Civil Rights Movement History Essay

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Analysis Paper Prompt

Choose a primary source to analyze from the chapter.  After rereading it carefully, write a 2-page paper that explains the significance of the source and how it relates to the secondary essays and the lecture for that week.  Your papers should make an argument about the primary source based on our exercise, “How to Read a Primary Source,” and on the following questions:

  • Who wrote this source?
  • Why?
  • What is the perspective of the author?
  • What does the source tell us about when it was written?
  • How does the source connect to the secondary essays in the chapter and to our lecture? In other words, what does the source tell us about broader historical themes and trends?


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Civil Rights Movement(s) 1940s-1970s African American Civil Rights Context • Jim Crow • Segregation: de jure and de facto • Disenfranchisement Strategies • Strategies: after WWII • Legal • Grassroots • Legal/NAACP— • Challenge constitutionality of legal Legal Strategies segregation (Plessy v. Ferguson) • Education: Oliver Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, 1954 Little Rock, 1957 • Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, 1955 • Martin Luther King, Jr. Grassroots Strategies • CORE/Freedom Rides, 1961 • Birmingham, 1963 • March on Washington, 1963 Rosa Parks, 1955 Freedom Rides, 1961 Freedom Riders Attacked, Alabama, 1961 Birmingham, 1963 Birmingham, 1963 March on Washington, 1963 March on Washington, 1963 March on Washington, 1963 Civil Rights Act, 1964 Voting Rights Act, 1965 Results End of legalized segregation, right to vote reinstated Racial liberalism Unfinished Work • Continuing economic inequality • Recall our discussion of race, housing, and wealth • Continuing institutionalized racism • We can see two glaring examples right now—police brutality and the criminal justice system-–to name just two • National myth of racism being “solved” • Perpetuated by many in power and those with the privilege of whiteness, that the Civil Rights movement solved the issue of racism in America and created a “level playing field.” • As historians we know this is simply not true • Racism and racial privilege and oppression continue in many overt and covert ways Tweet, 2020 Backlash Civil Rights Movements • Women’s Movement • Chicano/Latino Movement • Native American Movement • Asian American Movement • LBGTQ Movement • Student and Anti-War Movement Chapter 12 Readings • • Primary • 2: Federal Government Calls Segregation an International Embarrassment • 4: Supreme Court Rules that Segregation Causes Psychological Harm • 6: Nation Horrified by Birmingham Church Bombing • 10: Chicanas Assert a “Revolution Within a Revolution” Secondary • Mackenzie and Weisbrot—Lyndon Baines Johnson and other white liberals used the top-down tools of their government positions and of government power to push for enacting strong civil rights legislation. • MacLean—using provisions within federal law, women and women of color pushed for greater change based on both race and sex. Even as ordinary people, they used windows of opportunity to make laws work for them and to expand their personal and collective rights. • “Family wage”—legal concept prior to civil rights that women did not need to be ensured good wages, job security, or job advancement because they could depend on the incomes of their husbands. • EEOC—Equal Opportunity Employment Commission was the federal agency tasked with enforcing civil rights legislation—make sure states, employers, etc. complied with race and gender equality provisions. • NOW—National Organization of Women; feminist organization founded to advance the rights of women, particularly in areas of legal equality. East LA Walkouts Analysis Paper #1 During the late 1800s America became a major attraction for immigrants who came to America in hopes of prosperity, but many were dismayed to find that stories of success were not as attainable as they believed. Although immigrants came from a vast amount of countries, many faced the same struggles of feeling insecure, unwanted, harassed, and homesick. The documents from a Chinese immigrant in America and from a Slovenian boy in his home country depict the differences in the reality of life of immigrants in America and the perceived notion of success and wealth. The essays “Coming and Going: Round- Trip America” by Mark Wyman and “Permanently Lost: The Trauma of Immigration” by Victor Greene reiterate the struggles of financial need that pulled immigrants to America and the despair that persuaded them to accept the life in America that often destroyed their spirits and fooled others into migrating. In the document by the Chinese immigrant worker Lee Chew he speaks on the unjust treatment of Chinese immigrants who were constantly discriminated against as they attempted to pursue their dreams of obtaining wealth. Lee recounts how as a child seeing success from those who returned from America encouraged him to pursue the American dream just like people from all over the world were being encouraged to do the same. To Lee and every foreigner to the US that was filled with hope the American Dream was, “… to go to the country of the wizards and gain some of their wealth…” (Chew 72). Those dreams quickly vanished when as a man Lee experienced firsthand the brutal treatment of Chinese Immigrants in America. Through this treatment Lee grew to feel resentment towards men of other races which created bias in the recounting of his story where he interpreted Chinese men as being defenseless. In the document Chew states, “… China is not a fighting nation..” (Chew 73), which further proved that Lee was biased because he made the Chinese seem as mere victims which was not always the case. It also serves to demonstrate that immigrants of different races were not united instead more chaos erupted during this time because of the growing tensions within the immigrant communities. This document demonstrates the hidden truth behind the deceit filled lies that were told to hopeful immigrants upon beginning their journey to America. A document written by a Slovenian boy best demonstrates the illusions that many people were given by in the incredible success stories of immigrants in America, the success that very few were able to obtain and everyone yearned for. In the document the boy states, “In America everything was possible” (81), he like many others idolized the idea of going to America where they could shake the hands of the president and be treated as citizens. This demonstrates that the young boy was biased when it came to the topic of wealth in America because he had only heard success stories, therefore he like many others did not realize the prejudice that immigrants faced. This document which was written in 1909 came at a time where immigrants were wanted in America to fill unskilled workers positions and these success stories caused a rush of immigrants to immigrants to enter America. When Immigrants rushed to America they soon realized that their new life was not as they had intended it to be. In Victor Greene’s essay “Permanently Lost: The Trauma Of Immigration” he talks about the different situations immigrants faced in America and how they found a way to cope with these situations through music. Out of all the different nationalities he spoke of the Chinese seemed to have the hardest time in America since they were, “… the first immigrant group to suffer legally racial discrimination and prejudice…” (Greene 100). This relates to the article written by Lee Chew where he recounts his experiences in America of being victimized by others in America. Of course, this racial discrimination was kept hidden from the ears of hopeful immigrants in order to not discourage them from making their journey. Another important essay that distinguished immigrant life in America and the portrayal of America to other countries is Mark Wyman’s essay “Coming and Going: Round-Trip to America”. In his essay Wyman talks about how he believed that immigrants were accepting of their living and working conditions because migrating for work was nothing out of the ordinary. Wyman acknowledges that agents attempted to draw immigrants to America,” …pamphlets from American railroads and state immigration bureaus bombarded the would-be immigrant with statistics to support the agents’ claims” (Wyman 87). This demonstrates the tactics used on immigrants which relates to the document written by the Slovenian boy because seeing the wealth of the men who returned to their country was also another deceiving tactic used. The essay further relates to Chew’s document because Chew was also an immigrant drawn to America by the wealth of the men who returned to his land. Although both documents prove how immigrants were drawn to America neither provides support for Wyman’s argument on how immigrants knew and accepted their lifestyle in America. Each document and essay is significant in retelling the truth about immigrant’s journey and lives in America. The documents prove how immigrants were mislead into coming to America and how many managed to overcome the discrimination and daily challenges they faced in order to obtain money and return to the homeland. Lies and deceit brought people to a country that seemed prosperous but in reality discrimination and prejudice along with horrible living and working conditions is what awaited hopeful immigrants. MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY SERIES TITLES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE Allitt, Major Problems in American Religious History, 2nd ed., 2012 (ISBN 0-495-91243-3) Blaszczyk/Scranton, Major Problems in American Business History, 2006 (ISBN 0-618-04426-4) Block/Alexander/Norton, Major Problems in American Women’s History, 5th ed., 2014 (ISBN 1-133-95599-1) Boris/Lichtenstein, Major Problems in the History of American Workers, 2nd ed., 2003 (ISBN 0-618-0425407) Brown, Major Problems in the Era of the American Revolution, 1760–1791, 3rd ed., 2014 (ISBN 0-495-91332-4) Chambers/Piehler, Major Problems in American Military History, 1999 (ISBN 0-669-33538-X) Chan/Olin, Major Problems in California History, 1997 (ISBN 0-669-27588-3) Chudacoff/Baldwin, Major Problems in American Urban and Suburban History, 2nd ed., 2005 (ISBN 0-618-43276-0) Cobbs/Blum, Major Problems in American History, 4th ed., 2017 Volume I: To 1877 (ISBN 1-305-58529-1) Volume II: Since 1865 (ISBN 1-305-58530-5) Fink, Major Problems in the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, 3rd ed., 2015 (ISBN 1-285-43342-4) Franz/Smulyan, Major Problems in American Popular Culture, 2012 (ISBN 0-618-47481-1) Games/Rothman, Major Problems in Atlantic History, 2008 (ISBN 0-618-61114-2) Gordon, Major Problems in American History, 1920–1945, 2nd ed., 2011 (ISBN 0-547-14905-0) Griffith/Baker, Major Problems in American History since 1945, 4th ed., 2014 (ISBN 1-133-94414-0) Hall/Huebner, Major Problems in American Constitutional History, 2nd ed., 2010 (ISBN 0-608-54333-3) Haynes/Wintz, Major Problems in Texas History, 2nd ed. 2017 (ISBN 1-133-31008-7) Holt/Barkley Brown, Major Problems in African American History, 2000 Volume I: From Slavery to Freedom, 1619877 (ISBN 0-669-24991-2) Volume II: From Freedom to “Freedom Now,” 1865–1990s (ISBN 0-669-46293-4) Hurtado/Iverson, Major Problems in American Indian History, 3rd ed., 2015 (ISBN 1-133-94419-1) Continued on inside back cover Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. 