2017/18 AMSBE-L Ondrej B

Contents
Lectures .......................................................................................................................................... 1
Early history of America ................................................................................................................. 2
Colonialism..................................................................................................................................... 3
Virginian Beginnings ...................................................................................................................... 3
From Slavery to…........................................................................................................................... 4
Back to Virginian Beginnings → Puritan New England .................................................................. 5
Colonial Life in America ................................................................................................................. 6
What caused the American Revolution? .......................................................................................... 6
Revolutionary war → fighting for independence ............................................................................. 7
Forming the New Nation ................................................................................................................. 8
North vs South and sth more about slavery .................................................................................... 10
The Civil War 1861 – 1865 upup dwdw ........................................................................................ 11
After the Civil War.................................................................................................................... 12
Growth.......................................................................................................................................... 13
Inventors and industries ............................................................................................................. 14
The First World War ..................................................................................................................... 15
The Roaring Twenties ................................................................................................................... 16
Crash and Depression .................................................................................................................... 16
The Second World War ................................................................................................................. 17
After the Second World War ......................................................................................................... 18
Cold War ...................................................................................................................................... 19
The American Century .................................................................................................................. 20

Lectures
1. The First Americans; The American Revolution
2. The Civil War; The Progressive Age
3. WW I and the Roaring Twenties
4. WW II and the 1950's; The Age of McCarthy
5. The Sixties
6. The 1980's and the end of the Cold War
7. The USA after 1990

"Focus on minorities (women, homosexuals, native Americans, Latino…) and the Theodore Roosevelt
period."
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Early history of America

First human came to America across the Bering Strait from Asia (during the Ice Age; about 12000
years ago)
12000 years ago – first inhabitants from Asia
• Crossed the Bering strait
• They found organised clans and tribes
o tribes were following herds, buffalos they were hunters and gatherers; they were also
fishermen and later farmers (corn, maize; later even beans, peppers, …)
o Some common believes, traditions to all inhabitants
▪ people after death go to a place which looks like a vast ocean
▪ worshiped even numbers 2 (couple), 4 (4 cardinal points in the universe), 6 (6
fundamental directions)
▪ respectful of nature (man is a part of nature, must respect it)
▪ worshiped silvers (killed germs, food was edible for a longer time, turquoise (was
supposed to have healing power)
▪ believed in communities organised according to patrimony (father – head of the
family)
▪ men could have more wives
▪ tried to keep records of time (leathers from animals → drawings, representing
events in their community)
▪ didn't have a notion of private property → didn't understand Europeans
o own tradition and lang
o Navajo
▪ used to process metal (silver, turquoise), made textiles (weavers), carpets
▪ Uranium was found on places they had lived
o Seri
▪ fishermen
▪ lived on shores of the ocean
o Apaches
▪ warriors
▪ didn't work on the land/cultivated
▪ South-West of US
o Sioux /su:/
▪ also warriors
▪ realized that they should unite
▪ late in the 18th century formed a confederacy
• 1st who tried to unite the tribes - knew that organization is important
o Iroquois
▪ warriors
▪ present Canada
o Hopis
▪ farmers → cultivated plants typical for America (corn, beans, pumpkin)
▪ raised turkey, practiced agriculture on the land without rain
o Cheyenne, Cherokee
▪ no written culture
▪ the body should be kept clean, they accepted the natural cycles of live
▪ ecological culture, cult of buffalo (meat, fur, etc.) ← respect to the nature; man is a
part of it; hunted only for hunger (and they used everything)
o Sioux
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o Pueblo

1000 – Vikings firstly set their feet on the American shore (sailors)
• died out, or were absorbed by the natives

Colonialism
1492 – Discovery of America – Christopher Columbus (Italian) → New World → The New Age
• represented Spain; (wanted to find a new way from Europe to Asia, shorter trade route)
• thought it was a new way to India → Indians
o Cuba…
o He named the island San Salvator

1497 – John Cabot discovered Newfoundland (sent by Henry VII; the same reason as Columbus)
• The British used this later to claim the land
1520s –The Spanish began the occupation of America → Aztecs being conquered for gold Hernán Cortés;
Francisco Pizarro – attacked Incas of Peru → a stream of looting began
• other European nations were envious → Dutch, English, French also sent explorers to the new
world

1524 – sailor Giovanni Verrazano sent by the French king, Francis I → anchored in New York → Verrazano
Narrows Bridge
1530s – Exodus of Aztecs
1535 – Rhode Island Colony
1565 – Spain founded St. Augustine (on Florida) - first permanent European settlement
1585 - founded The Lost Colony – Roanoke
• 108 E settlers → FAILED
• tried again in 1587 (118 settlers) <- in 1590 settlement was deserted, no trace, only word "Croaton"
carved into a tree
" French reported that there were areas full of fur-bearing animals and that rivers were full of fish " →
Settlers

Virginian Beginnings
17th century - hunters exchanged furs for European goods
• natives got horses and guns

1603 – James I – king of England

• A problem with puritans – they rose against the Catholic church
1607 – Discovery of Virginia (warm climate)
• First town – Jamestown (in honour of the king of England)
• Virginia Company – it employed settlers (197); they hoped to find pearls, silver, gold, etc.
• 1st colonials → people of business
• problem with food – famine (a lot of people died) → really hard times (natives attacked them,
diseases…
• later they got tobacco → economy ↑
• hunger for profit
1609 – Santa Fe in New Mexico → wealth to Spain ← other countries wanted to colonize
the winter 1609-1610 – 500 colonists reduced to 60 (starvation, cannibalism)
1616 – A description of New England by Capt. John Smith (a colonist)
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• important for survival of the settlement

• they needed more people
• Pocahontas – became the act of peace-making
o native, fell in love with an English man, they were married, he took her to London, to
introduce her to the Queen, she died of smallpox (tuberculosis)
Europeans began to cultivate, use land → they believed in private property; claimed that natives didn't
deserve the land

