principles of democratic self-government.
38
Detail from a painting by American artist Benjamin West
(1738-1820), which depicts William Penn’s treaty with the
Native Americans living where he founded the colony of
Pennsylvania as a haven for Quakers and others seeking
religious freedom. Penn’s fair treatment of the Delaware
Indians led to long-term, friendly relations, unlike the conflicts
between European settlers and Indian tribes in other colonies.
39
A devout Puritan elder (right) confronts patrons drinking ale outside a
tavern. Tensions between the strictly religious Puritans, who first settled
the region, and the more secular population were characteristic of the
colonial era in New England.
Cotton Mather was one of

the leading Puritan figures
of the late 17th and early
18th centuries. His massive
Ecclesiastical History of
New England (1702) is an
exhaustive chronicle of the
settlement of New England
and the Puritan effort to
establish a kingdom of God
in the wilderness of the
New World.
40
Statue of Roger Williams, early champion of religious freedom
and the separation of church and state. Williams founded the colony of
Rhode Island after leaving Massachusetts because of his disapproval
of its religious ties to the Church of England.
41
Drawing of revolutionary firebrand Patrick Henry (standing
to the left) uttering perhaps the most famous words of the
American Revolution — “Give me liberty or give me death!”
— in a debate before the Virginia Assembly in 1775.
42
Benjamin Franklin: scientist, inventor, writer,
newspaper publisher, city father of Philadelphia,
diplomat, and signer of both the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution. Franklin
embodied the virtues of shrewd practicality and
the optimistic belief in self-improvement often
associated with America itself.
James Madison, fourth president of

the United States, is often regarded
as the “Father of the Constitution.”
His essays in the debate over
ratification of the Constitution were
collected with those of Alexander
Hamilton and John Jay as The
Federalist Papers. Today, they are
regarded as a classic defense of
republican government, in which the
executive, legislative, and judicial
branches check and balance each
other to protect the rights and
freedoms of the people.
43
Artist’s depiction of the first shots of the American
Revolution, fired at Lexington, Massachusetts,
on April 19, 1775. Local militia confronted British
troops marching to seize colonial armaments
in the nearby town of Concord.
44
45
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration
of Independence and third president of
the United States. Jefferson also founded
the University of Virginia and built one
of America’s most celebrated houses,
Monticello, in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Above: Surrender of Lord Cornwallis and the British army to American
and French forces commanded by George Washington at Yorktown,
Virginia, on October 19, 1781. The battle of Yorktown led to the end of the
war and American independence, secured in the 1783 Treaty of Paris.
Left: U.S. postage stamp commemorating the bicentennial of the Lewis

and Clark expedition, one of Thomas Jefferson’s visionary projects.
Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson’s secretary, and his friend, William Clark,
accompanied by a party of more than 30 persons, set out on a journey into
the uncharted West that lasted four years. They traveled thousands of
miles, from Camp Wood, Illinois, to Oregon, through lands that eventually
became 11 American states.
47
Alexander Hamilton, secretary of the treasury in the administration of
President George Washington. Hamilton advocated a strong federal government
and the encouragement of industry. He was opposed by Thomas Jefferson,
a believer in decentralized government, states’ rights, and the virtues of
the independent farmers and land owners.
48
John Marshall, chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835, in a portrait
by Alonzo Chappel. In a series of landmark cases, Marshall established the principle
of judicial review — the right of the courts to determine if any act of Congress or the
executive branch is constitutional, and therefore valid and legal.
49
50
3
CHAPTER
THE ROAD
TO
INDEPENDENCE
The protest against British

taxes known as the “Boston
Tea Party,” 1773.
CHAPTER 3: THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE
“The Revolution was effected

before the war commenced.
The Revolution was in
the hearts and minds of
the people.”
Former President John Adams, 1818
Throughout the 18th century, the spread the costs of empire more eq-
maturing British North American uitably, and speak to the interests of
colonies inevitably forged a distinct both French Canadians and North
identity. They grew vastly in eco- American Indians. The colonies, on
nomic strength and cultural attain- the other hand, long accustomed to
ment; virtually all had long years a large measure of independence, ex-
of self-government behind them. pected more, not less, freedom. And,
In the 1760s their combined pop- with the French menace eliminated,
ulation exceeded 1,500,000 — a they felt far less need for a strong
six-fold increase since 1700. None- British presence. A scarcely compre-
theless, England and America did hending Crown and Parliament on
not begin an overt parting of ways the other side of the Atlantic found
until 1763, more than a century itself contending with colonists
and a half after the founding of the trained in self-government and im-
first permanent settlement at James- patient with interference.
town, Virginia. The organization of Canada
and of the Ohio Valley necessitated
A NEW COLONIAL SYSTEM policies that would not alienate the
IIndian French and Indian inhabitants. Here

n the aftermath of the French and London was in fundamental conflict
War, London saw a need for with the interests of the colonies.
a new imperial design that would Fast increasing in population, and
involve more centralized control, needing more land for settlement,
52
they claimed the right to extend ses from all sources and levied taxes
their boundaries as far west as the on wines, silks, coffee, and a num-
Mississippi River. ber of other luxury items. The hope
The British government, fear- was that lowering the duty on mo-
ing a series of Indian wars, believed lasses would reduce the temptation
that the lands should be opened on to smuggle the commodity from the
a more gradual basis. Restricting Dutch and French West Indies for
movement was also a way of ensur- the rum distilleries of New England.
ing royal control over existing settle- The British government enforced the
ments before allowing the formation Sugar Act energetically. Customs of-
of new ones. The Royal Proclama- ficials were ordered to show more
tion of 1763 reserved all the west- effectiveness. British warships in
ern territory between the Allegheny American waters were instructed to
Mountains, Florida, the Mississippi seize smugglers, and “writs of assis-
River, and Quebec for use by Na- tance,” or warrants, authorized the
tive Americans. Thus the Crown at- king’s officers to search suspected
tempted to sweep away every western premises.
land claim of the 13 colonies and to Both the duty imposed by the Sug-
stop westward expansion. Although ar Act and the measures to enforce
never effectively enforced, this mea- it caused consternation among New
sure, in the eyes of the colonists, con- England merchants. They contended
stituted a high-handed disregard of that payment of even the small duty
their fundamental right to occupy imposed would be ruinous to their
and settle western lands. businesses. Merchants, legislatures,
More serious in its repercus- and town meetings protested the law.
sions was the new British revenue Colonial lawyers protested “taxation
policy. London needed more money without representation,” a slogan
to support its growing empire and that was to persuade many Ameri-
faced growing taxpayer discontent at cans they were being oppressed by
home. It seemed reasonable enough the mother country.
that the colonies should pay for their Later in 1764, Parliament enact-
own defense. That would involve new ed a Currency Act “to prevent pa-
taxes, levied by Parliament — at the per bills of credit hereafter issued in
expense of colonial self-government. any of His Majesty’s colonies from
The first step was the replacement being made legal tender.” Since the
of the Molasses Act of 1733, which colonies were a deficit trade area and
placed a prohibitive duty, or tax, were constantly short of hard cur-
on the import of rum and molas- rency, this measure added a serious
ses from non-English areas, with the burden to the colonial economy.
Sugar Act of 1764. This act outlawed Equally objectionable from the co-
the importation of foreign rum; it lonial viewpoint was the Quartering
also put a modest duty on molas- Act, passed in 1765, which required
53
colonies to provide royal troops with erties. It asserted that Virginians,

provisions and barracks. enjoying the rights of Englishmen,
could be taxed only by their own
THE STAMP ACT representatives. The Massachusetts
A Assembly invited all the colonies to

general tax measure sparked appoint delegates to a “Stamp Act
the greatest organized resistance. Congress” in New York, held in Oc-
Known as the “Stamp Act,” it re- tober 1765, to consider appeals for
quired all newspapers, broadsides, relief to the Crown and Parliament.
pamphlets, licenses, leases, and oth- Twenty-seven representatives from
er legal documents to bear revenue nine colonies seized the opportunity
stamps. The proceeds, collected by to mobilize colonial opinion. After
American customs agents, would be much debate, the congress adopted
used for “defending, protecting, and a set of resolutions asserting that “no
securing” the colonies. taxes ever have been or can be con-
Bearing equally on people who stitutionally imposed on them, but
did any kind of business, the Stamp by their respective legislatures,” and
Act aroused the hostility of the most that the Stamp Act had a “manifest
powerful and articulate groups in tendency to subvert the rights and
the American population: journal- liberties of the colonists.”
ists, lawyers, clergymen, merchants
and businessmen, North and South, TAXATION WITHOUT
East and West. Leading merchants REPRESENTATION
T
organized for resistance and formed
nonimportation associations. he issue thus drawn centered on
Trade with the mother country the question of representation. The
fell off sharply in the summer of colonists believed they could not
1765, as prominent men organized be represented unless they actually
themselves into the “Sons of Liber- elected members to the House of
ty” — secret organizations formed Commons. But this idea conflicted
to protest the Stamp Act — often with the English principle of “virtual
through violent means. From Mas- representation,” according to which
sachusetts to South Carolina, mobs, each member of Parliament rep-
forcing luckless customs agents to resented the interests of the whole
resign their offices, destroyed the country and the empire — even if his
hated stamps. Militant resistance ef- electoral base consisted of only a tiny
fectively nullified the Act. minority of property owners from a
Spurred by delegate Patrick Hen- given district. This theory assumed
ry, the Virginia House of Burgesses that all British subjects shared the
passed a set of resolutions in May same interests as the property own-
denouncing taxation without repre- ers who elected members of Parlia-
sentation as a threat to colonial lib- ment.
54
The American leaders argued Townshend, British chancellor of

that their only legal relations were the exchequer, attempted a new fis-
with the Crown. It was the king who cal program in the face of continued
had agreed to establish colonies be- discontent over high taxes at home.
yond the sea and the king who pro- Intent upon reducing British taxes
vided them with governments. They by making more efficient the col-
asserted that he was equally a king lection of duties levied on American
of England and a king of the colo- trade, he tightened customs admin-
nies, but they insisted that the Eng-istration and enacted duties on colo-
lish Parliament had no more right to nial imports of paper, glass, lead, and
pass laws for the colonies than any tea from Britain. The “Townshend
colonial legislature had the right toActs” were based on the premise that
pass laws for England. In fact, how- taxes imposed on goods imported by
ever, their struggle was equally withthe colonies were legal while internal
King George III and Parliament. taxes (like the Stamp Act) were not.
Factions aligned with the Crown The Townshend Acts were de-
generally controlled Parliament and signed to raise revenue that would
reflected the king’s determination tobe used in part to support colonial
be a strong monarch. officials and maintain the Brit-
The British Parliament reject- ish army in America. In response,
ed the colonial contentions. British Philadelphia lawyer John Dickinson,
merchants, however, feeling the ef- in Letters of a Pennsylvania Farm-
fects of the American boycott, threw er, argued that Parliament had the
their weight behind a repeal move- right to control imperial commerce
ment. In 1766 Parliament yielded, but did not have the right to tax the
repealing the Stamp Act and modi- colonies, whether the duties were
fying the Sugar Act. However, to external or internal.
mollify the supporters of central The agitation following enact-
control over the colonies, Parliamentment of the Townshend duties was
followed these actions with passage less violent than that stirred by the
of the Declaratory Act, which as- Stamp Act, but it was nevertheless
serted the authority of Parliament tostrong, particularly in the cities of
make laws binding the colonies “in the Eastern seaboard. Merchants
all cases whatsoever.” The colonists once again resorted to non-impor-
had won only a temporary respite tation agreements, and people made
from an impending crisis. do with local products. Colonists,
for example, dressed in homespun
THE TOWNSHEND ACTS clothing and found substitutes for
T tea. They used homemade paper

he year 1767 brought another se- and their houses went unpaint-
ries of measures that stirred anew ed. In Boston, enforcement of the
all the elements of discord. Charles new regulations provoked violence.
55
When customs officials sought to the controversy alive. They contend-

collect duties, they were set upon by ed that payment of the tax consti-
the populace and roughly handled. tuted an acceptance of the principle
For this infraction, two British regi-that Parliament had the right to rule
ments were dispatched to protect the over the colonies. They feared that at
customs commissioners. any time in the future, the principle
The presence of British troops in of parliamentary rule might be ap-
Boston was a standing invitation to plied with devastating effect on all
disorder. On March 5, 1770, antag- colonial liberties.
onism between citizens and British The radicals’ most effective
soldiers again flared into violence. leader was Samuel Adams of Mas-
What began as a harmless snowball- sachusetts, who toiled tirelessly for
ing of British soldiers degenerated a single end: independence. From
into a mob attack. Someone gave the the time he graduated from Harvard
order to fire. When the smoke had College in 1743, Adams was a public
cleared, three Bostonians lay dead in servant in some capacity — inspec-
the snow. Dubbed the “Boston Mas- tor of chimneys, tax-collector, and
sacre,” the incident was dramatically moderator of town meetings. A
pictured as proof of British heart- consistent failure in business, he was
lessness and tyranny. shrewd and able in politics, with
Faced with such opposition, Par- the New England town meeting his
liament in 1770 opted for a strategic theater of action.
retreat and repealed all the Townsh- Adams wanted to free people
end duties except that on tea, which from their awe of social and politi-
was a luxury item in the colonies, cal superiors, make them aware of
imbibed only by a very small minori- their own power and importance,
ty. To most, the action of Parliament and thus arouse them to action. To-
signified that the colonists had won ward these objectives, he published
a major concession, and the cam- articles in newspapers and made
paign against England was largely speeches in town meetings, instigat-
dropped. A colonial embargo on ing resolutions that appealed to the
“English tea” continued but was not colonists’ democratic impulses.
too scrupulously observed. Prosper- In 1772 he induced the Boston
ity was increasing and most colonial town meeting to select a “Commit-
leaders were willing to let the futuretee of Correspondence” to state the
take care of itself. rights and grievances of the colo-
nists. The committee opposed a
SAMUEL ADAMS British decision to pay the salaries
D of judges from customs revenues; it

uring a three-year interval of feared that the judges would no lon-
calm, a relatively small number of ger be dependent on the legislature
radicals strove energetically to keep for their incomes and thus no longer
56
accountable to it, thereby leading to In Boston, however, the agents de-

the emergence of “a despotic form fied the colonists; with the support
of government.” The committee of the royal governor, they made
communicated with other towns on preparations to land incoming car-
this matter and requested them to goes regardless of opposition. On
draft replies. Committees were set the night of December 16, 1773, a
up in virtually all the colonies, and band of men disguised as Mohawk
out of them grew a base of effective Indians and led by Samuel Adams
revolutionary organizations. Still, boarded three British ships lying at
Adams did not have enough fuel to anchor and dumped their tea cargo
set a fire. into Boston harbor. Doubting their
countrymen’s commitment to prin-
THE BOSTON “TEA PARTY” ciple, they feared that if the tea were
IAdams landed, colonists would actually

n 1773, however, Britain furnished purchase the tea and pay the tax.
and his allies with an incen- A crisis now confronted Britain.
diary issue. The powerful East India The East India Company had car-
Company, finding itself in critical fi- ried out a parliamentary statute. If
nancial straits, appealed to the Brit- the destruction of the tea went un-
ish government, which granted it a punished, Parliament would admit
monopoly on all tea exported to the to the world that it had no control
colonies. The government also per- over the colonies. Official opinion
mitted the East India Company to in Britain almost unanimously con-
supply retailers directly, bypassing demned the Boston Tea Party as an
colonial wholesalers. By then, most act of vandalism and advocated le-
of the tea consumed in America was gal measures to bring the insurgent
imported illegally, duty-free. By sell- colonists into line.
ing its tea through its own agents
at a price well under the customary THE COERCIVE ACTS
P
one, the East India Company made
smuggling unprofitable and threat- arliament responded with new
ened to eliminate the independent laws that the colonists called the
colonial merchants. Aroused not “Coercive” or “Intolerable Acts.” The
only by the loss of the tea trade but first, the Boston Port Bill, closed
also by the monopolistic practice in- the port of Boston until the tea was
volved, colonial traders joined the paid for. The action threatened the
radicals agitating for independence. very life of the city, for to prevent
In ports up and down the At- Boston from having access to the
lantic coast, agents of the East In- sea meant economic disaster. Other
dia Company were forced to resign. enactments restricted local author-
New shipments of tea were either re- ity and banned most town meetings
turned to England or warehoused. held without the governor’s consent.
57
A Quartering Act required local au- posed a genuine dilemma for the
thorities to find suitable quarters for delegates. They would have to give
British troops, in private homes if an appearance of firm unanimity
necessary. Instead of subduing and to induce the British government
isolating Massachusetts, as Parlia- to make concessions. But they also
ment intended, these acts rallied its would have to avoid any show of
sister colonies to its aid. The Que- radicalism or spirit of independence
bec Act, passed at nearly the same that would alarm more moderate
time, extended the boundaries of Americans.
the province of Quebec south to the A cautious keynote speech, fol-
Ohio River. In conformity with pre- lowed by a “resolve” that no obe-
vious French practice, it provided dience was due the Coercive Acts,
for trials without jury, did not estab- ended with adoption of a set of res-
lish a representative assembly, and olutions affirming the right of the
gave the Catholic Church semi-es- colonists to “life, liberty, and prop-
tablished status. By disregarding old erty,” and the right of provincial
charter claims to western lands, it legislatures to set “all cases of taxa-
threatened to block colonial expan- tion and internal polity.” The most
sion to the North and Northwest; important action taken by the Con-
its recognition of the Roman Catho- gress, however, was the formation of
lic Church outraged the Protestant a “Continental Association” to rees-
sects that dominated every colony. tablish the trade boycott. It set up
Though the Quebec Act had not a system of committees to inspect
been passed as a punitive measure, customs entries, publish the names
Americans associated it with the Co- of merchants who violated the agree-
ercive Acts, and all became known ments, confiscate their imports, and
as the “Five Intolerable Acts.” encourage frugality, economy, and
At the suggestion of the Vir- industry.
ginia House of Burgesses, colonial The Continental Association im-
representatives met in Philadelphia mediately assumed the leadership
on September 5, 1774, “to consult in the colonies, spurring new local
upon the present unhappy state organizations to end what remained
of the Colonies.” Delegates to this of royal authority. Led by the pro-
meeting, known as the First Con- independence leaders, they drew
tinental Congress, were chosen by their support not only from the less
provincial congresses or popular well-to-do, but from many members
conventions. Only Georgia failed to of the professional class (especial-
send a delegate; the total number of ly lawyers), most of the planters of
55 was large enough for diversity of the Southern colonies, and a num-
opinion, but small enough for genu- ber of merchants. They intimidated
ine debate and effective action. The the hesitant into joining the popular
division of opinion in the colonies movement and punished the hostile;
58
began the collection of military sup- that the Massachusetts colonists

plies and the mobilization of troops; were collecting powder and military
and fanned public opinion into revo- stores at the town of Concord, 32
lutionary ardor. kilometers away, Gage sent a strong
Many of those opposed to Brit- detail to confiscate these munitions.
ish encroachment on American After a night of marching, the
rights nonetheless favored discus- British troops reached the village of
sion and compromise as the prop- Lexington on April 19, 1775, and saw
er solution. This group included a grim band of 77 Minutemen — so
Crown-appointed officers, Quakers, named because they were said to be
and members of other religious sects ready to fight in a minute — through
opposed to the use of violence, nu- the early morning mist. The Minute-
merous merchants (especially in the men intended only a silent protest,
middle colonies), and some discon- but Marine Major John Pitcairn, the
tented farmers and frontiersmen in leader of the British troops, yelled,
the Southern colonies. “Disperse, you damned rebels! You
The king might well have effect- dogs, run!” The leader of the Min-
ed an alliance with these moder- utemen, Captain John Parker, told
ates and, by timely concessions, so his troops not to fire unless fired
strengthened their position that the at first. The Americans were with-
revolutionaries would have found it drawing when someone fired a shot,
difficult to proceed with hostilities. which led the British troops to fire
But George III had no intention of at the Minutemen. The British then
making concessions. In September charged with bayonets, leaving eight
1774, scorning a petition by Phila- dead and 10 wounded. In the often-
delphia Quakers, he wrote, “The die quoted phrase of 19th century poet
is now cast, the Colonies must ei- Ralph Waldo Emerson, this was “the
ther submit or triumph.” This action shot heard round the world.”
isolated Loyalists who were appalled The British pushed on to Con-
and frightened by the course of cord. The Americans had taken
events following the Coercive Acts. away most of the munitions, but they
destroyed whatever was left. In the
THE REVOLUTION BEGINS meantime, American forces in the
G countryside had mobilized to harass

eneral Thomas Gage, an amiable the British on their long return to
English gentleman with an Amer- Boston. All along the road, behind
ican-born wife, commanded the stone walls, hillocks, and houses,
garrison at Boston, where political militiamen from “every Middlesex
activity had almost wholly replaced village and farm” made targets of
trade. Gage’s main duty in the colo- the bright red coats of the British
nies had been to enforce the Coer- soldiers. By the time Gage’s weary
cive Acts. When news reached him detachment stumbled into Boston,
59
it had suffered more than 250 killed would fight for the British. Instead,
and wounded. The Americans lost his proclamation drove to the rebel
93 men. side many Virginians who would
The Second Continental Con- otherwise have remained Loyalist.
gress met in Philadelphia, Penn- The governor of North Caroli-
sylvania, on May 10. The Congress na, Josiah Martin, also urged North
voted to go to war, inducting the co- Carolinians to remain loyal to the
lonial militias into continental ser- Crown. When 1,500 men answered
vice. It appointed Colonel George Martin’s call, they were defeated by
Washington of Virginia as their revolutionary armies before British
commander-in-chief on June 15. troops could arrive to help.
Within two days, the Americans had British warships continued down
incurred high casualties at Bunker the coast to Charleston, South Car-
Hill just outside Boston. Congress olina, and opened fire on the city
also ordered American expeditions in early June 1776. But South Car-
to march northward into Canada by olinians had time to prepare, and
fall. Capturing Montreal, they failed repulsed the British by the end of
in a winter assault on Quebec, and the month. They would not return
eventually retreated to New York. South for more than two years.
Despite the outbreak of armed
conflict, the idea of complete sep- COMMON SENSE AND
aration from England was still INDEPENDENCE
Ia nradical
repugnant to many members of the
Continental Congress. In July, it January 1776, Thomas Paine,
adopted the Olive Branch Petition, political theorist and
begging the king to prevent fur- writer who had come to America
ther hostile actions until some sort from England in 1774, published a
of agreement could be worked out. 50-page pamphlet, Common Sense.
King George rejected it; instead, on Within three months, it sold 100,000
August 23, 1775, he issued a procla- copies. Paine attacked the idea of a
mation declaring the colonies to be hereditary monarchy, declaring that
in a state of rebellion. one honest man was worth more to
Britain had expected the South- society than “all the crowned ruf-
ern colonies to remain loyal, in part fians that ever lived.” He presented
because of their reliance on slav- the alternatives — continued sub-
ery. Many in the Southern colonies mission to a tyrannical king and
feared that a rebellion against the an outworn government, or liberty
mother country would also trigger and happiness as a self-sufficient,
a slave uprising. In November 1775, independent republic. Circulated
Lord Dunmore, the governor of Vir- throughout the colonies, Common
ginia, tried to capitalize on that fear Sense helped to crystallize a decision
by offering freedom to all slaves who for separation.
60
There still remained the task, the consent of the governed, —

however, of gaining each colony’s That whenever any Form of
approval of a formal declaration. On Government becomes destructive
June 7, Richard Henry Lee of Vir- of these ends, it is the Right of the
ginia introduced a resolution in the People to alter or to abolish it,
Second Continental Congress, de- and to institute new Government,
claring, “That these United Colonies laying its foundation on such
are, and of right ought to be, free principles and organizing its
and independent states. ...” Immedi- powers in such form, as to them
ately, a committee of five, headed by shall seem most likely to effect
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, was their Safety and Happiness.
appointed to draft a document for Jefferson linked Locke’s princi-
a vote. ples directly to the situation in the
Largely Jefferson’s work, the Dec- colonies. To fight for American in-
laration of Independence, adopted dependence was to fight for a gov-
July 4, 1776, not only announced the ernment based on popular consent
birth of a new nation, but also set in place of a government by a king
forth a philosophy of human free- who had “combined with others to
dom that would become a dynamic subject us to a jurisdiction foreign
force throughout the entire world. to our constitution, and unacknowl-
The Declaration drew upon French edged by our laws. ...” Only a gov-
and English Enlightenment political ernment based on popular consent
philosophy, but one influence in par- could secure natural rights to life,
ticular stands out: John Locke’s Sec- liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
ond Treatise on Government. Locke Thus, to fight for American inde-
took conceptions of the traditional pendence was to fight on behalf of
rights of Englishmen and universal- one’s own natural rights.
ized them into the natural rights of
all humankind. The Declaration’s DEFEATS AND VICTORIES
A
familiar opening passage echoes
Locke’s social-contract theory of lthough the Americans suffered
government: severe setbacks for months after
We hold these truths to be self- independence was declared, their
evident, that all men are created tenacity and perseverance eventu-
equal, that they are endowed ally paid off. During August 1776,
by their Creator with certain in the Battle of Long Island in New
unalienable Rights, that among York, Washington’s position be-
these are Life, Liberty and the came untenable, and he executed a
pursuit of Happiness. — That to masterly retreat in small boats from
secure these rights, Governments Brooklyn to the Manhattan shore.
are instituted among Men, British General William Howe twice
deriving their just powers from hesitated and allowed the Americans
61
to escape. By November, however, the turning point in the war. Brit-

Howe had captured Fort Washing- ish General John Burgoyne, moving
ton on Manhattan Island. New York south from Canada, attempted to
City would remain under British invade New York and New England
control until the end of the war. via Lake Champlain and the Hud-
That December, Washington’s son River. He had too much heavy
forces were near collapse, as sup- equipment to negotiate the wooded
plies and promised aid failed to and marshy terrain. On August 6,
materialize. Howe again missed his at Oriskany, New York, a band of
chance to crush the Americans by Loyalists and Native Americans un-
deciding to wait until spring to re- der Burgoyne’s command ran into a
sume fighting. On Christmas Day, mobile and seasoned American force
December 25, 1776, Washington that managed to halt their advance.
crossed the Delaware River, north A few days later at Bennington, Ver-
of Trenton, New Jersey. In the early- mont, more of Burgoyne’s forces,
morning hours of December 26, his seeking much-needed supplies, were
troops surprised the British garrison pushed back by American troops.
there, taking more than 900 prison- Moving to the west side of the
ers. A week later, on January 3, 1777, Hudson River, Burgoyne’s army ad-
Washington attacked the British at vanced on Albany. The Americans
Princeton, regaining most of the were waiting for him. Led by Bene-
territory formally occupied by the dict Arnold — who would later be-
British. The victories at Trenton and tray the Americans at West Point,
Princeton revived flagging Ameri- New York — the colonials twice re-
can spirits. pulsed the British. Having by this
In September 1777, however, time incurred heavy losses, Bur-
Howe defeated the American army goyne fell back to Saratoga, New
at Brandywine in Pennsylvania and York, where a vastly superior Ameri-
occupied Philadelphia, forcing the can force under General Horatio
Continental Congress to flee. Wash- Gates surrounded the British troops.
ington had to endure the bitterly On October 17, 1777, Burgoyne sur-
cold winter of 1777-1778 at Valley rendered his entire army — six gen-
Forge, Pennsylvania, lacking ade- erals, 300 other officers, and 5,500
quate food, clothing, and supplies. enlisted personnel.
Farmers and merchants exchanged
their goods for British gold and silver FRANCO-AMERICAN
rather than for dubious paper money ALLIANCE
IAmerican
issued by the Continental Congress
and the states. n France, enthusiasm for the
Valley Forge was the lowest ebb cause was high: The
for Washington’s Continental Army, French intellectual world was it-
but elsewhere 1777 proved to be self stirring against feudalism and
62
privilege. However, the Crown lent soon broadened the conflict. In June
its support to the colonies for geo- 1778 British ships fired on French
political rather than ideological vessels, and the two countries went
reasons: The French government to war. In 1779 Spain, hoping to re-
had been eager for reprisal against acquire territories taken by Britain
Britain ever since France’s defeat in in the Seven Years’ War, entered the
1763. To further the American cause, conflict on the side of France, but
Benjamin Franklin was sent to Paris not as an ally of the Americans. In
in 1776. His wit, guile, and intellect 1780 Britain declared war on the
soon made their presence felt in the Dutch, who had continued to trade
French capital, and played a major with the Americans. The combina-
role in winning French assistance. tion of these European powers, with
France began providing aid to the France in the lead, was a far greater
colonies in May 1776, when it sent 14 threat to Britain than the American
ships with war supplies to America. colonies standing alone.
In fact, most of the gunpowder used
by the American armies came from THE BRITISH MOVE SOUTH
W
France. After Britain’s defeat at Sara-
toga, France saw an opportunity to ith the French now involved,
seriously weaken its ancient enemy the British, still believing that most
and restore the balance of power that Southerners were Loyalists, stepped
had been upset by the Seven Years’ up their efforts in the Southern
War (called the French and Indian colonies. A campaign began in late
War in the American colonies). On 1778, with the capture of Savannah,
February 6, 1778, the colonies and Georgia. Shortly thereafter, British
France signed a Treaty of Amity and troops and naval forces converged
Commerce, in which France recog- on Charleston, South Carolina, the
nized the United States and offered principal Southern port. They man-
trade concessions. They also signed aged to bottle up American forces on
a Treaty of Alliance, which stipu- the Charleston peninsula. On May
lated that if France entered the war, 12, 1780, General Benjamin Lincoln
neither country would lay down its surrendered the city and its 5,000
arms until the colonies won their in- troops, in the greatest American de-
dependence, that neither would con- feat of the war.
clude peace with Britain without the But the reversal in fortune only
consent of the other, and that each emboldened the American rebels.
guaranteed the other’s possessions South Carolinians began roaming
in America. This was the only bi- the countryside, attacking British
lateral defense treaty signed by the supply lines. In July, American Gen-
United States or its predecessors eral Horatio Gates, who had assem-
until 1949. bled a replacement force of untrained
The Franco-American alliance militiamen, rushed to Camden,
63
South Carolina, to confront British 1781, after being trapped at York-

forces led by General Charles Corn- town near the mouth of Chesapeake
wallis. But Gates’s makeshift army Bay, Cornwallis surrendered his
panicked and ran when confronted army of 8,000 British soldiers.
by the British regulars. Cornwallis’s Although Cornwallis’s defeat
troops met the Americans several did not immediately end the war —
more times, but the most signifi- which would drag on inconclusively
cant battle took place at Cowpens, for almost two more years — a new
South Carolina, in early 1781, where British government decided to pur-
the Americans soundly defeated sue peace negotiations in Paris in
the British. After an exhausting but early 1782, with the American side
unproductive chase through North represented by Benjamin Franklin,
Carolina, Cornwallis set his sights John Adams, and John Jay. On April
on Virginia. 15, 1783, Congress approved the fi-
nal treaty. Signed on September 3,
VICTORY AND the Treaty of Paris acknowledged the
INDEPENDENCE independence, freedom, and sover-
IXVIn July eignty of the 13 former colonies,

1780 France’s King Louis now states. The new United States
had sent to America an expe- stretched west to the Mississippi
ditionary force of 6,000 men under River, north to Canada, and south
the Comte Jean de Rochambeau. In to Florida, which was returned to
addition, the French fleet harassed Spain. The fledgling colonies that
British shipping and blocked re- Richard Henry Lee had spoken of
inforcement and resupply of Brit- more than seven years before had fi-
ish forces in Virginia. French and nally become “free and independent
American armies and navies, total- states.”
ing 18,000 men, parried with Corn- The task of knitting together a
wallis all through the summer and nation remained. 9
into the fall. Finally, on October 19,
64
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
T he American Revolution had a significance far beyond the North American

continent. It attracted the attention of a political intelligentsia throughout the
European continent. Idealistic notables such as Thaddeus Kosciusko, Friedrich
von Steuben, and the Marquis de Lafayette joined its ranks to affirm liberal
ideas they hoped to transfer to their own nations. Its success strengthened the
concept of natural rights throughout the Western world and furthered the En-
lightenment rationalist critique of an old order built around hereditary monar-
chy and an established church. In a very real sense, it was a precursor to the
French Revolution, but it lacked the French Revolution’s violence and chaos
because it had occurred in a society that was already fundamentally liberal.
The ideas of the Revolution have been most often depicted as a triumph
of the social contract/natural rights theories of John Locke. Correct so far as it
goes, this characterization passes too quickly over the continuing importance
of Calvinist-dissenting Protestantism, which from the Pilgrims and Puritans on
had also stood for the ideals of the social contract and the self-governing com-
munity. Lockean intellectuals and the Protestant clergy were both important
advocates of compatible strains of liberalism that had flourished in the British
North American colonies.
Scholars have also argued that another persuasion contributed to the
Revolution: “republicanism.” Republicanism, they assert, did not deny the
existence of natural rights but subordinated them to the belief that the main-
tenance of a free republic required a strong sense of communal responsibility
and the cultivation of self-denying virtue among its leaders. The assertion of
individual rights, even the pursuit of individual happiness, seemed egoistic by
contrast. For a time republicanism threatened to displace natural rights as the
major theme of the Revolution. Most historians today, however, concede that
the distinction was much overdrawn. Most individuals who thought about such
things in the 18th century envisioned the two ideas more as different sides of
the same intellectual coin.
Revolution usually entails social upheaval and violence on a wide scale.
By these criteria, the American Revolution was relatively mild. About 100,000
Loyalists left the new United States. Some thousands were members of old
elites who had suffered expropriation of their property and been expelled;
others were simply common people faithful to their King. The majority of
those who went into exile did so voluntarily. The Revolution did open up and
further liberalize an already liberal society. In New York and the Carolinas,
large Loyalist estates were divided among small farmers. Liberal assumptions
became the official norm of American political culture — whether in the dis-
establishment of the Anglican Church, the principle of elected national and
state executives, or the wide dissemination of the idea of individual freedom.
Yet the structure of society changed little. Revolution or not, most people re-
mained secure in their life, liberty, and property. 
65
66
4
CHAPTER
THE
FORMATION
OF A
NATIONAL
GOVERNMENT
George Washington
addressing the
Constitutional Convention
in Philadelphia, 1787.
CHAPTER 4: THE FORMATION OF A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
“Every man, and

every body of men on Earth,
possesses the right of
self-government.”
Drafter of the Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson, 1790
STATE CONSTITUTIONS solid foundation of colonial experi-
T ence and English practice. But each

he success of the Revolution gave was also animated by the spirit of re-
Americans the opportunity to give publicanism, an ideal that had long
legal form to their ideals as expressed been praised by Enlightenment phi-
in the Declaration of Independence, losophers.
and to remedy some of their griev- Naturally, the first objective of
ances through state constitutions. the framers of the state constitu-
As early as May 10, 1776, Congress tions was to secure those “unalien-
had passed a resolution advising able rights” whose violation had
the colonies to form new govern- caused the former colonies to repu-
ments “such as shall best conduce diate their connection with Britain.
to the happiness and safety of their Thus, each constitution began with
constituents.” Some of them had al- a declaration or bill of rights. Virgin-
ready done so, and within a year af- ia’s, which served as a model for all
ter the Declaration of Independence, the others, included a declaration of
all but three had drawn up constitu- principles: popular sovereignty, rota-
tions. tion in office, freedom of elections,
The new constitutions showed and an enumeration of fundamental
the impact of democratic ideas. liberties: moderate bail and humane
None made any drastic break with punishment, speedy trial by jury,
the past, since all were built on the freedom of the press and of con-
68
science, and the right of the majority nia), office-holders were required to
to reform or alter the government. own a certain amount of property.
Other states enlarged the list of
liberties to freedom of speech, of as- THE ARTICLES OF
sembly, and of petition. Their con- CONFEDERATION
T
stitutions frequently included such
provisions as the right to bear arms, he struggle with England had
to a writ of habeas corpus, to invio- done much to change colonial atti-
lability of domicile, and to equal pro- tudes. Local assemblies had rejected
tection under the law. Moreover, all the Albany Plan of Union in 1754, re-
prescribed a three-branch structure fusing to surrender even the smallest
of government — executive, legisla- part of their autonomy to any other
tive, and judiciary — each checked body, even one they themselves had
and balanced by the others. elected. But in the course of the Rev-
Pennsylvania’s constitution was olution, mutual aid had proved ef-
the most radical. In that state, Phila- fective, and the fear of relinquishing
delphia artisans, Scots-Irish frontiers- individual authority had lessened to
men, and German-speaking farmers a large degree.
had taken control. The provincial John Dickinson produced the
congress adopted a constitution that “Articles of Confederation and Per-
permitted every male taxpayer and petual Union” in 1776. The Conti-
his sons to vote, required rotation in nental Congress adopted them in
office (no one could serve as a rep- November 1777, and they went into
resentative more than four years out effect in 1781, having been ratified
of every seven), and set up a single- by all the states. Reflecting the fragil-
chamber legislature. ity of a nascent sense of nationhood,
The state constitutions had some the Articles provided only for a very
glaring limitations, particularly by loose union. The national govern-
more recent standards. Constitu- ment lacked the authority to set up
tions established to guarantee people tariffs, to regulate commerce, and to
their natural rights did not secure levy taxes. It possessed scant control
for everyone the most fundamental of international relations: A number
natural right — equality. The colo- of states had begun their own nego-
nies south of Pennsylvania excluded tiations with foreign countries. Nine
their slave populations from their states had their own armies, several
inalienable rights as human beings. their own navies. In the absence of
Women had no political rights. No a sound common currency, the new
state went so far as to permit univer- nation conducted its commerce with
sal male suffrage, and even in those a curious hodgepodge of coins and a
states that permitted all taxpayers to bewildering variety of state and na-
vote (Delaware, North Carolina, and tional paper bills, all fast depreciat-
Georgia, in addition to Pennsylva- ing in value.
69
Economic difficulties after the reinforcements from Boston and

war prompted calls for change. The routed the remaining Shaysites,
end of the war had a severe effect on whose leader escaped to Vermont.
merchants who supplied the armies The government captured 14 rebels
of both sides and who had lost the and sentenced them to death, but ul-
advantages deriving from participa- timately pardoned some and let the
tion in the British mercantile system. others off with short prison terms.
The states gave preference to Ameri- After the defeat of the rebellion,
can goods in their tariff policies, but a newly elected legislature, whose
these were inconsistent, leading to majority sympathized with the reb-
the demand for a stronger central els, met some of their demands for
government to implement a uniform debt relief.
policy.
Farmers probably suffered the THE PROBLEM OF EXPANSION
W
most from economic difficulties
following the Revolution. The ith the end of the Revolution,
supply of farm produce exceeded the United States again had to face
demand; unrest centered chiefly the old unsolved Western ques-
among farmer-debtors who wanted tion, the problem of expansion,
strong remedies to avoid foreclosure with its complications of land, fur
on their property and imprison- trade, Indians, settlement, and lo-
ment for debt. Courts were clogged cal government. Lured by the rich-
with suits for payment filed by their est land yet found in the country,
creditors. All through the summer pioneers poured over the Appala-
of 1786, popular conventions and chian Mountains and beyond. By
informal gatherings in several 1775 the far-flung outposts scat-
states demanded reform in the state tered along the waterways had tens
administrations. of thousands of settlers. Separated
That autumn, mobs of farmers in by mountain ranges and hundreds
Massachusetts under the leadership of kilometers from the centers of
of a former army captain, Daniel political authority in the East, the
Shays, began forcibly to prevent inhabitants established their own
the county courts from sitting and governments. Settlers from all the
passing further judgments for debt, Tidewater states pressed on into
pending the next state election. the fertile river valleys, hardwood
In January 1787 a ragtag army of forests, and rolling prairies of the
1,200 farmers moved toward the interior. By 1790 the population of
federal arsenal at Springfield. The the trans-Appalachian region num-
rebels, armed chiefly with staves bered well over 120,000.
and pitchforks, were repulsed by a Before the war, several colonies
small state militia force; General had laid extensive and often over-
Benjamin Lincoln then arrived with lapping claims to land beyond the
70
Appalachians. To those without would be formed as the territory was

such claims this rich territorial prize settled. Whenever any one of them
seemed unfairly apportioned. Mary- had 60,000 free inhabitants, it was
land, speaking for the latter group, to be admitted to the Union “on
introduced a resolution that the an equal footing with the original
western lands be considered com- states in all respects.” The ordinance
mon property to be parceled by the guaranteed civil rights and liberties,
Congress into free and independent encouraged education, and prohib-
governments. This idea was not re- ited slavery or other forms of invol-
ceived enthusiastically. Nonethe- untary servitude.
less, in 1780 New York led the way The new policy repudiated the
by ceding its claims. In 1784 Virgin- time-honored concept that colonies
ia, which held the grandest claims, existed for the benefit of the mother
relinquished all land north of the country, were politically subordi-
Ohio River. Other states ceded their nate, and peopled by social inferiors.
claims, and it became apparent that Instead, it established the principle
Congress would come into posses- that colonies (“territories”) were an
sion of all the lands north of the extension of the nation and entitled,
Ohio River and west of the Allegh- not as a privilege but as a right, to all
eny Mountains. This common pos- the benefits of equality.
session of millions of hectares was
the most tangible evidence yet of na- CONSTITUTIONAL
tionality and unity, and gave a cer- CONVENTION
B
tain substance to the idea of national
sovereignty. At the same time, these y the time the Northwest Ordi-
vast territories were a problem that nance was enacted, American leaders
required solution. were in the midst of drafting a new
The Confederation Congress es- and stronger constitution to replace
tablished a system of limited self- the Articles of Confederation. Their
government for this new national presiding officer, George Washing-
Northwest Territory. The Northwest ton, had written accurately that the
Ordinance of 1787 provided for its states were united only by a “rope of
organization, initially as a single sand.” Disputes between Maryland
district, ruled by a governor and and Virginia over navigation on
judges appointed by the Congress. the Potomac River led to a confer-
When this territory had 5,000 free ence of representatives of five states
male inhabitants of voting age, it at Annapolis, Maryland, in 1786.
was to be entitled to a legislature One of the delegates, Alexander
of two chambers, itself electing the Hamilton of New York, convinced
lower house. In addition, it could at his colleagues that commerce was
that time send a nonvoting delegate bound up with large political and
to Congress. Three to five states economic questions. What was re-
71
quired was a fundamental rethink- Massachusetts sent Rufus King

ing of the Confederation. and Elbridge Gerry, young men of
The Annapolis conference issued ability and experience. Roger Sher-
a call for all the states to appoint man, shoemaker turned judge, was
representatives to a convention to be one of the representatives from
held the following spring in Philadel- Connecticut. From New York came
phia. The Continental Congress was Alexander Hamilton, who had pro-
at first indignant over this bold step, posed the meeting. Absent from the
but it acquiesced after Washington Convention were Thomas Jefferson,
gave the project his backing and was who was serving as minister repre-
elected a delegate. During the next senting the United States in France,
fall and winter, elections were held in and John Adams, serving in the same
all states but Rhode Island. capacity in Great Britain. Youth pre-
A remarkable gathering of no- dominated among the 55 delegates —
tables assembled at the Federal the average age was 42.
Convention in May 1787. The state Congress had authorized the
legislatures sent leaders with expe- Convention merely to draft amend-
rience in colonial and state governments to the Articles of Confedera-
ments, in Congress, on the bench, tion but, as Madison later wrote, the
and in the army. Washington, re- delegates, “with a manly confidence
garded as the country’s first citizen in their country,” simply threw the
because of his integrity and his mili- Articles aside and went ahead with
tary leadership during the Revolu- the building of a wholly new form
tion, was chosen as presiding officer. of government.
Prominent among the more active They recognized that the para-
members were two Pennsylvanians: mount need was to reconcile two
Gouverneur Morris, who clearly saw different powers — the power of
the need for national government, local control, which was already
and James Wilson, who labored in- being exercised by the 13 semi-in-
defatigably for the national idea. dependent states, and the power of
Also elected by Pennsylvania was a central government. They adopted
Benjamin Franklin, nearing the end the principle that the functions and
of an extraordinary career of public powers of the national government
service and scientific achievement. — being new, general, and inclusive
From Virginia came James Madison, — had to be carefully defined and
a practical young statesman, a thor- stated, while all other functions and
ough student of politics and history, powers were to be understood as be-
and, according to a colleague, “from longing to the states. But realizing
a spirit of industry and application ... that the central government had to
the best-informed man on any point have real power, the delegates also
in debate.” He would be recognized generally accepted the fact that the
as the “Father of the Constitution.” government should be authorized,
72
among other things, to coin money, representation in proportion to the

to regulate commerce, to declare population of the states in one house
war, and to make peace. of Congress, the House of Represen-
tatives, and equal representation in
DEBATE AND COMPROMISE the other, the Senate.
T The alignment of large against

he 18th-century statesmen who small states then dissolved. But al-
met in Philadelphia were adherents most every succeeding question
of Montesquieu’s concept of the raised new divisions, to be resolved
balance of power in politics. This only by new compromises. Northern-
principle was supported by colo- ers wanted slaves counted when de-
nial experience and strengthened termining each state’s tax share, but
by the writings of John Locke, with not in determining the number of
which most of the delegates were fa- seats a state would have in the House
miliar. These influences led to the of Representatives. Under a com-
conviction that three equal and co- promise reached with little dissent,
ordinate branches of government tax levies and House membership
should be established. Legislative, would be apportioned according to
executive, and judicial powers were the number of free inhabitants plus
to be so harmoniously balanced that three-fifths of the slaves.
no one could ever gain control. The Certain members, such as Sher-
delegates agreed that the legislative man and Elbridge Gerry, still smart-
branch, like the colonial legislatures ing from Shays’s Rebellion, feared
and the British Parliament, should that the mass of people lacked suf-
consist of two houses. ficient wisdom to govern themselves
On these points there was una- and thus wished no branch of the
nimity within the assembly. But federal government to be elected di-
sharp differences also arose. Repre- rectly by the people. Others thought
sentatives of the small states — New the national government should be
Jersey, for instance — objected to given as broad a popular base as
changes that would reduce their in- possible. Some delegates wished to
fluence in the national government exclude the growing West from the
by basing representation upon popu- opportunity of statehood; others
lation rather than upon statehood, championed the equality principle
as was the case under the Articles of established in the Northwest Ordi-
Confederation. nance of 1787.
On the other hand, representa- There was no serious difference
tives of large states, like Virginia, on such national economic ques-
argued for proportionate represen- tions as paper money, laws concern-
tation. This debate threatened to go ing contract obligations, or the role
on endlessly until Roger Sherman of women, who were excluded from
came forward with arguments for politics. But there was a need for
73
balancing sectional economic in- system with separate legislative, ex-

terests; for settling arguments as to ecutive, and judiciary branches,
the powers, term, and selection of each checked by the others. Thus
the chief executive; and for solving congressional enactments were not
problems involving the tenure of to become law until approved by the
judges and the kind of courts to be president. And the president was to
established. submit the most important of his ap-
Laboring through a hot Philadel- pointments and all his treaties to the
phia summer, the convention finally Senate for confirmation. The presi-
achieved a draft incorporating in dent, in turn, could be impeached
a brief document the organization and removed by Congress. The ju-
of the most complex government diciary was to hear all cases arising
yet devised, one that would be su- under federal laws and the Con-
preme within a clearly defined and stitution; in effect, the courts were
limited sphere. It would have full empowered to interpret both the
power to levy taxes, borrow money, fundamental and the statute law. But
establish uniform duties and ex- members of the judiciary, appointed
cise taxes, coin money, regulate in- by the president and confirmed by
terstate commerce, fix weights and the Senate, could also be impeached
measures, grant patents and copy- by Congress.
rights, set up post offices, and build To protect the Constitution
post roads. It also was authorized to from hasty alteration, Article V
raise and maintain an army and stipulated that amendments to the
navy, manage Native American af- Constitution be proposed either by
fairs, conduct foreign policy, and two-thirds of both houses of Con-
wage war. It could pass laws for gress or by two-thirds of the states,
naturalizing foreigners and control- meeting in convention. The propos-
ling public lands; it could admit new als were to be ratified by one of two
states on a basis of absolute equal- methods: either by the legislatures
ity with the old. The power to pass of three-fourths of the states, or by
all necessary and proper laws for convention in three-fourths of the
executing these clearly defined pow- states, with the Congress proposing
ers rendered the federal government the method to be used.
able to meet the needs of later gen- Finally, the convention faced
erations and of a greatly expanded the most important problem of all:
body politic. How should the powers given to
The principle of separation of the new government be enforced?
powers had already been given a fair Under the Articles of Confedera-
trial in most state constitutions and tion, the national government had
had proved sound. Accordingly, the possessed — on paper — signifi-
convention set up a governmental cant powers, which, in practice, had
74
come to naught, for the states paid Debate continues to this day
no attention to them. What was to about the motives of those who
save the new government from the wrote the Constitution. In 1913 his-
same fate? torian Charles Beard, in An Econom-
At the outset, most delegates fur- ic Interpretation of the Constitution,
nished a single answer — the use of argued that the Founding Fathers
force. But it was quickly seen that the represented emerging commercial-
application of force upon the states capitalist interests that needed a
would destroy the Union. The deci- strong national government. He
sion was that the government should also believed many may have been
not act upon the states but upon the motivated by personal holdings of
people within the states, and should large amounts of depreciated gov-
legislate for and upon all the indi- ernment securities. However, James
vidual residents of the country. As Madison, principal drafter of the
the keystone of the Constitution, the Constitution, held no bonds and
convention adopted two brief but was a Virginia planter. Conversely,
highly significant statements: some opponents of the Constitu-
Congress shall have power ... tion owned large amounts of bonds
to make all Laws which shall be and securities. Economic interests
necessary and proper for carrying influenced the course of the debate,
into Execution the ... Powers but so did state, sectional, and ideo-
vested by this Constitution in the logical interests. Equally important
Government of the United States. was the idealism of the framers.
... (Article I, Section 7) Products of the Enlightenment, the
This Constitution, and the Founding Fathers designed a gov-
Laws of the United States which ernment that they believed would
shall be made in Pursuance promote individual liberty and pub-
thereof; and all Treaties made, or lic virtue. The ideals embodied in
which shall be made, under the the U.S. Constitution remain an es-
Authority of the United States, sential element of the American na-
shall be the supreme Law of the tional identity.
Land; and the Judges in every
State shall be bound thereby, RATIFICATION AND
any Thing in the Constitution or THE BILL OF RIGHTS
O
Laws of any State to the Contrary
notwithstanding. (Article VI) n September 17, 1787, after 16
Thus the laws of the United States weeks of deliberation, the finished
became enforceable in its own na- Constitution was signed by 39 of
tional courts, through its own judges the 42 delegates present. Franklin,
and marshals, as well as in the state pointing to the half-sun painted in
courts through the state judges and brilliant gold on the back of Wash-
state law officers. ington’s chair, said:
75
I have often in the course of the In Virginia, the Antifederalists

session ... looked at that [chair] attacked the proposed new gov-
behind the president, without ernment by challenging the open-
being able to tell whether it was ing phrase of the Constitution: “We
rising or setting; but now, at the People of the United States.”
length, I have the happiness to Without using the individual state
know that it is a rising, and not a names in the Constitution, the del-
setting, sun. egates argued, the states would not
The convention was over; the retain their separate rights or pow-
members “adjourned to the City ers. Virginia Antifederalists were
Tavern, dined together, and took led by Patrick Henry, who became
a cordial leave of each other.” Yet the chief spokesman for back-coun-
a crucial part of the struggle for a try farmers who feared the powers
more perfect union remained to of the new central government. Wa-
be faced. The consent of popularly vering delegates were persuaded by
elected state conventions was still a proposal that the Virginia con-
required before the document could vention recommend a bill of rights,
become effective. and Antifederalists joined with the
The convention had decided that Federalists to ratify the Constitution
the Constitution would take effect on June 25.
upon ratification by conventions in In New York, Alexander Ham-
nine of the 13 states. By June 1788 ilton, John Jay, and James Madison
the required nine states had ratified pushed for the ratification of the
the Constitution, but the large states Constitution in a series of essays
of Virginia and New York had not. known as The Federalist Papers.
Most people felt that without their The essays, published in New York
support the Constitution would nev- newspapers, provided a now-classic
er be honored. To many, the docu- argument for a central federal gov-
ment seemed full of dangers: Would ernment, with separate executive,
not the strong central government legislative, and judicial branches that
that it established tyrannize them, checked and balanced one another.
oppress them with heavy taxes, and With The Federalist Papers influenc-
drag them into wars? ing the New York delegates, the Con-
Differing views on these ques- stitution was ratified on July 26.
tions brought into existence two par- Antipathy toward a strong cen-
ties, the Federalists, who favored a tral government was only one con-
strong central government, and the cern among those opposed to the
Antifederalists, who preferred a loose Constitution; of equal concern
association of separate states. Impas- to many was the fear that the
sioned arguments on both sides were Constitution did not protect individ-
voiced by the press, the legislatures, ual rights and freedoms sufficiently.
and the state conventions. Virginian George Mason, author
76
of Virginia’s Declaration of Rights Constitution. Although a number

of 1776, was one of three delegates of the subsequent amendments re-
to the Constitutional Convention vised the federal government’s struc-
who had refused to sign the final ture and operations, most followed
document because it did not enu- the precedent established by the Bill
merate individual rights. Together of Rights and expanded individual
with Patrick Henry, he campaigned rights and freedoms.
vigorously against ratification of the
Constitution by Virginia. Indeed, PRESIDENT WASHINGTON
O
five states, including Massachusetts,
ratified the Constitution on the con- ne of the last acts of the Con-
dition that such amendments be gress of the Confederation was to ar-
added immediately. range for the first presidential elec-
When the first Congress con- tion, setting March 4, 1789, as the
vened in New York City in Septem- date that the new government would
ber 1789, the calls for amendments come into being. One name was on
protecting individual rights were everyone’s lips for the new chief of
virtually unanimous. Congress state, George Washington. He was
quickly adopted 12 such amend- unanimously chosen president and
ments; by December 1791, enough took the oath of office at his inau-
states had ratified 10 amendments guration on April 30, 1789. In words
to make them part of the Constitu- spoken by every president since,
tion. Collectively, they are known Washington pledged to execute the
as the Bill of Rights. Among their duties of the presidency faithfully
provisions: freedom of speech, press, and, to the best of his ability, to “pre-
religion, and the right to assemble serve, protect, and defend the Con-
peacefully, protest, and demand stitution of the United States.”
changes (First Amendment); protec- When Washington took office,
tion against unreasonable search- the new Constitution enjoyed nei-
es, seizures of property, and arrest ther tradition nor the full backing of
(Fourth Amendment); due process organized public opinion. The new
of law in all criminal cases (Fifth government had to create its own
Amendment); right to a fair and machinery and legislate a system of
speedy trial (Sixth Amendment); taxation that would support it. Until
protection against cruel and unusual a judiciary could be established, laws
punishment (Eighth Amendment); could not be enforced. The army was
and provision that the people retain small. The navy had ceased to exist.
additional rights not listed in the Congress quickly created the de-
Constitution (Ninth Amendment). partments of State and Treasury,
Since the adoption of the Bill with Thomas Jefferson and Alex-
of Rights, only 17 more amend- ander Hamilton as their respective
ments have been added to the secretaries. Departments of War
77
and Justice were also created. Since At this critical juncture in the
Washington preferred to make de- country’s growth, Washington’s wise
cisions only after consulting those leadership was crucial. He organized
men whose judgment he valued, a national government, developed
the American presidential Cabinet policies for settlement of territories
came into existence, consisting of previously held by Britain and Spain,
the heads of all the departments that stabilized the northwestern frontier,
Congress might create. Simultane- and oversaw the admission of three
ously, Congress provided for a fed- new states: Vermont (1791), Ken-
eral judiciary — a Supreme Court, tucky (1792), and Tennessee (1796).
with one chief justice and five associ- Finally, in his Farewell Address, he
ate justices, three circuit courts, and warned the nation to “steer clear of
13 district courts. permanent alliances with any por-
Meanwhile, the country was tion of the foreign world.” This ad-
growing steadily and immigration vice influenced American attitudes
from Europe was increasing. Ameri- toward the rest of the world for gen-
cans were moving westward: New erations to come.
Englanders and Pennsylvanians into
Ohio; Virginians and Carolinians HAMILTON VS. JEFFERSON
A
into Kentucky and Tennessee. Good
farms were to be had for small sums; conflict took shape in the 1790s
labor was in strong demand. The between America’s first political
rich valley stretches of upper New parties. Indeed, the Federalists, led
York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia by Alexander Hamilton, and the
soon became great wheat-growing Republicans (also called Demo-
areas. cratic-Republicans), led by Thomas
Although many items were still Jefferson, were the first political
homemade, the Industrial Revo- parties in the Western world. Un-
lution was dawning in the United like loose political groupings in the
States. Massachusetts and Rhode Is- British House of Commons or in
land were laying the foundation of the American colonies before the
important textile industries; Con- Revolution, both had reasonably
necticut was beginning to turn out consistent and principled platforms,
tinware and clocks; New York, New relatively stable popular followings,
Jersey, and Pennsylvania were pro- and continuing organizations.
ducing paper, glass, and iron. Ship- The Federalists in the main rep-
ping had grown to such an extent resented the interests of trade and
that on the seas the United States manufacturing, which they saw as
was second only to Britain. Even be- forces of progress in the world. They
fore 1790, American ships were trav- believed these could be advanced
eling to China to sell furs and bring only by a strong central government
back tea, spices, and silk. capable of establishing sound public
78
credit and a stable currency. Openly nancial institution and operated

distrustful of the latent radicalism of branches in different parts of the
the masses, they could nonetheless country. Hamilton sponsored a na-
credibly appeal to workers and arti- tional mint, and argued in favor of
sans. Their political stronghold was tariffs, saying that temporary pro-
in the New England states. Seeing tection of new firms could help fos-
England as in many respects an ex- ter the development of competitive
ample the United States should try to national industries. These measures
emulate, they favored good relations — placing the credit of the feder-
with their mother country. al government on a firm founda-
Although Alexander Hamilton tion and giving it all the revenues
was never able to muster the popular it needed — encouraged commerce
appeal to stand successfully for elec- and industry, and created a solid
tive office, he was far and away the phalanx of interests firmly behind
Federalists’ main generator of ideol- the national government.
ogy and public policy. He brought to The Republicans, led by Thomas
public life a love of efficiency, order, Jefferson, spoke primarily for agri-
and organization. In response to the cultural interests and values. They
call of the House of Representatives distrusted bankers, cared little for
for a plan for the “adequate support commerce and manufacturing, and
of public credit,” he laid down and believed that freedom and democra-
supported principles not only of the cy flourished best in a rural society
public economy, but of effective gov- composed of self-sufficient farm-
ernment. Hamilton pointed out that ers. They felt little need for a strong
the United States must have credit central government; in fact, they
for industrial development, com- tended to see it as a potential source
mercial activity, and the operations of oppression. Thus they favored
of government, and that its obliga- states’ rights. They were strongest
tions must have the complete faith in the South.
and support of the people. Hamilton’s great aim was more
There were many who wished to efficient organization, whereas Jef-
repudiate the Confederation’s na- ferson once said, “I am not a friend
tional debt or pay only part of it. to a very energetic government.”
Hamilton insisted upon full pay- Hamilton feared anarchy and
ment and also upon a plan by which thought in terms of order; Jefferson
the federal government took over feared tyranny and thought in terms
the unpaid debts of the states in- of freedom. Where Hamilton saw
curred during the Revolution. He England as an example, Jefferson,
also secured congressional legisla- who had been minister to France in
tion for a Bank of the United States. the early stages of the French Rev-
Modeled after the Bank of England, olution, looked to the overthrow of
it acted as the nation’s central fi- the French monarchy as vindication
79
of the liberal ideals of the Enlighten- CITIZEN GENET AND

ment. Against Hamilton’s instinctive FOREIGN POLICY
A
conservatism, he projected an elo-
quent democratic radicalism. lthough one of the first tasks
An early clash between them, of the new government was to
which occurred shortly after Jeffer- strengthen the domestic economy
son took office as secretary of state, and make the nation financially
led to a new and profoundly impor- secure, the United States could not
tant interpretation of the Constitu- ignore foreign affairs. The corner-
tion. When Hamilton introduced his stones of Washington’s foreign pol-
bill to establish a national bank, Jef- icy were to preserve peace, to give
ferson, speaking for those who be- the country time to recover from
lieved in states’ rights, argued that its wounds, and to permit the slow
the Constitution expressly enumer- work of national integration to
ated all the powers belonging to the continue. Events in Europe threat-
federal government and reserved all ened these goals. Many Americans
other powers to the states. Nowhere watched the French Revolution with
was the federal government empow- keen interest and sympathy. In April
ered to set up a bank. 1793, news came that France had
Hamilton responded that because declared war on Great Britain and
of the mass of necessary detail, a Spain, and that a new French envoy,
vast body of powers had to be Edmond Charles Genet — Citizen
implied by general clauses, and one Genet — was coming to the United
of these authorized Congress to States.
“make all laws which shall be nec- When the revolution in France
essary and proper” for carrying out led to the execution of King Louis
other powers specifically granted. XVI in January 1793, Britain, Spain,
The Constitution authorized the and Holland became involved in
national government to levy and war with France. According to the
collect taxes, pay debts, and bor- Franco-American Treaty of Alliance
row money. A national bank would of 1778, the United States and France
materially help in performing these were perpetual allies, and the Unit-
functions efficiently. Congress, ed States was obliged to help France
therefore, was entitled, under its im- defend the West Indies. However,
plied powers, to create such a bank. the United States, militarily and
Washington and the Congress ac- economically a very weak country,
cepted Hamilton’s view — and set was in no position to become in-
an important precedent for an ex- volved in another war with major
pansive interpretation of the federal European powers.
government’s authority. On April 22, 1793, Washington
effectively abrogated the terms of the
80
1778 treaty that had made American tering issue of British “impressment”
independence possible by proclaim- of American sailors into the Royal
ing the United States to be “friendly Navy, placed severe limitations on
and impartial toward the belligerent American trade with the West In-
powers.” When Genet arrived, he dies, and accepted the British view
was cheered by many citizens, but that food and naval stores, as well as
treated with cool formality by the war materiel, were contraband sub-
government. Angered, he violated ject to seizure if bound for enemy
a promise not to outfit a captured ports on neutral ships.
British ship as a privateer (private- American diplomat Charles
ly owned warships commissioned Pinckney was more successful in
to prey on ships of enemy nations). dealing with Spain. In 1795, he
Genet then threatened to take his negotiated an important treaty set-
cause directly to the American peo- tling the Florida border on Ameri-
ple, over the head of the government. can terms and giving Americans
Shortly afterward, the United States access to the port of New Orleans.
requested his recall by the French All the same, the Jay Treaty with
government. the British reflected a continu-
The Genet incident strained ing American weakness vis-a-vis a
American relations with France at world superpower. Deeply unpopu-
a time when those with Great Brit- lar, it was vocally supported only by
ain were far from satisfactory. Brit- Federalists who valued cultural and
ish troops still occupied forts in the economic ties with Britain. Wash-
West, property carried off by British ington backed it as the best bargain
soldiers during the Revolution had available, and, after a heated debate,
not been restored or paid for, and the the Senate approved it.
British Navy was seizing American Citizen Genet’s antics and Jay’s
ships bound for French ports. The Treaty demonstrated both the diffi-
two countries seemed to be drifting culties faced by a small weak nation
toward war. Washington sent John caught between two great powers
Jay, first chief justice of the Supreme and the wide gap in outlook between
Court, to London as a special envoy. Federalists and Republicans. To the
Jay negotiated a treaty that secured Federalists, Republican backers of
withdrawal of British soldiers from the increasingly violent and radical
western forts but allowed the British French Revolution were dangerous
to continue the fur trade with the radicals (“Jacobins”); to the Repub-
Indians in the Northwest. London licans, advocates of amity with Eng-
agreed to pay damages for American land were monarchists who would
ships and cargoes seized in 1793 and subvert the natural rights of Ameri-
1794, but made no commitments on cans. The Federalists connected vir-
possible future seizures. Moreover, tue and national development with
the treaty failed to address the fes- commerce; the Republicans saw
81
America’s destiny as that of a vast tles with the French, war seemed
agrarian republic. The politics of inevitable. In this crisis, Adams re-
their conflicting positions became jected the guidance of Hamilton,
increasingly vehement. who wanted war, and reopened ne-
gotiations with France. Napoleon,
ADAMS AND JEFFERSON who had just come to power, re-
W ceived them cordially. The danger

