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Farmers during the late 1800s often moved with their entire families and they lived a harsh, rustic lifestyle. Most did not gain electricity until well into the 1900s.
A large settlement house in Chicago that used to help poor and struggling people. These houses were located in almost any large city with a high population of immigrants or poor
-World History Book
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-http://historywithwoods.wikispaces.com/file/view/Vertical%20and%20Horizontal%20Integration.png/375897470/640x313/Vertical%20and%20Horizontal%20Integration.png
-http://meganestark23.blogspot.com/2013/01/lad-25-dawes-act.html
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-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haymarket_affair
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rough_Riders
-http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h901.html
-http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5354/
This card was given to passengers of ships coming into Ellis Island. It told them what they needed to do once they got off the ships so that they could legally enter the United States. The process of getting into the US could take up to a few months.
The Cross of Gold Speech fought for the United States to have free silver, the unlimited coining of silver dollars to increase the money supply, instead of a gold standard.
This document shows the obvious disregard for the Indian life style, since the United States Government is selling land that they most likely did not intend to give up. This crime, coupled with the Dawes Act illustrates why there was so much conflict with Indian tribes.
When Pinkertons arrived at the Homestead Strike by riding boats down the river, the strikes were prepared for a fight. A brawl broke out between them and seven workers were killed along with three Pinkertons. After that Pinkertons retreated.
This striking was only possible because of the organization of unions. Unfortunately, most workers feared unions because their employers made them sign "yellow dog" contracts, forbidding them from joining unions. Companies also forbid union meetings, they fired union organizer, they refused collective bargaining, and they refused to see unions as legitimate organizations. The people trying to cooperate with their employers though had a good point though because the rich during that time incorporated only 9% of the population and they held 75% of the nation's wealth. This wide gap between rich and poor continued through 1900 and on.
Immigrants were not the only ones being discriminated against during this time. African Americans had to live with Jim Crow Laws that made their lives harder and were almost as bad as being slaves. White citizens took advantage of African Americans all the time and they had to fight for equality even though they were technically free. If they wanted to vote they had to pay poll taxes, special fees just for African Americans that white citizens did not have to pay. Or they had to fit the conditions of the grandfather clause, which stated that to vote your grandfather had to have voted. This was impossible for African Americans because it had been impossible for their grandfather to vote since they had been slaves. There was also the segregation or seperation between white citizens and African Americans that continued for decades after this.
At the same time, railroads were expanding. This led to an increase in big business and monopolies since companies could ship their goods further and it was cheaper. Monopolies, companies that dominated a certain trade and does not allow smaller companies to grow, also overtook the business in America through vertical and horizontal consolidation. Vertical consolidation is when a business buys all the businesses it needs to create a product. Horizontal consolidation is when a business buys out, or outsells, all of its competing companies in the same field of business. Two major industrial giants would be Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller.
At this time unions were still popular and strikes were occurring in most major cities. Two of the most famous strikes during that time were the Homestead Strike during the summer of 1892, and the Pullman Strike in 1894. The Homestead Strike took place in Homestead, Pennsylvania; near Pittsburgh. The workers of Andrew Carnegie's steel mill were on strike for an eight hour work day because their wages had been cut. The Pinkertons, a private police force, were called into stop the fighting. They failed to do it but when the state militia was called in the striking finally end. In the Pullman Strike workers of the Pullman Company went on strike in Chicago, but this strike affect the entire nation. Severe wage cuts made it nearly impossible for the workers to live in the small community that they lived in. The town they lived in was run by the owner of the Pullman Company and the workers all lived there so that they were close to work. When they went on strike it greatly affected the railroads and mail stopped being delivered. The government stepped in and told the workers they had to stop striking. This interference eventually ended the strike.
Near this time, the movement west for most Americans was beginning to die off; but many were still leaving their homes to move. Once they arrived they had to build small homes or soddies, homes built into the sides of hills. Most farmers used dry farming, a technique used to farm crops while conserving vital water. Some farmers in the west were bonanza farms run by big business so that they could expand their power and wealth. This migration west caused problems with Indians, who had been occupying the area before the arrival of unwelcome settlers.
