Chapter 17 & 18 Notes March 19th

Freedom’s Boundaries at Home and Abroad

The Segregated South

The Redeemers in Power

★ Redeemers = white racists
○ Merchants
○ Planters
○ Business entrepreneurs
■ Tried to undo as much as possible of Reconstruction
★ People that were unemployed along w/ people that committed small crimes were jailable offenders
○ Led to many blacks being put in prison
○ South’s prison system became profitable
■ Convicts could be rented

The Failure of the New South Dream

★ Southern region = dependent on North
○ For capital & manufactured goods
○ Could not be self-independent
■ People wished they would be

Black Life in the South

★ Black farmers were the ones that suffered the most in the South
○ They were unable to acquire the capital necessary to repair irrigation systems & machinery
destroyed in the war
★ The creation of network of institutions
○ Served as the foundation for increasingly diverse black urban communities
■ They supported each other
■ But the system was still build against them

The Kansas Exodus

★ In 1879 & 1880
○ Estimated 40,000-60,000 Afr-Ams migrated to KS
■ Sought political equality
■ Freedom from violence
 ■ Access to education
■ Economic opportunity
★ They lacked the money to start farming
○ Ended up as unskilled laborers
○ Few went to the south
■ Northern employers didn’t want to hire blacks

The Transformation of Black Politics

★ Political opportunities = increasingly limited for blacks
★ National Association of Colored Women (NACW)
○ Founded in 1896
○ Brought black women together to fight for rights
★ Blacks continued to cast ballots and vote only where they were allowed to

The Elimination of Black Voting

★ SO states wanted to prevent blacks from voting
○ Drafted laws like:
■ Poll tax
■ Literacy tests
● Demonstrate that they “understand” the constitution
○ “Grandfather clause” = Blatantly racist
■ Supreme Court struck down in 1915
● Violated 15th amendment
★ Disenfranchisement
○ Led to poor & illiterate whites not being able to vote
★ Great limitations that SO states put on black suffrage
○ They “should” have less rep in Congress, but this was violated & never enforced

The Law of Segregation

★ Segregation was “created” and set during Reconstruction
★ Civil Rights Cases - 1883
○ SC invalidated the Civil Rights act of 1875
■ Outlawed racial discrimination by:
● Hotels
● Theaters
● Railroads
■ The court argues that the 14th amendment prevents discrimination from the state,
not private businesses
 ★ Plessy v. Ferguson - 1896
○ SC approved for state laws to separate facilities from blacks and whites
★ LA: A Citizens Committee of black residents tried to challenge the law
○ One of their people was arrested
★ It was tried in the SC
○ The SC upheld the law

Segregation and White Domination

★ Segregation had a larger purpose
○ White domination
★ Blacks could be found in “white only” areas only if they were
○ Servants
○ Nurses, etc
★ Segregation affected other groups like Chinese people as well

The Rise of Lynching

★ The blacks that challenged the system were often lynched
○ Sam House killed his employer in self-defense, was later gruesomely executed
○ Ida B. Wells argued against this act in her newspaper
■ Led to her newspaper getting destroyed
★ Lynching was unique to the US
○ Rare in other nations

The Politics of Memory

★ Schools history textbooks in the SO
○ Emphasized happy slaves
○ Evils of reconstruction

Redrawing the Boundaries

The Women’s Era

★ The 1890s launched this era
○ We see women playing a greater role in public life
★ Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU)
○ Founded in 1874
○ Became the largest female organization
■ Began as temperance movement, changed to demanding a comprehensive program
of economic and political reform (right to vote)
Becoming a World Power

The New Imperialism

★ The second half of the 19th century
○ known as the “age of imperialism”
○ Purposes of imperialism
■ Bring modern civilization to the “backward” people
■ In non-European world

American Expansionism
★ Last territorial acquisition before the 1890s = Alaska
○ Purchased from Russia in 1867
★ Many americans looked overseas
○ Bc they wanted to expand their markets (trading purposes)

The Lure of Empire

★ Missionaries wanted to spread the nation’s influence
○ Wanted to spread idea of Christianity
○ Expand the American institutions of self-government and liberty
★ The US annexed HI islands
○ During Span-Am war in July 1898
○ After an am rebellion in the kingdom of HI
■ Harrison tried to annex it
■ Grover Cleveland realized that Hawaiians were not happy
★ Economic depression in 1893
○ Made ams think they needed to be in foreign markets to stimulate Am exports

The “Splendid Little War”

★ Spanish-Am war - 1898
○ Occurred after the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain
○ Led to support for the Cubans from Spain
★ Demas for intervention escalated after Feb 15th, 1898
○ An explosion destroyed the Am battleship “Maine”
○ Am declared war on Spain
■ On grounds of aiding Cuban patriots for liberty and freedom
○ Adopted Teller Amendment
■ Stating the US had no intention of annexing or dominating the island
● Shows humanitarian intentions
 ★ War lasted 4 months

Roosevelt at San Juan Hill

★ Most publicized land battle of the war - Cuba
○ AKA Charge Up San Juan Hill by teddy roosevelt’s Rough Riders
★ Roosevelt’s unit went to support the Cubans
○ Omitting blacks from his regiment
○ After arriving, he noticed that blacks arrived before him
■ He omitted this from his report
★ Roosevelt’s acts made him a national hero
○ Became McKinley’s VP in 1900