ashington retired in 1797, firm- of conflict subsided with the nego-
ly declining to serve for more than tiation of the Convention of 1800,
eight years as the nation’s head. which formally released the United
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia (Re- States from its 1778 defense alliance
publican) and John Adams (Federal- with France. However, reflecting
ist) vied to succeed him. Adams won American weakness, France refused
a narrow election victory. From the to pay $20 million in compensation
beginning, however, he was at the for American ships taken by the
head of a party and an administra- French Navy.
tion divided between his backers and Hostility to France had led Con-
those of his rival, Hamilton. gress to pass the Alien and Sedition
Adams faced serious internation- Acts, which had severe repercus-
al difficulties. France, angered by sions for American civil liberties.
Jay’s treaty with Britain, adopted its The Naturalization Act, which
definition of contraband and began changed the requirement for citi-
to seize American ships headed for zenship from five to 14 years, was
Britain. By 1797 France had snatched targeted at Irish and French immi-
300 American ships and broken grants suspected of supporting the
off diplomatic relations with the Republicans. The Alien Act, oper-
United States. When Adams sent ative for two years only, gave the
three commissioners to Paris to ne- president the power to expel or im-
gotiate, agents of Foreign Minis- prison aliens in time of war. The
ter Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Sedition Act proscribed writing,
(whom Adams labeled X, Y, and Z in speaking, or publishing anything
his report to Congress) informed the of “a false, scandalous, and mali-
Americans that negotiations could cious” nature against the president
only begin if the United States loaned or Congress. The few convictions
France $12 million and bribed of- won under it created martyrs to the
ficials of the French government. cause of civil liberties and aroused
American hostility to France rose to support for the Republicans.
an excited pitch. The so-called XYZ The acts met with resistance. Jef-
Affair led to the enlistment of troops ferson and Madison sponsored the
and the strengthening of the fledg- passage of the Kentucky and Virgin-
ling U.S. Navy. ia Resolutions by the legislatures of
In 1799, after a series of sea bat- these two states in November and
82
December 1798. Extreme declara- and ceremony of the presidency. In

tion of states’ rights, the resolutions line with Republican ideology, he
asserted that states could “interpose” sharply cut military expenditures.
their views on federal actions and Believing America to be a haven
“nullify” them. The doctrine of nul- for the oppressed, he secured a lib-
lification would be used later for the eral naturalization law. By the end
Southern states’ resistance to protec- of his second term, his far-sighted
tive tariffs, and, more ominously, secretary of the treasury, Albert
slavery. Gallatin, had reduced the national
By 1800 the American people debt to less than $560 million. Wide-
were ready for a change. Under ly popular, Jefferson won reelection
Washington and Adams, the Feder- as president easily.
alists had established a strong gov-
ernment, but sometimes failing to LOUISIANA AND BRITAIN
O
honor the principle that the Ameri-
can government must be responsive ne of Jefferson’s acts doubled the
to the will of the people, they had area of the country. At the end of the
followed policies that alienated large Seven Years’ War, France had ceded
groups. For example, in 1798 they its territory west of the Mississippi
had enacted a tax on houses, land, River to Spain. Access to the port
and slaves, affecting every property of New Orleans near its mouth was
owner in the country. vital for the shipment of American
Jefferson had steadily gathered products from the Ohio and Missis-
behind him a great mass of small sippi river valleys. Shortly after Jef-
farmers, shopkeepers, and other ferson became president, Napoleon
workers. He won a close victory in forced a weak Spanish government
a contested election. Jefferson en- to cede this great tract, the Louisiana
joyed extraordinary favor because of Territory, back to France. The move
his appeal to American idealism. In filled Americans with apprehension
his inaugural address, the first such and indignation. French plans for
speech in the new capital of Wash- a huge colonial empire just west of
ington, D.C., he promised “a wise the United States seriously threat-
and frugal government” that would ened the future development of the
preserve order among the inhabit- United States. Jefferson asserted that
ants but leave people “otherwise free if France took possession of Loui-
to regulate their own pursuits of in- siana, “from that moment we must
dustry, and improvement.” marry ourselves to the British fleet
Jefferson’s mere presence in the and nation.”
White House encouraged demo- Napoleon, however, lost interest
cratic procedures. He preached after the French were expelled from
and practiced democratic simplic- Haiti by a slave revolt. Knowing that
ity, eschewing much of the pomp another war with Great Britain was
83
impending, he resolved to fill his When Jefferson issued a procla-

treasury and put Louisiana beyond mation ordering British warships
the reach of Britain by selling it to to leave U.S. territorial waters, the
the United States. His offer present- British reacted by impressing more
ed Jefferson with a dilemma: The sailors. Jefferson then decided to rely
Constitution conferred no explicit on economic pressure; in December
power to purchase territory. At first 1807 Congress passed the Embargo
the president wanted to propose an Act, forbidding all foreign com-
amendment, but delay might lead merce. Ironically, the law required
Napoleon to change his mind. Ad- strong police authority that vastly
vised that the power to purchase increased the powers of the national
territory was inherent in the power government. Economically, it was
to make treaties, Jefferson relented, disastrous. In a single year Ameri-
saying that “the good sense of our can exports fell to one-fifth of their
country will correct the evil of loose former volume. Shipping interests
construction when it shall produce were almost ruined by the measure;
ill effects.” discontent rose in New England and
The United States obtained the New York. Agricultural interests
“Louisiana Purchase” for $15 mil- suffered heavily also. Prices dropped
lion in 1803. It contained more than drastically when the Southern and
2,600,000 square kilometers as well Western farmers could not export
as the port of New Orleans. The their surplus grain, cotton, meat,
nation had gained a sweep of rich and tobacco.
plains, mountains, forests, and river The embargo failed to starve
systems that within 80 years would Great Britain into a change of pol-
become its heartland — and a bread- icy. As the grumbling at home in-
basket for the world. creased, Jefferson turned to a milder
As Jefferson began his second measure, which partially conciliated
term in 1805, he declared American domestic shipping interests. In early
neutrality in the struggle between 1809 he signed the Non-Intercourse
Great Britain and France. Although Act permitting commerce with all
both sides sought to restrict neutral countries except Britain or France
shipping to the other, British con- and their dependencies.
trol of the seas made its interdiction James Madison succeeded Jeffer-
and seizure much more serious than son as president in 1809. Relations
any actions by Napoleonic France. with Great Britain grew worse, and
British naval commanders routinely the two countries moved rapidly to-
searched American ships, seized ves- ward war. The president laid before
sels and cargoes, and took off sailors Congress a detailed report, showing
believed to be British subjects. They several thousand instances in which
also frequently impressed American the British had impressed American
seamen into their service. citizens. In addition, northwestern
84
settlers had suffered from attacks of militia, volunteers, and regulars

by Indians whom they believed had from Kentucky with the object of
been incited by British agents in reconquering Detroit. On September
Canada. In turn, many Americans 12, while he was still in upper Ohio,
favored conquest of Canada and the news reached him that Commodore
elimination of British influence in Oliver Hazard Perry had annihilated
North America, as well as vengeance the British fleet on Lake Erie. Har-
for impressment and commercial rison occupied Detroit and pushed
repression. By 1812, war fervor was into Canada, defeating the fleeing
dominant. On June 18, the United British and their Indian allies on
States declared war on Britain. the Thames River. The entire region
now came under American control.
THE WAR OF 1812 A year later Commodore Thomas
T Macdonough won a point-blank gun

he nation went to war bitterly duel with a British flotilla on Lake
divided. While the South and West Champlain in upper New York. De-
favored the conflict, New York and prived of naval support, a British in-
New England opposed it because vasion force of 10,000 men retreated
it interfered with their commerce. to Canada. Nevertheless, the Brit-
The U.S. military was weak. The ish fleet harassed the Eastern sea-
army had fewer than 7,000 regular board with orders to “destroy and
soldiers, distributed in widely scat- lay waste.” On the night of August
tered posts along the coast, near the 24, 1814, an expeditionary force
Canadian border, and in the re- routed American militia, marched to
mote interior. The state militias were Washington, D.C., and left the city
poorly trained and undisciplined. in flames. President James Madison
Hostilities began with an inva- fled to Virginia.
sion of Canada, which, if properly British and American negotia-
timed and executed, would have tors conducted talks in Europe. The
brought united action against Mon- British envoys decided to concede,
treal. Instead, the entire campaign however, when they learned of Mac-
miscarried and ended with the Brit- donough’s victory on Lake Champ-
ish occupation of Detroit. The U.S. lain. Faced with the depletion of the
Navy, however, scored successes. British treasury due in large part to
In addition, American privateers, the heavy costs of the Napoleonic
swarming the Atlantic, captured 500 Wars, the negotiators for Great Brit-
British vessels during the fall and ain accepted the Treaty of Ghent in
winter months of 1812 and 1813. December 1814. It provided for the
The campaign of 1813 centered cessation of hostilities, the restora-
on Lake Erie. General William tion of conquests, and a commission
Henry Harrison — who would lat- to settle boundary disputes. Unaware
er become president — led an army that a peace treaty had been signed,
85
the two sides continued fighting into the enemy throughout the conflict,
1815 near New Orleans, Louisiana. and some areas actually prospered
Led by General Andrew Jackson, from this commerce. Nevertheless,
the United States scored the great- the Federalists claimed that the war
est land victory of the war, ending was ruining the economy. With a
once and for all any British hopes of possibility of secession from the
reestablishing continental influence Union in the background, the con-
south of the Canadian border. vention proposed a series of consti-
While the British and Americans tutional amendments that would
were negotiating a settlement, Fed- protect New England interests. In-
eralist delegates selected by the leg- stead, the end of the war, punctuated
islatures of Massachusetts, Rhode by the smashing victory at New Or-
Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and leans, stamped the Federalists with a
New Hampshire gathered in Hart- stigma of disloyalty from which they
ford, Connecticut, to express oppo- never recovered. 9
sition to “Mr. Madison’s war.” New
England had managed to trade with
86
THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING
By the end of the 18th century, many educated Americans no longer

professed traditional Christian beliefs. In reaction to the secularism of the age,
a religious revival spread westward in the first half of the 19th century.
This “Second Great Awakening” consisted of several kinds of activity,
distinguished by locale and expression of religious commitment. In New
England, the renewed interest in religion inspired a wave of social activism.
In western New York, the spirit of revival encouraged the emergence of new
denominations. In the Appalachian region of Kentucky and Tennessee, the
revival strengthened the Methodists and the Baptists, and spawned a new form
of religious expression — the camp meeting.
In contrast to the Great Awakening of the 1730s, the revivals in the
East were notable for the absence of hysteria and open emotion. Rather,
unbelievers were awed by the “respectful silence” of those bearing witness
to their faith. The evangelical enthusiasm in New England gave rise to
interdenominational missionary societies, formed to evangelize the West.
Members of these societies not only acted as apostles for the faith, but as
educators, civic leaders, and exponents of Eastern, urban culture. Publication
and education societies promoted Christian education. Most notable among
them was the American Bible Society, founded in 1816. Social activism
inspired by the revival gave rise to abolition of slavery groups and the Society
for the Promotion of Temperance, as well as to efforts to reform prisons and
care for the handicapped and mentally ill.
Western New York, from Lake Ontario to the Adirondack Mountains, had
been the scene of so many religious revivals in the past that it was known as
the “Burned-Over District.” Here, the dominant figure was Charles Grandison
Finney, a lawyer who had experienced a religious epiphany and set out to
preach the Gospel. His revivals were characterized by careful planning,
showmanship, and advertising. Finney preached in the Burned-Over District
throughout the 1820s and the early 1830s, before moving to Ohio in 1835
to take a chair in theology at Oberlin College, of which he subsequently
became president.
Two other important religious denominations in America — the Mormons
and the Seventh Day Adventists — also got their start in the Burned-
Over District.
87
In the Appalachian region, the revival took on characteristics similar

to the Great Awakening of the previous century. But here, the center of the
revival was the camp meeting, a religious service of several days’ length, for
a group that was obliged to take shelter on the spot because of the distance
from home. Pioneers in thinly populated areas looked to the camp meeting
as a refuge from the lonely life on the frontier. The sheer exhilaration of
participating in a religious revival with hundreds and perhaps thousands
of people inspired the dancing, shouting, and singing associated with these
events. Probably the largest camp meeting was at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in
August 1801; between 10,000 and 25,000 people attended.
The great revival quickly spread throughout Kentucky, Tennessee, and
southern Ohio, with the Methodists and the Baptists its prime beneficiaries.
Each denomination had assets that allowed it to thrive on the frontier. The
Methodists had a very efficient organization that depended on ministers —
known as circuit riders — who sought out people in remote frontier locations.
The circuit riders came from among the common people and possessed a
rapport with the frontier families they hoped to convert. The Baptists had
no formal church organization. Their farmer-preachers were people who
received “the call” from God, studied the Bible, and founded a church, which
then ordained them. Other candidates for the ministry emerged from these
churches, and established a presence farther into the wilderness. Using such
methods, the Baptists became dominant throughout the border states and
most of the South.
The Second Great Awakening exercised a profound impact on American
history. The numerical strength of the Baptists and Methodists rose relative
to that of the denominations dominant in the colonial period — Anglicans,
Presbyterians, and Congregationalists. The growing differences
within American Protestantism reflected the growth and diversity of an
expanding nation. 
88
Andrew Jackson, president from 1829 to 1837. Charismatic, forceful,
and passionate, Jackson forged an effective political coalition within
the Democratic Party with Westerners, farmers, and working people.
TRANSFORMING A NATIO N
A PICTURE PROFILE
The United States transformed itself again in the 19th and
early 20th centuries. A rural, agricultural nation became an
industrial power whose backbone was steel and coal, railroads,
and steam power. A young country once bound by the Mississippi
River expanded across the North American continent, and on to
overseas territories. A nation divided by the issue of slavery and
tested by the trauma of civil war became a world power whose
global influence was first felt in World War I.
89
Henry Clay of Kentucky,
although never president,
was one of the most
influential American
politicians of the first half
of the 19th century. Clay
became indispensable for
his role in preserving the
Union with the Missouri
Compromise of 1820 and
the Compromise of 1850.
Both pieces of legislation
resolved, for a time,
disputes over slavery in
the territories.
The great champions of

women’s rights in the 19th
century: Elizabeth Cady
Stanton (seated) and Susan
B. Anthony. Stanton helped
organize the first women’s
rights convention in 1848
in Seneca Falls, New York.
In later years, she joined
Anthony in founding the
National Woman Suffrage
Association. “I forged the
thunderbolts,” Stanton said
of their partnership, “and she
fired them.”
90
William Lloyd Garrison, whose
passionate denunciations of slavery
and eloquent defense of the rights
of enslaved African Americans
appeared in his weekly paper, the
Liberator, from its first issue in 1831 to
1865, when the last issue appeared at
the close of the Civil War.
Frederick Douglass, the nation’s leading

African-American abolitionist of the
19th century, escaped from slavery in Harriet Tubman, a former slave who rescued
1838. His speech about his sufferings hundreds from slavery through the Underground
as a slave at the Massachusetts Anti- Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a vast
Slavery Society’s annual convention network of people who helped fugitive slaves
in Nantucket launched his career as escape to the North and to Canada in the first
an outspoken lecturer, writer, and half of the 19th century.
publisher on the abolition of slavery
and racial equality.
91
Confederate dead along a stone wall during the Chancellorsville campaign, May 1863.
Victorious at Chancellorsville, Southern forces advanced north into Pennsylvania, but
were defeated at the three-day battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the Civil War
and the largest battle ever fought in North America. More Americans died in the Civil
War (1861-65) than in any other conflict in U.S. history.
93
Encampment of Union troops from New York in Alexandria, Virginia,
just across the Potomac River from the capital of Washington.
94
Union General Ulysses S. Grant, who led Union
forces to victory in the Civil War and became
the 18th president of the United States. Despite
heavy losses in several battles against his
opponent, General Lee (below), Grant refused
to retreat, leading President Lincoln to say to
critics calling for his removal, “I can’t spare this
general. He fights.”
Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Military

historians to this day study his tactics
and Grant’s in battles such as Vicksburg,
Chancellorsville, and the Wilderness.
95
Engraving of the first African-American members elected to the U.S. Congress during
the Reconstruction Era, following the Civil War. Seated at left is H.R. Revels, senator
from Mississippi. The others were members of the House of Representatives, from
the states of Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Although practically
unknown during her
lifetime, Emily Dickinson
(1830-1886) is now seen as
one of the most brilliant
and original poets America
has ever produced.
96
Andrew Carnegie, business tycoon and philanthropist. Born in Scotland of a poor
family, Carnegie immigrated to the United States and made his fortune by building
the country’s largest iron and steel manufacturing corporation. Believing that the
wealthy had an obligation to give back to society, he endowed public libraries across
the United States.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens

(1835-1910), better known by
his pen name of Mark Twain,
is perhaps the most widely
read and enjoyed American
writer and humorist. In his
Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn and other works, Twain
developed a style based on
vigorous, realistic, colloquial
American speech.
97
Sitting Bull, Sioux chief who led the last great battle
of the Plains Indians against the U.S. Army, when his
warriors defeated forces under the command of
General George Custer at the Battle of
Little Bighorn in 1876.
Custer’s army on the march prior to

Little Bighorn. The Plains Indians who
defeated his army were resisting white
intrusions into their sacred lands and
U.S. government attempts to force
them back onto South Dakota’s
Great Sioux Reservation.
98
99
Above, Oklahoma City in 1889, four weeks after the Oklahoma
Territory was opened up for settlement. Settlers staked their claim,
put up tents, and then swiftly began erecting board shacks and
houses — a pattern repeated throughout the West.
Left, a vessel at the Gatun locks of the Panama Canal. The United
States acquired the rights to build the canal in 1903 in a treaty with
Panama, which had just rebelled and broken away from Colombia.
Under the terms of the 1977 treaty, the canal reverted to
Panamanian control on December 31, 1999.
101
102
Left, opposite page, immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in New York
City, principal gateway to the United States in the late 19th and early
20th centuries. From 1890 to 1921, almost 19 million people entered
the United States as immigrants.
Below, children working at the Indiana Glass Works in 1908.

Enacting child labor laws was one of the principal goals of the
Progressive movement in this era.
103
Mulberry Street in New York City, also known as
“Little Italy,” in the early years of the 20th century.
Newly arrived immigrant families, largely from
Eastern and southern Europe in this period,
often settled in densely populated urban
enclaves. Typically, their children,
or grandchildren, would disperse,
moving to other cities or other
parts of the country.
104
105
Thomas Edison examines film used in the motion picture
projector that he invented with George Eastman. The most
celebrated of Edison’s hundreds of inventions was the
incandescent light bulb.
106
Orville Wright, who built and flew the first heavier-than-air airplane at
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903, with his brother Wilbur. Orville is
shown here at the controls of a later model plane in 1909.
Alexander Graham Bell makes the first telephone call from

New York City to Chicago in 1892. Bell, an immigrant from
Scotland who settled in Boston, invented the telephone 16 years
earlier, in 1876.
107
American infantry forces in 1918, firing a 37 mm. gun, advance against German
positions in World War I.
The “Big Four” at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, following the end of World War
I. They are, seated from left, Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando of Italy, Prime Minister
David Lloyd George of Great Britain, Premier Georges Clemenceau of France, and
President Woodrow Wilson of the United States. Despite strenuous efforts, Wilson
was unable to persuade the U.S. Senate to agree to American participation in the new
League of Nations established in the aftermath of the war.
108
For the educated and well-to-do, the 1920s was the era of the “Lost Generation,”
symbolized by writers like Ernest Hemingway, who left the United States for voluntary
exile in Paris. It was also the “flapper era” of frivolity and excess in which young people
could reject the constraints and traditions of their elders. Top, flappers posing for the
camera at a 1920s-era party. Above, Henry Ford and his son stand with one of his early
automobiles, and the 10-millionth Ford Model-T. The Model-T was the first car whose
price and availability made car ownership possible for large numbers of people.
109
110
5
CHAPTER
WESTWARD
EXPANSION
AND
REGIONAL
DIFFERENCES
Horse-drawn combine
harvesting wheat in the
Midwest, 19th century.
CHAPTER 5: WESTWARD EXPANSION AND REGIONAL DIFFERENCES
“Go West, young man,

and grow up with
the country.”
Newspaper editor Horace Greeley, 1851
BUILDING UNITY was as essential as political inde-
T pendence. To foster self-sufficiency,

he War of 1812 was, in a sense, congressional leaders Henry Clay of
a second war of independence that Kentucky and John C. Calhoun of
confirmed once and for all the South Carolina urged a policy of pro-
American break with England. With tectionism — imposition of restric-
its conclusion, many of the serious tions on imported goods to foster the
difficulties that the young republic development of American industry.
had faced since the Revolution dis- The time was propitious for rais-
appeared. National union under ing the customs tariff. The shepherds
the Constitution brought a balance of Vermont and Ohio wanted pro-
between liberty and order. With a tection against an influx of English
low national debt and a continent wool. In Kentucky, a new industry
awaiting exploration, the prospect of weaving local hemp into cotton
of peace, prosperity, and social prog- bagging was threatened by the Scot-
ress opened before the nation. tish bagging industry. Pittsburgh,
Commerce cemented national Pennsylvania, already a flourishing
unity. The privations of war con- center of iron smelting, was eager to
vinced many of the importance of challenge British and Swedish iron
protecting the manufacturers of suppliers. The tariff enacted in 1816
America until they could stand alone imposed duties high enough to give
against foreign competition. Eco- manufacturers real protection.
nomic independence, many argued, In addition, Westerners advocat-
112
ed a national system of roads and Maryland (1819), he boldly upheld

canals to link them with Eastern cit- the Hamiltonian theory that the
ies and ports, and to open frontier Constitution by implication gives
lands for settlement. However, they the government powers beyond
were unsuccessful in pressing their those expressly stated.
demands for a federal role in inter-
nal improvement because of oppo- EXTENSION OF SLAVERY
S
sition from New England and the
South. Roads and canals remained lavery, which up to now had re-
the province of the states until the ceived little public attention, began
passage of the Federal Aid Road Act to assume much greater importance
of 1916. as a national issue. In the early years
The position of the federal gov- of the republic, when the Northern
ernment at this time was greatly states were providing for immedi-
strengthened by several Supreme ate or gradual emancipation of the
Court decisions. A committed Fed- slaves, many leaders had supposed
eralist, John Marshall of Virginia be- that slavery would die out. In 1786
came chief justice in 1801 and held George Washington wrote that he
office until his death in 1835. The devoutly wished some plan might
court — weak before his adminis- be adopted “by which slavery may
tration — was transformed into a be abolished by slow, sure, and im-
powerful tribunal, occupying a po- perceptible degrees.” Virginians Jef-
sition co-equal to the Congress and ferson, Madison, and Monroe and
the president. In a succession of his- other leading Southern statesmen
toric decisions, Marshall established made similar statements.
the power of the Supreme Court and The Northwest Ordinance of 1787
strengthened the national govern- had banned slavery in the Northwest
ment. Territory. As late as 1808, when the
Marshall was the first in a long international slave trade was abol-
line of Supreme Court justices whose ished, there were many Southern-
decisions have molded the meaning ers who thought that slavery would
and application of the Constitu- soon end. The expectation proved
tion. When he finished his long ser- false, for during the next generation,
vice, the court had decided nearly the South became solidly united
50 cases clearly involving constitu- behind the institution of slavery as
tional issues. In one of Marshall’s new economic factors made slavery
most famous opinions — Marbury far more profitable than it had been
v. Madison (1803) — he decisively before 1790.
established the right of the Supreme Chief among these was the rise of
Court to review the constitution- a great cotton-growing industry in
ality of any law of Congress or of the South, stimulated by the intro-
a state legislature. In McCulloch v. duction of new types of cotton and
113
by Eli Whitney’s invention in 1793 of In 1819 Missouri, which had

the cotton gin, which separated the 10,000 slaves, applied to enter the
seeds from cotton. At the same time, Union. Northerners rallied to op-
the Industrial Revolution, which pose Missouri’s entry except as a free
made textile manufacturing a large- state, and a storm of protest swept
scale operation, vastly increased the the country. For a time Congress
demand for raw cotton. And the was deadlocked, but Henry Clay ar-
opening of new lands in the West ranged the so-called Missouri Com-
after 1812 greatly extended the area promise: Missouri was admitted as
available for cotton cultivation. Cot- a slave state at the same time Maine
ton culture moved rapidly from the came in as a free state. In addition,
Tidewater states on the East Coast Congress banned slavery from the
through much of the lower South to territory acquired by the Louisiana
the delta region of the Mississippi Purchase north of Missouri’s south-
and eventually to Texas. ern boundary. At the time, this pro-
Sugar cane, another labor-inten- vision appeared to be a victory for
sive crop, also contributed to slav- the Southern states because it was
ery’s extension in the South. The thought unlikely that this “Great
rich, hot lands of southeastern Loui- American Desert” would ever be
siana proved ideal for growing sug- settled. The controversy was tempo-
ar cane profitably. By 1830 the state rarily resolved, but Thomas Jefferson
was supplying the nation with about wrote to a friend that “this momen-
half its sugar supply. Finally, tobac- tous question, like a fire bell in the
co growers moved westward, taking night, awakened and filled me with
slavery with them. terror. I considered it at once as the
As the free society of the North knell of the Union.”
and the slave society of the South
spread westward, it seemed politi- LATIN AMERICA AND THE
cally expedient to maintain a rough MONROE DOCTRINE
D
equality among the new states
carved out of western territories. In uring the opening decades of
1818, when Illinois was admitted to the 19th century, Central and South
the Union, 10 states permitted slav- America turned to revolution. The
ery and 11 states prohibited it; but idea of liberty had stirred the people
balance was restored after Alabama of Latin America from the time the
was admitted as a slave state. Popula- English colonies gained their free-
tion was growing faster in the North, dom. Napoleon’s conquest of Spain
which permitted Northern states to and Portugal in 1808 provided the
have a clear majority in the House signal for Latin Americans to rise in
of Representatives. However, equal- revolt. By 1822, ably led by Simón
ity between the North and the South Bolívar, Francisco Miranda, José de
was maintained in the Senate. San Martín and Miguel de Hidalgo,
114
most of Hispanic America — from to Latin America, but Secretary of

Argentina and Chile in the south to State John Quincy Adams convinced
Mexico in the north — had won in- Monroe to act unilaterally: “It would
dependence. be more candid, as well as more dig-
The people of the United States nified, to avow our principles explic-
took a deep interest in what seemed a itly to Russia and France, than to
repetition of their own experience in come in as a cock-boat in the wake
breaking away from European rule. of the British man-of-war.”
The Latin American independence In December 1823, with the
movements confirmed their own be- knowledge that the British navy
lief in self-government. In 1822 Pres- would defend Latin America from
ident James Monroe, under powerful the Holy Alliance and France, Presi-
public pressure, received authority dent Monroe took the occasion of
to recognize the new countries of his annual message to Congress
Latin America and soon exchanged to pronounce what would become
ministers with them. He thereby known as the Monroe Doctrine —
confirmed their status as genuinely the refusal to tolerate any further
independent countries, entirely sep- extension of European domination
arated from their former European in the Americas:
connections. The American continents ... are
At just this point, Russia, Prussia, henceforth not to be considered as
and Austria formed an association, subjects for future colonization by
the Holy Alliance, to protect them- any European powers.
selves against revolution. By inter- We should consider any attempt
vening in countries where popular on their part to extend their
movements threatened monarchies, [political] system to any portion
the alliance — joined by post-Napo- of this hemisphere, as dangerous
leonic France — hoped to prevent to our peace and safety.
the spread of revolution. This policy With the existing colonies or
was the antithesis of the American dependencies of any European
principle of self-determination. power we have not interfered,
As long as the Holy Alliance con- and shall not interfere. But
fined its activities to the Old World, with the governments who have
it aroused no anxiety in the United declared their independence,
States. But when the alliance an- and maintained it, and whose
nounced its intention of restoring to independence we have ...
Spain its former colonies, Americans acknowledged, we could not view
became very concerned. Britain, to any interposition for the purpose of
which Latin American trade had be- oppressing them, or controlling, in
come of great importance, resolved to any other manner, their destiny, by
block any such action. London urged any European power in any other
joint Anglo-American guarantees light than as the manifestation of
115
an unfriendly disposition towards Personality and sectional al-

the United States. legiance played important roles in
The Monroe Doctrine expressed determining the outcome of the
a spirit of solidarity with the new- election. Adams won the electoral
ly independent republics of Latin votes from New England and most
America. These nations in turn rec- of New York; Clay won Kentucky,
ognized their political affinity with Ohio, and Missouri; Jackson won
the United States by basing their new the Southeast, Illinois, Indiana, the
constitutions, in many instances, on Carolinas, Pennsylvania, Maryland,
the North American model. and New Jersey; and Crawford won
Virginia, Georgia, and Delaware.
FACTIONALISM AND No candidate gained a majority in
POLITICAL PARTIES the Electoral College, so, accord-
D ing to the provisions of the Con-

omestically, the presidency of stitution, the election was thrown
Monroe (1817-1825) was termed the into the House of Representatives,
“era of good feelings.” The phrase ac- where Clay was the most influential
knowledged the political triumph of figure. He supported Adams, who
the Republican Party over the Feder- gained the presidency.
alist Party, which had collapsed as a During Adams’s administration,
national force. All the same, this was new party alignments appeared.
a period of vigorous factional and re- Adams’s followers, some of whom
gional conflict. were former Federalists, took the
The end of the Federalists led to a name of “National Republicans”
brief period of factional politics and as emblematic of their support of
brought disarray to the practice of a federal government that would
choosing presidential nominees by take a strong role in developing
congressional party caucuses. For an expanding nation. Though he
a time, state legislatures nominated governed honestly and efficiently,
candidates. In 1824 Tennessee and Adams was not a popular president.
Pennsylvania chose Andrew Jack- He failed in his effort to institute a
son, with South Carolina Senator national system of roads and canals.
John C. Calhoun as his running His coldly intellectual temperament
mate. Kentucky selected Speaker of did not win friends. Jackson, by con-
the House Henry Clay; Massachu- trast, had enormous popular appeal
setts, Secretary of State John Quincy and a strong political organization.
Adams, son of the second president, His followers coalesced to establish
John Adams. A congressional cau- the Democratic Party, claimed di-
cus, widely derided as undemocrat- rect lineage from the Democratic-
ic, picked Secretary of the Treasury Republican Party of Jefferson, and
William Crawford. in general advocated the principles
of small, decentralized government.
116
Mounting a strong anti-Adams cam- would use his power to modify the
paign, they accused the president of 1828 act that they called the Tar-
a “corrupt bargain” for naming Clay iff of Abominations. In their view,
secretary of state. In the election of all its benefits of protection went to
1828, Jackson defeated Adams by an Northern manufacturers, leaving
overwhelming electoral majority. agricultural South Carolina poorer.
Jackson — Tennessee politi- In 1828, the state’s leading politician
cian, fighter in wars against Native — and Jackson’s vice president until
Americans on the Southern fron- his resignation in 1832 — John C.
tier, and hero of the Battle of New Calhoun had declared in his South
Orleans during the War of 1812 — Carolina Exposition and Protest that
drew his support from the “common states had the right to nullify op-
people.” He came to the presidency pressive national legislation.
on a rising tide of enthusiasm for In 1832, Congress passed and
popular democracy. The election of Jackson signed a bill that revised
1828 was a significant benchmark the 1828 tariff downward, but it was
in the trend toward broader voter not enough to satisfy most South
participation. By then most states Carolinians. The state adopted an
had either enacted universal white Ordinance of Nullification, which
male suffrage or minimized prop- declared both the tariffs of 1828 and
erty requirements. In 1824 members 1832 null and void within state bor-
of the Electoral College in six states ders. Its legislature also passed laws
were still selected by the state leg- to enforce the ordinance, including
islatures. By 1828 presidential elec- authorization for raising a military
tors were chosen by popular vote in force and appropriations for arms.
every state but Delaware and South Nullification was a long-established
Carolina. These developments were theme of protest against perceived
the products of a widespread sense excesses by the federal government.
that the people should rule and that Jefferson and Madison had proposed
government by traditional elites had it in the Kentucky and Virginia Res-
come to an end. olutions of 1798, to protest the Alien
and Sedition Acts. The Hartford
NULLIFICATION CRISIS Convention of 1814 had invoked it
T to protest the War of 1812. Never

oward the end of his first term before, however, had a state actually
in office, Jackson was forced to con- attempted nullification. The young
front the state of South Carolina, nation faced its most dangerous
the most important of the emerg- crisis yet.
ing Deep South cotton states, on the In response to South Carolina’s
issue of the protective tariff. Busi- threat, Jackson sent seven small
ness and farming interests in the naval vessels and a man-of-war to
state had hoped that the president Charleston in November 1832. On
117
December 10, he issued a resound- THE BANK FIGHT
A
ing proclamation against the nulli-
fiers. South Carolina, the president lthough the nullification crisis
declared, stood on “the brink of possessed the seeds of civil war, it
insurrection and treason,” and he was not as critical a political issue
appealed to the people of the state as a bitter struggle over the contin-
to reassert their allegiance to the ued existence of the nation’s central
Union. He also let it be known that, bank, the second Bank of the United
if necessary, he personally would lead States. The first bank, established in
the U.S. Army to enforce the law. 1791 under Alexander Hamilton’s
When the question of tariff duties guidance, had been chartered for
again came before Congress, Jack- a 20-year period. Though the gov-
son’s political rival, Senator Henry ernment held some of its stock, the
Clay, a great advocate of protection bank, like the Bank of England and
but also a devoted Unionist, spon- other central banks of the time, was
sored a compromise measure. Clay’s a private corporation with profits
tariff bill, quickly passed in 1833, passing to its stockholders. Its public
specified that all duties in excess of functions were to act as a deposito-
20 percent of the value of the goods ry for government receipts, to make
imported were to be reduced year by short-term loans to the government,
year, so that by 1842 the duties on and above all to establish a sound
all articles would reach the level of currency by refusing to accept at face
the moderate tariff of 1816. At the value notes (paper money) issued by
same time, Congress passed a Force state-chartered banks in excess of
Act, authorizing the president to use their ability to redeem.
military power to enforce the laws. To the Northeastern financial
South Carolina had expected the and commercial establishment, the
support of other Southern states, central bank was a needed enforc-
but instead found itself isolated. (Its er of prudent monetary policy, but
most likely ally, the state govern- from the beginning it was resent-
ment of Georgia, wanted, and got, ed by Southerners and Westerners
U.S. military force to remove Native who believed their prosperity and
American tribes from the state.) regional development depended
Eventually, South Carolina rescind- upon ample money and credit. The
ed its action. Both sides, neverthe- Republican Party of Jefferson and
less, claimed victory. Jackson had Madison doubted its constitutional-
strongly defended the Union. But ity. When its charter expired in 1811,
South Carolina, by its show of re- it was not renewed.
sistance, had obtained many of its For the next few years, the bank-
demands and had demonstrated ing business was in the hands of
that a single state could force its will state-chartered banks, which issued
on Congress. currency in excessive amounts, cre-
118
ating great confusion and fueling in- called the central bank a “monster”
flation. It became increasingly clear and coasted to an easy election vic-
that state banks could not provide tory over Henry Clay.
the country with a reliable currency. The president interpreted his tri-
In 1816 a second Bank of the United umph as a popular mandate to crush
States, similar to the first, was again the central bank irrevocably. In Sep-
chartered for 20 years. From its tember 1833 he ordered an end to
inception, the second bank was deposits of government money in
unpopular in the newer states and the bank, and gradual withdrawals
territories, especially with state and of the money already in its custody.
local bankers who resented its vir- The government deposited its funds
tual monopoly over the country’s in selected state banks, characterized
credit and currency, but also with as “pet banks” by the opposition.
less prosperous people everywhere, For the next generation the Unit-
who believed that it represented the ed States would get by on a relatively
interests of the wealthy few. unregulated state banking system,
On the whole, the bank was which helped fuel westward expan-
well managed and rendered a valu- sion through cheap credit but kept
able service; but Jackson had long the nation vulnerable to periodic
shared the Republican distrust of panics. During the Civil War, the
the financial establishment. Elected United States initiated a system of
as a tribune of the people, he sensed national charters for local and re-
that the bank’s aristocratic man- gional banks, but the nation re-
ager, Nicholas Biddle, was an easy turned to a central bank only with
target. When the bank’s support- the establishment of the Federal Re-
ers in Congress pushed through an serve system in 1913.
early renewal of its charter, Jackson
responded with a stinging veto that WHIGS, DEMOCRATS, AND
denounced monopoly and special KNOW-NOTHINGS
Jedackson’s
privilege. The effort to override the
veto failed. political opponents, unit-
In the presidential campaign by little more than a common
that followed, the bank question re- opposition to him, eventually co-
vealed a fundamental division. Es- alesced into a common party called
tablished merchant, manufacturing, the Whigs, a British term signify-
and financial interests favored sound ing opposition to Jackson’s “monar-
money. Regional bankers and entre- chial rule.” Although they organized
preneurs on the make wanted an soon after the election campaign of
increased money supply and lower 1832, it was more than a decade be-
interest rates. Other debtor classes, fore they reconciled their differences
especially farmers, shared those sen- and were able to draw up a platform.
timents. Jackson and his supporters Largely through the magnetism of
119
Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, the tively that, if a president died, the
Whigs’ most brilliant statesmen, the vice president would assume the of-
party solidified its membership. But fice with full powers for the balance
in the 1836 election, the Whigs were of his term.
still too divided to unite behind a Americans found themselves di-
single man. New York’s Martin Van vided in other, more complex ways.
Buren, Jackson’s vice president, won The large number of Catholic im-
the contest. migrants in the first half of the 19th
An economic depression and the century, primarily Irish and Ger-
larger-than-life personality of his man, triggered a backlash among
predecessor obscured Van Buren’s native-born Protestant Americans.
merits. His public acts aroused no Immigrants brought strange new
enthusiasm, for he lacked the com- customs and religious practices to
pelling qualities of leadership and American shores. They competed
the dramatic flair that had attended with the native-born for jobs in cit-
Jackson’s every move. The election ies along the Eastern seaboard. The
of 1840 found the country afflicted coming of universal white male
with hard times and low wages — suffrage in the 1820s and 1830s in-
and the Democrats on the defensive. creased their political clout. Dis-
The Whig candidate for presi- placed patrician politicians blamed
dent was William Henry Harrison the immigrants for their fall from
of Ohio, vastly popular as a hero of power. The Catholic Church’s failure
conflicts with Native Americans and to support the temperance move-
the War of 1812. He was promoted, ment gave rise to charges that Rome
like Jackson, as a representative of was trying to subvert the United
the democratic West. His vice presi- States through alcohol.
dential candidate was John Tyler — The most important of the nativ-
a Virginian whose views on states’ ist organizations that sprang up in
rights and a low tariff were popular this period was a secret society, the
in the South. Harrison won a sweep- Order of the Star-Spangled Banner,
ing victory. founded in 1849. When its mem-
Within a month of his inaugu- bers refused to identify themselves,
ration, however, the 68-year-old they were swiftly labeled the “Know-
Harrison died, and Tyler became Nothings.” In a few years, they be-
president. Tyler’s beliefs differed came a national organization with
sharply from those of Clay and Web- considerable political power.
ster, still the most influential men The Know-Nothings advocated
in Congress. The result was an open an extension in the period required
break between the new president and for naturalized citizenship from five
the party that had elected him. The to 21 years. They sought to exclude
Tyler presidency would accomplish the foreign-born and Catholics from
little other than to establish defini- public office. In 1855 they won con-
120
trol of legislatures in New York and Massachusetts was especially ef-

Massachusetts; by then, about 90 fective. The public school system
U.S. congressmen were linked to the became common throughout the
party. That was its high point. Soon North. In other parts of the coun-
after, the gathering crisis between try, however, the battle for public
North and South over the extension education continued for years.
of slavery fatally divided the party, Another influential social move-
consuming it along with the old de- ment that emerged during this
bates between Whigs and Demo- period was the opposition to the sale
crats that had dominated American and use of alcohol, or the temper-
politics in the second quarter of the ance movement. It stemmed from
19th century. a variety of concerns and motives:
religious beliefs, the effect of alco-
STIRRINGS OF REFORM hol on the work force, the violence
T and suffering women and children

he democratic upheaval in poli- experienced at the hands of heavy
tics exemplified by Jackson’s election drinkers. In 1826 Boston ministers
was merely one phase of the long organized the Society for the Pro-
American quest for greater rights motion of Temperance. Seven years
and opportunities for all citizens. later, in Philadelphia, the society
Another was the beginning of la- convened a national convention,
bor organization, primarily among which formed the American Tem-
skilled and semiskilled workers. In perance Union. The union called for
1835 labor forces in Philadelphia, the prohibition of all alcoholic bev-
Pennsylvania, succeeded in reducing erages, and pressed state legislatures
the old “dark-to-dark” workday to to ban their production and sale.
a 10-hour day. By 1860, the new Thirteen states had done so by 1855,
work day had become law in sever- although the laws were subsequently
al of the states and was a generally challenged in court. They survived
accepted standard. only in northern New England, but
The spread of suffrage had al- between 1830 and 1860 the temper-
ready led to a new concept of ance movement reduced Americans’
education. Clear-sighted statesmen per capita consumption of alcohol.
everywhere understood that uni- Other reformers addressed the
versal suffrage required a tutored, problems of prisons and care for the
literate electorate. Workingmen’s insane. Efforts were made to turn
organizations demanded free, tax- prisons, which stressed punishment,
supported schools open to all chil- into penitentiaries where the guilty
dren. Gradually, in one state after would undergo rehabilitation. In
another, legislation was enacted to Massachusetts, Dorothea Dix led a
provide for such free instruction. struggle to improve conditions for
The leadership of Horace Mann in insane persons, who were kept con-
121
fined in wretched almshouses and at Seneca Falls, New York. Delegates

prisons. After winning improve- drew up a “Declaration of Senti-
ments in Massachusetts, she took ments,” demanding equality with
her campaign to the South, where men before the law, the right to vote,
nine states established hospitals for and equal opportunities in educa-
the insane between 1845 and 1852. tion and employment. The resolu-
tions passed unanimously with the
WOMEN’S RIGHTS exception of the one for women’s
S suffrage, which won a majority only

uch social reforms brought many after an impassioned speech in fa-
women to a realization of their own vor by Frederick Douglass, the black
unequal position in society. From abolitionist.
colonial times, unmarried women At Seneca Falls, Cady Stan-
had enjoyed many of the same legal ton gained national prominence as
rights as men, although custom re- an eloquent writer and speaker for
quired that they marry early. With women’s rights. She had realized ear-
matrimony, women virtually lost ly on that without the right to vote,
their separate identities in the eyes women would never be equal with
of the law. Women were not permit- men. Taking the abolitionist Wil-
ted to vote. Their education in the liam Lloyd Garrison as her model,
17th and 18th centuries was limited she saw that the key to success lay
largely to reading, writing, music, in changing public opinion, and not
dancing, and needlework. in party action. Seneca Falls became
The awakening of women began the catalyst for future change. Soon
with the visit to America of Fran- other women’s rights conventions
ces Wright, a Scottish lecturer and were held, and other women would
journalist, who publicly promoted come to the forefront of the move-
women’s rights throughout the Unit- ment for their political and social
ed States during the 1820s. At a time equality.
when women were often forbidden In 1848 also, Ernestine Rose, a
to speak in public places, Wright not Polish immigrant, was instrumental
only spoke out, but shocked audi- in getting a law passed in the state
ences by her views advocating the of New York that allowed married
rights of women to seek information women to keep their property in
on birth control and divorce. By the their own name. Among the first
1840s an American women’s rights laws in the nation of this kind, the
movement emerged. Its foremost Married Women’s Property Act en-
leader was Elizabeth Cady Stanton. couraged other state legislatures to
In 1848 Cady Stanton and her enact similar laws.
colleague Lucretia Mott organized In 1869 Elizabeth Cady Stanton
a women’s rights convention — the and another leading women’s rights
first in the history of the world — activist, Susan B. Anthony, founded
122
the National Woman Suffrage Asso- were created — Indiana, Illinois, and
ciation (NWSA) to promote a con- Maine (which were free states), and
stitutional amendment for women’s Mississippi, Alabama, and Missouri
right to the vote. These two would (slave states). The first frontier had
become the women’s movement’s been tied closely to Europe, the sec-
most outspoken advocates. Describ- ond to the coastal settlements, but
ing their partnership, Cady Stanton the Mississippi Valley was indepen-
would say, “I forged the thunderbolts dent and its people looked west rath-
and she fired them.” er than east.
Frontier settlers were a varied
WESTWARD group. One English traveler de-
T scribed them as “a daring, hardy

he frontier did much to shape race of men, who live in miserable
American life. Conditions along the cabins. ... They are unpolished but
entire Atlantic seaboard stimulat- hospitable, kind to strangers, hon-
ed migration to the newer regions. est, and trustworthy. They raise a
From New England, where the soil little Indian corn, pumpkins, hogs,
was incapable of producing high and sometimes have a cow or two.
yields of grain, came a steady stream ... But the rifle is their principal
of men and women who left their means of support.” Dexterous with
coastal farms and villages to take the ax, snare, and fishing line, these
advantage of the rich interior land men blazed the trails, built the first
of the continent. In the backcoun- log cabins, and confronted Native
try settlements of the Carolinas and American tribes, whose land they
Virginia, people handicapped by the occupied.
lack of roads and canals giving ac- As more and more settlers pene-
cess to coastal markets and resent- trated the wilderness, many became
ful of the political dominance of the farmers as well as hunters. A com-
Tidewater planters also moved west- fortable log house with glass win-
ward. By 1800 the Mississippi and dows, a chimney, and partitioned
Ohio River valleys were becoming a rooms replaced the cabin; the well
great frontier region. “Hi-o, away we replaced the spring. Industrious set-
go, floating down the river on the O- tlers would rapidly clear their land
hi-o,” became the song of thousands of timber, burning the wood for
of migrants. potash and letting the stumps de-
The westward flow of population cay. They grew their own grain, veg-
in the early 19th century led to the etables, and fruit; ranged the woods
division of old territories and the for deer, wild turkeys, and honey;
drawing of new boundaries. As new fished the nearby streams; looked
states were admitted, the political after cattle and hogs. Land specu-
map stabilized east of the Mississippi lators bought large tracts of the
River. From 1816 to 1821, six states cheap land and, if land values rose,
123
sold their holdings and moved still did not pass Missouri into the vast
farther west, making way for others. Western territory acquired in the
Doctors, lawyers, storekeepers, Louisiana Purchase until after 1840.
editors, preachers, mechanics, and In 1819, in return for assuming the
politicians soon followed the farm- claims of American citizens to the
ers. The farmers were the sturdy amount of $5 million, the United
base, however. Where they settled, States obtained from Spain both
they intended to stay and hoped Florida and Spain’s rights to the
their children would remain after Oregon country in the Far West.
them. They built large barns and In the meantime, the Far West had
brick or frame houses. They brought become a field of great activity in
improved livestock, plowed the land the fur trade, which was to have
skillfully, and sowed productive significance far beyond the value
seed. Some erected flour mills, saw- of the skins. As in the first days of
mills, and distilleries. They laid out French exploration in the Mississippi
good highways, and built churches Valley, the trader was a pathfinder
and schools. Incredible transforma- for the settlers beyond the Missis-
tions were accomplished in a few sippi. The French and Scots-Irish
years. In 1830, for example, Chicago, trappers, exploring the great rivers
Illinois, was merely an unpromis- and their tributaries and discover-
ing trading village with a fort; but ing the passes through the Rocky
long before some of its original set- and Sierra Mountains, made pos-
tlers had died, it had become one sible the overland migration of the
of the largest and richest cities in 1840s and the later occupation of
the nation. the interior of the nation.
Farms were easy to acquire. Gov- Overall, the growth of the na-
ernment land after 1820 could be tion was enormous: Population grew
bought for $1.25 for about half a from 7.25 million to more than 23
hectare, and after the 1862 Home- million from 1812 to 1852, and the
stead Act, could be claimed by land available for settlement in-
merely occupying and improving it. creased by almost the size of West-
In addition, tools for working the ern Europe — from 4.4 million to
land were easily available. It was a 7.8 million square kilometers. Still
time when, in a phrase coined by unresolved, however, were the ba-
Indiana newspaperman John Soule sic conflicts rooted in sectional dif-
and popularized by New York Tri- ferences that, by the decade of the
bune editor Horace Greeley, young 1860s, would explode into civil war.
men could “go west and grow with Inevitably, too, this westward expan-
the country.” sion brought settlers into conflict
Except for a migration into Mex- with the original inhabitants of the
ican-owned Texas, the westward land: the Native Americans.
march of the agricultural frontier In the first part of the 19th centu-
124
ry, the most prominent figure asso- In 1834 a special Native American
ciated with these conflicts was An- territory was set up in what is now
drew Jackson, the first “Westerner” Oklahoma. In all, the tribes signed
to occupy the White House. In the 94 treaties during Jackson’s two
midst of the War of 1812, Jackson, terms, ceding millions of hectares to
then in charge of the Tennessee mili- the federal government and remov-
tia, was sent into southern Alabama, ing dozens of tribes from their an-
where he ruthlessly put down an up- cestral homelands.
rising of Creek Indians. The Creeks The most terrible chapter in this
soon ceded two-thirds of their land unhappy history concerned the
to the United States. Jackson later Cherokees, whose lands in western
routed bands of Seminoles from North Carolina and Georgia had
their sanctuaries in Spanish-owned been guaranteed by treaty since
Florida. 1791. Among the most progressive
In the 1820s, President Monroe’s of the eastern tribes, the Cherokees
secretary of war, John C. Calhoun, nevertheless were sure to be dis-
pursued a policy of removing the replaced when gold was discovered on
maining tribes from the old South- their land in 1829. Forced to make
west and resettling them beyond the a long and cruel trek to Oklahoma
Mississippi. Jackson continued this in 1838, the tribe lost many of its
policy as president. In 1830 Congress numbers from disease and priva-
passed the Indian Removal Act, pro- tion on what became known as the
viding funds to transport the east- “Trail of Tears.” 9
ern tribes beyond the Mississippi.
125
THE FRONTIER, “THE WEST,” AND

THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
The frontier — the point at which settled territory met unoccupied land —
began at Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. It moved in a westward direction for
nearly 300 years through densely forested wilderness and barren plains until
the decennial census of 1890 revealed that at last the United States no longer
possessed a discernible line of settlement.
At the time it seemed to many that a long period had come to an end —
one in which the country had grown from a few struggling outposts of
English civilization to a huge independent nation with an identity of its own.
It was easy to believe that the experience of settlement and post-settlement
development, constantly repeated as a people conquered a continent, had been
the defining factor in the nation’s development.
In 1893, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner, expressing a widely held
sentiment, declared that the frontier had made the United States more than an
extension of Europe. It had created a nation with a culture that was perhaps
coarser than Europe’s, but also more pragmatic, energetic, individualistic, and
democratic. The existence of large areas of “free land” had created a nation of
property holders and had provided a “safety valve” for discontent in cities and
more settled areas. His analysis implied that an America without a frontier
would trend ominously toward what were seen as the European ills of strati-
fied social systems, class conflict, and diminished opportunity.
After more than a hundred years scholars still debate the significance of
the frontier in American history. Few believe it was quite as all-important as
Turner suggested; its absence does not appear to have led to dire consequenc-
es. Some have gone farther, rejecting the Turner argument as a romantic glo-
rification of a bloody, brutal process — marked by a war of conquest against
Mexico, near-genocidal treatment of Native American tribes, and environmen-
tal despoliation. The common experience of the frontier, they argue, was one
of hardship and failure.
Yet it remains hard to believe that three centuries of westward movement
had no impact on the national character and suggestive that intelligent foreign
observers, such as the French intellectual Alexis de Tocqueville, were fasci-
nated by the American West. Indeed, the last area of frontier settlement, the
vast area stretching north from Texas to the Canadian border, which Ameri-
cans today commonly call “the West,” still seems characterized by ideals of
individualism, democracy, and opportunity that are more palpable than in the
rest of the nation. It is perhaps also revealing that many people in other lands,
when hearing the word “American,” so often identify it with a symbol of that
final frontier — the “cowboy.” 
126
Major Acquisitions of Territory by the United States and Dates of Admission of States
United States of America, showing territorial expansion from 1803 to 1898.
U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Census

1–6 UNITED STATES SUMMARY NUMBER OF INHABITANTS
127
128
6
CHAPTER
SECTIONAL
CONFLICT
Slave family picking cotton

near Savannah, Georgia,
in the early 1860s.
CHAPTER 6: SECTIONAL CONFLICT
“A house divided against

itself cannot stand. I believe
this government cannot
endure permanently
half-slave and half-free.”
Senatorial candidate Abraham Lincoln, 1858
TWO AMERICAS whether such rough equality could
N survive in the face of a growing fac-

o visitor to the United States left tory system that threatened to create
a more enduring record of his trav- divisions between industrial workers
els and observations than the French and a new business elite.
writer and political theorist Alexis Other travelers marveled at the
de Tocqueville, whose Democracy growth and vitality of the country,
in America, first published in 1835, where they could see “everywhere
remains one of the most trenchant the most unequivocal proofs of
and insightful analyses of Ameri- prosperity and rapid progress in ag-
can social and political practices. riculture, commerce, and great pub-
Tocqueville was far too shrewd an lic works.” But such optimistic views
observer to be uncritical about the of the American experiment were
United States, but his verdict was by no means universal. One skep-
fundamentally positive. “The gov- tic was the English novelist Charles
ernment of a democracy brings the Dickens, who first visited the United
notion of political rights to the level States in 1841-42. “This is not the
of the humblest citizens,” he wrote, Republic I came to see,” he wrote
“just as the dissemination of wealth in a letter. “This is not the Republic
brings the notion of property within of my imagination. ... The more I
the reach of all men.” Nonetheless, think of its youth and strength, the
Tocqueville was only one in the first poorer and more trifling in a thou-
of a long line of thinkers to worry sand respects, it appears in my eyes.
130
In everything of which it has made The South, from the Atlantic to

a boast — excepting its education of the Mississippi River and beyond,
the people, and its care for poor chil- featured an economy centered on
dren — it sinks immeasurably below agriculture. Tobacco was important
the level I had placed it upon.” in Virginia, Maryland, and North
Dickens was not alone. America Carolina. In South Carolina, rice
in the 19th century, as throughout its was an abundant crop. The climate
history, generated expectations and and soil of Louisiana encouraged
passions that often conflicted with the cultivation of sugar. But cotton
a reality at once more mundane and eventually became the dominant
more complex. The young nation’s commodity and the one with which
size and diversity defied easy gener- the South was identified. By 1850 the
alization and invited contradiction: American South grew more than 80
America was both a freedom-loving percent of the world’s cotton. Slaves
and slave-holding society, a nation cultivated all these crops.
of expansive and primitive frontiers, The Midwest, with its bound-
a society with cities built on growing less prairies and swiftly growing
commerce and industrialization. population, flourished. Europe and
the older settled parts of America
LANDS OF PROMISE demanded its wheat and meat
B products. The introduction of la-

y 1850 the national territory bor-saving implements — notably
stretched over forest, plain, and the McCormick reaper (a machine
mountain. Within its far-flung lim- to cut and harvest grain) — made
its dwelt 23 million people in a Union possible an unparalleled increase
comprising 31 states. In the East, in- in grain production. The nation’s
dustry boomed. In the Midwest and wheat crops swelled from some 35
the South, agriculture flourished. million hectoliters in 1850 to nearly
After 1849 the gold mines of Cali- 61 million in 1860, more than half
fornia poured their precious ore into grown in the Midwest.
the channels of trade. An important stimulus to the
New England and the Middle At- country’s prosperity was the great
lantic states were the main centers improvement in transportation fa-
of manufacturing, commerce, and cilities; from 1850 to 1857 the Ap-
finance. Principal products of these palachian Mountain barrier was
areas were textiles, lumber, cloth- pierced by five railway trunk lines
ing, machinery, leather, and wool- linking the Midwest and the North-
en goods. The maritime trade had east. These links established the
reached the height of its prosper- economic interests that would un-
ity; vessels flying the American flag dergird the political alliance of the
plied the oceans, distributing wares Union from 1861 to 1865. The South
of all nations. lagged behind. It was not until the
131
late 1850s that a continuous line ran 1.5 million white families. Fifty per-
through the mountains connecting cent of these slave owners owned no
the lower Mississippi River area with more than five slaves. Twelve percent
the southern Atlantic seaboard. owned 20 or more slaves, the num-
ber defined as turning a farmer into
SLAVERY AND SECTIONALISM a planter. Three-quarters of South-
O ern white families, including the

ne overriding issue exacerbat- “poor whites,” those on the lowest
ed the regional and economic dif- rung of Southern society, owned no
ferences between North and South: slaves.
slavery. Resenting the large profits It is easy to understand the in-
amassed by Northern businessmen terest of the planters in slave hold-
from marketing the cotton crop, ing. But the yeomen and poor whites
many Southerners attributed the supported the institution of slavery
backwardness of their own section as well. They feared that, if freed,
to Northern aggrandizement. Many blacks would compete with them
Northerners, on the other hand, de- economically and challenge their
clared that slavery — the “peculiar higher social status. Southern whites
institution” that the South regarded defended slavery not simply on the
as essential to its economy — was basis of economic necessity but out
largely responsible for the region’s of a visceral dedication to white
relative financial and industrial supremacy.
backwardness. As they fought the weight of
As far back as the Missouri Northern opinion, political lead-
Compromise in 1819, sectional lines ers of the South, the professional
had been steadily hardening on the classes, and most of the clergy now
slavery question. In the North, sen- no longer apologized for slavery but
timent for outright abolition grew championed it. Southern publicists
increasingly powerful. Southern- insisted, for example, that the rela-
ers in general felt little guilt about tionship between capital and labor
slavery and defended it vehemently. was more humane under the slavery
In some seaboard areas, slavery by system than under the wage system
1850 was well over 200 years old; of the North.
it was an integral part of the basic Before 1830 the old patriarchal
economy of the region. system of plantation government,
Although the 1860 census showed with its personal supervision of the
that there were nearly four million slaves by their owners or masters,
slaves out of a total population of was still characteristic. Gradually,
12.3 million in the 15 slave states, however, with the introduction of
only a minority of Southern whites large-scale cotton production in
owned slaves. There were some the lower South, the master gradu-
385,000 slave owners out of about ally ceased to exercise close personal
132
supervision over his slaves, and 1808 when Congress abolished the
employed professional overseers slave trade with Africa. Thereafter,
charged with exacting from slaves opposition came largely from the
a maximum amount of work. In Quakers, who kept up a mild but
such circumstances, slavery could ineffectual protest. Meanwhile, the
become a system of brutality and cotton gin and westward expansion
coercion in which beatings and the into the Mississippi delta region cre-
breakup of families through the sale ated an increasing demand for slaves.
of individuals were commonplace. The abolitionist movement that
In other settings, however, it could emerged in the early 1830s was
be much milder. combative, uncompromising, and
In the end, however, the most insistent upon an immediate end to
trenchant criticism of slavery was slavery. This approach found a leader
not the behavior of individual mas- in William Lloyd Garrison, a young
ters and overseers. Systematically man from Massachusetts, who com-
treating African-American laborers bined the heroism of a martyr with
as if they were domestic animals, the crusading zeal of a demagogue.
slavery, the abolitionists pointed out, On January 1, 1831, Garrison pro-
violated every human being’s induced the first issue of his newspa-
alienable right to be free. per, The Liberator, which bore the
announcement: “I shall strenuously
THE ABOLITIONISTS contend for the immediate enfran-
Ichiefly chisement of our slave population.