During this time immigration was spiking as people from the east fled from Europe and Asians feld from their homelands. These immigrants could have been fleeing because of war or other calamities. When they came to America by boat they were either taken to Ellis Island or Angel Island, depending on what coast they were arriving at. As they were traveling immigrants were put into steerage, a crowded area under the deck of a ship.The port in New York, Ellis Island was the bigger of the two and became flooded with people during this time. Once they got through these places immigrants often moved into the large city that sat near the island. This was either New York or San Francisco. When these immigrants moved into the cities they often created ghettos, an area densely populated with one ethnic group. Example of this would be China Town or Little Italy, which still exist today. They lived in these areas mostly because Americans did not accept them and they were discriminated against. This great increase in population inside of a single city caused overpopulation and overcrowded conditions; leading to rapidly spreading disease and unhealthy living conditions.
The populist party, also known as the people's party, was not a very long lasting party and last from around 1892-1896. It included mostly farmers that wanted to put more money into circulation. The populist party wanted an increased circulation of money, the unlimited minting of silver, a progressive income tax, and the government ownership of communication and transport. Before this time the government took very little part in the lives of its citizens and stayed back out of the way. This laissez-faire, meaning to keep away, attitude meant that everyone had to fend for themselves. But, the peoples party wanted the government to help them by increasing the amount of money in circulation. When the populist party candidate ran he lost, gathering only around a million votes; which was shocking since the group had been getting good support. The party soon started to lose recognition.
Indians living on the lands that Americans were moving to greatly opposed their interference. Indians were forced to assimilate, or to take in, to American culture, which went against most of their religious beliefs and imposed on their freedom. To further anger them Congress passed the Dawes Act in 1887, an act that gave every Indian family a plot of land. This frustrated them because it gave them a sense of individuality instead of the normal tribal living. Since they had more personal items fights broke out between them over who owned what water system or which person could claim the buffalo roaming into their "tribe."
Rockefeller was considered a captain of industry because he shared his wealth with everyone and he gave to the poor. He used horizontal consolidation to make his company, Standard Oil Company, grow. Oil was becoming popular because of the cars on the road and the factories using it, making it easier for Rockefeller to expand his business.
Andrew Carnegie believed in the "Gospel of Wealth", which said that all people are free to make as much money as they want. He used vertical consolidation to develop Carnegie Steel Company. The Bessemer process, a process used to strengthen iron into steel, would start to make the steel industry grow; so he started Carnegie Steel Company, which turned into a monopoly during the late 1800s. Since he used consolidation he was considered a robber baron, or a bad business owner.
One of the novels that could be considered written by a muckraker is the Jungle. It was written in 1906 and talked about the horrors of the meat packing industry. This book helped to promote healthier conditions in meat factories. This literature is part of the progressive era because the progressivist wanted change in America.
What made Theodore Roosevelt famous besides his presidency was his run with the rough riders during the Battle for San Juan Hill. This painting depicts him running with his fellow comrades.
This picture of imperialism shows the United States putting all the smaller countries 'under its wing' after the Spanish American war.
Citizens debated about imperialism as they decided weather to stay on their own and not entangle themselves in foreign countries or to expand their interest to international levels. People who did want the United States to expand were promoting the growth of the economy and some of the nations in South America were called banana republics because they had so much of United States interest invested in their business. Imperialism also made the army grow which helped to improve the United States security. Finally, expanding United States culture into other countries helped to preserve the American Spirit because we were making other countries more like us. People who did not want imperialism said that it was unethical to impose yourself on other countries without them asking you to.
The Spanish American War started on May 1, 1898 when America declared war on Spain. They were fighting with Cuba against them because Spain would not give Cuba the three things it wanted: the stop of all fighting between Spain and Cuba, the concentration camps in Cuba had to be shut down, and Cuba had to have its independence. The war only took about four months and there were very few casualties from battle; most died from diseases like yellow fever. Spain lost control of Cuba and Americans took control. The Treaty of Paris was signed after the war to officially end the Spanish American War.