From Slavery to…

1619 – first slaves (up to 19th century → about 12 million of blacks were brought to America)
• needed someone to work on their plantations; labour force
• three phases (I order for slavery to be profitable)
o (London/South Hampton (guns, calico (a textile of bad quality), beads ←people invested in
the voyage)) → Guinea Gulf (we get Ivory, slaves (from Ashanti tribes); only young and
healthy) → 1/3 died (bad hygiene, food) → America (Jamaica, Antigua, Caribbean Islands…)
(well placed between north and south America) → sold the slaves (north plantations, or
south ... Brazil, also plantations (bought sugar, tobacco, coffee…) → back to London
(amazing profit)
• many came as servants, some of them managed to get their freedom → poor B & W were in the
same situation
1772 - Lord Mansfield (British judge) - no person can be considered a slave on British soil, slave who was in
Britain could not be returned to his owner because he was not a slave anymore
1794 - slavery is abolish in France but not in its colonies
1807- Slave Trade Act- slave trade illegal (but slaves remained slaves)
1820s – Missouri compromise
• Struggle with the slavery – beginning of the war
• slavery was prohibited north of the 36°30′ parallel, excluding Missouri
• Southerners objected to any bill which imposed federal restrictions on slavery, believing that
slavery was a state issue settled by the Constitution.

1833 - The Slavery Abolition Act- Britain abolished slavery in colonies

1850 – Fugitive Slave Act
• law to make it easier for southerner to recapture slaves who escaped from masters and went for
safety to free states
• underground railroad- guides who led the fugitives to freedom

1858 - Dred Scott - First black who officially asked for the declaration that he is free
• asked the Supreme court to declare that he is legally free → court refused → great excitement in
US → southerners delighted, northerners horrified

1862 – Emancipation proclamation - all slaves were to be made free but only if they lived in areas which
were part of the Confederacy (they had to escape, though)
Jim Crow - (bad nickname for the blacks) legislation
• South tried to change the result of war (considered blacks as inferior)
• see results of The Civil War
1940 - most of blacks lived in great poverty
1954–1968 – African-American civil rights movement - strategies, groups, and social movements which
accomplished its goal of ending legalized racial segregation and discrimination laws in the United States and
secured the legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship rights
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1954 - case called Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka → supreme court decided that segregated
schools were illegal
Black people weren't allowed to use the public transport "in the same way" as white people → 1955 –
Rosa Parks – (Montgomery, Alabama) she refused to go to the back part of the bus → she was arrested →
people supported her and The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP)
helped to persuade a judge to release her form jail → they started campaign to end segregation on buses
led by Martin Luther King → in November 1956 public transport system was desegregated
“Avoid the bus, share a taxi”
1963 - 200 000 blacks and whites took part in mass demonstration in Washington to demand full racial
equality (I have a dream…) → to see black kids and white kids to go to one school together
Non-violence, no revenge, forgiveness
Martin Luther King – was murdered in 1968
Civil Rights Act of 1964 – improved position of African-Americans – they were no longer segregated in
public; nobody could be denied a job according to ethnicity → equal job opportunity
1960s – still, African-Americans were worse housed, paid, educated…
• but since 60s they could study side by side with whites
1965 - The Watts riots (in a black ghetto) in L.A. → large area burned out, some people were killed or
injured → followed by other riots in Chicago, Detroit, New York and Washington
1970s and 80s – most AFA decided that voting is their chance to get better position → by 1985 more
than 5000 of the 50 000 elected officials were black
1970s – 1980s – Black power movement - Black Power" expresses a range of political goals, from
defence against racial oppression, to the establishment of social institutions and a self-sufficient economy
1966 – 1982 – Black Panther Party → very radical movement; they supported the idea of violent
revolution in US and were considered as a terrible threat, finally they were killed, destroyed by the FBI

Back to Virginian Beginnings → Puritan New England

1619 – House of Burgesses - elected from the various settlements along Virginia´s rivers
• became a tradition → people should have an opportunity to say sth about what concerns them
1619-1621 - 3560 people left England to settle
• 3000 were dead by the end of these years
Roger Williams – state and the church should be separated (religion is not a matter of state), everything
done by contribution of believes
You don't need Church to talk to God (you can talk directly to him).
1620 (Mayflower Compact 1620; written on the ship) → The Plymouth Colony, 1st Leader of the colony–
William Bradford
– The second immigration wave → looking for freedom (not profit)
• the settlers know as Pilgrims and Separatists; (Pilgrim Fathers – important founders of the USA)
• the religious point, they weren't happy in Europe (ideological reasons)
• → America (James I in 1603 ordered them to accept his religion)
– Mayflower landed at today's Massachusetts
• Plymouth (a harbour in England) – "The Pilgrim Fathers of the US" – PURITANS
• landed in Massachusetts (harsh climate, didn't expect it)
• Mayflower Compact – (contract) treaty among the pilgrims (John Winthrop – the leader: "We shall
be like a city on a hill.");
o important for American mentality
o signed by 41 men (on the ship) (representing their families)
o promised to:
▪ help each other, cooperate, equality, justice
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▪ manifest destiny
▪ thanked to God that they were given the opportunity to leave E and create a new
society
▪ "nobody should be above the law" (society based on a contract)
o social, religious, and economic freedom while maintaining ties to Great Britain
• Helped by natives Americans
1630 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony
• Leader John Winthrop
• Puritans
1621 – (4th Thursday of November) – Thanksgiving (native Americans thought them to plant corn, gave
them pumpkin seeds, how to raise turkey…) (last Thursday of November)
• initially the relationships were good but later the European wanted more land (+ cultural
misunderstanding) → the European had weapons, the natives had numbers
o native Americans had no notion of private property
• some tribes wanted cooperate with the whites (Cheyenne, Cherokee, Choctaw)
o accepted Christianity, they wanted to integrate Europeans