n national politics, Southerners ... On this subject, I do not wish to
sought protection and en- think, or speak, or write, with mod-
largement of the interests represent- eration. ... I am in earnest — I will
ed by the cotton/slavery system. They not equivocate — I will not excuse
sought territorial expansion because — I will not retreat a single inch —
the wastefulness of cultivating a sin- AND I WILL BE HEARD.”
gle crop, cotton, rapidly exhausted Garrison’s sensational methods
the soil, increasing the need for new awakened Northerners to the evil
fertile lands. Moreover, new territory in an institution many had long
would establish a basis for additional come to regard as unchangeable.
slave states to offset the admission of He sought to hold up to public gaze
new free states. Antislavery North- the most repulsive aspects of slav-
erners saw in the Southern view a ery and to castigate slave holders as
conspiracy for proslavery aggran- torturers and traffickers in human
dizement. In the 1830s their opposi- life. He recognized no rights of the
tion became fierce. masters, acknowledged no compro-
An earlier antislavery movement, mise, tolerated no delay. Other aboli-
an offshoot of the American Revo- tionists, unwilling to subscribe to his
lution, had won its last victory in law-defying tactics, held that reform
133
should be accomplished by legal and 1836 the House voted to table such
peaceful means. Garrison was joined petitions automatically, thus effec-
by another powerful voice, that of tively killing them. Former President
Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave John Quincy Adams, elected to the
who galvanized Northern audiences. House of Representatives in 1830,
Theodore Dwight Weld and many fought this so-called gag rule as a
other abolitionists crusaded against violation of the First Amendment,
slavery in the states of the old North- finally winning its repeal in 1844.
west Territory with evangelical zeal.
One activity of the movement in- TEXAS AND WAR WITH
volved helping slaves escape to safe MEXICO
T
refuges in the North or over the bor-
der into Canada. The “Underground hroughout the 1820s, Ameri-
Railroad,” an elaborate network of cans settled in the vast territory of
secret routes, was firmly established Texas, often with land grants from
in the 1830s in all parts of the North. the Mexican government. However,
In Ohio alone, from 1830 to 1860, as their numbers soon alarmed the au-
many as 40,000 fugitive slaves were thorities, who prohibited further im-
helped to freedom. The number of migration in 1830. In 1834 General
local antislavery societies increased Antonio López de Santa Anna estab-
at such a rate that by 1838 there were lished a dictatorship in Mexico, and
about 1,350 with a membership of the following year Texans revolted.
perhaps 250,000. Santa Anna defeated the American
Most Northerners nonetheless ei- rebels at the celebrated siege of the
ther held themselves aloof from the Alamo in early 1836, but Texans
abolitionist movement or actively under Sam Houston destroyed the
opposed it. In 1837, for example, Mexican Army and captured Santa
a mob attacked and killed the an- Anna a month later at the Battle of
tislavery editor Elijah P. Lovejoy in San Jacinto, ensuring Texan inde-
Alton, Illinois. Still, Southern re- pendence.
pression of free speech allowed the For almost a decade, Texas re-
abolitionists to link the slavery issue mained an independent republic,
with the cause of civil liberties for largely because its annexation as a
whites. In 1835 an angry mob de- huge new slave state would disrupt
stroyed abolitionist literature in the the increasingly precarious balance
Charleston, South Carolina, post of- of political power in the United
fice. When the postmaster-general States. In 1845, President James K.
stated he would not enforce delivery Polk, narrowly elected on a platform
of abolitionist material, bitter de- of westward expansion, brought the
bates ensued in Congress. Abolition- Republic of Texas into the Union.
ists flooded Congress with petitions Polk’s move was the first gambit in
calling for action against slavery. In a larger design. Texas claimed that
134
its border with Mexico was the Rio forces, mainly among the Whigs, at-
Grande; Mexico argued that the tacked Polk’s expansion as a proslav-
border stood far to the north along ery plot.
the Nueces River. Meanwhile, set- With the conclusion of the Mexi-
tlers were flooding into the territo- can War, the United States gained
ries of New Mexico and California. a vast new territory of 1.36 million
Many Americans claimed that the square kilometers encompassing the
United States had a “manifest des- present-day states of New Mexico,
tiny” to expand westward to the Pa- Nevada, California, Utah, most of
cific Ocean. Arizona, and portions of Colorado
U.S. attempts to purchase from and Wyoming. The nation also faced
Mexico the New Mexico and Cali- a revival of the most explosive ques-
fornia territories failed. In 1846, tion in American politics of the time:
after a clash of Mexican and U.S. Would the new territories be slave
troops along the Rio Grande, the or free?
United States declared war. Ameri-
can troops occupied the lightly THE COMPROMISE OF 1850
U
populated territory of New Mexico,
then supported a revolt of settlers ntil 1845, it had seemed likely
in California. A U.S. force under that slavery would be confined to the
Zachary Taylor invaded Mexico, areas where it already existed. It had
winning victories at Monterrey and been given limits by the Missouri
Buena Vista, but failing to bring the Compromise in 1820 and had no op-
Mexicans to the negotiating table. In portunity to overstep them. The new
March 1847, a U.S. Army command- territories made renewed expansion
ed by Winfield Scott landed near of slavery a real likelihood.
Veracruz on Mexico’s east coast, Many Northerners believed that if
and fought its way to Mexico City. not allowed to spread, slavery would
The United States dictated the Trea- ultimately decline and die. To jus-
ty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in which tify their opposition to adding new
Mexico ceded what would become slave states, they pointed to the state-
the American Southwest region and ments of Washington and Jefferson,
California for $15 million. and to the Ordinance of 1787, which
The war was a training ground forbade the extension of slavery into
for American officers who would the Northwest. Texas, which already
later fight on both sides in the Civil permitted slavery, naturally entered
War. It was also politically divisive. the Union as a slave state. But the
Polk, in a simultaneous facedown California, New Mexico, and Utah
with Great Britain, had achieved territories did not have slavery. From
British recognition of American sov- the beginning, there were strongly
ereignty in the Pacific Northwest to conflicting opinions on whether
the 49th parallel. Still, antislavery they should.
135
Southerners urged that all the ments, advanced a complicated and

lands acquired from Mexico should carefully balanced plan. His old
be thrown open to slave holders. Massachusetts rival, Daniel Web-
Antislavery Northerners demanded ster, supported it. Illinois Demo-
that all the new regions be closed cratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas,
to slavery. One group of moderates the leading advocate of popular
suggested that the Missouri Com- sovereignty, did much of the work
promise line be extended to the Pa- in guiding it through Congress.
cific with free states north of it and The Compromise of 1850 con-
slave states to the south. Another tained the following provisions: (1)
group proposed that the question California was admitted to the Union
be left to “popular sovereignty.” The as a free state; (2) the remainder of the
government should permit settlers to Mexican cession was divided into the
enter the new territory with or with- two territories of New Mexico and
out slaves as they pleased. When the Utah and organized without mention
time came to organize the region of slavery; (3) the claim of Texas to a
into states, the people themselves portion of New Mexico was satisfied
could decide. by a payment of $10 million; (4) new
Despite the vitality of the aboli- legislation (the Fugitive Slave Act)
tionist movement, most Northerners was passed to apprehend runaway
were unwilling to challenge the exis- slaves and return them to their mas-
tence of slavery in the South. Many, ters; and (5) the buying and selling of
however, were against its expansion. slaves (but not slavery) was abolished
In 1848 nearly 300,000 men voted in the District of Columbia.
for the candidates of a new Free Soil The country breathed a sigh of
Party, which declared that the best relief. For the next three years, the
policy was “to limit, localize, and compromise seemed to settle near-
discourage slavery.” In the immedi- ly all differences. The new Fugitive
ate aftermath of the war with Mex- Slave Law, however, was an imme-
ico, however, popular sovereignty diate source of tension. It deeply
had considerable appeal. offended many Northerners, who
In January 1848 the discovery refused to have any part in catch-
of gold in California precipitated a ing slaves. Some actively and vio-
headlong rush of settlers, more than lently obstructed its enforcement.
80,000 in the single year of 1849. The Underground Railroad became
Congress had to determine the sta- more efficient and daring than ever.
tus of this new region quickly in
order to establish an organized gov- A DIVIDED NATION
D
ernment. The venerable Kentucky
Senator Henry Clay, who twice uring the 1850s, the issue of slav-
before in times of crisis had come ery severed the political bonds that
forward with compromise arrange- had held the United States together.
136
It ate away at the country’s two great then have three free-soil neighbors
political parties, the Whigs and the (Illinois, Iowa, and Kansas) and
Democrats, destroying the first and might be forced to become a free
irrevocably dividing the second. It state as well. Their congressional
produced weak presidents whose delegation, backed by Southerners,
irresolution mirrored that of their blocked all efforts to organize the
parties. It eventually discredited even region.
the Supreme Court. At this point, Stephen A. Doug-
The moral fervor of abolition- las enraged all free-soil supporters.
ist feeling grew steadily. In 1852, Douglas argued that the Compro-
Harriet Beecher Stowe published mise of 1850, having left Utah and
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, a novel pro- New Mexico free to resolve the slav-
voked by the passage of the Fugitive ery issue for themselves, superseded
Slave Law. More than 300,000 cop- the Missouri Compromise. His plan
ies were sold the first year. Presses called for two territories, Kansas
ran day and night to keep up with and Nebraska. It permitted settlers
the demand. Although sentimental to carry slaves into them and even-
and full of stereotypes, Uncle Tom’s tually to determine whether they
Cabin portrayed with undeniable should enter the Union as free or
force the cruelty of slavery and pos- slave states.
ited a fundamental conflict between Douglas’s opponents accused him
free and slave societies. It inspired of currying favor with the South in
widespread enthusiasm for the an- order to gain the presidency in 1856.
tislavery cause, appealing as it did The free-soil movement, which had
to basic human emotions — in- seemed to be in decline, reemerged
dignation at injustice and pity for with greater momentum than ever.
the helpless individuals exposed to Yet in May 1854, Douglas’s plan in
ruthless exploitation. the form of the Kansas-Nebraska
In 1854 the issue of slavery in Act passed Congress to be signed by
the territories was renewed and the President Franklin Pierce. Southern
quarrel became more bitter. The re- enthusiasts celebrated with cannon
gion that now comprises Kansas and fire. But when Douglas subsequently
Nebraska was being rapidly settled, visited Chicago to speak in his own
increasing pressure for the establish- defense, the ships in the harbor low-
ment of territorial, and eventually, ered their flags to half-mast, the
state governments. church bells tolled for an hour, and a
Under terms of the Missouri crowd of 10,000 hooted so loudly that
Compromise of 1820, the entire re- he could not make himself heard.
gion was closed to slavery. Dominant The immediate results of Douglas’s
slave-holding elements in Missouri ill-starred measure were momen-
objected to letting Kansas become a tous. The Whig Party, which had
free territory, for their state would straddled the question of slavery ex-
137
pansion, sank to its death, and in its gress could not restrict the expan-
stead a powerful new organization sion of slavery. This last assertion
arose, the Republican Party, whose invalidated former compromises on
primary demand was that slavery be slavery and made new ones impos-
excluded from all the territories. In sible to craft.
1856, it nominated John Fremont, The Dred Scott decision stirred
whose expeditions into the Far West fierce resentment throughout the
had won him renown. Fremont lost North. Never before had the Court
the election, but the new party swept been so bitterly condemned. For
a great part of the North. Such free- Southern Democrats, the decision
soil leaders as Salmon P. Chase and was a great victory, since it gave ju-
William Seward exerted greater in- dicial sanction to their justification
fluence than ever. Along with them of slavery throughout the territories.
appeared a tall, lanky Illinois attor-
ney, Abraham Lincoln. LINCOLN, DOUGLAS, AND
Meanwhile, the flow of both BROWN
A
Southern slave holders and antislav-
ery families into Kansas resulted in braham Lincoln had long re-
armed conflict. Soon the territory garded slavery as an evil. As ear-
was being called “bleeding Kansas.” ly as 1854 in a widely publicized
The Supreme Court made things speech, he declared that all national
worse with its infamous 1857 Dred legislation should be framed on the
Scott decision. principle that slavery was to be re-
Scott was a Missouri slave who, stricted and eventually abolished.
some 20 years earlier, had been tak- He contended also that the princi-
en by his master to live in Illinois ple of popular sovereignty was false,
and the Wisconsin Territory; in both for slavery in the western territo-
places, slavery was banned. Return- ries was the concern not only of the
ing to Missouri and becoming dis- local inhabitants but of the United
contented with his life there, Scott States as a whole.
sued for liberation on the ground of In 1858 Lincoln opposed Ste-
his residence on free soil. A majority phen A. Douglas for election to the
of the Supreme Court — dominated U.S. Senate from Illinois. In the first
by Southerners — decided that Scott paragraph of his opening campaign
lacked standing in court because he speech, on June 17, Lincoln struck
was not a citizen; that the laws of a the keynote of American history for
free state (Illinois) had no effect on the seven years to follow:
his status because he was the resi- A house divided against itself
dent of a slave state (Missouri); and cannot stand. I believe this
that slave holders had the right to government cannot endure
take their “property” anywhere in permanently half-slave and half-
the federal territories. Thus, Con- free. I do not expect the Union to
138
be dissolved — I do not expect the were coming to accept his view that
house to fall — but I do expect it he had been an instrument in the
will cease to be divided. hand of God.
Lincoln and Douglas engaged
in a series of seven debates in the THE 1860 ELECTION
Inominated
ensuing months of 1858. Senator
Douglas, known as the “Little Gi- n 1860 the Republican Party
ant,” had an enviable reputation as Abraham Lincoln as its
an orator, but he met his match in candidate for president. The Repub-
Lincoln, who eloquently challenged lican platform declared that slavery
Douglas’s concept of popular sov- could spread no farther, promised
ereignty. In the end, Douglas won a tariff for the protection of indus-
the election by a small margin, but try, and pledged the enactment of
Lincoln had achieved stature as a a law granting free homesteads to
national figure. settlers who would help in the open-
By then events were spinning out ing of the West. Southern Demo-
of control. On the night of October crats, unwilling in the wake of the
16, 1859, John Brown, an antislavery Dred Scott case to accept Douglas’s
fanatic who had captured and killed popular sovereignty, split from the
five proslavery settlers in Kansas party and nominated Vice President
three years before, led a band of fol- John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky
lowers in an attack on the federal for president. Stephen A. Douglas
arsenal at Harper’s Ferry (in what was the nominee of northern Dem-
is now West Virginia). Brown’s goal ocrats. Diehard Whigs from the
was to use the weapons seized to border states, formed into the Con-
lead a slave uprising. After two days stitutional Union Party, nominated
of fighting, Brown and his surviving John C. Bell of Tennessee.
men were taken prisoner by a force Lincoln and Douglas compet-
of U.S. Marines commanded by ed in the North, Breckenridge and
Colonel Robert E. Lee. Bell in the South. Lincoln won only
Brown’s attempt confirmed the 39 percent of the popular vote, but
worst fears of many Southerners. had a clear majority of 180 elector-
Antislavery activists, on the other al votes, carrying all 18 free states.
hand, generally hailed Brown as a Bell won Tennessee, Kentucky, and
martyr to a great cause. Virginia Virginia; Breckenridge took the oth-
put Brown on trial for conspiracy, er slave states except for Missouri,
treason, and murder. On December which was won by Douglas. Despite
2, 1859, he was hanged. Although his poor showing, Douglas trailed
most Northerners had initially con- only Lincoln in the popular vote. 9
demned him, increasing numbers
139
140
7
CHAPTER
THE
CIVIL WAR
AND
RECONSTRUCTION
President Abraham Lincoln

(center) at a Union Army
encampment in October
1862, following the battle
of Antietam.
CHAPTER 7: THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
“That this nation

under God
shall have a
new birth of freedom.”
President Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863
SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR tion of the bonds of union, but the
L South turned a deaf ear. On April

incoln’s victory in the presi- 12, Confederate guns opened fire on
dential election of November 1860 the federal garrison at Fort Sumter
made South Carolina’s secession in the Charleston, South Carolina,
from the Union December 20 a harbor. A war had begun in which
foregone conclusion. The state had more Americans would die than in
long been waiting for an event that any other conflict before or since.
would unite the South against the In the seven states that had se-
antislavery forces. By February 1, ceded, the people responded posi-
1861, five more Southern states had tively to the Confederate action
seceded. On February 8, the six and the leadership of Confeder-
states signed a provisional constitu- ate President Jefferson Davis. Both
tion for the Confederate States of sides now tensely awaited the action
America. The remaining Southern of the slave states that thus far had
states as yet remained in the Union, remained loyal. Virginia seceded on
although Texas had begun to move April 17; Arkansas, Tennessee, and
on its secession. North Carolina followed quickly.
Less than a month later, March 4, No state left the Union with
1861, Abraham Lincoln was sworn greater reluctance than Virginia.
in as president of the United States. Her statesmen had a leading part in
In his inaugural address, he declared the winning of the Revolution and
the Confederacy “legally void.” His the framing of the Constitution, and
speech closed with a plea for restora- she had provided the nation with
142
five presidents. With Virginia went stripped away any illusions that vic-
Colonel Robert E. Lee, who declined tory would be quick or easy. It also
the command of the Union Army established a pattern, at least in the
out of loyalty to his native state. Eastern United States, of bloody
Between the enlarged Confed- Southern victories that never trans-
eracy and the free-soil North lay lated into a decisive military advan-
the border slave states of Delaware, tage for the Confederacy.
Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, In contrast to its military failures
which, despite some sympathy with in the East, the Union was able to se-
the South, would remain loyal to cure battlefield victories in the West
the Union. and slow strategic success at sea.
Each side entered the war with Most of the Navy, at the war’s begin-
high hopes for an early victory. In ning, was in Union hands, but it was
material resources the North enjoyed scattered and weak. Secretary of the
a decided advantage. Twenty-three Navy Gideon Welles took prompt
states with a population of 22 mil- measures to strengthen it. Lincoln
lion were arrayed against 11 states then proclaimed a blockade of the
inhabited by nine million, including Southern coasts. Although the ef-
slaves. The industrial superiority of fect of the blockade was negligible
the North exceeded even its prepon- at first, by 1863 it almost completely
derance in population, providing it prevented shipments of cotton to
with abundant facilities for manu- Europe and blocked the importa-
facturing arms and ammunition, tion of sorely needed munitions,
clothing, and other supplies. It had clothing, and medical supplies to
a greatly superior railway network. the South.
The South nonetheless had cer- A brilliant Union naval com-
tain advantages. The most impor- mander, David Farragut, conducted
tant was geography; the South was two remarkable operations. In April
fighting a defensive war on its own 1862, he took a fleet into the mouth
territory. It could establish its inde-
of the Mississippi River and forced
pendence simply by beating off the the surrender of the largest city in
Northern armies. The South also the South, New Orleans, Louisiana.
had a stronger military tradition, In August 1864, with the cry, “Damn
and possessed the more experienced the torpedoes! Full speed ahead,” he
military leaders. led a force past the fortified entrance
of Mobile Bay, Alabama, captured
WESTERN ADVANCE, a Confederate ironclad vessel, and
EASTERN STALEMATE sealed off the port.
T In the Mississippi Valley, the

he first large battle of the war, Union forces won an almost unin-
at Bull Run, Virginia (also known terrupted series of victories. They
as First Manassas) near Washington, began by breaking a long Confeder-
143
ate line in Tennessee, thus making responded tentatively, despite learn-

it possible to occupy almost all the ing that Lee had split his army and
western part of the state. When the was heavily outnumbered. The
important Mississippi River port of Union and Confederate Armies met
Memphis was taken, Union troops at Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg,
advanced some 320 kilometers into Maryland, on September 17, 1862, in
the heart of the Confederacy. With the bloodiest single day of the war:
the tenacious General Ulysses S. More than 4,000 died on both sides
Grant in command, they withstood and 18,000 were wounded. Despite
a sudden Confederate counterattack his numerical advantage, however,
at Shiloh, on the bluffs overlooking McClellan failed to break Lee’s lines
the Tennessee River. Those killed or press the attack, and Lee was able
and wounded at Shiloh numbered to retreat across the Potomac with
more than 10,000 on each side, a ca- his army intact. As a result, Lincoln
sualty rate that Americans had never fired McClellan.
before experienced. But it was only Although Antietam was in-
the beginning of the carnage. conclusive in military terms, its
In Virginia, by contrast, Union consequences were nonetheless
troops continued to meet one de- momentous. Great Britain and
feat after another in a succession of France, both on the verge of rec-
bloody attempts to capture Rich- ognizing the Confederacy, delayed
mond, the Confederate capital. The their decision, and the South never
Confederates enjoyed strong defense received the diplomatic recognition
positions afforded by numerous and the economic aid from Europe
streams cutting the road between that it desperately sought.
Washington and Richmond. Their Antietam also gave Lincoln the
two best generals, Robert E. Lee and opening he needed to issue the
Thomas J. (“Stonewall”) Jackson, preliminary Emancipation Procla-
both far surpassed in ability their mation, which declared that as of
early Union counterparts. In 1862 January 1, 1863, all slaves in states re-
Union commander George McClel- belling against the Union were free.
lan made a slow, excessively cautious In practical terms, the proclamation
attempt to seize Richmond. But in had little immediate impact; it freed
the Seven Days’ Battles between June slaves only in the Confederate states,
25 and July 1, the Union troops were while leaving slavery intact in the
driven steadily backward, both sides border states. Politically, however, it
suffering terrible losses. meant that in addition to preserving
After another Confederate vic- the Union, the abolition of slavery
tory at the Second Battle of Bull was now a declared objective of the
Run (or Second Manassas), Lee Union war effort.
crossed the Potomac River and in- The final Emancipation Proc-
vaded Maryland. McClellan again lamation, issued January 1, 1863,
144
also authorized the recruitment of gave him his chance, Lee struck
African Americans into the Union northward into Pennsylvania at the
Army, a move abolitionist lead- beginning of July 1863, almost reach-
ers such as Frederick Douglass had ing the state capital at Harrisburg. A
been urging since the beginning of strong Union force intercepted him
armed conflict. Union forces alreadyat Gettysburg, where, in a titanic
had been sheltering escaped slaves as
three-day battle — the largest of the
“contraband of war,” but following Civil War — the Confederates made
the Emancipation Proclamation, the a valiant effort to break the Union
Union Army recruited and trained lines. They failed, and on July 4 Lee’s
regiments of African-American army, after crippling losses, retreated
soldiers that fought with distinc- behind the Potomac.
tion in battles from Virginia to the More than 3,000 Union soldiers
Mississippi. About 178,000 African and almost 4,000 Confederates died
Americans served in the U.S. Col- at Gettysburg; wounded and missing
ored Troops, and 29,500 served in totaled more than 20,000 on each
the Union Navy. side. On November 19, 1863, Lincoln
Despite the political gains dedicated a new national cemetery
represented by the Emancipation there with perhaps the most famous
Proclamation, however, the North’s address in U.S. history. He concluded
military prospects in the East re- his brief remarks with these words:
mained bleak as Lee’s Army of ... we here highly resolve that
Northern Virginia continued to these dead shall not have died in
maul the Union Army of the Po- vain — that this nation, under
tomac, first at Fredericksburg, Vir- God, shall have a new birth of
ginia, in December 1862 and then freedom — and that government
at Chancellorsville in May 1863. But of the people, by the people, for the
Chancellorsville, although one of people, shall not perish from the
Lee’s most brilliant military victo- earth.
ries, was also one of his most costly. On the Mississippi, Union con-
His most valued lieutenant, General trol had been blocked at Vicksburg,
“Stonewall” Jackson, was mistaken- where the Confederates had strong-
ly shot and killed by his own men. ly fortified themselves on bluffs too
high for naval attack. In early 1863
GETTYSBURG TO Grant began to move below and
APPOMATTOX around Vicksburg, subjecting it to
Y a six-week siege. On July 4, he cap-

et none of the Confederate vic- tured the town, together with the
tories was decisive. The Union sim- strongest Confederate Army in the
ply mustered new armies and tried West. The river was now entirely in
again. Believing that the North’s Union hands. The Confederacy was
crushing defeat at Chancellorsville broken in two, and it became almost
145
impossible to bring supplies from From the coast, Sherman marched

Texas and Arkansas. northward; by February 1865, he
The Northern victories at Vicks- had taken Charleston, South Caro-
burg and Gettysburg in July 1863 lina, where the first shots of the Civil
marked the turning point of the war, War had been fired. Sherman, more
although the bloodshed continued than any other Union general, un-
unabated for more than a year-and- derstood that destroying the will and
a-half. morale of the South was as impor-
Lincoln brought Grant east and tant as defeating its armies.
made him commander-in-chief of Grant, meanwhile, lay siege to Pe-
all Union forces. In May 1864 Grant tersburg, Virginia, for nine months,
advanced deep into Virginia and before Lee, in March 1865, knew that
met Lee’s Confederate Army in the he had to abandon both Petersburg
three-day Battle of the Wilderness. and the Confederate capital of Rich-
Losses on both sides were heavy, mond in an attempt to retreat south.
but unlike other Union command- But it was too late. On April 9, 1865,
ers, Grant refused to retreat. In- surrounded by huge Union armies,
stead, he attempted to outflank Lee, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appo-
stretching the Confederate lines and mattox Courthouse. Although scat-
pounding away with artillery and tered fighting continued elsewhere
infantry attacks. “I propose to fight it for several months, the Civil War
out along this line if it takes all sum- was over.
mer,” the Union commander said The terms of surrender at Ap-
at Spotsylvania, during five days of pomattox were magnanimous, and
bloody trench warfare that charac- on his return from his meeting with
terized fighting on the eastern front Lee, Grant quieted the noisy dem-
for almost a year. onstrations of his soldiers by re-
In the West, Union forces gained minding them: “The rebels are our
control of Tennessee in the fall of countrymen again.” The war for
1863 with victories at Chattanoo- Southern independence had become
ga and nearby Lookout Mountain, the “lost cause,” whose hero, Rob-
opening the way for General Wil- ert E. Lee, had won wide admiration
liam T. Sherman to invade Georgia. through the brilliance of his leader-
Sherman outmaneuvered several ship and his greatness in defeat.
smaller Confederate armies, occu-
pied the state capital of Atlanta, then WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE
F
marched to the Atlantic coast, sys-
tematically destroying railroads, or the North, the war produced
factories, warehouses, and other a still greater hero in Abraham Lin-
facilities in his path. His men, cut coln — a man eager, above all else,
off from their normal supply lines, to weld the Union together again,
ravaged the countryside for food. not by force and repression but by
146
warmth and generosity. In 1864 he Never before that startled April

had been elected for a second term morning did such multitudes of
as president, defeating his Demo- men shed tears for the death of
cratic opponent, George McClellan, one they had never seen, as if with
the general he had dismissed after him a friendly presence had been
Antietam. Lincoln’s second inaugu- taken from their lives, leaving
ral address closed with these words: them colder and darker. Never
With malice toward none; with was funeral panegyric so eloquent
charity for all; with firmness in as the silent look of sympathy
the right, as God gives us to see which strangers exchanged when
the right, let us strive on to finish they met that day. Their common
the work we are in; to bind up the manhood had lost a kinsman.
nation’s wounds; to care for him The first great task confronting
who shall have borne the battle, the victorious North — now under
and for his widow, and his orphan the leadership of Lincoln’s vice presi-
— to do all which may achieve dent, Andrew Johnson, a Southerner
and cherish a just, and a lasting who remained loyal to the Union —
peace, among ourselves, and with was to determine the status of the
all nations. states that had seceded. Lincoln had
Three weeks later, two days after already set the stage. In his view,
Lee’s surrender, Lincoln delivered the people of the Southern states
his last public address, in which he had never legally seceded; they had
unfolded a generous reconstruction been misled by some disloyal citi-
policy. On April 14, 1865, the presi- zens into a defiance of federal au-
dent held what was to be his last thority. And since the war was the
Cabinet meeting. That evening — act of individuals, the federal gov-
with his wife and a young couple ernment would have to deal with
who were his guests — he attended these individuals and not with
a performance at Ford’s Theater. the states. Thus, in 1863 Lincoln
There, as he sat in the presidential proclaimed that if in any state 10
box, he was assassinated by John percent of the voters of record in
Wilkes Booth, a Virginia actor em- 1860 would form a government loyal
bittered by the South’s defeat. Booth to the U.S. Constitution and would
was killed in a shootout some days acknowledge obedience to the laws
later in a barn in the Virginia coun- of the Congress and the proclama-
tryside. His accomplices were cap- tions of the president, he would rec-
tured and later executed. ognize the government so created as
Lincoln died in a downstairs bed- the state’s legal government.
room of a house across the street Congress rejected this plan. Many
from Ford’s Theater on the morn- Republicans feared it would simply
ing of April 15. Poet James Russell entrench former rebels in power;
Lowell wrote: they challenged Lincoln’s right
147
to deal with the rebel states with- and ratify the 13th Amendment.
out consultation. Some members of By the end of 1865, this process was
Congress advocated severe punish- completed, with a few exceptions.
ment for all the seceded states; oth-
ers simply felt the war would have RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION
B
been in vain if the old Southern es-
tablishment was restored to power. oth Lincoln and Johnson had
Yet even before the war was wholly foreseen that the Congress would
over, new governments had been set have the right to deny Southern leg-
up in Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, islators seats in the U.S. Senate or
and Louisiana. House of Representatives, under the
To deal with one of its major clause of the Constitution that says,
concerns — the condition of for- “Each house shall be the judge of
mer slaves — Congress established the ... qualifications of its own mem-
the Freedmen’s Bureau in March bers.” This came to pass when, under
1865 to act as guardian over African the leadership of Thaddeus Stevens,
Americans and guide them toward those congressmen called “Radical
self-support. And in December of Republicans,” who were wary of a
that year, Congress ratified the 13th quick and easy “reconstruction,” re-
Amendment to the U.S. Constitu- fused to seat newly elected Southern
tion, which abolished slavery. senators and representatives. Within
Throughout the summer of 1865 the next few months, Congress pro-
Johnson proceeded to carry out Lin- ceeded to work out a plan for the
coln’s reconstruction program, with reconstruction of the South quite
minor modifications. By presidential different from the one Lincoln had
proclamation he appointed a gover- started and Johnson had continued.
nor for each of the former Confeder- Wide public support gradual-
ate states and freely restored political ly developed for those members of
rights to many Southerners through Congress who believed that African
use of presidential pardons. Americans should be given full citi-
In due time conventions were zenship. By July 1866, Congress had
held in each of the former Confed- passed a civil rights bill and set up
erate states to repeal the ordinances a new Freedmen’s Bureau — both
of secession, repudiate the war debt, designed to prevent racial discrimi-
and draft new state constitutions. nation by Southern legislatures. Fol-
Eventually a native Unionist became lowing this, the Congress passed a
governor in each state with authority 14th Amendment to the Constitu-
to convoke a convention of loyal vot- tion, stating that “all persons born
ers. Johnson called upon each con- or naturalized in the United States,
vention to invalidate the secession, and subject to the jurisdiction there-
abolish slavery, repudiate all debts of, are citizens of the United States
that went to aid the Confederacy, and of the State wherein they reside.”
148
This repudiated the Dred Scott rul- that established civil governments,
ing, which had denied slaves their ratified the 14th Amendment, and
right of citizenship. adopted African-American suffrage.
All the Southern state legisla- Supporters of the Confederacy who
tures, with the exception of Tennes- had not taken oaths of loyalty to the
see, refused to ratify the amendment, United States generally could not
some voting against it unanimously. vote. The 14th Amendment was rati-
In addition, Southern state legisla- fied in 1868. The 15th Amendment,
tures passed “codes” to regulate the passed by Congress the following
African-American freedmen. The year and ratified in 1870 by state leg-
codes differed from state to state, islatures, provided that “The right of
but some provisions were common. citizens of the United States to vote
African Americans were required shall not be denied or abridged by
to enter into annual labor contracts, the United States or any state on ac-
with penalties imposed in case of count of race, color, or previous con-
violation; dependent children were dition of servitude.”
subject to compulsory apprentice- The Radical Republicans in
ship and corporal punishments by Congress were infuriated by Presi-
masters; vagrants could be sold into dent Johnson’s vetoes (even though
private service if they could not pay they were overridden) of legisla-
severe fines. tion protecting newly freed African
Many Northerners interpreted Americans and punishing former
the Southern response as an attempt Confederate leaders by depriving
to reestablish slavery and repudi- them of the right to hold office.
ate the hard-won Union victory in Congressional antipathy to Johnson
the Civil War. It did not help that was so great that, for the first time
Johnson, although a Unionist, was in American history, impeachment
a Southern Democrat with an ad- proceedings were instituted to re-
diction to intemperate rhetoric and move the president from office.
an aversion to political compromise. Johnson’s main offense was his
Republicans swept the congressional opposition to punitive congressional
elections of 1866. Firmly in power, policies and the violent language he
the Radicals imposed their own vi- used in criticizing them. The most
sion of Reconstruction. serious legal charge his enemies
In the Reconstruction Act of could level against him was that,
March 1867, Congress, ignoring the despite the Tenure of Office Act
governments that had been estab- (which required Senate approval for
lished in the Southern states, divided the removal of any officeholder the
the South into five military districts, Senate had previously confirmed),
each administered by a Union gener- he had removed from his Cabinet
al. Escape from permanent military the secretary of war, a staunch sup-
government was open to those states porter of the Congress. When the
149
impeachment trial was held in the Klan became more and more fre-
Senate, it was proved that Johnson quent. Increasing disorder led to
was technically within his rights in the passage of Enforcement Acts in
removing the Cabinet member. Even 1870 and 1871, severely punishing
more important, it was pointed out those who attempted to deprive the
that a dangerous precedent would be African-American freedmen of their
set if the Congress were to remove a civil rights.
president because he disagreed with
the majority of its members. The fi- THE END OF
nal vote was one short of the two- RECONSTRUCTION
A
thirds required for conviction.
Johnson continued in office until s time passed, it became more
his term expired in 1869, but Con- and more obvious that the problems
gress had established an ascendancy of the South were not being solved
that would endure for the rest of the by harsh laws and continuing rancor
century. The Republican victor in against former Confederates. More-
the presidential election of 1868, for- over, some Southern Radical state
mer Union general Ulysses S. Grant, governments with prominent Af-
would enforce the reconstruction rican-American officials appeared
policies the Radicals had initiated. corrupt and inefficient. The nation
By June 1868, Congress had re- was quickly tiring of the attempt to
admitted the majority of the for- impose racial democracy and liberal
mer Confederate states back into values on the South with Union bay-
the Union. In many of these re- onets. In May 1872, Congress passed
constructed states, the majority of a general Amnesty Act, restoring full
the governors, representatives, and political rights to all but about 500
senators were Northern men — so- former rebels.
called carpetbaggers — who had Gradually Southern states began
gone South after the war to make electing members of the Democratic
their political fortunes, often in Party into office, ousting carpet-
alliance with newly freed African bagger governments and intimidat-
Americans. In the legislatures of ing African Americans from voting
Louisiana and South Carolina, Af- or attempting to hold public office.
rican Americans actually gained a By 1876 the Republicans remained
majority of the seats. in power in only three Southern
Many Southern whites, their po- states. As part of the bargaining that
litical and social dominance threat- resolved the disputed presidential
ened, turned to illegal means to elections that year in favor of Ruth-
prevent African Americans from erford B. Hayes, the Republicans
gaining equality. Violence against promised to withdraw federal troops
African Americans by such extra- that had propped up the remaining
legal organizations as the Ku Klux Republican governments. In 1877
150
Hayes kept his promise, tacitly aban- ly failed to address their economic
doning federal responsibility for en- needs. The Freedmen’s Bureau was
forcing blacks’ civil rights. unable to provide former slaves
The South was still a region dev- with political and economic oppor-
astated by war, burdened by debt tunity. Union military occupiers
caused by misgovernment, and de- often could not even protect them
moralized by a decade of racial war- from violence and intimidation.
fare. Unfortunately, the pendulum Indeed, federal army officers and
of national racial policy swung from agents of the Freedmen’s Bureau
one extreme to the other. A feder- were often racists themselves. With-
al government that had supported out economic resources of their own,
harsh penalties against Southern many Southern African Americans
white leaders now tolerated new and were forced to become tenant farm-
humiliating kinds of discrimina- ers on land owned by their former
tion against African Americans. The masters, caught in a cycle of poverty
last quarter of the 19th century saw that would continue well into the
a profusion of “Jim Crow” laws in 20th century.
Southern states that segregated pub- Reconstruction-era governments
lic schools, forbade or limited Afri- did make genuine gains in rebuild-
can-American access to many public ing Southern states devastated by
facilities such as parks, restaurants, the war, and in expanding public
and hotels, and denied most blacks services, notably in establishing
the right to vote by imposing poll tax-supported, free public schools
taxes and arbitrary literacy tests. for African Americans and whites.
“Jim Crow” is a term derived from However, recalcitrant Southerners
a song in an 1828 minstrel show seized upon instances of corruption
where a white man first performed (hardly unique to the South in this
in “blackface.” era) and exploited them to bring
Historians have tended to judge down radical regimes. The failure
Reconstruction harshly, as a murky of Reconstruction meant that the
period of political conflict, corrup- struggle of African Americans for
tion, and regression that failed to equality and freedom was deferred
achieve its original high-minded until the 20th century — when it
goals and collapsed into a sinkhole would become a national, not just a
of virulent racism. Slaves were grant- Southern issue. 9
ed freedom, but the North complete-
151
THE CIVIL WAR AND NEW PATTERNS

OF AMERICAN POLITICS
The controversies of the 1850s had destroyed the Whig Party, created the
Republican Party, and divided the Democratic Party along regional lines.
The Civil War demonstrated that the Whigs were gone beyond recall and
the Republicans on the scene to stay. It also laid the basis for a reunited
Democratic Party.
The Republicans could seamlessly replace the Whigs throughout the
North and West because they were far more than a free-soil/antislavery force.
Most of their leaders had started as Whigs and continued the Whig interest
in federally assisted national development. The need to manage a war did not
deter them from also enacting a protective tariff (1861) to foster American
manufacturing, the Homestead Act (1862) to encourage Western settlement,
the Morrill Act (1862) to establish “land grant” agricultural and techni-
cal colleges, and a series of Pacific Railway Acts (1862-64) to underwrite a
transcontinental railway line. These measures rallied support throughout the
Union from groups to whom slavery was a secondary issue and ensured the
party’s continuance as the latest manifestation of a political creed that had
been advanced by Alexander Hamilton and Henry Clay.
The war also laid the basis for Democratic reunification because
Northern opposition to it centered in the Democratic Party. As might be
expected from the party of “popular sovereignty,” some Democrats believed
that full-scale war to reinstate the Union was unjustified. This group came to
be known as the Peace Democrats. Their more extreme elements were called
“Copperheads.”
Moreover, few Democrats, whether of the “war” or “peace” faction,
believed the emancipation of the slaves was worth Northern blood. Opposition
to emancipation had long been party policy. In 1862, for example, virtually
every Democrat in Congress voted against eliminating slavery in the District
of Columbia and prohibiting it in the territories.
Much of this opposition came from the working poor, particularly Irish
and German Catholic immigrants, who feared a massive migration of newly
freed African Americans to the North. They also resented the establish-
ment of a military draft (March 1863) that disproportionately affected them.
Race riots erupted in several Northern cities. The worst of these occurred in
New York, July 13-16, 1863, precipitated by Democratic Governor Horatio
Seymour’s condemnation of military conscription. Federal troops, who just
days earlier had been engaged at Gettysburg, were sent to restore order.
152
The Republicans prosecuted the war with little regard for civil
liberties. In September 1862, Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus
and imposed martial law on those who interfered with recruitment or gave
aid and comfort to the rebels. This breech of civil law, although constitution-
ally justified during times of crisis, gave the Democrats another opportunity
to criticize Lincoln. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton enforced martial law
vigorously, and many thousands — most of them Southern sympathizers or
Democrats — were arrested.
Despite the Union victories at Vicksburg and Gettysburg in 1863,
Democratic “peace” candidates continued to play on the nation’s misfortunes
and racial sensitivities. Indeed, the mood of the North was such that Lincoln
was convinced he would lose his re-election bid in November 1864. Largely
for that reason, the Republican Party renamed itself the Union Party and
drafted the Tennessee Democrat Andrew Johnson to be Lincoln’s running
mate. Sherman’s victories in the South sealed the election for them.
Lincoln’s assassination, the rise of Radical Republicanism, and Johnson’s
blundering leadership all played into a postwar pattern of politics in which
the Republican Party suffered from overreaching in its efforts to remake the
South, while the Democrats, through their criticism of Reconstruction, al-
lied themselves with the neo-Confederate Southern white majority. Ulysses S.
Grant’s status as a national hero carried the Republicans through two presi-
dential elections, but as the South emerged from Reconstruction, it became
apparent that the country was nearly evenly divided between the two parties.
The Republicans would be dominant in the industrial Northeast until
the 1930s and strong in most of the rest of the country outside the South.
However, their appeal as the party of strong government and national develop-
ment increasingly would be perceived as one of allegiance to big business
and finance.
When President Hayes ended Reconstruction, he hoped it would be pos-
sible to build the Republican Party in the South, using the old Whigs as a
base and the appeal of regional development as a primary issue. By then, how-
ever, Republicanism as the South’s white majority perceived it was
identified with a hated African-American supremacy. For the next three-
quarters of a century, the South would be solidly Democratic. For much of
that time, the national Democratic Party would pay solemn deference to states’
rights while ignoring civil rights. The group that would suffer the most as a
legacy of Reconstruction was the African Americans. 
153
154
8
CHAPTER
GROWTH
AND
TRANSFORMATION
Building the
transcontinental railroad,
1868.
CHAPTER 8: GROWTH AND TRANSFORMATION
“Upon the
sacredness of property,
civilization
itself depends.”
Industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, 1889
Between two great wars — the Civil of the country; it dramatized in a

War and the First World War — the stroke the changes that had begun to
United States of America came of take place during the preceding 20
age. In a period of less than 50 years
or 30 years. ...” War needs had enor-
it was transformed from a rural re- mously stimulated manufacturing,
public to an urban nation. The fron- speeding an economic process based
tier vanished. Great factories and on the exploitation of iron, steam,
steel mills, transcontinental railroad
and electric power, as well as the for-
lines, flourishing cities, and vast ward march of science and inven-
agricultural holdings marked the tion. In the years before 1860, 36,000
land. With this economic growth patents were granted; in the next 30
and affluence came corresponding years, 440,000 patents were issued,
problems. Nationwide, a few busi- and in the first quarter of the 20th
nesses came to dominate whole in- century, the number reached nearly
dustries, either independently or in a million.
combination with others. Work- As early as 1844, Samuel F.B.
ing conditions were often poor. Morse had perfected electrical te-
Cities grew so quickly they could legraphy; soon afterward distant
not properly house or govern their parts of the continent were linked
growing populations. by a network of poles and wires. In
1876 Alexander Graham Bell exhib-
TECHNOLOGY AND CHANGE ited a telephone instrument; within
T
“ half a century, 16 million telephones
he Civil War,” says one writer, would quicken the social and eco-
“cut a wide gash through the history nomic life of the nation. The growth
156
of business was hastened by the in- in a telegraph office, then to one on

vention of the typewriter in 1867, the Pennsylvania Railroad. Before
the adding machine in 1888, and he was 30 years old he had made
the cash register in 1897. The lino- shrewd and farsighted investments,
type composing machine, invented which by 1865 were concentrated in
in 1886, and rotary press and paper- iron. Within a few years, he had or-
folding machinery made it possible ganized or had stock in companies
to print 240,000 eight-page newspa- making iron bridges, rails, and lo-
pers in an hour. Thomas Edison’s comotives. Ten years later, he built
incandescent lamp eventually lit the nation’s largest steel mill on the
millions of homes. The talking ma- Monongahela River in Pennsylvania.
chine, or phonograph, was perfected He acquired control not only of new
by Edison, who, in conjunction with mills, but also of coke and coal prop-
George Eastman, also helped devel- erties, iron ore from Lake Superior, a
op the motion picture. These and fleet of steamers on the Great Lakes,
many other applications of science a port town on Lake Erie, and a con-
and ingenuity resulted in a new level necting railroad. His business, allied
of productivity in almost every field. with a dozen others, commanded
Concurrently, the nation’s basic favorable terms from railroads and
industry — iron and steel — forged shipping lines. Nothing comparable
ahead, protected by a high tariff. The in industrial growth had ever been
iron industry moved westward as ge- seen in America before.
ologists discovered new ore depos- Though Carnegie long dominat-
its, notably the great Mesabi range ed the industry, he never achieved
at the head of Lake Superior, which a complete monopoly over the nat-
became one of the largest produc- ural resources, transportation, and
ers in the world. Easy and cheap to industrial plants involved in the
mine, remarkably free of chemical making of steel. In the 1890s, new
impurities, Mesabi ore could be pro- companies challenged his preemi-
cessed into steel of superior quality nence. He would be persuaded to
at about one-tenth the previously merge his holdings into a new cor-
prevailing cost. poration that would embrace most of
the important iron and steel proper-
CARNEGIE AND THE ties in the nation.
ERA OF STEEL
A CORPORATIONS AND CITIES
sponsible for the great advances in The United States Steel Corpora-
ndrew Carnegie was largely re-
steel production. Carnegie, who tion, which resulted from this merg-
came to America from Scotland as er in 1901, illustrated a process under
a child of 12, progressed from bob- way for 30 years: the combination of
bin boy in a cotton factory to a job independent industrial enterprises
157
into federated or centralized compa- cottonseed oil, lead, sugar, tobacco,

nies. Started during the Civil War, and rubber. Soon aggressive indi-
the trend gathered momentum after vidual businessmen began to mark
the 1870s, as businessmen began to out industrial domains for them-
fear that overproduction would lead selves. Four great meat packers, chief
to declining prices and falling prof- among them Philip Armour and
its. They realized that if they could Gustavus Swift, established a beef
control both production and mar- trust. Cyrus McCormick achieved
kets, they could bring competing preeminence in the reaper business.
firms into a single organization. The A 1904 survey showed that more
“corporation” and the “trust” were than 5,000 previously independent
developed to achieve these ends. concerns had been consolidated into
Corporations, making available a some 300 industrial trusts.
deep reservoir of capital and giving The trend toward amalgamation
business enterprises permanent life extended to other fields, particular-
and continuity of control, attracted ly transportation and communica-
investors both by their anticipated tions. Western Union, dominant in
profits and by their limited liability telegraphy, was followed by the Bell
in case of business failure. The trusts Telephone System and eventually by
were in effect combinations of cor- the American Telephone and Tele-
porations whereby the stockholders graph Company. In the 1860s, Cor-
of each placed stocks in the hands nelius Vanderbilt had consolidated
of trustees. (The “trust” as a method 13 separate railroads into a single
of corporate consolidation soon gave 800-kilometer line connecting New
way to the holding company, but the York City and Buffalo. During the
term stuck.) Trusts made possible next decade he acquired lines to Chi-
large-scale combinations, central- cago, Illinois, and Detroit, Michigan,
ized control and administration, and establishing the New York Central
the pooling of patents. Their larger Railroad. Soon the major railroads
capital resources provided power of the nation were organized into
to expand, to compete with foreign trunk lines and systems directed by
business organizations, and to drive a handful of men.
hard bargains with labor, which was In this new industrial order, the
beginning to organize effective- city was the nerve center, bringing
ly. They could also exact favorable to a focus all the nation’s dynamic
terms from railroads and exercise economic forces: vast accumulations
influence in politics. of capital, business, and financial in-
The Standard Oil Company, stitutions, spreading railroad yards,
founded by John D. Rockefeller, smoky factories, armies of manual
was one of the earliest and stron- and clerical workers. Villages, at-
gest corporations, and was followed tracting people from the countryside
rapidly by other combinations — in and from lands across the sea, grew
158
into towns and towns into cities al- meters from Chicago. Moreover, to
most overnight. In 1830 only one of avoid competition rival companies
every 15 Americans lived in commu- sometimes divided (“pooled”) the
nities of 8,000 or more; in 1860 the freight business according to a pre-
ratio was nearly one in every six; and arranged scheme that placed the to-
in 1890 three in every 10. No single tal earnings in a common fund for
city had as many as a million in- distribution.
habitants in 1860; but 30 years later Popular resentment at these prac-
New York had a million and a half; tices stimulated state efforts at regu-
Chicago, Illinois, and Philadelphia, lation, but the problem was national
Pennsylvania, each had over a mil- in character. Shippers demanded
lion. In these three decades, Phila- congressional action. In 1887 Presi-
delphia and Baltimore, Maryland, dent Grover Cleveland signed the
doubled in population; Kansas City, Interstate Commerce Act, which
Missouri, and Detroit, Michigan, forbade excessive charges, pools,
grew fourfold; Cleveland, Ohio, six- rebates, and rate discrimination.
fold; Chicago, tenfold. Minneapolis, It created an Interstate Commerce
Minnesota, and Omaha, Nebraska, Commission (ICC) to oversee the
and many communities like them act, but gave it little enforcement
— hamlets when the Civil War be- power. In the first decades of its ex-
gan — increased 50 times or more in istence, virtually all the ICC’s efforts
population. at regulation and rate reductions
failed to pass judicial review.
RAILROADS, REGULATIONS, President Cleveland also opposed
AND THE TARIFF the protective tariff on foreign goods,
R which had come to be accepted as

ailroads were especially impor- permanent national policy under the
tant to the expanding nation, and Republican presidents who dominat-
their practices were often criticized. ed the politics of the era. Cleveland,
Rail lines extended cheaper freight a conservative Democrat, regarded
rates to large shippers by rebating a tariff protection as an unwarranted
portion of the charge, thus disadvan- subsidy to big business, giving the
taging small shippers. Freight rates trusts pricing power to the disadvan-
also frequently were not proportion- tage of ordinary Americans. Reflect-
ate to distance traveled; competition ing the interests of their Southern
usually held down charges between base, the Democrats had reverted
cities with several rail connections. to their pre-Civil War opposition to
Rates tended to be high between protection and advocacy of a “tariff
points served by only one line. Thus for revenue only.”
it cost less to ship goods 1,280 kilo- Cleveland, narrowly elected in
meters from Chicago to New York 1884, was unsuccessful in achieving
than to places a few hundred kilo- tariff reform during his first term.
159
He made the issue the keynote of his sistence to commercial agriculture.

campaign for reelection, but Repub- Between 1860 and 1910, the number
lican candidate Benjamin Harrison, of farms in the United States tripled,
a defender of protectionism, won in increasing from two million to six
a close race. In 1890, the Harrison million, while the area farmed more
administration, fulfilling its cam- than doubled from 160 million to 352
paign promises, achieved passage of million hectares.
the McKinley tariff, which increased Between 1860 and 1890, the pro-
the already high rates. Blamed for duction of such basic commodities
high retail prices, the McKinley du- as wheat, corn, and cotton out-
ties triggered widespread dissatisfac- stripped all previous figures in the
tion, led to Republican losses in the United States. In the same period,
1890 elections, and paved the way for the nation’s population more than
Cleveland’s return to the presidency doubled, with the largest growth in
in the 1892 election. the cities. But the American farmer
During this period, public an- grew enough grain and cotton,
tipathy toward the trusts increased. raised enough beef and pork, and
The nation’s gigantic corpora- clipped enough wool not only to
tions were subjected to bitter attack supply American workers and their
through the 1880s by reformers such families but also to create ever-in-
as Henry George and Edward Bel- creasing surpluses.
lamy. The Sherman Antitrust Act, Several factors accounted for this
passed in 1890, forbade all combina- extraordinary achievement. One was
tions in restraint of interstate trade the expansion into the West. Anoth-
and provided several methods of er was a technological revolution.
enforcement with severe penalties. The farmer of 1800, using a hand
Couched in vague generalities, the sickle, could hope to cut a fifth of
law accomplished little immediately a hectare of wheat a day. With the
after its passage. But a decade later, cradle, 30 years later, he might cut
President Theodore Roosevelt would four-fifths. In 1840 Cyrus McCor-
use it vigorously. mick performed a miracle by cutting
from two to two-and-a-half hectares
REVOLUTION IN a day with the reaper, a machine he
AGRICULTURE had been developing for nearly 10
D years. He headed west to the young

espite the great gains in industry, prairie town of Chicago, where he
agriculture remained the nation’s set up a factory — and by 1860 sold a
basic occupation. The revolution quarter of a million reapers.
in agriculture — paralleling that in Other farm machines were de-
manufacturing after the Civil War veloped in rapid succession: the
— involved a shift from hand labor automatic wire binder, the threshing
to machine farming, and from sub- (Continued on page 177.)
160
The silhouette of one of the United States’ most revered Founding Fathers,
Thomas Jefferson, stands in the shrine dedicated to his memory.
“I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against
every form of tyranny over the mind of man.”
MON U M E NTS AN D
MEMORIALS A PICTURE PROFILE

The monuments of American history span a continent in distance and
centuries in time. They range from a massive serpent-shaped mound
created by a long-gone Native-American culture to memorials in
contemporary Washington, D.C., and New York City.
161
The snow-covered Old Granary cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts, is burial ground for,
among other leading American patriots, victims of the Boston Massacre, three signers of
the Declaration of Independence, and six governors of Massachusetts. Originally founded
by religious dissidents from England known as Puritans, Massachusetts was a leader in the
struggle for independence against England. It was the setting for the Boston Tea Party and
the first battles of the American Revolution — in Lexington and Concord.
163
The historic room in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, where delegates drafted
the Constitution of the United States in the summer of 1787. The Constitution is
the supreme law of the land. It prescribes the form and authority of the federal
government, and ensures the fundamental freedoms and rights of the citizens of the
country through the Bill of Rights.
165
Statues guard the majestic façade of the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest court
in the land. The words engraved on the lintel over the Greek pillars embody one
of America’s founding principles: “Equal Justice Under Law.”
166
The Statue of Liberty, one of the United States’ most beloved monuments, stands 151
feet high at the entrance to New York harbor. A gift of friendship from the people
of France to the United States, it was intended to be an impressive symbol of human
liberty. It was certainly that for the millions of immigrants who came to the United
States in the 19th and early 20th centuries, seeking freedom and a better life.
167
Aerial view of the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio. Carbon
tests of the effigy revealed that the creators of this 1,330-foot monument were
members of the Native-American Fort Ancient Culture (A.D. 1000-1550).
The Liberty Bell in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, an
enduring symbol of American
freedom. First rung on July
8, 1776, to celebrate the
adoption of the Declaration
of Independence, it cracked
in 1836 during the funeral of
John Marshall, Chief Justice
of the U.S. Supreme Court.
168
Two monuments to the central role Spain played in the exploration of what is now
the United States. Top, the Castillo de San Marcos, built 1672-1695 to guard
St. Augustine, Florida, the first permanent European settlement in the continental
United States. Above, fountain and mission remains of the San Juan Capistrano
Mission, California, one of nine missions founded by Spanish Franciscan
missionaries led by Fray Junípero Serra in the 1770s. Serra led the Spanish
colonization of what is today the state of California.
170
The faces of four of the most admired American presidents were
carved by Gutzon Borglum into the southeast face of Mount
Rushmore in South Dakota, beginning in 1927. From left to right,
they are: George Washington, commander of the Revolutionary
Army and first president of the young nation; Thomas Jefferson,
author of the Declaration of Independence; Theodore Roosevelt,
who led the country toward progressive reforms and a strong
foreign policy; and Abraham Lincoln, who led the country through
the Civil War and freed the slaves.
George Washington’s beloved home, Mount Vernon,

by the Potomac River in Virginia, where he died on
December 14, 1799, and is buried along with his wife
Martha. Among other treasured items owned by the
first president on display there, visitors can see one of
the keys to the Bastille, a gift to Washington from the
Marquis de Lafayette.
171
Six-year-old Mary Zheng straightens a flower placed at the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial in Washington, D.C., April 30, 2000. The names of more than 58,000
servicemen who died in the war or remain missing are etched on the “wall” part of the
memorial, pictured here. This portion of the monument was designed by Maya Lin,
then a student at Yale University.
172
An autumnal view of Arlington Cemetery, Virginia, America’s largest and best-known
national burial grounds. More than 260,000 people are buried at Arlington Cemetery,
including veterans from all the nation’s wars.
A mother and daughter viewing documents in the Exhibition Hall

of the National Archives. The U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of
Independence, and the Bill of Rights are on display in this Washington,
D.C., building.
Fireworks celebrating the arrival of the Millennium illuminate two major
monuments in Washington, D.C., the Lincoln Memorial on the left and the
obelisk-shaped Washington Monument, center. The Lincoln Memorial’s north and
south side chambers contain carved inscriptions of his Second Inaugural Address
and his Gettysburg Address. The tallest structure in the nation’s capital,
the Washington Monument was dedicated on February 21, 1885.
175
Top, the World War II Memorial, opened in 2004, is the most recent addition to
the many national monuments in Washington, D.C. It honors the 16 million who
served in the armed forces of the United States, the more than 400,000 who died,
and all who supported the war effort from home. Above, the planned design for
the World Trade Center Memorial in New York City is depicted in this photograph
of a model unveiled in late 2004. “Reflecting Absence” will preserve not only the
memory of those who died in the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001, but the
visible remnants of the buildings destroyed that morning, too.
176
machine, and the reaper-thresher or produced scores of new fruits and

combine. Mechanical planters, cut- vegetables; in Wisconsin, Stephen
ters, huskers, and shellers appeared, Babcock devised a test for determin-
as did cream separators, manure ing the butterfat content of milk; at
spreaders, potato planters, hay dri- Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, the
ers, poultry incubators, and a hun- African-American scientist George
dred other inventions. Washington Carver found hundreds
Scarcely less important than of new uses for the peanut, sweet po-
machinery in the agricultural rev- tato, and soybean.
olution was science. In 1862 the In varying degrees, the explosion
Morrill Land Grant College Act al- in agricultural science and technol-
lotted public land to each state for ogy affected farmers all over the
the establishment of agricultural world, raising yields, squeezing out
and industrial colleges. These were small producers, and driving migra-
to serve both as educational institution to industrial cities. Railroads
tions and as centers for research in and steamships, moreover, began to
scientific farming. Congress subse- pull regional markets into one large
quently appropriated funds for the world market with prices instantly
creation of agricultural experiment communicated by trans-Atlantic ca-
stations throughout the country and ble as well as ground wires. Good
granted funds directly to the De- news for urban consumers, falling
partment of Agriculture for research agricultural prices threatened the
purposes. By the beginning of the livelihood of many American farm-
new century, scientists throughout ers and touched off a wave of agrar-
the United States were at work on a ian discontent.
wide variety of agricultural projects.
One of these scientists, Mark THE DIVIDED SOUTH
A
Carleton, traveled for the Depart-
ment of Agriculture to Russia. There fter Reconstruction, Southern
he found and exported to his home- leaders pushed hard to attract indus-
land the rust- and drought-resistant try. States offered large inducements
winter wheat that now accounts and cheap labor to investors to de-
for more than half the U.S. wheat velop the steel, lumber, tobacco, and
crop. Another scientist, Marion textile industries. Yet in 1900 the re-
Dorset, conquered the dreaded hog gion’s percentage of the nation’s in-
cholera, while still another, George dustrial base remained about what
Mohler, helped prevent hoof-and- it had been in 1860. Moreover, the
mouth disease. From North Africa, price of this drive for industrializa-
one researcher brought back Kaf- tion was high: Disease and child
fir corn; from Turkestan, another labor proliferated in Southern mill
imported the yellow-flowering al- towns. Thirty years after the Civil
falfa. Luther Burbank in California War, the South was still poor, over-
177
whelmingly agrarian, and economi- Faced with pervasive discrimina-

cally dependent. Moreover, its race tion, many African Americans fol-
relations reflected not just the legacy lowed Booker T. Washington, who
of slavery, but what was emerging as counseled them to focus on modest
the central theme of its history — a economic goals and to accept tem-
determination to enforce white su- porary social discrimination. Oth-
premacy at any cost. ers, led by the African-American
Intransigent white Southerners intellectual W.E.B. DuBois, wanted
found ways to assert state control to challenge segregation through
to maintain white dominance. Sev- political action. But with both ma-
eral Supreme Court decisions also jor parties uninterested in the is-
bolstered their efforts by upholding sue and scientific theory of the time
traditional Southern views of the ap- generally accepting black inferior-
propriate balance between national ity, calls for racial justice attracted
and state power. little support.
In 1873 the Supreme Court found
that the 14th Amendment (citi- THE LAST FRONTIER
Ifollowed
zenship rights not to be abridged)
conferred no new privileges or im- n 1865 the frontier line generally
munities to protect African Amer- the western limits of the
icans from state power. In 1883, states bordering the Mississippi Riv-
furthermore, it ruled that the 14th er, but bulged outward beyond the
Amendment did not prevent indi- eastern sections of Texas, Kansas,
viduals, as opposed to states, from and Nebraska. Then, running north
practicing discrimination. And in and south for nearly 1,600 kilome-
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Court ters, loomed huge mountain ranges,
found that “separate but equal” many rich in silver, gold, and other
public accommodations for Afri- metals. To their west, plains and des-
can Americans, such as trains and erts stretched to the wooded coastal
restaurants, did not violate their ranges and the Pacific Ocean. Apart
rights. Soon the principle of segre- from the settled districts in Cali-
gation by race extended into every fornia and scattered outposts, the
area of Southern life, from railroads vast inland region was populated
to restaurants, hotels, hospitals, and by Native Americans: among them
schools. Moreover, any area of life the Great Plains tribes — Sioux and
that was not segregated by law was Blackfoot, Pawnee and Cheyenne —
segregated by custom and practice. and the Indian cultures of the South-
Further curtailment of the right to west, including Apache, Navajo, and
vote followed. Periodic lynchings Hopi.
by mobs underscored the region’s A mere quarter-century later,
determination to subjugate its Afri- virtually all this country had been
can-American population. carved into states and territories.
178
Miners had ranged over the whole days. The continental rail network
of the mountain country, tunnel- grew steadily; by 1884 four great
ing into the earth, establishing little lines linked the central Mississippi
communities in Nevada, Montana, Valley area with the Pacific.
and Colorado. Cattle ranchers, tak- The first great rush of population
ing advantage of the enormous to the Far West was drawn to the
grasslands, had laid claim to the mountainous regions, where gold
huge expanse stretching from Texas was found in California in 1848, in
to the upper Missouri River. Sheep Colorado and Nevada 10 years lat-
herders had found their way to the er, in Montana and Wyoming in the
valleys and mountain slopes. Farm- 1860s, and in the Black Hills of the
ers sank their plows into the plains Dakota country in the 1870s. Miners
and closed the gap between the East opened up the country, established
and West. By 1890 the frontier line communities, and laid the founda-
had disappeared. tions for more permanent settle-
Settlement was spurred by the ments. Eventually, however, though
Homestead Act of 1862, which a few communities continued to be
granted free farms of 64 hectares devoted almost exclusively to min-
to citizens who would occupy and ing, the real wealth of Montana,
improve the land. Unfortunately for Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and
the would-be farmers, much of the California proved to be in the grass
Great Plains was suited more for and soil. Cattle-raising, long an
cattle ranching than farming, and important industry in Texas, flour-
by 1880 nearly 22,400,000 hectares ished after the Civil War, when
of “free” land were in the hands of enterprising men began to drive
cattlemen or the railroads. their Texas longhorn cattle north
In 1862 Congress also voted a across the open public land. Feed-
charter to the Union Pacific Rail- ing as they went, the cattle arrived
road, which pushed westward from at railway shipping points in Kan-
Council Bluffs, Iowa, using mostly sas, larger and fatter than when
the labor of ex-soldiers and Irish im- they started. The annual cattle drive
migrants. At the same time, the Cen- became a regular event; for hundreds
tral Pacific Railroad began to build of kilometers, trails were dotted with
eastward from Sacramento, Cali- herds moving northward.
fornia, relying heavily on Chinese Next, immense cattle ranches
immigrant labor. The whole country appeared in Colorado, Wyoming,
was stirred as the two lines steadily Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakota
approached each other, finally meet- territory. Western cities flourished
ing on May 10, 1869, at Promontory as centers for the slaughter of cat-
Point in Utah. The months of labo- tle and dressing of meat. The cat-
rious travel hitherto separating the tle boom peaked in the mid-1880s.
two oceans was now cut to about six By then, not far behind the rancher
179
creaked the covered wagons of the the Sioux were particularly skilled
farmers bringing their families, their at high-speed mounted warfare.
draft horses, cows, and pigs. Under The Apaches were equally adept and
the Homestead Act they staked their highly elusive, fighting in their envi-
claims and fenced them with a new rons of desert and canyons.
invention, barbed wire. Ranchers Conflicts with the Plains Indians
were ousted from lands they had worsened after an incident where the
roamed without legal title. Dakota (part of the Sioux nation),
Ranching and the cattle drives declaring war against the U.S. gov-
gave American mythology its last ernment because of long-standing
icon of frontier culture — the cow- grievances, killed five white settlers.
boy. The reality of cowboy life was Rebellions and attacks continued
one of grueling hardship. As de- through the Civil War. In 1876 the
picted by writers like Zane Grey and last serious Sioux war erupted, when
movie actors such as John Wayne, the Dakota gold rush penetrated
the cowboy was a powerful mytho- the Black Hills. The Army was sup-
logical figure, a bold, virtuous man posed to keep miners off Sioux hunt-
of action. Not until the late 20th cen- ing grounds, but did little to protect
tury did a reaction set in. Histori- the Sioux lands. When ordered to
ans and filmmakers alike began to take action against bands of Sioux
depict “the Wild West” as a sordid hunting on the range according to
place, peopled by characters more their treaty rights, however, it moved
apt to reflect the worst, rather than quickly and vigorously.
the best, in human nature. In 1876, after several indecisive
encounters, Colonel George Custer,
THE PLIGHT OF leading a small detachment of cav-
THE NATIVE AMERICANS alry encountered a vastly superior
A force of Sioux and their allies on the

s in the East, expansion into the Little Bighorn River. Custer and his
plains and mountains by miners, men were completely annihilated.
ranchers, and settlers led to increas- Nonetheless the Native-American
ing conflicts with the Native Amer- insurgency was soon suppressed.
icans of the West. Many tribes of Later, in 1890, a ghost dance ritual
Native Americans — from the Utes on the Northern Sioux reservation
of the Great Basin to the Nez Perces at Wounded Knee, South Dakota,
of Idaho — fought the whites at one led to an uprising and a last, tragic
time or another. But the Sioux of encounter that ended in the death
the Northern Plains and the Apache of nearly 300 Sioux men, women,
of the Southwest provided the most and children.
significant opposition to frontier ad- Long before this, however, the
vance. Led by such resourceful lead- way of life of the Plains Indians
ers as Red Cloud and Crazy Horse, had been destroyed by an expand-
180
ing white population, the coming which time the owner won full title
of the railroads, and the slaughter of and citizenship. Lands not thus dis-
the buffalo, almost exterminated in tributed, however, were offered for
the decade after 1870 by the settlers’ sale to settlers. This policy, however
indiscriminate hunting. well-intentioned, proved disastrous,
The Apache wars in the South- since it allowed more plundering of
west dragged on until Geronimo, the Native-American lands. Moreover,
last important chief, was captured in its assault on the communal orga-
1886. nization of tribes caused further
Government policy ever since the disruption of traditional culture. In
Monroe administration had been 1934 U.S. policy was reversed yet
to move the Native Americans be- again by the Indian Reorganiza-
yond the reach of the white frontier. tion Act, which attempted to pro-
But inevitably the reservations had tect tribal and communal life on the
become smaller and more crowd- reservations.
ed. Some Americans began to pro-
test the government’s treatment of AMBIVALENT EMPIRE
T
Native Americans. Helen Hunt Jack-
son, for example, an Easterner liv- he last decades of the 19th century
ing in the West, wrote A Century of were a period of imperial expansion
Dishonor (1881), which dramatized for the United States. The American
their plight and struck a chord in story took a different course from
the nation’s conscience. Most re- that of its European rivals, however,
formers believed the Native Ameri- because of the U.S. history of strug-
can should be assimilated into the gle against European empires and its
dominant culture. The federal gov- unique democratic development.
ernment even set up a school in Car- The sources of American ex-
lisle, Pennsylvania, in an attempt to pansionism in the late 19th century
impose white values and beliefs on were varied. Internationally, the pe-
Native-American youths. (It was at riod was one of imperialist frenzy,
this school that Jim Thorpe, often as European powers raced to carve
considered the best athlete the Unit- up Africa and competed, along with
ed States has produced, gained fame Japan, for influence and trade in
in the early 20th century.) Asia. Many Americans, including
In 1887 the Dawes (General Al- influential figures such as Theodore
lotment) Act reversed U.S. Native- Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge, and
American policy, permitting the Elihu Root, felt that to safeguard its
president to divide up tribal land own interests, the United States had
and parcel out 65 hectares of land to stake out spheres of economic in-
to each head of a family. Such al- fluence as well. That view was sec-
lotments were to be held in trust by onded by a powerful naval lobby,
the government for 25 years, after which called for an expanded fleet
181
and network of overseas ports as es- United States exercising control or

sential to the economic and political influence over islands in the Carib-
security of the nation. More general- bean Sea and the Pacific.
ly, the doctrine of “manifest destiny,” By the 1890s, Cuba and Puer-
first used to justify America’s conti- to Rico were the only remnants of
nental expansion, was now revived Spain’s once vast empire in the New
to assert that the United States had World, and the Philippine Islands
a right and duty to extend its influ- comprised the core of Spanish power
ence and civilization in the Western in the Pacific. The outbreak of war
Hemisphere and the Caribbean, as had three principal sources: popular
well as across the Pacific. hostility to autocratic Spanish rule
At the same time, voices of anti- in Cuba; U.S. sympathy with the Cu-
imperialism from diverse coalitions ban fight for independence; and a
of Northern Democrats and reform- new spirit of national assertiveness,
minded Republicans remained loud stimulated in part by a nationalistic
and constant. As a result, the acqui- and sensationalist press.
sition of a U.S. empire was piecemeal By 1895 Cuba’s growing restive-
and ambivalent. Colonial-minded ness had become a guerrilla war
administrations were often more of independence. Most Americans
concerned with trade and economic were sympathetic with the Cubans,
issues than political control. but President Cleveland was deter-
The United States’ first venture mined to preserve neutrality. Three
beyond its continental borders was years later, however, during the ad-
the purchase of Alaska — sparsely ministration of William McKinley,
populated by Inuit and other native the U.S. warship Maine, sent to Ha-
peoples — from Russia in 1867. Most vana on a “courtesy visit” designed
Americans were either indifferent to to remind the Spanish of American
or indignant at this action by Secre- concern over the rough handling of
tary of State William Seward, whose the insurrection, blew up in the har-
critics called Alaska “Seward’s Folly” bor. More than 250 men were killed.
and “Seward’s Icebox.” But 30 years The Maine was probably destroyed
later, when gold was discovered on by an accidental internal explosion,
Alaska’s Klondike River, thousands but most Americans believed the
of Americans headed north, and Spanish were responsible. Indigna-
many of them settled in Alaska per- tion, intensified by sensationalized
manently. When Alaska became the press coverage, swept across the
49th state in 1959, it replaced Texas country. McKinley tried to preserve
as geographically the largest state in the peace, but within a few months,
the Union. believing delay futile, he recom-
The Spanish-American War, mended armed intervention.
fought in 1898, marked a turn- The war with Spain was swift and
ing point in U.S. history. It left the decisive. During the four months it
182
lasted, not a single American reverse democratic self-government, a po-

of any importance occurred. A week litical system with which none of
after the declaration of war, Com- them had any previous experience.
modore George Dewey, commander In fact, the United States found itself
of the six-warship Asiatic Squad- in a colonial role. It maintained for-
ron then at Hong Kong, steamed to mal administrative control in Puer-
the Philippines. Catching the entire to Rico and Guam, gave Cuba only
Spanish fleet at anchor in Manila nominal independence, and harshly
Bay, he destroyed it without losing suppressed an armed independence
an American life. movement in the Philippines. (The
Meanwhile, in Cuba, troops land- Philippines gained the right to elect
ed near Santiago, where, after win- both houses of its legislature in
ning a rapid series of engagements, 1916. In 1936 a largely autonomous
they fired on the port. Four armored Philippine Commonwealth was es-
Spanish cruisers steamed out of San- tablished. In 1946, after World War
tiago Bay to engage the American II, the islands finally attained full
navy and were reduced to ruined independence.)
hulks. U.S. involvement in the Pacific
From Boston to San Francisco, area was not limited to the Philip-
whistles blew and flags waved when pines. The year of the Spanish-Amer-
word came that Santiago had fallen. ican War also saw the beginning of a
Newspapers dispatched correspon- new relationship with the Hawaiian
dents to Cuba and the Philippines, Islands. Earlier contact with Hawaii
who trumpeted the renown of the had been mainly through missionar-
nation’s new heroes. Chief among ies and traders. After 1865, however,
them were Commodore Dewey and American investors began to devel-
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, who op the islands’ resources — chiefly
had resigned as assistant secretary of sugarcane and pineapples.
the navy to lead his volunteer regi- When the government of Queen
ment, the “Rough Riders,” to service Liliuokalani announced its inten-
in Cuba. Spain soon sued for an end tion to end foreign influence in 1893,
to the war. The peace treaty signed American businessmen joined with
on December 10, 1898, transferred influential Hawaiians to depose her.
Cuba to the United States for tem- Backed by the American ambassa-
porary occupation preliminary to dor to Hawaii and U.S. troops sta-
the island’s independence. In addi- tioned there, the new government
tion, Spain ceded Puerto Rico and then asked to be annexed to the
Guam in lieu of war indemnity, and United States. President Cleveland,
the Philippines for a U.S. payment of just beginning his second term, re-
$20 million. jected annexation, leaving Hawaii
Officially, U.S. policy encouraged nominally independent until the
the new territories to move toward Spanish-American War, when, with
183
the backing of President McKinley, cans have settled on the mainland,

