DISCOVERIES AND SETTLEMENT UNTIL 1607

PRE-COLOMBIAN AMERICA

16,000 - 14,000 - first humans appear in America crossing a land bridge from Siberia to Alaska - the last ice age.

5,000 - reaching Tierra del Fuego - the Land of Fire - the end of nomadic period.

AMERICAN INDIANS

• over 300 languages - extremely diverse cultures

• warriors, hunters, farmers

• animal domestication

Main Indian groups:

1. 800 BC - 600AD MOUNDBUILDERS - culture in the Ohio River valley and the Mississippian culture - the descendants were the later Natchez Indians.

Examples of mounds:

• CAHOKIA, Missouri

• SERPENT MOUND, Ohio

2. ANASAZI - yielding Pueblos and other Southwest Indians.- present day Arizona and New Mexico

• terraced adobe dwellings - cliff palaces Mesa Verde, Colorado

• irrigation canals

• peaceful farming society, based on “Three Sisters”: 1. corn, 2. beans, 3. squash

3. APACHES - neighbors to the Pueblo

• warriors and hunters

4. IROQUOIS - North East - Iroquois Confederation of Six Nations - founded in the 16^th century:

1. Cayuga, 2) Mohawk, 3) Oneida, 4) Onondaga, 5) Seneca, 6) Tuscarora

• forest Indians - hunters and fishermen, canoes

• highly political society

• long houses and wooden stockades

• wampums - shell money

5. ALGONQUIANS - Northeast

• hunting society

• wigwams, wampums, powwows - tribal gatherings

• yielded most Indian loanwords in English

6. INDIANS OF THE PLAINS - Dakota - 'allies' or Sioux - 'enemies' (name used by the French)

• hunters depending on buffalo

• tepees - dwellings made of buffalo bones and hides

7. INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST - scattered ethnic and linguistic groups

• ocean and inland waters fishermen

• animist beliefs - totem pole cultures

PRE-COLOMBIAN EUROPEAN DISCOVERIES

1000 AD - LEIF ERICSON leading Viking expedition from Iceland

• Establishment of Norse scattered settlements from Newfoundland to Virginia

• the Viking colony supposedly called Vinland - described in the sagas

European exploration starts by the end of the 15^th century due to:

• search for spices

• search for gold and silver after exhaustion of European sources

• new developments in navigation and shipping technology - three-masted hulks

CRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, Oct 12, 1492 - not a real romantic discoverer.

• Genoese in service of Spanish king and Queen Isabella in search of the Indies of the Spice Islands (the Moluccas)

• 1^st expedition with three ships The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria

• First landing - San Salvador, Bahamas, and Hispaniola (Haiti)

• Calling the natives INDIANS (by mistake, thinking he landed in India)

• 1493 - discovery of Jamaica, Puerto Rico,

• dies certain of discovering Asia or India

• Oct 12, Columbus Day - celebrated since 1792

WHY 'AMERICA'?

1490s Amerigo Vespucci (Florence) describes the new land in letters

1507 - Martin Waldeseemuller - calls the new land America in honor of Vespucci.

1541 - Gerardus Mercator - Flemish cartographer, who invents geographical latitude and longitude, applies the name to both continents.

Other discoverers from various European countries:

JOHN CABOT - an Italian in service of Henry VII of England reaches Newfoundland and Chesapeake Bay in 1497, opening British claim to America.

PONCE DE LEON - companion of Columbus and governor of Puerto Rico

• Believing in the legend of the Fountain of the Youth and gold in the north

• 1513 - sailing around Florida and claiming it for Spain

GIOVANNI VERRAZANO - Italian sailor in service of Francis I of France

• 1524 - discovers the New York harbor - today's the Verrazano Narrows Bridge

JACQUES CARTIER

• 1536 discovers St. Laurence River up to Montreal - claims Canada for France

• area rich in fur and fish

HERNANDEZ DE SOTO

• 1539 exploration of the South - from Florida to Texas

FRANCESCO VASQUEZ DE CORONADO

• 1540 from Mexico - search north of the legend of 'Seven Cities of Gold'

• exploration of New Mexico and discovery of the Pueblos

• Garcia Lopez de Cardenas - companion of Coronado - discovers the Grand Canyon in 1540

Spain claims a huge territory in North America

1565 - St. Augustine, Florida - the oldest settlement in the USA

FRANCIS DRAKE 1578 - arrives in today's San Francisco Bay

1585-88 ROANOKE, the LOST COLONY - an early American legend.

• Walter Raleigh founds a settlement on Roanoke Island, North Carolina

• The colonists in search of gold give up and rescued back by Drake

• They return under John White - grandfather of Virginia Dare - the first English person born in America

• White sails to England for supplies and never returns to America, involved in the defeat of the Spanish Armada

• 1590 - the colony is lost - what remains are letters 'CROATON' carved on a tree. The colonists could have either died, lived with the Indians or captured by the Spanish

1602 - Bartholomew Gosnold discovers Cape Cod

1608 - Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec.

1609 - Henry Hudson explores Hudson River

1610 - the Spanish found Santa Fe

THE BEGINNINGS OF ENGLISH CENTURY SETTLEMENTS

REASONS:

1. prospects of enrichment

2. fleeing religious or political persecution

3. adventure

DIFFICULTIES:

1. climate

2. diseases

3. failing crops - hunger

4. hostile Indians

5. lots of lands in America already taken by the Spanish or the French in Canada

East Coast - dense forests - for the first hundred years colonies strictly along the coast - only fur traders travel across the Appalachians.

English colonization - often private enterprises rather than sponsored by governments such as Virginia Company - London joint stock company based on division of prospective profits.

• JAMESOWN, VIRGINIA - first permanent English settlement under John Smith, a courageous and tough leader and explorer - dictatorial rule; his maps used by later English explorers

• Legend of POCAHONTAS - Powhatan princess - the mythical mother of Virginians - saved Smith from Indian attacks. In 1614 married John Rolfe, converted to Protestantism and traveled to England - dies on the journey back, leaving a newborn son.

• TOBACCO becomes Jamestown's main export bringing enormous profits for the settlers

• More newcomers come year by year - 1609 some cast away in storm in Bermuda

• 1619 developments of the colony:

1. 'Jesus of Lubeck' - first black slaves arrive in Jamestown on a Dutch ship for plantation labor.

2. HOUSE OF BURGESSES and the Governor, George Yeardley - the first elective (by rich men only) body precedent of American representative democracy.

AMERICAN COLONIES 1620-1733

PLYMOUTH - 1620 - Pilgrim Fathers - Separatists and Strangers - Congregationalists based on Calvin arrive in America by ship “MAYFLOWER” and found the colony.

• fleeing religious persecution outside any government

• MAYFLOWER COMPACT - FIRST written document on government and democracy in American history stressing civil body politic and just and equal laws is signed on board.

• Intolerant and strictly religious

• Harsh conditions - Samoset and Squanto (English speaking Indians) help out.

