The state of Virginia also gives us a list of the information that you will be tested on. They call it the essential knowledge. You will find the essential knowledge for this unit below:

 

Westward movement

• Following the Civil War, the westward movement of settlers intensified in the vast region between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean.

• The years immediately before and after the Civil War were the era of the American cowboy, marked by long cattle drives for hundreds of miles over unfenced open land in the West, which was the only way to get cattle to market.

• Many Americans had to rebuild their lives after the Civil War. They responded to the incentive of free public land and moved west to take advantage of the Homestead Act of 1862, which gave free public land in the western territories to settlers who would live on and farm the land.

• Southerners, including African Americans in particular, moved west to seek new opportunities after the Civil War.

• New technologies such as the railroads, telegraph, telephone, and mechanical reaper opened new lands in the West for settlement and made farming profitable by increasing the efficiency of production and linking resources and markets. By the turn of the century, the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains regions of the American West were no longer a mostly unsettled frontier, but were fast becoming regions of farms, ranches, and towns.

• The forcible removal of the American Indians from their lands continued throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century as settlers continued to move west following the Civil War.

 

Inventions/innovations

• Corporation (limited liability)

• Bessemer steel process

• Light bulb (Thomas Edison) and electricity as a source of power and light

• Telephone (Alexander Graham Bell)

• Airplane (Wright brothers)

• Assembly-line manufacturing (Henry Ford)

 

Industrial leaders

• Andrew Carnegie (steel)

• J. P. Morgan (finance)

• John D. Rockefeller (oil)

• Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroads)

 

Reasons for economic transformation

• Laissez-faire capitalism and special considerations (e.g., land grants to railroad builders)

• The increasing labor supply (from immigration and migration from farms)

• America’s possession of a wealth of natural resources and navigable rivers

 

Emergence of leisure activities

• Sporting events such as baseball

• Vaudeville shows

• Amusement parks and fairs

 

Immigration

• Prior to 1871, most immigrants to America came from Northern and Western Europe (Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden). During the half-century from 1871 until 1921, most immigrants came from Southern and Eastern Europe (Italy, Greece, Poland, Russia, present-day Hungary, and former Yugoslavia), as well as Asia (China and Japan).

• Like earlier immigrants, these immigrants came to America seeking freedom and better lives for their families.

• Immigrants made valuable contributions to the dramatic industrial growth of America during this period. Chinese workers helped to build the Transcontinental Railroad. Immigrants worked in textile and steel mills in the Northeast and the clothing industry in New York City. Slavs, Italians, and Poles worked in the coal mines of the East. They often worked for very low pay and endured dangerous working conditions to help build the nation’s industrial strength.

• During this period, immigrants from Europe entered America through Ellis Island in New York harbor. Their first view of America was often the Statue of Liberty, as their ships arrived following the voyage across the Atlantic.

• Immigrants began the process of assimilation into what was termed the American “melting pot.” While often settling in ethnic neighborhoods in the growing cities, they and their children worked hard to learn English, adopt American customs, and become American citizens. The public schools served an essential role in the process of assimilating immigrants into American society.

• Immigrants were often exploited by urban political machines that provided useful services in exchange for immigrant votes, which increased animosity toward them.

• Despite the valuable contributions immigrants made to building America during this period, immigrants often faced hardship and hostility. There was fear and resentment that immigrants would take jobs for lower pay than American workers would accept, and there was prejudice based on religious and cultural differences.

• Mounting resentment led Congress to limit immigration through the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and Emergency Quota Act of 1921. These laws effectively cut off most immigration to America for the next several decades; however, the immigrants of this period and their descendants continued to contribute immeasurably to American society.

 

Discrimination against and segregation of African Americans

• Laws limited freedoms for African Americans.

• After reconstruction, many Southern state governments passed “Jim Crow” laws forcing separation of the races in public places.

• Intimidation and crimes were directed against African Americans (lynchings).

• African Americans looked to the courts to safeguard their rights.

• In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” did not violate the 14th Amendment, upholding the “Jim Crow” laws of the era.

• During the early twentieth century, African Americans began the Great Migration to Northern cities in search of jobs and to escape poverty and discrimination in the South.

• Many African Americans eventually found that the North was not much unlike the South when it came to racial attitudes and its use of subtle ways to enforce the separation of the races.

 

Responses of African Americans

• Ida B. Wells-Barnett led an anti-lynching crusade and called on the federal government to take action.

• Booker T. Washington believed the way to equality was through vocational education and economic success; he accepted social separation.

• W.E.B. DuBois believed that education was meaningless without equality. He supported political equality for African Americans by helping to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

 

Practice of eugenics in Virginia

• Eugenics is the belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human population by discouraging reproduction by individuals presumed to have “undesirable” traits and encouraging reproduction by those who had desired inheritable traits. 

