Reconstruction & The West
After which historical event did Reconstruction occur?
After the Civil War
Who were the "new immigrants" of the Gilded Age?
South and Eastern Europeans on the eastern borders of the U.S.
Asian immigration on the western borders
What was Progressivism and who were the reformers?
a political movement that brought about significant changes in American social and political life
white middle-class men and women
What was the New Deal?
a series of laws and programs to combat the depression and provide relief to American citizens
What led to the participation of the United States in World War II?
Pearl Harbor
Which groups of people did Reconstruction effect?
African Americans, Native Americans, women
What were the laws meant to enforce racial segregation and disenfranchise African Americans?
Jim Crow Laws
How did "new feminism" add a new dimension to the idea of personal freedom?
What was the difference between the First New Deal and the Second New Deal?
First New Deal - focused on immediate economic relief
Second New Deal - focused on economic security
How did WWII effect the lives of Americans?
Women - Housewives went into work as welders, riveters at aircraft factories and defense plants, also served in the U.S. armed forces
African Americans - left the south for better opportunities, noticed the irony of the U.S. fighting racism abroad while tolerating it at home, participated in military though segregated units
Bracero Program - allowed Mexican laborers into the U.S. to work on U.S. farms
Japanese & Japanese Americans - forced into internment camps and faced discrimination due to Pearl Harbor
What visions of freedom did the former enslaved peoples and former slaveholders pursue in the postwar South?
And give examples!
Former enslaved peoples - social (families, churches, education), political (the right to vote), economic (the right to own land)
Former slaveholders - economic (new versions of labor such as sharecropping and crop liens)
How did the United States emerge as an imperial power in the 1890s?
Who were two prominent African American/Black leaders during this time and what were their arguments?
W.E.B DuBois – who believed that educated African Americans must use their education and training to challenge inequality
Marcus Garvey – called for Black self-reliance, African independence, and that all peoples of African descent move back to Africa (the motherland)
The _______ ________ Act was a centerpiece of the Second New Deal.
Social Security Act
How did the end of the war begin to shape the postwar world?
The U.S. becoming a superpower (the other being the Soviet Union), Cold War between the two superpowers, establishment of United Nations
How was the West transformed economically and socially?
economically - large corporations developing in the West (lumber industry, mining)
socially - diverse groups of people (Native-born easterners, African Americans escaping post-Reconstruction South, immigrants from Canada, Germany, Scandinavia, China, Mexico, and Great Britain)
How did the economic development of the Gilded Age affect American freedom?
class divisions, idea of Social Darwinism, politicians siding with big businesses, liberty of contract & free market
Why was 1919 such a watershed year for the United States and the world?
For the world - Wilson's League of Nations and liberal internationalism, beginnings of decolonization
For the U.S. - back to isolationism, Red Scare, rise of radical and labor organizations again
What caused the New Deal to end?
(1) due to Democrats finding themselves at odds with FDR’s policies
(2) the Second WW brewing in Europe and Asia
Pearl Harbor launched the United States from a __________ country to a _____________ country.
From isolationist to interventionist
How did American political leaders seek to remake Native Americans and change the ways they lived?
White Americans wanted Native Americans to assimilate into American life (ex. Native American boarding schools, The Dawes Act of 1887 [broke up Native land to distribute to Native Americans who assimilated or to white Americans if Native Americans refused to assimilate])
What was the Second Industrial Revolution?
a rapid economic growth caused by abundant natural resources, growing supply of labor, expanding market for manufactured goods, and the availability of capital for investment.
Progressivism sought to _______ and ________ capitalism and not _______ it.
reform and regulate
not destroy it
What was the cause of the Great Depression?
overproduction and underconsumption
Bonus Question - Which statement best captures the overall trend in federal power from Reconstruction (1865) to World War II (1945)?
A. Federal power steadily decreased after the Civil War and never expanded again.
B. Federal power expanded during Reconstruction, retreated in the late 19th century, and then expanded dramatically again during the New Deal and WWII.
C. Federal power remained basically the same from 1865 to 1945.
D. Federal power expanded only in foreign policy and never in domestic policy.
B