• THANKSGIVING - 1621 - a feast in thanks to God (Indians), turkey and survival; becomes later the most important American holiday, est. by A. Lincoln.

NEW AMSTERDAM AND FORD ORANGE - 1624 - (today's NYC and Albany) by the Dutch

• Manhattan bought for 24 dollars in beads, cloth and trade goods.

• Peter Minuit - founder; Peter Stuyvesant - last Dutch governor

• 1664 New Amsterdam is captured by the English and renamed New York - after the Duke of York

MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY - 1628 - led by John Winthrop and Puritans

• Later the port of Boston

• To be the ideal community for the mankind: "We shall be like a city on a hill."

MARYLAND - 1634 - founded by English Roman Catholic fleeing persecution, under Cecillius Calvert, Lord Baltimore

RHODE ISLAND 1636 by Roger Williams, a separatist banished from Puritan Mass

• Founds Providence - the first land in America allowing religious freedom

• First true democracy in America

His ideas:

• King must not give away Indian lands

• Church and state separation

• Government responsible to people

• Puritans must not enforce their laws

• First dictionary of Indian languages.

DELAWARE 1638 - settled by the Swedes, taken by Dutch, then by the English

CAROLINAS 1663 - by private proprietors; Charleston, named after Charles II

PENNSYLVANIA 1681 established by William Penn and QUAKERS

• chartered land

• liberal religion and law

• honest land purchase from Indians - ban on alcohol for the natives

• Philadelphia - "city of brotherly love" - the largest in the colonies.

• "Frame of Government" - the colony constitution

GEORGIA 1733 - Savannah established by James Oglethorpe

• last colony established

• philanthropic enterprise - chance for settlement for prison debtors

• bulwark against Spanish Florida and French Louisiana

1733 - THIRTEEN COLONIES ALONG THE EAST COAST

THREE REGIONS (political, economic, cultural, social):

I. New England (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island)

• free farming and handicraft - family life

• timber, fishing and shipping

• trade with West Indies

II. Middle Colonies (New York, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania)

• mercantile-capitalist and aristocratic

• merchant-based economy

• large cities - New York, Philadelphia

• diversified ethnically

III. The South (Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia)

• aristocratic-oligarchic, slave-holding plantation

• small white wealthy population - large black!

• Lack of towns

• Tobacco, cotton, indigo, rice

Religion in the Colonies

Different patterns:

1. Established churches and intolerance - church government (e.g. New England)

2. Religious tolerance (e.g. Pennsylvania)

3. Banishment results in settlements in other colonies - Anne Hutchinson - heretic from Mass. in Rhode Island

1692 - Salem Witchcraft trials - hysteria: women blamed for evil in the colony resulting in witch hunt

William Penn's reaction - "There is no law in Pennsylvania against riding a broomstick"

Political developments

Colonies founded by different groups, also from DIFFERENT countries.

1. representative ELECTED assemblies

vs.

2) royal colonies

Each colony having its governor; voting rights often larger than in Europe at the time.

Colonies surrounded by:

1. Louisiana - West - explored by La Salle, sparse French settlement along theGulf of Mexico and Mississippi e.g. Detroit, St. Louis, Old Biloxi, New Orleans.

2. New France - North - Acadia (today's eastern Canada)

3. New Spain - South - Spanish Florida

Indian wars

Resulting from outward expansion of settlers:

• Pequot War in Connecticut; bringing annihilation to the entire tribe

1675 - King Philip War, New England

Culture

American Enlightenment - Benjamin Franklin - personification of Middle Colonial life.

Education - free compulsory education in most colonies

Universities:

1. 1636 - Harvard College founded, Cambridge, Mass.

2. 1693 - William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Va.

3. 1701 - Yale College, New Haven, Conn.

COLONIAL WARS AND INDEPENDENCE (1733-1783)

Territorial expansion

Settlement along the coast but slowly moving west:

Daniel Boone - crossing the Appalachians with axmen and establishing the Wilderness Road

• Gradual settlement of the Ohio Territory - getting closer to French America.

• establishing Kentucky and Tennessee

• the FRONTIER way of life:

• rugged individualism

• development of specific culture

• spirit of self-reliance

• LEGENDS - Paul Bunyan

1741 - Vitus Bering, a Danish in Russian service, discovers Alaska.

COLONIAL WARS

British colonies surrounded by French colonies with different patterns of settlement:

• sparse settlements - trading posts

• fur trade rather than farming

• peaceful contacts with Indians

• hindrance for westward expansion of British colonies

French territories in North America:

1. Canada - along St. Lawrence River - discovered by Samuel de Champlain; Quebec and Montreal

2. Louisiana - Great Lakes and Mississippi valley - explored by Rene la Salle; Detroit, St. Louis, New Orleans

European Anglo-French wars - offshoots in America - decisive results for political European situation.

1. 1701-1713

Queen Anne's War - (the War of the Spanish Succession)

RESULT:

• Hudson Bay, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland - to Britain by the Treaty of Utrecht

• Capture of the largest North American fortress - Louisburg

• Beginning of British presence in Canada

2. 1754-1763

French and Indian War - (the Seven Years' War)

CAUSES:

• European struggle

• The French western forts on Ohio

COURSE:

• French and Indian guerilla warfare against regular British army

• Heavy participation of American colonists - state militias

• 1754-55 - battle of Fort Duquesne on Ohio River - first great defeat of the British

• ambush of Edward Braddock and young lieutenant George Washington of Virginia militia (the only saved) - inability of the British troops to fight in the forest

• the French capture Fort William Henry - Last of the Mohicans

• 1759 - Battle of Quebec war's turning point - great victory for the British

• 1763 - Treaty of Paris - the French give up claims to Canada - the end of French North America

• Indians fighting on both sides - Last of the Mohicans

• Pontiac's war 1763-66 - the Indians struggle abandoned by the French allies - destruction of many forts in Ohio Valley

RESULTS:

• Britain winning North American Empire

• Colonists start settlements west of the Appalachians - George III's PROCLAMATION LINE 1763 forbids colonists to settle to the west until treaties with Indians are signed - to prevent possible conflicts with Amerindians

• Colonists required to pay the costs of war in taxes and quartering of British troops

• Situation becomes aggravating and conflicting

BUILD-UP TO THE AMERICAN WAR OF INDEPENDENCE

1. Consequences of the Treaty of Paris

1. objection to new import taxes - difficult for colonial merchants to trade; taxes put by the British are seen as an attack on smuggling prospering in the Colonies:

SO FAR: only light taxes - 'sleeping dogs lie' - Robert Walpole.

2. the end to French threat - British troops unnecessary after the war but stationing in the colonies and making colonists obey strictly the British government.