• Eugenics was a movement throughout the twentieth century, worldwide as well as in Virginia, that demonstrated the misuse of the principles of heredity.

• In Buck v. Bell (1927), the United States Supreme Court upheld a Virginia statute for the sterilization of people considered genetically unfit. Upholding Virginia's sterilization statute provided for similar laws in 30 states, under which an estimated 65,000 Americans were sterilized without their own consent or that of a family member.

 

Growth of cities

• As the nation’s industrial growth continued, cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and New York grew rapidly as manufacturing and transportation centers. Factories in the large cities provided jobs, but workers’ families often lived in harsh conditions, crowded into tenements and slums.

• The rapid growth of cities caused housing shortages and the need for new public services, such as sewage and water systems and public transportation. Cities in the Northeast, such as Boston and New York, constructed subway systems around the turn of the twentieth century, and many cities built trolley or streetcar lines.

 

Industrialization: Reputation of capitalists as captains of industry or robber barons

• Excesses of the Gilded Age

• Income disparity

• Lavish lifestyles

• Ruthless business practices of capitalists in forming monopolies and trusts

 

Industrialization: Impact on working conditions for labor

• Long hours and low wages, especially for women and children

• No job security and no benefits such as workingmen’s compensation

• Dangerous working conditions, including the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire, and work-related illnesses such as lung disease

• Company towns

 

Industrialization: Formation of labor unions

• Goals: Higher wages, fewer work hours, safer conditions

• Labor organizations

• Knights of Labor led by Terence Powderly

• American Federation of Labor led by Samuel Gompers

• American Railway Union led by Eugene V. Debs

• International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union

 

Strikes

• Haymarket Square Riot led to the demise of the Knights of Labor

• Homestead Strike by Carnegie steel workers

• Pullman Strike by railroad workers

 

Gains

• Limited work hours

• Regulated working conditions

 

Causes of the Progressive Movement

• Economic exploitation: Formation of trusts and monopolies, and exploitation of natural resources

• Political corruption: Formation of political machines maintaining power through bribes and voter intimidation

• Social injustice: Child labor; living conditions; consumer protection; racial, gender, and ethnic equality

 

Goals of the Progressive Movement

• Increase economic opportunity

• Increase democracy

• Increase social justice

 

Muckraking Progressive leaders

• Muckrakers: Progressives whose investigative literature exposed abuses in economics, politics, and society

• Ida Tarbell: The History of the Standard Oil Company

• Lincoln Steffens: The Shame of the Cities

• Upton Sinclair: The Jungle

 

Progressive accomplishments: National legislation

• Economic: 

• The earlier Sherman Anti-Trust Act prevented any business structure that “restrains trade” (monopolies).

• The Clayton Anti-Trust Act expanded upon the Sherman Anti-Trust Act by exempting unions from prosecution under the Sherman Act, and it outlawed price-fixing.

• The Federal Reserve System was established.

• Political: 

• Primary elections were established.

• The 17th Amendment was passed, establishing the direct election of United States senators.

• The 19th Amendment was enacted, providing women with the right to vote. Efforts to gain the right to vote were realized through the strong leadership of the women’s movement by Carrie Chapman Catt and Alice Paul as well as the nation’s recognition of women’s wartime contributions during World War I.

• Social:

• Consumer protection: Enacted the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act

• Alcohol consumption: Passage of the 18th Amendment, better known as “Prohibition”; later the amendment was repealed by the 21st Amendment

 

Progressive accomplishments: State level

• Initiative

• Referendum

• Recall

• Secret ballot

 

Latin America

• Spanish-American War

• Puerto Rico was annexed by the United States.

• The United States asserted its right to intervene in Cuban affairs.

• Panama Canal and the role of Theodore Roosevelt

• The United States encouraged Panama’s independence from Colombia.

• The parties negotiated a treaty to build the canal.

• Roosevelt Corollary

• Expanded the United States “police” presence in the Western Hemisphere that was established in the Monroe Doctrine

 

Asia and the Pacific

• Hawaii: United States efforts to depose Hawaii’s monarchy; United States annexation of Hawaii

• Philippines: Annexed after the Spanish-American War

• Guam: Annexed after the Spanish-American War

• Open Door Policy: Urged all foreigners in China to obey Chinese law, observe fair competition

 

United States involvement in World War I

• The war began in Europe in 1914 when Germany and Austria-Hungary went to war with Britain, France, and Russia.

• For three years, America maintained neutrality due to popular support for isolationism.

• The decision to enter the war was the result of continuing German submarine warfare (violating freedom of the seas) and American ties to Great Britain.

