discussion question

PART ONE: (20 POINTS MAXIMUM) The main post: a three to five-paragraph narrative introducing your idea or reaction, backed with evidence, and a conclusion. Each week there will be a question (or questions) posted. Select ONE of the questions to respond to. You are encouraged to use quotes from the readings to support your responses; however, the excessive use of quotes will result in a lowered score! Whenever material from the book, or other sources, is used, you must include a citation. Citations can be in an approved format; i.e., MLA, APA, or Chicago.

PART TWO: (5 POINTS MAXIMUM) The secondary post(s): a free-flowing discussion engaging others’ comments, with no length requirement yet academic in nature. Include evidence-based material only; i.e., facts and not just opinions. If you use a quote as a form of evidence, you must include proper citations.

Chapters 15 and 16 **SELECT ONLY ONE**

1) How did presidential Reconstruction and Congressional Reconstruction differ?

2) Discuss changing policy with regard to Indians in the West during the last half of the Nineteenth Century.

3) How did the rise of “big business” change social classes in the United States?

Also, WATCH this movie and include it in the paper:

Ken Burns – The Civil War – “The Better Angels of Our Nature” (ignore captioning in Portuguese)

ATTACHED FILE(S)

Of the People

McGerr, Lewis, Oakes, Cullather, Summers, Townsend, Dunak

Chapter 15
Reconstructing a Nation 1865—1877

Terror in the South

Chapter 15
American Portrait: John Dennett Visits a Freedmen’s Bureau Court
Reporter for The Nation
Elite Yankee
Observed adjudication of labor disputes in Virginia
Freedmen’s Bureau
Interactions between events in the South, gov’t policy

Wartime Reconstruction

Chinese Laborers Building Railroad This 1877 picture of a Southern Pacific Railroad trestle shows the crude construction methods used to build the first line across the Sierra Nevada.

Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan Versus the Wade-Davis Bill
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
Ten Per Cent Plan
Required abolishing slavery
Radical Unionists, free blacks expected equal rights
Radical Republicans wanted new laws in southern states, not just military commanders’ decrees
Wade-Davis Bill

The Meaning of Freedom
Many African Americans left plantations and masters
Some hunted for family members
Men sought sharecropping contracts
Women became “domestic dependents”
Established new churches
Education

Experiments with Free Labor
Port Royal experiment
Banks Plan
Freed people wanted to own land
Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands
Freedmen’s Savings Bank

Presidential Reconstruction, 1865—1867

Freedmen’s Bureau Poster Led by President Andrew Johnson, attacks on the Freedmen’s Bureau became more and more openly racist in late 1865 and 1866. This Democratic Party broadside was circulated during the 1866 election.

The Political Economy of Contract Labor
Pardoned Confederates were reelected to prominent offices under Presidential Reconstruction
Return of lands to former owners
Black Codes
Vagrancy laws
Low pay, or none at all

Resistance to Presidential Reconstruction
Violence underlay conservative control
Former slaves were assaulted
Black churches were burned
Justice system supported perpetrators

Congress Clashes with the President
Congress refused to readmit former Confederate states
Joint Committee on Reconstruction
Civil Rights bill
Congress overrode Johnson’s vetoes

Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment
Payment of the national debt, barred Confederate officials from public office
Removed the three-fifths clause
Guaranteed birthright citizenship
Johnson’s National Union movement
Riots in Memphis, New Orleans

Congressional Reconstruction

Radical Members One of the greatest achievements of congressional Reconstruction was the election of a significant number of African Americans to public office.

The South Remade
Southern states who ratified the 14th amendment, were readmitted
Conservatives rejected it
Reconstruction Acts
Provided for military oversight, transition to civilian government

The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson
Congress enacted laws to restrain Johnson’s power
House impeached him, but Senate refused to convict

Reconstruction and Redemption

Reconstruction and Redemption By 1870, Congress had readmitted every southern state to the Union. In most cases the Republican Party retained control of the “reconstructed” state governments for only a few years.