SO FAR: rare interference of Britain in colonial matters

c. lots of conflicting interests on both sides

II. Sugar Act, 1764; Stamp Act, 1765; Quartering Act, 1765:

• tax stamps on newspapers, legal papers and goods

• quartering of troops in private homes

• strong opposition and refusal based on lack of colonial representation in Parliament - "NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION"

• SONS of LIBERTY- riots and demonstrations, brewers of American nationalism

III. 1767-70, the British remove the Acts but:

• issue Declaratory Act:

"British government has full power and authority over the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever"

• issue Townshend duties - new taxes on tea, paper, paint and goods imported from abroad

IV. Boston Massacre, 1770

• during a demonstration against new taxes five colonists are shot by the British in Boston

• huge PROPAGANDA for colonists:

Samuel Adams stirs up the colonies against Britain

Paul Revere produces pictures 'Massacre' and circulates them in colonies

• The British remove all taxes except that on TEA

V. BOSTON TEA PARTY, 1773

• East India Company dumps tea in the Colonies.

• Sam Adams and colonists disguised as Mohawks throw cases of tea to the sea in Boston harbor: "I hope that king George likes salt in his tea"

• British reaction - INTOLERABLE ACTS, 1774:

1. closing of Boston ports and stationing of British troops

2. power of local assemblies reduced

3. George III: "the die is cast; the colonies must either submit or triumph"

• American reaction - FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, Philadelphia - 1774:

1. assembly of all colonies loyal to the King

2. appeal to colonists to refuse buying British goods

3. organization of armed militia and preparing for war

3. Ideas of the Enlightenment - very popular and implemented in the colonies - no burden of absolutist past:

1. John Locke - representative government, protective of the people

2. Thomas Paine's Common Sense pamphlet - first American bestseller - calling for independence!

WAR OF INDEPENDENCE - AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1775-1783)

John Adams: The Revolution was effected before the war commenced. The Revolution was in the hearts and minds of people"

American colonial militia vs. British well-trained regular army

Gradual development of the American army and navy.

Knowledge of their own territory and motivation!

COURSE:

1. the spark - Lexington and Concord, 1775 - first victory

• British soldiers attempt to seize arsenals in Concord

• Paul Revere and William Dawes ride out of Boston to warn colonists in Concord and Lexington about the coming Brits; Paul Revere's Midnight Ride

• Colonial militia men get ready in a short time ('MINUTEMEN') and fight the British.

• PATRICK HENRY of Virginia: "Give me liberty, or give me death."

2. SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, 1775, Philadelphia

• acting American national government

• setting armed forces under George Washington

• starting anti-British PROPAGANDA - seeking aid in Europe, particularly in France - individual Europeans join the Revolution, but not European governments:

• Pulaski, Kosciuszko

• Lafayette

• Von Steuben

3. The Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775 - first major battle of the war - lost by Colonists but heavy casualties on the British.

4. DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, July 4, 1776

• the most important document in American history - written by Thomas Jefferson

• cutting links from Britain; the name: THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA appears

• signed by many, especially by John Hancock in large handwriting - '...large enough letters for King George to read without spectacles'

• Most important excerpts:

'Life liberty and pursuit of happiness', 'the consent of the governed', 'all men are created equal'

5. The British capture NEW YORK; the city remains the loyalist bastion until the end of the war.

• Symbol of traitor until today - Benedict Arnold Defeating the British on Lake Champlain; changes sides.

• Symbol of hero until today - Nathan Hale - hanged by the British for spying: I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.

• Loss of Philadelphia; Ticonderoga - losing forts in New York State

• Hessian troops sided with the British - although Washington victorious at Trenton - surprise attack across the Delaware.

• Winter in Valley Forge - heavy conditions, barely survived

6. BATTLE OF SARATOGA, 1777

• the turning point of war surrender of John Burgoyne

• FRENCH HELP arrives as a result of sufficient conviction about American cause - 1778 - Marquis de Lafayette and the French fleet

• Battle of Savannah, 1779, - death of Pulaski

7. BATTLE OF YORKTOWN, 1781

• surrender of the British Army under Lord Cornwallis to Washington

• the British lose control of the sea

8. Treaty of Paris, 1783 - United States becomes formally recognized.

• Territory: from Atlantic Coast to Mississippi; from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

• The British evacuate from New York; loyalist colonists - Tories - to Canada

• The Continental army is disbanded.

THE NEW NATION (1783-1815)

First attempt of unification after the War of Independence - ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, 1777, ratified in 1781 by Second Continental Congress

• loose confederation of states with weak central government

• all decisions made by Congress - one vote from each state

• asking for permission of the states in many matters

• no power of taxation

May 1787 - Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia led by George Washington - Twelve state delegations (no Rhode Island) - the Founding Fathers - gather together in order to revise the Articles.

After long debates they disagree on many matters and split into:

1. FEDERALISTS - for strong government

- Madison, Hamilton, John Adams

2. ANTI-FEDERALISTS (Republicans) - for more power given to states

• Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams

Forming the first American political parties.

1787 - CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

• federal system - authority divided between the federal government and state governments

• checks and balances - three branches of government: executive (PRESIDENT); legislative (CONGRESS) and judicial (SUPREME COURT)

• no mention of 'slavery' in the text of the Constitution

Campaigning for ratification begins: 9 out of 13 states are required to ratify the Constitution

Constitution goes into effect in 1789.

1791 - first 10 amendments are introduced to the Constitution known as THE BILL OF RIGHTS which deal with basic citizen rights.

The CAPITALS of the USA:

1. New York (1789-1790)

2. Philadelphia (1790-1800)

3. Washington DC (1800-) - built on a neutral ground, on a grid pattern by Pierre l'Enfant.

PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON (1789-1797)

• wise and compromising rule of the country

• opposition to political parties - regarded as evil, but the parties were already there

• leaving office established the two-term precedent - not regulated by the Constitution

First American Cabinet - balance of political interests - (cabinet not mentioned in the US constitution)

Very small - later developing with each new presidency

1. John Adams - Vice President

2. Thomas Jefferson - Secretary of State

3. Alexander Hamilton - Secretary of Treasury

• establishment of National Bank and national debt

• national mint; dollar becomes the currency based on decimal system.

d. John Jay - Chief Justice of the United States

Farewell Address, 1796 - a powerful speech made by George Washington before retiring to Mount Vernon, VA. Some ideas:

"the people are real pillar of independence'

"avoidance of permanent alliance'

"maintaining commercial rather than political ties to other nations"

Presidency of John Adams (1797-1800);

Moving capital to Washington DC

Presidency of Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809); Republican

• Informality of presidency: walking from inauguration, smaller government, sending written State of the Union Address.

SOCIETY AND ECONOMY

The new country faces economic difficulties after the War of Independence- DEBTS and extensive taxation!

Growing opposition:

1. Daniel Shay's Rebellion, 1786 - in Massachusetts against debts - in consequences debt laws changed if favor of the taxpayers and executive powers are strengthened.

2. Whiskey Rebellion, 1794 - Pennsylvania - against heavy taxation on corn and whiskey - burning down revenue agents' houses. The army is sent by Washington to crush down the rebels - later pardoned by President.

