Introduction to History 122, Part 1: 1865-1916

1865-1900: Part 1 of this course begins with the history of the former slave population in the South, Indians on the frontier, working class people in the cities and factories, including millions of newly arrived immigrants.  The post-Civil War years were full of turmoil and strife and the exploitation of people and resources. As new industries boomed huge fortunes were made and standards of living rose for much of the population—for those fortunates, it was the best of times, for millions of others, an ongoing nightmare. Historian Page Smith has also characterized this period as a time of “The War between Capital and Labor,” when working families had to practice “conspicuous underconsumption” in order to survive. This part of the course deals mostly with those who got left behind in America's race to economic power:

• During Reconstruction African Americans celebrated the end of slavery, but were soon disillusioned as they discovered that there is much nore to freedom than the absence of slavery.  For them, and for whites as well, Reconstruction was a frustratingexperience, yet it contained the distant promise of future reform in the area of civil rights.
• In the West the Plains Indians fought fiercely to hold onto what was left of their once vast territories, but the pressure to build transcontinental railroads and the crush of immigrants pouring in from Eurrope doomed them to a life on the reservations where they too struggled to preserve their culture.
• In the business arena, the industrial revolution, while creating great wealth and raising living standards for many, also ran roughshod over the working poor.  In the eastern and midwestern cities workers by the thousands toiled in hellish conditions for less than a living wage, and parts of America's cities became some of the worst slums ever known to man.
• Much of the population and the political leadership seemed either incapable of grasping what was going on or powerless to do anything about it.

Thus was the “Gilded Age” in America, glistening on the surface but harsh and unforgiving—base metal—underneath.

1900-1916. Part 1 continues into the Progressive Era, 1900-1916. During this reform age Americans began to look outward—even as they addressed problems created by the excesses of the Gilded Age. In this period the United States emerged as a world power, partly as a result of the Spanish-American War, from which the United States gained an empire, and partly through the active engagement of President Theodore Roosevelt in world affairs. In 1905 he became the first American to win the Nobel Peace prize for negotiating an end to the Russo-Japanese War, an active involvement in external affairs that would have been unthinkable for any American president before that time.

Although the industrial age had raised the living standards for thousands of Americans, countless others still lived in appalling conditions.  The slums in American cities were among the worst anywhere, workers labored under dangerous conditions for barely a living wage, crime was rampant in cities, and the “robber barons”—industrial tycoons—seemed above the law.  The period has been called with good reason “the age of exploitation,” and many historians believe that if something had not occurred to ease the tensions, the country might have erupted in violence or even revolution. Socialism and Communism were well known in America, especially in labor organizations such as the Industrial Workers of the World—the IWW or “Wobblies.”

Thus with the rich getting richer and the poor growing more frustrated, something had to happen.  That something was the Progressive Movement—one of the great reform movements in American history, a movement that in many ways never really ended.  (The term “progressive” applied to a political figure today is generally meant to be one of approbation and is often used to describe a liberal who prefers the more positive appelation.)

While we continue to focus on the working classes, we now shift our attention to two great Progressive leaders—Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. These two men dominated the first two decades of the 20th century.  Poles apart politically, and sharply different in personality and temperament, they were often at odds after they ran against each other for President in 1912 (along with incumbent President Taft).  Yet they shared much—a vision of a highly moral America, a nation that was rising to leadership throughout the world, and a sense that America was a nation of destiny that could change the world for the better.  Both were Progressives, and in that regard their politics were similar. Both enjoyed large successes and tragic failures, but their collective legacy lived on in the young men who grew up under them—men who would lead another crusade a generation later.

Assignments | Updated July 30, 2006