After the war, American gained control of Cuba and other islands surrounding the United States. Once America had control of Cuba they made them agree to the Platt Amendment. This agreement said that Cuba would not go into any foreign agreements and they had to allow the United States to put military bases on their island. While the US continued to grow through these expansions they were also looking for an Open Door Policy, a plan that freed all trade between China. The Spanish American War helped to expand the United States and imperialism grew during this time.
This is the logo for the Knights of Labor, who helped get better conditions and pay for workers. They were popular during the late 1800s but soon became unpopular and lost membership as workers lost interest in striking.
People with money are shown to be ruling over the government in this picture because they had the money to control them.
This strike took place in Chicago on May 4, 1886. It was run mostly by strikers trying to gain workers right until some anarchists joined the crowd. These anarchists threw a bomb at police and the strike quickly turned into a violent riot. Police retaliated and fought bother strikers and anarchist, making Haymarket square a bloody mess. After this the strike ended and peace returned to Chicago. No one is sure who threw the bomb that started the riot.
Before the war started America was becoming interested in the affairs of Cuba. At the time they were trying to gain their freedom from Spain. Americans didn't plan on joining the war but yellow journalism, exaggerated newspapers, said that the US should help. Because of this Americans felt jingoism, a feeling of strong national pride and a desire for an aggressive foreign policy. This started America on the path of war but it was not the only thing that was pushing them. One of the factors was the de Lome letter; a letter taken from a Spanish ambassador that our current president was weak and cowardly. The second factor was the sinking of the USS Maine. This American ship was sunk in Cuban waters and little is known about it other than it went down in a ball of flame. Outrage in Americans because of these two events spread and the United States was on the verge of war.
The United States was expanding greatly during this decade and was beginning to have connections all across the western hemisphere. Imperialism, a strong nation growing an empire by dominating weaker nations economically, politically, culturally, or militarily; grew because of economic factors, nationalistic factors, military factors, and humanitarian factors. The economic factor that made imperialism grow is that their industry increased a need for more national resources. Nations had to branch out to other countries to find resources so they expanded economically. The nationalistic factor that made it grow was the rise in nationalism, a devotion to one's country, that prevent countries from wanting other countries to grow larger than themselves. The military factor helped imperalism grow because as nations got larger so did their armies. These armies needed bases in other countries for food and supplies. Lastly, the humanitarians wanted to spread their religion, medicine, and law to other parts of the world.
This decade marked the start of the Progressive Era that continued to the 1920s. People who supported progressivism thought that:
1. The government should be more accountable to its citizens.
2. The government should limit the power and influence wealthy investors.
3. The government should be given expanded powers and be more active in improving the lives of citizens.
4. The Government should be more efficient and less corrupt to competently handle an expanded role.
The Progressive Era was a time when people wanted the government to do more for its people. Muckrakers helped with this movement by pointing out the countries flaws in media. The progressive legislation also reformed the government in municipal, state, and federal levels more in the next decade.
Reform was big at this time in the cities because of all the poverty and suffering. Women founded the New York Charity Organization Society (COS) to help the poor and the ones in need. These woman believed that immigrants should assimilate to American beliefs, no matter how odd they were to foreigners. The Social Gospel Movement was also big in the 1880s and 1900s and its goal was to preach the teaching of Jesus directly to society. This spread quickly because the churches it originated from were giving out help to the less fortunate so the people they wanted to preach to were already at their door. Settlement houses were also set up in poor neighborhoods in big cities to be used as community centers for paupers that needed the social services.