In economy characteristic division:

North - industry;

South - plantations with "peculiar institution" of slavery; slave trade banned in 1808 -

INVENTIONS

Samuel Slater introduces cotton mill in 1789, bringing industrial revolution to America and improving agricultural production

Eli Whitney invents COTTON GIN (engine), 1793 - mechanization of cotton plantations. - "Father of Mass Production"

TERRITORIAL EXPANSION

Gradual expansion of the US to the Northwest - the so-called Ohio Territory. The process of westward expansion is ruled by an act of law passed by the US Congress called

NORTHWEST ORDINANCE ACT, 1787

• Land to be bought with consent of the Indians - contrary in practice

• organization of government in new territories

• Bill of Rights guaranteed to settlers

• No slavery in Ohio Territory

• 5 thousand adult men - election of two-chamber assembly; 60 thousand adult men - can access the Union the same way as 13 original states.

• New states can have their own constitutions and jurisdiction.

• PATTERN for future states - prevention of the original 13 to control the rest.

LOUISIANA PURCHASE, 1803 by Thomas Jefferson from Napoleon in need for money - $ 15mln (3 cents per acre)

Land boundary: from Mississippi to the Rockies and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico

Americans organize expedition to explore the new territory:

1804-1806 - Meriwether Lewis and William Clark's expedition -From St. Louis to the Pacific, yielding huge information about the land, Indians, maps. Later their path is followed by future pioneers - Oregon Trail, and the expedition becomes an inspiration for future expansion and settlement.

FOREIGN POLICY

USA emerged from the war of independence as an ally to France but in 1789 - the French Revolution begins followed by a French-British conflict - America stays neutral.

Citizen Genet Affair, 1793 - a newly appointed French Revolutionary ambassador in USA is involved in the scandal of recruitment of American privateers against Britain. He is finally recalled.

John Jay's Treaty, 1794 - with Britain to avert another war:

• evacuation of the Northwest forts

• trade with British West Indies

• payment for seizure of American cargo

• British continue fur trade at the Canadian border.

The country splits into:

I. Republican pro-French - opposed to the treaty.

II. Federalists pro-British - supporting the treaty

France becomes outraged with the treaty and begins to seize American ships.

Undeclared naval war with France in West Indies

In 1798 the Congress passes Alien and Sedition Acts:

• increasing residency requirements (from 5 to 14)

• possibility of expulsion of aliens from the country

• outlawing conspiracies against the government

Finally, a separate treaty with France averts the war and the Acts are annulled (1801)

In 1812 the USA becomes involved in a war against Britain in the so-called

WAR OF 1812 - or SECOND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE, (1812-1815)

CAUSES:

• Napoleonic Wars - rivalry between Britain and France at sea (1803-1815)

• Impressment of American seamen and cargo by the British

• Embargo Act by the US Congress 1807-09 banning trade with ports of Britain and France

• Indian wars - Northwest

Tecumseh, Chief of Shawnee, and his brother Prophet attempt to restore Indians to the Northwest. They form a confederation of Great Lakes Indians and side with the British against Americans.

In War of 1812 Tecumseh joins the British army in the rank of General but dies in the battle of River Thames (1813) leaving the cause and the British on their own.

COURSE:

• declaration of war by US Congress

• American naval victories: Battle on Lake Erie, 1813, Oliver Hazard Perry - opening Canada for invasion.

• American attempted invasion of Canada fails.

• Blockade of the coast by the British fleet:

1. In 1814 the British burn down Capitol and the White House

2. During the British siege of Fort Henry - Star Spangled Banner - the American anthem is written

• 1814, Treaty of Ghent is signed - ante bellum status quo

• 1815, the largest battle of the war called the Battle of New Orleans is won by Gen. Andrew Jackson. However, it's pointless as the treaty was signed two weeks before.

RESULTS:

• totally pointless and unnecessary war

blockade makes Americans manufacture goods

• consolidation of American nationalism

EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT (1815-1845)

Indian wars and territorial expansion

New discoveries and aftermath of the War of 1812 - increased westward expansion bring on conflicts with the Indians:

FIRST - Northwest Ordinance (1787) - "lands and property shall never be taken from them (Indians) without their consent; and in their property, rights and liberty they shall never be invaded or disturbed"

THEN - President James Monroe's change of mind in 1817 - "Indian hunting way of life requires a greater extent of territory than is compatible with the progress of civilized life and must yield to it. If the Indian tribes do not abandon that state and become civilized they will decline and become extinct"

Seminole Wars 1817-18 - Gen. Andrew Jackson against Florida Seminoles - Seminoles defeated and scattered all over Florida swamps

1819, FLORIDA CESSATION - Florida is ceded from Spain

1825 - opening of Erie Canal - important trade route inland

• Great Lakes connected with the Atlantic

• fostering settlement of the Midwest - Chicago

• RESULTS - Indians had to be moved west of Mississippi

Indian Removal Act, 1830:

• early kind of "ethnic cleansing"

• ESTABLISHMENT and moving tribes west to the Indian Territory - OKLAHOMA

Shameful instances:

• 1. Black Hawk War, 1832 - war of Sauk and Fox against settlers in Illinois and Wisconsin. Due to hunger in the west the Indians returned to their homeland and started to fight the settlers.

• 2. Cherokees a civilized tribe from Georgia with their own government, Constitution Schools and alphabet under their Chief Sequoia are forced to leave their homeland in 1835-38 - Cherokee Trails of Tears.

THE TEXAS ISSUE

Until 1830s steady settlement of Texas by Americans, although Texas remains under Mexican rule.

Problems:

• Americans are promised free taxes on land if they become Mexican citizens and practice Catholicism

• Mexico bans slavery and imposes heavy taxes on non-conformists

1835 - rebellion of Texans under Sam Houston

1. the Alamo 1836 - heroic defense of the fort and legend.

2. San Jacinto 1836 - victory of Sam Houston. In result:

• Texas becomes an independent Republic with slavery - LONE STAR REPUBLIC 1836-1845

• Santa Anna signs the Texan independence - later, father of chewing gum.

POLITICS

Disappearance of the FEDERALIST PARTY

President James Monroe's doctrine, 1823 - American rules of foreign policy are formed. The doctrine becomes the basis for American ISOLATIONISM in the 19^th century

Four points of the doctrine:

1. American continents should not be colonized by any European powers

2. USA has a different political system from European countries

3. Any attempt of extending European system of government in western hemisphere would be direct threat against the USA

4. USA will not interfere with European politics or wars.

Presidency of Andrew Jackson (1829-37)

• former general and hero

• foundation of the Democratic Party out of the anti-Federalists

• great body of the USA - the planter, the farmer, the mechanic and the laborer

Jacksonian democracy - power of common people - new quality in American politics - a new democracy based on wide participation of society.