• Americans wanted to “make the world safe for democracy.” (Woodrow Wilson)

• America’s military resources of soldiers and war materials tipped the balance of the war and led to Germany’s defeat.

 

Fourteen Points

• Wilson’s plan to eliminate the causes of war

• Key points

• Self-determination

• Freedom of the seas

• League of Nations

 

Treaty of Versailles

• The French and English insisted on punishment of Germany.

• A League of Nations was created.

• National boundaries were redrawn, creating many new nations.

• The Mandate System was established in the Middle East.

 

League of Nations debate in United States

• Many senators objected to United States foreign policy decisions being made by international organizations rather than United States leaders.

• The United States Senate’s failure to approve the Treaty of Versailles led to the United States not joining the League of Nations.

Modernism marked the beginning of a period that rejected conventional ways of viewing and interacting with the world. The movement was reflected in art, architecture, literature, music, entertainment, and fashion.

 

Mass media and communications

• Radio: Broadcast jazz, entertainment programing, sporting events, and Fireside Chats

• Movies: Provided escape from Depression-era realities

• Newspapers and magazines: Shaped cultural norms, established a consumer culture, and sparked fads

 

Challenges to traditional values

• Traditional religion: Darwin’s theory, the Scopes Trial

• Traditional role of women: Flappers, 19th Amendment

• Open immigration: Rise of new Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a Red Scare

• Prohibition: Smuggling alcohol, speakeasies

 

Causes of the stock market crash of 1929

• Business was booming, but investments were made through buying stocks on credit.

• There was overspeculation of monetary returns on investments.

• There was a large number of small investors.

• Panic selling of stocks led to the collapse of the stock market.

• There was excessive expansion of credit.

• Business failures led to bankruptcies.

• Bank deposits were invested in the market.

• When the market collapsed, the banks ran out of money.

 

Consequences of the stock market crash of 1929

• The crash signaled the beginning of the Great Depression although serious flaws in the economy had existed for years.

• People lost investments, which led to financial ruin, and many committed suicide.

• Bank runs: Clients panicked and, attempting to withdraw their money from the banks, discovered their funds were lost.

• There were no new investments.

 

Causes of the Great Depression

• Overproduction of industrial and agricultural products

• Purchasing items on credit, placing Americans in an unstable financial position

• Unequal distribution of wealth, making it difficult for many Americans to make purchases

• An agricultural depression that had plagued farmers throughout the 1920s

• Federal Reserve’s failure to prevent widespread collapse of the nation’s banking system in the late 1920s and early 1930s, leading to severe contraction in the nation’s supply of money in circulation

• High protective tariffs produced retaliatory tariffs in other countries, restricting world trade

 

Impact of the Great Depression

• Unemployment and homelessness

• Collapse of the financial system (bank closings)

• Decline in demand for goods

• Political unrest (growing militancy of labor unions)

• Farm foreclosures and migration

 

New Deal (Franklin Roosevelt)

• This program changed the role of the government to a more active participant in solving problems.

• Roosevelt rallied a frightened nation in which one in four workers was unemployed (“We have nothing to fear, but fear itself”).

• Relief measures provided direct payment to people for immediate help (Works Progress Administration [WPA]).

• Recovery programs were designed to bring the nation out of the depression over time (Agricultural Adjustment Administration [AAA]).

• Reform measures corrected unsound banking and investment practices (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC]).

• The Social Security Act offered safeguards for workers.

 

The legacy of the New Deal influenced the public’s belief in the responsibility of government to deliver public services, to intervene in the economy, and to act in ways that promote the general welfare.

 

The war in Europe

• World War II began with Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939, followed shortly thereafter by the Soviet Union’s invasion of Poland and the Baltic countries from the east.

• During the first two years of the war, the United States stayed officially neutral while Germany overran France and most of Europe and pounded Britain from the air (the Battle of Britain). In mid-1941, Hitler turned on his former partner and invaded the Soviet Union.

• Despite strong isolationist sentiment at home, the United States increasingly helped Britain. It gave Britain war supplies and old naval warships in return for military bases in Bermuda and the Caribbean. Soon after, the Lend-Lease Act gave the president authority to sell or lend equipment to countries to defend themselves against the Axis powers. Franklin Roosevelt compared it to “lending a garden hose to a next-door neighbor whose house is on fire.”

 

The war in Asia

• During the 1930s, a militaristic Japan invaded and brutalized Manchuria and China as it sought military and economic domination over Asia. The United States refused to recognize Japanese conquests in Asia and imposed an embargo on exports of oil and steel to Japan. Tensions rose, but both countries negotiated to avoid war.

• While negotiating with the United States and without any warning, Japan carried out an air attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. The attack destroyed much of the American Pacific fleet and killed several thousand Americans. Roosevelt called it “a date that will live in infamy” as he asked Congress to declare war on Japan.