Unions like the American Federation of Labor (AFL), which formed in 1886, grew popular with people during this time. The Knights of Labor membership also increased to 700,000 after they forced a railway owner to give up wage cuts. This was a time of anger in the working world; wage cuts, unhealthy conditions, and long work hours led to a great irritation in the general public. Craft unions formed to help certain skilled workers gain working rights that had before been denied to them. While some workers were off working companies called in other workers to take their place, these people were nicknamed scabs. Once workers had gotten the attention of their bosses and big business they took part in collective bargaining, a communication between workers and employers to negotiate better working conditions and better pay.
Political bosses ran most cities by offering people money and civil service jobs to vote for the political figures that they wanted to keep offices. An example of this would be Tammany Hall, a political machine that was located in New York and run by one of the most infamous political bosses, Boss Tweed. To stop these political machines from controlling how public elections ended, Congress passed the Pendleton Civil Service Act. This act stated that everyone how was to be put into a civil service job had to pass an exam saying that they were qualified to hold that position. When this act was passed it helped to decrease the efficiency of political bosses by not allowing them to offer the general public jobs that they normally would not be able to do.
W.E.B founded the Niagara Movement in 1905, a group of African Americans that called for full civil liberties, an end to racial discrimination, and recognition of human brotherhood.
This poster helps to prove that woman should gain the right to vote because in other places they have the ability so why should they not be allowed to where they live?
Not only were Americans killed on the Lusitania, other countries lost citizens during the sinking of the ship and it helped to fuel the growth of anger towards the Central Powers.
This poster is from the preparedness movement saying that America had to help Europe end their war and they needed to stop laying back and not paying attention to it.
The Roosevelt Corollary was an extension of the Monroe Doctrine, a document that said Europe should stay out of the Eastern Hemisphere. The cartoon clearly shows how Roosevelt enforced it.
As you can see, the nations in Europe were
very entangled with each other and if something went wrong with one it would affect them all.
In 1913 Wilson was elected even though he was a Democrat and the Republicans were more popular at the time. He won because the republicans were split between the Bull Moose Party and the regular Republican party. Voters did not know which to choose so their indecision led them to vote for Wilson. Once he was elected president he helped to lower tariffs, which Taft had tried to do but failed. He also passed the Clayton Antitrust Act which was another push towards stopping monopolies. Wilson created the Federal Reserve System to help prevent bank failures that occurred when large numbers of depositors withdrew funds during an economic panic.
This decade was full of woman fighting for woman suffrage, the right to vote, and other woman's rights. This time was also part of the Progressive Era and woman were playing a vital role in it. One of the largest woman's groups was the National Consumers' League (NCL) which helped to investigate how the conditions were under which their products were made. Muckrakers helped to get the woman's point across. There were also a two woman that took a large part in woman gaining suffrage in 1920. These woman would be Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
After the Civil War, African Americans had been trying hard to fit into white society even though they were often persecuted. During this decade discrimination began to die down, not to say that it went away. African American mutual aid and benefit societies multiplied during this time. Church groups and settlement workers were also forming settlement houses in black neighborhoods. There were African Americans with intellectual promise publishing literature, history and sociological studies as well. These improvements came about because of the push for rights by African Americans with the aid of two very influential African Americans.
America eventually joined the war in April 6, 1917 after many provoking gestures from the Central Powers. One of the first was when Germany broke the Sussex Pledge. This agreement said that Germany would not sink any boats without warning them before they attacked. Germany used U-Boats to attack which was an early submarine that could attack ships without being seen or detected. Germany sunk the Lusitania without warning and this angered many Americans because it was a passenger ship with 128 American passengers on it who all died. Once they did this American forced them to agree to the Sussex Pledge so that they would not go to war with them but eventually Germany broke this agreement. Another factor towards America joining the war was when the Central Powers sent the Zimmermann Note to Mexico saying that they should go to war with America. Americans discovered the note and took it as a joke because Mexico was in no condition to fight them and Germany was offering them pieces of American land in the letter for Mexico's assistance.