MEXICAN WAR AND BUILDUP TO THE CIVIL WAR (1845-1860)

Manifest Destiny, 1845 - an idea included in the article by John O'Sullivan. It becomes a huge propaganda leading to claiming Texas and conflict with Mexico:

"America's manifest destiny is to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions"

Oregon Question, 1846

Oregon was a British territory ruled from Canada. Soon the constant flood of American settlers come to Oregon by Oregon Trail outnumbering the British. Manifest Destiny - gives Americans justification to take the whole of Oregon for Americans - America should stretch from Atlantic to Pacific

A radical SLOGAN appears in the USA: "Fifty Four Forty or Fight" - propaganda to claim the whole Oregon up to Alaska by J. Polk - expansionist president.

Oregon Treaty, 1846 - America agrees to divide Oregon along the 49^th parallel - fixed boundary between USA and Canada (straight line today).

MEXICAN WAR (1846-1848)

CAUSES:

1. annexation of Texas

2. unresolved question of Mexican-Texan border

3. getting to California already settled by some Americans

COURSE:

Campaign of Z. Taylor - battle of Monterrey and Buena Vista - northern Mexico under US occupation. Soon Americans occupy Mexico City

CONSEQUENCES:

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848 - 1/3 of Mexican territory - New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, California becomes US territories.

Soon, 1847 - gold discovered by James Marshall in California

* the greatest Gold Rush in history starts

• San Francisco built in short time out of shanty towns

• Forty-Niners - miners vs. merchants - 80,000 people to the West

• Financial careers - L. Strauss (DENIM, JEANS)

THE ISSUE OF SLAVERY

Slavery question was unresolved in the Constitution - Jefferson and Washington held slaves!

Whole southern economy and society based on slavery.

Northern states - smaller agriculture - opposing slavery also for moral reasons - beginning of ABOLITIONIST movement:

1817 - American Colonization Society, Philadelphia:

• the idea is conceived to return slaves to Africa

• practice: 1821 buying land in West Africa for return of the blacks from America

• 1847 - Foundation of Liberia - first fully independent African country

QUESTION in the 1^st half of the 19^th century: Should slavery be permitted in new territories in the West? - fierce arguments between North and South as the EXPANSION went on.

• Missouri Compromise is reached - valid until 1850. Slavery is permitted in Missouri and Arkansas but banned in the west and north of it.

1831 - radicalization

1. first great slave insurrection under Nat Turner in VIRGINIA - 55 white planters killed - a scare to the South; the only slave rebellion before the Civil War.

2. William Lloyd Garrison - radical abolitionist finds a Boston newspaper - The Liberator. Radical ABOLITIONIST becomes popular literature all over the North.

1850 - after getting new lands from Mexico the Missouri question appears again - Should we permit slavery in the new territories?

COMPROMISE of 1850:

• California - free state

• Utah and New Mexico - to decide themselves whether slavery allowed or not.

Abolitionist movement continues:

Uncle Tom's Cabin a famous novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1853) becomes first huge bestseller and immense anti-slavery propaganda

• 1854 - Kansas-Nebraska Act - new territory is organized in the west and the same question as before appears: Should we permit slavery in the new territories? In result: Missouri Compromise from 1820 is repelled and people in Kansas should decide themselves whether they want slavery in their territory or not.

CONSEQUENCE - "Bleeding Kansas"

• RACE pro- and anti- slavery settlers come to Kansas trying to outnumber each other

• Soon fighting and killing begins - Kansas had two governments

• John Brown - half-mad, radical abolitionist runs his bloody campaign VS Border Ruffians - armed pro-slavery adventurers

• Because of the hostilities - US hesitates to accept Kansas to the Union.

• 1857 defeated by federal troops; 1861 - Kansas admitted as a free state

BUILDUP TO THE CIVIL WAR

1. economic and social differences between North and South

2. SLAVERY - the question not over its existence but extension to new territories

3. State rights vs. Union rights

4. Republican Party (1854) grows out of abolitionist movement - a huge political force of the North - led by powerful speaker - ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

5. Debate between A. Lincoln and S. Douglas - spread of slavery should be stopped:

"A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe that this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.

6. 1860 - Lincoln becomes the first Republican President - opposed strongly by the South for fear of ending slavery.

7. In response, 1860 South Carolina secedes from the Union followed by ten other states forming independent country -

The Confederate States of America (CSA) with their own flag - Stars and Bars; president - Jefferson Davis, and capital - Richmond, VA.

THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION (1861-1877)

After election of Lincoln the two countries wait in tension.

The South orders holding federal military property in the South

FORT SUMTER Apr 12, 1861 - first shots of the Civil War

Comparison of the sides

North - UNION

• population: 22 mln

• most manufacturing, infrastructure and industry.

• greater navy

• more numerous armed forces

• AIM - invade the South and bring them back to Union by occupation.

South - CONFEDERACY

• population: 9 mln, incl. 3,5 mln slaves

• better officers and army tactics

• navy ships built in Britain

• most fighting takes place in the South - better motivation

• AIM - hold until the North stops fighting and sign peace

COURSE

Area of war:

1. Virginia and other East Coast confederate states

2. Mississippi Valley

3. The Atlantic ocean and the rivers

1861 - both sides appeal for volunteers

• Robert E. Lee a famous general from Virginia becomes the Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate Army

• sea blockade of the South - economic hardships

• FIRST BATTLE - Bull Run - a defeat of the Union Army by Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson a famous Confederate General

1862 - more Confederate victories and more discouragement in the North

• second battle of Bull Run - slight victory for the South

• battles of Fredricksburg, Antietam - Confederate indecisive invasion of the North - huge casualties

• Need to reorganize the Union Army - a new Union's Commander-in-Chief is appointed - Ulysses S. Grant.

BUT

• Mississippi - David Farragut captures New Orleans (largest Confederate town) and sails up the river closing the Confederacy.

• HOMESTEAD ACT - everyone over 21 gets a plot of land 160 acres - massive movement west and quick settlement of the area, weakening the Confederate Army

1863 - reversal of fortune

• Battle of Chancelorville - death of Stonewall Jackson

• Battle of Vicksburg - captured by Grant - the South split in half -

• Northerners sick of war - pressure for quick ending - New York Draft riots.

• In trying to make North sign peace a decisive victory is needed for the South

BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, the largest battle of the war

• consequence - together with Vicksburg the war turning point the South is losing and retreating awaiting the attack from the North

Lincoln's GETTYSBURG ADDRESS - one of the most famous speeches in American history:

"...government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from this earth"

EMANCIPATION ACT is issued by A. Lincoln to arouse more enthusiasm for the war.

Slavery abolished in the territory of Confederacy from Jan 1, 1863.

Blacks also join the Union regiments forming - Buffalo Soldiers

1864 - great misery and constant defeat of the South running out of everything

• scorched earth of Union General William T. Sherman - march to the sea, across Savannah, Atlanta towards Atlantic and Richmond -

1865 - General Lee surrenders the Southern Army at APPOMATTOX, Apr 9, 1865 - Lee surrenders to Grant

CONSEQUENCES:

"slavery was dead, secession was dead, six hundred thousand men were dead"

• huge loss of life - no battle a decisive victory - 635,000 dead

• first modern war - technology in full

• end to slavery - 13^th Amendment to the Constitution, 1865 - slavery abolished everywhere

• tremendous destruction of the South.