Radical Reconstruction in the South
Union Leagues mobilized, educated black voters
Formed electoral majorities in several states
Some white southerners sided with Republican policies-scalawags
Carpetbaggers
Black and Tan constitutions

Achievements and Failures of Radical Government
Elections had huge turnout, leaders remained mostly white
Most African American leaders came from prewar free elite
Gov’t funded infrastructure education
Outlawed racial discrimination public places

Occupations of African American Officeholders During Reconstruction Although former slaves were underrepresented among black officeholders, the Reconstruction governments were among the most broadly representative legislatures in US history.

Political Economy of Sharecropping
Shortage of workers gave former slaves an advantage
Wage labor system
Sharecropping
Credit from merchants was crucial
Small farmers produced cash crops
Typical patriarchal family laws now applied to African American families

Sharecropping

Sharecropping By 1880, the sharecropping system had spread across the South. It was most common in the inland areas, where primarily cotton and tobacco plantations existed before the Civil War.

The Gospel of Prosperity
Prosperity would benefit ordinary white southerners, former slaves
Build industrial base, railroads
Southern political stability was still too shaky to attract investors
Increased taxes
Growth of “Redeemers” as Republicans divided

The Barrow Plantation

The Effect of Sharecropping in the South: The Barrow Plantation in Oglethorpe County, Georgia Sharecropping cut large estates into small landholdings worked by sharecroppers and tenants, changing the landscape of the South.

A Counterrevolution of Terrorism and Economic Pressure
Planters used both to prevent black tenants from voting
White radicals were shunned by society
Founding of the Ku Klux Klan
Burned black schools and churches
Reconstruction gov’ts were dependent on national support
Grant was cautious in intervening

America and the World
Reconstructing America’s Foreign Policy
Victory in the Civil War made expansion attractive again
Caribbean
Canada
Alaska

A Reconstructed West

Indian Village Routed, Geronimo Fleeing from Camp Oil on canvas byFrederi cRemington, 1896.

The Overland Trail
Most migrants were middle class families
Government forts supplied and protected them
Mormon settlers in Utah
Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads
Settlement followed the rail lines
Mobility for the army

The Overland Trail

The Overland Trail No transcontinental railroad existed until 1869. Even thereafter, most se tlers moved west on a series of well-developed overland trails.

The Origins of Indian Reservations
US proposed creating separate territory for each tribe, gov’t subsidies
Prevent violence between Indians and settlers
Red Cloud
Fort Laramie Treaty, 1868
George Armstrong Custer
Massacred at Little Bighorn

The Destruction of Indian Subsistence
Mass slaughter of buffalo herds
Nez Perce flight to Canada
Ghost Dance religious revival movement
Massacre at Wounded Knee
Reformers hoped that reservations would encourage Indians to adopt white social values
Dawes Severalty Act, 1887

The Retreat from Republican Radicalism
Public backlash against radicalism

Republicans Become the Party of Moderation
Ran Ulysses S. Grant for president in 1868
Restoration rather than radicalism
Violence across the South in favor of Democrats

Reconstructing the North
Transformation of the North

The Fifteenth Amendment and Nationwide African American Suffrage
Efforts to end discrimination, segregation in the North
15th Amendment limited grounds on which the vote could be denied
Did not guarantee voting rights

Women and Suffrage
White suffragists used appeals to racism to try to claim voting rights
15th Amendment failed to address gender discrimination
Many activists argued that protection of freepeople was more important
Suffrage movement split

The End of Reconstruction

President Grant as a Strong Man Despite solid accomplishments and his own honesty, Ulysses S. Grant would be remembered for scandals in just about every department. Here he upholds various corrupt “rings” and the thieves and hacks that mulcted the War and Navy Departments, the government of the District of Columbia, and the custom-house service.

