Lecture Notes for US History since 1877

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I. Industrial Revolutions

A. Industrious Revolution

a. People in UK and Northern Europe begin to work harder, longer hrs, and more productive

b. International trade level goes up tremendously – goods and desires for goods increases

B. 1st Revolution (Requires investment & risk-taking)

a. Water wheels for power; In Great Britain – greater surplus

b. Colonization and tax barrier helped to raise domestic production

C. 2nd Revolution (Steam Power) –

a. American System of Manufacturers – Starts in armory

Interchangeable Parts & Standard Gauges; Mechanized Production + Assembly Line Production

US. Gov. assured market for mass production (Eventually led to Ford & moving assembly line)

b. Steam Power

Coal mines in GB and Pennsylvania provides energy source

Printing of magazine and newspaper accessible – changes nature of communication

E7ects on transportation (steam boats and rail roads) – schedule in transportation available

i. 1869: 1ST Transcontinental rail road

ii. Reduce transportation time; increase city size; growth of steel industry

Telegraph: e7ect on politics and business; deaths of family members

D. Age of Electricity (Life Expectation increases greatly)

a. Electric Dynamo (possibility of harvesting electricity and transmi>ng electricity)

b. Edison: incandescent light bulb – creates demand for electricity

Pearl Street Station (1882, NYC) – marked the beginning of modern electricity industry

c. Electricity – E7ect of improving continuous production (24hrs)

d. E7ect of size of cities

i. Electric Street Car (1st in Richmond, VA, 1888); by 1890, all major cities adopted

ii. Subway: 1890s Boston; 1904 NYC

iii. Restructuring of the sectors in a city (upward and outwards)

E. Age of Petroleum

a. ReDneries in West Pennsylvania: main product – gasoline starting from 1890s

b. John D Rockefeller: Monopoly of reDneries – Standard Oil (reDning + distributing)

c. Internal Combustion Engine – Fundamental to the age of petroleum (perfected in 1885)

By 1930s, 60% of US families own cars (1900: 1%)

Raise changes in infrastructures + distribution of public space

Most of the roads were built by federal/local government

Trucks became the main tool of mass transportation

II. Gilded Age (1870s-1900s) — Reconstruction: 1863-1877; Progressive Era: 1900-1920

A. Basics

a. Access to raw material improves greatly (coal, petroleum, agricultural product)

b. Access to technology: Inventors + Patent system (Machinery & Chemicals)

c. Growth of market (Domestically and internationally)

d. Strong system of transportation & communication

e. Increasing access to capital (Productivity outstripped demand & high volatility in econ)

B. Economy of Scales – To deal with high volatility

a. Larger Business – Managerial Revolution + Creation of LLC

b. Competition

i. Pool/Cartel – informal alliance of producers

ii. Trust (control over all the trustee’s shares + operations) – Monopoly

iii. Holding Co.: aNer anti-trust act, merger movement

c. Vertical/Horizontal Integration

C. Gilded Age Presidency

a. Extremely Weak oOces –

i. ConPicts: freed labor force from slavery; Immigration; Machinery

ii. Only serves to dispense patronage – corruption increases – Civil Service Reform

b. Congress has extremely strong power (but control Pip-Pop every two years)

c. Political events:

Civil Service Reform; Railroad & Trust Regulation; Tari7s; Budget surplus; Money Supply

III. Immigration

A. Intro

a. Before 1880s: Majority of the immigrants were English, Irish and Germans

b. ANer 1880s: from southern/eastern EU – face great hostility (fear of not assimilating)

c. By 1900: 1.5 million Mexican crossed to US (Econ collapse + revolution)

d. Between 1848-1882: around 300000 Chinese workers arrived (80% in Ca)

B. Push-Pull-Means

a. Push: Economic dislocation; Politics and Wars; Oppression

b. Pull: Promise of beQer life; affordable land; Promise of freedom

c. Means: transportation (railroad & steamship); chain migration

C. General PaQerns

a. Number increases in economic boom times and decreased in depression

b. Young and poor but not destitute

c. Chain migration

D. Ethnic Diasporas – disbursed communities that are geographically different but with common origin

E. PaQerns of Discrimination and Debates about Immigration

a. 1880s: Concern regarding immigration started to raise – fear of not assimilating

b. 1882: Chines Exclusion Act: Ban entrance and forbid naturalization

SigniDcance: Federal gov. has the right to regulate immigration;

Use national origins to restrict immigration;

Use group instead of individual qualiDcation characteristics

c. 1891: Immigration Act: Establish the bureau of immigration (funding for Ellie Island)

d. 1920: Johnson-Reed Act (Quota Act): give preference on English and German immigrants

e. 1924: US. Border patrol established (Mexico & Canada)

IV. Labor

A. Producer Ideology

a. DeDnition: Celebration of skilled makers

b. Labor theory of value: value of a good should be equal to the cost of the labor

Only the craNsman should get the proDt

c. Raw material should be immune from principal ownership; They should not be base of proDt

d. Core Concept: a man is worthless if he has to depend on others to gain proDt

e. Led to protest against labor condition – labor unions

B. Strikes & Unions

a. Great Railroad Strike of 1877 – Intense conPict between labor and capital

1873: serious economic depression (over-speculation on railroad) – wage cuts + employees Dred