• A need for reconstruction - federal occupation of the South

• Lincoln's assassination in Ford's Theater by an actor John Wilkes Booth

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE SOUTH (1865 - 1877)

Reconstruction in the hands of the new president Andrew Johnson

• Assumption - the war was responsibility of individual leaders, not the whole people.

• Conditions:

• a) IF seceded states promise to be loyal - they can elect their own governments and run their own affairs

• b) only states voting to keep the 13^th Amendment can be accepted back to the Union

• Freedman's Bureau is established to provide clothes and food for former slaves.

• Blacks treated badly - "free individually, slave to a society" F. Douglass - still economically depended.

• Carpetbaggers - former Union soldiers appear in the South to plunder and steal. Later the name gets applied to representatives of the federal government in the South.

Black Codes - discrimination of 'free' blacks - less social opportunity for former slaves than the whites - huge limitation on jobs, land rent, etc.

As a reaction to mistreatment the 14^th amendment, 1866 is included in the Constitution which guarantees rights to vote for all blacks - they become full citizens.

The 14^th is not accepted by the southern states - in reaction the Congress passes the:

Military Reconstruction Act

Military governments established in all states

Southern opposition to Reconstruction:

• strong support of Democratic Party

• belief that all is fine if southern governments are freely elected, not appointed from Washington DC

• Radicalism - KU KLUX KLAN founded by Nathan B. Forrest

• Reconstruction is over and federal troops withdrawn

Policies in the South against blacks - treated as 'second class citizens':

• practically they had only the right to VOTE

• Racial segregation affecting all institutions in the South - violation against the law

• 1896 Plessy vs. Fergusson - Supreme Court cases sanctions the "separate but equal" provision - beginnings of OFFICIAL SEGREGATION until 1960s.

INDIANS, IMMIGRATION AND INDUSTRIALIZATION

Territorial development

1867 Purchase of Alaska from Russia

WILD WEST

Death of Old South gives rise to the Wild West not affected by the Civil War

Factors affecting western movement:

• Gold rushes - California, Black Hills, Rockies - shanty towns give way to settlements, e.g. San Francisco, Denver.

• Homesteaders - gradual farming

• Railway - Union Pacific and Central Pacific join in Promontory Point, UTAH - both coasts are connected - 1869. Railway is not only about transportation but allotting plots of land and taking territory from Indians.

• Samuel Colt from Hartford, CT invents the famous six-shooter

• Cattle drives from Texas to the North.

• 'range wars' - between homesteaders and cattlemen J. Glidden's invention of 'barbed wire' - changes the situation.

• Famous Wild West outlaws:

• Jesse James -

• Wild Bill Hickock

• Billy the Kid

INDIAN WARS

Westward movement opposed by prairie Indians:

• Dakotas - Sioux - buffalo culture

• Railway - killing buffalo for sport

• Extinction of buffalo = extinction of Indians

INDIAN TREATIES - signing giving lands to white settlers

1. Nebraska from the Pawnees

2. Dakotas from the Sioux

3. Kansas, Colorado and Texas from Kiowas and Comanches

1868 - Treaty of Laramie - lands between Missouri and Rockies given to the Sioux:

"as long as the grass should grow and the water flow"

BUT: promises were never really kept

1874 - gold discovered in the Black Hills - sacred land of the Dakotas - Indians refuse to sell it. White settlers flow into the area - breaking the Laramie Treaty.

Solution: putting Indians into RESERVATIONS - to secure settlement lands - government promises supplies to reservations.

Oklahoma becomes the Indian Territory - eastern Indians moved there.

In opposition to enclosing Indians enter a series of conflicts:

• Little Big Horn, 1876 - the greatest victory of Indians over US army

• Sioux and Cheyenne led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeat General George Armstrong Custer's

Wars of Geronimo's Apaches

• Ghost Dance Movement, 1890 - hope for miracle in Sioux reservations.

• WOUNDED KNEE, 1890 - great massacre of Sioux led by Big Foot and the end of the opposition

1890 - THE US Census acclaims the end of the frontier:

1. US territory is settled

2. Indians remain in reservations - 1924 Indian Citizenship Act.

IMMIGRATION

The end of the Civil War - massive influx of immigrants to the USA.

Waves of immigrants:

1. 1845-1860 - the Irish from Great Famine

2. 1860s - the German - immigration encouraged by the Union

3. until 1880s - OLD IMMIGRATION - from the north and west of Europe.

4. After 1880s - NEW IMMIGRATION - east and south of Europe (Polish immigration in large numbers) - especially Jews.

Immigrants often deprived of anything but their votes - usually settle in big industrial centers - work in hard conditions

Means of immigration control:

1882 - Chinese Exclusion Act - ban on Asian immigrants until 1924.

1924 - Immigration Act to limit immigration of southern and eastern Europe:

• no more than 150,000 immigrants a year let into the country - each country given a yearly quotas

• 87 percent from north and west Europe

• influx of Hispanics becomes dominant until today.

INDUSTRIALIZATION

1870s - huge INDUSTRIALIZATION and URBANIZATION all over the country:

• 1876 - the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia - display of American industry and inventions:

Great inventors:

1. Alexander Graham Bell - telephone, 1876

2. Thomas Alva Edison - electricity, bulbs, dynamos, phonograph, motion picture

Development of different industries:

• iron ore around Lake Superior

• meat industry in Chicago

• Coal and steel in Pittsburgh

• Agribusiness - mechanized agriculture from the Midwest

• John Deere's plow

• McCormick Harvesting Machine Company

Organization of industry - controlled by rich monopolists:

• "captains of industry" or "robber barons"

• corporations and trusts - accumulation of capital

EXAMPLES:

1. Andrew Carnegie - steel and railway - also cultural activities:

• New York Public Library

• Carnegie Hall

2. John D. Rockefeller - the richest man ever founder of the Standard Oil Company

3. Henry Ford, 1903 - Model T - the SYSTEM of mass production:

• assembly lines and standardization

• conveyor belts - every worker does only a section of work.

"A customer can have an automobile painted any color that he wants so long as it is black"

4. Cornelius Vanderbilt - railroads - "The public be damned!"

5. George Eastman, Rochester, NY - founder of the Kodak camera

In response to growing capitalism:

1. American Federation of Labor is founded

• skilled workers have chance to - not easily replaced if going on strike

• rejection of communism and revolutionary European! socialist measures

• instead of destruction - gradual improvement on everyday basis

• labor unions apolitical - "bread and butter unionism"

2. Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890, - illegal contracts or combination in restraint of interstate or foreign trade.