An American Empire
★ In the treaty w/ Spain that ended the war, US acquired
○ Philippines
○ Puerto Rico
○ Pacific island of Guam

The Philippine War

★ War broke out after US was more involved and exercised control
○ Changing local opinion in Philippines
★ This was deadlier than Span Am war
○ There were reports of atrocities committed by Am troops

CHAP 18: The Progressive Era

The Immigrant Quest for Freedom

★ New immigrants arrived imagining the US as a land of freedom
○ Some immigrants were birds of passage
■ Planned on returning to their homeland
○ New immigrants clustered in close-knit ethnic neighborhoods
○ Churches were pillars of these immigrant communities

Consumer Freedom
★ Vast array of goods
○ From the nation’s factories available to consumers throught US
○ Large department stores in central cities
 ○ Chain stores in urban neighborhoods
○ Retail mail order houses
■ For farmers and small town residents
★ Leisure activities took on characteristics of mass consumption

The Working Woman

★ Traditional gender roles were changing dramatically
○ More women were working for wages
○ Married women working more
★ Working woman became a symbol of female emancipation
○ Charlotte Perkins Gilman
■ Claimed that the road to women’s freedom lay through the workplace
■ Battles emerged within immigrant families of all nationalities between parents and
their “free” children, esp daughters

The Rise of Fordism

★ Henry Ford concentrated on
○ Standardizing output and lowering the price of automobiles
○ Revolutionized manufacturing with the moving assembly line
★ Ford paid his employees $5 a day so that they could afford his cars

Varieties of Progressivism

Industrial Freedom
★ Progressive views
○ Humanize industrial capitalism
○ Common ground in society that was still racked by labor conflict
★ Scientific management
○ Pioneered by Frederick W. Taylor
■ Eroded the freedom of the skilled workers
○ People believed that unions were an embodiment of the right of people to govern
themselves

The Socialist Presence

★ Socialist party
○ Brought radicals together
★ Began to flourish in different communities around the country
The Gospel of Debs
★ Eugene Debs was socialism’s loudest voice
○ Ran for president in 1912 on the Socialist ballot

AFL and IWW

★ AFL
○ Forge closer ties w/ forward-looking corporate leaders who were willing to deal w/ unions as
a way to stabilize employee relations
★ A group of unionists who rejected the AFL’s exclusionary policies formed the IWW
○ William Haywood

The New Immigrants on Strike

★ Ethnic divisions among workers affected labor solidarity
○ Basis of unity was ethnic cohesiveness
★ The main strikes
○ Lawrence Strike
○ New Orleans Dockworker Strike
○ Ludlow Strike

Labor and Civil Liberties

★ Claims of labor and labor movement rejected by the court
○ Demanded the right to assemble and organize as well as spread the views of the abolition
○ Continued to fight for the right to speak freely

The New Feminism

★ Feminists attacked traditional rules of sexual behavior
○ Added a new dimension to the discussion of personal freedom

The Birth-Control Movement

★ A sexual freedom and access to birth control began
○ Emma Goldman led this lecture
○ This issue was at the heart of feminism
The Politics of Progressivism

Effective Freedom
★ The modern era required a fundamental rethinking of political authority
○ Progressives rejected the traditional assumption that the gov was a threat to freedom

State and Local Reforms

★ Most of the era’s reform measures
○ Enacted by the state and local governments

Progressivism in the West

★ The Oregon System was what instituted the initiative & referendum
○ Provided for public votes
○ Recalls allowed for the removal of public officials

Progressive Democracy
★ Progressives wanted to reinvigorate democracy
○ Wanted to restore the political power to the citizenry
○ Provide harmony to a divided society

Jane Addams and Hull House

★ Women reformers wanted to speak for the more democratic side of Progressivism
○ New understanding of female freedom on the political agenda

The Campaign for Woman Suffrage

★ Became a mass movement
○ Half the states allowed for women to vote in the local elections but only if the elections were
dealing with schooling issues

Materialist Freedom
★ The desire to raise women’s roles within the household
○ Inspired the invigoration of the suffrage movement
○ Muller v. Oregon set max working hours for women

Theodore Roosevelt
★ The Square Deal
 ○ Attempt to conform the problems that were caused by econ consolidation that
distinguished between the good and bad corporations

John Muir and the Spirituality of Nature

★ The industrial world in efforts to preserve the natural beauty
○ By US
○ National Parks began to be preserved for future tourism

The Conservation Movement

★ Development of “forest reserves”
○ Regulated by Congress
○ Conservation was a reflection of the progressive movement towards
■ Efficiency
■ Control

Taft in Office
★ Taft
○ Pursued antitrust policy
○ Supported 16th amendment

The election of 1912

★ Taft, Roosevelt, Woodrow, Eugene Debs
○ All part of election
★ Political & econ freedom = national debate

New Freedom and New Nationalism

★ Roosevelt
○ Wanted heavy taxes on fortunes for fed regulations of industries
★ Progressive party
○ Offered numeral proposals to promote social justice

Wilson’s First Term

★ Wilson = strong executive leader
○ Moved aggressively to implement Progressivism (his version)
★ Idea of trust-busting abandoned
○ For the greater government supervision of the economy