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SECOND EXAM STUDY GUIDE

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THE WORLD OF THE FARMER: The middle section of 1302 addresses the evolution of a national conscience. The argument presented in class holds that while the United States in the Gilded Age included many elements known to modern Americans (high technology, an aggressive foreign policy, a closed frontier, labor unions and strikes, an urban culture, etc.), the nation was still rather primitive in one significant way.  It had not yet developed a conscience. 

 

In the second part of 1302, lectures turn to an analysis of how the United States altered this situation. The focus shifts to how Americans addressed some of the abuses of the late-nineteenth-century and to how they began developing the more balanced, humane, and tolerant culture in existence today. 

 

The opening lecture for the second part of 1302 explores the world of the farmer, for it was the late nineteenth-century farmers’ movement, some historians believe, that started the United States down the path of reform.  This lecture identified the American farmer as the group of people uniquely situated to challenge and change the Gilded Age.  It examined some of the problems faced by late-nineteenth-century farmers, their economic behaviors, attitudes towards technology, their isolation and how it affected rural reactions to adversity.

 

You need to know the following:

  • The purpose of the second part of the class and the time period it covers.

  • The number of farmers within the United States in the late nineteenth century; the percentage of the labor force involved in farm labor. 

  • The unique position of the American farmer in the Gilded Age.

  • The ways in which farmers were in synch with the Gilded Age.

  • Farmer ambition, farmer economic activity, farmer inventions, farmer overseas activities.

  • The levels of production achieved by late-nineteenth-century American farmers. 

  • Luther Burbank and John Wesley North

  • The inventions used by American farmers of the late 1800s. 

  • The tractor. 

  • The culture of the farmer. In what ways were they wedded to the Gilded Age? In what ways were they isolated from it? 

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POPULIST MOVEMENT I AND II: These lectures identified the economic and social conditions that affected American farmers in the late 1800s, their complaints about their situation, and the responses farmers developed to address their problems.  The lecture covered early attempts at farmer organization, examined the emergence of the Farmers’ Alliance and the impact of this organization on American politics.  The lectures concluded with an examination of how ideas generated in the farmers’ movement migrated into the Democratic Party and mainstream politics at the hands of William Jennings Bryan.

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You need to know the following:

  • The problem of debt – what happened to farm prices in the late 1800s? 

  • Matt Brown’s story. 

  • Farmer complaints about the federal government and the railroad. 

  • The Grange. 

  • Grange ideas about improving the United States. 

  • The Farmers’ Alliances 

  • Lampasas County, Texas 

  • Northern Alliance, Southern Alliance, Black Alliance 

  • The Ocala Demands 

  • Sockless Jerry Simpson 

  • Mary Elizabeth Lease 

  • The Wizard of Oz 

  • Alliance successes in the election of 1890 

  • The Omaha Convention and Platform 

  • The Depression of 1893 

  • The Election of 1896 

  • William Jennings Bryan 

  • The “Cross of Gold” Speech 

 

THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT: Delving further into the development of a national conscience, this lecture explored the Progressive Movement. It traced how elements of the Middle Class began to challenge the economic and social norms of the Gilded Age as they were deeply affected by the Depression of 1893.  The lecture examines the links between Progressivism and Populism, listed the types of reforms conducted by Progressives, and addressed the legacy of Progressivism.

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You need to know the following:

  • The dates when the Progressive Movement took place. 

  • The cause of the Progressive Movement according to the lecture. 

  • The shock and turmoil of the Depression of 1893. 

  • Peak unemployment rates in the Depression of 1893. 

  • Jacob Coxey and Coxey’s Army

  • Social Justice, Political, and Efficiency Reforms. 

  • Muckrakers 

  • Upton Sinclair, Lincoln Steffens, Ida Tarbell 

  • The Shame of the Cities, 1902 

  • Jungle 

  • The 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th Amendments to the Constitution  

  • How and where women got the right to vote. 

  • Frederick Winslow Taylor 

  • Principles of Scientific Management 

  • The Commission Plan of Government 

  • Galveston, 1900

  • Initiative, Referendum 

  • All relevant dates. 

 

PROGRESSIVISM AND CIVIL RIGHTS: Here, lectures turned to an analysis of the social impact of Progressivism by examining how reformers took on one of the most appalling aspects of the late-nineteenth-century United States: the nation’s treatment of black Americans.  This lecture examined how Gilded Age politicians, especially in the South, had worked to segregate and disenfranchise African Americans.  It addresses the social and economic effects of segregation, and the efforts of reformers to restore wealth, respect, and opportunity to the black community.

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You need to know the following:

  • The Civil Rights Act of 1875 

  • Joseph Bradley

  • The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 

  • James Z George and his role in segregation and promoting racism.

  • Mississippi Constitution of 1890

  • The Case of Homer Plessy

  • Plessy Vs Ferguson and why it is referred to as one of the Supreme Court's most vicious rulings.

  • John Marshall Harlan 

  • The Grandfather Clause 

  • The relationship between segregation and hate.

  • Racial violence - The Gomez Lynching, Waco Horror, Paris Horror, Hartfield murder, Kirven Lynching.

  • The ways minorities responded to the age of segregation and hate.

  • Booker T. Washington 

  • The Atlanta Compromise 

  • The Tulsa Race Riot and Deep Greenwood

  • WEB Dubois 

  • The Souls of Black Folk 

  • The Niagara Movement 

  • The Springfield Riot of 1908 and its significance

  • The NAACP and its right against segregation

  • Bloody 1919

  • The Chicago Race Riot of 1919 

  • The Harlem Renaissance and what it did to reduced prejudice and hatred.