1624 – it was clear that Virginia will survive

1626 – New Amsterdam was founded, conquered by English in 1664 → New York
1677 Nathaniel Bacon Revolt in Virginia (black and whites participated), not everyone was a plantation
owner
• indentured servant (poor people, people who had a bad life in Europe) → were payed the voyage
to America → had to work for a number of years to pay the debt
• in practice? (sickness? etc. → you make new debts → you never get from this circle)
• revolt against the rich of Virginia (
o Reaction? → divide and separate, make them quarrel → colour of the skin; white people
were helped to get rid of their debts → association of slavery and race
1681 – Pennsylvania was created
1692 - 1693 – Cotton Mather – Salem witches (a group of women accused of being witches)

Colonial Life in America

1733 – Last Colony founded – Georgia
• English owned 13 colonies (along the Atlantic coast of America)
o spreading inland → moving deeper in the continent
▪ still, mostly along the coast
o making new settlement → clearing land, ploughing the soil, sowing,
• small farmers, craftsmen, fishers, later merchants
o frontier farms often miles by miles of unsettled land, no neighbours → they had to rely on
themselves
• small towns, villages → they were governing themselves
o every colony had its own government (governor)
o white man with land could vote
• most work done by slaves in Southern colonies (Virginia, Carolina, Georgia)

What caused the American Revolution?

1756 – War between British and French (several major wars in Europe, Asia, North America)
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• France claimed (based upon explorations by Samuel de Champlain, René La Salle) Canada and
Louisiana (but they gave up in the end → North America under British Control)
• Seven years' war
• Britain led by William Pitt
1763 – Peace of Paris – end of the war
• Led to conflicts with American colonies
• George III – proclamation which forbade settlers to move west until treaties were made with
Indians (wanted to prevent war with these tribes) → colonists were angry
1764 – Sugar act
• new taxes on import of sugar, coffee, textiles, and other goods (for colonies)
1765 – Stamp Act
• BTW: (colonies initially didn't have representatives)
• Colonists had to buy special stamp – money went to the defence of the colonies
o they weren't asked about it!
• Reaction? → No taxation without representation in the parliament
• The counter measure to the Stamp Act was Stamp Act Congress – they refused to sell British goods
o → Britain was forced to cancel Stamp Act, but created Declaratory Act (it meant that Britain
had full power and authority over colonies IN ALL CASES
• Quartering Activity
• Sons of Liberty – till 1790s
• Protesters against the taxes → they were loyal to the crown
1766 – Declaratory act
1767 – Townshend acts
• Bre increased taxes on tea, paper → colonists refused to pay → demonstrations in Boston
o → colonies tried to get it from other sources → only by British ships were allowed…
1770 - Boston Massacre
• A few people died but it was not that bad
1773 – Boston Tea party
• Some colonists of Massachusetts masked themselves as Indians and threw all the tea in the ocean
rather than pay the tax on it → Boston Tea Party
• accompanied by a lot of mockery
The answer of Britain? – 1774 blockade of Boston harbour →
1774 – The first continental congress (a group of colonial leaders met in Philadelphia)
• The continental congress was established to oppose the British
• forming of militia

Revolutionary war → fighting for independence

1775 - Representatives of colonies met in Philadelphia
1775 – British soldiers vs. minutemen (militia which was gathered within a minute = minutemen)
• Battle of Concord (led by George Washington)
o Britain wanted to take weapons stored by colonists
o someone fired → Br. soldier was killed → war
o → second Continental Congress in Philadelphia
• it started to act as Am. National Government
• they sought help from France
1776 July 4th – Declaration of independence (FORCED)
• 13 colonies (demanded to be free and independent states)
• official name The United States of America emerged→ colonies as a new nation
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• right to happiness mentioned (all men have the right to life, liberty and persuade of happiness, all
people are created equally)
• Governments can only claim the right to rule if they have the agreement of those they govern
• Written by Thomas Jefferson (lawyer, educated)
o one of the most advanced political documents of that time

Thomas Pine wrote a pamphlet Common Sense (described the need for separation)
• later (during the war) he also wrote a pamphlet called The Crisis – "These are the times that try
men's souls."

Putting the declaration in practice? → Beginning of the war

• Washington's army wasn't well organised
o ineffective fighting forces, they had to train them first (meanwhile they were being
defeated)
1776 – Br. captured New York city → USA close to defeat
1777 – Battle of Saratoga – tide of the war turned in favour for Americans
• trapped the British army of almost 6 000 men → forced to surrender → prisoners had to swear
never to fight against the Americans
• native Americans were involved (on both sides)
• needed help of France → but after such a success it should be easier to persuade them

Benjamin Franklin (writer, philosopher, scientist)

o sent to Paris as an ambassador of independent colonies
o they wasn't happy about it initially
▪ It wasn't an honest thing to do
o but the queen was convinced (↓↓)
o weapons, soldiers, military personal (Marquis de Lafayette)
▪ served without pay
▪ a major general on the stuff of Washington
▪ later returned to France (remained a friend of Americans)
1778 - French king Louis XVI. signed Alliance with the Americans → they joined the war
• fighting mostly in southern colonies
1781 – The last battle of Yorktown
• combined American and French army
• surrounded 8 000 British troops under General Cornwallis
o French ships arrived (instead of the expected British reinforces)
o surrendered to Washington → "It's all over."
1783 – Treaty of Paris – Britain acknowledged USA as an independent nation
• diplomatic recognition of the declaration of independence
• 13 colonies as independent American nation
• south of Canada, up to Florida, Atlantic coast and the Mississippi river