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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 85300_end01_ptg01_hires.indd 1 11/09/15 7:36 PM Major Problems in American History Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY SERIES GENERAL EDITOR THOMAS G. PATERSON Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Major Problems in American History Volume II: Since 1865 Documents and Essays FOURTH EDITION EDITED BY ELIZABETH COBBS Texas A&M University EDWARD J. BLUM San Diego State University Australia • Brazil • Mexico • Singapore • United Kingdom • United States Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. 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Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Major Problems in American History, Volume II: Since 1865, Documents and Essays, Fourth Edition Elizabeth Cobbs/Edward J. Blum Product Director: Paul R. Banks Product Manager: Clint Attebery Content Developer: Alison Levy Product Assistant: Andrew Newton © 2017, 2012, 2007 Cengage Learning WCN: 02-200-203 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 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Find your local representative at www.cengage.com Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by Nelson Education, Ltd. To learn more about Cengage Learning Solutions, visit www.cengage.com Purchase any of our products at your local college store or at our preferred online store www.cengagebrain.com Printed in the United States of America Print Number: 01 Print Year: 2015 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. For our families, especially our children Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Contents P RE F A C E xvii i AB OUT T HE AUTHORS xx I N T R O D U C T I O N : H O W T O R E A D P R I M A R Y AN D S E C O N D A R Y SO U R C E S Chapter 1 xxi Reconstruction QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT DOCUMENTS 1 2 3 1. William Howard Day, an African American Minister, Salutes the Nation and a Monument to Abraham Lincoln, 1865 3 2. A Southern Songwriter Opposes Reconstruction, c. 1860s 5 3. Louisiana Black Codes Reinstate Provisions of the Slave Era, 1865 6 4. Congressman Thaddeus Stevens Demands a Radical Reconstruction, 1867 7 5. Thomas Nast Depicts Contrasting Views of Reconstruction 1866, 1869 9 6. Elizabeth Cady Stanton Questions Abolitionist Support for Female Enfranchisement, 1868 10 7. Charlotte Forten Reflects on Teaching Among Southern African Americans, 1863 11 8. Lucy McMillan, a Former Slave in South Carolina, Testifies About White Violence, 1871 13 9. Francis Miles Finch Mourns and Celebrates Civil War Soldiers from the South and North, 1867 14 vi Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. vii CONTENTS ESSAYS 16 Douglas A. Blackmon  Slavery by Another Name: The Re-enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II 16 Edward J. Blum  Reforging the White Republic: Race, Religion, and American Nationalism, 1865–1898 21 FURTHER READING Chapter 2 30 Western Settlement and the Frontier QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT DOCUMENTS 32 33 33 1. Irish Vocalist Sings of Slaying the Mormon “King,” c. 1865 2. María Amparo Ruíz de Burton and Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo Contemplate Marriage Between Mexicans and Yankees, 1867 35 34 3. Katie Bighead (Cheyenne) Remembers Custer and the Battle of Little Big Horn, 1876 35 4. Commissioner of Indian Affairs Recommends Severalty and Discusses Custer, 1876 37 5. Chief Joseph (Nez Percé) Surrenders, 1877 39 6. Chinese Immigrants Complain to Their Consulate, 1885 39 7. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner Articulates His “Frontier Thesis,” 1893 41 8. An Ex-Slave Recalls Migrating Across the Prairie, 1936 ESSAYS 42 44 Patricia Nelson Limerick  The Frontier as a Place of Ethnic and Religious Conflict 44 Maria Montoya  The Frontier as a Place of Global Competition and Gender Redefinition 53 FURTHER READING Chapter 3 61 Industrialization, Workers, and the New Immigration 63 QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT DOCUMENTS 64 64 1. Chinese Immigrant Lee Chew Denounces Prejudice in America, 1882 65 2. The Wasp Denounces “The Curse of California,” The Railroad Monopoly, 1882 67 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. viii CONTENTS 3. Poet Emma Lazarus Praises the New Colossus, 1883 67 4. Immigrant Thomas O’Donnell Laments the Worker’s Plight, 1883 68 5. Unionist Samuel Gompers Asks, “What Does the Working Man Want?” 1890 71 6. Jurgis Rudkus Discovers Drink in The Jungle, 1905 72 7. Chinese Excluded from Guatemala Ask for Help of the United States, 1907 74 8. A Slovenian Boy Remembers Tales of the Golden Country, 1909 76 9. A Polish Immigrant Remembers Her Father Got the Best Food, 1920 77 ESSAYS 78 Richard White  Creating the System: Railroads and the Modern Corporation 79 Erika Lee  Challenging the System: Chinese Evade the Exclusion Laws 86 FURTHER READING Chapter 4 94 Imperialism and World Power QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT 96 97 97 1. Singer Sells Sewing Machines to “Modern” Zulus, 1892 DOCUMENTS 98 2. Singer Sells American Notions of Progress for Women, 1897 99 3. President William McKinley Asks for War to Liberate Cuba, 1898 100 4. Governor Theodore Roosevelt Praises the Manly Virtues of Foreign Intervention, 1899 101 5. Filipino Leader Emilio Aguinaldo Rallies His People to Arms, 1899 102 6. The American Anti-Imperialist League Denounces U.S. Policy, 1899 103 7. Secretary of State William Hay Advocates an Open Door in China, 1899 & 1900 104 8. A Soldier Criticizes American Racism in the Philippines, 1902 105 9. Congress Steers the Philippines Towards Autonomy, 1916 105 ESSAYS 106 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. ix CONTENTS Paul A. Kramer  Racial Imperialism: America’s Takeover of the Philippines 107 Mona Domosh  The Empire of Commodities: Russian Resistance to American Economic Expansion 116 FURTHER READING Chapter 5 123 The Progressive Movement QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT 125 126 126 1. W. C. T. U. Blasts Drinking and Smoking, and Demands Power to Protect, 1883 127 2. Utopian Edward Bellamy Scorns the Callousness of the Rich, 1888 128 DOCUMENTS 3. Black Educator Booker T. Washington Advocates Compromise and Self-Reliance, 1901 129 4. NAACP Founder W. E. B. DuBois Denounces Compromise on Negro Education and Civil Rights, 1903 132 5. Journalist Lincoln Steffens Exposes the Shame of Corruption, 1904 133 6. Reformer Frederic Howe Compares America and Germany, 1911 134 7. Sociologist William Graham Sumner Denounces Reformers’ Fanaticism, 1913 136 8. English Suffragist Emmeline Pankhurst Recalls American Role Models, 1914 137 9. Cartoon Contrasts Virtuous Women’s Suffrage with Corrupt Boss Rule, 1915 138 ESSAYS 139 Michael MCGerr  Class, Gender, and Race at Home: The American Birthplace of Progressivism 139 Daniel T. Rodgers  American Progressivism in the Wider Atlantic World 147 FURTHER READING Chapter 6 155 World War I and the League of Nations QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT DOCUMENTS 156 157 157 1. Nobel Prize Winner Bertha Von Suttner Calls for Collective Security, 1905 158 2. President Woodrow Wilson Asks Congress to Declare War, 1917 159 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. x CONTENTS 3. Senator Robert M. La Follette Passionately Dissents, 1917 161 4. A Union Organizer Testifies to Vigilante Attack, 1917 162 5. Wilson Proposes a New World Order in the “Fourteen Points,” 1918 163 6. An Ambulance Surgeon Describes What It Was Like “Over There,” 1918 165 7. Egyptian Leaders Cheer On Woodrow Wilson, 1919 166 8. A Negro Leader Explains Why Colored Men Fought for America, 1919 167 9. Cartoonists Depict Congressional Opposition to the League of Nations, 1920 168 169 Jan Schulte-Nordhult  Woodrow Wilson: Out-of-Touch Dreamer 170 ESSAYS Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman  Woodrow Wilson: Man of His Times 178 FURTHER READING Chapter 7 186 Crossing a Cultural Divide: The Twenties QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT DOCUMENTS 187 188 188 1. The Governor of California Tells of the “Japanese Problem,” 1920 189 2. Radio Broadcast: “Modern Church Is No Bridge to Heaven,” 1923 190 3. Defense Attorney Clarence Darrow Interrogates Prosecutor William Jennings Bryan in the Monkey Trial, 1925 192 4. Arizonian Elías Sepulveda Feels Caught Between Worlds, 1926–1927 193 5. Margaret Sanger Seeks Pity for Teenage Mothers and Abstinent Couples, 1928 195 6. The Automobile Comes to Middletown, U.S.A., 1929 7. Young Women Discuss Petting, 1930 ESSAYS 197 198 199 Paula S. Fass  Sex and Youth in the Jazz Age 200 Edward J. Larson  Fundamentalists Battle Modernism in the Roaring Twenties 209 FURTHER READING 219 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. xi CONTENTS Chapter 8 The Depression, the New Deal, and Franklin D. Roosevelt 220 QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT 221 221 1. President Herbert Hoover Applauds Limited Government, 1931 222 DOCUMENTS 2. The Nation Asks, “Is It to Be Murder, Mr. Hoover?” 