Study Guide How the South operated after the Civil War 1.

Chief accomplishment was an expansion of the regions textile production. Number of cotton mills in the South grew. 2. Tobacco growing increased significantly. (Washington Duke and James Buchanan Duke) 3. Systematic use of other natural resources. Coal production grew from 5 million tons to 49 tons. Major steel-producing center sprang up. 4. Industrial growth created a need for wood-framed housing and after 1870 lumbering became a thriving industry in the South. 5. Two forces that would impel an even greater industrial revolution: petroleum and hydroelectric. 6. In agriculture, the South remained undeveloped. Most southern farms were worked by people who did not own the land. The sharecropper-tenant system was horribly inefficient; it was essentially a form of land slavery, and tenant owners developed an intense suspicion of each other. The Westward movement 1. African-American migration to the West died out by the early 1880s. Many were unprepared for the life on the plains. Their homesteads were not large enough to allow them to be self-sufficient, and most of the farmers were forced to supplement their income by hiring themselves out to white ranchers. Drought, grasshoppers, prairie fires, and dust storms led to crop failure. 2. Valuable mineral deposits continued to lure people to the West after the Civil War. 3. During the second half of the 19 century, the nature of mining changed drastically. It became a mass-production industry as individual prospectors gave way to large companies. 4. While the west was being taken from the Indians, cattle entered the grasslands where the buffalo had roamed. The cowboys enjoyed his brief heyday before fading into the folklore of the Wild West. 5. Combination of factors put an end to the open range. Farmers kept crowding in and laying out homesteads. The boundless range was being overstocked by 1883, and expenses mounted as stock breeders formed associations to keep intruders off overstocked ranges, to establish and protect land titles, deal with railroads and buyers, to fight prairie fires, and cope with rustlers and wolves. The rise of sheepherding caused another conflict with the ranchers. Entrepreneurs (Robber barons known to critics) 1. John Rockefeller brought order and rationality to the oil industry. Named his enterprise the Standard Oil Company of Ohio. His main goal was to eliminate his competitors. Control of his traffic, made it possible for him to the upper hand over his competitors. 2. Andrew Carnegie, like Rockefeller experienced the atypical rise from poverty to riches. He kept moving from telegraphy, to railroading to bridge building, then to iron-steel-making and investments. He was not an expert on steel. He was a promoter, salesman. And obsessed with efficiency and innovation, he insisted on up-to-date machinery and equipment. He believed in dispensing ones fortune before dying. 3. J. P. Morgan was born to wealth. As an investment banker, Morgan bought corporate stocks and bonds wholesale and sold them at a profit. Viewed competition as wasteful and chaotic, the solution was to consolidate rival firms into giant trusts. He realized that railroads were the key to the times, so he bought and reorganized one rail line after another. His crowning triumph was the consolidation of the steel industry. 4. Sears, Roebuck and Company was a new retailer who dominated the mail order industry. They helped extend the reach of modern commerce to the millions of people who lived on isolated farms and in small towns. Strikes

1.

The Railroad Strike of 1877 was the first major interstate strike in American history. Major rail lines in the East had cut wages provoked railroad workers to walk off the job and block the tracks. Without organized direction, however, the group of picketers degenerated into a mob that burned and plundered railroad property. 2. Pullman Strike was the most notable walkout in American history. (Eugene V. Debs)

Gilded Age 1. In the years following the Civil War, the quality of American government left much to be desired. Politicians were irresponsible, loyalties were shallow, and money was tainted. 2. Voters of the time nonetheless thought politics was very important. Politicians and the voters believed that they were dealing with crucial issues: tariff rates, the initial efforts to regulate corporations, monetary policy, Indian disputes, civil service reform, and immigration. 3. American during this age expected little direct support from the federal government; most significant political activity occurred at the state and local levels. Residents of the western territories were forced to fend for themselves rather than rely upon federal authorities. It was the state and local government that first sought to curb the power and restrain the abuses of corporate interests. 4. State attempted to regulate big businesses; most of those efforts were overturned by the courts however. A close alliance between developed between business owners and political leaders. 5. Prosperity of the Gilded Age did not extend to farmers, who were burdened with high costs, low incomes, and heavy debts. They organized into groups such as Granges and farmers alliances. Ultimately these groups turned to politics. Tariffs 1. Clevelands most dramatic challenge to special interests focused on tariff reform. Republicans party officials and business leaders had come to assume that national prosperity and high tariffs were closely linked. 2. Huge corporate trust was not a natural development of a maturing capitalist system. Critics charged that government tariff policies had fostered bug business at the expense of small producers and retailers by effectively shutting out foreign imports, thereby enabling American corporations to dominate their markets and charge higher process for their products. 3. The house passed a bill calling for modest tariff reductions. But the bull stalled in the Republican Senate and finally died a lingering death.