Forming the New Nation

• initially …"Most Americans felt more loyalty to their own state rather than to the United States of
America."
• each state had its own government (own laws, decisions…)
o How to join together?
o Government of the USA was very weak (had almost no power); Congress wasn't
acknowledged as a real government (not even by France)
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1787 – Constitutional Convention – (meeting to talk about necessary changes) agreement between all of
the states, except of Rhode Island (didn't send a delegate), in Philadelphia
• Washington led the discussions
• they started to work on a completely new system → the beginning of constitution ↓
• a federal system of government - the power to rule is shared (individual states still have had a wide
range of powers, but it made the federal government much stronger; taxes, armed forces, treaties)
Whiskey rebellion → tax on whiskey → farmers refused to pay → burned down the houses of tax collectors
→ 15000 men sent to support the rights of the federation → rebellion collapsed without fighting
• ↓ election of national leader (country's everyday affairs) ↓

George Washington was the 1st president of the USA, New York was the capital
• invited a French architect to design Washington DC (a city in wilderness)
• first presidents were keen on consolidating

1789 – Constitution of the United States went into effect

System of 3 branches → no structure has absolute power
• the legislative branch - the Congress (2 chambers, the Senate and The House of Representatives)
o makes the laws (The House → then the Senate)
o balance btw big and small states (each country 2 representatives in senate)
o (in the house it depended on the population of the country)
• the executive branch
o the president and his administration (secretaries (health, education… ministers)
o forces the law
• the Judicial branch
o courts (town lvl → to supreme court, the highest lvl)
o appointed for life by the president
There were 10 additions to the constitution – The Bill of Rights
• promised to all Americans freedom of religion, free press, free speech, the right to carry arms, fair
trial by jury and protection against cruel punishments

1790 – Industrial revolution (transition to new manufacturing processes, etc.) → steam engines →
industrial revolution was also brought to America

1801 – John Marshal as a new head of Supreme court

• Marshall stated that the Supreme court has the power to decide whether particular American laws
are according to the Constitution or not→ power of judicial review

Later emerged the first political parties – The Federalist Party (favoured strong president, federal
government) and The Democratic Republican Party (supported the rights of individual states)

------------------------------------------------
Interest in enlarging their territory. No matter to whom the land belonged. dwdw There are three options:
WAR, WAGING, EXTERMINATING
eg. Mexico lost Rio Grande River → some Mexicans became Americans <- they were promised, that Spanish
would be used at courts → the treaty wasn't respected.

Texas - (declared independence → they have this possibility in their constitution (referendum)) …
1867 - They bought Alaska from Russia → a treasure…
1803 – Napoleon sold Louisiana to USA
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1812 –Canada vs USA BTW: Br. and France were at war 1803 – 1815 (Napoleonic Wars)
• native Americans were involved (Br. supported them against USA)
• initiated by Britain (an attempt to subdue USA again)
• The border btw Canada and USA was Established (Peace treaty in Gent)
o exterminating the native Americans farther and farther west
▪ Mississippi river (down)

Process of enlarging their territory resulted in exterminating the native Americans, pushing them farther
and farther west… → → 1830 – Indian Removal Act → →They should move west of the Mississippi River
• Cherokees suffered the most bcs their lands were btw Georgia and Mississippi river
• some of them had to merge in the civilised society

1838 – The Trail of Tears

• Cherokees had to leave (all families, a tragedy, another massacre)
• ¼ of Cherokee population was dead during the march in the winter
• but the whites didn't keep the treaty anyway
Monroe (growing trend that Americans are supreme)
• Theorised a doctrine which says that the Americans are different from the Europeans (they should
dominate the politics in the western hemisphere)
• building of the railway (the North with the South and Atlantic with Mississippi)
o great development
1843 - Oregon Fever – American settlers outnumbered the British in Oregon (intentionally, they were
afraid that Britain would soon control the whole area → they persuaded settlers to go there) →1844 –
James K. Polk president He divided Oregon into two parts – One USA and the second British
1846 – USA in war with Mexico
• September 1847 Am. occupied Mexico City
• ended by a treaty signed in Guadeloupe Hidalgo in February 1848
o the border was established (Mexico had to give up enormous areas) <→ it's still respected

1848 Seneca Falls Convention - women demanded the right to vote (political rights) → signed The
Declaration of Sentiments (68 women + 32 men)
• wanted to participate in meeting against slavery in London (they compared it)
• The Woman's Bible by Lucretia Mott & Elisabeth Cady Stanton
o to challenge the traditional position of religious orthodoxy that woman should be
subservient to man.
• women got the right to vote in 1920 (19th Amendment)

BTW
1848 - Golden fever in Colorado, Mississippi, California
Buffalos were brought near to extinction during the 19 th century

North vs South and sth more about slavery

North had lesser need for slaves (less farms; bcs of the climate) → Many northern states passed laws
abolishing slavery inside their own boundaries. North was industrial
South (agricultural, cotton and coffee plantation need a lot of workers → slaves from Africa)
Differences were also political and economic.

1808 – Congress abolished ships to bring slaves from Africa to US

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1810 - 7,2 million people in US; 1,2 million were black and were slaves → What about The Declaration of
Independence and that 'we are all equal' part?

1820s – The Missouri Compromise

• Struggle with the slavery – beginning of the war
• slavery was prohibited north of the 36°30′ parallel, excluding Missouri
• Southerners objected to any bill which imposed federal restrictions on slavery, believing that
slavery was a state issue settled by the Constitution.

