Origins of America's Global Power

1. Identify five important changes that transformed America in the nineteenth century. 

A. The surplus of immigrants that was flooding in during the nineteenth century caused a rise in population in the united States. This spike in immigration caused more ethnic diversity within the United States, and also spurred urban growth. Industries sometimes depended on immigrant labor as well. 


B. There was much urban growth in the nineteenth century, meaning the number of city dwellers significantly increased as well. Because of the rapid urbanization, the trade agriculture was becoming less and less prominent in society. Also, new inventions in manufacturing and the like kept popping up. 


C. Because of all the immigrant laborers and urban growth, more goods were able to be produced for trade, which was looked at as essential for economic prosperity. The value of American exports and American international trade grew steadily in the nineteenth century. Advances in technology and transportation also increased the number of agricultural exports, but manufactured goods made up the majority of American exports still, and big businesses prospered because of this. 


D. The 1893 Depression really shook America's economy, and the particular groups of people involved in it, such as farmers and laborers. The depression caused labor strikes and country-wide worry about the future of America, and its global economic position.


E. The comparison of social Darwinism and scientific racism to political power around the world caused for racism to be even more prominent, and ignorantly justified in America. It also supported imperialist American beliefs that America should take part in trying to gradually have political control over many foreign nations. This caused America to get involved in foreign nations, like Hawaii, and affairs, like the Brazilian revolution. 


2. How did the economic depression that began in 1893 deepen the divisions in American society? Which groups suffered the most during the depression? 
     The economic depression that began in 1893 deepened the divisions in American Society by causing workers to realize the small amount of power they had over their own jobs, causing city dwellers to worry about insecurity, causing plant owners to worry about profits, and causing farmers to just be in a worse economical condition than before, considering farming was no longer the leading source of national wealth. The depression  was also a cause for concern for the United States as a whole because now the U.S. was worried that they wouldn't be able to compete globally, economically and politically, due to the now seemingly negative effects of the influx of immigrants and the advances in urbanization and industrialization which were believed to have led to the depression. Out of the multiple groups that suffered during the depression (mentioned above), the farmers and laborers of industries seemed to have suffered the most. This is because the laborers had more strikes during the depression, because they had realized their jobs were vulnerable in an economy based on industry and manufacturing, and many of those striking workers lost their jobs due to the strikes. Farmers were already in an economical rut because of industrialization and urbanization, so the depression made their situation more dire as well. 
3. What were the values many Americans attached to the frontier? Why did many Americans fear that the closing of the frontier would harm America's national character?
     Americans that were descendants of the very first immigrants into America identified with the notion of the frontier, and connected their heritage to the western frontier, which symbolized values to them such as resourcefulness, bravery, pragmatism, ingenuity, individualism, egalitarianism, and patriotism. They looked at the frontier as a symbol of American's expansion, and therefore as a symbol of the American identity itself. Americans feared that the closing of the frontier would harm American's national character because it would leave those Americans with a sense of no purpose, now that these original American goals that were sought by the ancestors of these American families, involving expansion and seeking the frontier, had been reached. Also, the majority of U.S. development and growth had stemmed from expansion to the frontier, so Americans were worried that the country couldn't continue to prosper without a surplus of new land and resources for the U.S. to expand upon and explore, they were scared the country had reached it's physical limit, therefore stalling economic, political, and social growth. 
4. Why did some Americans suggest greater involvement overseas? 
    Some Americans suggested greater involvement overseas because they believed that, in a sense, the world was America's frontier. They believed that dealing with other powers overseas, like nations in Europe, would ensure the continued economic prosperity of the U.S. that they thought was at risk. Some, like the historian Alfred Thayer Mahan, thought that controlling land in Central America would aid the United States in trade with China, and western nations in Europe. It was also believed by people called expansionists that involvement overseas would increase political power because the United States could then "catch up" with Britain, France, and other European powers, who had been involved overseas for awhile. Others thought that getting a few strategic ports and providing opportunities to foreign markets would be enough involvement, but then of course there were the radical imperialists who greatly supported the idea of American not only expanding across the continent, but even father abroad. 
5. How did the theories of social Darwinism and scientific racism lend support to the cause of American imperialism? 
     The theories of social Darwinism and scientific racism lent support to the cause of American imperialism because Imperialists believed, using these theories as backup, that social and economic progress differed among different groups of people. Because Imperialists connected social Darwinism to the domination of western European cultures, believing that it was a natural process in the advancement of civilization to slowly take over other territories, they thought that the superiority of white male anglo-saxons (backed up by the conclusions in scientific racism) was natural selection, and that they should be the ones to carry out this domination. African Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans all suffered from racism, and because of scientific racism, were now supposedly proven less intelligent and incapable of participating in these worldly affairs. So, using the conclusions of social Darwinism and scientific racism, imperialists justified their belief that the United States and some European nations were naturally selected to "dominate", or have political control over, the world. This is because they were the supposedly the most intelligent, and therefore most apt to do so, according to scientific racism. 
6. Summarize why the United States became involved in Samoa, Hawaii, and several Latin American nations.