Congress ratified an annexation to which they have free access and
treaty. In 1959 Hawaii would be- where they enjoy all the political and
come the 50th state. civil rights of any other citizen of the
To some extent, in Hawaii espe- United States.
cially, economic interests had a role
in American expansion, but to influ- THE CANAL AND THE
ential policy makers such as Roos- AMERICAS
T
evelt, Senator Henry Cabot Lodge,
and Secretary of State John Hay, he war with Spain revived U.S.
and to influential strategists such interest in building a canal across
as Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan, the isthmus of Panama, uniting the
the main impetus was geostrategic. two great oceans. The usefulness of
For these people, the major dividend such a canal for sea trade had long
of acquiring Hawaii was Pearl Har- been recognized by the major com-
bor, which would become the major mercial nations of the world; the
U.S. naval base in the central Pacific. French had begun digging one in
The Philippines and Guam comple- the late 19th century but had been
mented other Pacific bases — Wake unable to overcome the engineering
Island, Midway, and American Sa- difficulties. Having become a power
moa. Puerto Rico was an important in both the Caribbean Sea and the
foothold in a Caribbean area that Pacific Ocean, the United States saw
was becoming increasingly impor- a canal as both economically benefi-
tant as the United States contemplat- cial and a way of providing speedier
ed a Central American canal. transfer of warships from one ocean
U.S. colonial policy tended to- to the other.
ward democratic self-government. At the turn of the century, what
As it had done with the Philippines, is now Panama was the rebellious
in 1917 the U.S. Congress granted northern province of Colombia.
Puerto Ricans the right to elect all When the Colombian legislature in
of their legislators. The same law 1903 refused to ratify a treaty giv-
also made the island officially a U.S. ing the United States the right to
territory and gave its people Ameri- build and manage a canal, a group
can citizenship. In 1950 Congress of impatient Panamanians, with the
granted Puerto Rico complete free- support of U.S. Marines, rose in re-
dom to decide its future. In 1952, bellion and declared Panamanian
the citizens voted to reject either independence. The breakaway coun-
statehood or total independence, try was immediately recognized by
and chose instead a commonwealth President Theodore Roosevelt. Un-
status that has endured despite the der the terms of a treaty signed that
efforts of a vocal separatist move- November, Panama granted the
ment. Large numbers of Puerto Ri- United States a perpetual lease to a
184
16-kilometer-wide strip of land (the ence the Mexican revolution and

Panama Canal Zone) between the stop raids into American territory,
Atlantic and the Pacific, in return President Woodrow Wilson sent
for $10 million and a yearly fee of 11,000 troops into the northern part
$250,000. Colombia later received of the country in a futile effort to
$25 million as partial compensation. capture the elusive rebel and outlaw
Seventy-five years later, Panama and Francisco “Pancho” Villa.
the United States negotiated a new Exercising its role as the most
treaty. It provided for Panamanian powerful — and most liberal — of
sovereignty in the Canal Zone and Western Hemisphere nations, the
transfer of the canal to Panama on United States also worked to estab-
December 31, 1999. lish an institutional basis for coop-
The completion of the Panama eration among the nations of the
Canal in 1914, directed by Colonel Americas. In 1889 Secretary of State
George W. Goethals, was a major James G. Blaine proposed that the 21
triumph of engineering. The simul- independent nations of the Western
taneous conquest of malaria and yel- Hemisphere join in an organization
low fever made it possible and was dedicated to the peaceful settlement
one of the 20th century’s great feats of disputes and to closer econom-
in preventive medicine. ic bonds. The result was the Pan-
Elsewhere in Latin America, the American Union, founded in 1890
United States fell into a pattern of and known today as the Organiza-
fitful intervention. Between 1900 tion of American States (OAS).
and 1920, the United States carried The later administrations of
out sustained interventions in six Herbert Hoover (1929-33) and
Western Hemispheric nations — Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-45) re-
most notably Haiti, the Dominican pudiated the right of U.S. interven-
Republic, and Nicaragua. Washing- tion in Latin America. In particular,
ton offered a variety of justifications Roosevelt’s Good Neighbor Policy
for these interventions: to establish of the 1930s, while not ending all
political stability and democratic tensions between the United States
government, to provide a favorable and Latin America, helped dissipate
environment for U.S. investment much of the ill-will engendered by
(often called dollar diplomacy), to earlier U.S. intervention and unilat-
secure the sea lanes leading to the eral actions.
Panama Canal, and even to prevent
European countries from forcibly UNITED STATES AND ASIA
N
collecting debts. The United States
had pressured the French into re- ewly established in the Philip-
moving troops from Mexico in 1867. pines and firmly entrenched in Ha-
Half a century later, however, as part waii at the turn of the century, the
of an ill-starred campaign to influ- United States had high hopes for a
185
vigorous trade with China. However, territorial or administrative rights

Japan and various European nations and restated the Open Door policy.
had acquired established spheres of Once the rebellion was quelled, Hay
influence there in the form of naval protected China from crushing in-
bases, leased territories, monopolis- demnities. Primarily for the sake of
tic trade rights, and exclusive con- American goodwill, Great Britain,
cessions for investing in railway Germany, and lesser colonial powers
construction and mining. formally affirmed the Open Door
Idealism in American foreign policy and Chinese independence.
policy existed alongside the desire In practice, they consolidated their
to compete with Europe’s imperi- privileged positions in the country.
al powers in the Far East. The U.S. A few years later, President
government thus insisted as a matter Theodore Roosevelt mediated the
of principle upon equality of com- deadlocked Russo-Japanese War of
mercial privileges for all nations. 1904-05, in many respects a strug-
In September 1899, Secretary of gle for power and influence in the
State John Hay advocated an “Open northern Chinese province of Man-
Door” for all nations in China — churia. Roosevelt hoped the settle-
that is, equality of trading opportu- ment would provide open-door
nities (including equal tariffs, har- opportunities for American busi-
bor duties, and railway rates) in the ness, but the former enemies and
areas Europeans controlled. Despite other imperial powers succeeded in
its idealistic component, the Open shutting the Americans out. Here
Door, in essence, was a diplomatic as elsewhere, the United States was
maneuver that sought the advantag- unwilling to deploy military force
es of colonialism while avoiding the in the service of economic imperi-
stigma of its frank practice. It had alism. The president could at least
limited success. content himself with the award of
With the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, the Nobel Peace Prize (1906). De-
the Chinese struck out against for- spite gains for Japan, moreover, U.S.
eigners. In June, insurgents seized relations with the proud and new-
Beijing and attacked the foreign ly assertive island nation would be
legations there. Hay promptly an- intermittently difficult through the
nounced to the European powers and early decades of the 20th century. 9
Japan that the United States would
oppose any disturbance of Chinese
186
J.P. MORGAN AND FINANCE CAPITALISM
The rise of American industry required more than great industrialists. Big
industry required big amounts of capital; headlong economic growth required
foreign investors. John Pierpont (J.P.) Morgan was the most important of the
American financiers who underwrote both requirements.
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Morgan headed the
nation’s largest investment banking firm. It brokered American securities to
wealthy elites at home and abroad. Since foreigners needed assurance that
their investments were in a stable currency, Morgan had a strong interest in
keeping the dollar tied to its legal value in gold. In the absence of an official
U.S. central bank, he became the de facto manager of the task.
From the 1880s through the early 20th century, Morgan and Company
not only managed the securities that underwrote many important corporate
consolidations, it actually originated some of them. The most stunning of these
was the U.S. Steel Corporation, which combined Carnegie Steel with several
other companies. Its corporate stock and bonds were sold to investors at the
then-unprecedented sum of $1.4 billion.
Morgan originated, and made large profits from, numerous other merg-
ers. Acting as primary banker to numerous railroads, moreover, he effectively
muted competition among them. His organizational efforts brought stability to
American industry by ending price wars to the disadvantage of farmers and
small manufacturers, who saw him as an oppressor. In 1901, when he estab-
lished the Northern Securities Company to control a group of major railroads,
President Theodore Roosevelt authorized a successful Sherman Antitrust Act
suit to break up the merger.
Acting as an unofficial central banker, Morgan took the lead in support-
ing the dollar during the economic depression of the mid-1890s by marketing
a large government bond issue that raised funds to replenish Treasury gold
supplies. At the same time, his firm undertook a short-term guarantee of the
nation’s gold reserves. In 1907, he took the lead in organizing the New York
financial community to prevent a potentially ruinous string of bankruptcies. In
the process, his own firm acquired a large independent steel company, which
it amalgamated with U.S. Steel. President Roosevelt personally approved the
action in order to avert a serious depression.
By then, Morgan’s power was so great that most Americans instinctively
distrusted and disliked him. With some exaggeration, reformers depicted him
as the director of a “money trust” that controlled America. By the time of his
death in 1913, the country was in the final stages of at last reestablishing a
central bank, the Federal Reserve System, that would assume much of the re-
sponsibility he had exercised unofficially. 
187
188
9
CHAPTER
DISCONTENT
AND
REFORM
Suffragists march on
Pennsylvania Avenue,
Washington, D.C.,
March 3, 1913.
CHAPTER 9: DISCONTENT AND REFORM
“A great democracy will be

neither great nor a democracy
if it is not progressive.”
Former President Theodore Roosevelt, circa 1910
AGRARIAN DISTRESS AND Midwestern farmers were in-

THE RISE OF POPULISM creasingly restive over what they
Iress,n spitelate-19th considered excessive railroad

of their remarkable prog- freight rates to move their goods
century American to market. They believed that the
farmers experienced recurring pe- protective tariff, a subsidy to big
riods of hardship. Mechanical im- business, drove up the price of their
provements greatly increased yield increasingly expensive equipment.
per hectare. The amount of land un- Squeezed by low market prices
der cultivation grew rapidly through- and high costs, they resented ever-
out the second half of the century, heavier debt loads and the banks
as the railroads and the gradual that held their mortgages. Even the
displacement of the Plains Indians weather was hostile. During the late
opened up new areas for western 1880s droughts devastated the west-
settlement. A similar expansion of ern Great Plains and bankrupted
agricultural lands in countries such thousands of settlers.
as Canada, Argentina, and Australia In the South, the end of slavery
compounded these problems in the brought major changes. Much ag-
international market, where much ricultural land was now worked by
of U.S. agricultural production was sharecroppers, tenants who gave
now sold. Everywhere, heavy sup- up to half of their crop to a land-
ply pushed the price of agricultural owner for rent, seed, and essential
commodities downward. supplies. An estimated 80 percent
190
of the South’s African-American Colored Farmers National Alliance,

farmers and 40 percent of its white claimed over a million members.
ones lived under this debilitating Federating into two large North-
system. Most were locked in a cycle ern and Southern blocs, the alli-
of debt, from which the only hope of ances promoted elaborate economic
escape was increased planting. This programs to “unite the farmers of
led to the over-production of cotton America for their protection against
and tobacco, and thus to declining class legislation and the encroach-
prices and the further exhaustion ments of concentrated capital.”
of the soil. By 1890 the level of agrarian dis-
The first organized effort to ad- tress, fueled by years of hardship and
dress general agricultural problems hostility toward the McKinley tar-
was by the Patrons of Husbandry, iff, was at an all-time high. Working
a farmer’s group popularly known with sympathetic Democrats in the
as the Grange Movement. Launched South or small third parties in the
in 1867 by employees of the U.S. West, the Farmers’ Alliances made
Department of Agriculture, the a push for political power. A third
Granges focused initially on social political party, the People’s (or Pop-
activities to counter the isolation ulist) Party, emerged. Never before
most farm families encountered. in American politics had there been
Women’s participation was actively anything like the Populist fervor
encouraged. Spurred by the Panic that swept the prairies and cotton
of 1873, the Grange soon grew to lands. The elections of 1890 brought
20,000 chapters and one-and-a-half the new party into power in a dozen
million members. Southern and Western states, and
The Granges set up their own sent a score of Populist senators and
marketing systems, stores, process- representatives to Congress.
ing plants, factories, and coopera- The first Populist convention
tives, but most ultimately failed. The was in 1892. Delegates from farm,
movement also enjoyed some politi- labor, and reform organizations met
cal success. During the 1870s, a few in Omaha, Nebraska, determined to
states passed “Granger laws,” limit- overturn a U.S. political system they
ing railroad and warehouse fees. viewed as hopelessly corrupted by
By 1880 the Grange was in decline the industrial and financial trusts.
and being replaced by the Farmers’ Their platform stated:
Alliances, which were similar in We are met, in the midst of a
many respects but more overtly po- nation brought to the verge of
litical. By 1890 the alliances, initially moral, political, and material ruin.
autonomous state organizations, Corruption dominates the ballot-
had about 1.5 million members box, the legislatures, the Congress,
from New York to California. A par- and touches even the ermine of the
allel African-American group, the bench [courts]. ... From the same
191
prolific womb of governmental The financial panic of 1893

injustice we breed the two great heightened the tension of this de-
classes — tramps and millionaires. bate. Bank failures abounded in the
South and Midwest; unemployment
The pragmatic portion of their soared and crop prices fell badly.
platform called for the national- The crisis and President Grover
ization of the railroads; a low tar- Cleveland’s defense of the gold stan-
iff; loans secured by non-perishable dard sharply divided the Democrat-
crops stored in government-owned ic Party. Democrats who were silver
warehouses; and, most explosively, supporters went over to the Popu-
currency inflation through Treasury lists as the presidential elections of
purchase and the unlimited coin- 1896 neared.
age of silver at the “traditional” ratio The Democratic convention that
of 16 ounces of silver to one ounce year was swayed by one of the most
of gold. famous speeches in U.S. political
The Populists showed impres- history. Pleading with the conven-
sive strength in the West and South, tion not to “crucify mankind on a
and their candidate for president cross of gold,” William Jennings
polled more than a million votes. Bryan, the young Nebraskan cham-
But the currency question soon over- pion of silver, won the Democrats’
shadowed all other issues. Agrar- presidential nomination. The Popu-
ian spokesmen, convinced that their lists also endorsed Bryan.
troubles stemmed from a shortage In the epic contest that followed,
of money in circulation, argued Bryan carried almost all the South-
that increasing the volume of mon- ern and Western states. But he lost
ey would indirectly raise prices for the more populated, industrial
farm products and drive up indus- North and East — and the election
trial wages, thus allowing debts to — to Republican candidate William
be paid with inflated currency. Con- McKinley.
servative groups and the financial The following year the country’s
classes, on the other hand, respond- finances began to improve, in part
ed that the 16:1 price ratio was nearly owing to the discovery of gold in
twice the market price for silver. A Alaska and the Yukon. This pro-
policy of unlimited purchase would vided a basis for a conservative
denude the U.S. Treasury of all its expansion of the money supply. In
gold holdings, sharply devalue the 1898 the Spanish-American War
dollar, and destroy the purchasing drew the nation’s attention further
power of the working and middle from Populist issues. Populism and
classes. Only the gold standard, they the silver issue were dead. Many of
said, offered stability. the movement’s other reform ideas,
however, lived on.
192
THE STRUGGLES OF LABOR 19th century and fostered huge con-
T centrations of wealth and power was

he life of a 19th-century Ameri- backed by a judiciary that time and
can industrial worker was hard. again ruled against those who chal-
Even in good times wages were low, lenged the system. In this, they were
hours long, and working conditions merely following the prevailing phi-
hazardous. Little of the wealth that losophy of the times. Drawing on a
the growth of the nation had gener- simplified understanding of Dar-
ated went to its workers. Moreover, winian science, many social think-
women and children made up a high ers believed that both the growth of
percentage of the work force in some large business at the expense of small
industries and often received but a enterprise and the wealth of a few
fraction of the wages a man could alongside the poverty of many was
earn. Periodic economic crises swept “survival of the fittest,” and an un-
the nation, further eroding industri- avoidable by-product of progress.
al wages and producing high levels American workers, especially the
of unemployment. skilled among them, appear to have
At the same time, technologi- lived at least as well as their coun-
cal improvements, which added so terparts in industrial Europe. Still,
much to the nation’s productivity, the social costs were high. As late
continually reduced the demand for as the year 1900, the United States
skilled labor. Yet the unskilled labor had the highest job-related fatality
pool was constantly growing, as un- rate of any industrialized nation in
precedented numbers of immigrants the world. Most industrial workers
— 18 million between 1880 and 1910 still worked a 10-hour day (12 hours
— entered the country, eager for in the steel industry), yet earned less
work. than the minimum deemed neces-
Before 1874, when Massachusetts sary for a decent life. The number of
passed the nation’s first legislation children in the work force doubled
limiting the number of hours wom- between 1870 and 1900.
en and child factory workers could The first major effort to orga-
perform to 10 hours a day, virtually nize workers’ groups on a nation-
no labor legislation existed in the wide basis appeared with the Noble
country. It was not until the 1930s Order of the Knights of Labor in
that the federal government would 1869. Originally a secret, ritualistic
become actively involved. Until society organized by Philadelphia
then, the field was left to the state garment workers and advocating a
and local authorities, few of whom cooperative program, it was open
were as responsive to the workers as to all workers, including African
they were to wealthy industrialists. Americans, women, and farmers.
The laissez-faire capitalism that The Knights grew slowly until its
dominated the second half of the railway workers’ unit won a strike
193
against the great railroad baron, Jay policemen and at least four workers
Gould, in 1885. Within a year they were reported killed. Some 60 police
added 500,000 workers to their rolls, officers were injured.
but, not attuned to pragmatic trade In 1892, at Carnegie’s steel works
unionism and unable to repeat this in Homestead, Pennsylvania, a
success, the Knights soon fell into group of 300 Pinkerton detectives
a decline. the company had hired to break a
Their place in the labor move- bitter strike by the Amalgamated
ment was gradually taken by the Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin
American Federation of Labor Workers fought a fierce and losing
(AFL). Rather than open member- gun battle with strikers. The Na-
ship to all, the AFL, under former ci- tional Guard was called in to protect
gar union official Samuel Gompers, non-union workers and the strike
was a group of unions focused on was broken. Unions were not let back
skilled workers. Its objectives were into the plant until 1937.
“pure and simple” and apolitical: in- In 1894, wage cuts at the Pullman
creasing wages, reducing hours, and Company just outside Chicago led to
improving working conditions. It a strike, which, with the support of
did much to turn the labor move- the American Railway Union, soon
ment away from the socialist views tied up much of the country’s rail
of most European labor movements. system. As the situation deteriorat-
Nonetheless, both before the ed, U.S. Attorney General Richard
founding of the AFL and after, Olney, himself a former railroad
American labor history was violent. lawyer, deputized over 3,000 men in
In the Great Rail Strike of 1877, rail an attempt to keep the rails open.
workers across the nation went out This was followed by a federal court
in response to a 10-percent pay cut. injunction against union interfer-
Attempts to break the strike led to rience with the trains. When rioting
oting and wide-scale destruction in ensued, President Cleveland sent in
several cities: Baltimore, Maryland; federal troops, and the strike was
Chicago, Illinois; Pittsburgh, Penn- eventually broken.
sylvania; Buffalo, New York; and San The most militant of the strike-
Francisco, California. Federal troops favoring unions was the Industri-
had to be sent to several locations al Workers of the World (IWW).
before the strike was ended. Formed from an amalgam of unions
Nine years later, in Chicago’s fighting for better conditions in the
Haymarket Square incident, some- West’s mining industry, the IWW,
one threw a bomb at police about or “Wobblies” as they were com-
to break up an anarchist rally in monly known, gained particular
support of an ongoing strike at the prominence from the Colorado mine
McCormick Harvester Company in clashes of 1903 and the singularly
Chicago. In the ensuing melee, seven brutal fashion in which they were
194
put down. Influenced by militant country’s political foundations had

anarchism and openly calling for endured the vicissitudes of foreign
class warfare, the Wobblies gained and civil war, the tides of prosper-
many adherents after they won a dif- ity and depression. Immense strides
ficult strike battle in the textile mills had been made in agriculture and
of Lawrence, Massachusetts, in 1912. industry. Free public education had
Their call for work stoppages in the been largely realized and a free press
midst of World War I, however, led maintained. The ideal of religious
to a government crackdown in 1917 freedom had been sustained. The
that virtually destroyed them. influence of big business was now
more firmly entrenched than ever,
THE REFORM IMPULSE however, and local and municipal
T government often was in the hands

he presidential election of 1900 of corrupt politicians.
gave the American people a chance In response to the excesses of
to pass judgment on the Republican 19th-century capitalism and politi-
administration of President McKin- cal corruption, a reform movement
ley, especially its foreign policy. called “progressivism” arose, which
Meeting at Philadelphia, the Repub- gave American politics and thought
licans expressed jubilation over the its special character from approxi-
successful outcome of the war with mately 1890 until the American en-
Spain, the restoration of prosperity, try into World War I in 1917. The
and the effort to obtain new mar- Progressives had diverse objec-
kets through the Open Door policy. tives. In general, however, they saw
McKinley easily defeated his oppo- themselves as engaged in a demo-
nent, once again William Jennings cratic crusade against the abuses of
Bryan. But the president did not urban political bosses and the cor-
live to enjoy his victory. In Septem- rupt “robber barons” of big business.
ber 1901, while attending an expo- Their goals were greater democracy
sition in Buffalo, New York, he was and social justice, honest govern-
shot down by an assassin, the third ment, more effective regulation of
president to be assassinated since the business, and a revived commitment
Civil War. to public service. They believed that
Theodore Roosevelt, McKinley’s expanding the scope of government
vice president, assumed the presi- would ensure the progress of U.S. so-
dency. Roosevelt’s accession coin- ciety and the welfare of its citizens.
cided with a new epoch in American The years 1902 to 1908 marked
political life and international rela- the era of greatest reform activity,
tions. The continent was peopled; as writers and journalists strongly
the frontier was disappearing. A protested practices and principles
small, formerly struggling repub- inherited from the 18th-century
lic had become a world power. The rural republic that were proving
195
inadequate for a 20th-century ur- labor laws were strengthened and

ban state. Years before, in 1873, the new ones adopted, raising age
celebrated author Mark Twain had limits, shortening work hours, re-
exposed American society to criti- stricting night work, and requiring
cal scrutiny in The Gilded Age. Now, school attendance.
trenchant articles dealing with
trusts, high finance, impure foods, ROOSEVELT’S REFORMS
B
and abusive railroad practices be-
gan to appear in the daily newspa- y the early 20th century, most
pers and in such popular magazines of the larger cities and more than
as McClure’s and Collier’s. Their au- half the states had established an
thors, such as the journalist Ida M. eight-hour day on public works.
Tarbell, who crusaded against the Equally important were the work-
Standard Oil Trust, became known man’s compensation laws, which
as “muckrakers.” made employers legally responsible
In his sensational novel, The for injuries sustained by employees
Jungle, Upton Sinclair exposed un- at work. New revenue laws were also
sanitary conditions in the great enacted, which, by taxing inheri-
Chicago meat-packing houses and tances, incomes, and the property
condemned the grip of the beef or earnings of corporations, sought
trust on the nation’s meat supply. to place the burden of government
Theodore Dreiser, in his novels The on those best able to pay.
Financier and The Titan, made it It was clear to many people
easy for laymen to understand the — notably President Theodore
machinations of big business. Frank Roosevelt and Progressive leaders in
Norris’s The Octopus assailed amor- the Congress (foremost among them
al railroad management; his The Pit Wisconsin Senator Robert La Fol-
depicted secret manipulations on lette) — that most of the problems
the Chicago grain market. Lincoln reformers were concerned about
Steffens’s The Shame of the Cities could be solved only if dealt with on
bared local political corruption. a national scale. Roosevelt declared
This “literature of exposure” roused his determination to give all the
people to action. American people a “Square Deal.”
The hammering impact of un- During his first term, he initiated
compromising writers and an in- a policy of increased government su-
creasingly aroused public spurred pervision through the enforcement
political leaders to take practical of antitrust laws. With his back-
measures. Many states enacted laws ing, Congress passed the Elkins Act
to improve the conditions under (1903), which greatly restricted the
which people lived and worked. At railroad practice of giving rebates
the urging of such prominent so- to favored shippers. The act made
cial critics as Jane Addams, child published rates the lawful standard,
196
and shippers equally liable with Commission real authority in regu-

railroads for rebates. Meanwhile, lating rates, extended the commis-
Congress had created a new Cabi- sion’s jurisdiction, and forced the
net Department of Commerce and railroads to surrender their inter-
Labor, which included a Bureau of locking interests in steamship lines
Corporations empowered to investi- and coal companies.
gate the affairs of large business ag- Other congressional measures
gregations. carried the principle of federal con-
Roosevelt won acclaim as a trol still further. The Pure Food and
“trust-buster,” but his actual atti- Drug Act of 1906 prohibited the use
tude toward big business was com- of any “deleterious drug, chemical,
plex. Economic concentration, he or preservative” in prepared medi-
believed, was inevitable. Some trusts cines and foods. The Meat Inspec-
were “good,” some “bad.” The task of tion Act of the same year mandated
government was to make reasonable federal inspection of all meat-pack-
distinctions. When, for example, the ing establishments engaged in inter-
Bureau of Corporations discovered state commerce.
in 1907 that the American Sugar Re- Conservation of the nation’s nat-
fining Company had evaded import ural resources, managed develop-
duties, subsequent legal actions re- ment of the public domain, and the
covered more than $4 million and reclamation of wide stretches of ne-
convicted several company officials. glected land were among the other
The Standard Oil Company was in- major achievements of the Roosevelt
dicted for receiving secret rebates era. Roosevelt and his aides were
from the Chicago and Alton Rail- more than conservationists, but giv-
road, convicted, and fined a stagger- en the helter-skelter exploitation of
ing $29 million. public resources that had preceded
Roosevelt’s striking personality them, conservation loomed large on
and his trust-busting activities cap- their agenda. Whereas his predeces-
tured the imagination of the ordinary sors had set aside 18,800,000 hect-
individual; approval of his progres- ares of timberland for preservation
sive measures cut across party lines. and parks, Roosevelt increased the
In addition, the abounding prosper- area to 59,200,000 hectares. They
ity of the country at this time led also began systematic efforts to pre-
people to feel satisfied with the party vent forest fires and to re-timber de-
in office. He won an easy victory in nuded tracts.
the 1904 presidential election.
Emboldened by a sweeping elec- TAFT AND WILSON
R
toral triumph, Roosevelt called for
stronger railroad regulation. In June oosevelt’s popularity was at its
1906 Congress passed the Hepburn peak as the campaign of 1908 neared,
Act. It gave the Interstate Commerce but he was unwilling to break the
197
tradition by which no president had Roosevelt who ran as the candidate

held office for more than two terms. of a new Progressive Party. Wilson,
Instead, he supported William How- in a spirited campaign, defeated both
ard Taft, who had served under him rivals.
as governor of the Philippines and During his first term, Wilson
secretary of war. Taft, pledging to secured one of the most notable leg-
continue Roosevelt’s programs, de- islative programs in American histo-
feated Bryan, who was running for ry. The first task was tariff revision.
the third and last time. “The tariff duties must be altered,”
The new president continued the Wilson said. “We must abolish ev-
prosecution of trusts with less dis- erything that bears any semblance
crimination than Roosevelt, further of privilege.” The Underwood Tariff,
strengthened the Interstate Com- signed on October 3, 1913, provided
merce Commission, established a substantial rate reductions on im-
postal savings bank and a parcel post ported raw materials and foodstuffs,
system, expanded the civil service, cotton and woolen goods, iron and
and sponsored the enactment of two steel; it removed the duties from
amendments to the Constitution, more than a hundred other items.
both adopted in 1913. Although the act retained many pro-
The 16th Amendment, rati- tective features, it was a genuine at-
fied just before Taft left office, au- tempt to lower the cost of living. To
thorized a federal income tax; the compensate for lost revenues, it es-
17th Amendment, approved a few tablished a modest income tax.
months later, mandated the direct The second item on the Demo-
election of senators by the people, cratic program was a long overdue,
instead of state legislatures. Yet bal- thorough reorganization of the ram-
anced against these progressive mea- shackle banking and currency sys-
sures was Taft’s acceptance of a new tem. “Control,” said Wilson, “must
tariff with higher protective sched- be public, not private, must be vested
ules; his opposition to the entry of in the government itself, so that the
the state of Arizona into the Union banks may be the instruments, not
because of its liberal constitution; the masters, of business and of indi-
and his growing reliance on the con- vidual enterprise and initiative.”
servative wing of his party. The Federal Reserve Act of De-
By 1910 Taft’s party was bitterly cember 23, 1913, was Wilson’s most
divided. Democrats gained control enduring legislative accomplish-
of Congress in the midterm elec- ment. Conservatives had favored
tions. Two years later, Woodrow establishment of one powerful cen-
Wilson, the Democratic, progressive tral bank. The new act, in line with
governor of the state of New Jersey, the Democratic Party’s Jeffersonian
campaigned against Taft, the Repub- sentiments, divided the country into
lican candidate — and also against 12 districts, with a Federal Reserve
198
Bank in each, all supervised by a na- of 1914 established an “extension

tional Federal Reserve Board with system” of county agents to assist
limited authority to set interest rates. farming throughout the country.
The act assured greater flexibility in Subsequent acts made credit avail-
the money supply and made provi- able to farmers at low rates of in-
sion for issuing federal-reserve notes terest. The Seamen’s Act of 1915
to meet business demands. Greater improved living and working con-
centralization of the system would ditions on board ships. The Fed-
come in the 1930s. eral Workingman’s Compensation
The next important task was Act in 1916 authorized allowances
trust regulation and investigation of to civil service employees for dis-
corporate abuses. Congress autho- abilities incurred at work and estab-
rized a Federal Trade Commission lished a model for private enterprise.
to issue orders prohibiting “unfair The Adamson Act of the same year
methods of competition” by busi- established an eight-hour day for
ness concerns in interstate trade. railroad labor.
The Clayton Antitrust Act forbade This record of achievement won
many corporate practices that had Wilson a firm place in American
thus far escaped specific condem- history as one of the nation’s fore-
nation: interlocking directorates, most progressive reformers. How-
price discrimination among pur- ever, his domestic reputation would
chasers, use of the injunction in soon be overshadowed by his record
labor disputes, and ownership by as a wartime president who led his
one corporation of stock in similar country to victory but could not
enterprises. hold the support of his people for
Farmers and other workers were the peace that followed. 9
not forgotten. The Smith-Lever Act
199
A NATION OF NATIONS
No country’s history has been more closely bound to immigration than that
of the United States. During the first 15 years of the 20th century alone, over
13 million people came to the United States, many passing through Ellis
Island, the federal immigration center that opened in New York harbor in
1892. (Though no longer in service, Ellis Island reopened in 1992 as a
monument to the millions who crossed the nation’s threshold there.)
The first official census in 1790 had numbered Americans at 3,929,214.
Approximately half of the population of the original 13 states was of English
origin; the rest were Scots-Irish, German, Dutch, French, Swedish, Welsh,
and Finnish. These white Europeans were mostly Protestants. A fifth of the
population was enslaved Africans.
From early on, Americans viewed immigrants as a necessary resource for
an expanding country. As a result, few official restrictions were placed upon
immigration into the United States until the 1920s. As more and more im-
migrants arrived, however, some Americans became fearful that their culture
was threatened.
The Founding Fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson, had been ambivalent
over whether or not the United States ought to welcome arrivals from every
corner of the globe. Jefferson wondered whether democracy could ever rest
safely in the hands of men from countries that revered monarchs or replaced
royalty with mob rule. However, few supported closing the gates to newcomers
in a country desperate for labor.
Immigration lagged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as wars dis-
rupted trans-Atlantic travel and European governments restricted movement
to retain young men of military age. Still, as European populations increased,
more people on the same land constricted the size of farming lots to a point
where families could barely survive. Moreover, cottage industries were falling
victim to an Industrial Revolution that was mechanizing production. Thou-
sands of artisans unwilling or unable to find jobs in factories were out of work
in Europe.
In the mid-1840s millions more made their way to the United States as
a result of a potato blight in Ireland and continual revolution in the German
homelands. Meanwhile, a trickle of Chinese immigrants, most from impov-
erished Southeastern China, began to make their way to the American West
Coast.
Almost 19 million people arrived in the United States between 1890 and
1921, the year Congress first passed severe restrictions. Most of these immi-
200
grants were from Italy, Russia, Poland, Greece, and the Balkans. Non-Euro-
peans came, too: east from Japan, south from Canada, and north from Mexico.
By the early 1920s, an alliance was forged between wage-conscious
organized labor and those who called for restricted immigration on racial or
religious grounds, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Immigration Restriction
League. The Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924 permanently curtailed
the influx of newcomers with quotas calculated on nation of origin.
The Great Depression of the 1930s dramatically slowed immigration still
further. With public opinion generally opposed to immigration, even for per-
secuted European minorities, relatively few refugees found sanctuary in the
United States after Adolf Hitler’s ascent to power in 1933.
Throughout the postwar decades, the United States continued to cling
to nationally based quotas. Supporters of the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952
argued that quota relaxation might inundate the United States with Marxist
subversives from Eastern Europe.
In 1965 Congress replaced national quotas with hemispheric ones. Rela-
tives of U.S. citizens received preference, as did immigrants with job skills
in short supply in the United States. In 1978 the hemispheric quotas were
replaced by a worldwide ceiling of 290,000, a limit reduced to 270,000 after
passage of the Refugee Act of 1980.
Since the mid-1970s, the United States has experienced a fresh wave of
immigration, with arrivals from Asia, Africa, and Latin America transforming
communities throughout the country. Current estimates suggest a total annual
arrival of approximately 600,000 legal newcomers to the United States.
Because immigrant and refugee quotas remain well under demand, how-
ever, illegal immigration is still a major problem. Mexicans and other Latin
Americans daily cross the Southwestern U.S. borders to find work, higher
wages, and improved education and health care for their families. Likewise,
there is a substantial illegal migration from countries like China and other
Asian nations. Estimates vary, but some suggest that as many as 600,000
illegals per year arrive in the United States.
Large surges of immigration have historically created social strains along
with economic and cultural dividends. Deeply ingrained in most Americans,
however, is the conviction that the Statue of Liberty does, indeed, stand as a
symbol for the United States as she lifts her lamp before the “golden door,”
welcoming those “yearning to breathe free.” This belief, and the sure knowl-
edge that their forebears were once immigrants, has kept the United States a
nation of nations. 
201
202
10
CHAPTER
WAR,
PROSPERITY,
AND
DEPRESSION
Depression era soup line,

1930s.
CHAPTER 10: WAR, PROSPERITY, AND DEPRESSION
“The chief business

of the American people
is business.”
President Calvin Coolidge, 1925
WAR AND NEUTRAL RIGHTS can carriers, confiscating “contra-
T band” bound for Germany. Germa-

o the American public of 1914, ny employed its major naval weapon,
the outbreak of war in Europe — the submarine, to sink shipping
with Germany and Austria-Hun- bound for Britain or France. Presi-
gary fighting Britain, France, and dent Wilson warned that the United
Russia — came as a shock. At first States would not forsake its tradi-
the encounter seemed remote, but tional right as a neutral to trade with
its economic and political effects belligerent nations. He also declared
were swift and deep. By 1915 U.S. that the nation would hold Germa-
industry, which had been mildly deny to “strict accountability” for the
pressed, was prospering again with loss of American vessels or lives. On
munitions orders from the West- May 7, 1915, a German submarine
ern Allies. Both sides used propa- sunk the British liner Lusitania, kill-
ganda to arouse the public passions ing 1,198 people, 128 of them Amer-
of Americans — a third of whom icans. Wilson, reflecting American
were either foreign-born or had one outrage, demanded an immediate
or two foreign-born parents. More- halt to attacks on liners and mer-
over, Britain and Germany both act- chant ships.
ed against U.S. shipping on the high Anxious to avoid war with the
seas, bringing sharp protests from United States, Germany agreed to
President Woodrow Wilson. give warning to commercial ves-
Britain, which controlled the sels — even if they flew the enemy
seas, stopped and searched Ameri- flag — before firing on them. But
204
after two more attacks — the sink- President Wilson contributed

ing of the British steamer Arabic in greatly to an early end to the war
August 1915, and the torpedoing of by defining American war aims that
the French liner Sussex in March characterized the struggle as be-
1916 — Wilson issued an ultimatum ing waged not against the German
threatening to break diplomatic re- people but against their autocratic
lations unless Germany abandoned government. His Fourteen Points,
submarine warfare. Germany agreed submitted to the Senate in January
and refrained from further attacks 1918, called for: abandonment of se-
through the end of the year. cret international agreements; free-
Wilson won reelection in 1916, dom of the seas; free trade between
partly on the slogan: “He kept us out nations; reductions in national ar-
of war.” Feeling he had a mandate maments; an adjustment of colonial
to act as a peacemaker, he delivered claims in the interests of the inhabit-
a speech to the Senate, January 22, ants affected; self-rule for subjugated
1917, urging the warring nations to European nationalities; and, most
accept a “peace without victory.” importantly, the establishment of
an association of nations to afford
UNITED STATES ENTERS “mutual guarantees of political inde-
WORLD WAR I pendence and territorial integrity to
O great and small states alike.”

n January 31, 1917, however, the In October 1918, the German gov-
German government resumed un- ernment, facing certain defeat, ap-
restricted submarine warfare. After pealed to Wilson to negotiate on the
five U.S. vessels were sunk, Wilson basis of the Fourteen Points. After
on April 2, 1917, asked for a decla- a month of secret negotiations that
ration of war. Congress quickly ap- gave Germany no firm guarantees,
proved. The government rapidly an armistice (technically a truce, but
mobilized military resources, indus- actually a surrender) was concluded
try, labor, and agriculture. By Octo- on November 11.
ber 1918, on the eve of Allied victory,
a U.S. army of over 1,750,000 had THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS
Itreaty,
been deployed in France.
In the summer of 1918, fresh t was Wilson’s hope that the final
American troops under the com- drafted by the victors, would
mand of General John J. Pershing be even-handed, but the passion and
played a decisive role in stopping a material sacrifice of more than four
last-ditch German offensive. That years of war caused the European
fall, Americans were key partici- Allies to make severe demands. Per-
pants in the Meuse-Argonne of- suaded that his greatest hope for
fensive, which cracked Germany’s peace, a League of Nations, would
vaunted Hindenburg Line. never be realized unless he made
205
concessions, Wilson compromised world order. Wilson’s defeat showed

somewhat on the issues of self-de- that the American people were not
termination, open diplomacy, and yet ready to play a commanding role
other specifics. He successfully re- in world affairs. His utopian vision
sisted French demands for the entire had briefly inspired the nation, but
Rhineland, and somewhat moder- its collision with reality quickly led
ated that country’s insistence upon to widespread disillusion with world
charging Germany the whole cost of affairs. America reverted to its in-
the war. The final agreement (the stinctive isolationism.
Treaty of Versailles), however, pro-
vided for French occupation of the POSTWAR UNREST
T
coal- and iron-rich Saar Basin, and
a very heavy burden of reparations he transition from war to peace
upon Germany. was tumultuous. A postwar eco-
In the end, there was little left of nomic boom coexisted with rapid
Wilson’s proposals for a generous increases in consumer prices. La-
and lasting peace but the League of bor unions that had refrained from
Nations itself, which he had made striking during the war engaged in
an integral part of the treaty. Dis- several major job actions. During the
playing poor judgment, however, the summer of 1919, several race riots oc-
president had failed to involve lead- curred, reflecting apprehension over
ing Republicans in the treaty nego- the emergence of a “New Negro”
tiations. Returning with a partisan who had seen military service or gone
document, he then refused to make north to work in the war industry.
concessions necessary to satisfy Re- Reaction to these events merged
publican concerns about protecting with a widespread national fear of
American sovereignty. a new international revolutionary
With the treaty stalled in a Senate movement. In 1917, the Bolsheviks
committee, Wilson began a national had seized power in Russia; after the
tour to appeal for support. On Sep- war, they attempted revolutions in
tember 25, 1919, physically ravaged Germany and Hungary. By 1919, it
by the rigors of peacemaking and seemed they had come to America.
the pressures of the wartime presi- Excited by the Bolshevik example,
dency, he suffered a crippling stroke. large numbers of militants split
Critically ill for weeks, he never fully from the Socialist Party to found
recovered. In two separate votes — what would become the Commu-
November 1919 and March 1920 — nist Party of the United States. In
the Senate once again rejected the April 1919, the postal service inter-
Versailles Treaty and with it the cepted nearly 40 bombs addressed to
League of Nations. prominent citizens. Attorney Gen-
The League of Nations would eral A. Mitchell Palmer’s residence
never be capable of maintaining in Washington was bombed. Palmer,
206
in turn, authorized federal roundups ment fostered private business, ben-

of radicals and deported many who efits would radiate out to most of the
were not citizens. Strikes were often rest of the population.
blamed on radicals and depicted as Accordingly, the Republicans
the opening shots of a revolution. tried to create the most favorable
Palmer’s dire warnings fueled a conditions for U.S. industry. The
“Red Scare” that subsided by mid- Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922
1920. Even a murderous bombing in and the Hawley-Smoot Tariff of
Wall Street in September failed to re- 1930 brought American trade barri-
awaken it. From 1919 on, however, a ers to new heights, guaranteeing U.S.
current of militant hostility toward manufacturers in one field after
revolutionary communism would another a monopoly of the domes-
simmer not far beneath the surface tic market, but blocking a healthy
of American life. trade with Europe that would have
reinvigorated the international
THE BOOMING 1920s economy. Occurring at the begin-
W ning of the Great Depression, Haw-

ilson, distracted by the war, ley-Smoot triggered retaliation from
then laid low by his stroke, had mis- other manufacturing nations and
handled almost every postwar is- contributed greatly to a collapsing
sue. The booming economy began cycle of world trade that intensified
to collapse in mid-1920. The Repub- world economic misery.
lican candidates for president and The federal government also start-
vice president, Warren G. Harding ed a program of tax cuts, reflecting
and Calvin Coolidge, easily defeated Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon’s
their Democratic opponents, James belief that high taxes on individual
M. Cox and Franklin D. Roosevelt. incomes and corporations discour-
Following ratification of the 19th aged investment in new industrial
Amendment to the Constitution, enterprises. Congress, in laws passed
women voted in a presidential elec- between 1921 and 1929, responded
tion for the first time. favorably to his proposals.
The first two years of Harding’s “The chief business of the Amer-
administration saw a continuance ican people is business,” declared
of the economic recession that had Calvin Coolidge, the Vermont-born
begun under Wilson. By 1923, how- vice president who succeeded to the
ever, prosperity was back. For the presidency in 1923 after Harding’s
next six years the country enjoyed death, and was elected in his own
the strongest economy in its history, right in 1924. Coolidge hewed to the
at least in urban areas. Governmen- conservative economic policies of
tal economic policy during the 1920s the Republican Party, but he was a
was eminently conservative. It was much abler administrator than the
based upon the belief that if govern- hapless Harding, whose administra-
207
tion was mired in charges of corrup- decade in which the ordinary fam-
tion in the months before his death. ily purchased its first automobile,
Throughout the 1920s, private obtained refrigerators and vacuum
business received substantial en- cleaners, listened to the radio for en-
couragement, including construc- tertainment, and went regularly to
tion loans, profitable mail-carrying motion pictures. Prosperity was real
contracts, and other indirect subsi- and broadly distributed. The Repub-
dies. The Transportation Act of 1920, licans profited politically, as a result,
for example, had already restored to by claiming credit for it.
private management the nation’s
railways, which had been under gov- TENSIONS OVER
ernment control during the war. The IMMIGRATION
D
Merchant Marine, which had been
owned and largely operated by the uring the 1920s, the United
government, was sold to private op- States sharply restricted foreign im-
erators. migration for the first time in its
Republican policies in agri- history. Large inflows of foreigners
culture, however, faced mounting long had created a certain amount
criticism, for farmers shared least of social tension, but most had been
in the prosperity of the 1920s. The of Northern European stock and, if
period since 1900 had been one of not quickly assimilated, at least pos-
rising farm prices. The unprece- sessed a certain commonality with
dented wartime demand for U.S. most Americans. By the end of the
farm products had provided a strong 19th century, however, the flow was
stimulus to expansion. But by the predominantly from southern and
close of 1920, with the abrupt end Eastern Europe. According to the
of wartime demand, the commercial census of 1900, the population of the
agriculture of staple crops such as United States was just over 76 mil-
wheat and corn fell into sharp de- lion. Over the next 15 years, more
cline. Many factors accounted for than 15 million immigrants entered
the depression in American agri- the country.
culture, but foremost was the loss of Around two-thirds of the inflow
foreign markets. This was partly in consisted of “newer” nationalities
reaction to American tariff policy, and ethnic groups — Russian Jews,
but also because excess farm produc- Poles, Slavic peoples, Greeks, south-
tion was a worldwide phenomenon. ern Italians. They were non-Prot-
When the Great Depression struck estant, non-“Nordic,” and, many
in the 1930s, it devastated an already Americans feared, nonassimilable.
fragile farm economy. They did hard, often dangerous,
The distress of agriculture aside, low-pay work — but were accused
the Twenties brought the best life of driving down the wages of native-
ever to most Americans. It was the born Americans. Settling in squalid
208
urban ethnic enclaves, the new im- CLASH OF CULTURES
S
migrants were seen as maintaining
Old World customs, getting along ome Americans expressed their
with very little English, and sup- discontent with the character of
porting unsavory political machines modern life in the 1920s by focus-
that catered to their needs. Nativists ing on family and religion, as an
wanted to send them back to Europe; increasingly urban, secular society
social workers wanted to American- came into conflict with older rural
ize them. Both agreed that they were traditions. Fundamentalist preach-
a threat to American identity. ers such as Billy Sunday provided an
Halted by World War I, mass outlet for many who yearned for a
immigration resumed in 1919, but return to a simpler past.
quickly ran into determined oppo- Perhaps the most dramatic dem-
sition from groups as varied as the onstration of this yearning was the
American Federation of Labor and religious fundamentalist crusade
the reorganized Ku Klux Klan. Mil- that pitted Biblical texts against the
lions of old-stock Americans who Darwinian theory of biological evo-
belonged to neither organization ac- lution. In the 1920s, bills to prohibit
cepted commonly held assumptions the teaching of evolution began ap-
about the inferiority of non-Nordics pearing in Midwestern and South-
and backed restrictions. Of course, ern state legislatures. Leading this
there were also practical arguments crusade was the aging William Jen-
in favor of a maturing nation putting nings Bryan, long a spokesman for
some limits on new arrivals. the values of the countryside as well
In 1921, Congress passed a sharp- as a progressive politician. Bryan
ly restrictive emergency immigra- skillfully reconciled his anti-evo-
tion act. It was supplanted in 1924 by lutionary activism with his earlier
the Johnson-Reed National Origins economic radicalism, declaring that
Act, which established an immigra- evolution “by denying the need or
tion quota for each nationality. Those possibility of spiritual regeneration,
quotas were pointedly based on the discourages all reforms.”
census of 1890, a year in which the The issue came to a head in 1925,
newer immigration had not yet left when a young high school teacher,
its mark. Bitterly resented by south- John Scopes, was prosecuted for vio-
ern and Eastern European ethnic lating a Tennessee law that forbade
groups, the new law reduced immi- the teaching of evolution in the pub-
gration to a trickle. After 1929, the lic schools. The case became a nation-
economic impact of the Great De- al spectacle, drawing intense news
pression would reduce the trickle to coverage. The American Civil Lib-
a reverse flow — until refugees from erties Union retained the renowned
European fascism began to press for attorney Clarence Darrow to defend
admission to the country. Scopes. Bryan wrangled an appoint-
209
ment as special prosecutor, then fool- manners and morals that caused
ishly allowed Darrow to call him as the decade to be called the Jazz Age,
a hostile witness. Bryan’s confused the Roaring Twenties, or the era of
defense of Biblical passages as literal “flaming youth.” World War I had
rather than metaphorical truth drew overturned the Victorian social and
widespread criticism. Scopes, nearly moral order. Mass prosperity en-
forgotten in the fuss, was convicted, abled an open and hedonistic life
but his fine was reversed on a tech- style for the young middle classes.
nicality. Bryan died shortly after the The leading intellectuals were
trial ended. The state wisely declined supportive. H.L. Mencken, the de-
to retry Scopes. Urban sophisticates cade’s most important social critic,
ridiculed fundamentalism, but it was unsparing in denouncing sham
continued to be a powerful force in and venality in American life. He
rural, small-town America. usually found these qualities in ru-
Another example of a power- ral areas and among businessmen.
ful clash of cultures — one with His counterparts of the progressive
far greater national consequences movement had believed in “the peo-
— was Prohibition. In 1919, after ple” and sought to extend democra-
almost a century of agitation, the cy. Mencken, an elitist and admirer
18th Amendment to the Constitu- of Nietzsche, bluntly called demo-
tion was enacted, prohibiting the cratic man a boob and characterized
manufacture, sale, or transportation the American middle class as the
of alcoholic beverages. Intended to “booboisie.”
eliminate the saloon and the drunk- Novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald cap-
ard from American society, Prohi- tured the energy, turmoil, and disil-
bition created thousands of illegal lusion of the decade in such works
drinking places called “speakeasies,” as The Beautiful and the Damned
made intoxication fashionable, and (1922) and The Great Gatsby (1925).
created a new form of criminal ac- Sinclair Lewis, the first American to
tivity — the transportation of ille- win a Nobel Prize for literature, sati-
gal liquor, or “bootlegging.” Widely rized mainstream America in Main
observed in rural America, openly Street (1920) and Babbitt (1922). Er-
evaded in urban America, Prohibi- nest Hemingway vividly portrayed
tion was an emotional issue in the the malaise wrought by the war in
prosperous Twenties. When the De- The Sun Also Rises (1926) and A
pression hit, it seemed increasingly Farewell to Arms (1929). Fitzgerald,
irrelevant. The 18th Amendment Hemingway, and many other writ-
would be repealed in 1933. ers dramatized their alienation from
Fundamentalism and Prohibition America by spending much of the
were aspects of a larger reaction to decade in Paris.
a modernist social and intellectual African-American culture flow-
revolution most visible in changing ered. Between 1910 and 1930, huge
210
numbers of African Americans initial American recession became

moved from the South to the North part of a worldwide depression.
in search of jobs and personal free- Business houses closed their doors,
dom. Most settled in urban areas, factories shut down, banks failed
especially New York City’s Har- with the loss of depositors’ savings.
lem, Detroit, and Chicago. In 1910 Farm income fell some 50 percent. By
W.E.B. DuBois and other intel- November 1932, approximately one
lectuals had founded the National of every five American workers was
Association for the Advancement unemployed.
of Colored People (NAACP), which The presidential campaign of
helped African Americans gain a na- 1932 was chiefly a debate over the
tional voice that would grow in im- causes and possible remedies of the
portance with the passing years. Great Depression. President Her-
An African-American literary bert Hoover, unlucky in entering
and artistic movement, called the the White House only eight months
“Harlem Renaissance,” emerged. before the stock market crash, had
Like the “Lost Generation,” its tried harder than any other president
writers, such as the poets Langs- before him to deal with economic
ton Hughes and Countee Cullen, hard times. He had attempted to or-
rejected middle-class values and ganize business, had sped up public
conventional literary forms, even works schedules, established the Re-
as they addressed the realities of construction Finance Corporation
African-American experience. Af- to support businesses and financial
rican-American musicians — Duke institutions, and had secured from a
Ellington, King Oliver, Louis Arm- reluctant Congress an agency to un-
strong — first made jazz a staple of derwrite home mortgages. Nonethe-
American culture in the 1920s. less, his efforts had little impact, and
he was a picture of defeat.
THE GREAT DEPRESSION His Democratic opponent, Frank-
I lin D. Roosevelt, already popular as

n October 1929 the booming stock the governor of New York during
market crashed, wiping out many the developing crisis, radiated infec-
investors. The collapse did not in tious optimism. Prepared to use the
itself cause the Great Depression, federal government’s authority for
although it reflected excessively easy even bolder experimental remedies,
credit policies that had allowed the he scored a smashing victory — re-
market to get out of hand. It also ag- ceiving 22,800,000 popular votes
gravated fragile economies in Europe to Hoover’s 15,700,000. The United
that had relied heavily on American States was about to enter a new era
loans. Over the next three years, an of economic and political change.9
211
212
11
CHAPTER
THE
NEW DEAL
AND
WORLD
WAR II
U.S. battleships West

Virginia and Tennessee,
following the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor,
December 7, 1941.
CHAPTER 11: THE NEW DEAL AND WORLD WAR II
“We must be
the great arsenal
of democracy.”
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1941
ROOSEVELT AND THE gressive era of Theodore Roosevelt

NEW DEAL and Woodrow Wilson.
ID.nRoosevelt, What was truly novel about the

1933 the new president, Franklin New Deal, however, was the speed
brought an air of con- with which it accomplished what
fidence and optimism that quickly previously had taken generations.
rallied the people to the banner of Many of its reforms were hastily
his program, known as the New drawn and weakly administered;
Deal. “The only thing we have to some actually contradicted others.
fear is fear itself,” the president de- Moreover, it never succeeded in re-
clared in his inaugural address to storing prosperity. Yet its actions
the nation. provided tangible help for millions
In one sense, the New Deal of Americans, laid the basis for a
merely introduced social and eco- powerful new political coalition,
nomic reforms familiar to many and brought to the individual cit-
Europeans for more than a gen- izen a sharp revival of interest in
eration. Moreover, the New Deal government.
represented the culmination of a
long-range trend toward abandon- THE FIRST NEW DEAL
ment of “laissez-faire” capitalism,
going back to the regulation of Banking and Finance. When Roose-
the railroads in the 1880s, and the velt took the presidential oath, the
flood of state and national reform banking and credit system of the na-
legislation introduced in the Pro- tion was in a state of paralysis. With
214
astonishing rapidity the nation’s bird sanctuaries; and conserving

banks were first closed — and then coal, petroleum, shale, gas, sodium,
reopened only if they were solvent. and helium deposits.
The administration adopted a policy A Public Works Administra-
of moderate currency inflation to tion (PWA) provided employment
start an upward movement in com- for skilled construction workers on
modity prices and to afford some a wide variety of mostly medium-
relief to debtors. New governmen- to large-sized projects. Among the
tal agencies brought generous credit most memorable of its many accom-
facilities to industry and agricul- plishments were the Bonneville and
ture. The Federal Deposit Insurance Grand Coulee Dams in the Pacific
Corporation (FDIC) insured sav- Northwest, a new Chicago sewer sys-
ings-bank deposits up to $5,000. tem, the Triborough Bridge in New
Federal regulations were imposed York City, and two aircraft carriers
upon the sale of securities on the (Yorktown and Enterprise) for the
stock exchange. U.S. Navy.
The Tennessee Valley Authority
Unemployment. Roosevelt faced (TVA), both a work relief program
unprecedented mass unemployment. and an exercise in public planning,
By the time he took office, as many developed the impoverished Tennes-
as 13 million Americans — more see River valley area through a se-
than a quarter of the labor force ries of dams built for flood control
— were out of work. Bread lines and hydroelectric power generation.
were a common sight in most cit- Its provision of cheap electricity for
ies. Hundreds of thousands roamed the area stimulated some economic
the country in search of food, work, progress, but won it the enmity of
and shelter. “Brother, can you spare private electric companies. New
a dime?” was the refrain of a popu- Dealers hailed it as an example of
lar song. “grassroots democracy.”
An early step for the unemployed The Federal Emergency Relief
came in the form of the Civilian Administration (FERA), in opera-
Conservation Corps (CCC), a pro- tion from 1933 to 1935, distributed
gram that brought relief to young direct relief to hundreds of thou-
men between 18 and 25 years of age. sands of people, usually in the form
CCC enrollees worked in camps ad- of direct payments. Sometimes, it
ministered by the army. About two assumed the salaries of schoolteach-
million took part during the decade. ers and other local public service
They participated in a variety of workers. It also developed numerous
conservation projects: planting trees small-scale public works projects, as
to combat soil erosion and maintain did the Civil Works Administra-
national forests; eliminating stream tion (CWA) from late 1933 into the
pollution; creating fish, game, and spring of 1934. Criticized as “make
215
work,” the jobs funded ranged from and dust storms during the 1930s
ditch digging to highway repairs created what became known as the
to teaching. Roosevelt and his key “Dust Bowl.” Crops were destroyed
officials worried about costs but and farms ruined.
continued to favor unemployment By 1940, 2.5 million people had
programs based on work relief rath- moved out of the Plains states, the
er than welfare. largest migration in American histo-
ry. Of those, 200,000 moved to Cali-
Agriculture. In the spring of 1933, fornia. The migrants were not only
the agricultural sector of the econo- farmers, but also professionals, re-
my was in a state of collapse. It there- tailers, and others whose livelihoods
by provided a laboratory for the New were connected to the health of the
Dealers’ belief that greater regulation farm communities. Many ended up
would solve many of the country’s competing for seasonal jobs picking
problems. In 1933, Congress passed crops at extremely low wages.
the Agricultural Adjustment Act The government provided aid
(AAA) to provide economic relief in the form of the Soil Conserva-
to farmers. The AAA proposed to tion Service, established in 1935.
raise crop prices by paying farmers Farm practices that damaged the
a subsidy to compensate for volun- soil had intensified the impact of the
tary cutbacks in production. Funds drought. The service taught farmers
for the payments would be generat- measures to reduce erosion. In ad-
ed by a tax levied on industries that dition, almost 30,000 kilometers of
processed crops. By the time the act trees were planted to break the force
had become law, however, the grow- of winds.
ing season was well under way, and Although the AAA had been
the AAA paid farmers to plow under mostly successful, it was abandoned
their abundant crops. Crop reduc- in 1936, when its tax on food pro-
tion and further subsidies through cessors was ruled unconstitutional
the Commodity Credit Corporation, by the Supreme Court. Congress
which purchased commodities to be quickly passed a farm-relief act,
kept in storage, drove output down which authorized the government to
and farm prices up. make payments to farmers who took
Between 1932 and 1935, farm land out of production for the pur-
income increased by more than 50 pose of soil conservation. In 1938,
percent, but only partly because of with a pro-New Deal majority on the
federal programs. During the same Supreme Court, Congress reinstated
years that farmers were being en- the AAA.
couraged to take land out of pro- By 1940 nearly six million farm-
duction — displacing tenants and ers were receiving federal subsidies.
sharecroppers — a severe drought New Deal programs also provided
hit the Plains states. Violent wind loans on surplus crops, insurance for
216
wheat, and a system of planned stor- not only in industry but also in poli-
age to ensure a stable food supply. tics. Roosevelt’s Democratic Party
Economic stability for the farmer benefited enormously from these
was substantially achieved, albeit at developments.
great expense and with extraordi-
nary government oversight. THE SECOND NEW DEAL
Industry and Labor. The National Isponsored

n its early years, the New Deal
Recovery Administration (NRA), a remarkable series of
established in 1933 with the Nation- legislative initiatives and achieved
al Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), significant increases in production
attempted to end cutthroat competi- and prices — but it did not bring
tion by setting codes of fair competi- an end to the Depression. As the
tive practice to generate more jobs sense of immediate crisis eased, new
and thus more buying. Although demands emerged. Businessmen
welcomed initially, the NRA was mourned the end of “laissez-faire”
soon criticized for over-regulation and chafed under the regulations
and was unable to achieve industrial of the NIRA. Vocal attacks also
recovery. It was declared unconstitu- mounted from the political left
tional in 1935. and right as dreamers, schemers,
The NIRA had guaranteed to and politicians alike emerged with
labor the right of collective bargain- economic panaceas that drew wide
ing through labor unions repre- audiences. Dr. Francis E. Townsend
senting individual workers, but the advocated generous old-age pensions.
NRA had failed to overcome strong Father Charles Coughlin, the “radio
business opposition to independent priest,” called for inflationary policies
unionism. After its demise in 1935, and blamed international bankers
Congress passed the National Labor in speeches increasingly peppered
Relations Act, which restated that with anti-Semitic imagery. Most
guarantee and prohibited employers formidably, Senator Huey P. Long
from unfairly interfering with union of Louisiana, an eloquent and ruth-
activities. It also created the Nation- less spokesman for the displaced,
al Labor Relations Board (NLRB) advocated a radical redistribution
to supervise collective bargaining, of wealth. (If he had not been
administer elections, and ensure assassinated in September 1935, Long
workers the right to choose the orga- very likely would have launched a
nization that should represent them presidential challenge to Franklin
in dealing with employers. Roosevelt in 1936.)
The great progress made in labor In the face of these pressures,
organization brought working peo- President Roosevelt backed a new
ple a growing sense of common in- set of economic and social mea-
terests, and labor’s power increased sures. Prominent among them were
217
measures to fight poverty, create To these, Roosevelt added the

more work for the unemployed, and National Labor Relations Act, the
provide a social safety net. “Wealth Tax Act” that increased
The Works Progress Adminis- taxes on the wealthy, the Public Util-
tration (WPA), the principal relief ity Holding Company Act to break
agency of the so-called second New up large electrical utility conglomer-
Deal, was the biggest public works ates, and a Banking Act that greatly
agency yet. It pursued small-scale expanded the power of the Federal
projects throughout the country, Reserve Board over the large pri-
constructing buildings, roads, air- vate banks. Also notable was the
ports, and schools. Actors, painters, establishment of the Rural Electri-
musicians, and writers were em- fication Administration, which ex-
ployed through the Federal Theater tended electricity into farming areas
Project, the Federal Art Project, throughout the country.
and the Federal Writers Project.
The National Youth Administra- A NEW COALITION
Iwonn athedecisive
tion gave part-time employment
to students, established training 1936 election, Roosevelt
programs, and provided aid to un- victory over his Re-
employed youth. The WPA only in- publican opponent, Alf Landon of
cluded about three million jobless Kansas. He was personally popular,
at a time; when it was abandoned and the economy seemed near re-
in 1943, it had helped a total of nine covery. He took 60 percent of the
million people. vote and carried all but two states.
The New Deal’s cornerstone, ac- A broad new coalition aligned with
cording to Roosevelt, was the Social the Democratic Party emerged, con-
Security Act of 1935. Social Security sisting of labor, most farmers, most
created a system of state-adminis- urban ethnic groups, African Amer-
tered welfare payments for the poor, icans, and the traditionally Demo-
unemployed, and disabled based on cratic South. The Republican Party
matching state and federal contribu- received the support of business as
tions. It also established a national well as middle-class members of
system of retirement benefits draw- small towns and suburbs. This po-
ing on a “trust fund” created by em- litical alliance, with some variation
ployer and employee contributions. and shifting, remained intact for
Many other industrialized nations several decades.
had already enacted such programs, Roosevelt’s second term was a
but calls for such an initiative in the time of consolidation. The presi-
United States had gone unheeded. dent made two serious political
Social Security today is the largest missteps: an ill-advised, unsuccess-
domestic program administered by ful attempt to enlarge the Supreme
the U.S. government. Court and a failed effort to “purge”
218
increasingly recalcitrant Southern WAR AND UNEASY

conservatives from the Democratic NEUTRALITY
B
Party. When he cut high govern-
ment spending, moreover, the econ- efore Roosevelt’s second term
omy collapsed. These events led to was well under way, his domestic
the rise of a conservative coalition program was overshadowed by the
in Congress that was unreceptive to expansionist designs of totalitarian
new initiatives. regimes in Japan, Italy, and Ger-
From 1932 to 1938 there was many. In 1931 Japan had invaded
widespread public debate on the Manchuria, crushed Chinese resis-
meaning of New Deal policies to tance, and set up the puppet state
the nation’s political and economic of Manchukuo. Italy, under Benito
life. Americans clearly wanted the Mussolini, enlarged its boundar-
government to take greater respon- ies in Libya and in 1935 conquered
sibility for the welfare of ordinary Ethiopia. Germany, under Nazi
people, however uneasy they might leader Adolf Hitler, militarized its
be about big government in general. economy and reoccupied the Rhine-
The New Deal established the foun- land (demilitarized by the Treaty of
dations of the modern welfare state Versailles) in 1936. In 1938, Hitler
in the United States. Roosevelt, per- incorporated Austria into the Ger-
haps the most imposing of the 20th- man Reich and demanded cession of
century presidents, had established the German-speaking Sudetenland
a new standard of mass leadership. from Czechoslovakia. By then, war
No American leader, then or seemed imminent.
since, used the radio so effectively. The United States, disillusioned
In a radio address in 1938, Roose- by the failure of the crusade for
velt declared: “Democracy has democracy in World War I, an-
disappeared in several other great nounced that in no circumstances
nations, not because the people of could any country involved in the
those nations disliked democracy, conflict look to it for aid. Neutral-
but because they had grown tired ity legislation, enacted piecemeal
of unemployment and insecurity, of from 1935 to 1937, prohibited trade
seeing their children hungry while in arms with any warring nations,
they sat helpless in the face of gov- required cash for all other com-
ernment confusion and government modities, and forbade American
weakness through lack of leader- flag merchant ships from carrying
ship.” Americans, he concluded, those goods. The objective was to
wanted to defend their liberties at prevent, at almost any cost, the in-
any cost and understood that “the volvement of the United States in a
first line of the defense lies in the foreign war.
protection of economic security.” With the Nazi conquest of Po-
land in 1939 and the outbreak of
219
World War II, isolationist sentiment toward intervention. Thus the No-
increased, even though Americans vember election yielded another
clearly favored the victims of Hitler’s majority for the president, making
aggression and supported the Allied Roosevelt the first, and last, U.S.
democracies, Britain and France. chief executive to be elected to a
Roosevelt could only wait until pub- third term.
lic opinion regarding U.S. involve- In early 1941, Roosevelt got Con-
ment was altered by events. gress to approve the Lend-Lease
After the fall of France and the Program, which enabled him to
beginning of the German air war transfer arms and equipment to
against Britain in mid-1940, the de- any nation (notably Great Britain,
bate intensified between those in the later the Soviet Union and China)
United States who favored aiding the deemed vital to the defense of the
democracies and the antiwar faction United States. Total Lend-Lease aid
known as the isolationists. Roos- by war’s end would amount to more
evelt did what he could to nudge than $50,000 million.
public opinion toward intervention. Most remarkably, in August, he
The United States joined Canada met with Prime Minister Churchill
in a Mutual Board of Defense, and off the coast of Newfoundland. The
aligned with the Latin American re- two leaders issued a “joint state-
publics in extending collective pro- ment of war aims,” which they
tection to the nations in the Western called the Atlantic Charter. Bearing
Hemisphere. a remarkable resemblance to Wood-
Congress, confronted with the row Wilson’s Fourteen Points, it
mounting crisis, voted immense called for these objectives: no ter-
sums for rearmament, and in Sep- ritorial aggrandizement; no territo-
tember 1940 passed the first peace- rial changes without the consent of
time conscription bill ever enacted the people concerned; the right of
in the United States. In that month all people to choose their own form
also, Roosevelt concluded a daring of government; the restoration of
executive agreement with British self-government to those deprived
Prime Minister Winston Churchill. of it; economic collaboration be-
The United States gave the British tween all nations; freedom from
Navy 50 “overage” destroyers in re- war, from fear, and from want for
turn for British air and naval bases all peoples; freedom of the seas;
in Newfoundland and the North and the abandonment of the use
Atlantic. of force as an instrument of inter-
The 1940 presidential election national policy.
campaign demonstrated that the America was now neutral in
isolationists, while vocal, were a name only.
minority. Roosevelt’s Republican
opponent, Wendell Wilkie, leaned
220
JAPAN, PEARL HARBOR, States release Japanese assets and