• After Pearl Harbor, Hitler honored a pact with Japan and declared war on the United States. The debates over isolationism in the United States were over. World War II was now a true world war, and the United States was fully involved.

 

Key Political Leaders of the European Theater

• United States of America

• Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• Harry Truman

• Great Britain

• Winston Churchill

• Soviet Union

• Joseph Stalin

• Germany

• Adolf Hitler

 

Military Leaders

• Dwight D. Eisenhower

• George C. Patton

 

Allied Strategy in the European Theater

• America and its allies (Britain and the Soviet Union after being invaded by Germany) followed a “Defeat Hitler First” strategy. 

• Most American resources were targeted for Europe.

 

Axis Strategy in the European Theater

• Germany hoped to defeat the Soviet Union quickly, gain control of Soviet oil fields, and force Britain out of the war through a bombing campaign and submarine warfare before America’s industrial and military strength could turn the tide.

 

Major Battles of the European Theater

• Stalingrad

• Normandy landings: D-Day

• Battle of the Bulge

 

Key Leaders of the Pacific Theater

• United States of America

• Douglas MacArthur

• Japan

• Emperor Hirohito

• Hideki Tojo

 

United States’ Strategy

• In the Pacific, American military strategy called for an “island hopping” campaign, seizing islands increasingly closer to Japan and using them as bases for air attacks on Japan, and for cutting off Japanese supplies through submarine warfare against Japanese shipping.

 

Japan’s Strategy

• Following Pearl Harbor, Japan invaded the Philippines and Indonesia and planned to invade both Australia and Hawaii.

• Japan’s leaders hoped that America would accept Japanese predominance in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, rather than conduct a bloody and costly war to reverse Japanese gains.

 

Major Battles in the Pacific Theater

• Battles of Midway, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa

• Use of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

 

Minority participation

• African Americans generally served in segregated military units and were assigned to noncombat roles but demanded the right to serve in combat rather than in support roles.

 

All-minority military units

• Tuskegee Airmen (African Americans) served in Europe with distinction.

• Nisei regiments (Japanese Americans) earned a high number of decorations.

 

Additional contributions of minorities

• Communication codes of the Navajo were used (oral, not written language; impossible for the Japanese to break).

• Hispanic Americans also fought, but in nonsegregated units.

• Minority units suffered high casualties and won numerous unit citations and individual medals for bravery in action.

 

Economic resources

• United States government and industry forged a close working relationship to allocate resources effectively.

• Rationing was used to maintain supply of essential products to the war effort.

• War bonds and income tax were used to finance the war.

• Businesses retooled from peacetime to wartime production (e.g., car manufacturing to tank manufacturing).

 

Human resources

• More women and minorities entered the labor force.

• Citizens volunteered in support of the war effort.

 

Military resources

• The draft (selective service) was used to provide personnel for the military.

 

Women on the home front during World War II

• Women increasingly participated in the workforce to replace men serving in the military (e.g., Rosie the Riveter).

• Women typically participated in noncombat military roles.

 

African Americans on the home front during World War II

• African Americans migrated to cities in search of jobs in war plants.

• African Americans campaigned for victory in war and equality at home.

 

Media and communications assistance

• The United States government maintained strict censorship of reporting of the war.

• Public morale and ad campaigns kept Americans focused on the war effort.

• The entertainment industry produced movies, plays, and shows that boosted morale and patriotic support for the war effort as well as portrayed the enemy in stereotypical ways.

 

The Holocaust

• Germany’s decision to exterminate the Jewish population through genocide was referred to as the “Final Solution.”

• Additional groups, including Poles, Slavs, Gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally ill, and the physically handicapped, were also targeted.

• Following the end of World War II, the Nuremberg trials were conducted to hold Nazi leaders and other individuals accountable for their own participation in war crimes regardless of orders received.

• The outcome of the trials led to increased demand for a Jewish homeland.

 

Prisoners of war

• The Geneva Convention established international rules concerning the humane treatment of prisoners of war.

• The treatment of prisoners of war in Europe more closely followed the agreements of the Geneva Convention.

• The treatment of prisoners of war in the Pacific often reflected the savagery of fighting as displayed in the Bataan Death March.

 

Treatment of Japanese American civilians

• Japanese Americans were relocated to internment camps as a result of strong anti-Japanese prejudice and the fear that Japanese Americans were aiding the enemy.

• The Supreme Court upheld the government’s right to act against Japanese Americans living on the West Coast of the United States.

• The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was signed into law to provide a presidential apology and symbolic payment to the internees, evacuees, and persons of Japanese ancestry who lost liberty or property because of discriminatory action by the federal government during World War II.