Assigned Blog 1st Semester
Wren Koch
1.) What are the main historic events that took place in 8th Grade US History that helped shape the
United States up to 1877? (10 points)-Chapters 1-4
(Yes, I can expand on all of these.)
- Native Americans Coming and Going (Forced) (10,000 years ago)
- Columbus and Exploration (1492- early 1600’s)
- Jamestown and Colonization (early 1600’s-1770’s)
- Revolutionary War (1755-1783)
- US Constitution (1789)
- Westward expansion
- Louisiana Purchase (1803) (Lewis and Clark -1804-1806)
- Texas war for Independence (1835-36)/ Mexican American War (1846-1848)
- Civil War (1861-1865)
- Reconstruction (1865-1877)
2.) How did the US change during the late 1800's and early 1900's? (10 points)-Chapters 5-8
Moving west- became very popular, to escape conviction, new life, basically free land, discovery
of gold, was also hard due to loneliness, Native American attacks, animal attacks, Soddies
A lot of Cowboys working on ranches, cows for livestock, Long Drive (3 month ordeal)
Dawes Act- our way of dealing with Indian’s trying to Americanize them.
Railroads-eventually took over transportation of goods on everything. (got rid of the long drive)
Towns would be built around the railroads
Populists led to labor unions people who believed that child labor, long hours etc.. were wrong.
Industrial Revolution- telephone, light bulb, Bessemer steel, our economy exploded, all new
inventions were created, cities were formed, Apartments (Cities were disgusting) eventually got
better though. Police and firefighting was volunteer for a while until it wasn’t
Laissez-faire- let them be. The government let companies do their own thing, which lead to
them getting huge (standard Oil- Carnegie steel)
Horizontal/ Vertical integration- Horizontal is one company buying out others, and vertical is one
company buying out shipping transports (Standard oil brought to you from standard oil
railroads)
Immigration- people came from all sorts of different countries for the same reason Americans
did. We tried to keep certain races out (China, and Japan) Immigrants faced a lot of problems.
Unsanitary ships, might get sent back once they get there. Usually moved to cities to work in
factories for cheap labor, and lived in apartments that were unsanitary and likely to set on fire.
Also faced racism, had to learn a new language, etc…
Political Machines- people so rich that they took over the government system in a city because
they had enough money to pay off cops and judges (boss tweed)
Cities were “painted gold” looked great on the outside, but are corrupt.
Jim Crow laws- big segregation factory (Plessy vs. Ferguson case)
3.) What impact did the Progressives have on the United States? (10 points)-Ch. 9
Main presidents- Taft, Wilson, Roosevelt
Tariffs- Taxes on exported goods (were very high until Wilson became president) ex: payne-aldrige
Four goals of progressivism
Protecting social welfare- Set up settlement houses for poor, opened libraries, Sponsored education
classes, opened swimming pools, set up soup kitchens, slum brigades- teaching immigrants.
Promoting moral improvement- Prohibition, Carrie Nation (freaky lady with an axe), women we beaten,
and left because of drunken men, so they pushed for prohibition. Women’s suffrage-women’s rights.
Creating economic reform- there was a major unbalance in income and how people lived. Many turned
to socialism. Created regulation of railroads, child labor laws, men and women working hours reduced,
and workmen’s compensation.
Fostering efficiency- Scientific management to increase efficiency was used in factories. Frederick
Taylor- Time Management studies. Assembly lines were created- Henry Ford paid workers 5 dollars a
day. Progressives also worked for better efficiency in all levels of government.
16th amendment- Allows congress to put tax on peoples income, creating the ever so famous income
tax.
17th amendment- direct election of senators: It allowed the people to elect the senators that represent
them.
18th amendment- Prohibition- banned the sale of alcohol in the US; believed it would improve moral of
citizens, and workers
19th amendment- Women’s suffrage (voting) took about 40 years of women pushing the idea for it to
take notice
NAACP- was supposed to make sure African American’s had political, educational, social, and economic
equality of rights trying to get rid of racial hatred and discrimination.
Breakup of the republican party- conservatives, and progressives were fighting for power, so when the
1912 election came, republicans didn’t stand a chance.
4.) Describe US Foreign Policy in the late 1800's and early 1900's and be able to give examples. (10
points)-Ch. 10
-New Diplomacy- Involved in every world decision and problem it has to offer. (Will eventually lead to
our demise.)