1850 – Fugitive Slave Act

• law to make it easier for southerner to recapture slaves who escaped from masters and went for
safety to free states
o Northerners helped to fugitives to escape
▪ Harriet Tubman - underground railroad- guides who led the fugitives to freedom
▪ more than 300 of them led to freedom

1854 – To end the Missouri compromise

• People should decide whether permit slavery or not in Kansas
• pro-slavery immigrants vs anti-slavery from North → violence, fighting and killing
• neither side got the upper hand
1858 - Dred Scott - First black who officially asked for the declaration that he is free
• asked the Supreme court to declare that he is legally free → court refused → great excitement in
US → southerners delighted, northerners horrified

1859 – John Brown tried to start a slave rebellion in Virginia → hanged

Abraham Lincoln – spreading of slavery must be stopped (but was willing to accept it where it was already
established)
• a man of people
• later student (lawyer)
o married a rich woman
• abolitionists and a supporter of them (the ideology)
• became a national figure
• president since 1961
1860 – South Carolina voted to secede from the USA (10 more states joined them) → 1861 announced
that they are independent nation → Confederate States of America = Confederacy → The Civil War Began

The Civil War 1861 – 1865 ↓↑

• Abraham Lincoln warned that he wouldn't let them to break up the USA → they took no notice dw
dw
• Very bloody conflict → more Americans died than during WW1
• even families split (different sides, some of them couldn't decide)
• North was stronger in man and material, had more food, bigger manufacturing capacity
o South, on the other hand, needed only to hold their ground (North had to occupy southern
lands)
• Lincoln vs Jefferson Davis
o Southerners were refusing that they were fighting for preserving slavery → claimed that
they fought for independence from the North
• Fights mostly in the South
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o mostly in two main areas: Virginia and Mississippi Valley

12th of April- confederate guns opened fire on Fort Sumter (fortress in the harbour of Charleston, South
Carolina)→ beginning of the Civil War

• South was initially very successful

o Union soldiers were defeated over and over again in Virginia
o Confederacy had two generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson (called "Stonewall")
• 4th of July- Vicksburg surrounded by union army led by general Ulysses S. Grant- it was a big loss
for the South→ they had split the Confederacy in two

1862 – Emancipation proclamation - all slaves were to be made free but only if they lived in areas which
were part of the Confederacy (they had to escape, though) → fight for union and to abolish slavery

June 1863 – Battle of Gettysburg <- a turning point!

• Lee led his army North into Pennsylvania → Union army blocked his way at Gettysburg
• lasted for 3 days (over 50 K died); the biggest fight in the history of the USA
• the North won
• Lincoln gave a speech at the end (talked about the future of the country)
o they should not forget the sacrifices
o they should build a new country a new future
o new society of the people with the people and for the people
▪ through elections, all the people
▪ considered to be a definition of a modern democracy
• Grant and Sherman (fought for the North, generals)
• slavery was abolished
• USA as one nation, and no part of it could be separated
1864 – Confederacy had almost nothing
1865 – General Lee (south) “Stonewall” - Confederacy surrounded at Appomattox
• Lee's army captured → had to promise to never fight against the USA
• Lincoln was assassinated in a theatre
• 635 000 died during the war
14th of April 1865 - President Lincoln was assassinated in a theatre

After the Civil War

Andrew Johnson succeeded Abraham Lincoln

• How to deal with defeated South?
o the South tried to change the result of war

o white southerners were horrified at the thought of giving the blacks equal rights
o Black Codes → no voting, not serving on juries, no law to give evidence incurred against
white man, no right to buy or rent a farmland, remaining unskilled and uneducated
1866 – Civil Rights Act → the 14th Amendment + Freedmen's Bureau → gave blacks full right of
citizenship + voting
o didn't work as it was supposed to
o Jim Crow (bad nickname for the blacks) legislation
o South considered blacks as inferior
o Blacks and whites were equal, but should be separated in public
o prevented equality
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▪ couldn't learn at the same institutions, couldn't travel the same trains, visit
the same restaurants
• blacks were discouraged to vote
o literacy tests (hard for blacks); in some countries
o only those with grandparents who could vote
• Ku Kux Klan formed (in the South)
o "discipline" Black from North
o and discourage (they threaten them on the way to school etc.)
o fires etc.
o lynching
▪ went on until 19sixties
• Segregation – persecution of blacks
o "black can't have white women"

Croppers system
• formally free, but stayed dependent from the economical perspective
• a cropper was free
o took a land and promised to work on it (had to give 2/3 to the owner)

Growth
Farming at the Great plains → The Homestead act – offered free farms in the west → any head of family
who was older than 21 years old and was American citizen or immigrant could own one after 5 years living
there

Railroad Company to build a railroad West from the Mississippi towards the Pacific, the same grant given to
Central Pacific Railroad Company to build it Eastwards from California…

1867 – USA bought Alaska

1868 – The Fort Laramie Treaty- large areas between Missouri river and Rocky mountains belonged to
Sioux→ 6 years later American soldiers found gold in the Black hills→ government tried to buy it from the
Sioux→ they refused→ government broke the treaty in 1875
1870s - 1/3 or worlds iron production was from the USA → ECONOMIC development
Because of need to give lands to new homesteaders government forced Amerindians to give up their
wondering way of life and sent them into reservations → 1876 – Battle of the Little Big Horn
(Sitting Bull of the Sioux)
Centennial exposition
1886 – The Statue of Liberty by France (100th anniversary of The War of Independence
1887- Dawes Act/General Allotment - try to limit Indian ownership of land again, Indians got only a little,
the rest was given to whites
1890 – a group of Sioux left reservation led by chief Big Foot to join another group for safety but they
were stopped by soldiers and led to Wounded Knee Creek → almost all of them (including women and
children) were killed → they lost hope
1924 - Congress passed The Indian Citizenship Act- Amerindians were full citizens of US, right to
vote→ they set up own councils to run affairs of their reservations, many became soldiers
1953 - Determination Act- they left reservations, US government did not recognise any longer a
tribe, but under Nixon administration the tribe was recognised again
1970s - Amerindians from all over US joined together to try to improve their position and formed
The American Indian Movement and in 1972 thousands of them travelled to Washington to join in a protest
they called Trail of Broken Treaties
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Inventors and industries

1876 - Centennial Exposition - type writer, telephone, machines for many uses → to show achievements
US industry grew quickly → IRON and COAL (railroads, locomotives, wagons, passenger cars → means of
transport → even greater development