  • Langston Hughes 

 

PROGRESSIVISM IN THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT: This lecture followed the Progressive zeal into presidential politics, looking at three reform-minded presidents -- Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson.

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You should know the following:

  • Theodore Roosevelt. Since he is so important, you should know a little about his biography. You should also have some familiarity with his political history. What offices did he hold before he became president? 

  • How Roosevelt became president. 

  • What happened with Northern Securities 

  • The Square Deal 

  • The Hepburn Act 

  • The Pure Food and Drug Act 

  • The Meat Inspection Act 

  • William Howard Taft 

  • The Payne-Aldrich Tariff 

  • The Election of 1912 

  • “Bull Moose” Party 

  • New Nationalism 

  • Woodrow Wilson 

  • New Freedom 

  • The Underwood Tariff 

  • The Federal Reserve Act 

  • The Clayton Anti-Trust Act 

  • The Adamson Act 

  • The Federal Farm Loan Act 

  • the Keating-Owen Act 

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FOREIGN POLICY CONCERNS AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY:  This short written lecture addresses where the United States believed its foreign policy concerns lay in the decades before World War I.  Its purpose is to show that the nation had a strong western-hemisphere orientation before WWI.  This meant the US was largely unprepared and unaware when World War I erupted.

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You need to know the following:

  • Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy. 

  • The Panama Canal 

  • The Roosevelt Corollary 

  • Roosevelt in Asia 

  • Dollar Diplomacy 

  • Missionary or Moral Diplomacy 

  • The American Occupation of Vera Cruz 

  • Pancho Villa 

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THE ROAD TO WORLD WAR I and WWI:  Here, two lectures turned attention to one of the most significant events of the 20th century: WORLD WAR I. This lecture discussed the origins of the war, the nature of warfare in the industrial age, the weapons involved, and the United States’ role in the conflict.

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You should know the following:

  • How WWI started. 

  • Franz Ferdinand and Sarajevo

  • Conditions in Europe before the War – especially in regard to Germany

  • Trench Warfare 

  • The Weapons of World War I 

  • The dates of WWI

  • The Western Front 

  • American behavior as a neutral

  • The Lusitania 

  • Unrestricted Submarine Warfare 

  • The Zimmerman Telegram 

  • April 2, 1918

  • November 11, 1918 

  • Belleau Wood

  • The Fourteen Points - especially #14

  • The situation in Europe after WWI

 

THE END OF PROGRESSIVISM AND THE 1920s: The subject of this WRITTEN lecture needs little explanation. It explained the decline of the Progressive Movement, examined American culture and society in the 1920s, and explained the causes of the Great Depression of 1929-1941.Here, the 1920s was introduced as the culture and society that emerged from the combination of the Gilded Age and Progressive/reform eras. The 1920s, after all, had a second industrial revolution, technological invention, a lot of investment, big business, and entrepreneurs, JUST LIKE THE GILDED AGE. Thanks to the work of early-1900s reformers, however, the 1920s did NOT have a Triangle Fire, a Cherry Mine disaster, a Johnstown Flood, a Homestead Strike, or a Great Railroad Strike. Instead, the 1920s to some extent brought the nation a tamer version of the Gilded Age. Reformers, in other words, from Farmers’ Alliancemen to Progressives like Woodrow Wilson, had an impact on American society. 

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You need to know the following:

  • Government regulations during World War I. What did the national government control during the conflict? 

  • The various federal administrations and boards created during WWI. 

  • Freedom of speech during World War I. 

  • Schenck Vs USA 

  • The labor strikes that erupted in the aftermath of WWI. 

  • The Red Scare 

  • A. Mitchell Palmer and the Palmer Raids 

  • The Second Industrial Revolution 

  • Henry Ford 

  • The 1920s presidents and the behavior of the national government between 1921-1929. 

  • Literature of the 1920s. Who were the significant authors and poets? 

  • The Scopes Trial 

  • Prohibition and the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. 

  • Al Capone 

  • Speakeasies 

  • The problems within the 1920s economy. 

  • Buying on the margin 

  • October 29, 1929. 

 

THE GREAT DEPRESSION:  This lecture described the origins of and conditions during the economic catastrophe known as the Great Depression. It also examined how on president in particular – Herbert Hoover – tried to deal with the crisis.  Hoover’s background is examined and his actions are analyzed for intent and effectiveness.

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You need to know the following:

  • Great Depression unemployment statistics. 

  • The destruction of the American economy between 1929 and 1932 

  • Black Blizzards 

  • The Dust Bowl 

  • What was happening in the US and the global economy to generate this huge depression

  • Herbert Hoover 

  • Hoover’s attempts to relieve the Great Depression. 

  • High Wage Policy

  • The Smoot-Hawley Tariff

  • The Reconstruction Finance Corporation 

  • The Federal Home Loan Act

 

THE NEW DEAL:  Hoover’s policies had little effect on the Great Depression, which lead to his being replaced by Franklin Roosevelt in 1932.  This lecture examines Roosevelt’s attempt to deal with the depression.  He signed a set of laws that are collectively known as the New Deal.  This lecture deals with the laws that made up the New Deal and assesses their effectiveness. 

 

You need to know the following:

  • Franklin Roosevelt 

  • The First Inaugural

  • The Banking Crisis

  • The Bank Holiday 

  • The first 100 days

  • The Emergency Banking Act 

  • The First New Deal 

  • AAA, TVA, CCC, NIRA, NRA, PWA 

  • The Second New Deal 

  • Social Security Act 

  • Fair Labor Standards Act 

  • Works Progress Administration

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