Exam 16: Exploring Key Themes and Turning Points in American History

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Federal Government's Approach to Western Conquest: The United States in the period 1860-1900 extended its authority and wealth by expanding its borders and culture into the West,conquering the Native Americans and Mexicans who already lived there and displacing and ruling over them.The U.S.government saw Native Americans in the West as an obstacle to westward expansion and a problem that needed a solution.Native Americans were viewed as inferior to whites and a group that needed to be civilized,Christianized,and assimilated in Indian schools and on reservations.The U.S.government also saw at least some Indians as hostiles who should be controlled and even attacked.Violent conflict between whites and Native Americans devastated Indian populations and cultures.Growth and expansion of industrialization-especially mining,railroads,and commercial farming-increased U.S.wealth,furthered urbanization,and improved quality of life for some whites.
The United States and China: U.S.Secretary of State John Hay's Open Door Policy marked the beginning of the United States' explicit competition with the colonial powers of Europe for trade in the Eastern Hemisphere.Whereas in the early nineteenth century the United States had remained relatively isolated from Asia and removed from European efforts to colonize it,the Open Door Policy marked the beginning of American efforts to expand and defend its presence in Asia and the Pacific.Rather than staying out of Asia and Europe's domination of the region,the Open Door Policy declared that the United States,like Europe,had every right to trade with China and that it would do so.Unlike American expansion into the West,however,the nation's new role in China did not include the displacement of Chinese people or the establishment of a far-flung colonial empire.
The United States and Cuba: In Cuba,the United States was interested in "liberating" the country from Spanish colonial rule,in large part because American businesses wanted to protect their economic interests and trading partnerships there.The Spanish American War in Cuba ended almost as soon as it began and brought the United States the possessions of Cuba,Puerto Rico,Guam,and the Philippines.Cuba became free from Spanish rule,but the United States,which saw Cubans themselves as inferior to white Americans,dictated the Cuban constitution,which included the Platt Amendment.The amendment guaranteed the United States the right to intervene to protect Cuba's "independence," power to oversee Cuban debt,and a ninety-nine-year lease on the naval base at Guantanamo.The United States also implemented an extensive sanitation program to clean up the island to make it more attractive to investors.As in the West,racism,missionary zeal,and economic interest motivated U.S.involvement in Cuba.Unlike the West,Americans did not decimate the Cuban population,nor did they establish large American settlements there.
The United States and the Philippines: As in Cuba,the United States gained possession of the Philippines after it defeated Spanish colonial rulers on the islands.Emilio Aguinaldo's Filipino revolutionaries,who had fought along with U.S.troops against Spain,turned against Americans when it became clear that they planned to take control of the islands and use them as a stepping-stone to Asia.Fighting continued in the Philippines for seven more years,resulting in the deaths of 4,000 Americans and 20,000 Filipinos.Again,racism,economic interests,and missionary zeal played a substantial role in motivating American actions in the Philippines.There was violent conflict and American cultural infiltration,as was the case in the West,but no actual American settlement.