People came from Europe and many were Irish (famine after 1845). Also immigrants from Germany
and after 1880 Italians, Poles, Greeks, Russians, Hungarian and Czechs + Jewish people because in
the 1880s they were being killed all over the Eastern Europe
The government wanted to control the immigration → Ellis Island (1892 to 1954), (some people
stayed there for over a year)
1924 – Reed Johnson Immigration Act - no more than 150 000 immigrants a year was let into US
→ more in roaring twenties

Thomas Alva Edison – more than 1000 inventions → the age of electricity
Industry controlled by businessmen
1890 – Henry Ford began to make automobiles
Bases for mass production and using assembly lines.
Big corporations emerged. Businessmen were in Boston and New York. The country was coming under the
control of rich and powerful men who could do anything they wished
1895 – Cuba rebellion against Spain
The end of the 19th century (1896 – 1916) – The Progressive Age
• the age of the 1st generation of American billionaires
• tycoon (a very rich man; usually dominated a branch of industry, oil, shoes…)
o Roosevelt, Rockefeller, Mellon, Clarke, Wanderbilt
o some of them wanted to give sth back to the society (museums, universities, bought art)
o usually in New York
o families stayed in Newport, Rhode Island
Theodore Roosevelt (Tedy)
• "Market should be left to evolve independently…" → but Roosevelt wanted to intervene
• society can't be stable if some are rich and other really poor
o everyone need a certain lvl of wealth
▪ to avoid revolutions, violent changes
o tried to limit the power of big business
• used public money for great projects → people received money, food, place to sleep…
• initiated a legislation to protect and preserve competition
o the pressure to lower the prices
• concerned about the consequences of industrialization
o pollution <- there must be a limit
o the first ecological legislation (there must be areas protected by the state → called national
parks)
• fought against corruption
o cooperated with press
• interested in the food industry
o great development
o tendency not to cook any more → bought it
o there must be limits in quality and hygiene
▪ again, among the first → people must eat good food
•
1898 – War with Spain - fighting in Cuba and in Philippines, which was another Spanish colony
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- The first battle fought in Philippines→ American warships sank a Spanish fleet, few weeks later American
soldier occupied Manila→ Spanish resistance ended
- American soldiers landed in Cuba and in two weeks of fighting Spanish were defeated→ in July Spanish
government asks Americans for peace→ Spain gave to US: Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and small
Pacific island called Guam→ at the same time US connected Hawaii→ US became colonial power
- Filipinos soon fought against American occupation troops
- The Americans built there school, hospitals, roads, provided pure water and destroyed malaria and yellow
fewer in the lands they now ruled
Philippines became independent in 1946. Cuba was after the war with Spain declared an independent
country but it was just a pretence- the Americans built there a naval base…Later Panama Canal was finished
- 1914
1913 – Woodrow Wilson president
His policies were called The New Freedom

The First World War

1914 -18 - The WW I
Entente: (French, GB, Russia <- withdrew in 1917, bcs of the Bolshevik revolution)
the opponents: ("Central Powers") →Turkey (The Ottoman Empire), Germany, Austria & Hungary, Bulgaria
The President was Woodrow Wilson
• a professor of history (Princeton)
• active in the war
• participated in peace discussions 1918 Versai, Paris
• most Americans wanted to keep out of war (but they were shocked by the attack at Belgium,
Germany also sank some of their ships (or ships with American passengers))
• Wilson's doctrine
o thought that Germany should not be imposed to having pay the war damages
o they should not be left angry and humiliated
o principle of self-determination
o the age of the old empires was gone
o peoples should be given the freedom to become independent
• The option which was in the end chosen was to leave Germany so weak that they would never be
able to fight again
• Versailles Treaty signed in May 1919 (without consulting Germans) → it was too hard, they had to
pay for the damages (reparation prices were too high), their army was limited etc.
• The League of Nations → “We had a chance to gain the leadership of the world. We have lost it and
soon we shall be witnessing the tragedy of it all.”
o to keep a peace in the world, to prevent form new war conflicts they should solve problems
in a diplomatic way (founded by France, Britain)
o the organisation failed because of disability to keep peace → later the winners of the 2WW
decided to create United Nations Organization (UNO) - 1945; Headquarters: mainly in NY,
Geneva, Haag; "Blue Helmets"

1917 – 'America entered the war

• They had only 200K Soldiers → the had to train more
• Germany wanted to win the war before US would be ready to fight
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The Roaring Twenties

"Good times = wild times"
1920s – roaring 20s – boom in American economy
"A new women" emerged – bcs of the industrial boom and the war, women had to work in factories → job
→ salary → economic independence
• appearance also changed → shorter hair and dresses, lower shoes
• women started to ride bicycles and cars
1920 – women got the right to vote

Social differences increased → rich got richer and poor got poorer. Many poor families could not support
their children.

Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin – English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of
silent film. Chaplin's childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship. Chaplin directed his own films
from an early stage.

US was immensely rich ← plenty of raw materials, factories, automobiles, electrical industry
• companies making vacuum cleaners, radios, refrigerators
• movies from Hollywood
"Live now, pay later."
High import taxes on goods from abroad to support businessmen.
Still, there were a lot of poor Americans. In industrial cities (Chicago, Pittsburgh) immigrant workers still
worked for long hours for low wages and in the South, thousands of poor farmers worked form sunrise to
sunset to earn barely enough to live on.
1920 – 1933 – Prohibition (The Eighteenth Amendment) → Gangsters, illegal drinking places in
basements etc. (bootleggers) ← Al Capone; After the prohibition, gangsters remained powerful
1924 – Indian citizenship act
The immigration act – the end of the immigration

Crash and Depression

1929 – Black Thursday → Wall Street Crash

In 1920s the sails of cars, radios and other goods rose → bigger profits for the firms which made them →
buying and selling shares became popular, many people borrowed large amounts of money from the banks
to buy shares→ main idea was to spot shares that would quickly raise in value, buy them at one price and
then resell at a higher one a few weeks later→ then they could pay back the bank and have profit
By the fall 1929 people begun to sell their shares increasingly and their prices start to fall→ it became faster
and panic began →thousands of people were ruined (many committed suicide)