1877 summer: BNO decreased wage 3rd time in a yr – spontaneous walk-out across country

Led to walk-outs in other industry and national outrage – 12 major cities paralyzed

State militia + federal troops deployed – armory built around cities + National Guards

b. Labor Unions

1. 1869-1890: Knights of Labor – Utopian Org (Maintain center stage of labor)

Producerism: only people engaged in production are allowed to join

Republicanism: nation of republic is threatened by concentrated power of big business

2. Trade Unions (Workers w/ similar skills) – American Federation of Labor

Usually a manage will be hired to negotiate with the employer;

AFL: it’s an umbrella org that urges higher wages, shorter hrs & beQer working condition

Haymarket Bombing: speakers sentenced treason; turn public against unions

3. Industrial Unions

1st one: American Railroad Union

4. Industrial Worker of the World (1905-1919)

C. Populism – Response of Farmers to Machine Era

a. Situation

Machine production squeezed small farmers out of the market (Price dropped 75%)

Farmers did produce more yet they got less

b. Response

1. Farmers leN for cities

2. Organize to gain economy of scale (Farmer’s Alliance)

3. Organize politically to incorporate policy for the beneDts of farmers – Populists

It urges free silver & federally organized collective of agricultural products

Election of 1896 killed Populist Party (joined Dem but lost President Election)

V. Imperialism & Progressivism

A. Imperialism

a. Intro

1. Motivation:

Pride in the nation’s cultural heritage and political principles

See a universal mission in world history for their nation

New Imperialism in EU; Business leaders need new markets

2. Doubts and Denials

Become an empire was to ignore the nation’s birth in a revolt against British

Also, ignored founding principles of freedom and self-determination

Some denied imperialistic claims; some acknowledge as short period of ‘expansionism’

3. Varieties of Empire

Formal: direct control over the politics and economy of a dependent region

Informal: control others indirectly through military intimidation, forced alliances,

economic indebtedness, or pacts with local elites. (Avoid colonial takeover)

From early 1800s onward, episodes of U.S. asserted its power can be acts of ‘empire’

b. Course

1. Continental Expansion (1803-1890) (1890: frontier closed)

Louisiana Purchase (1803); Wars with Mexicans and Indians; Oregon Treaty with Britain

(1847); Gadsden Purchase from Mexico (1853); Purchase of Alaska from Russia (1867)

Overland/Continental instead of transoceanic expansion, similar to Russia

American expansionism (open frontier for white seQlement) tried to prepare western

lands gradually for admission to the Union as equal states instead of politically

dependent colonies (that ruled by royally appointed governors).

2. Formal Empire through Colonial Rule (1898-1946) (1946: Philippine Independence)

i. Spanish-American War (Also annexed Hawaii in June, 1898)

Feb. 15 1898: USS Main exploded in harbor of Cuba

April 11 1898: asked for forceful intervention, Congress approved

May 1, 1898: Declared War; July, 1898: Spain Surrendered

1899: Treaty of Paris – Obtain Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico

ii. Other Expansion

1903-1913: Canal in Panama

1904: Roosevelt Corollary(upgrade Monroe Doctrine – police of central America)

1912-19& 1924-25: Militarized border; Invaded Mexico; Occupy Honduras, Heidi

3. International Alliances and Economic & Military Power (1946 – Present)

B. Progressivism (1890-1920)

a. Basics

1. It’s a pragmatic political/social approach to reform

It’s on a case-by-case basis; speciDc and practical approaches

2. Tactics: Identify problem; organize and investigate; educate/agitate; legislate/regulate

b. Problems:

Labor; Concentration of Power; Lack of women’s right; Corruption; Alcohol; Conditions in cities

VI. WWI

A. Neutrality on US side

a. No clear side of right

b. Arbitrator of peace was determined as the best role US should play

c. 1/3 of the population were 1st or 2nd generation of European immigrants

d. No vital interest of stake

B. Reason for Entrance

a. Naval blockades from both sides while US were trading at a tremendous lvl with both sides

It gave US the vital interest to join the war

b. German made Sussex Plead to US: Promised not to aQack passenger without warning

US. will enter the war if one more ship w/ American on board was sunk

c. By 1916, both sides were devastated: trench wards; use of tanks & toxic gas; machine guns

d. Submarine warfare resumed (Feb. 1917) + Zimmerman Telegram went public (March 1917)

C. Entrance

a. Declaration (April 16th, 1917)

b. Mobilization

1. Selective Service Act (1917) – 1st conscription on a national level

2. Raising Money: Liberty Bonds (15B); Ware Rev. Bills (Raise $ from taxes)

3. Federal Agencies were established to Centralize Production

Fuel Agency; Railroad War Board; Food Admin.; War Industries Board

US Econ boomed till 1921; Collaboration between Gov. and Co. kept on

4. Mobilization of public opinion

CommiQee on Public Info – Public Info Blitz (Patriotism)

Espionage and Sedition Acts (1917 & 1918): Anti-war activities were banned

c. Russia pulled out of the war – led to unbalance in power and west front was broken

d. “Fourteen Points” were made; 2M US soldiers arrived in France at the summer of 1918