Flashcards and Answers – Readings

During the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln excluded Tennessee from it, those of Nashville, TN wanted slavery fully abolished and wanted black men to have the right to vote. Emphasizing their loyalty to the union, their natural right to freedom, and willingness to take on the responsibilities of citizenship.

40,000 freedpeople had lived on "Sherman land" in SC and GA; Johnson had ordered that the federal land be returned to the former owners. O.O. Howard (head of freedman's bureau, informed blacks of this policy, and Johnson denied this petition. Many rural freemen remained poor and without property during Reconstruction because of this.

Johnson's plan for Reconstruction: white voters in the South would elect new governments. The Black Codes were passed in attempt to regulate the lives of former slaves (certain rights, like marriage, ownership of property and limited access to courts)

Few former slaves were able to obtain their own land, so many ended up as sharecroppers—working on white-owned land for a share of the crop at the end of the growing season—a compromise between blacks' desire for independence from white control, and planters' stands. (Laborers signed with an "X" if they were illiterate)

Women saw reconstruction as the movement for women to claim their own emancipation. Women demanded that democracy be extended to them (now that black men could vote) and wanted "liberty for married women." Genuine liberty for women would be: overhaul of divorce laws, and an end to the authority of men exercised over their wives.

Another group that didn't share the same basic rights were Asian Americans. Proposed to make Asian immigrants American citizens had been struck down on the west coast. (wanted the right to vote)

Support of the Civil Rights Bill of 1875, which would declare mistreatment of races in public places unlawful. He proclaimed "equality before the law" because this should be an essential element for American liberty

He had the idea that those who accumulated money had an obligation to use it to promote the advancement of society. Helped create public libraries and gave money to philanthropies, but as an employer he was tyrannical, opposed unions and treated workers poorly.

This linked Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to social classes in the US. According to them, evolution was a natural process in society, and the government shouldn't interfere. There had been efforts to help the poor classes rise up with laws (like working condition laws and wage laws)

Not all Americans adhere to the idea of social Darwinist definition of liberty as acceptance of social inequality. The labor movement presented a very different understanding, offering public employment in hard times, currency reform, anarchy, socialism, etc. Social conditions needed a drastic change (8 hour workday) claiming that higher wages and more leisure time would increase demand for goods and would benefit manufacturers and society at large...to bring about social change

There was dissatisfaction of the social conditions and social thinkers wanted a change. (Something is radically wrong with the social conditions.) His idea was that a single tax that would replace other taxes and increase the value of real estate. Land would be available for businessmen looking to own farms. "Unjust distribution of wealth."

A story of someone who falls asleep and awakens in 2000, where cooperation has replaced class strife and cutthroat competition, inequality had banished and the idea that liberty is achieved (utopia). People wanted to bring about this world, to eliminate equality.

The bridge between the Gilded Age and the Progressive era. Rejected the Protestant idea that poverty arose from individual sins like drinking and Sabbath breaking...called the social gospel. Rediscover the "social wealth of the bible" and Jesus' concern for the poor. Freedom and spiritual self-development required an equalization of wealth and power. Relief programs that attempted to alleviate poverty, combat child labor, and encourage construction of a better working class

Early 20th century was a time of mass immigration to the US (southern and eastern Europe), between 1900-1930 one million Mexicans came to the US, imagining a land of freedom, revealing the intergenerational tension in the US

During the Progressive era, the working women became a symbol of female emancipation. Younger women desired a life-long career with evidence of a "spirit of personal independence" that showed a transformation in economic and home life. The housewife was condemned to domestic duties and couldn't contribute to society. There were plans for nurseries, cafeterias, and laundries to help free married women from "house service"

Ideas of "industrial freedom" and "industrial democracy" moved to the centerpiece of discussion. Meant to improve the general standard of living and working conditions, and encourage labor unions. Believed the government had the right to expand liberty by regulating economic activity. (minimum wage levels—living wage)

The AFL was prominent during the Progressive Era—skilled industrial and craft laborers, white, male, native born—IWW rejected AFL's exclusionary policies. Battle for freedom of speech...went to jail to fight for it. (inhuman treatment in jails)

Feminism entered political vocabulary, wanted not only the right to vote, but economic freedom and free sexual expression as well. Wanted to raise their issues with the lack of birth control. These large immigrant families are due to the lack of contraception, cant afford a large family.

Indian intellectuals were not happy with the federal Indian policy, including transforming Indian land into family farms. Wanted the abolition of the bureau of Indian affairs. Convinced that there was too much outside control over these reservations, self-determination was the only way to escape poverty and marginalization.

The four-way presidential contest of 1912 became a national debate on the relationship between political and economic freedom in the age of big business. Focused on the battle between Wilson and Roosevelt over securing economic freedom (increased govt. action) people feared big government

Not all Americans embraced the rising tide of labor protests and demands for economic justice. Wrote a letter urging the manager to stand firmly against the laborer's demands.

Around the time of WWI in America, there was a massive suppression of freedom of expression in the country. Including both the Espionage and Sedition Acts, these limited spying and interfering with the draft along with and "false statements" that might impede military success. The Sedition act made it a crime to make spoken or printed statements intended to cast "Contempt, scorn, or disrepute" on the government or war effort. (2,000 people violated these laws) made the socialist party.

American workers linking patriotism with democracy and freedom in hopes of social justice. Over 4 million workers engaged in strikes—great wave of labor unrest. The steel strike demanded for union's recognition, higher wages, and 8-hour workdays.