AND WAR stop U.S. naval expansion in the
W Pacific. Hull countered with a pro-

hile most Americans anxiously posal for Japanese withdrawal from
watched the course of the European all its conquests. The swift Japanese
war, tension mounted in Asia. Tak- rejection on December 1 left the
ing advantage of an opportunity to talks stalemated.
improve its strategic position, Japan On the morning of December 7,
boldly announced a “new order” in Japanese carrier-based planes ex-
which it would exercise hegemony ecuted a devastating surprise attack
over all of the Pacific. Battling for against the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl
survival against Nazi Germany, Brit- Harbor, Hawaii.
ain was unable to resist, abandon- Twenty-one ships were destroyed
ing its concession in Shanghai and or temporarily disabled; 323 aircraft
temporarily closing the Chinese sup- were destroyed or damaged; 2,388
ply route from Burma. In the sum- soldiers, sailors, and civilians were
mer of 1940, Japan won permission killed. However, the U.S. aircraft
from the weak Vichy government carriers that would play such a criti-
in France to use airfields in north- cal role in the ensuing naval war in
ern Indochina (North Vietnam). the Pacific were at sea and not an-
That September the Japanese for- chored at Pearl Harbor.
mally joined the Rome-Berlin Axis. American opinion, still divid-
The United States countered with an ed about the war in Europe, was
embargo on the export of scrap iron unified overnight by what Presi-
to Japan. dent Roosevelt called “a day that
In July 1941 the Japanese occu- will live in infamy.” On December
pied southern Indochina (South 8, Congress declared a state of war
Vietnam), signaling a probable with Japan; three days later Ger-
move southward toward the oil, tin, many and Italy declared war on the
and rubber of British Malaya and United States.
the Dutch East Indies. The United
States, in response, froze Japanese MOBILIZATION FOR
assets and initiated an embargo on TOTAL WAR
T
the one commodity Japan needed
above all others — oil. he nation rapidly geared itself
General Hideki Tojo became for mobilization of its people and its
prime minister of Japan that Oc- entire industrial capacity. Over the
tober. In mid-November, he sent a next three-and-a-half years, war in-
special envoy to the United States dustry achieved staggering produc-
to meet with Secretary of State tion goals — 300,000 aircraft, 5,000
Cordell Hull. Among other things, cargo ships, 60,000 landing craft,
Japan demanded that the United 86,000 tanks. Women workers, ex-
221
emplified by “Rosie the Riveter,” THE WAR IN NORTH AFRICA

played a bigger part in industrial AND EUROPE
S
production than ever before. Total
strength of the U.S. armed forces at oon after the United States en-
the end of the war was more than tered the war, the United States,
12 million. All the nation’s activi- Britain, and the Soviet Union (at
ties — farming, manufacturing, war with Germany since June 22,
mining, trade, labor, investment, 1941) decided that their primary
communications, even education military effort was to be concen-
and cultural undertakings — were trated in Europe.
in some fashion brought under new Throughout 1942, British and
and enlarged controls. German forces fought inconclusive
As a result of Pearl Harbor and back-and-forth battles across Libya
the fear of Asian espionage, Ameri- and Egypt for control of the Suez
cans also committed what was later Canal. But on October 23, Brit-
recognized as an act of intolerance: ish forces commanded by General
the internment of Japanese Ameri- Sir Bernard Montgomery struck
cans. In February 1942, nearly at the Germans from El Alamein.
120,000 Japanese Americans resid- Equipped with a thousand tanks,
ing in California were removed from many made in America, they defeat-
their homes and interned behind ed General Erwin Rommel’s army
barbed wire in 10 wretched tem- in a grinding two-week campaign.
porary camps, later to be moved to On November 7, American and Brit-
“relocation centers” outside isolated ish armed forces landed in French
Southwestern towns. North Africa. Squeezed between
Nearly 63 percent of these Japa- forces advancing from east and west,
nese Americans were American-born the Germans were pushed back and,
U.S. citizens. A few were Japanese after fierce resistance, surrendered
sympathizers, but no evidence of es- in May 1943.
pionage ever surfaced. Others volun- The year 1942 was also the turn-
teered for the U.S. Army and fought ing point on the Eastern Front. The
with distinction and valor in two in- Soviet Union, suffering immense
fantry units on the Italian front. Some losses, stopped the Nazi invasion at
served as interpreters and translators the gates of Leningrad and Moscow.
in the Pacific. In the winter of 1942-43, the Red
In 1983 the U.S. government ac- Army defeated the Germans at Stal-
knowledged the injustice of intern- ingrad (Volgograd) and began the
ment with limited payments to those long offensive that would take them
Japanese-Americans of that era who to Berlin in 1945.
were still living. In July 1943 British and Ameri-
can forces invaded Sicily and won
control of the island in a month.
222
During that time, Benito Mussolini sians advancing irresistibly from the
fell from power in Italy. His suc- East. On May 7, Germany surren-
cessors began negotiations with dered unconditionally.
the Allies and surrendered im-
mediately after the invasion of the THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC
U
Italian mainland in September.
However, the German Army had by .S. troops were forced to surren-
then taken control of the peninsula. der in the Philippines in early 1942,
The fight against Nazi forces in Ita- but the Americans rallied in the
ly was bitter and protracted. Rome following months. General James
was not liberated until June 4, 1944. “Jimmy” Doolittle led U.S. Army
As the Allies slowly moved north, bombers on a raid over Tokyo in
they built airfields from which they April; it had little actual military
made devastating air raids against significance, but gave Americans an
railroads, factories, and weapon em- immense psychological boost.
placements in southern Germany In May, at the Battle of the Coral
and central Europe, including the oil Sea — the first naval engagement
installations at Ploesti, Romania. in history in which all the fighting
Late in 1943 the Allies, after much was done by carrier-based planes —
debate over strategy, decided to open a Japanese naval invasion fleet sent
a front in France to compel the Ger- to strike at southern New Guinea
mans to divert far larger forces from and Australia was turned back by a
the Soviet Union. U.S. task force in a close battle. A few
U.S. General Dwight D. Eisen- weeks later, the naval Battle of Mid-
hower was appointed Supreme way in the central Pacific resulted in
Commander of the Allied Forces the first major defeat of the Japanese
in Europe. After immense prepara- Navy, which lost four aircraft car-
tions, on June 6, 1944, a U.S., British, riers. Ending the Japanese advance
and Canadian invasion army, pro- across the central Pacific, Midway
tected by a greatly superior air force, was the turning point.
landed on five beaches in Norman- Other battles also contributed
dy. With the beachheads established to Allied success. The six-month
after heavy fighting, more troops land and sea battle for the island
poured in, and pushed the Germans of Guadalcanal (August 1942-Feb-
back in one bloody engagement af- ruary 1943) was the first major U.S.
ter another. On August 25 Paris was ground victory in the Pacific. For
liberated. most of the next two years, Ameri-
The Allied offensive stalled that can and Australian troops fought
fall, then suffered a setback in east- their way northward from the
ern Belgium during the winter, but South Pacific and westward from
in March, the Americans and British the Central Pacific, capturing the
were across the Rhine and the Rus- Solomons, the Gilberts, the Mar-
223
shalls, and the Marianas in a series cretly agreed to enter the war against
of amphibious assaults. Japan three months after the surren-
der of Germany. In return, the USSR
THE POLITICS OF WAR would gain effective control of Man-
A churia and receive the Japanese Ku-

llied military efforts were ac- rile Islands as well as the southern
companied by a series of important half of Sakhalin Island. The eastern
international meetings on the politi- boundary of Poland was set roughly
cal objectives of the war. In Janu- at the Curzon line of 1919, thus giv-
ary 1943 at Casablanca, Morocco, ing the USSR half its prewar terri-
an Anglo-American conference de- tory. Discussion of reparations to be
cided that no peace would be con- collected from Germany — payment
cluded with the Axis and its Balkan demanded by Stalin and opposed
satellites except on the basis of “un- by Roosevelt and Churchill — was
conditional surrender.” This term, inconclusive. Specific arrangements
insisted upon by Roosevelt, sought were made concerning Allied occu-
to assure the people of all the fight- pation in Germany and the trial and
ing nations that no separate peace punishment of war criminals. Also
negotiations would be carried on at Yalta it was agreed that the great
with representatives of Fascism and powers in the Security Council of
Nazism and there would be no com- the proposed United Nations should
promise of the war’s idealistic objec- have the right of veto in matters af-
tives. Axis propagandists, of course, fecting their security.
used it to assert that the Allies were Two months after his return
engaged in a war of extermination. from Yalta, Franklin Roosevelt died
At Cairo, in November 1943, of a cerebral hemorrhage while va-
Roosevelt and Churchill met with cationing in Georgia. Few figures
Nationalist Chinese leader Chiang in U.S. history have been so deeply
Kai-shek to agree on terms for Ja- mourned, and for a time the Ameri-
pan, including the relinquishment can people suffered from a numbing
of gains from past aggression. At sense of irreparable loss. Vice Presi-
Tehran, shortly afterward, Roose- dent Harry Truman, former senator
velt, Churchill, and Soviet leader from Missouri, succeeded him.
Joseph Stalin made basic agree-
ments on the postwar occupation of WAR, VICTORY, AND
Germany and the establishment of a THE BOMB
T
new international organization, the
United Nations. he final battles in the Pacific were
In February 1945, the three Al- among the war’s bloodiest. In June
lied leaders met again at Yalta (now 1944, the Battle of the Philippine Sea
in Ukraine), with victory seemingly effectively destroyed Japanese naval
secure. There, the Soviet Union se- air power, forcing the resignation of
224
Japanese Prime Minister Tojo. Gen- view of what they would face in a
eral Douglas MacArthur — who planned invasion of Japan.
had reluctantly left the Philippines The heads of the U.S., British,
two years before to escape Japanese and Soviet governments met at Pots-
capture — returned to the islands in dam, a suburb outside Berlin, from
October. The accompanying Battle July 17 to August 2, 1945, to discuss
of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval en- operations against Japan, the peace
gagement ever fought, was the final settlement in Europe, and a policy
decisive defeat of the Japanese Navy. for the future of Germany. Perhaps
By February 1945, U.S. forces had presaging the coming end of the al-
taken Manila. liance, they had no trouble on vague
Next, the United States set its matters of principle or the practi-
sight on the strategic island of Iwo cal issues of military occupation, but
Jima in the Bonin Islands, about reached no agreement on many tan-
halfway between the Marianas and gible issues, including reparations.
Japan. The Japanese, trained to die The day before the Potsdam
fighting for the Emperor, made Conference began, U.S. nuclear sci-
suicidal use of natural caves and entists engaged in the secret Man-
rocky terrain. U.S. forces took the hattan Project exploded an atomic
island by mid-March, but not before bomb near Alamogordo, New Mex-
losing the lives of some 6,000 U.S. ico. The test was the culmination of
Marines. Nearly all the Japanese de- three years of intensive research in
fenders perished. By now the United laboratories across the United States.
States was undertaking extensive air It lay behind the Potsdam Declara-
attacks on Japanese shipping and tion, issued on July 26 by the United
airfields and wave after wave of in- States and Britain, promising that
cendiary bombing attacks against Japan would neither be destroyed
Japanese cities. nor enslaved if it surrendered. If
At Okinawa (April 1-June 21, Japan continued the war, howev-
1945), the Americans met even fierc- er, it would meet “prompt and ut-
er resistance. With few of the deter destruction.” President Truman,
fenders surrendering, the U.S. Army calculating that an atomic bomb
and Marines were forced to wage a might be used to gain Japan’s sur-
war of annihilation. Waves of Ka- render more quickly and with fewer
mikaze suicide planes pounded the casualties than an invasion of the
offshore Allied fleet, inflicting more mainland, ordered that the bomb be
damage than at Leyte Gulf. Japan used if the Japanese did not surren-
lost 90-100,000 troops and probably der by August 3.
as many Okinawan civilians. U.S. A committee of U.S. military and
losses were more than 11,000 killed political officials and scientists had
and nearly 34,000 wounded. Most considered the question of targets
Americans saw the fighting as a pre- for the new weapon. Secretary of
225
War Henry L. Stimson argued suc- tion they drafted outlined a world
cessfully that Kyoto, Japan’s ancient organization in which internation-
capital and a repository of many al differences could be discussed
national and religious treasures, be peacefully and common cause made
taken out of consideration. Hiroshi- against hunger and disease. In con-
ma, a center of war industries and trast to its rejection of U.S. mem-
military operations, became the first bership in the League of Nations
objective. after World War I, the U.S. Senate
On August 6, a U.S. plane, the promptly ratified the U.N. Charter
Enola Gay, dropped an atomic bomb by an 89 to 2 vote. This action con-
on the city of Hiroshima. On Au- firmed the end of the spirit of isola-
gust 9, a second atomic bomb was tionism as a dominating element in
dropped, this time on Nagasaki. American foreign policy.
The bombs destroyed large sections In November 1945 at Nurem-
of both cities, with massive loss of berg, Germany, the criminal trials
life. On August 8, the USSR declared of 22 Nazi leaders, provided for at
war on Japan and attacked Japanese Potsdam, took place. Before a group
forces in Manchuria. On August 14, of distinguished jurists from Brit-
Japan agreed to the terms set at Pots- ain, France, the Soviet Union, and
dam. On September 2, 1945, Japan the United States, the Nazis were
formally surrendered. Americans accused not only of plotting and
were relieved that the bomb has- waging aggressive war but also of
tened the end of the war. The re- violating the laws of war and of hu-
alization of the full implications of manity in the systematic genocide,
nuclear weapons’ awesome destruc- known as the Holocaust, of Europe-
tiveness would come later. an Jews and other peoples. The trials
Within a month, on October 24, lasted more than 10 months. Twenty-
the United Nations came into exis- two defendants were convicted, 12
tence following the meeting of rep- of them sentenced to death. Similar
resentatives of 50 nations in San proceedings would be held against
Francisco, California. The constitu- Japanese war leaders. 9
226
THE RISE OF INDUSTRIAL UNIONS
While the 1920s were years of relative prosperity in the United States, the
workers in industries such as steel, automobiles, rubber, and textiles benefited
less than they would later in the years after World War II. Working conditions
in many of these industries did improve. Some companies in the 1920s began
to institute “welfare capitalism” by offering workers various pension, profit-
sharing, stock option, and health plans to ensure their loyalty. Still, shop floor
environments were often hard and authoritarian.
The 1920s saw the mass production industries redouble their efforts to
prevent the growth of unions, which under the American Federation of Labor
(AFL) had enjoyed some success during World War I. They did so by using
spies and armed strikebreakers and by firing those suspected of union sym-
pathies. Independent unions were often accused of being Communist. At the
same time, many companies formed their own compliant employee organiza-
tions, often called “company unions.”
Traditionally, state legislatures, reflecting the views of the American mid-
dle class, supported the concept of the “open shop,” which prevented a union
from being the exclusive representative of all workers. This made it easier for
companies to deny unions the right to collective bargaining and block union-
ization through court enforcement.
Between 1920 and 1929, union membership in the United States
dropped from about five million to three-and-a-half million. The large un-
skilled or semi-skilled industries remained unorganized.
The onset of the Great Depression led to widespread unemployment. By
1933 there were over 12 million Americans out of work. In the automobile in-
dustry, for example, the work force was cut in half between 1929 and 1933. At
the same time, wages dropped by two-thirds.
The election of Franklin Roosevelt, however, was to change the status of
the American industrial worker forever. The first indication that Roosevelt was
interested in the well-being of workers came with the appointment of Frances
Perkins, a prominent social welfare advocate, to be his secretary of labor.
(Perkins was also the first woman to hold a Cabinet-level position.) The far-
reaching National Industrial Recovery Act sought to raise industrial wages,
limit the hours in a work week, and eliminate child labor. Most importantly,
the law recognized the right of employees “to organize and bargain collectively
through representatives of their own choosing.”
John L. Lewis, the feisty and articulate head of the United Mine Workers
(UMW), understood more than any other labor leader what the New Deal
meant for workers. Stressing Roosevelt’s support, Lewis engineered a major
227
unionizing campaign, rebuilding the UMW’s declining membership from

150,000 to over 500,000 within a year.
Lewis was eager to get the AFL, where he was a member of the Execu-
tive Council, to launch a similar drive in the mass production industries. But
the AFL, with its historic focus on the skilled trade worker, was unwilling to
do so. After a bitter internal feud, Lewis and a few others broke with the AFL
to set up the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO), later the Congress
of Industrial Organizations. The passage of the National Labor Relations Act
(NLRA) in 1935 and the friendly attitude of the National Labor Relations
Board put the power and authority of the federal government behind the CIO.
Its first targets were the notoriously anti-union auto and steel industries.
In late 1936 a series of sit-down strikes, orchestrated by the fledgling United
Auto Workers union under Walter Reuther, erupted at General Motors plants
in Cleveland, Ohio, and Flint, Michigan. Soon 135,000 workers were involved
and GM production ground to a halt.
With the sympathetic governor of Michigan refusing to evict the strikers,
a settlement was reached in early 1937. By September of that year, the United
Auto Workers had contracts with 400 companies involved in the automobile
industry, assuring workers a minimum wage of 75 cents per hour and a 40-
hour work week.
In the first six months of its existence, the Steel Workers Organizing
Committee (SWOC), headed by Lewis lieutenant Philip Murray, picked up
125,000 members. The major American steel company, U.S. Steel, realizing
that times had changed, also came to terms in 1937. That same year the Su-
preme Court upheld the constitutionality of the NLRA. Subsequently, smaller
companies, traditionally even more anti-union than the large corporations,
gave in. One by one, other industries — rubber, oil, electronics, and textiles
— also followed suit.
The rise of big labor had two major long-term impacts. It became the
organizational core of the national Democratic Party, and it gained material
benefits for its members that all but erased the economic distinction between
working-class and middle-class America. 
228
In the depths of the Great Depression, March 1933, anxious depositors line up
outside of a New York bank. The new president, Franklin D. Roosevelt,
had just temporarily closed the nation’s banks to end the drain on the
banks’ reserves. Only those banks that were still solvent were permitted
to reopen after a four-day “bank holiday.”
TU R MO I L AN D
CHANGE A PICTURE PROFILE

For the United States, the 20th century was a period of extraordinary
turmoil and change. In these decades, the nation endured the worst
economic depression in its history; emerged triumphant, with the
Allies, in World War II; assumed a role of global leadership in the
century’s twilight conflict known as the Cold War; and underwent a
remarkable social, economic, and political transition at home. Where
once the United States transformed itself over the slow march of
centuries, it now seemed to reinvent itself almost by decades.
229
Men and women strikers dance the time away on March 11, 1937, during a strike
at the Chevrolet Fisher Body Plants in St. Louis, Missouri. Strikes such as these
succeeded in winning union recognition for industrial workers throughout
the country in the 1930s.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs perhaps the most far-reaching legislation

of the New Deal: the Social Security Act of 1935. Today, Social Security, one of
the largest government programs in the United States, provides retirement and
disability income to millions of Americans.
230
World War II in the Pacific was characterized by large-scale naval and air battles.
Here, a Japanese plane plunges in flames during an attack on a U.S. carrier fleet in the
Mariana Islands, June 1944. U.S. Army and Marine forces’ “island hopping” campaign
began at Guadalcanal in August 1942 and ended with the assault on
Okinawa in April 1945.
231
Top, General Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander in Europe, talks with
paratroopers shortly before the Normandy invasion, June 6, 1944.
Above, General Douglas MacArthur (center) had declared, “I shall return,”
when he escaped from advancing Japanese forces in the Philippines in 1942.
Two years later, he made good on his promise and waded ashore at Leyte as
American forces began the liberation of the Philippines.
232
Assembly line of P-38 Lightning
fighter planes during World War II.
With its massive output of war
materiel, the United States became,
in the words of President Roosevelt,
“the arsenal of democracy.”
Japanese Americans await

relocation to internment
camps in the worst violation
of human rights that occurred
inside the United States
during World War II.
233
Meeting of British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill,
President Roosevelt, and
Soviet leader Josef Stalin
at Yalta in February 1945.
Disagreements over the
future of Europe anticipated
the division of the European
continent that remained a
fixture of the Cold War.
U.S. troops witness a

nuclear test in the Nevada
desert in 1951. The threat of
nuclear weapons remained
a constant and ominous fact
of life throughout the
Cold War era.
234
In perhaps the most
famous photograph
in American political
history, President Harry
Truman holds aloft a
newspaper wrongly
announcing his defeat
by Republican nominee
Thomas Dewey in
the 1948 presidential
election. Truman’s
come-from-behind
victory surprised all
political experts
that day.
U.S. infantry fire against North Korean forces invading South Korea in 1951,
in a conflict that lasted three painful years.
At a congressional hearing in 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy points to a map
purportedly showing Communist Party influence in the United States in 1950.
His chief antagonist at the hearing, lawyer Joseph Welch, sits at left. Welch
successfully discredited McCarthy at these hearings, which were among the
first to be televised across the country.
Portrait of President Dwight

Eisenhower, whose genial,
reassuring personality
dominated the decade of
the 1950s.
236
Jackie Robinson, sliding home in a 1948 baseball game. Robinson broke the
color barrier against black professional baseball players when he joined the
Brooklyn Dodgers and became one of the stars of the game.
237
America’s first star of rock and roll, Elvis Presley, performing on television’s “Ed
Sullivan Show,” September 9, 1956. Today, years after his death, he is still
revered by legions of his fans as “The King.”
238
Lucille Ball (second from left) with her supporting cast, including husband
Desi Arnaz (standing), on one of the most popular television comedy shows of the
1950s, I Love Lucy. The show established many of the techniques and conventions
shared by hundreds of the televised “situation comedies” that followed.
239
Above, Rosa Parks sits in one of the front seats of a city bus following
the successful boycott of the bus system in 1955-56 by African-
American citizens of Montgomery, Alabama. The boycott was
organized to protest the practice of segregation in which African
Americans were forced to sit in the back of the bus. The Supreme
Court agreed that this practice was a constitutional violation a
year after the boycott began. The great leader of the civil rights
movement in America, Martin Luther King Jr., gained national
prominence through the Montgomery bus boycott.
Opposite page, right, Martin Luther King Jr. escorts children to a

previously all-white public school in Grenada, Mississippi, in 1966.
Although school segregation was outlawed in the landmark Brown
v. Board of Education decision of the Supreme Court in 1954, it took
decades of protest, political pressure, and additional court decisions
to enforce school desegregation across the country.
240
241
President John F. Kennedy addresses nearly a quarter of a million Germans in
West Berlin in June 1963. Honoring the courage of those living in one of the
flash points of the Cold War, he said, “All free men, wherever they may live, are
citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, ‘Ich bin ein
Berliner’ (I am a Berliner).”
242
Ratification document for
the 1963 Limited Nuclear
Test Ban Treaty, one of
the first arms control
agreements between the
West and the Soviet bloc,
which ended atmospheric
nuclear testing.
Thurgood Marshall, one of the champions of equal rights for all Americans. As
a counsel for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), Marshall successfully argued the landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of
Education case before the Supreme Court, which outlawed segregation in public
schools. He later served a distinguished career as a justice of the Supreme Court.
244
President Lyndon B. Johnson, born in Texas, was Senate majority leader in the
Eisenhower years and vice president under John F. Kennedy before becoming
president. One of the most powerful political personalities to serve in Washington,
Johnson engineered the most ambitious domestic legislative agenda through
Congress since Roosevelt’s New Deal. The Vietnam War ended his presidency,
however, since it divided the nation.
245
A U.S. Army unit searches for snipers while on
patrol in South Vietnam in 1965. From 60,000
troops in 1965, U.S. forces grew to more than
540,000 by 1969, in a conflict that divided
the nation more bitterly than any other in the
20th century. The last U.S. combat forces left
Vietnam in 1973.
247
Antiwar demonstrators and police clash during violent protests at the 1968
Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. Antiwar candidates at
the convention lost the presidential nomination to Lyndon Johnson’s vice
president, Hubert Humphrey.
Two of the leaders of the women’s movement in the 1960s: Kate Millett (left),
author of a controversial book of the time, Sexual Politics, and journalist and
activist Gloria Steinem.
248
The crest of the counterculture wave in the United
States: the three-day 1969 outdoor rock concert
and gathering known as Woodstock.
249
Mexican-American labor activist César
Chávez (center) talking with grape
pickers in the field in 1968. Head of the
United Farm Workers Union in California,
Chávez was a leading voice for the
rights of migrant farm workers, focusing
national attention on their terrible
working conditions.
250
President Richard M. Nixon, with his wife Pat Nixon
and Secretary of State William Rogers (far right),
walks along a portion of the Great Wall of China.
Nixon’s 1972 opening to the People’s Republic of
China was a major diplomatic triumph at a time
when U.S. forces were slowly withdrawing from
South Vietnam.
251
Participant in a demonstration by Native
Americans in Washington, D.C., in 1978.
They also have sought to assert their rights
and identity in recent decades.
Oil fires burn behind a destroyed Iraqi

tank at the conclusion of the Gulf
War in February 1991. The United
States led a coalition of more than 30
nations in an air and ground campaign
called Desert Storm that ended Iraq’s
occupation of Kuwait.
252
Civil rights leader and political activist Jesse Jackson at a political
rally in 1984. For more than four decades, Jackson has remained
among the most prominent, politically active, and eloquent
representatives of what he has termed a “Rainbow Coalition”
of the poor, African Americans, and other minorities.
253
A launch of a space shuttle, the first reusable space vehicle. The versatile shuttle,
which has been used to place satellites in orbit and conduct wide-ranging experiments,
is indispensable in the assemblage (beginning June 1998) and running of the
International Space Station.
254
President George
H.W. Bush with
Poland’s Lech Walesa
(center) and First
Lady Barbara Bush
in Warsaw, July 1989.
That remarkable year
saw the end of the
Cold War, as well
as the end to the
40-year division of
Europe into hostile
East and West blocs.
President William (Bill)

J. Clinton, delivering
his inaugural address
to the nation, January
21, 1993. During his
administration, the
United States enjoyed
more peace and
economic well-being
than at any time in its
history. He was the
second U.S. president
to be impeached and
found not guilty.
255
256
12
CHAPTER
POSTWAR
AMERICA
Moving day in a newly

opened suburban
community, 1953.
CHAPTER 12: POSTWAR AMERICA
“We must build a new world,

a far better world —
one in which the
eternal dignity of man
is respected.”
President Harry S. Truman, 1945
CONSENSUS AND CHANGE the growth of government author-
T ity and accepted the outlines of the

he United States dominated glob- rudimentary welfare state first for-
al affairs in the years immediately mulated during the New Deal. They
after World War II. Victorious in enjoyed a postwar prosperity that
that great struggle, its homeland created new levels of affluence.
undamaged from the ravages of But gradually some began to
war, the nation was confident of its question dominant assumptions.
mission at home and abroad. U.S. Challenges on a variety of fronts
leaders wanted to maintain the dem- shattered the consensus. In the
ocratic structure they had defended 1950s, African Americans launched
at tremendous cost and to share the a crusade, joined later by other mi-
benefits of prosperity as widely as nority groups and women, for a larg-
possible. For them, as for publisher er share of the American dream. In
Henry Luce of Time magazine, this the 1960s, politically active students
was the “American Century.” protested the nation’s role abroad,
For 20 years most Americans re- particularly in the corrosive war in
mained sure of this confident ap- Vietnam. A youth counterculture
proach. They accepted the need emerged to challenge the status quo.
for a strong stance against the So- Americans from many walks of life
viet Union in the Cold War that sought to establish a new social and
unfolded after 1945. They endorsed political equilibrium.
258
COLD WAR AIMS (1929-40), America now advocated
T open trade for two reasons: to cre-

he Cold War was the most im- ate markets for American agricul-
portant political and diplomatic is- tural and industrial products, and
sue of the early postwar period. It to ensure the ability of Western Eu-
grew out of longstanding disagree- ropean nations to export as a means
ments between the Soviet Union and of rebuilding their economies. Re-
the United States that developed af- duced trade barriers, American
ter the Russian Revolution of 1917. policy makers believed, would pro-
The Soviet Communist Party un- mote economic growth at home and
der V.I. Lenin considered itself the abroad, bolstering U.S. friends and
spearhead of an international move- allies in the process.
ment that would replace the exist- The Soviet Union had its own
ing political orders in the West, and agenda. The Russian historical tra-
indeed throughout the world. In dition of centralized, autocratic
1918 American troops participated government contrasted with the
in the Allied intervention in Russia American emphasis on democracy.
on behalf of anti-Bolshevik forces. Marxist-Leninist ideology had been
American diplomatic recognition of downplayed during the war but still
the Soviet Union did not come until guided Soviet policy. Devastated by
1933. Even then, suspicions persist- the struggle in which 20 million
ed. During World War II, however, Soviet citizens had died, the Soviet
the two countries found themselves Union was intent on rebuilding and
allied and downplayed their differ- on protecting itself from another
ences to counter the Nazi threat. such terrible conflict. The Soviets
At the war’s end, antagonisms were particularly concerned about
surfaced again. The United States another invasion of their territo-
hoped to share with other countries ry from the west. Having repelled
its conception of liberty, equality, Hitler’s thrust, they were determined
and democracy. It sought also to to preclude another such attack.
learn from the perceived mistakes of They demanded “defensible” bor-
the post-WWI era, when American ders and “friendly” regimes in East-
political disengagement and eco- ern Europe and seemingly equated
nomic protectionism were thought both with the spread of Commu-
to have contributed to the rise of dic- nism, regardless of the wishes of
tatorships in Europe and elsewhere. native populations. However, the
Faced again with a postwar world United States had declared that one
of civil wars and disintegrating of its war aims was the restoration
empires, the nation hoped to proof independence and self-govern-
vide the stability to make peaceful ment to Poland, Czechoslovakia,
reconstruction possible. Recalling and the other countries of Central
the specter of the Great Depression and Eastern Europe.
259
HARRY TRUMAN’S ment following the Western model.

LEADERSHIP The Yalta Conference of February
T 1945 had produced an agreement on

he nation’s new chief executive, Eastern Europe open to different in-
Harry S. Truman, succeeded Frank- terpretations. It included a promise
lin D. Roosevelt as president before of “free and unfettered” elections.
the end of the war. An unpretentious Meeting with Soviet Minister
man who had previously served as of Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Mo-
Democratic senator from Missouri, lotov less than two weeks after be-
then as vice president, Truman ini- coming president, Truman stood
tially felt ill-prepared to govern. firm on Polish self-determination,
Roosevelt had not discussed com- lecturing the Soviet diplomat about
plex postwar issues with him, and he the need to implement the Yalta ac-
had little experience in international cords. When Molotov protested, “I
affairs. “I’m not big enough for this have never been talked to like that
job,” he told a former colleague. in my life,” Truman retorted, “Carry
Still, Truman responded quickly out your agreements and you won’t
to new challenges. Sometimes im- get talked to like that.” Relations de-
pulsive on small matters, he proved teriorated from that point onward.
willing to make hard and carefully During the closing months of
considered decisions on large ones. World War II, Soviet military forces
A small sign on his White House occupied all of Central and Eastern
desk declared, “The Buck Stops Europe. Moscow used its military
Here.” His judgments about how power to support the efforts of the
to respond to the Soviet Union ulti- Communist parties in Eastern Eu-
mately determined the shape of the rope and crush the democratic par-
early Cold War. ties. Communists took over one
nation after another. The process
ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR concluded with a shocking coup
T d’etat in Czechoslovakia in 1948.

he Cold War developed as dif- Public statements defined the be-
ferences about the shape of the ginning of the Cold War. In 1946
postwar world created suspicion and Stalin declared that international
distrust between the United States peace was impossible “under the
and the Soviet Union. The first — present capitalist development of
and most difficult — test case was the world economy.” Former British
Poland, the eastern half of which had Prime Minister Winston Churchill
been invaded and occupied by the delivered a dramatic speech in Ful-
USSR in 1939. Moscow demanded ton, Missouri, with Truman sitting
a government subject to Soviet in- on the platform. “From Stettin in
fluence; Washington wanted a more the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic,”
independent, representative govern- Churchill said, “an iron curtain has
260
descended across the Continent.” straits between the Black Sea and the
Britain and the United States, he de- Mediterranean. In early 1947, Amer-
clared, had to work together to coun- ican policy crystallized when Britain
ter the Soviet threat. told the United States that it could
no longer afford to support the gov-
CONTAINMENT ernment of Greece against a strong
C Communist insurgency.
ontainment of the Soviet Union In a strongly worded speech to
became American policy in the Congress, Truman declared, “I be-
postwar years. George Kennan, a lieve that it must be the policy of the
top official at the U.S. embassy in United States to support free peoples
Moscow, defined the new approach who are resisting attempted subjuga-
in the Long Telegram he sent to tion by armed minorities or by out-
the State Department in 1946. He side pressures.” Journalists quickly
extended his analysis in an arti- dubbed this statement the “Truman
cle under the signature “X” in the Doctrine.” The president asked
prestigious journal Foreign Affairs. Congress to provide $400 million for
Pointing to Russia’s traditional sense economic and military aid, mostly to
of insecurity, Kennan argued that Greece but also to Turkey. After an
the Soviet Union would not soften emotional debate that resembled the
its stance under any circumstances. one between interventionists and
Moscow, he wrote, was “committed isolationists before World War II, the
fanatically to the belief that with the money was appropriated.
United States there can be no perma- Critics from the left later charged
nent modus vivendi, that it is desir- that to whip up American support
able and necessary that the internal for the policy of containment, Tru-
harmony of our society be disrupt- man overstated the Soviet threat to
ed.” Moscow’s pressure to expand the United States. In turn, his state-
its power had to be stopped through ments inspired a wave of hysterical
“firm and vigilant containment of anti-Communism throughout the
Russian expansive tendencies. ...” country. Perhaps so. Others, how-
The first significant application ever, would counter that this argu-
of the containment doctrine came in ment ignores the backlash that likely
the Middle East and eastern Medi- would have occurred if Greece, Tur-
terranean. In early 1946, the Unit- key, and other countries had fallen
ed States demanded, and obtained, within the Soviet orbit with no op-
a full Soviet withdrawal from Iran, position from the United States.
the northern half of which it had oc- Containment also called for ex-
cupied during the war. That sum- tensive economic aid to assist the re-
mer, the United States pointedly covery of war-torn Western Europe.
supported Turkey against Soviet With many of the region’s nations
demands for control of the Turkish economically and politically unsta-
261
ble, the United States feared that lo- American leaders feared that
cal Communist parties, directed by losing Berlin would be a prelude to
Moscow, would capitalize on their losing Germany and subsequently all
wartime record of resistance to the of Europe. Therefore, in a successful
Nazis and come to power. “The pa- demonstration of Western resolve
tient is sinking while the doctors de- known as the Berlin Airlift, Allied air
liberate,” declared Secretary of State forces took to the sky, flying supplies
George C. Marshall. In mid-1947 into Berlin. U.S., French, and British
Marshall asked troubled European planes delivered nearly 2,250,000
nations to draw up a program “di- tons of goods, including food and
rected not against any country or coal. Stalin lifted the blockade after
doctrine but against hunger, poverty, 231 days and 277,264 flights.
desperation, and chaos.” By then, Soviet domination of
The Soviets participated in the Eastern Europe, and especially the
first planning meeting, then depart- Czech coup, had alarmed the West-
ed rather than share economic data ern Europeans. The result, initiated
and submit to Western controls on by the Europeans, was a military al-
the expenditure of the aid. The reliance to complement economic ef-
maining 16 nations hammered out a forts at containment. The Norwegian
request that finally came to $17,000 historian Geir Lundestad has called
million for a four-year period. In it “empire by invitation.” In 1949 the
early 1948 Congress voted to fund United States and 11 other countries
the “Marshall Plan,” which helped established the North Atlantic Trea-
underwrite the economic resur- ty Organization (NATO). An attack
gence of Western Europe. It is gen- against one was to be considered an
erally regarded as one of the most attack against all, to be met by ap-
successful foreign policy initiatives propriate force. NATO was the first
in U.S. history. peacetime “entangling alliance” with
Postwar Germany was a special powers outside the Western hemi-
problem. It had been divided into sphere in American history.
U.S., Soviet, British, and French The next year, the United States
zones of occupation, with the for- defined its defense aims clearly. The
mer German capital of Berlin (it- National Security Council (NSC)
self divided into four zones), near — the forum where the President,
the center of the Soviet zone. When Cabinet officers, and other execu-
the Western powers announced tive branch members consider na-
their intention to create a consoli- tional security and foreign affairs
dated federal state from their zones, issues — undertook a full-fledged
Stalin responded. On June 24, 1948, review of American foreign and
Soviet forces blockaded Berlin, cut- defense policy. The resulting docu-
ting off all road and rail access from ment, known as NSC-68, signaled a
the West. new direction in American security
262
policy. Based on the assumption that control, at least in Asia.

“the Soviet Union was engaged in The Korean War brought armed
a fanatical effort to seize control of conflict between the United States
all governments wherever possible,” and China. The United States and
the document committed America the Soviet Union had divided Ko-
to assist allied nations anywhere in rea along the 38th parallel after lib-
the world that seemed threatened by erating it from Japan at the end of
Soviet aggression. After the start of World War II. Originally a matter
the Korean War, a reluctant Truman of military convenience, the divid-
approved the document. The United ing line became more rigid as both
States proceeded to increase defense major powers set up governments
spending dramatically. in their respective occupation zones
and continued to support them even
THE COLD WAR IN ASIA AND after departing.
THE MIDDLE EAST In June 1950, after consultations
W with and having obtained the assent

hile seeking to prevent Com- of the Soviet Union, North Korean
munist ideology from gaining fur- leader Kim Il-sung dispatched his
ther adherents in Europe, the United Soviet-supplied army across the 38th
States also responded to challenges parallel and attacked southward,
elsewhere. In China, Americans overrunning Seoul. Truman, per-
worried about the advances of Mao ceiving the North Koreans as Soviet
Zedong and his Communist Party. pawns in the global struggle, read-
During World War II, the National- ied American forces and ordered
ist government under Chiang Kai- World War II hero General Douglas
shek and the Communist forces MacArthur to Korea. Meanwhile,
waged a civil war even as they fought the United States was able to secure
the Japanese. Chiang had been a a U.N. resolution branding North
war-time ally, but his government Korea as an aggressor. (The Soviet
was hopelessly inefficient and cor- Union, which could have vetoed any
rupt. American policy makers had action had it been occupying its seat
little hope of saving his regime and on the Security Council, was boycot-
considered Europe vastly more im- ting the United Nations to protest
portant. With most American aid a decision not to admit Mao’s new
moving across the Atlantic, Mao’s Chinese regime.)
forces seized power in 1949. Chiang’s The war seesawed back and forth.
government fled to the island of Tai- U.S. and Korean forces were initial-
wan. When China’s new ruler an- ly pushed into an enclave far to the
nounced that he would support the south around the city of Pusan. A
Soviet Union against the “imperial- daring amphibious landing at In-
ist” United States, it appeared that chon, the port for the city of Seoul,
Communism was spreading out of drove the North Koreans back and
263
threatened to occupy the entire States officially recognized the new

peninsula. In November, China state of Israel 15 minutes after it was
entered the war, sending massive proclaimed — a decision Truman
forces across the Yalu River. U.N. made over strong resistance from
forces, largely American, retreated Marshall and the State Department.
once again in bitter fighting. Com- The result was an enduring dilemma
manded by General Matthew B. — how to maintain ties with Israel
Ridgway, they stopped the overex- while keeping good relations with
tended Chinese, and slowly fought bitterly anti-Israeli (and oil-rich)
their way back to the 38th parallel. Arab states.
MacArthur meanwhile challenged
Truman’s authority by attempting EISENHOWER AND THE
to orchestrate public support for COLD WAR
Icame
bombing China and assisting an
invasion of the mainland by Chi- n 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower be-
ang Kai-shek’s forces. In April 1951, the first Republican president
Truman relieved him of his duties in 20 years. A war hero rather than
and replaced him with Ridgway. a career politician, he had a natu-
The Cold War stakes were high. ral, common touch that made him
Mindful of the European prior- widely popular. “I like Ike” was the
ity, the U.S. government decided campaign slogan of the time. After
against sending more troops to Ko- serving as Supreme Commander
rea and was ready to settle for the of Allied Forces in Western Europe
prewar status quo. The result was during World War II, Eisenhower
frustration among many Americans had been army chief of staff, presi-
who could not understand the need dent of Columbia University, and
for restraint. Truman’s popular- military head of NATO before seek-
ity plunged to a 24-percent approval ing the Republican presidential
rating, the lowest to that time of any nomination. Skillful at getting peo-
president since pollsters had begun ple to work together, he functioned
to measure presidential popularity. as a strong public spokesman and
Truce talks began in July 1951. The an executive manager somewhat re-
two sides finally reached an agree- moved from detailed policy making.
ment in July 1953, during the first Despite disagreements on detail,
term of Truman’s successor, Dwight he shared Truman’s basic view of
Eisenhower. American foreign policy. He, too,
Cold War struggles also occurred perceived Communism as a mono-
in the Middle East. The region’s stra- lithic force struggling for world
tegic importance as a supplier of oil supremacy. In his first inaugural ad-
had provided much of the impetus dress, he declared, “Forces of good
for pushing the Soviets out of Iran in and evil are massed and armed and
1946. But two years later, the United opposed as rarely before in history.
264
Freedom is pitted against slavery, tian Sinai. The president exerted

lightness against dark.” heavy pressure on all three countries
The new president and his secre- to withdraw. Still, the nuclear threat
tary of state, John Foster Dulles, had may have been taken seriously by
argued that containment did not go Communist China, which refrained
far enough to stop Soviet expansion. not only from attacking Taiwan, but
Rather, a more aggressive policy from occupying small islands held
of liberation was necessary, to free by Nationalist Chinese just off the
those subjugated by Communism. mainland. It may also have deterred
But when a democratic rebellion Soviet occupation of Berlin, which
broke out in Hungary in 1956, the reemerged as a festering problem
United States stood back as Soviet during Eisenhower’s last two years
forces suppressed it. in office.
Eisenhower’s basic commitment
to contain Communism remained, THE COLD WAR AT HOME
N
and to that end he increased Ameri-
can reliance on a nuclear shield. The ot only did the Cold War shape
United States had created the first U.S. foreign policy, it also had a pro-
atomic bombs. In 1950 Truman had found effect on domestic affairs.
authorized the development of a new Americans had long feared radi-
and more powerful hydrogen bomb. cal subversion. These fears could at
Eisenhower, fearful that defense times be overdrawn, and used to jus-
spending was out of control, re- tify otherwise unacceptable politi-
versed Truman’s NSC-68 policy of a cal restrictions, but it also was true
large conventional military buildup. that individuals under Communist
Relying on what Dulles called “mas- Party discipline and many “fellow
sive retaliation,” the administration traveler” hangers-on gave their po-
signaled it would use nuclear weap- litical allegiance not to the United
ons if the nation or its vital interests States, but to the international Com-
were attacked. munist movement, or, practically
In practice, however, the nuclear speaking, to Moscow. During the
option could be used only against Red Scare of 1919-1920, the govern-
extremely critical attacks. Real ment had attempted to remove per-
Communist threats were generally ceived threats to American society.
peripheral. Eisenhower rejected the After World War II, it made strong
use of nuclear weapons in Indochi- efforts against Communism within
na, when the French were ousted by the United States. Foreign events,
Vietnamese Communist forces in espionage scandals, and politics cre-
1954. In 1956, British and French ated an anti-Communist hysteria.
forces attacked Egypt following When Republicans were victo-
Egyptian nationalization of the Suez rious in the midterm congressio-
Canal and Israel invaded the Egyp- nal elections of 1946 and appeared
265
ready to investigate subversive activ- The most vigorous anti-Commu-

ity, President Truman established a nist warrior was Senator Joseph R.
Federal Employee Loyalty Program. McCarthy, a Republican from Wis-
It had little impact on the lives of consin. He gained national attention
most civil servants, but a few hun- in 1950 by claiming that he had a list
dred were dismissed, some unfairly. of 205 known Communists in the
In 1947 the House Committee State Department. Though McCar-
on Un-American Activities investi- thy subsequently changed this figure
gated the motion-picture industry several times and failed to substan-
to determine whether Communist tiate any of his charges, he struck a
sentiments were being reflected in responsive public chord.
popular films. When some writers McCarthy gained power when
(who happened to be secret mem- the Republican Party won control
bers of the Communist Party) re- of the Senate in 1952. As a commit-
fused to testify, they were cited for tee chairman, he now had a forum
contempt and sent to prison. After for his crusade. Relying on exten-
that, the film companies refused to sive press and television coverage,
hire anyone with a marginally ques- he continued to search for treachery
tionable past. among second-level officials in the
In 1948, Alger Hiss, who had Eisenhower administration. Enjoy-
been an assistant secretary of state ing the role of a tough guy doing
and an adviser to Roosevelt at Yal- dirty but necessary work, he pursued
ta, was publicly accused of being presumed Communists with vigor.
a Communist spy by Whittaker McCarthy overstepped himself
Chambers, a former Soviet agent. by challenging the U.S. Army when
Hiss denied the accusation, but in one of his assistants was drafted.
1950 he was convicted of perjury. Television brought the hearings into
Subsequent evidence indicates that millions of homes. Many Ameri-
he was indeed guilty. cans saw McCarthy’s savage tactics
In 1949 the Soviet Union shocked for the first time, and public sup-
Americans by testing its own atomic port began to wane. The Republican
bomb. In 1950, the government un- Party, which had found McCarthy
covered a British-American spy net- useful in challenging a Democratic
work that transferred to the Soviet administration when Truman was
Union materials about the develop- president, began to see him as an
ment of the atomic bomb. Two of embarrassment. The Senate finally
its operatives, Julius Rosenberg and condemned him for his conduct.
his wife Ethel, were sentenced to McCarthy in many ways repre-
death. Attorney General J. Howard sented the worst domestic excesses
McGrath declared there were many of the Cold War. As Americans re-
American Communists, each bear- pudiated him, it became natural
ing “the germ of death for society.” for many to assume that the Com-
266
munist threat at home and abroad 1950s another wave occurred. Fran-
had been grossly overblown. As the chise operations like McDonald’s
country moved into the 1960s, anti- fast-food restaurants allowed small
Communism became increasingly entrepreneurs to make themselves
suspect, especially among intellectu- part of large, efficient enterprises.
als and opinion-shapers. Big American corporations also de-
veloped holdings overseas, where la-
THE POSTWAR ECONOMY: bor costs were often lower.
1945-1960 Workers found their own lives
IWorld changing as industrial America

n the decade and a half after changed. Fewer workers produced
War II, the United States ex- goods; more provided services. As
perienced phenomenal economic early as 1956 a majority of employ-
growth and consolidated its position ees held white-collar jobs, working
as the world’s richest country. Gross as managers, teachers, salesper-
national product (GNP), a measure sons, and office operatives. Some
of all goods and services produced firms granted a guaranteed annual
in the United States, jumped from wage, long-term employment con-
about $200,000-million in 1940 to tracts, and other benefits. With such
$300,000-million in 1950 to more changes, labor militancy was under-
than $500,000-million in 1960. mined and some class distinctions
More and more Americans now began to fade.
considered themselves part of the Farmers — at least those with
middle class. small operations — faced tough
The growth had different sourc- times. Gains in productivity led
es. The economic stimulus provided to agricultural consolidation, and
by large-scale public spending for farming became a big business.
World War II helped get it started. More and more family farmers left
Two basic middle-class needs did the land.
much to keep it going. The number Other Americans moved too.
of automobiles produced annually The West and the Southwest grew
quadrupled between 1946 and 1955. with increasing rapidity, a trend that
A housing boom, stimulated in part would continue through the end
by easily affordable mortgages for of the century. Sun Belt cities like
returning servicemen, fueled the Houston, Texas; Miami, Florida; Al-
expansion. The rise in defense buquerque, New Mexico; and Phoe-
spending as the Cold War escalated nix, Arizona, expanded rapidly. Los
also played a part. Angeles, California, moved ahead of
After 1945 the major corporations Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the
in America grew even larger. There third largest U.S. city and then sur-
had been earlier waves of mergers in passed Chicago, metropolis of the
the 1890s and in the 1920s; in the Midwest. The 1970 census showed
267
that California had displaced New terns. Developed in the 1930s, it was
York as the nation’s largest state. not widely marketed until after the
By 2000, Texas had moved ahead of war. In 1946 the country had fewer
New York into second place. than 17,000 television sets. Three
An even more important form of years later consumers were buying
movement led Americans out of in- 250,000 sets a month, and by 1960
ner cities into new suburbs, where three-quarters of all families owned
they hoped to find affordable hous- at least one set. In the middle of the
ing for the larger families spawned decade, the average family watched
by the postwar baby boom. Develop- television four to five hours a day.
ers like William J. Levitt built new Popular shows for children included
communities — with homes that Howdy Doody Time and The Mickey
all looked alike — using the tech- Mouse Club; older viewers preferred
niques of mass production. Levitt’s situation comedies like I Love Lucy
houses were prefabricated — partly and Father Knows Best. Ameri-
assembled in a factory rather than cans of all ages became exposed to
on the final location — and modest, increasingly sophisticated advertise-
but Levitt’s methods cut costs and ments for products said to be neces-
allowed new owners to possess a part sary for the good life.
of the American dream.
As suburbs grew, businesses THE FAIR DEAL
T
moved into the new areas. Large
shopping centers containing a great he Fair Deal was the name given
variety of stores changed consumer to President Harry Truman’s domes-
patterns. The number of these cen- tic program. Building on Roosevelt’s
ters rose from eight at the end of New Deal, Truman believed that the
World War II to 3,840 in 1960. With federal government should guaran-
easy parking and convenient eve- tee economic opportunity and social
ning hours, customers could avoid stability. He struggled to achieve those
city shopping entirely. An unfortu- ends in the face of fierce political op-
nate by-product was the “hollowing- position from legislators determined
out” of formerly busy urban cores. to reduce the role of government.
New highways created better ac- Truman’s first priority in the
cess to the suburbs and its shops. immediate postwar period was to
The Highway Act of 1956 provided make the transition to a peacetime
$26,000-million, the largest public economy. Servicemen wanted to
works expenditure in U.S. history, to come home quickly, but once they
build more than 64,000 kilometers arrived they faced competition for
of limited access interstate highways housing and employment. The G.I.
to link the country together. Bill, passed before the end of the war,
Television, too, had a powerful helped ease servicemen back into ci-
impact on social and economic pat- vilian life by providing benefits such
268
as guaranteed loans for home-buy- In 1948 he sought reelection, despite

ing and financial aid for industrial polls indicating that he had little
training and university education. chance. After a vigorous campaign,
More troubling was labor unrest. Truman scored one of the great up-
As war production ceased, many sets in American politics, defeating
workers found themselves without the Republican nominee, Thomas
jobs. Others wanted pay increases Dewey, governor of New York. Re-
they felt were long overdue. In 1946, viving the old New Deal coalition,
4.6 million workers went on strike, Truman held on to labor, farmers,
more than ever before in American and African-American voters.
history. They challenged the automo- When Truman finally left of-
bile, steel, and electrical industries. fice in 1953, his Fair Deal was but
When they took on the railroads and a mixed success. In July 1948 he
soft-coal mines, Truman intervened banned racial discrimination in fed-
to stop union excesses, but in so do- eral government hiring practices and
ing he alienated many workers. ordered an end to segregation in the
While dealing with immediately military. The minimum wage had
pressing issues, Truman also provid- risen, and social security programs
ed a broader agenda for action. Less had expanded. A housing program
than a week after the war ended, he brought some gains but left many
presented Congress with a 21-point needs unmet. National health in-
program, which provided for pro- surance, aid-to-education measures,
tection against unfair employment reformed agricultural subsidies, and
practices, a higher minimum wage, his legislative civil rights agenda
greater unemployment compen- never made it through Congress.
sation, and housing assistance. In The president’s pursuit of the Cold
the next several months, he added War, ultimately his most important
proposals for health insurance and objective, made it especially difficult
atomic energy legislation. But this to develop support for social reform
scattershot approach often left Tru- in the face of intense opposition.
man’s priorities unclear.
Republicans were quick to attack. EISENHOWER’S APPROACH
W
In the 1946 congressional elections
they asked, “Had enough?” and vot- hen Dwight Eisenhower suc-
ers responded that they had. Re- ceeded Truman as president, he
publicans, with majorities in both accepted the basic framework of gov-
houses of Congress for the first time ernment responsibility established
since 1928, were determined to re- by the New Deal, but sought to hold
verse the liberal direction of the the line on programs and expendi-
Roosevelt years. tures. He termed his approach “dy-
Truman fought with the Congress namic conservatism” or “modern
as it cut spending and reduced taxes. Republicanism,” which meant, he ex-
269
plained, “conservative when it comes THE CULTURE OF THE 1950s
D
to money, liberal when it comes to
human beings.” A critic countered uring the 1950s, many cul-
that Eisenhower appeared to argue tural commentators pointed out
that he would “strongly recommend that a sense of uniformity pervaded
the building of a great many schools American society. Conformity, they
... but not provide the money.” asserted, was numbingly common.
Eisenhower’s first priority was Though men and women had been
to balance the budget after years of forced into new employment pat-
deficits. He wanted to cut spending terns during World War II, once the
and taxes and maintain the value of war was over, traditional roles were
the dollar. Republicans were willing reaffirmed. Men expected to be the
to risk unemployment to keep infla- breadwinners in each family; wom-
tion in check. Reluctant to stimulate en, even when they worked, assumed
the economy too much, they saw their proper place was at home. In his
the country suffer three economic influential book, The Lonely Crowd,
recessions in the eight years of the sociologist David Riesman called
Eisenhower presidency, but none this new society “other-directed,”
was very severe. characterized by conformity, but
In other areas, the administra- also by stability. Television, still very
tion transferred control of offshore limited in the choices it gave its view-
oil lands from the federal govern- ers, contributed to the homogenizing
ment to the states. It also favored pri- cultural trend by providing young
vate development of electrical power and old with a shared experience re-
rather than the public approach the flecting accepted social patterns.
Democrats had initiated. In general, Yet beneath this seemingly
its orientation was sympathetic to bland surface, important segments
business. of American society seethed with
Compared to Truman, Eisen- rebellion. A number of writers,
hower had only a modest domes- collectively known as the “Beat Gen-
tic program. When he was active eration,” went out of their way to
in promoting a bill, it likely was to challenge the patterns of respect-
trim the New Deal legacy a bit — as ability and shock the rest of the
in reducing agricultural subsidies culture. Stressing spontaneity and
or placing mild restrictions on la- spirituality, they preferred intuition
bor unions. His disinclination to over reason, Eastern mysticism over
push fundamental change in either Western institutionalized religion.
direction was in keeping with the The literary work of the beats
spirit of the generally prosperous displayed their sense of alienation
Fifties. He was one of the few presi- and quest for self-realization. Jack
dents who left office as popular as Kerouac typed his best-selling novel
when he entered it. On the Road on a 75-meter roll of
270
paper. Lacking traditional punctua- tary services and in the work force,
tion and paragraph structure, the and they had made limited gains.
book glorified the possibilities of the Millions of African Americans had
free life. Poet Allen Ginsberg gained left Southern farms for Northern cit-
similar notoriety for his poem ies, where they hoped to find better
“Howl,” a scathing critique of mod- jobs. They found instead crowded
ern, mechanized civilization. When conditions in urban slums. Now,
police charged that it was obscene African-American servicemen re-
and seized the published version, turned home, many intent on reject-
Ginsberg successfully challenged ing second-class citizenship.
the ruling in court. Jackie Robinson dramatized the
Musicians and artists rebelled as racial question in 1947 when he
well. Tennessee singer Elvis Presley broke baseball’s color line and be-
was the most successful of several gan playing in the major leagues. A
white performers who popularized member of the Brooklyn Dodgers,
a sensual and pulsating style of Af- he often faced trouble with oppo-
rican-American music, which began nents and teammates as well. But an
to be called “rock and roll.” At first, outstanding first season led to his
he outraged middle-class Ameri- acceptance and eased the way for
cans with his ducktail haircut and other African-American players,
undulating hips. But in a few years who now left the Negro leagues to
his performances would seem rela- which they had been confined.
tively tame alongside the antics of Government officials, and many
later performers such as the British other Americans, discovered the
Rolling Stones. Similarly, it was in connection between racial problems
the 1950s that painters like Jackson and Cold War politics. As the leader
Pollock discarded easels and laid out of the free world, the United States
gigantic canvases on the floor, then sought support in Africa and Asia.
applied paint, sand, and other mate- Discrimination at home impeded
rials in wild splashes of color. All of the effort to win friends in other
these artists and authors, whatever parts of the world.
the medium, provided models for Harry Truman supported the
the wider and more deeply felt social early civil rights movement. He per-
revolution of the 1960s. sonally believed in political equality,
though not in social equality, and
ORIGINS OF THE CIVIL recognized the growing importance
RIGHTS MOVEMENT of the African-American urban vote.
A When apprised in 1946 of a spate

frican Americans became in- of lynchings and anti-black violence
creasingly restive in the postwar in the South, he appointed a com-
years. During the war they had chal- mittee on civil rights to investigate
lenged discrimination in the mili- discrimination. Its report, To Secure
271
These Rights, issued the next year, Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, that seg-
documented African Americans’ regation of African-American and
second-class status in American lifewhite students was constitutional if
and recommended numerous fed- facilities were “separate but equal.”
eral measures to secure the rights That decree had been used for de-
guaranteed to all citizens. cades to sanction rigid segregation
Truman responded by sending in all aspects of Southern life, where
a 10-point civil rights program to facilities were seldom, if ever, equal.
Congress. Southern Democrats in African Americans achieved their
Congress were able to block its en- goal of overturning Plessy in 1954
actment. A number of the angriest, when the Supreme Court — pre-
led by Governor Strom Thurmond sided over by an Eisenhower ap-
of South Carolina, formed a States pointee, Chief Justice Earl Warren
Rights Party to oppose the president— handed down its Brown v. Board
in 1948. Truman thereupon issued of Education ruling. The Court de-
an executive order barring discrim- clared unanimously that “separate
ination in federal employment, or- facilities are inherently unequal,”
dered equal treatment in the armed and decreed that the “separate but
forces, and appointed a committee equal” doctrine could no longer be
to work toward an end to military used in public schools. A year later,
segregation, which was largely endedthe Supreme Court demanded that
during the Korean War. local school boards move “with all
African Americans in the South deliberate speed” to implement the
in the 1950s still enjoyed few, if any,
decision.
civil and political rights. In gener- Eisenhower, although sympathet-
al, they could not vote. Those who ic to the needs of the South as it faced
tried to register faced the likelihood
a major transition, nonetheless act-
of beatings, loss of job, loss of credit,
ed to see that the law was upheld in
or eviction from their land. Occa- the face of massive resistance from
sional lynchings still occurred. Jimmuch of the South. He faced a ma-
Crow laws enforced segregation of jor crisis in Little Rock, Arkansas, in
the races in streetcars, trains, hotels,
1957, when Governor Orval Faubus
restaurants, hospitals, recreationalattempted to block a desegregation
facilities, and employment. plan calling for the admission of nine
black students to the city’s previ-
DESEGREGATION ously all-white Central High School.
T After futile efforts at negotiation, the

he National Association for the president sent federal troops to Little
Advancement of Colored People Rock to enforce the plan.
(NAACP) took the lead in efforts to Governor Faubus responded by
overturn the judicial doctrine, es- ordering the Little Rock high schools
tablished in the Supreme Court case closed down for the 1958-59 school
272
year. However, a federal court powerful, thoughtful, and eloquent

ordered them reopened the follow- leader in Martin Luther King Jr.
ing year. They did so in a tense at- African Americans also sought to
mosphere with a tiny number of secure their voting rights. Although
African-American students. Thus, the 15th Amendment to the U.S.
school desegregation proceeded at a Constitution guaranteed the right to
slow and uncertain pace throughout vote, many states had found ways to
much of the South. circumvent the law. The states would
Another milestone in the civil impose a poll (“head”) tax or a lit-
rights movement occurred in 1955 in eracy test — typically much more
Montgomery, Alabama. Rosa Parks, stringently interpreted for African
a 42-year-old African-American Americans — to prevent poor Afri-
seamstress who was also secretary can Americans with little education
of the state chapter of the NAACP, from voting. Eisenhower, working
sat down in the front of a bus in a with Senate majority leader Lyn-
section reserved by law and custom don B. Johnson, lent his support to
for whites. Ordered to move to the a congressional effort to guarantee
back, she refused. Police came and the vote. The Civil Rights Act of
arrested her for violating the seg- 1957, the first such measure in 82
regation statutes. African-American years, marked a step forward, as it
leaders, who had been waiting for authorized federal intervention in
just such a case, organized a boycott cases where African Americans
of the bus system. were denied the chance to vote. Yet
Martin Luther King Jr., a young loopholes remained, and so activ-
minister of the Baptist church ists pushed successfully for the Civil
where the African Americans met, Rights Act of 1960, which provided
became a spokesman for the pro- stiffer penalties for interfering with
test. “There comes a time,” he said, voting, but still stopped short of au-
“when people get tired ... of being thorizing federal officials to register
kicked about by the brutal feet of op- African Americans.
pression.” King was arrested, as he Relying on the efforts of African
would be again and again; a bomb Americans themselves, the civil
damaged the front of his house. But rights movement gained momen-
African Americans in Montgomery tum in the postwar years. Working
sustained the boycott. About a year through the Supreme Court and
later, the Supreme Court affirmed through Congress, civil rights sup-
that bus segregation, like school porters had created the groundwork
segregation, was unconstitutional. for a dramatic yet peaceful “revolu-
The boycott ended. The civil rights tion” in American race relations in
movement had won an important the 1960s. 9
victory — and discovered its most
273
274
13
CHAPTER
DECADES
OF
CHANGE:
1960-1980
Module Pilot Edwin Aldrin Jr.