American factories made more goods then they could sell and had no customers because people had no
money, it also affected their sales to foreign countries. By the end of 1931 about 8 million Americans out
of work- no money, no home, no food… By 1932- situation was worse- thousands of banks and over 100
000 businesses closed down. Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected instead of Herbert Clark Hoover.

after 1933 – New deal – many new laws to help the nation to recover from the depression → state
invested and gave people work → enough for people to survive
• National Recovery Administration (NRA) to make sure that the business paid fair wages and
charged fair prices
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• Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1935 set people to work on jobs that were useful to the
community→ by 1937 workers had built thousands of miles of new roads, schools, hospitals, they
also found work for unemployed writers and artists→ writers produced guide books to states and
cities and artists painted pictures on the walls of public buildings

• The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) built networks of dams

1934 – Indian reorganization act
Establishing Indian's own council
Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday

The Second World War

1933 - Hitler became chancellor and did not respect the Treaty
1939 – Poland was attacked → beginning of the war
1930s – Americans believed that they should stay apart → laws called Neutrality Acts - American citizens
are not allowed to sell military equipment or lend money to any nation at war
1940 – Hitler controlled western Europe (except for Britain) → Roosevelt convinced congress to send
Britain the necessary military equipment → Lend Lease Plan (the right to supply military equipment and
goods to Britain without payment, they later used it to send resources to Russia)
• Johnson Reed-Act limited the annual number of immigrants ← Jewish families could not go there
o (St. Louis ship with Jewish families from Hamburg → they could not get to country)

• Fights took place in Asia as well. Japan invaded Manchuria and China. They also occupied French
colony in Indochina → alarmed Americans (growing power of Japan) → they stopped exporting oil
to Japan to paralyze Japan industry
• Hideki Tojo became prime minister; believed that to use force is the best way ↓↓
on the morning of December 7 1941 – Pearl Harbour, Hawaii was attacked by Japanese
• huge damage, Americans lost many ships and over 2000 men
• it happened while they were still at peace with Japan
• after the attack the Japanese Americans were moved in camps ← they could be spies; Chinese
Americans were advised to were a label
8th December 1942 – USA declares war to Japan = they were at war with Germany too → US, UK, Soviet
Union, China = Allies vs Germany, Japan, Italy = Axis powers
• Allies wanted to defeat Germany first
November 1942 – UK and US forces landed in North Africa and later defeated Rommel
1942 – Battle of North Africa, D-day, Battle of the Coral Sea and Battle of Midway (Japanese were
defeated)
1944 – they freed Rome from German control
1944 – Liberation of Paris
6th June 1944 – Allies invaded Normandy (Operation Overlord)
16th December 1944 – Battle of the Bulge – last attempt of Germans to turn tides of war (fierce attack in
the Ardennes region of Belgium)
Hitler killed himself on 30th April and on 5th May 1945 Germany surrendered
1945 – San Francisco Conference – United Nations was established
• also, Yalta Conference – discussed post-war organization (US, UK, SU)
1945 – Hiroshima (6th August) and Nagasaki (9th) → 14th August Japanese government surrendered
1946 –1991 Iron Curtain – beginning of Cold war
• Europe divide into two separated areas
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• Warsaw Pact - mutual defence treaty between 8 communist states of Eastern Europe during Cold
war countries on one side and NATO members on the other, signed in 1955

After the Second World War

"Americans were the only people in the world that the 2WW had made better off → wages, cars, houses…"
Us led by Truman, → Eisenhower → J F. Kennedy
• Kennedy wanted to help to the poor (there were many poor people despite the economic
development)
o he also wanted to help to African-American
o unfortunately, he was killed → succeeded by Lyndon B. Johnson
o wanted to continue in Kennedy's plans
1947 – Marshall Plan – to prevent crisis such as the one after WW1 → Economic assistance to rebuild
western Europe,
• US offered a food, fuel, machines to poor Europe
• Soviet Union and countries on its side refused because they were afraid of the American
interference in their home affairs

1948 - Kinsey Reports - two books on human sexual behaviour by Alfred Kinsey, Paul Gebhard, Wardell
Pomeroy and others
• to explore human sexuality
• many people didn't marry they first partner, they cheated etc. → it was shocking
1949 – North Atlantic Treaty
Fannie Hurst – a female journalist → among the 1st who wrote homosexuality; she even brought them
to her programmes
Civil Rights Act of 1964 – improved position of African-Americans – they were no longer segregated in
public; nobody could be denied a job according to ethnicity → equal job opportunity
(it outlaws discrimination based on race, colour, religion, sex, or national origin)
1951 – Korean war
1952 – First Hydrogen H-Bomb – much more destructive than atomic bomb
1950s - Beat Generation/Movement – authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and
politics in the post-World War II era
→ cultural centre moved to New York; new shocking poetry without rhyme
→ shocking tropes, they questioned American dream, marriage, etc.
• Jack Kerouac
• Diane DiPrima
• Allen Ginsberg
• William S. Burroughs
• Herbert Huncke
1954–1968 – African-American civil rights movement - strategies, groups, and social movements which
accomplished its goal of ending legalized racial segregation and discrimination laws in the United States and
secured the legal recognition and federal protection of the citizenship rights
1954 - case called Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka → supreme court decided that segregated
schools were illegal
1955 – Rosa Parks – (Montgomery, Alabama) she refused to go to the back part of the bus → she was
arrested → people supported her and The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People
(NAACP) helped to persuade a judge to release her form jail → they started campaign to end segregation
on buses led by Martin Luther King → in November 1956 public transport system was desegregated
Martin Luther King – was murdered in 1968
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1959 – Hawaii was admitted as one of the states