Corruption is the Fashion
Development of political machines
Corporate control of lawmakers
Grant administration was notoriously corrupt
Scandals discredited Republican rule

Liberal Republicans Revolt
Challenged bosses, political machines, corporate power in government
Called for lower tariff, stable currency based on golf, merit based civil service, universal amnesty for Confederates
Nominated Horace Greeley for president, lost in a landslide

“Redeeming” the South
Panic of 1873 led to unemployment and labor unrest
Interest in Reconstruction plummeted
Democrats made a comeback in 1874 elections
Slaughterhouse cases, US v. Cruikshank
Democrats determined to “redeem” their states from Republican rule
Paramilitaries, White Leagues

Struggles for Democracy
An Incident at Coushatta, August 1874
Hard times led Democrats to organize rifle clubs, White League
Arrested parish officers, killed them
Democrats prevented Republicans from governing

Terror in the South Thomas Nast’s 1874 cartoon depicts a White League member and a Klan member joining hands over a terrorized black family. Nast’s point was not that emancipation had been a mis- take, but that without national protection, freed people’s fate was worse than slavery.

The Twice-Stolen Election of 1876
Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote
White violence in the South
Rutherford B. Hayes won the electoral college
Hayes agreed to end Reconstruction

Presidential Election, 1876

The Presidential Election, 1876 In 1876, the Democratic presidential candidate, Samuel Tilden, won what popular vote white southern Democrats permitted to be cast, but he was denied the presi- dency because Republicans claimed that a fair count gave Louisiana, South Carolina, Oregon, and Florida to their candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes.

Sharecropping Becomes Wage Labor
Northern investment made expansion of infrastructure, industry possible in the South
Expanded cotton production
Redeemer gov’ts defined sharecroppers as wage laborers, not owners of crops
Landlords benefited
Sharecropping system bound the region to the cotton economy
Remained dependent on northern capital, goods

Of the People

McGerr, Lewis, Oakes, Cullather, Summers, Townsend, Dunak

Chapter 16
The Triumph of Industrial Capitalism 1850—1890

The Eads Bridge

Chapter 16
American Portrait: Rosa Cassettari
Immigrated to America with her husband
Moved to Chicago and found a job
Eventually made enough money to bring her son from Italy
Jobs were unsteady and laborers worked hard

The Political Economy of Global Capitalism

Patterns of Global Migration, 1840–1900 Emigration was a global process by the late nineteenth century. But more immigrants went to the United States than to all other nations combined. Source: London Times Atlas.

The “Great Depression” of the Late Nineteenth Century
Great railroad strike of 1877
Panic of 1893
Technology developed, spread capitalism
Families migrated to cities, across the ocean
“Birds of passage”

America and the World
The Global Migration of Labor
Migrants tended to come from industrializing areas
Improvements in transportation, communication
Economic and political turmoil drove migration
Increased international competition
Pogroms against the Jews in Russia

The Economic Transformation of the West

Wanamaker’s Grand Depot Department Store, 1876 “Big business” in the late nineteenth century not only mass-produced goods but also sold them in large quantities at low prices. John Wanamaker’s Philadelphia department store was among the most famous of these large, new retailers and funded Wanamaker’s political activity against corrupt city officials.

Cattlemen: From Drovers to Ranchers
Low pay, dangerous and unsteady work
Chisholm Trail
Development of new, hybrid cattle replaced longhorns
Open range herding was environmentally destructive
Creation of ranches of hybrids
Sheepherding

Commercial Farmers Remake the Plains
Fair numbers tripled between 1860 and 1900
Farmers took land from Indians, Hispanic ranchers
Ethnic shift caused an economic shift

Changes in the Land
Great Plains were difficult to farm
Role of technology
Environmental change
Corporations, mechanized farms
Wage labor
Railroad connected them to world markets

American Landscape
Mining Camps in the West
Gold Rush created boom towns, ghost towns
Diverse, male dominated, violent
Levi Strauss
Marcus Daly’s copper mine
Corporations

Chinese and Anglo Miners near Sacramento, California, 1852 Digging for gold paid off mostly in aches, misery, and loneliness. The so-called Forty-Niners included immigrants from across the Pacific and from Latin America, but just about no women.