3. Pullman Strike, 1894, - Eugene V. Debs' - paralysis of intercontinental transportation

AGE OF PROGRESS AND WORLD WAR ONE (1897-1918)

PROGRESSIVISM

1900 - USA - the richest and industrialized country in the world

ONE THIRD of world's steel and coal production.

DUALISM: great industrial development vs. multiple social problems

2% - owning 1/3 of wealth

50% - owning nothing

Problems:

• huge demand for industry workers - mostly immigrants

• long work hours for men, women and children

• low wages and hard living conditions - slums

• frequent accidents, no compensation

Before 1900 - the idea of 'laissez faire" - state non-intervention

After 1900 - the idea of progressivism - where necessary government should intervene in the problems of society.

In the USA: PROGRESSIVISM instead of SOCIALISM

Progressive president - Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) initiates the program of reforms known as:

SQUARE DEAL:

• federal government should improve life of people

• NEGOTIATIONS and balance between workers and trusts

• Conservation laws - many National Parks established (Yellowstone 1872! - first National Park in the world)

Progressivism continued under President Woodrow Wilson (1913-1919) in his program of:

THE NEW FREEDOM:

• big business vs. human costs - federal regulation

• reduction of custom duties - increasing trade between USA and other countries

• reform of banking system - friendly loans for farmers

• federal taxes on high income

• ban on child's employment and improvement of safety at work

• secret voting, direct elections of public officials, referenda

• "scientific management" - most effective non-partisan administration.

Progressivism changed face of America but many people distrusted government intervention.

AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY

From 1867 USA remains isolated and growing internally. The continental expansion is over in 1890 and the whole continent is settled.

At the same time European powers build their empires - America lags behind.

In 1890s expansionist ideas are revived justified by Monroe Doctrine from 1823 and gain more support in politics:

Orville Platt, 1893:

"We are the most advanced and powerful nation on earth and our future demands an abandonment of the policy of isolation. It is the ocean our children must look, as they once looked to the boundless west"

STAGES of building American Empire:

1. SPANISH AMERICAN WAR, 1898:

Causes:

• Huge US sugar investments in Cuba - a Spanish colony

• Rebellion in Cuba against the Spanish - US supports the rebels

• American ship The Maine explodes in Havana killing 260 US sailors - unresolved mystery until today

• Huge press propaganda in the USA pressing the government to declare war on Spain

Course - American forces two campaigns in Cuba and the Philippines

Consequences:

• US victorious after three-month war - becomes a colonial power.

• The end of the Spanish empire.

US GAINS:

Cuba

- becoming a protectorate - independence controlled by the USA.

• troops occupation until 1902 - Guantanamo Bay made a naval base

• US has the right to intervene in Cuba at will - until 1950s

Philippines - US protectorate until 1946

Puerto Rico - US territory until today

Guam - US territory and military base until today

2. ANNEXATION OF HAWAII, 1898 - formerly an independent kingdom. First constitutional monarchy from 1840 written by the USA. Later, Pearl Harbor built.

3. OPEN DOOR POLICY IN CHINA, 1899-1900

USA joins other European countries in dividing up China economically

Crushes with others - the Boxer uprising

4. PANAMA CANAL, 1903 - 1914

Taking the Isthmus for America - "I took Panama" Theodore Roosevelt.

2000 Canal reverted to Panama.

AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC INITIATIVES:

• 1905, Treaty of Portsmouth - mediation between Russia and Japan - Roosevelt first American to get the Noble Prize for Peace

Empire maintained through:

1. Dollar Diplomacy - American investments in areas strategically important for the USA

2. Roosevelt's Corollary, 1904 - addition to Monroe Doctrine - USA can intervene militarily anywhere in Latin America, if necessary:

Examples:

• Nicaragua

• Dominican Republic

• Mexican Revolution

• Haiti

THE USA AND WORLD WAR ONE, 1914 -1918

Initially US stays neutral - "impartial" - "European affair"

Soon, situation changes:

• German atrocities in Europe - huge anti-German propaganda in the USA

• from 1915 - huge trade in armaments and financial operations between the US and Allies

• Feb 1915 - Germans declare sinking all allied merchant ships in the Atlantic

Actual causes:

• May 1915 - sinking of British passenger ship The Lusitania with 128 American passengers aboard. Many press for war President Woodrow Wilson only protests to Germany

• 1916 - Germans declare sinking of ALL vessels going to Allied ports - American ships are sunk by German submarines

• The Zimmerman Telegram - scandal bursts out in the press on March 1, 1917:

• German Foreign secretary Zimmerman inviting Mexico and Japan to attack the USA

• Mexico promised the lands taken in 1848

• Telegram intercepted by British agents - some said "British trick" - for Wilson enough to persuade Congress to declare war on Germany

APRIL 2, 1917 - US troops join the war in Europe

Developments:

• Wilson's aim is not to defeat Germany but:

"To make the world safe for democracy, the war to end all wars"

• recruitment of one million servicemen - Uncle Sam - "I want You for the US Army" - famous poster

• US Army fights on the western front, bringing the war to an end - decisive maneuver!

The war is over in 1918 but there are differences between the UK and France and the USA as for the future of Germany:

1. US - peace ensured first of all, Germans must be treated fairly

2. Allies - Germans must pay in compensation - reparations in millions of dollars

President Wilson's proposal of the Fourteen Points:

• nations must stop secret agreements

• reduction of military

• drawing up new national boundaries - Poland gains independence

• establishment League of Nations - personal ambition

Treaty of Versailles signed

• unfavorable to Germany - Wilson returns disappointed and starts campaigning for the idea of the LEAGUE OF THE NATIONS however the USA stays out of the League

JAZZ AGE AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION (1918-1939)

1920s - Jazz Age - Roaring Twenties

Economy - ERA OF PROSPERITY

USA emerges as the richest country in the world after WWI:

• factories

• car (Ford, GMC, Chrysler) MOTOWN, and electrical industry

• consumer goods - shares and huge profits

• mass production

• Hollywood movies

• huge income - "Live now, pay tomorrow"

Republican presidents until 1929 - no more Progressive themes:

Presidents W. Harding, C. Coolidge, H. Hoover - strong endorsement of business!

Coolidge - "The business of America is business"

• free market principles - do whatever

• encouragement of investments

• high import taxes

• reduction of taxes and company profits

Generally:

• sharp difference between the poor and rich

• the elites play and party

Society - diversified - 50 % under poverty line

POLITICS

America stays with its own matters - idea of isolation present again

World communism causes RED SCARE in 1919-20:

• socialists deemed un-American

• panic! and false propaganda

• PALMER RAIDS - (Wilson's Attorney General) - government actions against the 'un-Americans'

• discrimination against immigrants

Introduction of PROHIBITION, 1919 - 1933, - the 18^th Amendment

Idea: to stop drinking and make the US a happier and healthier country

REASONS:

• alcohol held responsible for all social misery

• powerful lobbying in Congress by:

• Anti-Saloon League

• Women's Christian Temperance Union

Course:

• constant law-breaking

• speakeasies - illegal places selling alcohol

• moonshine - alcohol produced illegally

• bootleggers - smuggle from Canada and Russia

• mobs - organized groups to control smuggle and grow in power - Al Capone vs. Eliot Ness and the UNTOUCHABLES

• lots of people making fortunes on prohibition

Effects:

• repeal of the Amendment in 1933

• half-scandal - half-joke

• growth of dishonesty, crime and corruption

• criminal business becomes a sort of habit - US earns a bad reputation as a country of gangsters and street shooting:

• J. Dillinger

• Bonnie and Clyde

GREAT DEPRESSION

BLACK THURSDAY - 24 October 1929 - Great Crash in Wall Street - America plunges into economic and social crisis.