    The United States became involved in Samoa, Hawaii, and several Latin American nations for multiple reasons. One main reason being that islands such as Samoa and Hawaii were in the middle of multiple trade routes, and could provide rest places for American trade ships on their way to other foreign countries. Being involved in this territories also appealed to the country's thirst for expansion at that time. The annexation of Hawaii allowed the United States to, again, become more involved in a (now, previous) foreign territory, be in the middle of trade routes, and it prevented the population of Japanese there from gaining power on the islands and therefore wanting rights and possibly preventing the U.S. from accessing the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor. The United States wanted to be involved in such foreign affairs, like a revolution in Chile, in order to maintain stability and moderate peace for American trade and commerce. 

Teddy Roosevelt's Square Deal

1. 1902 COAL STRIKE

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt took both sides of the coal strike and compromised with them using an arbitration commission, which resulted in both sides getting fair parts of the deal.


b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
None

2. TRUSTS

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt filed lawsuits under the Sherman Antitrust Act against the trusts that he believed were harming the public interest. He managed to dissolve the Northern Securities Company, and win other lawsuits as well.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
Sherman Antitrust Act

3. UNREGULATED BIG BUSINESS

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Had a goal of federal regulation so: he urged Congress to pass the Elkins Act, which limited railroad officials; he also compromised with senators who opposed the Hepburn Act.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
  Interstate Commerce Act, Elkins Act, Hepburn Act

4. DANGEROUS FOODS AND MEDICINES

 a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt appointed a commission of experts to investigate the meatpacking industry, and induced the Meat Inspection Act.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
Meat Inspection Act, Pure Food and Drug Act

5. SHRINKING WILDERNESS AND NATURAL RESOURCES

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt set aside forest and water reserves, created national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, and made Gifford Pinchot head of the U.S. Forest Service.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
National Reclamation Act (Newlands Act)

6. RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

a. What steps did Roosevelt take to solve the problem? 
Roosevelt supported some individual African Americans, such as an African American that he appointed head of a customhouse, an African American postmistress he had also appointed, and Booker T. Washington.

b. Which legislation helped solve the problem?
None

Explain the importance of each of the following:

7. Square Deal:  This was a term that referred to the multiple progressive reforms sponsored by the Roosevelt administration.              


8. The Jungle: A book written by Upton Sinclair that described the horrible conditions of meatpacking industries, and therefore ended up helping President Roosevelt to realize he needed to make some changes in that area. 
                           

9. Upton Sinclair: A muckraker that wrote the book The Jungle, which caused President Roosevelt to start fixing up the meatpacking industries. 


10. NAACP: (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People)-it aimed for complete equality for the races around the early 1900s.


11. Meat Inspection Act: Supported by President Roosevelt, it created cleanliness requirements and the program of federal meat inspection within the meatpacking industry.                          


12. Pure Food & Drug Act: It halted the sale of contaminated foods and medicines, and required all labeling to be true.

13. Significance of the 1902 Coal Miners’ Strike: Caused President Roosevelt to call for a solution using the arbitration commission. Also it's resolution gave the impression that any strike that arose in society would be resolved by the federal government. It also managed to show that these kinds of disputes could be settled in a more diplomatic manner.

The Jungle - Exposing the Meatpacking Industry

1. In your opinion, which specific details in this excerpt most convincingly highlight problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s? Why? Use specific passages and quote. Analyze at least five details. 

A. "There was never the least attention paid to what was cut up for sausage; there would come all the way back from Europe old sausage that had been rejected, and that was moldy and white—it would be dosed with borax and glycerine, and dumped into the hoppers, and made over again for home consumption" This quote from the text highlights problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s because it shows how the meat that was processed was reused over and over again-even if it went bad. Basically, it didn't matter what was in the meat or what had happened to it, as long as it had meat, they would find a way to make it look presentable and sell it.