1932 223 3. Communist Party Leader Prophesizes a Soviet America, 1932 225 4. President Franklin D. Roosevelt Says Government Must Act, 1933 227 5. W. P. Kiplinger Tells “Why Businessmen Fear Washington,” 1934 228 6. California Evangelist Louis Bauman Warns of the Antichrist, 1937 230 7. Social Security Advisers Consider Male and Female Pensioners, 1938 231 8. John Steinbeck Portrays the Outcast Poor in The Grapes of Wrath, 1939 232 234 David M. Kennedy  FDR: Advocate for the American People ESSAYS Matthew Avery Sutton  FDR: The Anti-Christ FURTHER READING Chapter 9 235 244 253 The Ordeal of World War II QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT 255 256 256 1. American Missionaries Speak Out About the Rape of Nanking, 1937 257 2. Nurses Rush to Aid the Wounded on the U.S. Naval Base in Hawaii, 1941 258 DOCUMENTS 3. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill Reacts to Pearl Harbor, 1941 259 4. Roosevelt Identifies the “Four Freedoms” at Stake in the War, 1941 261 5. Canadian-Japanese Mother Writes About Her Coming Internment, 1942 263 6. Office of War Information Shows What GIs Are Fighting for: “Freedom from Want,” 1943 264 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. xii CONTENTS 7. An African American Soldier Notes the “Strange Paradox” of the War, 1944 265 8. A Gunner Fears His Luck Is Running Out, 1944 266 9. Senator Lyndon Johnson Defends a Mexican American Killed in Action, 1949 268 ESSAYS 269 Ira Katznelson  Fighting Fear—and for Civilization Itself John Morton Blum  G.I. Joe: Fighting for Home 276 FURTHER READING Chapter 10 269 284 The Global Cold War and the Nuclear Age QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT DOCUMENTS 285 286 286 1. French Leader Charles de Gaulle Warns the United States, 1945 287 2. Independence Leader Ho Chi Minh Pleads with Harry Truman for Support, 1946 288 3. Diplomat George F. Kennan’s Telegram Advocates Containment, 1946 289 4. Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace Questions the “Get Tough” Policy, 1946 290 5. Sir Winston Churchill Warns of an Iron Curtain, 1946 292 6. The Truman Doctrine Calls for the United States to Become the World’s Police, 1947 293 7. Americans Struggle to Make Sense of Nuclear Destruction: Atomic Cake vs. Godzilla, 1948 and 1954 294 8. Senator Joseph McCarthy Describes the Internal Communist Menace, 1950 295 9. New York Times Expresses Horror at Soviet Tanks in Budapest, 1956 296 ESSAYS 297 Walter Lafeber  Truman’s Hard Line Prompted the Cold War 298 Mark Atwood Lawrence  Cold War Vietnam: A Mistake of the Western Alliance 306 FURTHER READING Chapter 11 319 The Postwar “Boom”: Affluence and Anxiety 320 QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT 321 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. xiii CONTENTS DOCUMENTS 321 1. New Yorker Cartoon Contrasts the Perfect Life with the Cold War, 1947 322 2. Senator Kenneth Wherry Pledges to Expel Homosexual “Security Risks,” 1950 323 3. Senate Committee Investigates the Harms of Comic Books, 1954 324 4. Good Housekeeping: Every Executive Needs a Perfect Wife, 1956 326 5. Harlem Disc Jockey Counters Racist Opposition to Rock ’n’ Roll, 1956 327 6. Egyptian Youth Rock Out, 1957 327 7. Life Magazine Identifies the New Teenage Market, 1959 328 8. Newspaper Survey: Are You a Conformist or a Rebel?, 1959 329 9. Feminist Betty Friedan Describes the Problem That Has No Name, 1963 330 ESSAYS 332 Elaine Tyler May  Men and Women: Life in the Nuclear Cocoon 332 Glen Altschuler  Children: “All Shook Up” 340 FURTHER READING Chapter 12 347 “We Can Do Better”: The Civil Rights Revolution 348 QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT 349 DOCUMENTS 349 1. The United Nations Approves a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 350 2. Federal Government Calls Segregation an International Embarrassment, 1952 351 3. French Caribbean Psychiatrist Frantz Fanon Writes of “Black Skin, White Masks,” 1952 353 4. The Supreme Court Rules That Segregation Causes Psychological Harm in Brown v. Board, 1954 355 5. Southern Congressmen Protest Supreme Court Decision, 1956 356 6. Nation Horrified by Birmingham Church Bombing, 1963 7. ACLU Lawyer Philip Hirschkop Argues for Freedom of Marriage, Loving vs. Virginia, 1967 358 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 357 xiv CONTENTS 8. Indians Offer $24 in Trade Beads for Alcatraz Island, 1969 360 9. Federal Court Defends Rights of the Disabled, 1971 361 10. Chicanas Assert a “Revolution Within a Revolution,” 1972 362 363 G. Gavin Mackenzie and Robert Weisbrot  The Liberal Hour: Top Down Determination 364 Nancy MacLean  Doing the Job of Change from the Bottom Up 369 ESSAYS FURTHER READING Chapter 13 376 The Sixties and Vietnam QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT 378 379 379 1. A South Vietnamese Farmer Explains Why He Joined the Liberation Movement, 1961 (1986) 380 DOCUMENTS 2. Students for a Democratic Society Advance a Reform Agenda, 1962 381 3. California Governor Ronald Reagan Warns of a Welfare State, 1964 382 4. Undersecretary of State George Ball Urges Withdrawal from Vietnam, 1965 383 5. Draftee Sebastian A. Ilacqua Recalls Coming Back to “The World,” 1967 (1995) 385 6. Poster: Folk Singer Joan Baez and Her Sisters Say Yes to Men Who Say No, 1968 387 7. Rock Band “Country Joe and The Fish” Lampoons Middle Class Values and the Vietnam War, 1968 387 8. Yippies Face Down the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, 1968 388 9. Vice President Spiro Agnew Warns of the Threat to America, 1969 389 10. Carl Wittman Issues a Gay Manifesto, 1969–1970 ESSAYS 390 391 Kenneth Cmiel  Sixties Liberalism and the Revolution in Manners 391 Frederik Logevall  Johnson’s War: Flawed Decisions, Terrible Consequences 399 FURTHER READING 407 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. CONTENTS Chapter 14 The Emergence of the New Right QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT DOCUMENTS xv 408 409 409 1. Country Singer Merle Haggard Is Proud To Be An “Okie From Muskogee,” 1969 410 2. Senate Airs Dirtiest Secrets of Cold War, 1975 411 3. Republican Activist Phyllis Schlafly Scorns Feminism, 1977 413 4. Californians Lead Tax Revolt, 1978 414 5. Reverend Jerry Falwell Summons America Back to the Bible, 1980 415 6. President Ronald Reagan Defines the Cold War in Religious Terms, 1983 417 7. British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Applauds American Policy, 1985 419 8. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop Argues for Extending American Values to AIDS Victims, 1987 421 9. Sierra Club Attacks Reagan and Calls for “Reconstruction,” 1988 423 ESSAYS 424 H.W. Brands  Liberalism: A Passing Phenomenon 424 Paul Boyer  Evangelical Conservatism: A New Phenomenon 432 FURTHER READING Chapter 15 444 End of the Cold War and Rise of Terrorism QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT DOCUMENTS 445 446 446 1. Mikhail Gorbachev Declares Peace, and Unilateral Arms Reductions, at the UN, 1988 447 2. President George H. W. Bush Pronounces the Cold War Over, 1990 448 3. Osama Bin Laden Declares Jihad Against America, 1998 449 4. Two Workers Flee the Inferno in the Twin Towers, 2001 450 5. President George W. Bush Articulates a New Defense Strategy, 2002 453 6. ACLU Warns Against the “Patriot Act,” 2002 454 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. xvi CONTENTS 7. Senator Robert Byrd Condemns Post-9/11 Foreign Policy, 2003 455 8. Democratic and Republican Senators Urge President Obama to Bring Troops Home, 2011 456 ESSAYS 457 Norman Graebner, Richard Dean Burns, and Joseph Siracusa  RussianAmerican Cooperation Ended the Cold War 458 Geir Lundestad  The Illusion of Omnipotence in a Complex World 465 FURTHER READING Chapter 16 473 Globalization and the Economic Challenge QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT 474 475 475 1. A Unionist Blasts the Export of Jobs, 1987 DOCUMENTS 475 2. President Bill Clinton Calls for Reinvestment in America, 1993 476 3. Activists Demand “No Globalization Without Representation,” 1999 477 4. Latino Immigrants Create Multinational Soccer League in St. Louis, 2008 478 5. The Great Recession Has Men Grinding Their Teeth, 2010 479 6. Pope Francis Denounces Trickle-Down Economics, 2013 480 7. President Barack Obama Calls Attention to Growing Inequality, 2013 481 8. Economist Robert Samuelson Blogs That Income Gap Is Exaggerated, 2014 483 9. Tiger Mother Challenges Americans to Become More Chinese, 2011 484 ESSAYS 485 Walter Lafeber  Michael Jordan and the New Capitalism: America on Top of Its Game 486 Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum  Globalization: America Needs to Rethink Its Game 491 FURTHER READING 503 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Preface History is a matter of interpretation. Individual scholars rescue particular stories from the hubbub of human experience, analyze patterns, and offer arguments about how these events reflected or reshaped human society at a given moment. This means that other historians might select different stories, perceive different patterns, and arrive at contrasting interpretations of the same time period or even the same event. All scholars use evidence, but the choice and interpretation of evidence are to some extent an expression of professional judgment. History is not separate from historians. The goal of Major Problems in American History is to place meat on this barebones description of how the study of the past “works.” Like most instructors, we want students to learn and remember important facts, yet we also want to make clear that historians sometimes disagree on what is important. And, even when historians agree on which facts are noteworthy, they may disagree on what a certain piece of evidence signifies. For example, scholars agree fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, but they debate why these colonists felt compelled to take that dramatic step—and others did not. The two volumes that comprise this book bring together primary documents and secondary sources on the major debates in American history. The primary sources give students evidence to work with. They represent a mix of the familiar and unfamiliar. Certain