on the moon, July 20, 1969.
CHAPTER 13: DECADES OF CHANGE: 1960-1980
“I have a dream that one day

on the red hills of Georgia,
sons of former slaves and
the sons of former slave
owners will be able to sit
down together at the table
of brotherhood.”
Martin Luther King Jr., 1963
By 1960, the United States was on politics, many of the offspring of the
the verge of a major social change. World War II generation emerged as
American society had always been advocates of a new America char-
more open and fluid than that of acterized by a cultural and ethnic
the nations in most of the rest of the pluralism that their parents often
world. Still, it had been dominated viewed with unease.
primarily by old-stock, white males.
During the 1960s, groups that previ- THE CIVIL RIGHTS
ously had been submerged or sub- MOVEMENT 1960-1980
T
ordinate began more forcefully and
successfully to assert themselves: Af- he struggle of African Americans
rican Americans, Native Americans, for equality reached its peak in the
women, the white ethnic offspring of mid-1960s. After progressive vic-
the “new immigration,” and Latinos. tories in the 1950s, African Ameri-
Much of the support they received cans became even more committed
came from a young population larg- to nonviolent direct action. Groups
er than ever, making its way through like the Southern Christian Leader-
a college and university system that ship Conference (SCLC), made up
was expanding at an unprecedented of African-American clergy, and
pace. Frequently embracing “coun- the Student Nonviolent Coordinat-
tercultural” lifestyles and radical ing Committee (SNCC), composed
276
of younger activists, sought reform themselves, forced his hand. When

through peaceful confrontation. James Meredith was denied admis-
In 1960 African-American col- sion to the University of Mississippi
lege students sat down at a segre- in 1962 because of his race, Kennedy
gated Woolworth’s lunch counter in sent federal troops to uphold the law.
North Carolina and refused to leave. After protests aimed at the deseg-
Their sit-in captured media atten- regation of Birmingham, Alabama,
tion and led to similar demonstra- prompted a violent response by the
tions throughout the South. The next police, he sent Congress a new civil
year, civil rights workers organized rights bill mandating the integration
“freedom rides,” in which African of public places. Not even the March
Americans and whites boarded bus- on Washington, however, could ex-
es heading south toward segregated tricate the measure from a congres-
terminals, where confrontations sional committee, where it was still
might capture media attention and bottled up when Kennedy was assas-
lead to change. sinated in 1963.
They also organized rallies, the President Lyndon B. Johnson
largest of which was the “March on was more successful. Displaying
Washington” in 1963. More than negotiating skills he had so fre-
200,000 people gathered in the na- quently employed during his years
tion’s capital to demonstrate their as Senate majority leader, Johnson
commitment to equality for all. The persuaded the Senate to limit delay-
high point of a day of songs and ing tactics preventing a final vote
speeches came with the address of on the sweeping Civil Rights Act of
Martin Luther King Jr., who had 1964, which outlawed discrimina-
emerged as the preeminent spokes- tion in all public accommodations.
man for civil rights. “I have a dream The next year’s Voting Rights Act
that one day on the red hills of Geor- of 1965 authorized the federal gov-
gia the sons of former slaves and the ernment to register voters where
sons of former slave owners will be local officials had prevented Afri-
able to sit down together at the table can Americans from doing so. By
of brotherhood,” King proclaimed. 1968 a million African Americans
Each time he used the refrain “I have were registered in the deep South.
a dream,” the crowd roared. Nationwide, the number of African-
The level of progress initially American elected officials increased
achieved did not match the rhetoric substantially. In 1968, the Congress
of the civil rights movement. Presi- passed legislation banning discrimi-
dent Kennedy was initially reluc- nation in housing.
tant to press white Southerners for Once unleashed, however, the
support on civil rights because he civil rights revolution produced
needed their votes on other issues. leaders impatient with both the pace
Events, driven by African Americans of change and the goal of channel-
277
ing African Americans into main- their neighborhoods to achieve ra-

stream white society. Malcolm X, cial balance in metropolitan schools
an eloquent activist, was the most or about the use of “affirmative ac-
prominent figure arguing for Afri- tion.” These policies and programs
can-American separation from the were viewed by some as active mea-
white race. Stokely Carmichael, a sures to ensure equal opportunity, as
student leader, became similarly dis- in education and employment, and
illusioned by the notions of nonvio- by others as reverse discrimination.
lence and interracial cooperation. The courts worked their way
He popularized the slogan “black through these problems with deci-
power,” to be achieved by “whatever sions that were often inconsistent. In
means necessary,” in the words of the meantime, the steady march of
Malcolm X. African Americans into the ranks
Violence accompanied militant of the middle class and once large-
calls for reform. Riots broke out in ly white suburbs quietly reflected a
several big cities in 1966 and 1967. profound demographic change.
In the spring of 1968, Martin Lu-
ther King Jr. fell before an assassin’s THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT
D
bullet. Several months later, Senator
Robert Kennedy, a spokesman for uring the 1950s and 1960s, in-
the disadvantaged, an opponent of creasing numbers of married wom-
the Vietnam War, and the brother en entered the labor force, but in
of the slain president, met the same 1963 the average working woman
fate. To many these two assassina- earned only 63 percent of what a
tions marked the end of an era of in- man made. That year Betty Friedan
nocence and idealism. The growing published The Feminine Mystique,
militancy on the left, coupled with an explosive critique of middle-
an inevitable conservative backlash, class living patterns that articulated
opened a rift in the nation’s psyche a pervasive sense of discontent that
that took years to heal. Friedan contended was felt by many
By then, however, a civil rights women. Arguing that women often
movement supported by court de- had no outlets for expression other
cisions, congressional enactments, than “finding a husband and bear-
and federal administrative regula- ing children,” Friedan encouraged
tions was irreversibly woven into the her readers to seek new roles and re-
fabric of American life. The major sponsibilities and to find their own
issues were about implementation personal and professional identities,
of equality and access, not about the rather than have them defined by a
legality of segregation or disenfran- male-dominated society.
chisement. The arguments of the The women’s movement of the
1970s and thereafter were over mat- 1960s and 1970s drew inspiration
ters such as busing children out of from the civil rights movement. It
278
was made up mainly of members of al years, 35 of the necessary 38 states

the middle class, and thus partook ratified it. The courts also moved to
of the spirit of rebellion that affected expand women’s rights. In 1973 the
large segments of middle-class youth Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade sanc-
in the 1960s. tioned women’s right to obtain an
Reform legislation also prompted abortion during the early months of
change. During debate on the 1964 pregnancy — seen as a significant
Civil Rights bill, opponents hoped victory for the women’s movement
to defeat the entire measure by pro- — but Roe also spurred the growth
posing an amendment to outlaw dis- of an anti-abortion movement.
crimination on the basis of gender as In the mid- to late-1970s, how-
well as race. First the amendment, ever, the women’s movement seemed
then the bill itself, passed, giving to stagnate. It failed to broaden its
women a valuable legal tool. appeal beyond the middle class.
In 1966, 28 professional women, Divisions arose between moderate
including Friedan, established the and radical feminists. Conservative
National Organization for Wom- opponents mounted a campaign
en (NOW) “to take action to bring against the Equal Rights Amend-
American women into full partici- ment, and it died in 1982 without
pation in the mainstream of Ameri- gaining the approval of the 38 states
can society now.” While NOW and needed for ratification.
similar feminist organizations boast
of substantial memberships today, THE LATINO MOVEMENT
IAmericans
arguably they attained their greatest
influence in the early 1970s, a time n post-World War II America,
that also saw the journalist Gloria of Mexican and Puerto
Steinem and several other wom- Rican descent had faced discrimina-
en found Ms. magazine. They also tion. New immigrants, coming from
spurred the formation of counter- Cuba, Mexico, and Central Ameri-
feminist groups, often led by women, ca — often unskilled and unable to
including most prominently the po- speak English — suffered from dis-
litical activist Phyllis Schlafly. These crimination as well. Some Hispanics
groups typically argued for more worked as farm laborers and at times
“traditional” gender roles and op- were cruelly exploited while harvest-
posed the proposed “Equal Rights” ing crops; others gravitated to the
constitutional amendment. cities, where, like earlier immigrant
Passed by Congress in 1972, groups, they encountered difficulties
that amendment declared in part, in their quest for a better life.
“Equality of rights under the law Chicanos, or Mexican-Ameri-
shall not be denied or abridged by cans, mobilized in organizations
the United States or by any State on like the radical Asociación Nacio-
account of sex.” Over the next sever- nal Mexico-Americana, yet did
279
not become confrontational un- creased. Several prominent Hispan-

til the 1960s. Hoping that Lyndon ics have served in the Bill Clinton
Johnson’s poverty program would and George W. Bush cabinets.
expand opportunities for them,
they found that bureaucrats failed THE NATIVE-AMERICAN
to respond to less vocal groups. MOVEMENT
Istruggled
The example of black activism in
particular taught Hispanics the im- n the 1950s, Native Americans
portance of pressure politics in a with the government’s pol-
pluralistic society. icy of moving them off reservations
The National Labor Relations Act and into cities where they might as-
of 1935 had excluded agricultural similate into mainstream America.
workers from its guarantee of the Many of the uprooted often had dif-
right to organize and bargain col- ficulties adjusting to urban life. In
lectively. But César Chávez, found- 1961, when the policy was discontin-
er of the overwhelmingly Hispanic ued, the U.S. Commission on Civil
United Farm Workers, demonstrat- Rights noted that, for Native Ameri-
ed that direct action could achieve cans, “poverty and deprivation are
employer recognition for his union. common.”
California grape growers agreed to In the 1960s and 1970s, watch-
bargain with the union after Chávez ing both the development of Third
led a nationwide consumer boy- World nationalism and the progress
cott. Similar boycotts of lettuce and of the civil rights movement, Native
other products were also successful. Americans became more aggressive
Though farm interests continued to in pressing for their own rights. A
try to obstruct Chávez’s organiza- new generation of leaders went to
tion, the legal foundation had been court to protect what was left of tribal
laid for representation to secure lands or to recover those which had
higher wages and improved working been taken, often illegally, in previ-
conditions. ous times. In state after state, they
Hispanics became political- challenged treaty violations, and in
ly active as well. In 1961 Henry B. 1967 won the first of many victories
González won election to Congress guaranteeing long-abused land and
from Texas. Three years later Eligio water rights. The American Indian
(“Kika”) de la Garza, another Texan, Movement (AIM), founded in 1968,
followed him, and Joseph Montoya helped channel government funds to
of New Mexico went to the Sen- Native-American-controlled organi-
ate. Both González and de la Garza zations and assisted neglected Native
later rose to positions of power as Americans in the cities.
committee chairmen in the House. Confrontations became more
In the 1970s and 1980s, the pace of common. In 1969 a landing party
Hispanic political involvement in- of 78 Native Americans seized Alca-
280
traz Island in San Francisco Bay and ger and beards became common.
held it until federal officials removed Blue jeans and tee shirts took the
them in 1971. In 1973 AIM took over place of slacks, jackets, and ties.
the South Dakota village of Wound- The use of illegal drugs increased.
ed Knee, where soldiers in the late Rock and roll grew, proliferated,
19th century had massacred a Sioux and transformed into many musi-
encampment. Militants hoped to cal variations. The Beatles, the Roll-
dramatize the poverty and alcohol- ing Stones, and other British groups
ism in the reservation surrounding took the country by storm. “Hard
the town. The episode ended after rock” grew popular, and songs with
one Native American was killed and a political or social commentary,
another wounded, with a govern- such as those by singer-songwriter
ment agreement to re-examine trea- Bob Dylan, became common. The
ty rights. youth counterculture reached its
Still, Native-American activ- apogee in August 1969 at Wood-
ism brought results. Other Amer- stock, a three-day music festival in
icans became more aware of rural New York State attended by
Native-American needs. Govern- almost half-a-million persons. The
ment officials responded with festival, mythologized in films and
measures including the Education record albums, gave its name to the
Assistance Act of 1975 and the 1996 era, the Woodstock Generation.
Native-American Housing and Self- A parallel manifestation of the
Determination Act. The Senate’s new sensibility of the young was
first Native-American member, Ben the rise of the New Left, a group of
Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, young, college-age radicals. The New
was elected in 1992. Leftists, who had close counterparts
in Western Europe, were in many in-
THE COUNTERCULTURE stances the children of the older gen-
T eration of radicals. Nonetheless, they

he agitation for equal opportuni- rejected old-style Marxist rhetoric.
ty sparked other forms of upheaval. Instead, they depicted university
Young people in particular rejected students as themselves an oppressed
the stable patterns of middle-class class that possessed special insights
life their parents had created in the into the struggle of other oppressed
decades after World War II. Some groups in American society.
plunged into radical political activ- New Leftists participated in the
ity; many more embraced new stan- civil rights movement and the strug-
dards of dress and sexual behavior. gle against poverty. Their greatest
The visible signs of the coun- success — and the one instance in
terculture spread through parts of which they developed a mass follow-
American society in the late 1960s ing — was in opposing the Vietnam
and early 1970s. Hair grew lon- War, an issue of emotional interest
281
to their draft-age contemporaries. provement Act, which assigned to

By the late 1970s, the student New the polluter the responsibility of
Left had disappeared, but many of its cleaning up off-shore oil spills. Also,
activists made their way into main- in 1970, the Environmental Protec-
stream politics. tion Agency (EPA) was created as
an independent federal agency to
ENVIRONMENTALISM spearhead the effort to bring abus-
T es under control. During the next

he energy and sensibility that fu- three decades, the EPA, bolstered by
eled the civil rights movement, the legislation that increased its author-
counterculture, and the New Left ity, became one of the most active
also stimulated an environmental agencies in the government, issuing
movement in the mid-1960s. Many strong regulations covering air and
were aroused by the publication in water quality.
1962 of Rachel Carson’s book Silent
Spring, which alleged that chemical KENNEDY AND THE
pesticides, particularly DDT, caused RESURGENCE OF BIG
cancer, among other ills. Public GOVERNMENT LIBERALISM
B
concern about the environment
continued to increase throughout y 1960 government had become
the 1960s as many became aware of an increasingly powerful force in
other pollutants surrounding them people’s lives. During the Great De-
— automobile emissions, industrial pression of the 1930s, new execu-
wastes, oil spills — that threatened tive agencies were created to deal
their health and the beauty of their with many aspects of American life.
surroundings. On April 22, 1970, During World War II, the number
schools and communities across the of civilians employed by the feder-
United States celebrated Earth Day al government rose from one mil-
for the first time. “Teach-ins” edu- lion to 3.8 million, then stabilized
cated Americans about the dangers at 2.5 million in the 1950s. Federal
of environmental pollution. expenditures, which had stood at
Few denied that pollution was a $3,100-million in 1929, increased to
problem, but the proposed solutions $75,000-million in 1953 and passed
involved expense and inconve- $150,000-million in the 1960s.
nience. Many believed these would Most Americans accepted gov-
reduce the economic growth upon ernment’s expanded role, even
which many Americans’ standard as they disagreed about how far
of living depended. Nevertheless, in that expansion should continue.
1970, Congress amended the Clean Democrats generally wanted the
Air Act of 1967 to develop uniform government to ensure growth and
national air-quality standards. It stability. They wanted to extend
also passed the Water Quality Im- federal benefits for education, health,
282
and welfare. Many Republicans derly, and create a new Department

accepted a level of government of Urban Affairs. And so, despite
responsibility, but hoped to cap his lofty rhetoric, Kennedy’s policies
spending and restore a larger were often limited and restrained.
measure of individual initiative. The One priority was to end the reces-
presidential election of 1960 revealed sion, in progress when Kennedy took
a nation almost evenly divided office, and restore economic growth.
between these visions. But Kennedy lost the confidence of
John F. Kennedy, the Democratic business leaders in 1962, when he
victor by a narrow margin, was at succeeded in rolling back what the
43 the youngest man ever to win the administration regarded as an exces-
presidency. On television, in a series sive price increase in the steel indus-
of debates with opponent Richard try. Though the president achieved
Nixon, he appeared able, articulate, his immediate goal, he alienated an
and energetic. In the campaign, he important source of support. Per-
spoke of moving aggressively into suaded by his economic advisers that
the new decade, for “the New Fron- a large tax cut would stimulate the
tier is here whether we seek it or economy, Kennedy backed a bill pro-
not.” In his first inaugural address, viding for one. Conservative opposi-
he concluded with an eloquent plea: tion in Congress, however, appeared
“Ask not what your country can do to destroy any hopes of passing a bill
for you — ask what you can do for most congressmen thought would
your country.” Throughout his brief widen the budget deficit.
presidency, Kennedy’s special com- The overall legislative record of the
bination of grace, wit, and style — Kennedy administration was meager.
far more than his specific legislative The president made some gestures
agenda — sustained his popularity toward civil rights leaders but did not
and influenced generations of politi- embrace the goals of the civil rights
cians to come. movement until demonstrations led
Kennedy wanted to exert strong by Martin Luther King Jr. forced
leadership to extend economic ben- his hand in 1963. Like Truman
efits to all citizens, but a razor-thin before him, he could not secure
margin of victory limited his man- congressional passage of federal aid
date. Even though the Democrat- to public education or for a medical
ic Party controlled both houses of care program limited to the elderly.
Congress, conservative Southern He gained only a modest increase
Democrats often sided with the Re- in the minimum wage. Still, he did
publicans on issues involving the secure funding for a space program,
scope of governmental intervention and established the Peace Corps to
in the economy. They resisted plans send men and women overseas to
to increase federal aid to education, assist developing countries in meeting
provide health insurance for the el- their own needs.
283
KENNEDY AND THE that Kennedy had risked nuclear di-

COLD WAR saster when quiet diplomacy might
P have been effective. But most Ameri-

resident Kennedy came into of- cans and much of the non-Commu-
fice pledging to carry on the Cold nist world applauded his decisiveness.
War vigorously, but he also hoped The missile crisis made him for the
for accommodation and was reluc- first time the acknowledged leader of
tant to commit American power. the democratic West.
During his first year-and-a-half In retrospect, the Cuban mis-
in office, he rejected American in- sile crisis marked a turning point
tervention after the CIA-guided in U.S.-Soviet relations. Both sides
Cuban exile invasion at the Bay of saw the need to defuse tensions that
Pigs failed, effectively ceded the could lead to direct military con-
landlocked Southeast Asian nation flict. The following year, the United
of Laos to Communist control, and States, the Soviet Union, and Great
acquiesced in the building of the Britain signed a landmark Limited
Berlin Wall. Kennedy’s decisions Test Ban Treaty prohibiting nuclear
reinforced impressions of weakness weapons tests in the atmosphere.
that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrush- Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cam-
chev had formed in their only per- bodia), a French possession before
sonal meeting, a summit meeting at World War II, was still another Cold
Vienna in June 1961. War battlefield. The French effort to
It was against this backdrop that reassert colonial control there was
Kennedy faced the most serious opposed by Ho Chi Minh, a Viet-
event of the Cold War, the Cuban namese Communist, whose Viet
missile crisis. Minh movement engaged in a guer-
In the fall of 1962, the adminis- rilla war with the French army.
tration learned that the Soviet Union Both Truman and Eisenhower,
was secretly installing offensive nu- eager to maintain French support for
clear missiles in Cuba. After con- the policy of containment in Europe,
sidering different options, Kennedy provided France with economic aid
decided on a quarantine to prevent that freed resources for the struggle
Soviet ships from bringing addition- in Vietnam. But the French suffered
al supplies to Cuba. He demanded a decisive defeat in Dien Bien Phu in
publicly that the Soviets remove the May 1954. At an international confer-
weapons and warned that an attack ence in Geneva, Laos and Cambodia
from that island would bring retali- were given their independence. Viet-
ation against the USSR. After sever- nam was divided, with Ho in power
al days of tension, during which the in the North and Ngo Dinh Diem, a
world was closer than ever before to Roman Catholic anti-Communist in
nuclear war, the Soviets agreed to a largely Buddhist population, head-
remove the missiles. Critics charged ing the government in the South.
284
Elections were to be held two years After Kennedy’s death, President

later to unify the country. Persuaded Lyndon Johnson enthusiastically
that the fall of Vietnam could lead to supported the space program. In
the fall of Burma, Thailand, and In- the mid-1960s, U.S. scientists devel-
donesia, Eisenhower backed Diem’s oped the two-person Gemini space-
refusal to hold elections in 1956 and craft. Gemini achieved several firsts,
effectively established South Viet- including an eight-day mission in
nam as an American client state. August 1965 — the longest space
Kennedy increased assistance, flight at that time — and in No-
and sent small numbers of military vember 1966, the first automatically
advisers, but a new guerrilla strug- controlled reentry into the Earth’s
gle between North and South con- atmosphere. Gemini also accom-
tinued. Diem’s unpopularity grew plished the first manned linkup of
and the military situation wors- two spacecraft in flight as well as the
ened. In late 1963, Kennedy secretly first U.S. walks in space.
assented to a coup d’etat. To the The three-person Apollo space-
president’s surprise, Diem and his craft achieved Kennedy’s goal and
powerful brother-in-law, Ngo Dien demonstrated to the world that the
Nu, were killed. It was at this uncer- United States had surpassed Soviet
tain juncture that Kennedy’s presi- capabilities in space. On July 20,
dency ended three weeks later. 1969, with hundreds of millions of
television viewers watching around
THE SPACE PROGRAM the world, Neil Armstrong became
D the first human to walk on the sur-

uring Eisenhower’s second face of the moon.
term, outer space had become an Other Apollo flights followed, but
arena for U.S.-Soviet competition. many Americans began to question
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the value of manned space flight. In
Sputnik — an artificial satellite — the early 1970s, as other priorities
thereby demonstrating it could became more pressing, the United
build more powerful rockets than States scaled down the space pro-
the United States. The United States gram. Some Apollo missions were
launched its first satellite, Explorer I, scrapped; only one of two proposed
in 1958. But three months after Ken- Skylab space stations was built.
nedy became president, the USSR
put the first man in orbit. Kennedy DEATH OF A PRESIDENT
J
responded by committing the Unit-
ed States to land a man on the moon ohn Kennedy had gained world
and bring him back “before this de- prestige by his management of the
cade is out.” With Project Mercury Cuban missile crisis and had won
in 1962, John Glenn became the first great popularity at home. Many be-
U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth. lieved he would win re-election eas-
285
ily in 1964. But on November 22, and calling on the legislators’ respect
1963, he was assassinated while rid- for the slain president, Johnson suc-
ing in an open car during a visit to ceeded in gaining passage of both
Dallas, Texas. His death, amplified during his first year in office. The
by television coverage, was a trau- tax cuts stimulated the economy.
matic event, just as Roosevelt’s had The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the
been 18 years earlier. most far-reaching such legislation
In retrospect, it is clear that Ken- since Reconstruction.
nedy’s reputation stems more from Johnson addressed other issues as
his style and eloquently stated ideals well. By the spring of 1964, he had
than from the implementation of his begun to use the name “Great Soci-
policies. He had laid out an impres- ety” to describe his socio-economic
sive agenda but at his death much re- program. That summer he secured
mained blocked in Congress. It was passage of a federal jobs program for
largely because of the political skill impoverished young people. It was
and legislative victories of his suc- the first step in what he called the
cessor that Kennedy would be seen “War on Poverty.” In the presiden-
as a force for progressive change. tial election that November, he won
a landslide victory over conservative
LYNDON JOHNSON AND Republican Barry Goldwater. Signif-
THE GREAT SOCIETY icantly, the 1964 election gave liberal
L Democrats firm control of Congress

yndon Johnson, a Texan who was for the first time since 1938. This
majority leader in the Senate before would enable them to pass legisla-
becoming Kennedy’s vice president, tion over the combined opposition
was a masterful politician. He had of Republicans and conservative
been schooled in Congress, where Southern Democrats.
he developed an extraordinary abil- The War on Poverty became the
ity to get things done. He excelled centerpiece of the administration’s
at pleading, cajoling, or threatening Great Society program. The Office
as necessary to achieve his ends. His of Economic Opportunity, estab-
liberal idealism was probably deep- lished in 1964, provided training
er than Kennedy’s. As president, he for the poor and established vari-
wanted to use his power aggressively ous community-action agencies,
to eliminate poverty and spread the guided by an ethic of “participatory
benefits of prosperity to all. democracy” that aimed to give the
Johnson took office determined poor themselves a voice in housing,
to secure the passage of Kennedy’s health, and education programs.
legislative agenda. His immediate Medical care came next. Under
priorities were his predecessor’s bills Johnson’s leadership, Congress en-
to reduce taxes and guarantee civil acted Medicare, a health insurance
rights. Using his skills of persuasion program for the elderly, and Med-
286
icaid, a program providing health- immigration quotas. This triggered

care assistance for the poor. a new wave of immigration, much
Johnson succeeded in the effort of it from South and East Asia and
to provide more federal aid for el- Latin America.
ementary and secondary schooling, The Great Society was the larg-
traditionally a state and local func- est burst of legislative activity since
tion. The measure that was enacted the New Deal. But support weakened
gave money to the states based on as early as 1966. Some of Johnson’s
the number of their children from programs did not live up to expecta-
low-income families. Funds could tions; many went underfunded. The
be used to assist public- and private- urban crisis seemed, if anything, to
school children alike. worsen. Still, whether because of the
Convinced the United States con- Great Society spending or because of
fronted an “urban crisis” character- a strong economic upsurge, poverty
ized by declining inner cities, the did decline at least marginally dur-
Great Society architects devised a ing the Johnson administration.
new housing act that provided rent
supplements for the poor and estab- THE WAR IN VIETNAM
D
lished a Department of Housing and
Urban Development. issatisfaction with the Great So-
Other legislation had an im- ciety came to be more than matched
pact on many aspects of American by unhappiness with the situation in
life. Federal assistance went to art- Vietnam. A series of South Viet-
ists and scholars to encourage their namese strong men proved little
work. In September 1966, Johnson more successful than Diem in mobi-
signed into law two transportation lizing their country. The Viet Cong,
bills. The first provided funds to insurgents supplied and coordinated
state and local governments for de- from North Vietnam, gained ground
veloping safety programs, while the in the countryside.
other set up federal safety standards Determined to halt Communist
for cars and tires. The latter program advances in South Vietnam, Johnson
reflected the efforts of a crusading made the Vietnam War his own. Af-
young radical, Ralph Nader. In his ter a North Vietnamese naval attack
1965 book, Unsafe at Any Speed: The on two American destroyers, John-
Designed-In Dangers of the Ameri- son won from Congress on August 7,
can Automobile, Nader argued that 1964, passage of the Gulf of Tonkin
automobile manufacturers were sac- Resolution, which allowed the presi-
rificing safety features for style, and dent to “take all necessary measures
charged that faulty engineering con- to repel any armed attack against
tributed to highway fatalities. the forces of the United States and
In 1965, Congress abolished the to prevent further aggression.” After
discriminatory 1924 national-origin his re-election in November 1964, he
287
embarked on a policy of escalation. rights measures of the 1960s galva-

From 25,000 troops at the start of nized the third-party candidacy of
1965, the number of soldiers — both Alabama Governor George Wal-
volunteers and draftees — rose to lace, a Democrat who captured his
500,000 by 1968. A bombing cam- home state, Mississippi, and Arkan-
paign wrought havoc in both North sas, Louisiana, and Georgia, states
and South Vietnam. typically carried in that era by the
Grisly television coverage with a Democratic nominee. Republican
critical edge dampened support for Richard Nixon, who ran on a plan to
the war. Some Americans thought it extricate the United States from the
immoral; others watched in dismay war and to increase “law and order”
as the massive military campaign at home, scored a narrow victory.
seemed to be ineffective. Large pro-
tests, especially among the young, NIXON, VIETNAM, AND THE
and a mounting general public dis- COLD WAR
D
satisfaction pressured Johnson to be-
gin negotiating for peace. etermined to achieve “peace
with honor,” Nixon slowly withdrew
THE ELECTION OF 1968 American troops while redoubling
B efforts to equip the South Vietnam-

y 1968 the country was in tur- ese army to carry on the fight. He
moil over both the Vietnam War also ordered strong American offen-
and civil disorder, expressed in ur- sive actions. The most important of
ban riots that reflected African- these was an invasion of Cambodia
American anger. On March 31, 1968, in 1970 to cut off North Vietnam-
the president renounced any inten- ese supply lines to South Vietnam.
tion of seeking another term. Just This led to another round of protests
a week later, Martin Luther King and demonstrations. Students in
Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, many universities took to the streets.
Tennessee. John Kennedy’s younger At Kent State in Ohio, the National
brother, Robert, made an emotional Guard troops who had been called in
anti-war campaign for the Demo- to restore order panicked and killed
cratic nomination, only to be assas- four students.
sinated in June. By the fall of 1972, however,
At the Democratic National Con- troop strength in Vietnam was be-
vention in Chicago, Illinois, protest- low 50,000 and the military draft,
ers fought street battles with police. which had caused so much cam-
A divided Democratic Party nomi- pus discontent, was all but dead. A
nated Vice President Hubert Hum- cease-fire, negotiated for the United
phrey, once the hero of the liberals States by Nixon’s national security
but now seen as a Johnson loyal- adviser, Henry Kissinger, was signed
ist. White opposition to the civil in 1973. Although American troops
288
departed, the war lingered on into Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in

the spring of 1975, when Congress which they agreed to limit stockpiles
cut off assistance to South Vietnam of missiles, cooperate in space, and
and North Vietnam consolidated its ease trading restrictions. The Stra-
control over the entire country. tegic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)
The war left Vietnam devastated, culminated in 1972 in an arms con-
with millions maimed or killed. It trol agreement limiting the growth
also left the United States trauma- of nuclear arsenals and restricting
tized. The nation had spent over anti-ballistic missile systems.
$150,000-million in a losing effort
that cost more than 58,000 Ameri- NIXON’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS
can lives. Americans were no longer AND DEFEATS
V
united by a widely held Cold War
consensus, and became wary of fur- ice president under Eisenhower
ther foreign entanglements. before his unsuccessful run for the
Yet as Vietnam wound down, presidency in 1960, Nixon was seen
the Nixon administration took his- as among the shrewdest of Ameri-
toric steps toward closer ties with can politicians. Although Nixon
the major Communist powers. The subscribed to the Republican value
most dramatic move was a new rela- of fiscal responsibility, he accepted
tionship with the People’s Republic a need for government’s expanded
of China. In the two decades since role and did not oppose the ba-
Mao Zedong’s victory, the United sic contours of the welfare state.
States had argued that the Nation- He simply wanted to manage its
alist government on Taiwan rep- programs better. Not opposed to
resented all of China. In 1971 and African-American civil rights on
1972, Nixon softened the American principle, he was wary of large
stance, eased trading restrictions, federal civil rights bureaucracies.
and became the first U.S. president Nonetheless, his administration
ever to visit Beijing. The “Shanghai vigorously enforced court orders
Communique” signed during that on school desegregation even as it
visit established a new U.S. policy: courted Southern white voters.
that there was one China, that Tai- Perhaps his biggest domestic
wan was a part of China, and that a problem was the economy. He in-
peaceful settlement of the dispute of herited both a slowdown from its
the question by the Chinese them- Vietnam peak under Johnson, and
selves was a U.S. interest. a continuing inflationary surge that
With the Soviet Union, Nixon was had been a by-product of the war. He
equally successful in pursuing the dealt with the first by becoming the
policy he and his Secretary of State first Republican president to endorse
Henry Kissinger called détente. He deficit spending as a way to stim-
held several cordial meetings with ulate the economy; the second by
289
imposing wage and price controls, Nixon’s rhetoric about the need
a policy in which the Right had no for “law and order” in the face of ris-
long-term faith, in 1971. In the short ing crime rates, increased drug use,
run, these decisions stabilized the and more permissive views about
economy and established favorable sex resonated with more Americans
conditions for Nixon’s re-election in than not. But this concern was in-
1972. He won an overwhelming vic- sufficient to quell concerns about
tory over peace-minded Democratic the Watergate break-in and the
Senator George McGovern. economy. Seeking to energize and
Things began to sour very quick- enlarge his own political constituen-
ly into the president’s second term. cy, Nixon lashed out at demonstra-
Very early on, he faced charges that tors, attacked the press for distorted
his re-election committee had man- coverage, and sought to silence his
aged a break-in at the Watergate opponents. Instead, he left an unfa-
building headquarters of the Demo- vorable impression with many who
cratic National Committee and that saw him on television and perceived
he had participated in a cover-up. him as unstable. Adding to Nix-
Special prosecutors and congressio- on’s troubles, Vice President Spiro
nal committees dogged his presiden- Agnew, his outspoken point man
cy thereafter. against the media and liberals, was
Factors beyond Nixon’s control forced to resign in 1973, pleading
undermined his economic policies. “no contest” to a criminal charge of
In 1973 the war between Israel and tax evasion.
Egypt and Syria prompted Saudi Nixon probably had not known
Arabia to embargo oil shipments to in advance of the Watergate bur-
Israel’s ally, the United States. Other glary, but he had tried to cover it up,
member nations of the Organization and had lied to the American people
of the Petroleum Exporting Coun- about it. Evidence of his involve-
tries (OPEC) quadrupled their pric- ment mounted. On July 27, 1974, the
es. Americans faced both shortages, House Judiciary Committee voted
exacerbated in the view of many by to recommend his impeachment.
over-regulation of distribution, and Facing certain ouster from office, he
rapidly rising prices. Even when the resigned on August 9, 1974.
embargo ended the next year, prices
remained high and affected all areas THE FORD INTERLUDE
N
of American economic life: In 1974,
inflation reached 12 percent, causing ixon’s vice president, Gerald
disruptions that led to even higher Ford (appointed to replace Agnew),
unemployment rates. The unprec- was an unpretentious man who had
edented economic boom America spent most of his public life in Con-
had enjoyed since 1948 was grinding gress. His first priority was to restore
to a halt. trust in the government. However,
290
feeling it necessary to head off thedency in 1976. Portraying himself

spectacle of a possible prosecution of
during the campaign as an outsider
Nixon, he issued a blanket pardon toto Washington politics, he promised
his predecessor. Although it was per-
a fresh approach to governing, but
haps necessary, the move was none- his lack of experience at the national
theless unpopular. level complicated his tenure from the
In public policy, Ford followed start. A naval officer and engineer by
the course Nixon had set. Economic training, he often appeared to be a
problems remained serious, as infla-technocrat, when Americans want-
tion and unemployment continued ed someone more visionary to lead
to rise. Ford first tried to reassure
them through troubled times.
the public, much as Herbert Hoover In economic affairs, Carter at
had done in 1929. When that failed, first permitted a policy of defi-
he imposed measures to curb in- cit spending. Inflation rose to
flation, which sent unemployment 10 percent a year when the Federal
above 8 percent. A tax cut, coupled Reserve Board, responsible for set-
with higher unemployment ben- ting monetary policy, increased
efits, helped a bit but the economy the money supply to cover deficits.
remained weak. Carter responded by cutting the
In foreign policy, Ford adopted budget, but cuts affected social pro-
Nixon’s strategy of détente. Perhapsgrams at the heart of Democratic
its major manifestation was the domestic policy. In mid-1979, anger
Helsinki Accords of 1975, in which in the financial community prac-
the United States and Western Euro- tically forced him to appoint Paul
pean nations effectively recognized Volcker as chairman of the Federal
Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe Reserve. Volcker was an “inflation
in return for Soviet affirmation hawk” who increased interest rates
of human rights. The agreement in an attempt to halt price increases,
had little immediate significance, at the cost of negative consequences
but over the long run may have for the economy.
made maintenance of the Sovi- Carter also faced criticism for his
et empire more difficult. Western failure to secure passage of an ef-
nations effectively used periodic fective energy policy. He presented
“Helsinki review meetings” to call a comprehensive program, aimed
attention to various abuses of hu- at reducing dependence on foreign
man rights by Communist regimes oil, that he called the “moral equiv-
of the Eastern bloc. alent of war.” Opponents thwarted
it in Congress.
THE CARTER YEARS Though Carter called himself a
J populist, his political priorities were

immy Carter, former Democratic never wholly clear. He endorsed
governor of Georgia, won the presi- government’s protective role, but
291
then began the process of dereg- But Carter enjoyed less success
ulation, the removal of govern- with the Soviet Union. Though he
mental controls in economic life. assumed office with détente at high
Arguing that some restrictions over tide and declared that the United
the course of the past century lim- States had escaped its “inordinate
ited competition and increased con- fear of Communism,” his insistence
sumer costs, he favored decontrol in that “our commitment to human
the oil, airline, railroad, and truck- rights must be absolute” antagonized
ing industries. the Soviet government. A SALT II
Carter’s political efforts failed to agreement further limiting nuclear
gain either public or congressional stockpiles was signed, but not rati-
support. By the end of his term, his fied by the U.S. Senate, many of
disapproval rating reached 77 per- whose members felt the treaty was
cent, and Americans began to look unbalanced. The 1979 Soviet inva-
toward the Republican Party again. sion of Afghanistan killed the treaty
Carter’s greatest foreign policy and triggered a Carter defense build-
accomplishment was the negotiation up that paved the way for the huge
of a peace settlement between Egypt, expenditures of the 1980s.
under President Anwar al-Sadat, and Carter’s most serious foreign pol-
Israel, under Prime Minister Men- icy challenge came in Iran. After an
achem Begin. Acting as both medi- Islamic fundamentalist revolution
ator and participant, he persuaded led by Shiite Muslim leader Ayatol-
the two leaders to end a 30-year state lah Ruhollah Khomeini replaced a
of war. The subsequent peace treaty corrupt but friendly regime, Carter
was signed at the White House in admitted the deposed shah to the
March 1979. United States for medical treatment.
After protracted and often emo- Angry Iranian militants, supported
tional debate, Carter also secured by the Islamic regime, seized the
Senate ratification of treaties ced- American embassy in Tehran and
ing the Panama Canal to Panama by held 53 American hostages for more
the year 2000. Going a step farther than a year. The long-running hos-
than Nixon, he extended formal dip- tage crisis dominated the final year
lomatic recognition to the People’s of his presidency and greatly dam-
Republic of China. aged his chances for re-election. 9
292
The digital revolution of the past decade has transformed
the economy and the way Americans live, influencing work;
interactions with colleagues, family, and friends; access to
information; even shopping and leisure-time habits.
21 CENTURYST
NATIO N
A PICTURE PROFILE
The first years of the new century unleashed a new threat to

peace and democracy: international terrorist attacks that killed and
maimed thousands in the United States and around the world.
Just as it has with earlier dangers, the United States took up this
formidable challenge in unison with its allies. At the same time,
it coped with changes sparked by globalization, fast-paced
technological developments, and new waves of immigration that
have made American society more diverse than in the past.
The country sought to build upon the achievements of its history,
and to honor those who have sacrificed for its cause.
293
Malalai Joya, one of
about 100 women
delegates to the
constitutional council
in Afghanistan, speaks
to the council in Kabul,
December 17, 2003.
Afghanistan has its first
democratically elected
government as a result
of the U.S., allied, and
Northern Alliance
military action in 2001
that toppled the Taliban
for sheltering Osama bin
Laden, mastermind of
the September 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks against
the United States.
294
President George W. Bush
(center) meets with British
Prime Minister Tony Blair
(left), National Security
Adviser Condoleezza Rice,
and Secretary of State Colin
Powell (right) at the White
House during his first term.
Great Britain has been a key
U.S. ally in the fight against
terrorism.
President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama wave goodbye from
Gardermoen Airport outside Oslo, Norway. President Obama was in Oslo to
receive the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 2009.
295
Top, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates talks with Antwoinette Hayes, a participant
in a Microsoft initiative to provide technology access to children and teens.
Above, Apple founder and chief executive officer Steve Jobs with his
company’s iPod mini. Gates and Jobs are seen as the most powerful symbols of
the creative and commercial talent that shaped the digital era.
296
Cable News Network (CNN) report from Moscow: The combination of hundreds
of cable television channels and 24-hour news services like CNN gives an
unprecedented impact and immediacy to news developments around the world.
Combine youth, rock and hip hop music, and 24-hour television, and you get MTV,
a television network whose influence extends beyond music videos to fashion,
advertising, and sales.
Bales of sorted recyclables are stacked for processing
at the Rumpke recycling center in Columbus, Ohio.
Growing environmental consciousness in the United
States has led to huge recycling efforts for materials
such as glass, paper, steel, and aluminum.
298
The massive AIDS quilt, with each square commemorating an individual who
has died of the disease. The United States is a leading contributor to the
fight against this global pandemic.
299
Americans’ love affair with the automobile continues, resulting
in increased traffic congestion as well as considerable efforts by
government and industry to reduce air pollution.
300
Iraqis queuing to vote for a Transitional National Assembly at a polling station in the
center of Az Zubayr, Iraq, January 30, 2005. More than 8.5 million Iraqis braved
threats of violence and terrorist attacks to participate in the elections. The vote
followed the 2003 war, led by the United States and other coalition members, which
rid Iraq of dictator Saddam Hussein.
302
With husbands and wives in the typical family both working outside the home,
daycare centers for children are commonplace throughout the United States.
A new generation peers into its future.
303
304
14
CHAPTER
THE
NEW
CONSERVATISM
AND
A
NEW
WORLD
ORDER
President Ronald Reagan

and USSR President
Mikhail Gorbachev after
signing the Intermediate–
Range Nuclear Forces
(INF) Treaty, December
1987.
CHAPTER 14: THE NEW CONSERVATISM AND A NEW WORLD ORDER
“I have always believed that

there was some divine plan
that placed this great continent
between two oceans to be sought
out by those who were possessed
of an abiding love of freedom
and a special kind of courage.”
California Governor Ronald Reagan, 1974
A SOCIETY IN TRANSITION software that could aggregate previ-
S ously unimagined amounts of data

hifts in the structure of Ameri- about economic and social trends.
can society, begun years or even de- The federal government had made
cades earlier, had become apparent significant investments in computer
by the time the 1980s arrived. The technology in the 1950s and 1960s
composition of the population and for its military and space programs.
the most important jobs and skills In 1976, two young California en-
in American society had undergone trepreneurs, working out of a garage,
major changes. assembled the first widely marketed
The dominance of service jobs in computer for home use, named it
the economy became undeniable. By the Apple, and ignited a revolution.
the mid-1980s, nearly three-fourths By the early 1980s, millions of mi-
of all employees worked in the ser- crocomputers had found their way
vice sector, for instance, as retail into U.S. businesses and homes, and
clerks, office workers, teachers, phy- in 1982, Time magazine dubbed the
sicians, and government employees. computer its “Machine of the Year.”
Service-sector activity benefited Meanwhile, America’s “smoke-
from the availability and increased stack industries” were in decline.
use of the computer. The informa- The U.S. automobile industry reeled
tion age arrived, with hardware and under competition from highly ef-
306
ficient Japanese carmakers. By 1980 1980, 808,000 immigrants arrived,

Japanese companies already manu- the highest number in 60 years, as the
factured a fifth of the vehicles sold country once more became a haven
in the United States. American for people from around the world.
manufacturers struggled with some Additional groups became active
success to match the cost efficien- participants in the struggle for equal
cies and engineering standards of opportunity. Homosexuals, using
their Japanese rivals, but their for- the tactics and rhetoric of the civil
mer dominance of the domestic car rights movement, depicted them-
market was gone forever. The gi- selves as an oppressed group seeking
ant old-line steel companies shrank recognition of basic rights. In 1975,
to relative insignificance as foreign the U.S. Civil Service Commission
steel makers adopted new technolo- lifted its ban on employment of ho-
gies more readily. mosexuals. Many states enacted an-
Consumers were the beneficiaries ti-discrimination laws.
of this ferocious competition in the Then, in 1981, came the discov-
manufacturing industries, but the ery of AIDS (Acquired Immune
painful struggle to cut costs meant Deficiency Syndrome). Transmitted
the permanent loss of hundreds of sexually or through blood transfu-
thousands of blue-collar jobs. Those sions, it struck homosexual men and
who could made the switch to the intravenous drug users with par-
service sector; others became unfor- ticular virulence, although the gen-
tunate statistics. eral population proved vulnerable as
Population patterns shifted as well. By 1992, over 220,000 Ameri-
well. After the end of the postwar cans had died of AIDS. The AIDS ep-
“baby boom” (1946 to 1964), the idemic has by no means been limited
overall rate of population growth to the United States, and the effort
declined and the population grew to treat the disease now encompasses
older. Household composition also physicians and medical researchers
changed. In 1980 the percentage of throughout the world.
family households dropped; a quar-
ter of all groups were now classi- CONSERVATISM AND THE
fied as “nonfamily households,” in RISE OF RONALD REAGAN
F
which two or more unrelated per-
sons lived together. or many Americans, the eco-
New immigrants changed the nomic, social, and political trends of
character of American society in the previous two decades — crime
other ways. The 1965 reform in im- and racial polarization in many ur-
migration policy shifted the focus ban centers, challenges to traditional
away from Western Europe, facilitat- values, the economic downturn and
ing a dramatic increase in new arriv- inflation of the Carter years — en-
als from Asia and Latin America. In gendered a mood of disillusionment.
307
It also strengthened a renewed sus- gelicals, most of whom regarded

picion of government and its ability abortion under virtually any cir-
to deal effectively with the country’s cumstances as tantamount to mur-
social and political problems. der. Pro-choice and pro-life (that is,
Conservatives, long out of power pro- and anti-abortion rights) dem-
at the national level, were well po- onstrations became a fixture of the
sitioned politically in the context of political landscape.
this new mood. Many Americans Within the Republican Party, the
were receptive to their message of conservative wing grew dominant
limited government, strong national once again. They had briefly seized
defense, and the protection of tradi- control of the Republican Party in
tional values. 1964 with its presidential candidate,
This conservative upsurge had Barry Goldwater, then faded from
many sources. A large group of fun- the spotlight. By 1980, however, with
damentalist Christians were partic- the apparent failure of liberalism un-
ularly concerned about crime and der Carter, a “New Right” was poised
sexual immorality. They hoped to to return to dominance.
return religion or the moral precepts Using modern direct mail tech-
often associated with it to a central niques as well as the power of mass
place in American life. One of the communications to spread their
most politically effective groups in message and raise funds, drawing on
the early 1980s, the Moral Majority, the ideas of conservatives like econ-
was led by a Baptist minister, Jerry omist Milton Friedman, journalists
Falwell. Another, led by the Reverend William F. Buckley and George Will,
Pat Robertson, built an organization, and research institutions like the
the Christian Coalition, that by the Heritage Foundation, the New Right
1990s was a significant force in the played a significant role in defining
Republican Party. Using television to the issues of the 1980s.
spread their messages, Falwell, Rob- The “Old” Goldwater Right had
ertson, and others like them devel- favored strict limits on government
oped substantial followings. intervention in the economy. This
Another galvanizing issue for tendency was reinforced by a signifi-
conservatives was divisive and emo- cant group of “New Right” “liber-
tional: abortion. Opposition to the tarian conservatives” who distrusted
1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. government in general and opposed
Wade, which upheld a woman’s right state interference in personal behav-
to an abortion in the early months of ior. But the New Right also encom-
pregnancy, brought together a wide passed a stronger, often evangelical
array of organizations and individ- faction determined to wield state
uals. They included, but were not power to encourage its views. The
limited to, Catholics, political con- New Right favored tough measures
servatives, and religious evan- against crime, a strong national de-
308
fense, a constitutional amendment program of deregulation begun by

to permit prayer in public schools, Jimmy Carter. He sought to abol-
and opposition to abortion. ish many regulations affecting the
The figure that drew all these consumer, the workplace, and the
disparate strands together was Ron- environment. These, he argued, were
ald Reagan. Reagan, born in Illi- inefficient, expensive, and detrimen-
nois, achieved stardom as an actor tal to economic growth.
in Hollywood movies and television Reagan also reflected the belief
before turning to politics. He first held by many conservatives that the
achieved political prominence with a law should be strictly applied against
nationwide televised speech in 1964 violators. Shortly after becoming
in support of Barry Goldwater. In president, he faced a nationwide
1966 Reagan won the governorship strike by U.S. air transportation
of California and served until 1975. controllers. Although the job action
He narrowly missed winning the Re- was forbidden by law, such strikes
publican nomination for president in had been widely tolerated in the past.
1976 before succeeding in 1980 and When the air controllers refused to
going on to win the presidency from return to work, he ordered them all
the incumbent, Jimmy Carter. fired. Over the next few years the
President Reagan’s unflagging system was rebuilt with new hires.
optimism and his ability to celebrate
the achievements and aspirations THE ECONOMY IN THE 1980s
P
of the American people persisted
throughout his two terms in office. resident Reagan’s domestic pro-
He was a figure of reassurance and gram was rooted in his belief that the
stability for many Americans. Whol- nation would prosper if the power of
ly at ease before the microphone and the private economic sector was un-
the television camera, Reagan was leashed. The guiding theory behind
called the “Great Communicator.” it, “supply side” economics, held
Taking a phrase from the 17th- that a greater supply of goods and
century Puritan John Winthrop, he services, made possible by measures
told the nation that the United States to increase business investment,
was a “shining city on a hill,” invest- was the swiftest road to economic
ed with a God-given mission to de- growth. Accordingly, the Reagan
fend the world against the spread of administration argued that a large
Communist totalitarianism. tax cut would increase capital in-
Reagan believed that government vestment and corporate earnings,
intruded too deeply into American so that even lower taxes on these
life. He wanted to cut programs larger earnings would increase gov-
he contended the country did not ernment revenues.
need, and to eliminate “waste, fraud, Despite only a slim Republican
and abuse.” Reagan accelerated the majority in the Senate and a House
309
of Representatives controlled by the rise in oil prices pushed up costs,

Democrats, President Reagan suc- and a worldwide economic slump in
ceeded during his first year in office 1980 reduced the demand for agri-
in enacting the major components cultural products. Their numbers
of his economic program, including declined, as production increasingly
a 25-percent tax cut for individu- became concentrated in large opera-
als to be phased in over three years. tions. Those small farmers who sur-
The administration also sought and vived had major difficulties making
won significant increases in defense ends meet.
spending to modernize the nation’s The increased military budget —
military and counter what it felt was combined with the tax cuts and the
a continual and growing threat from growth in government health spend-
the Soviet Union. ing — resulted in the federal gov-
Under Paul Volcker, the Federal ernment spending far more than it
Reserve’s draconian increases in in- received in revenues each year. Some
terest rates squeezed the runaway analysts charged that the deficits
inflation that had begun in the late were part of a deliberate adminis-
1970s. The recession hit bottom in tration strategy to prevent further
1982, with the prime interest rates increases in domestic spending
approaching 20 percent and the sought by the Democrats. However,
economy falling sharply. That year, both Democrats and Republicans in
real gross domestic product (GDP) Congress refused to cut such spend-
fell by 2 percent; the unemployment ing. From $74,000-million in 1980,
rate rose to nearly 10 percent, and the deficit soared to $221,000-mil-
almost one-third of America’s indus- lion in 1986 before falling back to
trial plants lay idle. Throughout the $150,000-million in 1987.
Midwest, major firms like General The deep recession of the early
Electric and International Harvester 1980s successfully curbed the run-
released workers. Stubbornly high away inflation that had started dur-
petroleum prices contributed to the ing the Carter years. Fuel prices,
decline. Economic rivals like Ger- moreover, fell sharply, with at least
many and Japan won a greater share part of the drop attributable to Rea-
of world trade, and U.S. consump- gan’s decision to abolish controls
tion of goods from other countries on the pricing and allocation of
rose sharply. gasoline. Conditions began to im-
Farmers also suffered hard times. prove in late 1983. By early 1984,
During the 1970s, American farm- the economy had rebounded. By
ers had helped India, China, the the fall of 1984, the recovery was
Soviet Union, and other countries well along, allowing Reagan to run
suffering from crop shortages, and for re-election on the slogan, “It’s
had borrowed heavily to buy land morning again in America.” He de-
and increase production. But the feated his Democratic opponent,
310
former Senator and Vice President voluntary quota on its automobile

Walter Mondale, by an overwhelm- exports to the United States.
ing margin. The economy was jolted on Octo-
The United States entered one ber 19, 1987, “Black Monday,” when
of the longest periods of sustained the stock market suffered the great-
economic growth since World War est one-day crash in its history, 22.6
II. Consumer spending increased in percent. The causes of the crash in-
response to the federal tax cut. The cluded the large U.S. international
stock market climbed as it reflected trade and federal-budget deficits, the
the optimistic buying spree. Over a high level of corporate and personal
five-year period following the start debt, and new computerized stock
of the recovery, gross national prod- trading techniques that allowed in-
uct grew at an annual rate of 4.2 stantaneous selling of stocks and fu-
percent. The annual inflation rate tures. Despite the memories of 1929
remained between 3 and 5 percent it evoked, however, the crash was a
from 1983 to 1987, except in 1986 transitory event with little impact.
when it fell to just under 2 percent, In fact, economic growth continued,
the lowest level in decades. The na- with the unemployment rate drop-
tion’s GNP grew substantially dur- ping to a 14-year low of 5.2 percent
ing the 1980s; from 1982 to 1987, its in June 1988.
economy created more than 13 mil-
lion new jobs. FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Ia more
Steadfast in his commitment
to lower taxes, Reagan signed the n foreign policy, Reagan sought
most sweeping federal tax-reform assertive role for the nation,
measure in 75 years during his sec- and Central America provided an
ond term. This measure, which had early test. The United States pro-
widespread Democratic as well as vided El Salvador with a program of
Republican support, lowered income economic aid and military training
tax rates, simplified tax brackets, when a guerrilla insurgency threat-
and closed loopholes. ened to topple its government. It also
However, a significant percentage actively encouraged the transition to
of this growth was based on defi- an elected democratic government,
cit spending. Moreover, the national but efforts to curb active right-wing
debt, far from being stabilized by death squads were only partly suc-
strong economic growth, nearly tri- cessful. U.S. support helped stabi-
pled. Much of the growth occurred lize the government, but the level of
in skilled service and technical ar- violence there remained undimin-
eas. Many poor and middle-class ished. A peace agreement was finally
families did less well. The adminis- reached in early 1992.
tration, although an advocate of free U.S. policy toward Nicaragua
trade, pressured Japan to agree to a was more controversial. In 1979
311
revolutionaries calling themselves of Corazon Aquino overthrew the

Sandinistas overthrew the repres- dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos,
sive right-wing Somoza regime and and elections in South Korea ended
established a pro-Cuba, pro-Soviet decades of military rule.
dictatorship. Regional peace efforts By contrast, South Africa re-
ended in failure, and the focus of mained intransigent in the face of
administration efforts shifted to U.S. efforts to encourage an end to
support for the anti-Sandinista re- racial apartheid through the contro-
sistance, known as the contras. versial policy of “constructive en-
Following intense political debate gagement,” quiet diplomacy coupled
over this policy, Congress ended all with public endorsement of reform.
military aid to the contras in Oc- In 1986, frustrated at the lack of
tober 1984, then, under administra- progress, the U.S. Congress overrode
tion pressure, reversed itself in the Reagan’s veto and imposed a set of
fall of 1986, and approved $100 mil- economic sanctions on South Afri-
lion in military aid. However, a lack ca. In February 1990, South African
of success on the battlefield, charges President F.W. de Klerk announced
of human rights abuses, and the rev- Nelson Mandela’s release and began
elation that funds from secret arms the slow dismantling of apartheid.
sales to Iran (see below) had been di- Despite its outspoken anti-Com-
verted to the contras undercut con- munist rhetoric, the Reagan ad-
gressional support to continue this ministration’s direct use of military
aid. force was restrained. On October 25,
Subsequently, the administration 1983, U.S. forces landed on the Ca-
of President George H.W. Bush, who ribbean island of Grenada after an
succeeded Reagan as president in urgent appeal for help by neighbor-
1989, abandoned any effort to secure ing countries. The action followed
military aid for the contras. The Bush the assassination of Grenada’s leftist
administration also exerted pressure prime minister by members of his
for free elections and supported an own Marxist-oriented party. After a
opposition political coalition, which brief period of fighting, U.S. troops
won an astonishing upset election in captured hundreds of Cuban mili-
February 1990, ousting the Sandini- tary and construction personnel
stas from power. and seized caches of Soviet-supplied
The Reagan administration was arms. In December 1983, the last
more fortunate in witnessing a re- American combat troops left Grena-
turn to democracy throughout the da, which held democratic elections
rest of Latin America, from Guate- a year later.
mala to Argentina. The emergence of The Middle East, however,
democratically elected governments presented a far more difficult situ-
was not limited to Latin America; in ation. A military presence in Leb-
Asia, the “people power” campaign anon, where the United States was
312
attempting to bolster a weak, but Central America. In a larger sense,

moderate pro-Western government, the hearings were a constitutional
ended tragically, when 241 U.S. Ma- debate about government secrecy
rines were killed in a terrorist bomb- and presidential versus congressio-
ing in October 1983. In April 1986, nal authority in the conduct of for-
U.S. Navy and Air Force planes eign relations. Unlike the celebrated
struck targets in Tripoli and Beng- Senate Watergate hearings 14 years
hazi, Libya, in retaliation for Libyan- earlier, they found no grounds for
instigated terrorist attacks on U.S. impeaching the president and could
military personnel in Europe. reach no definitive conclusion about
In the Persian Gulf, the earlier these perennial issues.
breakdown in U.S.-Iranian relations
and the Iran-Iraq War set the stage U.S.-SOVIET RELATIONS
IPresident
for U.S. naval activities in the region.
Initially, the United States responded n relations with the Soviet Union,
to a request from Kuwait for pro- Reagan’s declared policy
tection of its tanker fleet; but even- was one of peace through strength.
tually the United States, along with He was determined to stand firm
naval vessels from Western Europe, against the country he would in
kept vital shipping lanes open by es- 1983 call an “evil empire.” Two
corting convoys of tankers and oth- early events increased U.S.-Soviet
er neutral vessels traveling up and tensions: the suppression of the Soli-
down the Gulf. darity labor movement in Poland in
In late 1986 Americans learned December 1981, and the destruction
that the administration had secretly with 269 fatalities of an off-course
sold arms to Iran in an attempt to civilian airliner, Korean Airlines
resume diplomatic relations with the Flight 007, by a Soviet jet fighter on
hostile Islamic government and win September 1, 1983. The United States
freedom for American hostages held also condemned the continuing So-
in Lebanon by radical organizations viet occupation of Afghanistan and
that Iran controlled. Investigation continued aid begun by the Carter
also revealed that funds from the administration to the mujahedeen
arms sales had been diverted to the resistance there.
Nicaraguan contras during a period During Reagan’s first term, the
when Congress had prohibited such United States spent unprecedented
military aid. sums for a massive defense build-
The ensuing Iran-contra hearings up, including the placement of in-
before a joint House-Senate commit- termediate-range nuclear missiles
tee examined issues of possible ille- in Europe to counter Soviet deploy-
gality as well as the broader question ments of similar missiles. And on
of defining American foreign poli- March 23, 1983, in one of the most
cy interests in the Middle East and hotly debated policy decisions of his
313
presidency, Reagan announced the THE PRESIDENCY OF

Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) re- GEORGE H. W. BUSH
P
search program to explore advanced
technologies, such as lasers and resident Reagan enjoyed unusu-
high-energy projectiles, to defend ally high popularity at the end of
against intercontinental ballistic his second term in office, but under
missiles. Although many scientists the terms of the U.S. Constitution
questioned the technological feasi- he could not run again in 1988. The
bility of SDI and economists pointed Republican nomination went to Vice
to the extraordinary sums of money President George Herbert Walker
involved, the administration pressed Bush, who was elected the 41st presi-
ahead with the project. dent of the United States.
After re-election in 1984, Rea- Bush campaigned by promising
gan softened his position on arms voters a continuation of the pros-
control. Moscow was amenable to perity Reagan had brought. In ad-
agreement, in part because its econ- dition, he argued that he would
omy already expended a far greater support a strong defense for the
proportion of national output on its United States more reliably than
military than did the United States. the Democratic candidate, Michael
Further increases, Soviet leader Dukakis. He also promised to work
Mikhail Gorbachev felt, would crip- for “a kinder, gentler America.” Du-
ple his plans to liberalize the Soviet kakis, the governor of Massachu-
economy. setts, claimed that less fortunate
In November 1985, Reagan and Americans were hurting economi-
Gorbachev agreed in principle to cally and that the government had
seek 50-percent reductions in stra- to help them while simultaneously
tegic offensive nuclear arms as well bringing the federal debt and de-
as an interim agreement on inter- fense spending under control. The
mediate-range nuclear forces. In public was much more engaged,
December 1987, they signed the however, by Bush’s economic mes-
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces sage: No new taxes. In the balloting,
(INF) Treaty providing for the de- Bush finished with a 54-to-46-per-
struction of that entire category of cent popular vote margin.
nuclear weapons. By then, the So- During his first year in office,
viet Union seemed a less menac- Bush followed a conservative fiscal
ing adversary. Reagan could take program, pursuing policies on taxes,
much of the credit for a greatly di- spending, and debt that were faithful
minished Cold War, but as his ad- to the Reagan administration’s eco-
ministration ended, almost no one nomic program. But the new presi-
realized just how shaky the USSR dent soon found himself squeezed
had become. between a large budget deficit and a
deficit-reduction law. Spending cuts
314
seemed necessary, and Bush pos- solvencies among these thrifts (the
sessed little leeway to introduce new umbrella term for consumer-orient-
budget items. ed institutions like savings and loan
The Bush administration ad- associations and savings banks). By
vanced new policy initiatives in ar- 1993, the total cost of selling and
eas not requiring major new federal shuttering failed thrifts was stagger-
expenditures. Thus, in November ing, nearly $525,000-million.
1990, Bush signed sweeping legisla- In January 1990, President Bush
tion imposing new federal standards presented his budget proposal to
on urban smog, automobile exhaust, Congress. Democrats argued that
toxic air pollution, and acid rain, administration budget projections
but with industrial polluters bear- were far too optimistic, and that
ing most of the costs. He accepted meeting the deficit-reduction law
legislation requiring physical access would require tax increases and
for the disabled, but with no fed- sharper cuts in defense spending.
eral assumption of the expense of That June, after protracted negotia-
modifying buildings to accommo- tions, the president agreed to a tax
date wheelchairs and the like. The increase. All the same, the combi-
president also launched a campaign nation of economic recession, losses
to encourage volunteerism, which from the savings and loan indus-
he called, in a memorable phrase, “a try rescue operation, and escalating
thousand points of light.” health care costs for Medicare and
Medicaid offset all the deficit-reduc-
BUDGETS AND DEFICITS tion measures and produced a short-
B fall in 1991 at least as large as the

ush administration efforts to previous year’s.
gain control over the federal budget
deficit, however, were more problem- END TO THE COLD WAR
W
atic. One source of the difficulty was
the savings and loan crisis. Savings hen Bush became president,
banks — formerly tightly regulated, the Soviet empire was on the verge
low-interest safe havens for ordinary of collapse. Gorbachev’s efforts to
people — had been deregulated, al- open up the USSR’s economy ap-
lowing these institutions to com- peared to be floundering. In 1989,
pete more aggressively by paying the Communist governments in
higher interest rates and by making one Eastern European country af-
riskier loans. Increases in the gov- ter another simply collapsed, after
ernment’s deposit insurance guaran- it became clear that Russian troops
teed reduced consumer incentive to would not be sent to prop them up.
shun less-sound institutions. Fraud, In mid-1991, hard-liners attempted
mismanagement, and the choppy a coup d’etat, only to be foiled by
economy produced widespread in- Gorbachev rival Boris Yeltsin, presi-
315
dent of the Russian republic. At the changed the diplomatic calculation

end of that year, Yeltsin, now domi- overnight.
nant, forced the dissolution of the President Bush strongly con-
Soviet Union. demned the Iraqi action, called for
The Bush administration adeptly Iraq’s unconditional withdrawal,
brokered the end of the Cold War, and sent a major deployment of U.S.
working closely with Gorbachev and troops to the Middle East. He assem-
Yeltsin. It led the negotiations that bled one of the most extraordinary
brought the unification of East and military and political coalitions of
West Germany (September 1990), modern times, with military forces
agreement on large arms reductions from Asia, Europe, and Africa, as
in Europe (November 1990), and well as the Middle East.
large cuts in nuclear arsenals (July In the days and weeks follow-
1991). After the liquidation of the ing the invasion, the U.N. Security
Soviet Union, the United States and Council passed 12 resolutions con-
the new Russian Federation agreed demning the Iraqi invasion and
to phase out all multiple-warhead imposing wide-ranging economic
missiles over a 10-year period. sanctions on Iraq. On November 29,
The disposal of nuclear materi- it approved the use of force if Iraq
als and the ever-present concerns did not withdraw from Kuwait by
of nuclear proliferation now super- January 15, 1991. Gorbachev’s Soviet
seded the threat of nuclear conflict Union, once Iraq’s major arms sup-
between Washington and Moscow. plier, made no effort to protect its
former client.
THE GULF WAR Bush also confronted a major
T constitutional issue. The U.S. Con-

he euphoria caused by the draw- stitution gives the legislative branch
ing down of the Cold War was the power to declare war. Yet in the
dramatically overshadowed by the second half of the 20th century, the
August 2, 1990, invasion of the small United States had become involved
nation of Kuwait by Iraq. Iraq, under in Korea and Vietnam without an
Saddam Hussein, and Iran, under its official declaration of war and with
Islamic fundamentalist regime, had only murky legislative authoriza-
emerged as the two major military tion. On January 12, 1991, three days
powers in the oil-rich Persian Gulf before the U.N. deadline, Congress
area. The two countries had fought a granted President Bush the author-
long, inconclusive war in the 1980s. ity he sought in the most explicit and
Less hostile to the United States than sweeping war-making power given
Iran, Iraq had won some support a president in nearly half a century.
from the Reagan and Bush adminis- The United States, in coalition
trations. The occupation of Kuwait, with Great Britain, France, Italy,
posing a threat to Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other
316
countries, succeeded in liberating The talks began in Madrid, Spain,