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Woman Suffrage Movement: The woman suffrage movement got its start in the mid-nineteenth century and attracted women who were already active in reform causes (e.g., abolitionism and temperance). Women who joined the suffrage movement in its early days had high hopes that women's access to citizenship and the vote would go a long way toward creating equality for women in American society. Suffragists had a brief moment of optimism after the Civil War when they thought they would win the right to vote along with African American men, but the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments added the word male to the Constitution, excluding women explicitly. The movement began to make inroads among middle-class and working-class women in American society in 1890, pushing for voting rights but also for other “women's” issues. The notion that women could use their supposed moral superiority to reform various elements of corruption in American society made the demand for suffrage seem less radical and more appealing to many women and men. Ultimately, World War I gave women many new opportunities, including serving in Europe as nurses and relief workers and working in defense jobs at home. Some suffragists capitalized on women's contribution to the war effort at home and abroad to argue that their efforts should be recognized and rewarded with the right to vote. Others appealed to the wartime need for national unity and the United States' hypocrisy in fighting for democracy while refusing women the vote. The combination of these strategies succeeded in turning President Wilson from an opponent to a supporter of woman's suffrage. Ratified in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment gave women the vote and raised expectations that women had finally come to the end of the long road to full equality.
Temperance Movement: The ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment marked the end of nearly one hundred years of activism. Women's role in the temperance struggle grew over the course of the nineteenth century, and the formation of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1874 brought the issue into the national spotlight. The WCTU argued that drunken, abusive husbands and fathers epitomized the evils of a society in which women remained second-class citizens, dependent on men for their livelihood. WCTU leader Frances Willard politicized the group and recruited women who used various strategies to affect the traditional political process, even though they could not vote. The WCTU was remarkably successful at organizing a mass movement of women united by women's issues and creating alliances with organizations such as the Knights of Labor and the People's party. By the 1890s, the WCTU's grassroots network of local unions included 200,000 dues-paying members and had spread to all but the most isolated rural areas of the country. By the time of the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1919, it seemed as if women had gained important political experience and influence through the process of advocating for Prohibition, and that the banning of the sale and consumption of alcohol would go a long way toward shaping a new society in which women could be more equal participants.
Women's Political Status, 1920s–1930s: With the achievement of woman suffrage and Prohibition, many women felt that the 1920s was the beginning of a new era. They expected that they had achieved a new level of political power and influence and that their access to the vote would help them to bring about many of the reforms they had supported during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In fact, however, their political influence declined. They achieved only one significant legislative success with the passage of the Sheppard-Towner Act in 1921. The Equal Rights Amendment was defeated for the first time in 1923. Women's political influence was limited by male domination of both political parties, the rarity of female candidates, and women's lack of experience with voting, which kept many away from the polls. Black women in the South, like their male counterparts, were excluded from voting by poll taxes, literacy tests, and the threat of racial violence. In addition, the achievement of suffrage and temperance meant that women activists no longer had political goals that united them. As some women advocated special protections for women and others advocated equal rights, neither objective could be achieved. Women's access to citizenship and political rights served to underscore the extent to which they were still limited by economic, social, and cultural inequalities.

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Fighting for the British during the Revolution: The American Revolution provided opportunities for slaves to seek their freedom. Black Americans were at first excluded from the Continental army, but as manpower needs increased, Congress permitted free blacks to enlist. About 5,000 black men served on the rebel side during the Revolution, nearly all from northern states. On the British side, General Henry Clinton announced that slaves owned by American masters could gain freedom by joining the British army. Thousands of self-liberated blacks fled to British lines, but, for most of them, their hopes of freedom did not come to fruition. The British never intended to emancipate the slaves; they only wanted to destabilize patriot planters and gain manpower. Still, about 8,000 to 10,000 emancipated blacks left the newly established United States after the revolution, resettling in England or Sierra Leone or moving north to Canada or west to Indian Country.
Petitioning for Freedom in the North after the Revolution: In the North, slaves took advantage of the language of liberty to argue for their freedom. Northern slaves filed petitions to obtain their freedom, but they were not successful. In Massachusetts, however, many slaves, such as Elizabeth Freeman, successfully sued for freedom in the courts. As a result, slavery in Massachusetts was effectively abolished by judicial decisions by 1789. Other northern states passed gradual emancipation laws. The protests of blacks forced every state from Pennsylvania north to acknowledge that slavery was fundamentally inconsistent with revolutionary ideology. To the south, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia eased restrictions on individual acts of emancipation.
Joining Union Lines and Destabilizing Slavery during the Civil War: As the North experienced manpower shortages, they reluctantly turned to African Americans. Although blacks faced discrimination and violence in the military, 179,000 African American men served in the Union army. No person or group did more to force emancipation than the slaves themselves. Blacks fled to Union lines by the thousands, forcing slavery on the Union's wartime agenda. At first, Union officers sent slaves back, but as their need for laborers increased, they began refusing to turn slaves over. In 1862, Congress forbade returning fugitive slaves to their masters. The slaves who remained on plantations subverted plantation discipline. They got to the fields late, worked indifferently, and quit early.
Political Success during Reconstruction: Following the War, during Reconstruction, African Americans made up the majority of southern Republicans. While they never had the influence in the party that whites had, newly freed blacks voted, ran for office, and served in high government positions.