1963 - 200 000 blacks and whites took part in mass demonstration in Washington to demand full racial
equality
1965 - The Watts riots (in a black ghetto) in L.A. → large area burned out, some people were killed or
injured → followed by other riots in Chicago, Detroit, New York and Washington
1960s – Vietnam war (Johnson was blamed for it → he resigned and was replaced by Richard Nixon)
• 1973 – Nixon succeeded in getting US out of war in Vietnam
• still, African-Americans were worse housed, paid, educated…
Watergate affair - accused of being involved in illegal plan to discredit his political opponents → Nixon
resigned → Gerald Ford

1967 – Hot lines between Kreml and Washington

19th - 20th – Huge immigration waves
1972 – Watergate affair – Nixon knew corrupted
1987 – Nuclear force treaty – Reagan and Gorbachev

Cold War

1945 – North Korea occupied by SU, South Korea by Americans → 1948 occupation ended → North –
communist government and South stayed friendly to Americans
1950 – invasion of North to South → Am. soldiers to fight for South Korea (Douglas MacArthur);
convinced UNO to support them; Mao Zedong helped North Korea → it ended in 1953
1947 - Truman Doctrine- American policy of providing economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey
because they were threatened by communism, step to stop Soviet expansion
Joseph McCarthy → McCarthyism – hysteria against reds and pinks (people influenced by communist
ideology to some point)
• claimed that he had a list of spies (never proven)
• Rosenberg family were charged, convicted and executed for espionage against US
• movie industry was closely investigated
o Charlie Chaplin went to Europe and could not come back

Vietnam was a French colony → fought against France ← driven out by communists
1955 – 1975 – The War in Vietnam – Vietnam was divided in 2 parts: Communist North and non-
communist South.
In 1950s Americans were sending money and weapons to South Vietnam. By 1960 it was clear that South
was losing the war. Ho Chi Minh´s Vietcong controlled large areas of South Vietnam.
Johnson had to decide whether to leave Vietnam to communists or to send soldiers. He sent soldiers. → the
war was brutal (1st time in TV) → demonstrations against it → Nixon wanted to end the war → succeeded in
1975 with fall of Saigon

1957 – Sputnik was sent to space → Americans were afraid of missiles it could carry
1958 - Nikita Khrushchev took Stalin's place
1960 - a Russian missile shot down an American aircraft (spy plane) over the SU
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1963 – US and SU signed a treaty to stop testing new nuclear weapons in the atmosphere or in the water
and established a hotline between Washington and Moscow → they used it in 1967 when the war between
Israel (US) and Egypt (SU) broke out → they didn't let themselves to be dragged into the war

1963 - KENNEDY ASSASINATED → Lack of trust to the government

1961-1989 – Berlin wall (physically and ideologically divided)
After the war, Germany divided by Soviets into West and East (communist)→ West very prosperous and
East not→ millions of people moved to West, not only workers but also educated ones like doctors,
scientists,…→ East German rulers needed to stop it because without these people they could prosper→
they built the Wall→ Kennedy did not want to risk war by demolishing the Wall but made it clear that U.S.
would not let the communist take over the West
1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis - to place nuclear missiles on the island to deter a future invasion → After a
long period of tense negotiations, an agreement was reached between US President John F. Kennedy and
Khrushchev. → reason prevailed (it was close to nuclear war)
1969 – First man on the Moon (Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin) ← The Soviet Union vs USA
1969 – Stonewall riots - Gay community organized a parade (started in NY)
1972 - Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) → to slow down the arms race
1987 - Mikhail Gorbachev and Regan signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Force treaty (INF)- both
countries agreed that within 3 years they would destroy all their nuclear missiles
1989 - Fall of the Berlin wall → Symbol of the fall of communism ← News spread through the radio;
Victory of the USA
1991 – (George Bush) Gulf War - a war between The Coalition of the Gulf War (34 nations lead
by USA) against Iraq in response to Iraq´s invasion to Kuwait because of the production of oil (←
btw USA was rather dependent on the oil delivery from Arabs) → they won → Saddam Hussein
(Iraq President) was not successful

9.11.2001 - Act of terrorist organization

→ You had to report anyone whom did you suspect of having terrorist activities (ended up in bullying – you
had a problem with someone, you told the police, that this person has been involved in some terrorist
activities and got them into a lot of trouble
2008 – Barack Obama election → Parents of his wife, Michelle, were both slaves – many people had
a problem, that parents of the first lady were slaves

Demographic changes ↓
• White people lose their supremacy
• Ethnic minorities are now majorities
• Whites are followed by Hispanics – Spanish as their mothertongue
• Both English and Spanish are used nowdays
• Florida > Cuban Americans
• U.S. will soon become bilingual

The American Century

"After the war, the American Dream was reived."

• America's mass production influenced the whole world

o TV, skyscrapers, supermarkets, music, food, cinema, technologies, etc.
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o Elvis Presley 1950s – 1970s, Bob Marley, Johnny Cash

o US became scientific power
o movies → (silent period ended in 1930s)
▪ Citizen Kane
• narrated through flashbacks
▪ It´s a Wonderful Life
• about a man who has given up his dreams in order to help others and
whose imminent suicide brings the intervention of his guardian angel
▪ The Wizard of Oz
▪ Casablanca

Hippies – 1960s (from "hipster")

• sexual revolution, drugs
• effect on music, fashion, culture (centre was in San Francisco)
• flower → symbol of passive resistance and non-violent ideology
• 1969 – Woodstock festival - the Rolling Stones, Creedence Clear Water Revival

1973 – Legislation of abortion (Roe x Wade)↓↓

The Women´s movement- refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive
rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, sexual harassment and violence
• Three waves- 2. 1960-1980- the book of Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique helped a lot,
organisation called NOW
• Roe vs. Wade- is a decision by the US Supreme court on the issue of abortion-> freedom to use
their own body as they want