America Moves to the City
Birth of “downtown”
Residential neighborhoods separated by class
Streetcars, commuter railroads
Epidemic diseases
Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives
Urban reform
Technology

Proportion of the Population Living in Cities

Proportion of Population Living in Cities, 1790–1900 While a growing proportion of Americans lived in cities, city dwellers would only outnumber rural Americans in the twentieth century.

The Rise of Big Business

The Eads Bridge The steel arches of the Eads Bridge across the Mississippi River at St. Louis were both an engineering marvel and a triumph of Andrew Carnegie’s managerial skills.

The Rise of Andrew Carnegie
Scottish immigrant who was promoted on talent and intelligence
Railroads were booming
Carnegie’s skills helped grow the Pennsylvania Railroad
Largest private company in the world by 1865

Growth of Railroads

The Growth of Railroads, 1850–1890 Railroads were more than a means of transportation; they were also America’s first “big business.” They set the model for running huge industrial corporations, and the growth of railroads fostered the iron and steel industries.

Carnegie Dominates the Steel Industry
Took the practices of the railroad to other industries
Integrated operations
Steel was necessary for railroads
Bessemer process
Carnegie opened a steel plant in 1873

Big Business Consolidates
Big business required professionally trained managers, efficient bureaucracies, continuous operation
Vertical integration
Economies of scale and continuous flow
Reduced prices increased demand
Horizontal consolidation
John D. Rockefeller; Standard Oil trust

Major American Industries

Major American Industries, ca. 1890 An industrial map of late nineteenth-century America shows regions increasingly defined not by what they grew but by what they made.

A New Social Order

Cannery in Sunnyvale, California The mass production of food involved a large female labor force, as this picture shows. Quite possibly, employers hired so readily not just because they could pay women less, but because anything involving the preparation of food fit in with the stereotype of “woman’s work.”

Lifestyles of the Very Rich
200 families worth more than $20 million each
Most Protestants of British ancestry
Well educated, voted Republican
Lived in wealthy districts in cities
Fifth Avenue, Nob Hill, Back Bay
Country estates in places like Newport, RI

The Consolidation of the New Middle Class
White collar professionals
Salaried incomes
Suburbs
Craftsmen remained in the lower half of the class
Lower incomes
Independence, pride in work was prized

The Industrial Working Class Comes of Age
Technology replaced artisans with unskilled laborers
Primarily migrants
Difficult conditions, low job security
Women were 20% of labor force
Children went to work rather than school
Division of labor

Social Darwinism and the Growth of Scientific Racism
Society was stratified by class, race, ethnicity and gender
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species
Natural selection
Social Darwinism
Inherent racial inferiority
Others argued that conditions played a role
Expansion of higher education

Working Class Immigration

Working-Class Immigration, 1840–1920 Source: US Bureau of Census.

Struggles for Democracy
“The Chinese Must Go”
Chinese fled civil war in the mid-19th c.
Worked at low skill jobs for low wages
Digging mines, laying railroad track, working fields
Opened retail shops, laundries
White workers resented their success
Racist laws and treatment

The Knights of Labor and the Haymarket Disaster
Organized craft unions, workingmen’s associations
Knights of Labor were open to all workers
National organization
Terence Powderly
Chicago strike led to Haymarket incident
Anarchists

Haymarket Riot The Haymarket “riot,” as it was misnamed, set off a wave of middle-class hysteria against foreigners, radicals, and labor unions. This image correctly shows police firing into the crowd. Inaccurately, it shows members of the crowd firing back, the orator apparently urging them on. It also leaves out the women and children who attended.

discussion question

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