During the 1916 Progressivism was beginning to end and woman were getting closer to having suffrage. In fact, in 1919 Congress proposed woman suffrage and the law was passed in 1920. There were debates going on during this time about weather or not the United States should join the World War going on in Europe as well. There were two movements; the preparedness movement and the peace movement. The preparedness movement wanted to join the war while the peace movement wanted to stay out of it and allow Europe to go to war with itself. The United States was already giving the Allies supplies and it can be said that they had been invested in the war since the beginning.
In 1904 the construction of the Panama Canal began that would connect the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans; allowing the expansion of the United States Navy as well cutting large amounts of time out of the time taken for ships to travel from one side of North America to another. To gain this territory Theodore Roosevelt basically started the Panamanian revolution against Colombia so that it could gain the concession, a plot of land, on which it could build the canal. Some people did not like the way Theodore obtained the land but most realized that it was vital in national security and prosperity. Once they had been given the concession Roosevelt released the Roosevelt Corollary which stated that the United States was not trying to gain anymore territory than it already occupied. The canal was finished in 1914, six months ahead of schedule and costing twenty-three million dollars under budget. But when it was over it left a lot of tension between the United States and Latin American countries because of the way we had obtained the land. Congress decided to pay Columbia twenty-five million dollars in 1921 to lower the amount ill will coming from them towards America.
Before the war had started Europe had been a collection of countries with high tension between them all. A lot of the countries in Europe were supporting imperialism and there wasn't enough room in Europe to support the growth of so many countries. There was also militarism, where a country increases the size of its army. This caused stress between the countries because they had no idea if their neighboring countries were going to attack them. The nations had alliances with each other as well, which means that if one country went to war with another everyone else would slowly join in because of their alliance with the countries fighting. Lastly, all the countries felt nationalism for their country and they thought that their country was better than the rest. With all of these factors involved it was only a matter of time before all of them went to war and when Francis Ferdinand, the Arch Duke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist the first world war had begun between the Allies (France, England, Italy, Russia) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was also a part of the movement for woman's suffrage. She was a skilled speaker and writer who helped Anthony form groups and movements that promoted suffrage. She helped further back in that century as well but her efforts did not pay off till 1920 when woman's suffrage was allowed. With the assistance of Stanton, Anthony could form her own group which turned into the NAWSA
Susan B. Anthony cofounded the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) and became president of it between 1892 and 1900. She focused on giving woman suffrage. One of the ways she did this was by arriving at polls and demanding she gain the right to vote. She was then charged with civil disobedience, a nonviolent refusal to obey a law in an effort to change it.
Booker T. Washington thought that African Americans should gain equality from succeeding economically. He educated African Americans with vocational skills so that they could earn respect from white citizens. He said that African Americans should accept discrimination and believe that equality will come eventually. His methods were not the most straightforward but helped them move towards equality.
W.E.B Du Bois had a much more harsh approach towards equality. He only taught African Americans that he thought would succeed in life instead of helping people who needed it. He thought that smart people needed to make themselves better than everyone else. He demanded equal rights for blacks and he stood out from others asking for equality because he was a lot more direct and his beliefs were less believed in by the general public.
The League of Nations was a group that Wilson tried to form with the Fourteen Points that was basically a large alliance with world powers that stopped them from going to war with each other. This would keep wars from occurring and you can see that symbolized in the picture to the left.
Certain jobs, like mining, were extremely dangerous. Workers would often lose limbs or their lives while underground. They could even be trapped in a mine shaft if the ceiling collapsed on them.
After the war the economy boomed and the United States soared into the roaring twenties when everyone was focused on the party and buying anything they wanted on credit.
Political corruption by rich investors was beginning to be curbed by political reform.
Theodore Roosevelt ->
Taft preferred Dollar Diplomacy, where he only associated with other countries if their was money involved. He was not as aggressive as his predecessor, Roosevelt, as pursuing foreign policy.
Theodore choose to run the government with his 'big stick diplomacy'. He used the United States military to threaten other countries and that allowed him to conduct aggressive foreign policy.