documents are a must in any compilation for a survey course because they had a powerful, widely noted impact on American history, such as Tom Paine’s Common Sense (1776) or President Roosevelt’s first inaugural address (1933). We have also selected pieces that evoke the personal experiences of individuals, such as letters, sermons, speeches, political cartoons, poems, and memoirs. There are accounts from European explorers, pioneer women on the frontier, immigrant workers, soldiers, eyewitnesses to the terrors of World War I, and children in rebellion against their parents during the 1960s. These documents often show conflicting points of view, from the “bottom up,” the “top down,” and various layers in the middle. xvii Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. xviii PREFACE The secondary sources in these volumes fulfill a different goal. They expose students to basic historical debates about each broad period. Sometimes we focus on classic debates, combining very recent essays with seasoned pieces by eminent historians who set the terms of discussion for an entire generation or more. Other times we have selected essays that do not disagree openly—but show that young scholars are sometimes of different minds about the most revealing approach to a subject. Our purpose is to make contrasts as clear as possible for students who are just learning to distinguish interpretation from fact and to discern argument within description. In addition, the essays often make direct reference to the primary documents. This allows students to examine how the historian uses primary documents—fairly, or not. The students, therefore, can debate the use of sources and the differing historical conclusions to which they may lead. Volume II, prepared by Elizabeth Cobbs in collaboration with Edward J. Blum, begins with Reconstruction and ends in the second decade of the twenty-first century. This volume examines some of the catastrophic and transformative events of the century, such as World Wars I and II. It looks as well at the enduring themes of U.S. history, including the periodic waves of reform that have defined the nation since its inception and the impact of changing technologies on workers, families, and industries. The transformation of gender expectations and race relations are highlighted throughout the volume. This book follows the same general format as other volumes in the Major Problems in American History series. Each chapter begins with a short introduction that orients the student. After this, we include a section called “Questions to Think About” to help students focus their reading of the subsequent material. Next come seven to ten primary documents, followed by two essays that highlight contrasting interpretations. Headnotes at the start of the documents and essays help readers identify key themes and debates. These headnotes show how documents relate to each other and how the essays differ in perspective. Each chapter concludes with a brief “Further Reading” section to tempt readers into further research. In addition, at the start of the volume, we give suggestions on how to read sources and critically analyze their content, points of view, and implications. This introduction encourages students to draw their own conclusions and use evidence to back them up. New to the Fourth Edition The fourth edition makes several changes to previous editions. We have retained many documents and essays that reviewers told us worked well in their survey courses, but each chapter has also been updated to reflect the latest scholarship and replace excerpts that instructors found difficult to use. Recognizing that America’s story is getting longer with time (and some instructors minimize attention to Reconstruction in the second half of the survey course), Chapters 15 and 16 now bring American history up through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Great Recession that began in 2008. Heeding advice from professors Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. xix PREFACE around the nation, the fourth edition incorporates more voices of everyday folk. Lastly, in the biggest change, we have included at least one document in every chapter that reflects globalization: the ways that the experiences of people in other parts of the world affected or paralleled those of Americans. Documents and essays in the fourth edition highlight the connections between domestic and world trends, consistent with recent initiatives in our profession to internationalize U.S. history. All content is also available in MindTap, Cengage Learning’s fully online, highly personalized learning experience. In MindTap, students will practice critical thinking skills relevant to each primary and secondary source in every chapter. Learn more at www.cengage.com. Acknowledgments Many friends and colleagues have contributed to these volumes. In the fourth edition we particularly wish to thank John Putman and Andrew Wiese from San Diego State University; Brian Balogh of the University of Virginia; Drew Cayton at Miami University of Ohio; Mona Domosh of Dartmouth University; Rebecca Goetz of Rice University; Paul Harvey of the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs; Eric Hinderaker at University of Utah; Anthony Kaye of Penn State University; Bruce Levine of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Phil Morgan of Johns Hopkins; Maria Montoya of Princeton University; Bruce Schulman of Boston University; Jason Scott Smith of the University of New Mexico; James Stewart of Macalester College; and Matthew Avery Sutton of Washington State University. We also wish to thank our students. They inspire and teach us. For this edition, we received detailed and extremely helpful outside reviews from Marc Abrams, Penn State University; Robert Bionaz, Chicago State University; David Brodnax, Trinity Christian College; Cara Converse, Moorpark College; Todd Estes, Oakland University; Peter Kuryla, Belmont University; Bernard Maegi, Normandale Community College; Todd Michney, Tulane University; Stephen Rockenbach, Virginia State University; and Robert Schultz, Illinois Wesleyan University. Thomas G. Paterson, the editor of the Major Problems series, provided sound advice. We are obliged to our editor at Cengage Learning, Alison Levy, for her kind encouragement, insightful recommendations, and help in a pinch. The life of the mind is exceptionally fulfilling, but it is happiest when set within the life of the family. We wish to express our deep gratitude to our families, especially our children, to whom this book is dedicated. E. C. E. J. B. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. About the Authors Elizabeth Cobbs, Professor and Melbern G. Glasscock Chair in American History at Texas A&M University, has won literary prizes for both history and fiction. Her books include American Umpire (2013), Broken Promises: A Novel of the Civil War (2011), All You Need Is Love: The Peace Corps and the 1960s (2000), and The Rich Neighbor Policy (1992). She has served on the jury for the Pulitzer Prize in History and on the Historical Advisory Committee of the U.S. State Department. She has received awards and fellowships from the Fulbright Commission, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Organization of American States, and other distinguished institutions. She presently holds a Research Fellowship at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Jerusalem Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, China Daily News, Washington Independent, San Diego Union, and Reuters. Her current projects include a history of women soldiers in World War I and a novel on the life of Alexander Hamilton. Edward J. Blum is professor of history at the San Diego State University. A scholar of religion and race, he is the co-author of The Color of Christ: The Son of God and the Saga of Race in America (2012) and the author of W. E. B. Du Bois, American Prophet (2007) and Reforging the White Republic: Race, Religion, and American Nationalism, 1865–1898 (2005). An award-winning author and teacher, Blum is currently at work on a project that explores issues of radical evil during the era of the Civil War. xx Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. Introduction: How to Read Primary and Secondary Sources College study encompasses a number of subjects. Some disciplines, such as mathematics, are aimed at establishing indisputable proofs. Students learn methods to discover the path to a single correct answer. History is different. Unlike math, it is focused much more on interpretation. Historians study and analyze sources to construct arguments about the past. They generally understand there is no “right” answer, even if some arguments are more reasonable than others. They search less for absolute truth than for understanding. A historical imagination is useful in creating these interpretations. People in the past thought and acted differently from how we do today. Their views of science, religion, and the roles of women and men—to cite only a few examples—were not the same as our views. When historians create an argument about the past, they must imagine and investigate a world unlike the one we now inhabit. They must use empathy and suspend judgment to develop knowledge. The problems in U.S. history on which this text focuses, then, are different from math problems. They are a series of issues in the American past that might be addressed, discussed, and debated, but not necessarily solved. This text provides readers with two tools to grapple with these problems: primary and secondary sources. A primary source is a piece of evidence that has survived from the period. Primary sources may include pictures, artifacts, music, and written texts. They have survived in a number of ways. Archaeologists uncover shards of pottery and other interesting trash when digging up lost civilizations; ethnologists transcribe campfire stories; and economists numerically measure past behavior. Historians, however, generally scrutinize surviving written sources. This volume by and large uses written texts, from political tracts to private letters to cartoons. Some of the documents are transcriptions, that is, texts written by someone who noted what another person said. Sometimes the texts