B."If you were a sociable person, he was quite willing to enter into a conversation with you, and to explain to you the deadly nature of the ptomaines which are found in tubercular pork; and while he was talking with you you could hardly be so ungrateful as to notice that a dozen carcasses were passing him untouched." This quote from the text highlights problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s because it shows how important workers, such as the government inspector talking about in this quote, were very careless with their jobs. The inspector spoken about here could've possibly just let a diseased carcass go get processed and sold to the public, but he was too busy socializing. This shows how companies needed to crack down on their workers and ensure that the meat that was being processed was safe for selling.

C."This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one—there were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit." This quote from the text highlights problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s because it shows the horrible conditions of the buildings that were involved in the meatpacking industry, and how they were not clean or well taken care of. It also shows how the workers were, again, careless, and were not dedicated to their job at all.

D. "There would be meat stored in great piles in rooms; and the water from leaky roofs would drip over it, and thousands of rats would race about on it." This quote from the text highlights problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s because it also shows some of the terrible conditions within the meatpacking industry, and how all these germs and bacteria could be in the meat that was sold to the public everyday. It also shows how no extra efforts were taken to store the meat in clean places.

E. "It was too much for some of the visitors—the men would look at each other, laughing nervously, and the women would stand with hands clenched, and the blood rushing to their faces, and the tears starting in their eyes." This quote from the text highlights problems in the meatpacking industry in the early 1900s because it shows how what was going on in the slaughterhouses was really horrifying, and even petrified visitors. It was not clean or modest, it involved slit throats and squeals.

2. What is the overall tone of the story?

The overall tone of the story is a little sarcastic, and of disgust, due to what was being seen within the meatpacking industry, and how obviously careless the workers were.

3. Based on your reading of this excerpt, why do you think Sinclair titled his novel The Jungle?

I think Sinclair titled his novel The Jungle because the actions of the meatpacking industries described within the novel were uncivilized and really kind of all over the place; there didn't seem to be strict guidelines either. As well as the fact that the conditions of the buildings were horrendous and uncleanly, and jungles are not clean. And in the jungle, animals are killed for food by other animals, so Sinclair is somewhat comparing humans to animals in this situation.

Challenges of Urbanization

The People: why were the three groups below drawn to cities in the Northeast and Midwest?

1. Immigrants
Immigrants were drawn to cities in the Northeast and Midwest because cities were cheaper and more convenient for them to live in. Also, unskilled workers had opportunities for jobs there.

2. Farmers
Farmers were drawn to cities in the Northeast and Midwest because the increase and advancement in farming technology was putting farmers out of jobs, so they went to cities looking for work.

3. African-Americans
African American southern farmers went to cities to escape racial violence, economic hardship, and political oppression.



The Problems: What was done in response to the following five problems?

4. Lack of safe and efficient transportation
In response to the lack of safe and efficient transportation, mass transit networks were created along with new innovations like the streetcar and electric subway. Old transit systems were constantly being repaired as well.


5. Unsafe drinking water
In response to the unsafe drinking water, the methods of filtration and chlorination were introduced. 


6. Lack of sanitation
In response to the lack of sanitation, "scavengers" were hired to sweep the streets, collect garbage, etc, and cities eventually developed sewer lines and sanitation departments.


7. Fire Hazards
In response to fire hazards, full-time professional fire departments replaced the volunteer firefighters, an automatic fire sprinkler was introduced, and wood as a building material was replaced with less flammable materials.


8. Crime
In response to crime, salaried police forces and law enforcement units were created, but they didn't have much impact at the time. 

Immigration

1. What major areas or countries of the world were immigrants coming from?
Immigrants were coming from China, southern, western, and eastern Europe, Mexico, and the West Indies.

2. What were the two major immigration processing stations in the United States?
The two major immigration processing stations in the United States were  Ellis Island and Angel Island.

3. Define Melting Pot.
A "melting pot" is a mix of people with different races and cultures who have "blended together" by getting rid of their native customs and languages. 

4. Define Nativism.
Nativism is obvious preference towards native-born Americans.


5. According to the Immigration Restriction League, list the desirable immigrants.

• British, German, and Scandinavian stock
• historically free
• energetic
• progressive

6. According to the Immigration Restriction League, list the “wrong” immigrants.

• Slav, Latin, and Asiatic races
• historically down-trodden
• stagnant

7. Why did nativists’ sometimes object to an immigrant’s religious background?
Nativists sometimes objected to an immigrant's religious background because many native-born Americans were Protestants and thought that immigrants with Roman Catholic and Jewish religious backgrounds would "undermine the democratic institutions established by the country's Protestant founders."
8. Why was the Chinese Exclusion Act passed?

The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed because American workers were worried that Chinese laborers were taking their jobs since they accepted lower wages.