-Old Diplomacy- isolationism: no foreign affairs
-Big stick diplomacy- Roosevelt’s saying “speak softly, and carry a big stick
-War with Spain (Cuba) - we had interest in Cuba, but they wanted independence from Spain.
Newspapers made this war happen. They spun stories to make the citizens want war.
-Roosevelt Corollary – Monroe Doctrine- stay out of America.
-Dollar diplomacy- instead of taking over a county, we invest in them, and take over banks and stuff
-Missionary diplomacy- Our way of saying that America doesn’t comply or recognize terrorist,
communist, etc… as a government power.
5.) What impact did World War I have on the United States? (10 points)-Ch. 11
Germany violated its pledge (Sussex Pledge) to suspend unrestricted submarine Warfare
US ships were being sunk in Europe
US civilians were on board those ships.
Beliefs on War Hawks (Teddy Roosevelt)
Trade with England Increases
British and American Propaganda
Preparedness Program (US started arming and preparing for war.)
American Businesses (Munitions business pushed US into war to make money.)
Zimmerman Telegram
The war started in 1914 in Europe and the US remained neutral.
In 1917 the German foreign minister Arthur Zimmermann sent a telegram to Mexican Prime
minister encouraging them to join in the war
The US and Mexico were not on good terms
Germany didn’t want us in the war
They tried getting Mexico in the war in order to keep us out of Europe
Mines!
Militarism
Imperialism
Nationalism
Economic Competition
System of Alliances
Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand
6.) What impact did the United States have on World War I? (20)
We basically just swooped in and destroyed the central powers.
Germany got frantic with they’re attacks once they realized we were coming, ended up losing they’re
last major offensive to France, then we came in and cleaned up shop.
Wilson arranged his 14 points in the treaty of Versailles- Germany took it in a heartbeat thinking it was
easy to comply to. Then Wilson got sick, and the French leader changed the entire treaty, ultimately
leading to WWII. We wanted to end Imperialism- this was an imperialistic war.
7.) What positive and negative impact did the 1920's have on the United States? (20 points)-Ch. 12-13
Known for- Prosperity, Organized Crime, Consumer goods, Freedom, New Music and Dance, Prohibition,
Republicanism, and Public Scandals.
The red scare (1919-1920) - People got scared that communism would take over the world (palmer
raids, Sacco and Vanzetti)
Organized Crime- mainly because of Prohibition- this was a time when the criminals were better
equipped than the cops. Gang violence was nearly unstoppable. (Al Capone)
Ku Klux Klan- Racist organization, known to kill and intimidate non whites
Immigration in the 20’s- was restricted in the 20’s. Filtered all of the white people into the country, and
everyone else out.
Trickle-down theory: give tax breaks to the wealthy, then the wealthy will create businesses, and create
jobs for the poor.
Laissez-faire.
Rugged individualism: “it’s up to you” I’ll help you, but ultimately, it’s up to you to succeed.
Albert Fall- Teapot Dome Scandal: Teapot Dome, Wyoming- people of the government sold
government land to big businesses, they were caught, and it was an embarrassment to the
American Government
Henry Ford and the Model T
Cheap, lot of people worked in Ford’s company because he paid high, and charged low.
Lucky Lindy
First guy to fly across the Atlantic
Amelia Earhart
Was going to be the first person to circumnavigate the world.
Famous for her death- no one found her plane, or her.
Mahjong- popular game in the 20’s
Rural vs. Urban
1920 Census- 51.2 million people lived in cities of 2,500 or more
1922-1929- more than 2 million people moved from farms to the cities each year
Rural areas tried to hold on to moral values and close social relationships
Largest Cities
-New York City (5.6 million)
-Chicago (3 million)
-Philadelphia (2 million)
-65 other cities had over 100,000 people
Cities tolerated drinking, gambling, and casual dating.
Prohibition “the noble experiment”
18th Amendment (1920-1933)
The manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages was illegal
Supporters believed alcohol brought about corruption, crime, wife and child abuse and accidents.
Alcohol was allowed for medicinal and religious purposes
Prescriptions and sacramental wine orders skyrocketed
At first saloons closed and drunkenness went down
The Volstead act created the Prohibition Bureau to enforce the law
Prohibition failed for three reasons
-People despised it. Saw it as government meddling in people’s lives.
-The prohibition Bureau was underfunded. It had 1,500 people to supervise the country
-Organized crime became commonplace.
Speakeasies
Science vs. Religion
Buying on Credit
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