are memoirs, xxi Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. xxii INTRODUCTION in which a person recounts an event they personally experienced long before. On these occasions, you will see two dates: one that tells the year of the events and a second in parentheses that tells the year in which the memoir was written. Historians treat primary sources with caution. First of all, we consider whether a source is really from the period under consideration. You might occasionally read stories in the newspaper about paintings that had been attributed to famous artists but were later discovered to be frauds by an unknown copyist. When the fraud is discovered, the painting’s value plummets. The same is true of a primary source. A letter alleged to have been written by George Washington clearly could not reveal his innermost thoughts if it was forged in 1910. But we should also be aware of the opposite: not all pieces of evidence have survived to the present. And there may be inherent bias in one point of view surviving and another being lost. The experiences of slaveholders, for example, were more commonly written and published than those of slaves. Because slaves (and others, such as Native Americans) were rarely given the opportunity to publish their thoughts, they have bequeathed fewer written sources, many as transcriptions. As essential as transcriptions are in reconstructing the past, we must be critical of them, too. Did the people writing down the spoken words accurately set them to paper or did they edit them and inject their own thoughts? In the case of memoirs, how much might current events affect memories of the past? Once we consider the validity of sources and understand that some were more likely to survive than others, another reason to critique sources is that they are not necessarily “objective” portrayals of the past. By nature, they are points of view. Like anyone in a society, the writer of each primary source provides us with his or her viewpoint. It gives us a window through which to view the world, complete with the blind spots of the author. When we read about the American Revolution, for example, we will see many different perspectives on the events leading up to the Declaration of Independence. Those who opposed independence saw events very differently from those who supported the movement. We have often read about advocates of independence who saw the British government as a threat to American freedom. They believed the thirteen colonies would be better off as one independent nation. Americans for generations have viewed this as a truly heroic episode. But others at the time did not think that independence was the correct course. A substantial minority opposed independence because they felt more secure in the British Empire. Countless members of Indian nations were suspicious of the intentions of the American “patriots” and remained loyal to the king. African American slaves were often leery of the aims of their patriot owners. The fact that people had different viewpoints allows us to grapple with multiple perspectives on the past. When you are reading the documents in this volume, we urge you to look at each one critically. We are certain that these are valid sources, not forgeries, so your job is to ponder the implications of each document. Consider both the document and its author. Who wrote or spoke the words in the document? What was his or her reason for expressing those thoughts? Given the various authors’ background and motivations, what were their perspectives and potential Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. INTRODUCTION xxiii biases? How did they see the world differently from the way others did? And, why do you think these different perspectives existed? Whose viewpoint do you agree with most? Why? It is not too much to say that the student of history is like a detective who seeks clues to reveal the lives and events of the past. In addition to primary sources, each chapter in this volume contains two essays that represent what we call a secondary source. A secondary source is so named because it is one step removed from the primary source. Secondary sources are the work of historians who have conducted painstaking research in primary documents. These essays represent some of their findings about the past. You will notice that the writers do not necessarily reach similar conclusions as one another. On the contrary, they illustrate differing opinions about which events were important, why they occurred, and how they affect us today. Hence secondary sources, like primary sources, do not provide us with uncontestable “truth” even when based on verifiable facts. Rather, historians’ conclusions vary just as your ideas about the documents might differ from those of someone else in your class. And they differ for a number of reasons. First, interpretations are influenced by the sources on which they depend. Occasionally, a historian might uncover a cache of primary sources heretofore unknown to other scholars, and these new sources might shed new light on a topic. Here again historians operate like detectives. Second and more important, however, historians carry their own perspectives to the research. As they read secondary sources, analyze primary texts, and imagine the past, historians may develop arguments that differ in emphasis from those developed by others. As they combine their analyses with their own perspectives, they create an argument to explain the past. Personal point of view and even society’s dominant point of view may influence their thinking. If analyzing sources resembles working as a detective, writing history is similar to being a judge who attempts to construct the most consistent argument from the sources and information at hand. And historians can be sure that those who oppose their viewpoints will analyze their use of sources and the logic of their argument. Those who disagree with them—and that might include you—will criticize them if they make errors of fact or logic. The essays were selected for this text in part because they reflect differing conclusions. For example, why did the United States intervene in World War I? For decades, historians have given us a number of answers. Some have said that Woodrow Wilson foolishly broke with a tradition of non-entanglement dating back to George Washington. Others say that Wilson wisely recognized that a changed world required changes in America’s international role. Or what are we to make of the 1950s? Some historians have celebrated this period as a flowering of American prosperity, unity, and democracy. Others have noted that only whites could vote in many parts of the South, and McCarthyism suppressed freedom of conscience and personal choice. Or how do we now make sense of the Vietnam War, five decades after the first American troops landed? Was it “a terrible mistake” that undermined confidence in the United Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. xxiv INTRODUCTION States in the words of one of its architects, or was it, in President Ronald Reagan’s words, a “noble cause”? An important question left unanswered in all of these chapters is what you think is the correct interpretation. In the end, you may not agree completely with any of the essayists. In fact, you might create your own argument that uses primary sources found here and elsewhere and that accepts parts of one essay and parts of another. Once you do this, you become a historian, a person who attempts to analyze texts critically, and is personally engaged with the topic. If that occurs, this volume is a success. When we discuss the discipline of history with friends and strangers, we typically get one of two responses. The first is something like “I hated history in school.” The other is something like “history was my favorite subject.” Invariably the people who hated history refer to the boring facts they had to memorize. Those who loved history remember a teacher or professor who brought the subject alive by imaginatively invoking the past. As we have tried to show, history is not about memorizing boring facts but rather an active enterprise of thought and interpretation. Historians are not rote learners. Instead, historians are detectives and judges, people who investigate, interpret, and reimagine what happened. They study the past to understand the world in which we live today. Facts are important, but they are building blocks in a larger enterprise of interpretation. In sum, our intent is to show how primary and secondary sources can aid you in understanding and interpreting major problems in the American past. We also aim to keep that group of people who hate history as small as possible and expand that group who embrace history with passion. Frankly, the latter are more fun. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. CHAPTER 1 Reconstruction Many nations that have a civil war end up having more civil wars. The reasons for the originating conflict are often unresolved. In the case of the United States, the epic struggle from 1861 to 1865 did not lead to another full-blown military encounter. Instead, the states that had seceded were quickly reincorporated into the legal fold of the nation; Confederate leaders and civilians were reconstituted as citizens; and the key political problems that caused the war—slavery and its future in the territories and states—were resolved. Three new constitutional amendments transformed the nation’s founding document to make certain of this final point. The questions for Reconstruction were many, but the central ones were how would the United States avoid another violent war? What would be the status of people formerly owned by other people? What would be the status of those who had committed treason against the government? How would the nation develop economically and territorially into the West now that slavery was not an option? Even before the Civil War ended, President Lincoln and congressional leaders puzzled over how best to reintegrate the people of the South into the Union. Before he was assassinated, President Lincoln proposed a “10 percent plan,” which would have allowed a state government to reestablish itself once one-tenth of those who had voted in 1860 took an oath of loyalty to the United States. Radicals in Congress were appalled by the seemingly lenient plan and pushed through their own bill, which increased the proportion to one-half of the voters who were required to swear that they had never supported secession. Lincoln’s assassination cut short this increasingly scathing debate and drastically altered the mood of Reconstruction. Political disagreements over Reconstruction policy were vast, and the strategies advocated were so varied that Reconstruction took a crooked road. As approaches to rebuilding the South shifted, the hopes among some to transform Southern society grew and then were dashed. Despite important legal precedents that were made in the era, many of the social, political, and economic conventions that had characterized antebellum society endured after Reconstruction ended. Eventually, the racial system of segregation came to replace the system of slavery. Although people differed on what was the best policy for Reconstruction, everyone agreed that the Confederate states were in dire straits and the primary goal of 1 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 2 MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY Reconstruction was to reincorporate those states politically and socially into the Union. The war had devastated the South: cities lay in ruins; two-thirds of Southern railroads had been destroyed; and at least one-third of its livestock had disappeared. Likewise, the abolition of slavery unalterably transformed Southern society at the same time that it gave hope to people freed from their bondage. With Andrew Johnson, a Democrat before the war, becoming president after Lincoln’s assassination, congressional Republicans struggled to determine how Reconstruction would function. Johnson looked to placate Southern whites, which infuriated many Republicans. After the Republican Party won a resounding victory in the elections of 1866, Congress reconvened in 1867 and set out to punish rebellious Southern whites while offering more rights and freedoms to African Americans. While politicians in Washington engineered Reconstruction, Southerners forged new social conventions that would also be extremely important in the future. The lives of former slaves changed dramatically changed, and freed women and men expressed their understanding of freedom in a variety of ways. Significantly, many African Americans played important roles in the new Republican Party of the South, and by 1868 black men were seated for the first time in Southern state legislatures. These political gains, however, were short-lived. In spite of the electoral successes of African Americans, the Democratic Party enjoyed increasing political success in the South as former Confederates eventually had their political rights restored. Changes in the electorate in conjunction with intimidation shifted the trajectory of Reconstruction once again as radical transformation was replaced with a movement toward the white South’s goals for reclaiming the world they had known before the Civil War. When Reconstruction ended is hard to say. Perhaps it was when the last Southern states reentered the union in 1870. Perhaps it was after the 1876 presidential election. Perhaps it was not until 1898 when former foes fought together in the Spanish-American War. If Reconstruction meant finding an equitable solution to the tragedy of slavery, then perhaps Reconstruction is not yet over. In any event, interest in Southern problems waned considerably in the North in 1873, when the nation was rocked by a financial panic that led Americans into a depression lasting six years. Scandal and depression weakened the Republican Party. Then the Supreme Court gutted much of the civil rights legislation. In many ways, Americans of the twentieth century lived in the shadow of Reconstruction, and it was for that reason that D.W. Griffith’s cinematic marvel The Birth of a Nation (1915) was not a story of the American Revolution. It was a tale of American Reconstruction. QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT What were the failures of Reconstruction and what were its successes? Why did it collapse, to the extent that it did? How successful was the Union in reincorporating the Southern states and people? Did Reconstruction come to an end primarily because the North abandoned it or because it was opposed by the white South? How did African Americans feel about the possibilities and the terrors of Reconstruction? Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. RECONSTRUCTION 3 DOCUMENTS The first three documents represent the diversity of feelings at the end of the war regarding the federal government and rights for African Americans. Document 1 is an oration given by William Howard Day, an African American minister, in 1865. Notice how—unlike African Americans before the Civil War—he now celebrated the federal government. Day proclaimed the Fourth of July as “our day,” the United States as “our nation,” and Washington, D.C., as “our capital.” In the South, though, many whites opposed the federal government and wanted to keep former slaves as second-class citizens. Document 2 is a song from the South where the white vocalist proclaims his hatred for the federal government. In law, many Southern states enacted “black codes” immediately after the war, one of which is given in document 3. This example from Louisiana in 1865 illustrates the many ways in which the rights of “freedom” were abridged. The next four documents show contrasting agendas in the North. In document 4 Thaddeus Stevens, a Radical representative in Congress, argues for passage of the Reconstruction Act of 1867 because he believes that only an unfaltering federal presence will prevent “traitors” from ruling the South. Document 5 provides pictorial views of Reconstruction. On one hand, there is Andrew Johnson’s embrace of Southern whites; on another, there is federal endorsement of difference and diversity. Note in the Thanksgiving depiction how women and men of various backgrounds share a moment of social equality. In document 6, however, Elizabeth Cady Stanton draws attention to rights that went largely overlooked during the era: women’s rights. The next two documents show frustrations with the civil rights agendas of Reconstruction. Documents 7 and 8 show the possibilities and perils of Reconstruction. The first showcases how efforts to educate former slaves after the war brought some northern African American women to the South and how the experience altered their perspectives. Document 8 is the testimony of a freed woman about the violence of the Ku Klux Klan. The final document details sectional feelings at the end of the century. Document 9, “The Blue and the Gray,” expresses the hopes for North– South reconciliation in the form of mutual love and respect for white Union and Confederate soldiers. 1. William Howard Day, an African American Minister, Salutes the Nation and a Monument to Abraham Lincoln, 1865 … We meet under new and ominous circumstances to-day. We come to the National Capital—our Capital—with new hopes, new prospects, new joys, in view of the future and past of the people; and yet with that joy fringed, tinged, Celebration by the Colored People’s Educational Monument Association (1865). Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 4 MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY permeated by a sorrow unlike any, nationally, we have ever known. A few weeks since all that was mortal of Abraham Lincoln was laid away to rest. And to-day, after the funeral cortege has passed, weeping thoughts march through our hearts— when the muffled drum has ceased to beat in a procession five hundred, aye, two thousand miles long, the chambers of your souls are still echoing the murmur—and though the coffin has been lowered into its place, “dust to dust,” there ever falls across our way the coffin’s shadow, and, standing in it, we come to-day to rear a monument to his blessed memory, and again to pledge our untiring resistance to the tyranny by which he fell, whether it be in the iron manacles of the slave, or in the unjust written manacles for the free…. Up to now our nation,… [t]he shout of the freeman and the wail of the bondman have, I repeat, always been heard together, making “harsh discords.” Hitherto a damning crime has run riot over the whole land. North and South alike were inoculated with its virus. It has lain like a gangrene upon the national life, until the nation, mortified, broke in twain. The hand of slavery ever moulded the Christianity of the nation, and wrote the national songs. What hand wrote the laws of the nation and marked this National District all over with scars? What hand went into the Capitol and half murdered Charles Sumner, nature’s nobleman?… All the heroes of all the ages, bond and free, have labored to secure for us the right we rejoice in to-day. To the white and colored soldiers of this war, led on as they were by our noble President and other officers, in the presence of some of whom I rejoice to-day, are we indebted, in the providence of God, for our present position. For want of time, I pass by any more detailed mention of the noble men and their noble deeds. Together they nobly labored—together they threw themselves into the breach which rebellion had made across the land, and thus closed up that breach forever. And now, in their presence, living and dead, as over the prostrate form of our leader, Abraham Lincoln—by the edge of bloodred waves, still surging, we pledge our resistance to tyranny, (I repeat,) whether in the iron manacles of the slave, or in the unjust written manacles of the free…. It is related in the diary of one of the writers of old that when the slave trade was at its height, a certain vessel loaded with its human freight started under the frown of God and came over the billows of the ocean. Defying God and man alike, in the open daylight, the slave was brought up from the hold and chained to the foot of the mast. The eye of the Omnipotent saw it, and bye and bye the thunders muttered and the lightnings played over the devoted vessel. At length the lightning leaped upon the mast and shivered it, and, as it did this, also melted the fetter which fastened the black slave to it; and he arising unhurt, for the first time walked the deck a free man. Our ship of state, the Union, has for eighty years gone careering over the billows; our slave has been chained to our mast in the open daylight, and in the focal blaze of the eighteen centuries gone by, and we have hurried on in our crime regardless alike of the muttering of the thunder and the flashes of the lightning, until in one devoted hour the thunderbolt was sped from the hand of God. The mast was shivered; the ship was saved; but, thank God, the slave was free…. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. RECONSTRUCTION 5 2. A Southern Songwriter Opposes Reconstruction, c. 1860s O, I’m a good old Rebel, Now that’s just what I am, For this “Fair Land of Freedom” I do not care at all; I’m glad I fit against it– I only wish we’d won, And I don’t want no pardon For anything I done. I hates the Constitution, This Great Republic too, I hates the Freedman’s Buro, In uniforms of blue; I hates the nasty eagle, With all his brags and fuss, The lyin’, thievin’ Yankees, I hates ‘em wuss and wuss. I hates the Yankee nation And everything they do, I hates the Declaration Of Independence too; I hates the glorious Union – ‘Tis dripping with our blood – I hates their striped banner, I fit it all I could.… Three hundred thousand Yankees Is stiff in Southern dust; We got three hundred thousand Before they conquered us; They died of Southern fever And Southern steel and shot, I wish they was three million Instead of what we got. “O, I’m a Good Old Rebel,” c. 1860s. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 6 MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY I can’t take up my musket And fight ‘em now no more, But I ain’t going to love ‘em, Now that is sarten sure; And I don’t want no pardon For what I was and am, I won’t be reconstructed And I don’t care a damn. 3. Louisiana Black Codes Reinstate Provisions of the Slave Era, 1865 Section 1. Be it therefore ordained by the board of police of the town of Opelousas. That no negro or freedman shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town of Opelousas without special permission from his employers, specifying the object of his visit and the time necessary for the accomplishment of the same…. Section 2. Be it further ordained, That every negro freedman who shall be found on the streets of Opelousas after 10 o’clock at night without a written pass or permit from his employer shall be imprisoned and compelled to work five days on the public streets, or pay a fine of five dollars. Section 3. No negro or freedman shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within the limits of the town under any circumstances, and any one thus offending shall be ejected and compelled to find an employer or leave the town within twenty-four hours…. Section 4. No negro or freedman shall reside within the limits of the town of Opelousas who is not in the regular service of some white person or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conduct of said freedman…. Section 5. No public meetings or congregations of negroes or freedmen shall be allowed within the limits of the town of Opelousas under any circumstances or for any purpose without the permission of the mayor or president of the board…. Section 6. No negro or freedman shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people without a special permission from the mayor or president of the board of police…. Section 7. No freedman who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry firearms, or any kind of weapons, within the limits of the town of Opelousas without the special permission of his employer, in writing, and approved by the mayor or president of the board of police…. Condition of the South, Senate Executive Document No. 2, 39 Cong., 1 Sess., pp. 92–93. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. RECONSTRUCTION 7 Section 8. No freedman shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within the limits of Opelousas without permission in writing from his employer or the mayor or president of the board…. Section 9. Any freedman found drunk within the limits of the town shall be imprisoned and made to labor five days on the public streets, or pay five dollars in lieu of said labor. Section 10. Any freedman not residing in Opelousas who shall be found within the corporate limits after the hour of 3 P.M. on Sunday without a special permission from his employer or the mayor shall be arrested and imprisoned and made to work…. Section 11. All the foregoing provisions apply to freedmen and freedwomen…. E. D. ESTILLETTE, President of the Board of Police. JOS. D. RICHARDS, Clerk. Official copy: J. LOVELL, Captain and Assistant Adjutant General. 4. Congressman Thaddeus Stevens Demands a Radical Reconstruction, 1867 …. It is to be regretted that inconsiderate and incautious Republicans should ever have supposed that the slight amendments [embodied in the pending Fourteenth Amendment] already proposed to the Constitution, even when incorporated into that instrument, would satisfy the reforms necessary for the security of the Government. Unless the rebel States, before admission, should be made republican in spirit, and placed under the guardianship of loyal men, all our blood and treasure will have been spent in vain. I waive now the question of punishment which, if we are wise, will still be inflicted by moderate confiscations, both as a reproof and example. Having these States, as we all agree, entirely within the power of Congress, it is our duty to take care that no injustice shall remain in their organic laws. Holding them “like clay in the hands of the potter,” we must see that no vessel is made for destruction. Having now no governments, they must have enabling acts. The law of last session with regard to Territories settled the principles of such acts. Impartial suffrage, both in electing the delegates and ratifying their proceedings, is now the fixed rule. There is more reason why colored voters should be admitted in the rebel States Thaddeus Stevens, speech in the House (January 3, 1867), Congressional Globe, 39 Cong., 2 Sess., Vol. 37, pt. 1, 251–253. This document can also be found in Radical Republicans and Reconstruction, ed. Harold M. Hyman (Indianapolis, Ind., and New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1967), 373–375. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 8 MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY than in the Territories. In the States they form the great mass of the loyal men. Possibly with their aid loyal governments may be established in most of those States. Without it all are sure to be ruled by traitors; and loyal men, black and white, will be oppressed, exiled, or murdered. There are several good reasons for the passage of this bill. In the first place, it is just. I am now confining my argument to negro suffrage in the rebel States. Have not loyal blacks quite as good a right to choose rulers and make laws as rebel whites? In the second place, it is a necessity in order to protect the loyal white men in the seceded States. The white Union men are in a great minority in each of those States. With them the blacks would act in a body; and it is believed that in each of said States, except one, the two united would form a majority, control the States, and protect themselves. Now they are the victims of daily murder. They must suffer constant persecution or be exiled. The convention of Southern loyalists, lately held in Philadelphia, almost unanimously agreed to such a bill as an absolute necessity. Another good reason is, it would insure the ascendancy of the Union party. Do you avow the party purpose? exclaims some horror-stricken demagogue. I do. For I believe, on my conscience, that on the continued ascendancy of that party depends the safety of this great nation. If impartial suffrage is excluded in rebel States then every one of them is sure to send a solid rebel representative delegation to Congress, and cast a solid rebel electoral vote. They, with their kindred Copperheads of the North, would always elect the President and control Congress. While slavery sat upon her defiant throne, and insulted and intimidated the trembling North, the South frequently divided on questions of policy between Whigs and Democrats, and gave victory alternately to the sections. Now, you must divide them between loyalists, without regard to color, and disloyalists, or you will be the perpetual vassals of the free-trade, irritated, revengeful South. For these, among other reasons, I am for negro suffrage in every rebel State. If it be just, it should not be denied; if it be necessary, it should be adopted; if it be a punishment to traitors, they deserve it. But it will be said, as it has been said, “This is negro equality!” What is negro equality, about which so much is said by knaves, and some of which is believed by men who are not fools? It means, as understood by honest Republicans, just this much, and no more: every man, no matter what his race or color; every earthly being who has an immortal soul, has an equal right to justice, honesty, and fair play with every other man; and the law should secure him those rights. The same law which condemns or acquits an African should condemn or acquit a white man. The same law which gives a verdict in a white man’s favor should give a verdict in a black man’s favor on the same state of facts. Such is the law of God and such ought to be the law of man. This doctrine does not mean that a negro shall sit on the same seat or eat at the same table with a white man. That is a matter of taste which every man must decide for himself. The law has nothing to do with it. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 9 RECONSTRUCTION Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZC4-4591] 5. Thomas Nast Depicts Contrasting Views of Reconstruction, 1866, 1869 Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division [LC-USZ62-85882 10 6. Elizabeth Cady Stanton Questions Abolitionist Support for Female Enfranchisement, 1868 To what a depth of degradation must the women of this nation have fallen to be willing to stand aside, silent and indifferent spectators in the reconstruction of the nation, while all the lower stratas of manhood are to legislate in their interests, political, religious, educational, social and sanitary, moulding to their untutored will the institutions of a mighty continent…. While leading Democrats have been thus favorably disposed, what have our best friends said when, for the first time since the agitation of the question [the enfranchisement of women], they have had an opportunity to frame their ideas into statutes to amend the constitutions of two States in the Union? Charles Sumner, Horace Greeley, Gerrit Smith and Wendell Phillips, with one consent, bid the women of the nation stand aside and behold the salvation of the negro. Wendell Phillips says, “one idea for a generation,” to come up in the order of their importance. First negro suffrage, then temperance, then the eight hour movement, then woman’s suffrage. In 1958, three generations hence, thirty years to a generation, Phillips and Providence permitting, woman’s suffrage will be in order. What an insult to the women who have labored thirty years for the emancipation of the slave, now when he is their political equal, to propose to lift him above their heads. Gerrit Smith, forgetting that our great American idea is “individual rights,” in which abolitionists have ever based their strongest Elizabeth Cady Stanton, “Who Are Our Friends?” The Revolution, 15 (January 1868). Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. RECONSTRUCTION 11 arguments for emancipation, says, this is the time to settle the rights of races; unless we do justice to the negro we shall bring down on ourselves another bloody revolution, another four years’ war, but we have nothing to fear from woman, she will not revenge herself!… Horace Greeley has advocated this cause for the last twenty years, but to-day it is too new, revolutionary for practical consideration. The enfranchisement of woman, revolutionizing, as it will, our political, religious and social condition, is not a measure too radical and all-pervading to meet the moral necessities of this day and generation. Why fear new things; all old things were once new…. We live to do new things! When Abraham Lincoln issued the proclamation of emancipation, it was a new thing. When the Republican party gave the ballot to the negro, it was a new thing, startling too, to the people of the South, very revolutionary to their institutions, but Mr. Greeley did not object to all this because it was new…. And now, while men like these have used all their influence for the last four years, to paralyze every effort we have put forth to rouse the women of the nation, to demand their true position in the reconstruction, they triumphantly turn to us, and say the greatest barrier in the way of your demand is that “the women themselves do not wish to vote.” What a libel on the intelligence of the women of the nineteenth century. What means the 12,000 petitions presented by John Stuart Mill in the British Parliament from the first women in England, demanding household suffrage? What means the late action in Kansas, 10,000 women petitioned there for the right of suffrage, and 9,000 votes at the last election was the answer. What means the agitation in every State in the Union? In the very hour when Horace Greeley brought in his adverse report in the Constitutional Convention of New York, at least twenty members rose in their places and presented petitions from every part of the State, demanding woman’s suffrage. What means that eloquent speech of George W. Curtis in the Convention, but to show that the ablest minds in the State are ready for this onward step. 7. Charlotte Forten Reflects on Teaching Among Southern African Americans, 1863 Thursday, New Year’s Day, 1863. The most glorious day this nation has yet seen, I think. I rose early—an event here—and early we started, with an old borrowed carriage and a remarkably slow horse. Whither were we going? thou wilt ask, dearest A. To the ferry; thence to Camp Saxton, to the celebration. From the ferry to the camp the “Flora” took us. How pleasant it was on board! A crowd of people, whites and blacks, and a band of music—to the Excerpt from “States” (Washington, 1872), printed in Dorothy Sterling. ed., Trouble They Seen: The Story of Reconstruction in the Words of African Americans. Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. 12 MAJOR PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN HISTORY great delight of the negroes. Met on board Dr. [Solomon] and Mrs. Peck and their daughters, who greeted me most kindly. Also Gen. S. [axton]’s father whom I like much, and several other acquaintances whom I was glad to see. We stopped at Beaufort, and then proceeded to Camp Saxton, the camp of the 1st Reg. [iment] S. [outh] C. [arolina] Vol [unteer]s. The “Flora” c’ld not get up to the landing, so we were rowed ashore in a row boat. Just as my foot touched the plank, on landing, a hand grasped mine and a well known voice spoke my name. It was my dear and noble friend, Dr. [Seth] Rogers. I cannot tell you, dear A., how delighted I was to see him; how good it was to see the face of a friend from the North, and such a friend. I think myself particularly blessed to have him for a friend. Walking on a little distance I found myself being presented to Col. Higginson, whereat I was so much overwhelmed, that I had no reply to make to the very kind and courteous little speech with which he met me. I believe I mumbled something, and grinned like a simpleton, that was all. Provoking, isn’t it? that when one is most in need of sensible words, one finds them not. I cannot give a regular chronicle of the day. It is impossible. I was in such a state of excitement. It all seemed, and seems still, like a brilliant dream. Dr. R. [ogers] and I talked all the time, I know, while he showed me the camp and all the arrangements. They have a beautiful situation, on the grounds once occupied by a very old fort, “De La Ribanchine,” built in 1629 or 30. Some of the walls are still standing. Dr. R. [ogers] has made quite a good hospital out of an old gin house. I went over it. There are only a few invalids in it, at present. I saw everything; the kitchens, cooking arrangements, and all. Then we took seats on the platform. The meeting was held in a beautiful grove, a live-oak grove, adjoining the camp. It is the largest one I have yet seen; but I don’t think the moss pendants are quite as beautiful as they are on St. Helena. As I sat on the stand and looked around on the various groups, I thought I had never seen a sight so beautiful. There were the black soldiers, in their blue coats and scarlet pants, the officers of this and other regiments in their handsome uniforms, and crowds of lookers-on, men, women and children, grouped in various attitudes, under the trees. The faces of all wore a happy, eager, expectant look. The exercises commenced by a prayer from Rev. Mr. [James H.] Fowler, Chaplain of the Reg. An ode written for the occasion by Prof. [John] Zachos, originally a Greek, now Sup. [erintendent] of Paris Island, was read by himself, and then sung by the whites. Col. H. [igginson] introduced Dr. [William] Brisbane in a few elegant and graceful words. He (Dr. B. [risbane]) read the President’s Proclamation, which was warmly cheered. Then the beautiful flags presented by Dr. [George] Cheever’s Church were presented to Col. H. [igginson] for the Reg. in an excellent and enthusiastic speech, by Rev. Mr. [Mansfield] French. Immediately at the conclusion, some of the colored people—of their own accord sang “My Country Tis of Thee.” It was a touching and beautiful incident, and Col. Higginson, in accepting the flags made it the occasion of some happy remarks. He said that that tribute was far more effecting than any speech he c’ld make. He spoke for some time, and all that he said was grand, glorious. He seemed inspired. Nothing c’ld have been Copyright 2017 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. RECONSTRUCTION 13 better, more perfect. And Dr. R. [ogers] told me afterward that the Col. was much affected. That tears were in his eyes. 8. Lucy McMillan, a Former Slave in South Carolina, Testifies About White Violence, 1871 SPARTANBURGH, SOUTH CAROLINA, July 10, 1871. LUCY McMILLAN (colored) sworn and examined. By the CHAIRMAN: QUESTION. Where do you live? ANSWER. Up in the country. I live on McMillan’s place, right at the foot of the road. QUESTION. How far is it? ANSWER. Twelve miles. QUESTION. Are you married? ANSWER. I am not married. I am single now. I was married. My husband was taken away from me and carried off twelve years ago…. QUESTION. How old are you now? ANSWER. I am called forty-six. I am forty-five or six. QUESTION. Did the Ku-Klux come where you live at any time? ANSWER. They came there once before they burned my house down. The way it was was this: John Hunter’s wife came to my house on Saturday morning, and told they were going to whip me. I was afraid of them; there was so much talk of Ku-Klux drowning people, and whipping people, and killing them. My house was only a little piece from the river, so I laid out at night in the woods. The Sunday evening after Isham McCrary was whipped I went up, and a white man, John McMillan, came along and says to me, “Lucy, you had better stay at home, for they will whip you anyhow.” I said if they have to, they might whip me in the woods, for I am afraid to stay there. Monday night they came in and...
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Analysis Paper
Several issues and landmark movements have permanently changed the country's course
and heralded the dramatic beginning of a new historical reality in the brief history of the United
States. Innovative political and philosophical theories, national social and religious movements,
and technical and scientific breakthroughs, are only a few examples. Civil rights movements
arose as a consequence of some of these issues. African Americans in the United States battled
for equal rights during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s (Cobbs et al.,376).
Although slavery ended after the Civil War, prejudice toward Black remained a significant
problem in the Southern states. This paper analyzes "The Major Problems in American History";
it illustrates the source's relevance and relationship to the secondary essays and class lectures.
The book by Elizabeth Cobbs, Jon Gjerde, and Edward Blum...


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