Kuwait with a devastating, U.S.-led on October 30, 1991. In turn, they set
air campaign that lasted slightly the stage for the secret negotiations
more than a month. It was followed in Norway that led to what at the
by a massive invasion of Kuwait and time seemed a historic agreement
Iraq by armored and airborne in- between Israel and the Palestine Lib-
fantry forces. With their superior eration Organization, signed at the
speed, mobility, and firepower, the White House on September 13, 1993.
allied forces overwhelmed the Iraqi
forces in a land campaign lasting PANAMA AND NAFTA
T
only 100 hours.
The victory, however, was incom- he president also received broad
plete and unsatisfying. The U.N. res- bipartisan congressional backing for
olution, which Bush enforced to the the brief U.S. invasion of Panama
letter, called only for the expulsion of on December 20, 1989, that deposed
Iraq from Kuwait. Saddam Hussein dictator General Manuel Antonio
remained in power, savagely repress- Noriega. In the 1980s, addiction to
ing the Kurds in the north and the crack cocaine reached epidemic pro-
Shiites in the south, both of whom portions, and President Bush put the
the United States had encouraged to “War on Drugs” at the center of his
rebel. Hundreds of oil-well fires, de- domestic agenda. Moreover, Norie-
liberately set in Kuwait by the Iraqis, ga, an especially brutal dictator,
took until November 1991 to extin- had attempted to maintain himself
guish. Saddam’s regime also appar- in power with rather crude displays
ently thwarted U.N. inspectors who, of anti-Americanism. After seek-
operating in accordance with Secu- ing refuge in the Vatican embassy,
rity Council resolutions, worked to Noriega turned himself over to U.S.
locate and destroy Iraq’s weapons of authorities. He was later tried and
mass destruction, including nuclear convicted in U.S. federal court in
facilities more advanced than had Miami, Florida, of drug trafficking
previously been suspected and huge and racketeering.
stocks of chemical weapons. On the economic front, the Bush
The Gulf War enabled the United administration negotiated the North
States to persuade the Arab states, America Free Trade Agreement
Israel, and a Palestinian delegation (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada.
to begin direct negotiations aimed It would be ratified after an intense
at resolving the complex and inter- debate in the first year of the Clinton
locked issues that could eventually administration. 9
lead to a lasting peace in the region.
317
THIRD-PARTY AND INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES
The United States is often thought of as functioning under a two-party sys-

tem. In practical effect this is true: Either a Democrat or a Republican has
occupied the White House every year since 1852. At the same time, however,
the country has produced a plethora of third and minor parties over the years.
For example, 58 parties were represented on at least one state ballot during
the 1992 presidential elections. Among these were obscure parties such as the
Apathy, the Looking Back, the New Mexico Prohibition, the Tish Independent
Citizens, and the Vermont Taxpayers.
Third parties organize around a single issue or set of issues. They tend
to fare best when they have a charismatic leader. With the presidency out of
reach, most seek a platform to publicize their political and social concerns.
Theodore Roosevelt. The most successful third-party candidate of
the 20th century was a Republican, Theodore Roosevelt, the former presi-
dent. His Progressive or Bull Moose Party won 27.4 percent of the vote in the
1912 election. The progressive wing of the Republican Party, having grown
disenchanted with President William Howard Taft, whom Roosevelt had
hand-picked as his successor, urged Roosevelt to seek the party nomination in
1912. This he did, defeating Taft in a number of primaries. Taft controlled the
party machinery, however, and secured the nomination.
Roosevelt’s supporters then broke away and formed the Progressive Party.
Declaring himself as fit as a bull moose (hence the party’s popular name),
Roosevelt campaigned on a platform of regulating “big business,” women’s
suffrage, a graduated income tax, the Panama Canal, and conservation. His
effort was sufficient to defeat Taft. By splitting the Republican vote, however,
he helped ensure the election of the Democrat Woodrow Wilson.
Socialists. The Socialist Party also reached its high point in 1912,
attaining 6 percent of the popular vote. Perennial candidate Eugene Debs won
nearly 900,000 votes that year, advocating collective ownership of the trans-
portation and communication industries, shorter working hours, and public
works projects to spur employment. Convicted of sedition during World War I,
Debs campaigned from his cell in 1920.
Robert La Follette. Another Progressive was Senator Robert La Fol-
lette, who won more than 16 percent of the vote in the 1924 election. Long a
champion of farmers and industrial workers, and an ardent foe of big business,
La Follette was a prime mover in the recreation of the Progressive movement
following World War I. Backed by the farm and labor vote, as well as by
Socialists and remnants of Roosevelt’s Bull Moose Party, La Follette ran on
a platform of nationalizing railroads and the country’s natural resources. He
318
also strongly supported increased taxation on the wealthy and the right of col-
lective bargaining. He carried only his home state of Wisconsin.
Henry Wallace. The Progressive Party reinvented itself in 1948 with
the nomination of Henry Wallace, a former secretary of agriculture and vice
president under Franklin Roosevelt. Wallace’s 1948 platform opposed the
Cold War, the Marshall Plan, and big business. He also campaigned to end
discrimination against African Americans and women, backed a minimum
wage, and called for the elimination of the House Committee on Un-Ameri-
can Activities. His failure to repudiate the U.S. Communist Party, which had
endorsed him, undermined his popularity and he wound up with just over 2.4
percent of the popular vote.
Dixiecrats. Like the Progressives, the States Rights or Dixiecrat Party,
led by South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond, emerged in 1948 as a spin-off
from the Democratic Party. Its opposition stemmed from Truman’s civil rights
platform. Although defined in terms of “states’ rights,” the party’s goal was
continuing racial segregation and the “Jim Crow” laws that sustained it.
George Wallace. The racial and social upheavals of the 1960s helped
bring George Wallace, another segregationist Southern governor, to national
attention. Wallace built a following through his colorful attacks against civil
rights, liberals, and the federal government. Founding the American Indepen-
dent Party in 1968, he ran his campaign from the statehouse in Montgomery,
Alabama, winning 13.5 percent of the overall presidential vote.
H. Ross Perot. Every third party seeks to capitalize on popular dis-
satisfaction with the major parties and the federal government. At few times in
recent history, however, has this sentiment been as strong as it was during the
1992 election. A hugely wealthy Texas businessman, Perot possessed a knack
for getting his message of economic common sense and fiscal responsibility
across to a wide spectrum of the people. Lampooning the nation’s leaders and
reducing his economic message to easily understood formulas, Perot found
little difficulty gaining media attention. His campaign organization, United We
Stand, was staffed primarily by volunteers and backed by his personal fortune.
Far from resenting his wealth, many admired Perot’s business success and the
freedom it brought him from soliciting campaign funds from special interests.
Perot withdrew from the race in July. Re-entering it a month before the elec-
tion, he won over 19 million votes as the Reform Party standard-bearer, nearly
19 percent of the total cast. This was by far the largest number ever tallied by
a third-party candidate and second only to Theodore Roosevelt’s 1912 show-
ing as a percentage of the total. 
319
320
15
CHAPTER
BRIDGE
TO
THE
21st
CENTURY
Firefighters beneath
the destroyed vertical
struts of the World Trade
Center’s twin towers after
the September 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks in New
York and Washington, D.C.
CHAPTER 15: BRIDGE TO THE 21ST CENTURY
“As we look ahead

into the next century,
leaders will be those who
empower others.”
Microsoft co-founder and chairman
Bill Gates, 2007
For most Americans the 1990s Improved crime and other social
would be a time of peace, prosper- statistics aside, American politics re-
ity, and rapid technological change. mained ideological, emotional, and
Some attributed this to the “Rea- characterized by intense divisions.
gan Revolution” and the end of the Shortly after the nation entered the
Cold War, others to the return of a new millennium, moreover, its post-
Democrat to the presidency. During Cold War sense of security was jolted
this period, the majority of Ameri- by an unprecedented terrorist attack
cans—political affiliation aside— that launched it on a new and
asserted their support for tradi- difficult international track.
tional family values, often ground-
ed in their faiths. New York Times THE 1992 PRESIDENTIAL
columnist David Brooks suggested ELECTION
A
that the country was experienc-
ing “moral self-repair,” as “many of s the 1992 presidential elec-
the indicators of social breakdown, tion approached, Americans found
which shot upward in the late 1960s themselves in a world transformed
and 1970s, and which plateaued at in ways almost unimaginable four
high levels in the 1980s,” were now years earlier. The familiar land-
in decline. marks of the Cold War—from the
322
Berlin Wall to intercontinental mis- sparked the emergence of a remark-

siles and bombers on constant high able independent candidate, wealthy
alert—were gone. Eastern Europe Texas entrepreneur H. Ross Perot.
was independent, the Soviet Union Perot tapped into a deep wellspring
had dissolved, Germany was unit- of frustration over the inability of
ed, Arabs and Israelis were engaged Washington to deal effectively with
in direct negotiations, and the economic issues, principally the fed-
threat of nuclear conflict was great- eral deficit. He possessed a colorful
ly diminished. It was as though one personality and a gift for the telling
great history volume had closed and one-line political quip. He would be
another had opened. the most successful third-party can-
Yet at home, Americans were less didate since Theodore Roosevelt in
sanguine, and they faced some fa- 1912.
miliar problems. The United States The Bush re-election effort was
found itself in its deepest recession built around a set of ideas tradi-
since the early 1980s. Many of the tionally used by incumbents: expe-
job losses were occurring among rience and trust. George Bush, 68,
white-collar workers in middle the last of a line of presidents who
management positions, not solely, as had served in World War II, faced
earlier, among blue-collar workers a young challenger in Bill Clinton
in the manufacturing sector. Even who, at age 46, had never served in
when the economy began recover- the military and had participated in
ing in 1992, its growth was virtu- protests against the Vietnam War. In
ally imperceptible until late in the emphasizing his experience as presi-
year. Moreover, the federal deficit dent and commander-in-chief, Bush
continued to mount, propelled most drew attention to Clinton’s inexperi-
strikingly by rising expenditures for ence at the national level.
health care. Bill Clinton organized his cam-
President George Bush and Vice paign around another of the oldest
President Dan Quayle easily won re- and most powerful themes in elec-
nomination by the Republican Party. toral politics: youth and change. As
On the Democratic side, Bill Clin- a high school student, Clinton had
ton, governor of Arkansas, defeated once met President Kennedy; 30
a crowded field of candidates to win years later, much of his rhetoric con-
his party’s nomination. As his vice sciously echoed that of Kennedy in
presidential nominee, he selected the 1960 presidential campaign.
Senator Al Gore of Tennessee, gen- As governor of Arkansas for 12
erally acknowledged as one of the years, Clinton could point to his ex-
Congress’s strongest advocates of perience in wrestling with the very
environmental protection. issues of economic growth, educa-
The country’s deep unease over tion, and health care that were, ac-
the direction of the economy also cording to public opinion polls,
323
among President Bush’s chief vul- Avoiding ideological rhetoric

nerabilities. Where Bush offered an that declared big government to be
economic program based on lower a positive good, he proposed a num-
taxes and cuts in government spend- ber of programs that earned him
ing, Clinton proposed higher taxes the label “New Democrat.” Control
on the wealthy and increased spend- of the federal bureaucracy and ju-
ing on investments in education, dicial appointments provided one
transportation, and communica- means of satisfying political claims
tions that, he believed, would boost of organized labor and civil rights
the nation’s productivity and growth groups. On the ever-controversial
and thereby lower the deficit. Simi- abortion issue, Clinton supported
larly, Clinton’s health care proposals the Roe v. Wade decision, but also
called for much heavier involvement declared that abortion should be
by the federal government than “safe, legal, and rare.”
Bush’s. President Clinton’s closest col-
Clinton proved to be a highly laborator was his wife, Hillary Rod-
effective communicator, not least ham Clinton. In the campaign,
on television, a medium that high- he had quipped that those who
lighted his charm and intelligence. voted for him “got two for the price
The incumbent’s very success in of one.” As energetic and as activist
handling the end of the Cold War as her husband, Ms. Clinton assumed
and reversing the Iraqi thrust into a more prominent role in the admin-
Kuwait lent strength to Clinton’s istration than any first lady before
implicit argument that foreign af- her, even Eleanor Roosevelt. Her first
fairs had become relatively less im- important assignment would be to
portant, given pressing social and develop a national health program. In
economic needs at home. 2000, with her husband’s adminis-
On November 3, Clinton won tration coming to a close, she would
election as the 42nd president of the be elected a U.S. senator from New
United States, with 43 percent of the York.
popular vote against 37 percent for
Bush and 19 percent for Perot. LAUNCHING A
NEW DOMESTIC
A NEW PRESIDENCY POLICY
C linton was in many respects the In practice, Clinton’s centrism

perfect leader for a party divided be- demanded choices that sometimes
tween liberal and moderate wings. elicited vehement emotions. The
He ran as a pragmatic centrist who president’s first policy initiative was
could moderate the demands of designed to meet the demands of
various Democratic Party interest gays, who, claiming a group status
groups without alienating them. as victims of discrimination, had
324
become an important constituency President Clinton was more

for the Democratic Party. successful on another matter with
Immediately after his inaugu- great repercussions for the domes-
ration, President Clinton issued tic economy. The previous presi-
an executive order rescinding the dent, George Bush, had negotiated
long-established military policy of the North American Free Trade
dismissing known gays from the Agreement (NAFTA) to establish
service. The order quickly drew fu- fully open trade between Canada,
rious criticism from the military, the United States, and Mexico. Key
most Republicans, and large seg- Democratic constituencies opposed
ments of American society. Clinton the agreement. Labor unions be-
quickly modified it with a “don’t lieved it would encourage the export
ask, don’t tell” order that effectively of jobs and undermine American
restored the old policy but discour- labor standards. Environmentalists
aged active investigation of one’s asserted that it would lead Ameri-
sexual practices. can industries to relocate to coun-
The effort to achieve a national tries with weak pollution controls.
health plan proved to be a far larg- These were the first indications of a
er setback. The administration set growing movement on the left wing
up a large task force, chaired by of American politics against the
Hillary Clinton. Composed of vision of an integrated world eco-
prominent policy intellectuals and nomic system.
political activists, it labored in se- Clinton nonetheless accepted
crecy for months to develop a plan the argument that open trade was
that would provide medical cover- ultimately beneficial to all parties
age for every American citizen. because it would lead to a greater
The working assumption be- flow of more efficiently produced
hind the plan was that a govern- goods and services. His adminis-
ment-managed “single-payer” plan tration not only submitted NAFTA
could deliver health services to the to the Senate, it also backed the es-
entire nation more efficiently than tablishment of a greatly liberalized
the current decentralized system international trading system to be
with its thousands of insurers and administered by the World Trade
disconnected providers. As finally Organization (WTO). After a vig-
delivered to Congress in September orous debate, Congress approved
1993, however, the plan mirrored NAFTA in 1993. It would approve
the complexity of its subject. Most membership in the WTO a year
Republicans and some Democrats later.
criticized it as a hopelessly elaborate Although Clinton had talked
federal takeover of American medi- about a “middle-class tax cut” dur-
cine. After a year of discussion, it ing the presidential campaign, he
died without a vote in Congress. submitted to Congress a budget
325
calling for a general tax increase. stead moderated his political course.
It originally included a wide tax Policy initiatives for the remainder
on energy consumption designed of his presidency were few. Contrary
to promote conservation, but that to Republican predictions of doom,
was quickly replaced by a nomi- the tax increases of 1993 did not get
nal increase in the federal gasoline in the way of a steadily improving
tax. It also taxed social security economy.
benefits for recipients of moderate The new Republican leadership
income and above. The big empha- in the House of Representatives, by
sis, however, was on increasing the contrast, pressed hard to achieve
income tax for high earners. The its policy objectives, a sharp con-
subsequent debate amounted to a trast with the administration’s new
rerun of the arguments between tax moderate tone. When right-wing
cutters and advocates of “fiscal re- extremists bombed an Oklahoma
sponsibility” that had marked the City federal building in April 1995,
Reagan years. In the end, Clinton Clinton responded with a tone of
got his way, but very narrowly. The moderation and healing that height-
tax bill passed the House of Repre- ened his stature and implicitly raised
sentatives by only one vote. some doubts about his conservative
By then, the congressional elec- opponents. At the end of the year,
tion campaigns of 1994 were under he vetoed a Republican budget bill,
way. Although the administration shutting down the government for
already had made numerous foreign weeks. Most of the public seemed to
policy decisions, issues at home blame the Republicans.
were clearly most important to the The president also co-opted
voters. The Republicans depicted part of the Republican program.
Clinton and the Democrats as un- In his State of the Union address
reformed tax and spenders. Clinton of January 1996, he ostentatiously
himself was already beleaguered declared, “The era of big govern-
with charges of past financial im- ment is over.” That summer, on the
propriety in an Arkansas real estate eve of the presidential campaign, he
project and new claims of sexual signed a major welfare reform bill
impropriety. that was essentially a Republican
In November, the voters gave the product. Designed to end perma-
Republicans control of both houses nent support for most welfare re-
of Congress for the first time since cipients and move them to work, it
the election of 1952. Many observers was opposed by many in his own
believed that Bill Clinton would like- party. By and large, it would prove
ly be a one-term president. Appar- successful in operation over the
ently making a decision to conform next decade.
to new political realities, Clinton in-
326
THE AMERICAN ECONOMY nesses, greatly enhancing productiv-

IN THE 1990s ity and creating new opportunities
B for profit. Fledgling industries that

y the mid-1990s, the country fed demand for the new equipment
had not simply recovered from the became multi-billion-dollar compa-
brief, but sharp, recession of the nies almost overnight, creating an
Bush presidency. It was entering an enormous new middle class of soft-
era of booming prosperity, and do- ware technicians, managers, market-
ing so despite the decline of its tradi- ers, and publicists.
tional industrial base. Probably the A final impetus was the turn of
major force behind this new growth the millennium. A huge push to up-
was the blossoming of the personal grade outdated computing equip-
computer (PC). ment that might not recognize the
Less than 20 years after its intro- year 2000 brought data technology
duction, the PC had become a fa- spending to a peak.
miliar item, not simply in business These developments began to
offices of all types, but in homes take shape during Clinton’s first
throughout America. Vastly more term. By the end of his second one
powerful than anyone could have they were fueling a surging economy.
imagined two decades earlier, able When he had been elected presi-
to store enormous amounts of data, dent, unemployment was at 7.4 per-
available at the cost of a good refrig- cent. When he stood for re-election
erator, it became a common appli- in 1996, it was at 5.4 percent. When
ance in American homes. voters went to the polls to choose
Employing prepackaged software, his successor in November 2000, it
people used it for bookkeeping, was 3.9 percent. In many places, the
word processing, or as a depository issue was less one of taking care of
for music, photos, and video. The the jobless than of finding employ-
rise of the Internet, which grew out able workers.
of a previously closed defense data No less a figure than Federal Re-
network, provided access to in- serve Chairman Alan Greenspan
formation of all sorts, created new viewed a rapidly escalating stock
shopping opportunities, and estab- market with concern and warned
lished e-mail as a common mode of “irrational exuberance.” Investor
of communication. The popularity exuberance, at its greatest since the
of the mobile phone created a huge 1920s, continued in the conviction
new industry that cross-fertilized that ordinary standards of valu-
with the PC. ation had been rendered obsolete
Instant communication and by a “new economy” with unlim-
lightning-fast data manipulation ited potential. The good times were
speeded up the tempo of many busi- rolling dangerously fast, but most
327
Americans were more inclined to signed to balance the budget, fur-

enjoy the ride while it lasted than to ther reinforcing the president’s
plan for a coming bust. standing as a fiscally responsible
moderate liberal.
THE ELECTION OF 1996 In 1998, American politics en-
AND THE POLITICAL tered a period of turmoil with the
AFTERMATH revelation that Clinton had car-
P ried on an affair inside the White

resident Clinton undertook his House with a young intern. At first
campaign for re-election in 1996 the president denied this, telling the
under the most favorable of circum- American people: “I did not have
stances. If not an imposing person- sexual relations with that woman.”
ality in the manner of a Roosevelt, The president had faced similar
he was a natural campaigner, whom charges in the past. In a sexual ha-
many felt had an infectious charm. rassment lawsuit filed by a woman
He presided over a growing econom- he had known in Arkansas, Clinton
ic recovery. He had positioned him- denied under oath the White House
self on the political spectrum in a affair. This fit most Americans’ defi-
way that made him appear a man of nition of perjury. In October 1998,
the center leaning left. His Republi- the House of Representatives began
can opponent, Senator Robert Dole impeachment hearings, focusing on
of Kansas, Republican leader in the charges of perjury and obstruction
upper house, was a formidable leg- of justice.
islator but less successful as a presi- Whatever the merits of that ap-
dential candidate. proach, a majority of Americans
Clinton, promising to “build a seemed to view the matter as a pri-
bridge to the 21st century,” easily vate one to be sorted out with one’s
defeated Dole in a three-party race, family, a significant shift in public
49.2 percent to 40.7 percent, with attitude. Also significantly, Hillary
8.4 percent to Ross Perot. He thus Clinton continued to support her
became the second American pres- husband. It surely helped also that
ident to win two consecutive elec- the times were good. In the midst
tions with less than a majority of the of the House impeachment debate,
total vote. (The other was Woodrow the president announced the largest
Wilson in 1912 and 1916.) The Re- budget surplus in 30 years. Public
publicans, however, retained control opinion polls showed Clinton’s ap-
of both the House of Representatives proval rating to be the highest of his
and the Senate. six years in office.
Clinton never stated much of a That November, the Republicans
domestic program for his second took further losses in the midterm
term. The highlight of its first year congressional elections, cutting
was an accord with Congress de- their majorities to razor-thin mar-
328
gins. House Speaker Newt Gingrich Iraq to sell enough oil to meet hu-
resigned, and the party attempted to manitarian needs, proved relatively
develop a less strident image. Nev- ineffective. Saddam funneled much
ertheless, in December the House of the proceeds to himself, leaving
voted the first impeachment resolu- large masses of his people in misery.
tion against a sitting president since Military “no-fly zones,” imposed to
Andrew Johnson (1868), thereby prevent the Iraqi government from
handing the case to the Senate for deploying its air power against rebel-
a trial. lious Kurds in the north and Shiites
Clinton’s impeachment trial, in the south, required constant U.S.
presided over by the Chief Justice and British air patrols, which regu-
of the United States, held little sus- larly fended off anti-aircraft missiles.
pense. In the midst of it, the presi- The United States also provided
dent delivered his annual State of the main backing for U.N. weapons
the Union address to Congress. He inspection teams, whose mission
never testified, and no serious ob- was to ferret out Iraq’s chemical,
server expected that any of the sev- biological, and nuclear programs,
eral charges against him would win verify the destruction of existing
the two-thirds vote required for re- weapons of mass destruction, and
moval from office. In the end, none suppress ongoing programs to man-
got even a simple majority. On Feb- ufacture them. Increasingly ob-
ruary 12, 1999, Clinton was acquit- structed, the U.N. inspectors were
ted of all charges. finally expelled in 1998. On this, as
well as earlier occasions of provo-
AMERICAN FOREIGN cation, the United States responded
RELATIONS IN THE with limited missile strikes. Sad-
CLINTON YEARS dam, Secretary of State Madeline
B Albright declared, was still “in his

ill Clinton did not expect to be box.”
a president who emphasized foreign The seemingly endless Israeli-
policy. However, like his immediate Palestinian dispute inevitably en-
predecessors, he quickly discovered gaged the administration, although
that all international crises seemed neither President Clinton nor former
to take a road that led through President Bush had much to do with
Washington. the Oslo agreement of 1993, which
He had to deal with the messy af- established a Palestinian “authority”
termath of the 1991 Gulf War. Hav- to govern the Palestinian population
ing failed to depose Saddam Hussein, within the West Bank and the Gaza
the United States, backed by Britain, Strip and obtained Palestinian rec-
attempted to contain him. A Unit- ognition of Israel’s right to exist.
ed Nations-administered economic As with so many past Middle
sanctions regime, designed to allow Eastern agreements in principle,
329
however, Oslo eventually fell apart cess but left many details to be
when details were discussed. Pales- worked out. Over the next several
tinian leader Yasser Arafat rejected years, peace and order held better in
final offers from peace-minded Is- Northern Ireland than in the Mid-
raeli leader Ehud Barak in 2000 and dle East, but remained precarious.
January 2001. A full-scale Palestin- The final accord continued to elude
ian insurgency, marked by the use negotiators.
of suicide bombers, erupted. Barak The post-Cold War disintegra-
fell from power, to be replaced by tion of Yugoslavia—a state ethni-
the far tougher Ariel Sharon. U.S. cally and religiously divided among
identification with Israel was con- Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Bosnian
sidered by some a major problem Muslims, and Albanian Kosovars
in dealing with other issues in the —also made its way to Washing-
region, but American diplomats ton after European governments
could do little more than hope to failed to impose order. The Bush
contain the violence. After Arafat’s administration had refused to get
death in late 2004, new Palestinian involved in the initial violence;
leadership appeared more receptive the Clinton administration finally
to a peace agreement, and Ameri- did so with great reluctance after
can policy makers resumed efforts being urged to do so by the Euro-
to promote a settlement. pean allies. In 1995, it negotiated
President Clinton also became an accord in Dayton, Ohio, to estab-
closely engaged with “the troubles” lish a semblance of peace in Bosnia.
in Northern Ireland. On one side In 1999, faced with Serbian mas-
was the violent Irish Republican sacres of Kosovars, it led a three-
Army, supported primarily by those month NATO bombing campaign
Catholic Irish who wanted to incor- against Serbia, which finally forced
porate these British counties into the a settlement.
Republic of Ireland. On the other In 1994, the administration re-
side were Unionists, with equally vi- stored ousted President Jean-Ber-
olent paramilitary forces, supported trand Aristide to power in Haiti,
by most of the Protestant Scots-Irish where he would rule for nine years
population, who wanted to remain before being ousted again. The inter-
in the United Kingdom. vention was largely a result of Aris-
Clinton gave the separatists tide’s carefully cultivated support
greater recognition than they ever in the United States and American
had obtained in the United States, fears of waves of Haitian illegal im-
but also worked closely with the migrants.
British governments of John Major In sum, the Clinton adminis-
and Tony Blair. The ultimate result, tration remained primarily inward
the Good Friday peace accords of looking, willing to tackle interna-
1998, established a political pro- tional problems that could not be
330
avoided, and, in other instances, By then the United States had

forced by the rest of the world already experienced an attack by
to do so. Muslim extremists. In February
1993, a huge car bomb was explod-
INTIMATIONS OF ed in an underground parking ga-
TERRORISM rage beneath one of the twin towers
N of the World Trade Center in lower

ear the close of his administra- Manhattan. The blast killed seven
tion, George H.W. Bush sent Ameri- people and injured nearly a thou-
can troops to the chaotic East African sand, but it failed to bring down the
nation of Somalia. Their mission was huge building with its thousands of
to spearhead a U.N. force that would workers. New York and federal au-
allow the regular movement of food thorities treated it as a criminal act,
to a starving population. apprehended four of the plotters,
Somalia became yet another leg- and obtained life prison sentences
acy for the Clinton administration. for them. Subsequent plots to blow
Efforts to establish a representative up traffic tunnels, public buildings,
government there became a “na- and even the United Nations were
tion-building” enterprise. In Oc- all discovered and dealt with in a
tober 1993, American troops sent similar fashion.
to arrest a recalcitrant warlord ran Possible foreign terrorism was
into unexpectedly strong resistance, nonetheless overshadowed by do-
losing an attack helicopter and suf- mestic terrorism, primarily the
fering 18 deaths. The warlord was Oklahoma City bombing. The work
never arrested. Over the next sev- of right-wing extremists Timo-
eral months, all American combat thy McVeigh and Terry Nichols,
units were withdrawn. it killed 166 and injured hundreds,
From the standpoint of the ad- a far greater toll than the 1993 Trade
ministration, it seemed prudent Center attack. But on June 25, 1996,
enough simply to end a marginal, another huge bomb exploded at the
ill-advised commitment and con- Khobar Towers U.S. military hous-
centrate on other priorities. It only ing complex in Saudi Arabia, kill-
became clear later that the Somalian ing 19 and wounding 515. A federal
warlord had been aided by a shad- grand jury indicted 13 Saudis and
owy and emerging organization that one Lebanese man for the attack,
would become known as al-Qaida, but Saudi Arabia ruled out any ex-
headed by a fundamentalist Muslim traditions.
named Osama bin Laden. A fanati- Two years later, on August 7,
cal enemy of Western civilization, 1998, powerful bombs exploding
bin Laden reportedly felt confirmed simultaneously destroyed U.S. em-
in his belief that Americans would bassies in Kenya and Tanzania, kill-
not fight when attacked. ing 301 people and injuring more
331
than 5,000. In retaliation Clinton the governor of Texas and son of for-
ordered missile attacks on terrorist mer president George H.W. Bush.
training camps run by bin Laden Gore ran as a dedicated liberal,
in Afghanistan, but they appear to intensely concerned with damage
have been deserted. He also ordered to the environment and determined
a missile strike to destroy a suspect to seek more assistance for the less
chemical factory in Sudan, a coun- privileged sectors of American soci-
try which earlier had given sanctu- ety. He seemed to position himself to
ary to bin Laden. the left of President Clinton.
On October 12, 2000, suicide Bush established a position on
bombers rammed a speedboat into the right wing of the Republican
the U.S. Navy destroyer Cole, on a Party, closer to the heritage of Ron-
courtesy visit to Yemen. Heroic ac- ald Reagan than to that of his father.
tion by the crew kept the ship afloat, He softened this image by display-
but 17 sailors were killed. Bin Lad- ing a special interest in education
en had pretty clearly been behind and calling himself a “compassion-
the attacks in Saudi Arabia, Afri- ate conservative.” His embrace of
ca, and Yemen, but he was beyond evangelical Christianity, which he
reach unless the administration was declared had changed his life after
prepared to invade Afghanistan to a misspent youth, was of particular
search for him. note. It underscored an attachment
The Clinton administration was to traditional cultural values that
never willing to take such a step. It contrasted sharply to Gore’s techno-
even shrank from the possibility of cratic modernism. Corporate critic
assassinating him if others might be Ralph Nader ran well to Gore’s left
killed in the process. The attacks had as the candidate of the Green Par-
been remote and widely separated. ty. Conservative Republican Patrick
It was easy to accept them as unwel- Buchanan mounted an independent
come but inevitable costs associated candidacy.
with superpower status. Bin Laden The final vote was nearly evenly
remained a serious nuisance, but not divided nationally; so were the elec-
a top priority for an administration toral votes. The pivotal state was
that was nearing its end. Florida, where a razor-thin margin
separated Bush and Gore and thou-
THE PRESIDENTIAL sands of ballots were disputed. Af-
ELECTION OF 2000 AND ter a series of court challenges at the
THE WAR ON TERROR state and federal levels, the U.S. Su-
T preme Court handed down a nar-

he Democratic Party nominated row decision that effectively gave the
Vice President Al Gore to head its election to Bush. The Republicans
ticket in 2000. To oppose him, the maintained control of both houses
Republicans chose George W. Bush, of Congress by a small margin.
332
The final totals underscored the nously growing federal budget defi-
tightness of the election: Bush won cit. At the end of the year, Bush also
271 electoral votes to Gore’s 266, but obtained the “No Child Left Behind”
Gore led him in the national popu- Act, which required public schools
lar vote 48.4 percent to 47.9 percent. to test reading and mathematical
Nader polled 2.1 percent and Bu- proficiency on an annual basis; it
chanan .4 percent. Gore, his states prescribed penalties for schools
colored blue in media graphics, unable to achieve a specified stan-
swept the Northeast and the West dard. Social Security remained un-
Coast; he also ran well in the Mid- addressed despite Bush’s efforts to
western industrial heartland. Bush, make it a priority in his second term.
whose states were colored red, beat The Bush presidency changed
his opponent in the South, the rest irrevocably on September 11, 2001,
of the Midwest, and the mountain as the United States suffered the
states. Commentators everywhere most devastating foreign attack ever
commented on the vast gap between against its mainland. That morn-
“red” and “blue” America, a divide ing, Middle Eastern terrorists simul-
characterized by cultural and social, taneously hijacked four passenger
rather than economic, differences, airplanes and used two of them as
and all the more deep-seated and suicide vehicles to destroy the twin
emotional for that reason. George W. towers of the World Trade Center in
Bush took office in a climate of ex- New York City. A third crashed into
treme partisan bitterness. the Pentagon building, the Defense
Bush expected to be a president Department headquarters just out-
primarily concerned with domestic side of Washington, D.C. The fourth,
policy. He wanted to meld tradition- probably aimed at the U.S. Capitol,
al Republican Party belief in private dived into the Pennsylvania coun-
enterprise, low taxation, and small tryside as passengers fought the hi-
government with a sense of social jackers.
responsibility for the less fortunate The death toll, most of it consist-
groups in American society. He had ing of civilians at the Trade Center,
talked during his campaign about was approximately 3,000, exceeding
reforming the Social Security sys- that of the Japanese attack on Pearl
tem. Impressed by Reagan’s supply- Harbor. The economic costs were
side economics, he advocated lower also heavy. Several other buildings
taxes to stimulate economic growth. near the Trade Center also were de-
The economy was beginning to stroyed, shutting down the financial
slip back from its lofty peak of the markets for several days. The effect
late 1990s. This helped Bush secure was to prolong the already develop-
passage of a tax cut in May 2001. ing recession.
Lower taxes would indeed buoy the As the nation began to recover
economy, but at the cost of an omi- from the attack, an unknown person
333
or group sent out letters containing and the fundamentalist Muslim

small amounts of anthrax bacteria. Taliban government of Afghanistan
Some went to members of Congress that had provided him refuge. The
and administration officials, others United States secured the passive
to obscure individuals. No notable cooperation of the Russian Federa-
person was infected. But five victims tion, established relationships with
died, and several others suffered se- the former Soviet republics that bor-
rious illness. The mailings touched dered Afghanistan, and, above all,
off a wave of national hysteria, then resumed a long-neglected alliance
stopped as suddenly as they had be- with Pakistan, which provided polit-
gun, and remained a mystery. In ical support and access to air bases.
2008, the Federal Bureau of Inves- Utilizing U.S. Army Special Forces
tigation announced that the likely and Central Intelligence Agency
culprit was a troubled government paramilitary operatives, the ad-
scientist who had committed suicide. ministration allied with long-mar-
The administration obtained pas- ginalized Afghan rebels. Given
sage of the USA Patriot Act in Octo- effective air support the coalition
ber 2001. Designed to fight domestic ousted the Taliban government in
terrorism, the new law considerably two months. Bin Laden, Taliban
broadened the search, seizure, and leaders, and many of their fighters,
detention powers of the federal gov- however, escaped into remote, semi-
ernment. Its opponents argued that autonomous areas of Northeastern
it violated constitutionally protected Pakistan. From there they would try
individual rights. Its backers re- to regroup and attack the new Af-
sponded that a country at war need- ghan government.
ed to protect itself. In the meantime, the Bush admin-
After initial hesitation, the Bush istration was looking elsewhere for
administration also decided to sup- sources of enemy terrorism. In his
port the establishment of the De- 2002 State of the Union address, the
partment of Homeland Security. president identified an “axis of evil”
Authorized in November 2002 and that he thought threatened the na-
designed to coordinate the fight tion: Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Of
against domestic terrorist attack, these three, Iraq seemed to him and
the new department consolidated 22 his advisers the most troublesome
federal agencies. and probably easiest to bring down.
The administration, like its pre- Saddam Hussein had ejected
decessor, had been unprepared for United Nations weapons inspectors.
the unimaginable. However, it re- The economic sanctions against Iraq
taliated quickly. Determining that were breaking down, and, although
the attack had been an al-Qaida the regime was not believed to be
operation, it launched a military of- involved in the 9/11 attacks, it had
fensive against Osama bin Laden engaged in some contacts with al-
334
Qaida. It was widely believed, not their backing. Turkey, long a reliable
just in the United States but through- American ally, declined to do so.
out the world, that Iraq had large Nevertheless, on March 19, 2003,
stockpiles of chemical and biologi- American and British troops, sup-
cal weapons and might be working ported by small contingents from
to acquire a nuclear capability. Why several other countries, began an in-
else throw out the inspection teams vasion of Iraq from the South.
and endure continuing sanctions? Groups airlifted into the North coor-
Throughout the year, the admin- dinated with Kurdish militia. On
istration pressed for a United Nations both fronts, resistance was occasion-
resolution demanding resumption ally fierce, but usually melted away.
of weapons inspection with full and Baghdad fell on April 8. On April 14,
free access. In October 2002, Iraq the military campaign in Iraq was
declared it would comply. Nonethe- declared over.
less, the new inspectors complained Taking Iraq turned out to be far
of bad faith. In January, their chief, easier than administering it. In the
Hans Blix, presented a report to the first days after the end of major com-
UN declaring that Iraq had failed bat, the country experienced perva-
to account for its weapons of mass sive looting. Hit-and-run attacks on
destruction, although he recom- allied troops followed and became
mended a resumption of weapons increasingly organized, despite the
inspections before withdrawing. capture of Saddam Hussein and the
Bush in the meantime had re- deaths of his two sons and heirs. Dif-
ceived a Senate authorization by a ferent Iraqi factions seemed on the
vote of 77–23 for the use of mili- verge of war with each other.
tary force. The U.S. military began New weapons inspection teams
a buildup of personnel and materiel were unable to find the expected
in Kuwait. stockpiles of chemical and biological
The American plans for war weaponry. It became clear that Iraq
with Iraq encountered unusually had never restarted the nuclear pro-
strong opposition in much of Eu- gram it had been pursuing before the
rope. France, Russia, and Germany first Gulf War. After his apprehen-
all were against the use of force. Even sion, Saddam Hussein admitted that
in those nations whose governments he had engaged in a gigantic bluff to
supported the United States, there forestall attack from abroad or in-
was strong popular hostility to co- surrection at home.
operation. Britain became the major In the year and a quarter after the
U.S. ally in the war that followed; fall of Baghdad, the United States and
most of the newly independent East- the United Kingdom, with increas-
ern European nations contributed ing cooperation from the United
assistance. The governments of Ita- Nations, moved ahead with estab-
ly and (for a time) Spain also lent lishment of a provisional govern-
335
ment that would assume sovereignty race fueled a voter turnout 20 per-
over Iraq. The effort occurred amidst cent higher than four years earlier.
increasing violence that included at- Bush won a narrow victory, 51 per-
tacks not only on allied troops, but cent to 48 percent with the remain-
also on Iraqis connected in any way der of the vote going to Ralph Nader
with the new government. Most of and other independents. The Repub-
the insurgents appeared to be Sad- licans scored small but important
dam loyalists; some were indigenous gains in Congress.
Muslim sectarians; others likely George W. Bush began his sec-
were foreign fighters. ond term in January 2005, facing
challenges aplenty: Iraq, increasing
THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL federal budget deficits, a chronic
ELECTION AND GEORGE W. international balance-of-payments
BUSH’S SECOND TERM shortfall, the escalating cost of social
B entitlements, and a shaky currency.

y mid-2004, with the United None were susceptible to quick or
States facing a violent insurgency easy solutions.
in Iraq, considerable foreign oppo- Iraq was the largest and most vis-
sition to the war there, and increas- ible problem. The country had ad-
ingly sharp divisions about the opted a new constitution and held
conflict at home, the country faced parliamentary elections in 2005.
another presidential election. The Saddam Hussein, tried by an Iraqi
Democrats nominated Senator John tribunal, was executed in December
Kerry of Massachusetts, a decorated 2006. All the same, American forces
Vietnam veteran in his fourth Senate and the new government faced a
term. Kerry’s dignified demeanor mounting insurgency. Composed of
and speaking skills made him a for- antagonistic factions—among them
midable candidate. A reliable liberal Sunni supporters of Saddam and
on domestic issues, he was a critic of dissident Shiites aided by Iran—the
the Iraq war. Bush, renominated insurgency could be contained, but
without opposition by the Republi- not quelled without using harsh tac-
cans, portrayed himself as frank and tics that would be unacceptable at
consistent in speech and deed, a man home and would alienate the Iraqi
of action willing to take all necessary population. The constitutional Iraqi
steps to protect the United States. government lacked the power and
Marked by intense feelings on stability needed to impose order, yet
both sides about the war and the the costs—human and financial—of
cultural conflicts that increasingly the American occupation eroded
defined the differences between the support at home.
two major parties, the campaign re- In January 2007, the president
vealed a nation nearly as divided as adopted an anti-insurgency strat-
in 2000. The strong emotions of the egy advocated by General David Pe-
336
traeus—one of outreach and support buildup and anti-insurgency effort

for Sunni leaders willing to accept a similar to the Iraq surge. As with
new democratic order in Iraq, along Iraq, the outcome remained in
with continued backing of the pre- doubt.
dominantly Shiite government in As the first decade of the 21st cen-
Baghdad. He accompanied this with tury drew to a close, the United
a “surge” of additional troops. Over States found itself adjusting to a
the next year, the strategy appeared world considerably more complex
to calm the country. The United than that of the Cold War. The bi-
States began to turn over increased polar rivalry of that era, for all its
security responsibilities to the Iraq- dangers and challenges, had im-
is and negotiated an agreement for posed an unprecedented simplicity
complete withdrawal by 2011. None- on international affairs. The newer,
theless, Iraq remained very unstable, messier world order (or disorder)
its fragile peace regularly disrupted featured the rapid rise of China as a
by bombings and assassinations, its major economic force. India and
Sunni-Shiite conflict complicated by Brazil were not far behind. Post-So-
Kurdish separatists. It was not clear viet Russia re-emerged as an oil and
whether a liberal-democratic nation natural gas power seeking to regain
could be created out of such chaos, lost influence in Eastern Europe.
but certain that the United States The United States remained the pre-
could not impose one if the Iraqis eminent power in the world, but was
did not want it. now first in a complex multipolar in-
As Iraq progressed uncertainly ternational system.
toward stability, Afghanistan moved At home, the nation remained
in the other direction. The post-Tal- generally prosperous through most
iban government of Hamid Karzai of the Bush years. After a weak first
proved unable to establish effective year, gross domestic product grew
control over the historically decen- at a relatively steady, if unspectacu-
tralized country. Operating from the lar, rate and unemployment held at
Pakistani tribal areas to which they fairly low levels. Yet the prosperity
had escaped in 2001, the Taliban and was fragile. Most noticeable was the
al-Qaida began to filter back into rapid decline of American manufac-
Afghanistan and establish signifi- turing, a trend that was well along by
cant areas of control in the southern the time George W. Bush became
provinces. Using remote-controlled president and was in sharp contrast
drone aircraft equipped with guided to the rise of China as an industrial
missiles, U.S. forces staged attacks power. Increasingly, the economy was
against enemy encampments and sustained by consumer spending,
leaders within Pakistan. In 2009, finance, and a construction boom
the new American president, Barack led by residential housing. Federal
Obama, approved a U.S. military policy, reflecting the American ideal
337
that every person should have an of Medicare by the addition of a vol-

opportunity to own a home, encour- untary prescription drug program—
aged the extension of mortgage loans proved much more popular. It ap-
to individuals whose prospects for peased conservative qualms about
repayment were dim. The financial big government by subsidizing
institutions in turn repackaged these qualified private insurance plans,
loans into complex securities, repre- required fairly large out-of-pocket
sented them as sound investments, payments from those who bought
and sold them to institutional inves- into it, but still provided real savings
tors. These ultimately unsustainable to elderly patients who required mul-
investments were fueled to excess by tiple medications. Yet, as was the
an easy-money policy as the nation’s case with already existing Medicare
central bank, the Federal Reserve provisions, the costs of the drug
System, held interest rates at low lev- program were not fully covered. It
els. Similar economic currents added substantially to a federal defi-
flowed in much of the rest of the de- cit that seemed uncontrollable.
veloped Western world, but the Unit- The growing deficit became a
ed States was the pacesetter. major issue among not simply oppo-
In line with the theme of compas- sition Democrats but many Republi-
sionate conservatism, Bush proposed can conservatives, who thought their
a major overhaul of the Social Secu- party was spending too freely. In ad-
rity system that would allow individ- dition, the difficult war in Iraq was
uals some discretion in investing the increasingly unpopular. In the 2006
taxes they paid into it. The plan midterm elections, Republicans lost
aroused nearly unanimous Demo- control of Congress to the opposition
cratic opposition, generated little Democrats, who more than ever
public enthusiasm, and never got looked with confidence to the next
to a vote in Congress. Bush’s other presidential election. 9
major project—the enhancement
338
President George W. Bush walks down the White House Colonnade with his
successor, Barack Obama, on November 10, 2008, six days after Obama’s
election as 44th president of the United States.
339
340
16
CHAPTER
POLITICS
OF
HOPE
Democratic presidential
candidate Senator
Barack Obama (Illinois)
at a campaign rally in
Charlotte, North Carolina,
September, 2008.
CHAPTER 16: POLITICS OF HOPE
“The strongest democracies

flourish from frequent and lively
debate, but they endure when
people of every background and
belief find a way to set aside
smaller differences in service
of a greater purpose.”
President Barack Obama, 2009
THE ELECTION OF 2008 In late 2007, it seemed nearly cer-

AND THE EMERGENCE OF tain that the Democratic nomination
BARACK OBAMA would go to Senator Hillary Rodham
H Clinton of New York. The wife of

aving served two terms, Presi- former president Bill Clinton,
dent George W. Bush was constitu- she had quickly established herself
tionally prohibited from being elected as a leading member of Congress
again to the presidency. After a spir- and possessed a strong national con-
ited preconvention campaign, the stituency among women and liberal
Republicans chose as their candi- Democrats. However, she faced a phe-
date Senator John McCain of Ari- nomenon not unusual in democratic
zona. A Vietnam veteran respected societies—a relatively unknown, but
for his heroic resistance as a prison- charismatic, challenger whose ap-
er of war, McCain possessed strong peal rested not on ideological or pro-
foreign policy credentials and was grammatic differences but on style
a relatively moderate conservative and personal background.
on domestic issues. He chose as his Barack Hussein Obama was only
running mate Governor Sarah Palin in his second year as a U.S. senator
of Alaska. Much admired by Chris- from Illinois, but his comparative
tian evangelicals and cultural conser- youth and freshness were assets in a
vatives, she drew almost as much year when the electorate was weary
attention as McCain himself. of politics as usual. So was his multi-
342
cultural background. His father was imperiled the entire financial super-
from Kenya; his mother was a white structure of the nation. The Federal
American sociologist. Born in Ha- Deposit Insurance Corporation
waii, he had spent his early years in (FDIC), created during the New
Indonesia, where he attended a Mus- Deal, shut down numerous banks
lim school. After his father left the without loss to depositors, but had
family and his mother died at an ear- no jurisdiction over the giant finan-
ly age, he had been raised by his cial investment companies that did
grandmother. These family crises not engage in commercial banking.
notwithstanding, he became a suc- Moreover, it had only limited capa-
cessful student at two of the best bilities to deal with those corpora-
universities in the United States— tions that did both.
Columbia and Harvard. His person- Fearing a general financial melt-
al style mixed a rare speaking talent down reminiscent of the darkest
with a hip informality that had great days of the Great Depression, the
appeal to younger voters. Americans U.S. Treasury and the Federal Re-
of all ages could consider him an serve engineered a Troubled Assets
emblematic representative of their Relief Program (TARP) that was
society’s tradition of providing oppor- funded by a $700 billion congres-
tunity for all. sional appropriation. The TARP
After a close, hard-fought six program kept the endangered invest-
months of party caucuses and pri- ment banks afloat. What it could not
mary elections, Obama eked out a do was stave off a sharp economic
narrow victory over Clinton. He collapse in which millions of Ameri-
made Senator Joseph Biden of Dela- cans lost their jobs.
ware his vice-presidential selection. That November, the voters elect-
Most measures of popular sentiment ed Obama president of the United
indicated that the public wanted a States, with approximately 53 per-
change. The two candidates were cent of the vote to McCain’s 46.
ahead in many public opinion polls
as the fall campaign season began. OBAMA: THE FIRST YEAR
O
Any chance that McCain and
Palin could pull ahead was ended bama was inaugurated president
by the sharp financial crisis that be- of the United States on January 20,
gan in the last half of September and 2009, in an atmosphere of hope and
sent the economy crashing. Caused high expectations. In his inaugural
by excessive speculation in risky address, he declared: “The time has
mortgage-backed securities and come to reaffirm our enduring spir-
other unstable investment vehicles, it; to choose our better history; to
the crash led to the bankruptcy of carry forward that precious gift, that
the venerable Lehman Brothers in- noble idea, passed on from genera-
vestment house and momentarily tion to generation: the God-given
343
CHAPTER 16: POLITICS OF HOPE
promise that all are equal, all are prevent unemployment—officially

free, and all deserve a chance to pur- estimated at 7.7 percent of the labor
sue their full measure of happiness.” force when Obama took office—
He proclaimed an agenda of “remak- from increasing to a high of 10.1 per-
ing America” by reviving and trans- cent, then receding just a bit. The
forming the economy in ways that loans to large investment and com-
would provide better and less-expen- mercial banks begun during the
sive health care for all, foster envi- Bush administration with the objec-
ronmentally friendly energy, and tive of restoring a stable financial
develop an educational system better system were mostly repaid with a
suited to the needs of a new century. profit to the government, but a few
Speaking to the international remained outstanding as the presi-
community, he pledged U.S. coop- dent began his second year in office.
eration in facing the problem of In addition, the government invested
global warming. He also delivered heavily in two giant auto makers
a general message of international —General Motors and Chrysler—
engagement based on compassion shepherding them through bank-
for poorer, developing countries and ruptcy and attempting to reestablish
respect for other cultures. “To the them as major manufacturers.
Muslim world,” Obama said, “we Obama’s other major objective—
seek a new way forward, based on the establishment of a national health
mutual interest and mutual respect.” care system—had long been a goal
The speech revealed the wide of American liberalism. With large
scope of Obama’s aspirations. His Democratic majorities in both houses
rhetoric and his strong personal of Congress, it seemed achievable.
presence won wide approval—so However, developing a plan that had
much so that in October, he was to meet the medical needs of more
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in than 300 million Americans proved
recognition of his goals. But, as extraordinarily difficult. The con-
always in the complex system of cerns of numerous interests had to be
American representative govern- dealt with—insurance companies,
ment, it was easier to state large hospitals, physicians, pharmaceuti-
ambitions than to realize them. cal companies, and the large majori-
At home, the administration ad- ty of Americans who were already
dressed the mounting economic covered and reasonably satisfied. In
crisis with a $787 billion stimulus addition, a comprehensive national
act designed to bring growing un- plan had to find some way to control
employment down to manageable skyrocketing costs. In the spring of
levels. The legislation doubtless saved 2010, the president signed complex
or created many jobs, but it failed to legislation that mandated health in-
344
surance for every American, with AFTERWORD
F
implementation to take place over
several years. rom its origins as a set of obscure
In foreign policy, Obama sought colonies hugging the Atlantic coast,
to reach out to the non-Western the United States has undergone a
world, and especially to Muslims remarkable transformation into
who might interpret the Ameri- what political analyst Ben Watten-
can military actions in Iraq and berg has called “the first universal
Afghanistan as part of a general nation,” a population of almost 300
war on Islam. “America and Islam million people representing virtu-
are not exclusive and need not be ally every nationality and ethnic
in competition,” he told an audi- group in the world. It is also a na-
ence at Cairo University. In Tokyo, tion where the pace and extent of
he reassured Asians that America change—economic, technological,
would remain engaged with the cultural, demographic, and social
world’s fastest-growing region. —is unceasing. The United States is
While hoping to distinguish itself often the harbinger of the modern-
in tone from the Bush administra- ization and change that inevitably
tion, the Obama government found sweep up other nations and societies
itself following the broad outlines in an increasingly interdependent,
of Bush’s War on Terror. It affirmed interconnected world.
the existing agreement to withdraw Yet the United States also main-
American troops from Iraq in 2011 tains a sense of continuity, a set of
and reluctantly accepted military core values that can be traced to its
plans for a surge in Afghanistan. In founding. They include a faith in
his Nobel acceptance speech, Pres- individual freedom and democratic
ident Obama quoted the celebrat- government, and a commitment to
ed American theologian Reinhold economic opportunity and prog-
Niebuhr to the effect that evil ex- ress for all. The continuing task of
isted in the world and could be de- the United States will be to ensure
feated only by force. that its values of freedom, democ-
At the conclusion of his first racy, and opportunity—the legacy
year in office, Obama remained, for of a rich and turbulent history—are
many Americans, a compelling per- protected and flourish as the nation,
sonification of their ideals of liberty and the world, move through the
and equal opportunity. 21st century. 9
345
BIBLIOGR APHY
RECENT PRIZE-WINNING 2008

BOOKS The Cigarette Century: The Rise,
The Bancroft Prize for Fall, and Deadly Persistence of the
American History Product That Defined America
Awarded by the Trustees By Allan M. Brandt
of Columbia University Basic Books
2010 The Populist Vision

Dorothea Lange: A Life By Charles Postel
Beyond Limits Oxford University Press
By Linda Gordon
W.W. Norton & Company Our Savage Neighbors: How Indian
War Transformed Early America
Abigail Adams By Peter Silver
By Woody Holton W.W. Norton & Company
Free Press
2007
White Mother to a Dark Race: Mockingbird Song: Ecological
Settler Colonialism, Maternalism, Landscapes of the South
and the Removal of Indigenous By Jack Temple Kirby
Children in the American West University of North Carolina Press
and Australia, 1880-1940.
By Margaret D. Jacobs William James: In the Maelstrom
University of Nebraska Press of American Modernism
By Robert D. Richardson
2009 Houghton Mifflin Company
Killing for Coal: America’s
Deadliest Labor War 2006
By Thomas G. Andrews Dwelling Place: A Plantation Epic
Harvard University Press By Erskine Clarke
Yale University Press
This Republic of Suffering: Death
and the American Civil War The Global Cold War: Third
By Drew Gilpin Faust World Interventions and the
Alfred A. Knopf Making of Our Times
By Odd Arne Westad
The Comanche Empire Cambridge University Press
By Pekka Hämäläinen
Yale University Press
346
The Rise of American Democracy: SELECTED INTERNET

Jefferson to Lincoln RESOURCES
By Sean Wilentz
W.W. Norton & Company American Historical Association
http://www.historians.org
Pulitzer Prize for a distinguished
book upon the history of the American History: A Documentary
United States Record
Awarded by Columbia University 1492–Present
Graduate School of Journalism http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_
menus/chrono.asp
2010
Lords of Finance: The Bankers The Avalon Project at the Yale Law
Who Broke the World School: Major Collections
By Liaquat Ahamed http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_
The Penguin Press menus/major.asp
2009 Biography of America

The Hemingses of Monticello: http://www.learner.org/
An American Family biographyofamerica/
By Annette Gordon-Reed
W.W. Norton & Company Digital History
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/
2008
What God Hath Wrought: Documents for the Study of
The Transformation of America, American History
1815-1848 http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/
By Daniel Walker Howe
Oxford University Press Gilder Lehrman Institute of
American History
2007 http://www.gilderlehrman.org
The Race Beat: The Press,
the Civil Rights Struggle, and Historicalstatistics.org
the Awakening of a Nation http://www.historicalstatistics.org/
By Gene Roberts and index2.html
Hank Klibanoff
Alfred A. Knopf History Matters
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/
2006
Polio: An American Story
By David Oshinsky
Oxford University Press
347
BIBLIOGRAPHY
The Library of Congress National Atlas of the United States

American Memory: Historical http://nationalatlas.gov
Collections for the National
Digital Library National Endowment for
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/ the Humanities: We the People
http://www.wethepeople.gov
The Library of Congress
American Memory: Timeline National Park Service:
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/ Discover History
ndlpedu/features/timeline/ http://www.nps.gov/history/
index.html
Organization of American
National Archives and Records Historians
Administration http://www.oah.org/
http://www.nara.gov
Smithsonian
National Archives and Records http://www.si.edu/
Administration: Digital Classroom
http://www.archives.gov/digital_ The Historical Society
classroom/ http://www.bu.edu/historic/
National Archives and Records U.S. Department of State

Administration: Our Documents: Office of the Historian
A National Initiative on American http://history.state.gov/
History, Civics, and Service
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/ WWW Virtual Library
index.php?flash=true& History: United States
http://vlib.iue.it/history/USA/
National Archives and Records
Administration: Presidential
Libraries
http://www.archives.gov/
presidential-libraries
The U.S. Department of State

assumes no responsibility for
the content and availability
of the resources from other
agencies and organizations
listed above. All Internet links
were active as of fall 2010.
348
INDEX
Page references in boldface type African Americans

refer to illustrations. bus boycott (Montgomery,
Alabama), 240
A civil rights movement, 240, 258,
Abolition of slavery 271-272
Brown’s raid at Harper’s Ferry color barrier broken in sports, 237,
(1859), 139 271
constitutional amendment Colored Farmers National Alliance,
(13th), 148 191
Democratic Party and, 152 culture, 210-211
Douglass as abolitionist leader, 91 Freedmen’s Bureau and, 148, 151
Emancipation Proclamation, 144- “Harlem Renaissance,” 211
145 jazz musicians, 211
Freedmen’s Bureau, 148, 151 labor unions and, 193
Garrison and The Liberator on, 91, lynchings and violence against,
122, 133-134 150, 178, 271
Missouri Compromise (1820), 80, members of Congress, 96
114, 132, 135, 137 as sharecroppers and tenant
Northwest Ordinance slavery ban, farmers, 190-191
71, 73, 113, 135 U.S. Colored Troops in Union
religious social activism and, 87 Army, 145
as a sectional conflict/divided See also Abolition of slavery;
nation, 128-139 Civil rights; Racial discrimination;
as sharecroppers and tenant Slavery
farmers, 190-191 Agnew, Spiro, 290
southern statesmen on, 113 Agricultural Adjustment Act
Underground Railroad, 91, 134, 136 (AAA), 216
See also Slavery Agriculture
Adams, John, 52, 64, 72, 82-83 farm-relief act, 216
Adams, John Quincy, 115, 116, 134 Farmers’ Alliances, 191
Adams, Samuel, 56-57 Grange movement, 191
Adamson Act, 199 land grant and technical colleges,
Addams, Jane, 196 152, 177
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn New Deal programs, 216-217
(Twain), 97 Patrons of Husbandry (Grange), 191
Afghanistan, U.S. relations, 294, plantation settlements, 26, 28,
334, 345 113-114, 128-129
AFL. See American Federation of post-Revolutionary period, 70
Labor (AFL) Republican policy, 79, 208
scientific research, 177
349
INDEX
sharecroppers and tenant farmers, significance of, 65

190-191 Treaty of Paris (1783), 47, 64
small farmers and agricultural Yorktown, British surrender at,
consolidation, 267 47-48, 64
technological revolution, 110-111, American Sugar Refining Company,
160, 177 197
westward expansion and, 125 American Telephone and Telegraph
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency (AT&T), 158
Syndrome) American Temperance Union, 121
epidemic, 307 Amity and Commerce, Treaty of
quilt (Washington, D.C.), 299 (France-American colonies), 63
AIM. See American Indian Movement Amnesty Act (1872), 150
Alaska Anasazi, 8, 20
gold rush, 192 Andros, Sir Edmund, 31
purchase, known as “Seward’s Anthony, Susan B., 90, 122
Folly,” 182 Antifederalists, 76
Albany Plan of Union, 33, 69 Antitrust legislation, 160, 187,
Albright, Madeleine, 329 196-197, 199
Alien Act, 82, 117 Apache Indians, 180, 181
Amalgamated Association of Iron, Aquino, Corazon, 312
Steel, and Tin Workers, 194 Arafat, Yasser, 330
American Bible Society, 87 Aristide, Jean-Bertrand, 330
American Civil Liberties Union, 209 Arlington Cemetery (Virginia), 174
American Federation of Labor (AFL), Armour, Philip, 158
194, 209, 227 Arms control. See Nuclear weapons
American Independent Party, 319 Armstrong, Louis, 211
American Indian Movement (AIM), 281 Armstrong, Neil, 285
American Philosophical Society, 28 Arnaz, Desi, 239
American Railway Union, 194 Arnold, Benedict, 62
American Revolution, 50-65 Articles of the Confederation, 69-70
Boston Tea Party (1773), 50-51, 57 Asia, Cold War, 263-264
British move through the South, Atlantic Charter (U.S.-Britain), 220
63-64 Automobile industry
colonial declaration of war, 60 auto worker strikes, 228, 230
Concord and Lexington battles automobile safety crusade, 287
(1775), 59-60 environmental issues/traffic
economic aftermath, 70 congestion, 282, 300-301
factors leading to, 50-59 unemployment, 227
first shots fired at Lexington,
44-45, 59 B
Franco-American alliance, 62-63 Babcock, Stephen, 177
Long Island, battle of (1776), 61 Ball, Lucille, 239
Loyalists and, 60, 65 Banking Act, 218
Olive Branch Petition, 60
350
Banking and finance Brown v. Board of Education (1954),

currency question and gold 240, 244, 272
standard, 192 Bryan, William Jennings, 192, 195,
Federal Reserve Board, 199, 218 198, 209-210
Federal Reserve System, 119, 187, Buchanan, Pat, 332
198-199 Buckley, William F., 308
financial panic (1893), 192 Bull Moose Party, 318
First Bank of the United States, 79 Burbank, Luther, 177
insured savings (FDIC), 215 Burgoyne, John, 62
national bank, 79-80 Bush, George Herbert Walker, 255
New Deal program reforms, 214-215 budgets and deficits, 315
regional and local bank charters, 119 domestic policy, 314-315
Second Bank of the United States, end of Cold War, 315-316
118-119 foreign policy, 312, 316-317
state banking system, 119 presidential election (1998), 314;
stock market crash (1929), 211 (1992), 322, 324
Baptists, 87, 88 “war on drugs,” 317
Barak, Ehud, 330 Bush, George W.
Beard, Charles, 75 Afghanistan invasion, 334
“Beat Generation” (1950s), 270 with Barack Obama, 339
Begin, Menachim, 292 as a “compassionate conservative,”
Bell, Alexander Graham, 107, 156 332
Bell, John C., 139 domestic and foreign policy, 332-
Bell Telephone System, 158 336
Bellamy, Edward, 160 on freedom, 322
Biddle, Nicholas, 119 Iraq War, 334-336
Biden, Joseph, 343 on peace, 322
Bill of Rights, 77 presidential elections (2000), 333;
bin Laden, Osama, 331, 332, 334 (2004), 336-337
Blaine, James G., 185 with Tony Blair, 294-295
Blair, Tony, 294-295, 330
Blix, Hans, 335 C
Bolívar, Simon, 114 Cable News Network, 297
Booth, John Wilkes, 147 Cabot, John, 9
Borglum, Gutzon, 171 Cady Stanton, Elizabeth, 90, 122-123
Bosnia, 330 Calhoun, John C., 112, 116, 117, 125
Boston Massacre (1770), 56 California
Boston Tea Party (1773), 50-51, 57 as a free state, 136
Breckenridge, John C., 139 gold rush, 131, 136, 179
Brezhnev, Leonid, 289 migrant farm workers’ unions,
British colonization. See English 279-280
colonization territory, 135
Brooks, David, 322 Calvinism, 13, 29, 34, 65
Brown, John, 139 Campbell, Ben Nighthorse, 281
351
INDEX
Capitalism, 187, 193, 214 Coalition,” 253