CAUSES:

• mass production of consumer goods creates an opportunity for huge profits

• huge playing the market - buying and selling shares - almost a national obsession

• slow lack of profits results in huge sale of shares and crisis

• OVERPRODUCTION - not enough Americans could buy the goods.

The Great Depression affects majority of people - sharp end to the era of prosperity.

PROBLEMS:

a) in cities:

• giant unemployment

• hunger - BREADLINES

• NO investments - closing of banks and factories

• homelessness

• DEBTS

b) in the country:

• farmers cannot sell their goods - a wagonload of corn is cheaper than a pair of shoes

• migration to California (J. Steinbeck) - enormous droughts in the Midwest

Culmination in 1932 - PROTESTS against the situation and President Hoover who's not able to take proper steps.

NO CONCRETE STEPS are however taken by Hoover

PRESIDENCY OF FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT, 1933-1945

• regarded as one of the best presidents

• guided the country through Depression and war

• the longest ruling

Completely new attitude to previous Republican - government MUST do something about the situation - set up a NEW DEAL to heal economy and society.

In one HUNDRED DAYS - the Congress is flowed with Roosevelt's proposals and bills to improve the economic situation in the country.

New Deal - a series of social and economic improvement schemes throughout the decade based on the idea of liberal welfare state - government intervention taxation based.

The government sets up ALPHABET AGENCIES to help the nation recover:

• AAA (Agricultural Adjustment Agency) - raising crop prices by paying farmers to produce less

• CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) - huge public works for young men - roads, schools, hospitals, etc.

• FERA (Federal Emergency Relief) - money for states for unemployed and homeless

• NRA (National Recovery Administration) - making sure business pays fair wages and charged fair prices

• SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) - monitoring the stock market - still very important today.

• TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) - building a network of dams to make electricity and stop floods in the poor South

Social Security Act, 1935:

• government pensions for the old, widows and the blind

• unemployment benefits

Roosevelt becomes the MOST POPULAR president.

The US government earned a new role - a credible assistant - not a police force

USA AND WORLD WAR TWO

US FOREIGN POLICY BEFORE WWII:

Following pattern of American behavior from before WWI. Generally, USA stays isolated after WWI but prospering very well.

1922 - Arms Conference in Washington - nine powers present:

• US Open Door Policy in China guaranteed

• Limitation on warships and submarines

• Outlawing of poison gas

1928 - Briand - Kellog Pact in Paris - the war should not be a solution in international conflicts - later legal basis for the Nuremberg trials.

1930's world developments and conflicts (Spain, China, Hitler) divide the country:

1. Roosevelt - "Innocent nations are being cruelly sacrificed to a greed of power and supremacy. If these things come to pass in other parts of the world, let no one imagine that America will escape."

2. Isolationist politicians - powerful in Congress pass Neutrality Acts (1935-41):

• embargo on arms for warring parties, no matter whether an aggressor or victim

• embargo on money loans for warring nations

The outbreak of war in 1939 is economically:

• an opportunity for American workers - unemployment disappears as the war progresses

• the end of NEW DEAL

• US becomes a chief supplier to the Allies - Roosevelt: 'The USA is the arsenal of democracy' (for the British)

Politically:

USA squeezed between Japanese and German expansions. Roosevelt pressing for American war preparation:

• suspension of Neutrality Acts

• sending Britain military equipment - soon the British run out of money.

Solution in March 1941:

LEND LEASE ACT - Leasing all sorts of equipment and weapons to countries whose defense was necessary to the USA - Britain, Soviet Union - famous Murmansk convoys begin.

Aug 1941 - ATLANTIC CHARTER signed by Roosevelt and Churchill off Newfoundland - later becoming the UN Charter:

• disarmament

• economic cooperation

• self-determination

• freedom of the seas

Causes for US joining in:

• expansion of Japan to China and Indochina - growing power a threat to peace and US interests - violation of the Open Door Policy.

• reduction of imports to Japan

• July 1941 - complete stop on oil import from the US (so far 80% of oil in Japan from the US)

Spark: PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii, Dec 7, 1941

• complete surprise

• heavy damages and casualties

• Japanese failure to destroy American carriers

Declaration of war on Japan follows immediately - followed by declaration of war by Germany on the USA

Isolation is no longer the case - the idea is dead in American history!

America joins fully the Allies.

US economy directed towards winning the war - massive weapon industry replaces consumer goods production.

Top secret research - Manhattan Project starts atom bomb working

USA AT WAR WITH GERMANY

In close alliance with British forces under Montgomery. Famous American Generals Eisenhower and Patton

FIRST FRONT

• Nov 1942 - US forces land in Morocco against the Vichy and Afrika Korps

• 1943 - invasion of Sicily and Italy. The battle of Anzio is however a failure for the Americans and the Italian campaign is prolonged.

• June 4, 1944 - liberation of Rome

Dwight Eisenhower becomes the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe.

SECOND FRONT

• June 6, 1944 - DELIVERANCE DAY - Operation Overlord - US forces together with the British land in Normandy

• August 1944 - Paris liberated by Americans

• December 1944 - the Battle of the Bulge in the Belgian Ardennes stops American advance to Germany

• General Patton advances east and meets the Russians on the Elbe

• Germany surrenders on the 8^th May, 1945 - VE-DAY (Victory in Europe)

THE USA AT WAR WITH JAPAN

• From Pearl Harbor until May 1942 - Japan wins all over the Pacific conquering most of the islands and territories

• Loss of the Philippines

• May 1942 - Battle of the Coral Sea - Japanese invasion of Australia reverted, the first big defeat of Japanese fleet.

• June 1942 battle of MIDWAY - strategically important battle - the Japs begin to lose - turning point of the war in the Pacific

• The strategy of island hopping or FROG LEAP of General D. MacArthur and C. Nimitz get Americans close to Japan

• 1944/45 - American victories in the Pacific

• Solomon Islands- Guadalcanal

• Mariana and Marshall Islands

• Iwo Jima

• recapture of the Philippines

• LEYTE BAY - the largest naval battle in history!

• Okinawa

An attempted invasion of Japan ends with dropping atom bombs on HIROSHIMA and NAGASAKI

Aug 1945 - Japan surrenders VJ DAY

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