Municipal reform was reform that took place in towns and cities. Some reform that took place here was the opposition of political bosses that were attacked by local government. Most political machines survived the attacks but some were taken down. Cities took over utilities to get rid of monopolies and allow the people more choice. Some mayors also led movements to provide the people with welfare services like public baths, parks, and work relief programs. Other city level companies were set up like fire halls and police stations,
Florence Kelley worked hard to stop child labor, which was running wild in cities since the pay was so low that most families could not afford to live without everyone working. She was a leader in the labor reform and forced Illinois to pass laws that prohibited child labor, limiting working hours for women, and regulating conditions of sweatshops. She helped mostly from 1886 to 1920.
Mother Jones was a little more vulgar that Florence Kelley with the way she got her message across and she focused mostly on helping miners, who at that time had incredibly unsafe working conditions. She organized labor unions in the west for miners but she is best known for organizing unions in the mines of West Virginia and Colorado. She also helped found the International Workers of the World (IWW) in 1905.
After everything settled down after the Versailles Treaty was signed and Wilson agreed that the war was over without signing the document, the United States had an economic boom. With the decline of power in Europe due to the war the United States was handed strength that it had not expected to gain. Even though the United States had more powers than the weakened countries it focused more on the problems at home instead of national affairs. Many artists and intellectuals in the United States entered the postwar years with a gloomy outlook on life. The war had caused a drop in optimism in the United States
State reform allowed the people more power when they voted. States gave the people the direct primary, initiative, referendum, and recall.
Direct Primary: an election in which citizens vote to select nominees for upcoming elections.
Initiative: A process in which citizens can put a proposed new law directly on the ballet.
Referendum: A process that allows citizens to approve or reject a law passed by the legislature.
Recall: A procedure that permits voters to remove public officials from office before the election.
Work places were also reformed and labor departments were put in place to stop work place hazards.
After the Americans joined the war it was only a matter of getting them to the battlefield. Once they arrived in Europe they rejuvenated soldiers that had been fighting for years and were ready to end the war. These renewed soldiers easily fought against the weary German soldiers that were trying to overtake Paris. Once the forces were pushed back by Allied forces the Central Powers called for an armistice, a ceasefire, on November 11, 1918. Then on June 28, 1919, the leaders of the Central Powers signed the Versailles Treaty, a treaty that laid out all the reparations, or payment for all the economic damage done during the war, that Germany had to pay. The United States never agreed to this treaty because Wilson preferred the Fourteen Points, a document that ended the war officially and said what had to be done to keep peace after it was over. Examples of this would be removal of trade barriers among nations and the reduction of military forces.
The war was not only fought on European battlefields, a struggle was going on at home as well. Rationing was taking place where people could only consume a fixed amount of goods. Daylight savings time was also established so that workers got an extra hour of work in the morning instead of wasting it at night. To pay for the war people bought and sold Liberty Bonds, special war bonds to support the Allied cause that could be sold at a later date for more money than they were originally worth. But on a darker note, the government decided to pass The Espionage Act, which made it illegal to interfere with the draft that forced male citizens to go to war. That was amended by the Sedition Act; an act that made it illegal to stop the sale of Liberty Bonds or discuss anything "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive," about the American government. This act went against the first amendment to the Constitution but most people believe that it was necessary during this time of hardship.
Federal reform regulated railroads so that they were not allowed to change the prices of shipping to certain customers. Public health was improved when Roosevelt passed the Pure Food, Drug Act, and the Meat Inspection Act that kept factories from giving people unhealthy food. Roosevelt was a conservationist, someone who wanted to protect nature. as well and he made laws to protect national forest and resources. There was antitrust activism also occurring against holding companies, a firm that buys up stocks and bonds of smaller companies. These companies were being taken down by Congress.
He did increase American investments in other countries but he also created enemies in Latin American, where they opposed American interference. As America expanded anti-imperialism grew as well.
By doing this he increased the United States influence in Latin America and increased their financial power. The 'big stick' he used to do this was the navy. He was a mediator during the Russian-Japanese War and the Sino-Japanese War and he helped to preserve the open door policy.
<-William Taft