Carleton, Mark, 177 Truman 10-point civil rights
Carmichael, Stokely, 278 program, 271-272
Carnegie, Andrew, 97, 156-157, See also Civil rights movement;
187, 194 Individual rights; Racial
Carson, Rachel, 282 discrimination
Carter, Jimmy, 291-292 Civil Rights Act (1957), 273
Cartier, Jacques, 10 Civil Rights Act (1960), 273
Carver, George Washington, 177 Civil Rights Act (1964), 277, 286
Cattle ranching, 179-180 Civil rights movement (1960-80),
Central Pacific Railroad, 179 276-278
A Century of Dishonor (Jackson), 181 “black power” activists, 277-278
Chambers, Whittaker, 266 “freedom rides,” 277
Charles I (British king), 12, 13, 15 “March on Washington” (1963), 277
Charles II (British king), 17, 18, 31 origins of the, 271-272
Chase, Salmon P., 138 riots (1960s), 278
Chávez, César, 250, 280 sit-ins, 277
Cherokee Indians, 125 Civil Service Commission, 307
Chiang Kai-shek, 224, 263, 264 Civil War (1861-65)
Chicanos. See Latino movement African Americans in U.S. Colored
Child labor, 102-103, 177, 193, 196 Troops in Union Army, 145
China, People’s Republic of Alexandria, Union troop
Boxer Rebellion (1900), 186 encampment, 94
Taiwan relations, 263, 265, 289 Antietam campaign (1862), 141, 144
U.S. diplomatic relations, 186, Bull Run (First Manassas), 143
289, 292 Bull Run (Second Manassas), 144
Christian Coalition, 308 casualties, 92, 144, 145
Churchill, Winston Chancellorsville campaign (1863),
on the “iron curtain,” 260-261 92-93, 145
U.S. support for war effort, 220 Chattanooga and Lookout
at Yalta, 224, 234 Mountain campaigns (1863), 146
CIO. See Committee for Industrial Gettysburg address, by Lincoln,
Organization (CIO); Congress of 142, 145
Industrial Organizations (CIO) Gettysburg campaign (1863), 92,
Citizenship, 82, 148-149, 178 145, 146
Civil rights Petersburg campaign (1865), 146
bus boycott (Montgomery, postwar politics, 152-153
Alabama), 240, 273 secession from the Union, 142-143
desegregation, 272-273 Sherman’s march through the
desegregation of schools, 240, 241, South, 146
244, 272-273, 277 Shiloh campaign, 144
desegregation of the military, Spotsylvania (Battle of the
269, 272 Wilderness, 1864), 146
Jesse Jackson’s “Rainbow surrender at Appomattox
352
Courthouse, 146 origins of, 260-261

Vicksburg campaign (1863), 145, 146 Truman Administration, 261, 265
See also Reconstruction Era College of William and Mary, 27
Civil Works Administration Colonial period
(CWA), 215-216 cultural developments, 27-29
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), 215 Dutch colonies, 14, 15, 17, 24
Clark, William, 47 early settlements, 10-12, 24
Clay, Henry English settlers, 10-12, 13-15, 17, 24
compromise agreements, 114, 136 French and Indian Wars, 32-33
portrait of, 90 German settlers, 24, 25, 26
presidential elections, 116, 119 government of the colonies, 29-32
protective tariffs, 112, 117, 118 Jamestown colony (Virginia), 10,
Whig Party statesman, 120, 152 12-13, 16
Clayton Antitrust Act, 199 Massachusetts colonies, 13-14, 24-25
Clean Air Act (1967), 282 middle colonies, 25-26
Clemenceau, Georges, 108 Native American relations, 15-17,
Clemens, Samuel Langhorne, 97, 196 18, 39
Cleveland, Grover, 159, 182, 183, New Amsterdam, 14, 15, 26
192, 194 New England colonies, 24-25
Clinton, Hillary Rodham, 324, 325, New England Confederation, 17
328, 342 Pennsylvania colony, 18, 25, 27-28,
Clinton, William “Bill” 30, 39, 69
Arkansas real estate rural country daily life, 26-27
investigation, 326 Scots and Scots-Irish settlers, 24,
Cabinet appointments, 280 25, 26
domestic policy, 324-326 southern colonies, 26-27
foreign policy, 329-331 Swedish colonies, 15, 24
impeachment hearings/trial, Virginia colonies, 10, 12-13, 16, 26,
328, 329 28-30, 68-69
presidential election (1992), Colored Farmers National Alliance,
322-324; (1996), 328 191
presidential inaugural address Columbus, Christopher, 9
(1993), 255 Commission on Civil Rights, 280
sexual impropriety/intern scandal, Committee for Industrial Organization
326, 328 (CIO), 228
Coercive or Intolerable Acts (England), Committees of Correspondence,
57-59 56-57
Cold War, 258-267 Commodity Credit Corporation, 216
in Asia, 263-264 Common Sense (Paine), 60
Eisenhower Administration, Communism, 206-207
264-265 Cold War and, 258-267, 315-316
end of, 255, 315-316, 324 Eisenhower containment policy,
in the Middle East, 264 264-265
Kennedy Administration, 284-285 Federal Employee Loyalty
353
INDEX
Program, 266 ratification, 75-76

House Committee on separation of powers principle, 74
Un-American Activities, 266 signing of, at Constitution Hall
McCarthy Senate hearings on, (Philadelphia), 164
236, 266 Constitutional Convention
Red Scare (1919-20), 207, 265 (Philadelphia, 1787), 66-67, 71-77
spread of, 263 Constitutional Union Party, 139
Truman Doctrine of containment, Continental Association, 58-59
261-263 Continental Congress, First (1774), 58
Communist Party, 206, 263, 265, 266 Continental Congress, Second (1775),
Compromise of 1850, 90, 135-136 60, 61, 69, 71
Confederation Congress, 71 Coolidge, Calvin, 204, 207
Congress of Industrial Organizations Cornwallis, Lord Charles, 46-47, 64
(CIO), 228 Coronado, Francisco Vázquez de, 9
Congress, U.S. Corporations, 158-159
African-American members, 96 Coughlin, Charles, 217
first Native American member, 281 Counterculture (1960s), 281-282
Hispanic members, 280 New Leftists, 281-282
power to make laws, 75 Vietnam War demonstrations, 281
representation in House and “Woodstock Generation,” 249, 281
Senate, 73 Cox, James M., 207
Conservatism, 307-309 Crawford, William, 116
Constitution, state constitutions, 68-69 Crazy Horse (Sioux chief), 180
Constitution, U.S. Creek Indians, 125
amendments Cromwell, Oliver, 12, 17, 31
1st thru 12th, 77 Cuba, Spanish-American War and,
13th (abolishing slavery), 148 182-183
14th (citizenship rights), 148- Cuban missile crisis (1962), 284
149, 178 Cullen, Countee, 211
15th (voting rights), 149, 273 Culture
16th (federal income tax), 198 of the 1950s, 270-271
17th (direct election of in the colonies, 27-29
senators), 198 counterculture of the 1960s, 281-282
18th (prohibition), 210 See also Libraries; Literary works;
19th (voting rights for women), Music, American
207 Currency Act (England, 1764), 53
amendments process, 74 Custer, George, 98-99, 180
Bill of Rights, 77
Congressional powers, 75 D
debate and compromise, 73-75 Dakota Sioux, 98, 180, 281
declaration of war powers, 316-317 Darrow, Clarence, 209-210
on display at National Archives, Darwinian theory
174 Scopes trial, 209-210
motivations of Founding Fathers, 75 “survival of the fittest,” 193
354
Davis, Jefferson, 142 E

Dawes (General Allotment) Act East India Company, 57
(1887), 181 Eastman, George, 106, 157
De Soto, Hernando, 9 Economic crisis bailout, 344
Declaration of Independence, 61, 68 Edison, Thomas, 106, 157
burial site for three signers of, Education
162-163 in the colonies, 27-29
Declaratory Act (England), 55 computer technology and, 303
Delaware Indians, 18, 39 day care centers, 303
Democracy in America (Tocqueville), No Child Left Behind Act, 333
130 private schools, 27
Democratic Party, 116, 137, 152, 153, private tutors, 28
192, 218-219 public school systems, 121
Depression. See Great Depression school desegregation, 240, 244,
Dewey, George, 183 272-273, 277
Dewey, Thomas, 235, 269 Edwards, Jonathan, 29
Dickens, Charles, 130-131 Eisenhower, Dwight David
Dickinson, Emily, 96 civil rights supporter, 272, 273
Dickinson, John, 55, 69 Cold War and foreign policy, 264-265
Digital revolution, 293, 296 domestic policy of “dynamic
e-mail communication, 327 conservatism,” 269-270
mobile phones, 327 portrait of, 236
personal computer (PC) growth, as president of U.S., 264-265, 269-270
306, 327 as Supreme Commander of Allied
Dix, Dorothea, 121 Forces, 223, 232, 264
Dixiecrats, 319 Electoral College, 116, 117
Dole, Robert, 328 Elkins Act (1903), 196
Doolittle, James “Jimmy,” 223 Ellington, Duke, 211
Dorset, Marion, 177 Ellis Island Monument, 102, 103, 200
Douglas, Stephen A., 136, 137, 138-139 Emancipation Proclamation, 144-145
Douglass, Frederick, 91, 122, 134, 145 Embargo Act (1807), 84
Drake, Francis, 10 Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 59
Dred Scott decision, 138, 149 Enforcement Acts (1870 and
Dreiser, Theodore, 196 1871), 150
DuBois, W.E.B., 178, 211 English Civil War (1642-49), 31
Dukakis, Michael, 314 English colonization
Dulles, John Foster, 265 early settlements, 10-12
Dunmore, Lord, 60 French and Indian War and, 32-33
Dutch colonization, 14, 15, 17 map of, 36-37
patroon system, 14-15 in Maryland, 15
Dutch East India Company, 14 in Massachusetts, 13-14
Dylan, Bob, 281 New England Confederation, 17
English common law, 30
Enola Gay (U.S. bomber), attacks on
355
INDEX
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 226 Louisiana Territory sold to U.S.,

Environmental movement, 282, 83-84
298, 344 New World exploration, 9-10
Environmental Protection Agency U.S. diplomatic relations, 82-83
(EPA), 282 XYZ Affair, 82
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), 279 Franco-American Treaty of Alliance
Erik the Red, 9 (1778), 62-63, 80, 82
Franklin, Benjamin, 28, 33, 43, 63,
F 64, 72, 75
Falwell, Jerry, 308 Free Soil Party, 136, 137, 138
Farragut, David, 143 Freedmen’s Bureau, 148, 151
Faubus, Orval, 272 Fremont, John, 138
Federal Aid Road Act (1916), 113 French and Indian War, 32-33
Federal Artists Project, 218 French exploration, 10
Federal Deposit and Insurance French Huguenots, 24
Corporation (FDIC), 215, 343 French Revolution, 34, 79, 80, 81
Federal Emergency Relief Friedan, Betty, 278, 279
Administration (FERA), 215 Friedman, Milton, 308
Federal Employee Loyalty Program, Fugitive Slave Act, 136, 137
266 Fundamentalism, religious, 209,
Federal Reserve Act (1913), 198 210, 308
Federal Reserve Board, 199, 218,
291, 310, 343 G
Federal Reserve System, 119, 187, Gage, Thomas, 59
198-199 Gallatin, Albert, 83
Federal Theatre Project, 218 Garrison, William Lloyd, 91, 122,
Federal Trade Commission, 199 133-134
Federal Workingman’s Compensation Garza, Eligio “Kika” de la, 280
Act (1916), 199 Gates, Bill, 296
Federal Writers Project, 218 Gates, Horatio, 62, 63-64
The Federalist Papers, 43, 76 Gay rights, 307, 324-325
Federalists, 76, 78, 81, 82, 86, 116 Genet, Edmond Charles, 80-81
The Feminine Mystique (Friedan), 278 George, Henry, 160
The Financier (Dreiser), 196 George III (British king), 55, 59
Finney, Charles, Grandison, 87 Georgia
Firefighters, 321 colonial royal government, 31
“First universal nation,” 345 early settlement, 18
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, 210 Native American tribes relocated,
Force Act, 118 118
Ford, Gerald, 290-291 German unification, 316
Ford, Henry, 109 Germany
Fordney-McCumber Tariff (1922), 207 Berlin Airlift, 262
Foreign policy. See U.S. foreign policy Kennedy speech in West Berlin,
France 242-243
356
postwar period, 262 H

reparations, World War I, 224 Haiti, political situation, 330
Germany in World War II Hamilton, Alexander
Holocaust (Jewish genocide), 226 and Bank of the United States,
Nazism, 219, 224, 226 79, 118
North African campaign, 222 Constitutional Convention
Nuremberg war crime trials, 226 delegate, 71, 72
reparations, 206 Federalist Papers and, 43, 76
submarine warfare, 204-205 as first Secretary of the Treasury
Geronimo (Apache chief), 181 (Department of the Treasury), 77
Gerry, Elbridge, 72, 73 portrait of, 48
Ghent, Treaty of (1814), 85 and Republican Party, 152
Gilbert, Humphrey, 10 vs. Jefferson, 48, 78-80
The Gilded Age (Twain), 196 Hamilton, Andrew, 28
Ginsberg, Allen, 271 Harding, Warren G., 207
Glenn, John, 285 Harrison, Benjamin, 160
Global warming, 344 Harrison, William Henry, 85, 120
Glorious Revolution (1688-89), 31, 32 Hartford Convention (1814), 117
Goethals, George W., 185 Harvard College, 27
Goldwater, Barry, 286, 308, 309 Hawaii, statehood (1959), 184
Gompers, Samuel, 194 Hawaiian Islands, U.S. policy of
González, Henry B., 280 annexation, 183-184
Gorbachev, Mikhail, 304-305, 314, Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act (1930), 207
315, 316 Hay, John, 184, 186
Gore, Al, 323, 332, 333 Hayes, Rutherford B., 150-151, 153
Gould, Jay, 194 Haymarket Square incident, 194
Grange movement, 191 Health care, 344
Grant, Ulysses S. Health insurance, 344-345
as president of U.S., 150, 153 Helsinki Accords (1975), 291
as Union Army general, 144, 145 Hemingway, Ernest, 109, 210
portrait of, 95 Henry, Patrick, 42, 54, 76, 77
Great Depression (1929-40) Hepburn Act (1906), 197
decline in immigration, 201 Hidalgo, Miguel de, 114
“Dust Bowl” migration, 216 Highway Act (1956), 268
New Deal programs, 214-218 Hispanics
soup lines, 202-203 in politics, 280
stock market crash (1929), 211 See also Latino movement
“Great Society,” 286-287 Hiss, Alger, 266
Greeley, Horace, 112, 124 Hitler, Adolf, 201, 219
Green Party, 332 Ho Chi Minh, 284
Greenspan, Alan, 327 Hohokam settlements, 7
Grey, Zane, 180 Holy Alliance, 115
Guadalupe Hidalgo, Treaty of, 135 Homeland Security Department, 334
Guam, U.S. relations, 184 Homestead Act (1862), 124, 152,
357
INDEX
179, 180 See also Civil rights

Hoover, Herbert, 185, 211 Industrial development. See under
Hopewellians, 7 names of industry
Hopi Indians, 8 Industrial Workers of the World
Housing and Urban Development (IWW), 194
Department, 287 Interstate Commerce Commission
Houston, Sam, 134 (ICC), 159, 197, 198
Howe, William, 61-62 Inventions
Hudson, Henry, 14 adding machine, 157
Hughes, Langston, 211 airplane, 107
Hull, Cordell, 221 cash register, 157
Humphrey, Hubert, 288 cotton gin, 114, 133
Hungary, rebellion (1956), 265 light bulb/incandescent lamp,
Hutchinson, Anne, 14 106, 157
linotype machine, 157
I motion picture projector, 106, 157
Immigrants and immigration reaper (farm machine), 131,
diversity of immigrants, 200-201 158, 160
Ellis Island Monument, 102, telegraph, 156
103, 200 telephone, 107, 156
illegal immigrants, 201 television, 268
immigration quotas, 201, 209 typewriter, 157
“Little Italy” in New York City, Iran, U.S. relations, 292
104-105 Axis of evil, 334
Nativists and, 209 Iraq
policy reform, 307 elections (2005), 302
restrictions on immigration, provisional government, 335
208-209 U.N. weapons inspections, 329,
Immigration Restriction League, 201 334-335
Imperialism, 181-182 U.S.-led invasion, 335
Indentured servants, 18-19 Iron and steel industry, 157, 187
Indian Removal Act (1830), 125 strikes, 194, 228
Indian Reorganization Act (1934), 181 Iroquois Indians, 14, 16-17, 33
Indian Wars Islam, 345
Apache wars, 180, 181 Isolationism, 78, 206, 220
Custer’s Last Stand at Little Israel
Bighorn, 98-99, 180 Egypt invasion, 265
French and Indian War, 32-33 Palestinian relations, 330
Pequot War (1637), 16 U.S. policy, 264
and westward expansion, 124,
180-181 J
Indians of North America. See Native Jacinto, Battle of, 134
Americans Jackson, Andrew
Individual rights, 34, 65, 76-77 conflicts with Indians, 125
358
as general in War of 1812, 86 Jobs, Steve, 296

portrait of, 89 Johnson, Andrew
as president of U.S., 89, 117-118 impeachment trial, 149-150
presidential election (1824), 116 as president of U.S., 147-149, 153
presidential election (1828), 117 Johnson, Lyndon B.
Jackson, Helen Hunt, 181 civil rights supporter, 273, 277
Jackson, Jesse, 253 Great Society programs, 286-287
Jackson, Thomas J. (“Stonewall”), portrait of, 245
144, 145 space program, 285
James I (British king), 12 Vietnam War policy, 287-288
James II (British king), 31 “War on Poverty,” 286
Jamestown colony (Virginia), 10, Johnson-Reed National Origins Act
12-13, 16 (1924), 201, 209
Japan The Jungle (Sinclair), 196
attack on Pearl Harbor, 212-213,
221, 222 K
Kamikaze suicide missions, 225 Kansas
surrender (1945), 226 slavery issue and, 138
U.S. attacks on Hiroshima and territory (“bleeding Kansas”), 137,
Nagasaki, 226 138
U.S. relations, 186 Kansas-Nebraska Act, 137
Japanese-Americans, internment Kennan, George, 261
camps, 222, 233 Kennedy, John F.
Jay, John, 43, 64, 76, 81, 82 assassination of, 277, 286
Jay Treaty (Britain-U.S.), 81, 82 Bay of Pigs invasion, 284
Jazz Age, 210 civil rights policy, 277, 283
Jefferson Memorial (Wash., D.C.), 161 Cold War and, 284-285
Jefferson, Thomas Cuban missile crisis, 284
on abolition of slavery, 114 as president of U.S., 282-285
as drafter of Declaration of space program, 285-286
Independence, 61 Vietnam War policy, 284-285
face of (Mount Rushmore), West Berlin speech during Cold
170-171 War, 242-243
as first Secretary of State (U.S. Kennedy, Robert, assassination of,
Department of State), 77 278, 288
portrait of, 46 Kentucky
as president of U.S., 83 Resolutions (1798), 117
on right of self-government, 68 statehood (1792), 7-8
on slavery, 114 Kerouac, Jack, 270
as U.S. minister to France, 72, 79-80 Kerry, John F., 336-337
vs. Adams, 82 Khomeini, Ayatollah, 292
vs. Hamilton, 48, 78-80 Khrushchev, Nikita, 284
“Jim Crow” laws (separate but equal Kim Il-sung, 263
segregation), 151, 240, 272, 319 King, Martin Luther, Jr.
359
INDEX
assassination of, 278, 288 declines command of Union

civil rights movement and, 240, Army, 143
241, 273, 283 portrait of, 95
“I have a dream” speech, 276, 277 surrender at Appomattox
King, Rufus, 72 Courthouse, 146
Kissinger, Henry, 289 Leif (son of Erik the Red), 9
Know-Nothing Party, 120 Lenin, V.I., 259
Korean War, 235, 263, 264 Levitt, William J., 268
Kosciusko, Thaddeus, 65 Lewis and Clark expedition,
Ku Klux Klan, 150, 201, 209 bicentennial commemorative
stamp, 46
L Lewis, John L., 227-228
La Follette, Robert, 196, 318-319 Lewis, Meriwether, 47
Labor unions, 121, 193-195 Lewis, Sinclair, 210
air controllers strike, 309 The Liberator, 91, 133
auto workers strikes, 228 Libraries
collective bargaining, 217 American Philosophical Society
Haymarket Square incident, 194 (Philadelphia), 28
membership in U.S., 227-228 in the colonies, 27, 28
migrant farm workers, 250, 279-280 public libraries endowed by
mine workers membership/strikes, Carnegie, 97
194-195, 227-228 subscription, 28
New Deal programs, 217 Lincoln, Abraham
post-World War I strikes, 206 assassination of, 147, 153
post-World War II strikes, 269 at Civil War Union encampment,
railway worker strikes, 193, 194 140-141
steel worker strikes, 194, 228 Emancipation Proclamation,
textile worker strikes, 195 144-145
“Wobblies,” 194-195 face of (Mount Rushmore), 170-171
See also under names of specific Free-Soil Party and, 138
unions Gettysburg address, 142, 145
Lafayette, Marquis de, 65 on Grant, 95
Landon, Alf, 218 as president during Civil War,
Latin America, U.S. intervention, 142-147
184-185 presidential election (1860), 139
Latin American Revolution, 114-116 presidential election (1864),
Latino movement, 279-280 147, 153
League of Nations, 205-206, 226 presidential inaugural address, 142
Lee, Richard Henry, 61, 64 senatorial campaign (1858),
Lee, Robert E. 138-139
capture of John Brown at Harper’s on slavery and the Union, 130, 138
Ferry, 139 Lincoln, Benjamin, 63, 70
commander of Confederate Lincoln-Douglas debates (1858), 138-139
Army, 144 Literary works
360
“Beat Generation” (1950s), 270-271 Marshall Plan, 262

colonial period, 28-29 Marshall, Thurgood, 244
“Harlem Renaissance,” 211 Martin, Josiah, 60
“Lost Generation” (1920s), 109, 211 Maryland
New Deal programs and, 218 Calvert family charter, 15, 30
See also names of individual authors Catholic settlements, 15
or works St. Mary’s, first town in, 15
Lloyd George, David, 108 Toleration Act and religious
Locke, John, 17, 32, 34, 61, 65, 73 freedom, 17
Lodge, Henry Cabot, 181, 184 Mason, George, 76
Logan, James, 28 Massachusetts
The Lonely Crowd (Riesman), 270 Boston Massacre (1770), 56
Long, Huey P., assassination of, 217 Boston Port Bill, 57
“Lost Generation” (1920s), 109, 211 Boston Tea Party (1773), 50-51, 57
Louis XVI (French king), 64, 80 colonial government charter, 30-31
Louisiana Purchase, 83-84 early settlements, 13-14
Lovejoy, Elijah P., 134 Old Granary Cemetery (Boston),
Lowell, James Russell, 147 162-163
Luce, Henry, 258 Salem witch trials, 35
Lundestad, Geir, 262 schools and education, 27
Shays Rebellion, 70
M trade and economic development,
MacArthur, Douglas, 225, 232, 263 24-25
Macdonough, Thomas, 85 Massachusetts Bay Colony, 25, 31
Madison, James, 43, 72, 75, 76, Massachusetts Bay Company, 18
84-86, 113 Mather, Cotton, 28, 40
as “Father of the Constitution,” 72 Mayflower Compact, 13, 22-23, 30
Mahan, Alfred Thayer, 184 Mayflower (ship), 13
Maine (U.S. warship) incident, 182 McCain, John
Major, John, 330 (2008) presidential election 342-343
Malcolm X, 277 McCarran-Walter Act (1952), 201
Manhattan. See New York McCarthy, Joseph R., 236, 266
Manhattan project (atomic bomb McClellan, George, 144, 147
development), 225 McCormick, Cyrus, 131, 158, 160
Mann, Horace, 121 McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), 113
Mao Zedong, 263, 289 McGovern, George, 290
Marbury v. Madison (1803), 113 McGrath, J. Howard, 266
Marcos, Ferdinand, 312 McKinley, William
Marshall, George C., 262 assassination of, 195
Marshall, John Hawaii annexation treaty, 184
as chief justice of the Supreme Maine (U.S. warship) incident, 182
Court, 49, 113 Open Door foreign policy, 195
funeral of, 168 as president of U.S., 182, 184,
portrait of, 49 192, 195
361
INDEX
McVeigh, Timothy, 331 Morris, Gouverneur, 72

Meat Inspection Act, 197 Morse, Samuel F.B., 156
Meat-packing industry, 158, 196, 197 Mott, Lucretia, 122
Mellon, Andrew, 207 Mound builders, 7
Mencken, H.L., 210 Mount Rushmore Monument (South
Menéndez, Pedro, 10 Dakota), 170-171
Merchant Marine, 208 Mount Vernon (Virginia),
Meredith, James, 277 Washington’s plantation home, 170-171
Methodists, 87, 88 Ms. (feminist magazine), 279
Mexican-Americans. See Latino MTV, 297
movement Murray-Philip, 228
Mexican War, 134-135 Music, American
Mexico Beatles, 281
conquest of, 9 “hard rock,” 281
revolution, 185 Jazz Age (1920s), 210
Spanish colonization, 11 Jazz musicians, 211
Middle colonies, 25-26 rock and roll (1950s), 271, 281
Middle East Rolling Stones, 271, 281
Palestinians, 329-330 Woodstock (outdoor rock concert,
peace negotiations, 329-330 1969), 249, 281
Persian Gulf War, 316-317 Muslims, 344, 345
U.S. policy, 264, 292, 313, 329-330 Mussolini, Benito, 219, 223
Millet, Kate, 248 Mutual Board of Defense (U.S.-
Mining industry strikes, 194-195 Canada), 220
Miranda, Francisco, 114
Missouri Compromise (1820), 90, 114, N
132, 135, 137 NAACP. See National Association for
Mohler, George, 177 the Advancement of Colored People
Molasses Act (England, 1733), 53 (NAACP)
Molotov, Vyacheslav, 260 Nader, Ralph, 287, 332, 336
Mondale, Walter, 311 NAFTA. See North American Free
Monetary policy. See U.S. monetary Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
policy Napoleon, 82, 83, 84
Monroe Doctrine, 114-116 National Association for the
Monroe, James, 113, 115, 116 Advancement of Colored People
Montgomery, Bernard, 222 (NAACP), 211, 244, 272, 273
Montoya, Joseph, 280 National health care system, 344-345
Monuments and memorials, 161-176 National Industrial Recovery Act
See also under names of individual (NIRA), 217, 227
memorials National Labor Relations Act (NLRA),
Moral Majority, 308 217, 218, 228, 280
Morgan, John Pierpoint (J.P.), 187 National Labor Relations Board
Morrill Land Grant College Act (NLRB), 217
(1862), 152, 177 National Organization for Women
362
(NOW), 279 New Amsterdam. See under New York

National Recovery Administration New Deal programs, 214-218
(NRA), 217 New England colonies, 17,
National Security Council (NSC), 24-25, 30-31
NSC-68 security report on Soviet New England Confederation, 17
Union, 262-263, 265 New Mexico territory, 136
National Woman Suffrage Association New World exploration, 9-11
(NWSA), 123 New World settlements. See Colonial
National Youth Administration, 218 period
Native-American movement, 280-281 New York
American Indian Movement colonial royal government, 31
(AIM), 281 Dutch settlers, 14, 15, 25-26
Wounded Knee (South Dakota) Manhattan, early settlement, 14, 15,
incident, 180, 281 25-26
Native Americans New Amsterdam/New Netherland
cultural groups, map of, 21 settlement, 14, 15, 26
demonstration in Washington polyglot of early settlers, 25-26
(1978), 252 New York Weekly Journal, 28
effect of European disease on, 8 Ngo Dien Nu, 285
European contact, 9-10 Ngo Dinh Diem, 285
Great Serpent Mound, Ohio, 168 Nichols, Terry, 331
Indian uprisings, 16-17, 180-181 Niebuhr, Reinhold, 345
Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, 4-5, 8 NIRA. See National Industrial
migration across Beringia land Recovery Act (NIRA)
bridge, 6 Nixon, Richard M.
mound builders of Ohio, 7 China-U.S. diplomatic relations,
Northwest Passage and, 9, 10 289
oral tradition, 8 at Great Wall of China, 250-251
Pacific Northwest potlatches, 8 impeachment and resignation, 290
population, 8 as president of U.S., 288-290
Pueblo Indians, 8, 20 presidential elections (1960, 1968,
relations with European settlers, 1972), 283, 288, 290
15-17, 18, 39 Soviet Union détente policy, 289
religious beliefs, 8 Watergate affair, 290
slave trade, 18 NLRA. See National Labor Relations
Trail of Tears (Cherokee forced Act (NLRA)
relocation), 125 No Child Left Behind Act, 333
U.S. policy, 181 Nobel Peace Prize, 344, 345
Westward expansion and, 178 Noble Order of the Knights of Labor
See also Indian Wars; and see under (1869), 193
names of individual tribes Non-Intercourse Act (1809), 84
Nativists, 209 Noriega, Manuel Antonio, 317
Naturalization Act, 82 Norris, Frank, 196
Nebraska, territory, 137 North American Free Trade
363
INDEX
Agreement (NAFTA), 317, 325 as presidential candidate, 341

North Atlantic Treaty Organization presidential campaign (2008), 343
(NATO), 262 with George W. Bush, 339
North Carolina colony, 17, 30 with Michelle Obama, 295
Northern Securities Company, 187 The Octopus (Norris), 196
Northwest Ordinance (1787), 71, 73, Office of Economic Opportunity, 286
113, 135 Oglethorpe, James, 18
Northwest Passage, 9, 10 Oklahoma Territory, City, homestead
Northwest Territory, 71, 113 claims, 101
NOW. See National Organization for Oliver, King, 211
Women (NOW) Olney, Richard, 194
Nuclear weapons On the Road (Kerouac), 270
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Organization of American States
(INF) Treaty, 304-305, 314 (formerly Pan American Union), 185
Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization of the Petroleum
(1963), 243, 284 Exporting Countries (OPEC), 290
Manhattan Project (atomic bomb Organized labor. See Labor unions
development), 225 Orlando, Vittorio, 108
SALT I (Strategic Arms Limitation
Talks), 289 P
SALT II agreement, 292 Pacific Railway Acts (1862-64), 152
Soviet atomic bomb testing, 266 Paine, Thomas, 60
Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), Palin, Sarah, 342
313-314 Palmer, A. Mitchell, 206-207
test bans, 284 Panama, U.S. invasion, 317
U.S. attacks on Hiroshima and Panama Canal
Nagasaki, 226 Gatun locks, 100-101
U.S. defense buildup, 314 treaties, 101, 184-185, 292
U.S. military defense buildup, 314 Paris Peace Conference (1919), 108
U.S. nuclear testing, 234 Paris, Treaty of (1783), 47, 64
U.S. policy during Cold War, 265 Parker, John, 59
Nullification doctrine, 83, 117-118 Parks, Rosa, 240, 273
Patroon system, 14-15
O Peace Democrats or “Copperheads,” 152
Oath of office, presidential, 77 Peace of Paris (1763), 33
Obama, Barack H. Penn, William, 18, 25, 30, 39
background, 342-343 Pennsylvania colony
at Cairo University, 345 colonial government, 30
on democracies, 342 cultural developments, 27-28
financial crisis, 343-344 German settlers, 25
health care, 344-345 population, 25
inaugural address, 343-344 Quakers as early settlers, 18, 25, 27
Nobel Peace Prize, 344-345 relations with Native Americans,
parents, 343 18, 39
364
schools and education, 27-28 Progressive, 318-319

state constitution, 69 Radical Republicans, 148-151
See also Philadelphia Reform Party, 319
Pequot Indian War (1637), 16 Republicans (or Democratic-
Perkins, Frances, 227 Republicans), 78, 81, 138, 139,
Perot, H. Ross, 319, 323, 328 152, 153, 218
Perry, Oliver Hazard, 85 Socialists, 206, 318
Pershing, John J., 205 Southern Democrats, 139
Persian Gulf War, 316-317 States Rights, 272
Desert Storm campaign, 252-253 third-party and independent
Philadelphia candidates, 318-319
American Philosophical Society, 28 Whigs, 119-121, 137-138, 152, 153
as “City of Brotherly Love,” 18 Polk, James K., 134, 135
colonial period in, 18, 25 Ponce de Léon, Juan, 9
Friends Public School, 27 Population growth
Independence Hall, 164-165 in cities and towns, 159
Liberty Bell, 168 household composition, 307
private schools, 27 postwar migrations, 267-268
subscription libraries, 28 Population, U.S.
Philippine Islands in 1690, 24
elections, 312 in 1775, 24
MacArthur’s return, 232 1790 census, 200
U.S. relations, 183, 184 1812 to 1852, 124
World War II battles, 224-225, 232 1860 census, 132
Pierce, Franklin, 137 Populist Party, 191-192
Pilgrims, 13, 22-23, 30, 65 Powell, Colin, 294-295
Pinckney, Charles, 81 Presidency, U.S.
The Pit (Norris), 196 Cabinet, 77-78, 280
Pitcairn, John, 59 impeachment, 149-150, 290,
Pizarro, Francisco, 9 328, 329
Plains Indians, 10, 98, 180-181 oath of office, 77
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), 178, 272 role of first lady, 324
Political parties See also names of individual
American Independent, 319 presidents
Bull Moose Party, 318 Presidential elections
Constitutional Union Party, 139 1789 (Washington, first), 77
Democrats, 116, 137, 152, 153, 1797 (Adams), 82
192, 218-219 1800 (Jefferson), 83
Dixiecrats, 319 1824 (Jackson), 116
Federalists, 76, 78, 81, 82, 86, 116 1828 (Jackson), 117
Free Soil Party, 136, 137, 138 1860 (Lincoln), 139
Green Party, 332 1864 (Lincoln), 147, 153
Know-Nothings, 120 1868 (Grant), 150
Populists, 191-192 1884 (Cleveland), 159
365
INDEX
1892 (Cleveland), 160 Public Works Administration

1896 (McKinley), 192 (PWA), 215
1900 (McKinley), 195 Pueblo Indians, 8, 20
1904 (Roosevelt), 197 Puerto Rico
1908 (Taft), 197-198 ceded to U.S., 182-183
1912 (Wilson), 318, 328 as U.S. commonwealth, 184
1916 (Wilson), 205, 328 Pulitzer Prize, 347
1920 (Harding), 207 Pure Food and Drug Act (1906), 197
1924 (Coolidge), 318-319 Puritans, 13-14, 40, 40, 65
1932 (Roosevelt), 211
1936 (Roosevelt), 218 Q
1940 (Roosevelt), 220 Quakers
1948 (Truman), 235, 269, 319 abolition movement and, 133
1960 (Kennedy), 283 and British government relations, 59
1964 (Johnson), 286, 308, 309 Pennsylvania settlements, 18, 25
1968 (Nixon), 288, 319 schools and education, 27
1972 (Nixon), 290 Quartering Act (England, 1765),
1976 (Carter), 291 53-54, 58
1980 (Reagan), 309 Quayle, Dan, 323
1984 (Reagan), 310-311 Quebec Act (England), 58
1988 (Bush), 314 Quotations, notable
1992 (Clinton), 319, 322-324 “Ask not what your country can do
1996 (Clinton), 328-329 for you — ask what you can do for
2000 (Bush), 332-333 your country” (Kennedy), 283
2004 (Bush), 336-337 “axis of evil” (Bush), 334
2008 (Obama), 342-343 “The Buck Stops Here,” 260
Presley, Elvis, 238, 271 “city upon a hill” (Winthrop),
Press 13, 309
Cable News Network (CNN), 297 “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed
first newspaper, 28 ahead” (Farragut), 143
first printing press in colonies, 27 “a day that will live in infamy”
freedom of the, 28-29 (Roosevelt), 221
Progressive Party, 318-319 “Give me liberty, or give me death”
Progressivism, 195, 196 (Henry), 42
Prohibition, 121, 210 “Go west, young man” (Greeley),
Protestant religion 112, 124
Baptists, 87, 88 “A house divided against itself
Great Awakening, 29 cannot stand” (Lincoln), 130, 138
Methodists, 87, 88 “I have a dream…” (King, Jr.), 276
revivals in “Burned-Over District,” 87 “I shall return” (MacArthur), 232
Second Great Awakening and, 87-88 “Ich bin ein Berliner” (I am a
See also Pilgrims; Puritans Berliner) (Kennedy), 242
Public Utility Holding Company “iron curtain” (Churchill), 260-261
Act, 218 “shot heard round the world”
366
(Emerson), 59 as “Great Communicator,” 309

“thousand points of light” Grenada invasion, 312-313
(Bush), 315 Iran-Contra affair, 312-313
“tyranny over the mind of man” with Mikhail Gorbachev, 304-305
(Jefferson), 161 Reconstruction Act (1867), 148
“With malice towards none” Reconstruction Era, 148-151
(Lincoln), 147 African-American members in
Congress during, 96
R Lincoln’s program, 147-148
Race riots, 152, 206 Reconstruction Finance Corporation,
Racial discrimination 211
bus segregation, 240, 273 Red Cloud (Sioux chief), 180
color barrier broken by Jackie Reform Party, 319
Robinson, 237, 271 Refugee Act (1980), 201
in federal government employment, Religion
269, 272 camp meetings and revivals, 87-88
“Jim Crow” laws (segregation), 151, Christian Coalition, 308
272, 319 Christian evangelicals, 332, 336
lynchings and violence against circuit riders, 88
African Americans, 150, 178, 271 fundamentalism, 209, 210, 308
military segregation, 269, 272 Great Awakening, 29
school segregation, 240, 244 Moral Majority, 308
separate but equal Salem witch trials, 35
accommodations, 178, 240, 272 Second Great Awakening, 87-88
South African apartheid, 312 Religious freedom
white supremacy and belief in black Coercive or Intolerable Acts and, 58
inferiority, 178 freedom of worship, 32
Radical Republicans, 148-151 and tolerance, 17, 29, 32
Railroad industry, 131-132 “Remaking America,” 344
Great Rail Strike (1877), 194 Republicanism, 65, 68
nationalization of, 192 Republicans (or Democratic-
Pullman Company, 194 Republicans), 78, 81, 138, 139, 152,
regulation, 159, 197 153, 218
transcontinental link at Reuther, Walter, 228
Promontory Point (1869), 179 Revels, H.R., 96
transcontinental railroad, 154-155 Revolution. See American Revolution;
westward expansion and, 179 French Revolution; Latin American
workers’ hours, 199 Revolution
workers’ strikes, 193, 194 Revolutionary War. See American
Raleigh, Walter, 10 Revolution
Reagan, Ronald Rhode Island colony, 14, 31, 41
conservatism and, 307-309 Rice, Condoleeza, 295
economic policy, 309-311 Ridgway, Matthew B., 264
foreign policy, 311-313 Riesman, David, 270
367
INDEX
“Roaring Twenties,” 109, 210 Royal Proclamation (England, 1763), 53

Robertson, Pat, 308 Rural Electrification Administration, 218
Robinson, Jackie, 237, 271 Russian Revolution (1917), 206, 259
Rochambeau, Comte Jean de, 64 Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), 186
Rockefeller, John D., 158
Roe v. Wade (1973), 279, 308, 324 S
Rogers, William, 251 Sadat, Anwar al-, 292
Rolfe, John, 12 Saddam Hussein, 316, 317, 329,
Rommel, Erwin, 222 334-335
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 324 San Martin, José de, 114
Roosevelt, Franklin D. Santa Anna, Antonio López de, 134
death of, 224 Scopes, John, 209
on democracy, 214, 219 Scopes trial, 209-210
foreign policy, 185 Scott, Dred, 138
Good Neighbor Policy, 185 Scott, Winfield, 135
labor unions and, 227 Seamen’s Act (1915), 199
New Deal programs, 214-218 Second Treatise on Government
presidential elections (1932, 1936, (Locke), 32, 61
1940), 207, 211, 218, 220 Sectionalism, and slavery issue,
Social Security Act, signing of, 230 128-139
Social Security program, 218, 230 Sedition Act, 82, 117
World War II and, 219-220 Seminole Indians, 125
World War II peace Separation of church and state, 14
negotiations, 224 Separation of powers principle, 74
at Yalta (1945), 224, 234 Separatists, 13
Roosevelt, Theodore Seven Years’ War, 33, 63, 83
accession to the presidency, 195 Seventh Day Adventists, 87
on democracy, 190 Seward, William, 138, 182
face of (Mount Rushmore), Seymour, Horatio, 152
170-171 The Shame of the Cities (Steffens), 196
foreign policy, 181, 184, 186 Sharon, Ariel, 330
Nobel Peace Prize recipient Shays, Daniel, 70
(1906), 186 Shays’s Rebellion (1787), 70, 73
Panama Canal treaty, 184-185 Sherman Antitrust Act (1890),
presidential election (1912), 318 160, 187
“Rough Riders” in the Spanish- Sherman, Roger, 72, 73
American War, 183 Sherman, William T., 146
“Square Deal,” 196 Silent Spring (Carson), 282
as “trust-buster” and antitrust laws, Sinclair, Upton, 196
160, 187, 196-197 Sioux Indians, 98, 180, 281
Root, Elihu, 181 Sitting Bull (Sioux chief), 98
Rose, Ernestine, 122 Slave family, 128-129
Rosenberg, Julius and Ethel, 266 Slave owners, 132
“Rosie the Riveter,” 222 Slave population, 132
368
Slave trade, 19, 25, 133, 136 268-269

Slavery War on Poverty, 286
African slaves, 19, 24 welfare state and, 219
constitutional amendment (13th) Social Security Act (1935), 218, 230
abolishing, 148 Socialist Party, 206, 318
Dred Scott decision, 138, 149 Society for the Promotion of
Emancipation Proclamation, Temperance, 87, 121
144-145 Soil Conservation Service, 216
equal rights and, 69 Somalia, 331
extension of, 113-114 Sons of Liberty, 54
free vs. slave states, 114, 123 Soule, John, 124
Fugitive Slave Laws, 136, 137 South Africa, racial apartheid, 312
Indian slaves, 17-18 South Carolina
Missouri Compromise (1820), 90, colonial government, 30
114, 132, 135, 137 during American Revolution, 63-64
Northwest Ordinance ban on, 71, early settlements, 17, 26
73, 113, 135 French Huguenots, 24
as the “peculiar institution,” 132 nullification crisis, 117-118
plantations in the south and, 113- protective tariffs, 117
114, 128-129 secession from the Union, 142
revolt in Haiti, 83 Southern Christian Leadership
as a sectional conflict/divided Conference (SCLC), 276
nation, 128-139 Southern colonies, 26-27
in the territories, 71, 73, 113, 135, Southern Democrats, 139
136-138 Soviet Union
See also Abolition of slavery Cold War, 258-265
Smith, Capt. John, 6, 12, 36 Sputnik and the space program, 285
Smith-Lever Act (1914), 199 U.S. containment doctrine, 261-263
Social activism, 87 U.S. détente policy, 289, 291, 292
Social-contract (theory of U.S. relations, 284, 313-314
government), 61 Space program, 254, 274-275, 285
Social liberalism, 34 Spain, and American Revolution, 63
Social reforms, 121-122, 195-196 Spanish-American War (1898),
Great Society programs, 286-287 182, 183
Medicaid program, 287 Spanish exploration
Medicare program, 286 European settlement, 9, 11, 169
mental health care, 121-122 missions in California, 169
New Deal programs, 214-218 Seven Cities of Cibola and, 9
prison reform, 121 St. Augustine (Florida), first St.
progressivism, 195 John de Crèvecoeur, J. Hector, 24
prohibition and the temperance St. Mary’s (Maryland), 15
movement, 121, 210 Stalin, Joseph, at Yalta, 224, 234
Social Security, 218 Stamp Act (England), 54, 55
Truman Fair Deal programs, Standard Oil Company, 158, 196, 197
369
INDEX
Stanton, Edwin, 153 Tarbell, Ida M., 196

State constitutions, 68-69 TARP, see Troubled Assets Relief
Statehood, 78 Program
States’ rights, 79, 80 Taxation
nullification doctrine, 83, 117-118 Boston Tea Party (1773), 50-51, 57
States Rights Party, 272 British right to tax colonies
Statue of Liberty (New York City), (Declaratory Act), 55
167, 201 colonial period, 33, 53-59
Steel industry. See Iron and steel Committees of Correspondence,
industry 56-57
Steel Workers Organizing Committee “without representation,” 53, 54-55
(SWOC), 228 See also names of individual acts
Steffens, Lincoln, 196 Taylor, Zachary, 135
Steinem, Gloria, 248, 279 Technology. See Inventions
Steuben, Friedrich von, 65 Television
Stevens, Thaddeus, 148 Cable News Network (CNN), 297
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 137 growth of, 268
Student Nonviolent Coordinating impact of, 268, 297
Committee (SNCC), 276 MTV, 297
Sugar Act (England, 1764), 53, 55 programming, 239, 268
Sunday, Billy, 209 Temperance movement, 87, 121
Supreme Court Building (Wash., Tennessee, statehood (1796), 78
D.C.), 166 Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), 215
Supreme Court, U.S. Tenure of Office Act, 149
cases Terrorism
Brown v. Board of Education, anthrax poisoning scare, 333-334
241, 244, 272 Cole (U.S. Navy destroyer) bombing
Marbury v. Madison, 113 (Yemen), 332
McCulloch v. Maryland, 113 Khobar Towers U.S. military
Plessy v. Ferguson, 178, 272 housing (Saudi Arabia, 1996), 331
Roe v. Wade, 279, 308, 324 Oklahoma City bombing (1995),
decisions, 113 326, 331
Court’s right of judicial review, 49 Palestinian suicide bombings, 330
Dred Scott, 138, 149 September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S.,
enlargement proposal, 218-219 320-321, 333
See also Marshall, John; Marshall, U.S. embassies (Kenya and
Thurgood Tanzania, 1998), 331-332
Swedish colonization, 15, 200 World Trade Center bombings
Swift, Gustavus, 158 (1993), 331
Texas
T Alamo, battle of, 134
Taft, William Howard, 197-198, 318 Battle of San Jacinto, 134
Taiwan, 263, 265, 289 territory of, 134
Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de, 82 and War with Mexico, 134-135
370
Textile industry strikes, 195 United Mine Workers (UMW),

Thorpe, Jim, 181 227-228
Thurmond, Strom, 272, 319 United Nations, 224, 226
The Titan (Dreiser), 196 United States Steel Corporation,
To Secure These Rights, 271-272 157-158, 187
Tocqueville, Alexis de, 126, 130 U.S. economy
Tojo, Hideki, 221, 225 in the 1980s, 309-311
Toleration Act (England, 1689), 31 in the 1990s, 327-328
Toleration Act (Maryland), 17 in the 2000s, 344-345
Townsend, Francis E., 217 “Black Monday” (stock market
Townshend Acts (England), 55-56 crash, 1987), 311
Townshend, Charles, 55 federal budget deficits, 310-311, 315
Trade policy. See U.S. trade policy migration patterns in U.S., 267
Transportation Act (1920), 208 post-World War II period, 267-268
Treaties. See under name of individual stock market crash (1929), 211
treaty suburban development and, 268
Troubled Assets Relief Program “supply side” economics, 309
(TARP), 343 unemployment, 215-216, 227, 327
Truman Doctrine, 261 See also Banking and finance; Great
Truman, Harry S. Depression
accession to the presidency, 224 U.S. foreign policy, 80-82, 181-186
civil rights program, 271-272 in Asia, 185-186
Fair Deal domestic program, Bush (George W.) Administration,
268-269 332-337
Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic Clinton Administration, 328-331
bomb attacks, 226 Cold War and, 258-267
labor unions and, 269 imperialism and “Manifest
NSC-68 defense policy, 262, 265 Destiny,” 181-182
as president of U.S., 258, 260 Iran-Contra affair, 312-313
presidential election (1948), 235, 269 isolationism, 78, 206, 220
Trusts, 158 Jay Treaty with Britain, 81
Tubman, Harriet, 91 in Latin America, 185
Turner, Frederick Jackson, 126 Monroe Doctrine, 115-116
Twain, Mark. See Clemens, Samuel Obama administration, 345
Langhorne Open Door policy, 186, 195
Tyler, John, 120 in the Pacific area, 183-184
Panama Canal treaty, 184-185
U Reagan Administration, 313-314
Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Stowe), 137 Truman Doctrine of containment,
Underground Railroad, 91, 134, 136 261-263
Unemployment, 344-345 XYZ Affair with France, 82
Union Army of the Potomac, 145 U.S. monetary policy, 79-80, 343
Union Pacific Railroad, 179 currency question, 192
United Auto Workers, 228 gold standard, 192
371
INDEX
See also Banking and finance; military draft, 288

Federal Reserve Board U.S. forces in, 246-247
U.S. trade policy Villa, Francisco “Pancho,” 185
economic impact of War of 1812, 86 Virginia
Embargo Act (1807), 84 Antifederalists, 76
Fordney-McCumber Tariff colonial government, 29-30
(1922), 207 Declaration of Rights, 77
Hawley-Smoot Tariff (1930), 207 education by private tutors, 28
Massachusetts Bay Company Jamestown colony, 10, 12-13, 16
“triangular U.S. trade policy,” 25 Resolutions (1798), 117
McKinley tariff, 160, 191 secession from the Union, 142-143
Native Americans with European state constitution, 68-69
settlers, 15-16 Tidewater region plantation
Non-Intercourse Act (1809), 84 settlements, 26, 28
North American Free Trade Virginia Company, 12, 18, 29-30
Agreement, 317, 325 Volcker, Paul, 291, 310
protective tariffs, 112, 117, 152, 159 Voting rights
slave trade, 19, 25, 133 for African Americans, 273, 277
Underwood Tariff (1913), 198 church membership requirement, 14
World Trade Organization Pennsylvania constitution, 69
(WTO), 325 for women, 122
U.S. Treasury (Department of), 343 Voting Rights Act (1965), 277
USA Patriot Act, 334
Utah territory, 136 W
Wallace, George, 288, 319
V Wallace, Henry, 319
Van Buren, Martin, 120 Wampanoag Indians, 13
Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 158 War of 1812, 85-86, 112
Vermont, statehood (1791), 78 War on terror, 345
Verrazano, Giovanni da, 10 Warren, Earl, 272
Versailles, Treaty of, 206 Washington, Booker T., 178
Vespucci, Amerigo, 9 Washington, George
Vietnam on abolition of slavery, 113
French involvement, 284-285 as commander in American
U.S. involvement, 285 Revolution, 60-62
Viet Minh movement, 284 Constitutional Convention
Vietnam Veterans Memorial (Wash., presiding officer (1787), 66-67, 71
D.C.), 172-173 crossing the Delaware (1776), 62
Vietnam War face of (Mount Rushmore), 170-
antiwar demonstrations, 248, 258, 171
281, 288-289 as first U.S. president, 77-78
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, 287 Long Island, battle of (1776), 61
Kent State (Ohio) student Mount Vernon plantation, home of,
demonstration, 288 170-171
372
presidential oath of office, 77 as president of U.S., 198-199,

retirement from presidency, 82 204-206
at Valley Forge (Pennsylvania), 62 presidential elections (1912 and
as Virginia militia commander, 33 1916), 205, 328
Yorktown, British surrender, 46-47 relations with Mexico, 185
Washington Monument (Wash., D.C.), U.S. neutrality policy, 204-205
175 Winthrop, John, 13, 309
Water Quality Improvement Act, 282 “Witch hunt,” origin of the term, 35
Wattenberg, Ben, 337, 345 Women
Webster, Daniel, 120, 136 constitutional council
Welch, Joseph, 236 (Afghanistan) delegates, 294
Weld, Theodore Dwight, 134 education in the home arts, 27, 122
Welfare state. See Social reforms labor unions and, 193
Welles, Gideon, 143 no political rights, 69
“The West.” See Westward expansion role of first lady, 324
West, Benjamin, 39 role of Native American, 8
Western Union, 158 workers in war production (“Rosie
Westward expansion the Riveter”), 222
cowboy life and “The Wild West,” working conditions, 193
180 Women’s rights, 122-123
frontier settlers’ life, 123-124 abortion issue, 308
Homestead Act (1862), 124, 152, Equal Rights Amendment
179, 180 (ERA), 279
homesteading in the last frontier/ feminism and, 278-279
“The West,” 126, 179-180 Married Women’s Property Act, 122
Louisiana Purchase and, 83-84 in Pennsylvania colony, 18
map of, 127 state constitutions and, 69
Northwest Ordinance (1787), 71, Women’s rights movement, 90, 248,
73, 135 278-279
in Oklahoma Territory, 101 Women’s suffrage, 90, 122
problems of, 53, 70-71 march on Washington (1913),
Whig Party, 119-121, 137-138, 152, 188-189
153 “Woodstock Generation” (1960s),
Whitefield, George, 29 249, 281
Whitney, Eli, 114 Works Progress Administration
Wigglesworth, Rev. Michael, 28 (WPA), 218
Will, George, 308 World Trade Center Memorial
Williams, Roger, 14, 41 (New York City), 176
Wilson, James, 72 World Trade Organization
Wilson, Woodrow (WTO), 325
Fourteen Points for WWI World War I
armistice, 205 American infantry forces, 108
League of Nations and, 205-206 “Big Four” at Paris Peace
portrait of, 108 Conference (1919), 108
373
INDEX
German submarine warfare, 204-205 U.S. neutrality policy, 219-220

postwar unrest, 206-207 World War II Memorial (Wash., D.C.),
U.S. involvement, 205 176
U.S. neutrality policy, 204-205 Wright, Frances, 122
Wilson’s Fourteen Points for Wright, Orville (and Wilbur), 107
armistice, 205
World War II X
Atlantic Charter, 220 XYZ Affair, 82
Coral Sea, Battle of the (1942), 223
Doolittle’s Tokyo bombing raid, 223 Y
Eastern Front, 222 Yale University (formerly Collegiate
G.I. Bill (veterans benefits), School of Connecticut), 27
268-269 Yalta Conference (1945), 224, 234, 260
Guadalcanal, Battle of, 223, 231 Yeltsin, Boris, 315-316
Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic Yorktown, British surrender at, 46-47,
bomb attacks, 225, 226 64
Holocaust (Jewish genocide), 226 Yugoslavia, post-Cold War, 330
in the Pacific arena, 223-224, 224-
225, 231 Z
Iwo Jima campaign, 225 Zenger, John Peter, 28
Japanese-American internment
camps, 222, 233
Japanese Kamikaze suicide
missions, 225
Lend-Lease Program, 220
Leyte Gulf, Battle of, 225
Manhattan Project, 225
Midway, Battle of, 223
Normandy allied invasion, 223, 232
North African campaign, 222-223
Nuremberg war crime trials, 226
Okinawa campaign, 225
peace-time conscription bill, 220
Pearl Harbor, Japanese attack on
(1941), 212-213, 221
politics of, 224
postwar economy, 267-268
postwar period, 258
Potsdam Declaration, 225
Roosevelt call for “unconditional
surrender,” 224
Russian defense of Leningrad and
Moscow, 222
U.S. mobilization, 221-222
374
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Outline of U.S. History is a publication of the U.S.

Department of State. The first edition (1949-50) was
produced under the editorship of Francis Whitney,
first of the State Department Office of International
Information and later of the U.S. Information Agency.
Richard Hofstadter, professor of history at Columbia
University, and Wood Gray, professor of American
history at The George Washington University,
served as academic consultants. D. Steven Endsley
of Berkeley, California, prepared additional material.
It has been updated and revised extensively over the
years by, among others, Keith W. Olsen, professor of
American history at the University of Maryland, and
Nathan Glick, writer and former editor of the USIA
journal, Dialogue. Alan Winkler, professor of history
at Miami University (Ohio), wrote the post-World
War II chapters for previous editions.
This new edition was completely revised and updated

by Alonzo L. Hamby, Distinguished Professor of
History at Ohio University in 2005. Chapter 16
was added in 2010-11. Professor Hamby has written
extensively on American politics and society. Among
his books are Man of the People: A Life of Harry S.
Truman and For the Survival of Democracy: Franklin
Roosevelt and the World Crisis of the 1930s. He lives
and works in Athens, Ohio.
Executive Editor: Michael Jay Friedman

Editorial Director: Mary T. Chunko
Managing Editor: Chandley McDonald
Cover Design: Lisa Jusino
Photo Research: Maggie Johnson Sliker
Ann Monroe Jacobs
375
PHOTO CREDITS:
Credits from left to right are separated by CORBIS. 140, 141: LOC. 154, 155: California
semicolons, from top to bottom by dashes. State Railroad Museum Library. 161-166:
© Robert Llewellyn. 167: © James Casserly.
Cover design: Lisa Jusino. Cover images, 168: Mark C. Burnett/Photo Researchers,
left column, from top: Photos 1-2: AP/Wide Inc. – Interior Department/National Park
World Photo. Photo 3: Virginia Museum of Service. 169: © Miles Ertman/Masterfile
Fine Arts, Richmond. Photos 4-5: – © Chuck Place. 170, 171: AP/Wide World
© Bettmann/CORBIS. Photo 6: LOC. Photo – Cameron Davidson/FOLIO, Inc. 172,
Photo 7: California State Railroad Museum 173: Shawn Thew/AFP/Getty Images.
Library. Center photo: Mario Tama/AFP/ 174: PhotoSpin, Inc. – Michael Ventura/FOLIO,
Getty Images. Right column, from top: Inc. 175: Mario Tama/AFP/Getty Images. 176:
Photo 1: AP/Wide World Photo. Joe Raedle/Getty Images – AP/Wide World
Photo 2: The American History Slide Photo. 188, 189: LOC. 202, 203: The American
Collection, © (IRC). Photos 3-4: AP/Wide History Slide Collection, © (IRC). 212, 213:
World Photo. Photo 5: NASA. Photo 6: Dirck The National Archives. 229: New York
Halstead/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images. Daily News. 230: AP/Wide World (2).
Photo 7: AP/Wide World Photo. 231: The National Archives. 232: U.S. Army – The
Pages 4, 5: © Russ Finley/Finley-Holiday National Archives. 233: Lockheed – American
Films. 21: National Atlas of the United States. History Slide Collection, © IRC. 234: U.S. Army
22-38: Library of Congress (3). – LOC. 235: © Bettmann/CORBIS – U.S. Army.
39: Courtesy The Pennsylvania Academy 236: © Bettmann/CORBIS – Yousuf Karsh.
of Fine Arts. 40, 41: USIA Library – Library 237: AP/Wide World Photo. 238: AP/Wide
of Congress (2). 42, 43: Library of Congress World Photo. 239: Culver. 240: © Bettmann/
(LOC); Time Life Pictures/Getty Images CORBIS. 241: AP/Wide World Photo.
– The American History Slide Collection, 242, 243: USIS Berlin – © Bettmann/CORBIS.
© Instructional Resources Corporation 244: Ebony Magazine. 245: AP/Wide World
(IRC). 44, 45: Painting by Don Troiani, www. Photo. 246, 247: U.S. Army. 248, 249: CORBIS
historicalprints.com. 46, 47: AP/Wide World – AP/Wide World Photo; Culver. 250, 251:
Photo; LOC – courtesy www.texasphilatelic. Arthur Schatz/Time Life Pictures/Getty
org. 48: National Portrait Gallery, Images; © Bettmann/CORBIS. 252, 253:
Smithsonian Institution. 49: AP/Wide World Barbara Ann Richards; Carol Hightower
Photo. 50, 51: LOC. 66, 67: Virginia Museum – John Wicart. 254: National Aeronautics
of Fine Arts, Richmond. Gift of Edgar William and Space Administration (NASA). 255:
and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch. David Valdez/The White House – Dwight
89, 90: LOC (3). 91-93: The National Archives Somers. 256, 257: J.R. Eyerman/Time Life
(NARA) – LOC (3). 94, 95: American History Pictures/Getty Images. 274, 275: NASA.
Slide Collection, © IRC (2), top right, LOC. 293: Chris Honduras/Newsmakers/Getty
96: LOC – Amherst College Archives Images. 294: AP/Wide World Photo (2).
and Special Collections, by permission 295: © AP Images/Heiko Junge. 296: Jeff
of the Trustees of Amherst College. 97: Christensen/AFP/Getty Images – AP/Wide
LOC – AP/Wide World Photo. 98, 99: World Photos. 297: Courtesy CNN –
LOC; NARA. 100, 101: courtesy Oklahoma Courtesy MTV. 298, 299: AP/Wide World
Historical Society – AP/Wide World Photo. Photo; © John Harrington/Black Star. 300,
102, 103: Culver – LOC. 104, 105: LOC. 301: Kevin Horan. 302: AP/Wide World
106, 107: Edison Birthday Committee; Photo. 303. Ken White – © Steve Krongard.
© Bettmann/CORBIS – Fox Photos/Getty 304, 305: Dirck Halstead/Time Life Pictures/
Images. 108: The National Archives (2). Getty Images. 320, 321: AP/Wide World
109: Hulton Archive/Getty Images – AP/ Photo. 339: © AP Images/Gerald Herber.
Wide World Photo. 110, 111: © Bettmann/ 340, 341: © AP Images/Chris Carlson.
CORBIS. 127: Courtesy Bureau of Census,
Perry-Castaneda Library Map Collection,
University of Texas. 128, 129: © Bettmann/
GPS Printed by Global Publishing Solutions (A/GIS/GPS) © (11-0150-E-2.0)

Bureau of International Information Programs
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
2011

Outline of Us History by Us State Dept

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Outline of Us History by Us State Dept

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Outline of Us History by Us State Dept

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

OUTLINE OF

Bureau of International Information Programs

CHAPTER 2 The Colonial Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

CHAPTER 3 The Road to Independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

CHAPTER 4 The Formation of a National Government . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

CHAPTER 5 Westward Expansion and Regional Differences . . . . . . . 110

CHAPTER 6 Sectional Conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

CHAPTER 7 The Civil War and Reconstruction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

CHAPTER 8 Growth and Transformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

CHAPTER 9 Discontent and Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

CHAPTER 10 War, Prosperity, and Depression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

CHAPTER 11 The New Deal and World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212

CHAPTER 12 Postwar America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

CHAPTER 13 Decades of Change: 1960-1980 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

CHAPTER 14 The New Conservatism and a New World Order . . . . . . 304

CHAPTER 15 Bridge to the 21st Century . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320

CHAPTER 16 Politics of Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Mesa Verde settlement in

“Heaven and Earth never

THE FIRST AMERICANS ancestors had for thousands of years,

A along the Siberian coast and then

T for their food and supplies. Influ-

In what is now the southwest the indigenous population practi-

T tied to the land. Identification with

T when a group of men under Juan

failed to reveal the gold or treasure European settlement in what would

Political considerations influ- they chose a site about 60 kilometers

T London in 1614. Within a decade it

D grims began to build their settle-

axes, weapons, cooking utensils, The steady influx of settlers into

T estranged from them. As a result,

THE ENDURING MYSTERY OF THE ANASAZI

Major Native American cultural groupings, A.D. 500-1300.

Pilgrims signing the

“What then is the American,

NEW PEOPLES were even more so among the three

M regional groupings of colonies.

nearby. Compactness made possible Under William Penn, Pennsylvania

S Irish, Germans, Poles, Bohemians,

Ithen middle In the southernmost colonies, as

blankets. Quilt-making remains an land colonies, except for Rhode Is-

A from London. And as early as the

that the charges printed by Zenger Christian churches that believe in

Still, the colonies considered Calverts in Maryland, William Penn

freedom of worship for Christians in stand the importance of what the

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is now lo- conflict with France, known as the

THE WITCHES OF SALEM

In 1692 a group of adolescent girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, became

Map depicting the English colonies and western territories, 1763-1775.

NATION A PICTURE PROFILE

Cotton Mather was one of

James Madison, fourth president of

Left: U.S. postage stamp commemorating the bicentennial of the Lewis

The protest against British

“The Revolution was effected

IIndian French and Indian inhabitants. Here

colonies to provide royal troops with erties. It asserted that Virginians,

A Assembly invited all the colonies to

The American leaders argued Townshend, British chancellor of

T tea. They used homemade paper