Imperialist endeavors of U.S. 1. Western imperialism had economic roots; it was above all a quest for markets and raw materials. 2. 2nd Industrial Revolution generated such dramatic increases in production that business leaders felt compelled to find new markets for their burgeoning supply of goods and new sources of investment for their growing supply of capital. Manufacturers, were eager to find new sources of raw materials to supply their expanding needs. 3. U.S. sought coaling stations and trading posts in the Pacific Ocean, and it laid claim to various small islands and atolls. Spanish American War 1. In 1898 America went to war with Spain. American sympathized with an independent movement in Cuba seeking to overthrow Spanish control. 2. American business interest had invested more than $30 million in Cubamostly in sugar plantationsand wanted the revolt to end. 3. The uproar created by the sinking of the Mine in Havana harbor and its overage in the yellow press pushed President William McKinley to declare war. 4. AS a result of the war, the United States gained a colonial empire and with it the challenge of governing overseas territoriesPuerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. Theodore Roosevelt 1. His motto in foreign policy was a West African saying, Speak softly and carry a big stick. 2. Strengthen American involvement in world affairs. He defended Venezuela from possible European aggression and he issued the Roosevelt Corollary, a statement that attempted to justify United States intervention in Latin America. In addition Roosevelt negotiated an end to the Russo-Japanese War. Perhaps most important, Roosevelt prevented Colombia from pitting down and insurrection in Panama City.

This action allowed Panamanians to establish the Republic of Panama. Roosevelt quickly negotiated a treaty for the right to build a canal across Panama. 3. He supported the progressive movement with his domestic goal to give everyone a Square Deal. He soon became known as a trustbuster. He settled the Coal strike of 1902. World War I and U. S. involvement 1. When Europe went to war in 1914, America sought to stay out of the conflict. Both side disregarded American neutrality. Germanys use of unrestricted submarine warfare and economic ties to Great Britain eventually led America into the bloody struggle. 2. An apparent conspiracy between Mexico and Germany against the U.S. and the sinking of four American merchant ships ended American neutrality. Congress declared war on Germany in April 1917. 3. Unprepared for war, American mobilized with incredible speed. The production of armaments became a top priority, and government agencies such as the War Industries Board reorganized the economy to supply them. Treaty of Versailles 1. Despite Wilsons hope it was a victors peace. The greatest humiliation was reserved for the Germans. Germans lost territory and was stripped of its colonies. In addition Germany was required to pay for damage it had done in Europe and repay Allies for the cost of the war. 2. Many of the Fourteen Points were ignored during this meeting. Great Depression 1. Not only caused by stock market speculation but also by the effects of World War I, the depressed conditions of agriculture, and unwise government policies. 2. By the end of 1920s, thousands of Americans were jobless, and many farmers lost their land. Hoover offered to help banks and businesses but opposed direct federal relief to the unemployed because he feared that government handouts would destroy Americans drive to work. Franklin D. Roosevelt 1. His New Deal program was a two-part program of emergency measures and longrange planning with three specific aimsrecovery from the Depression, relief for victims of the Depression, and reform of the nations economic system. 2. He called a special session of Congress and declared a four-day bank holiday to halt hysteria and restore confidence in the financial system. 3. Most bills that the President submitted, Congress pass with little debate. 4. The second phase of the New Deal emphasized social reform rather than short-term emergency measure. Out of these efforts came large-scale public works programs and a Social Security system. World War II and U.S. involvement 1. When war in Europe broke out in 1939, German victories prompted the United States to aid the Allied nations of Britain and France. In 1941, after Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan and Germany. 2. For the second time in 25 years, the American economy converted to war production and transformed the nations way of life. 3. Germany surrendered in May 1945. Japan surrendered after American planes dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Before the war ended, the United Nations formed in hopes of maintaining international peace and cooperation. Cold War/ Containment

1. Soviet Union drew an iron curtain between Eastern Europe and the rest of Europe. An intense war of word and confrontation soon developed between the West and the Soviet Union. 2. Western fear that communism would spread let to policy of containment. The Marshal Olan also gave massive economic aid to war-torn Western Europe. 3. Cold War spread to Asia. In 1949 Mao Zedong, established a communist government in China, despite American efforts to prevent it. In Korea, Americans fought a hot war to stop a communist takeover of the peninsula. 4. At home the Truman administration pushed for economic and social reform. Inflation was rising, and labor resorted to strikes to increase wages. Fear generated by the cold war led to a search for Communists in the federal government. Dwight Eisenhower 1. Although friendly to corporations, Eisenhower also expanded New Deal programs. Despite inflation and a brief recession, businesses and working men and women prospered. Farmers did not do so well. 2. Americas cold war containment policy continued under Eisenhower. His efforts to lessen tensions and reduce Soviet nuclear threat, however, failed. 3. Dulles policy of brinksmanship depended for its strategic effect upon those very fears of nuclear disasters. Civil Rights Movement 1. Many African Americans renewed their fight for full equality and an end to segregation and discrimination. Their efforts were aided by the Supreme Courts decision in Brown v. Board of Education that stated that separation by race was unequal. 2. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., emerged as a powerful and inspiring leader for nonviolent protest against unjust segregation laws. The efforts of the civil right movement culminated in March on Washington where hundreds of thousands of Americans gather to demonstrate peacefully for racial harmony and justice. Kennedys 1.