1. Identify five important changes that transformed America in the nineteenth century.
A. During 1800s the U.S. expanded far west into once hostile, European territory. This led America to be a recognized powerful nation that could stand up for itself, and fostered a pride to be American that had never been seen before.
B. Immigration brought people from all over the world to the promise of a better life in America. This brought in new cultural ideas and expanded the population of America greatly, which influenced some of the following changes.
C. The majority of the huge spur of population was moving to big cities around the country. Immigrants were able to find work easily, as were Americans who decided to move from agriculture to manufacturing. This led to the introduction of commuter rail lines and many new suburbs around cities.
D. Economic shift caused a lot of change in America. As more people moved to cities from the country, many left behind farming jobs that had been replaced with machines to work in factories. By the 20th century, manufacturing had far surpassed agriculture as the main industry in America.
E. With the shift to manufacturing came a shift in how America traded with the rest of the world. Beforehand, we had imported most of our goods from Europe and other places. Now that we were such a manufacturing giant, exports surpassed imports by far, and the rest of the world began to rely on us. This was a new responsibility that America had never really had before.
2. How did the economic depression that began in 1893 deepen the divisions in American society? Which groups suffered the most during the depression?
During the depression of 1893, millions of Americans lost their jobs due to instability in the markets. City-dwellers had to worry about losing their jobs and farmers had to worry about being further in the hole they had already begun to sink into. The depression led many workers to be angered by the people running the industry they worked in. They believed that they were making manufacturing workers vulnerable with their policies, so they began to strike, which deepened the divisions already beginning to arise in America between workers and management.
3. What were the values many Americans attached to the frontier? Why did many Americans fear that the closing of the frontier would harm America's national character?
Many, mostly white, Americans attached the feeling of prosperity and resourcefulness with the western frontier. They attributed the hardiness of Americans and America’s ability to endure to the settlers moving west into wild land and taming it for America. When the boundaries of America were set, many white Americans were frightened. They had lived their whole lives with the settling of the west as proof that America could get through anything, and they feared they had nothing to subscribe to anymore. They were also scared of social tensions arising and the growing population with nowhere to go.
4. Why did some Americans suggest greater involvement overseas?
With the continental United States completely settled, some Americans began to worry that The U.S. didn’t have a way of asserting itself over foreign nations. They worried that America might lose its status. Hence, they suggested a more aggressive approach, one that involved essentially invading overseas markets. Many set their eyes on China, where many European countries were going to, others on Central America. These expansionists believed we needed to catch up with the other world powers, most of whom already had established empires around the world. A final reason was purely strategic, arguing that the U.S. should take over islands along trade routes for refueling easily and islands that would allow for the navy to better protect the continental United States.
5. How did the theories of social Darwinism and scientific racism lend support to the cause of American imperialism?
The idea of social Darwinism suggests that in society as well as ecosystems, the community best fit to their environment survives. Supporters of imperialism suggested that the only way for America to assert itself as the fittest was to conquer other weaker nations in the world. The idea of scientific racism lent itself nicely to this theory as well. This concept stated that some races were biologically superior in intelligence and strength to others, based on pseudoscience involving brain size and skull development. These two ideas based around pseudoscience helped imperialists support their views.
6. Summarize why the United States became involved in Samoa, Hawaii, and several Latin American nations.
A. During 1800s the U.S. expanded far west into once hostile, European territory. This led America to be a recognized powerful nation that could stand up for itself, and fostered a pride to be American that had never been seen before.
B. Immigration brought people from all over the world to the promise of a better life in America. This brought in new cultural ideas and expanded the population of America greatly, which influenced some of the following changes.
C. The majority of the huge spur of population was moving to big cities around the country. Immigrants were able to find work easily, as were Americans who decided to move from agriculture to manufacturing. This led to the introduction of commuter rail lines and many new suburbs around cities.
D. Economic shift caused a lot of change in America. As more people moved to cities from the country, many left behind farming jobs that had been replaced with machines to work in factories. By the 20th century, manufacturing had far surpassed agriculture as the main industry in America.
E. With the shift to manufacturing came a shift in how America traded with the rest of the world. Beforehand, we had imported most of our goods from Europe and other places. Now that we were such a manufacturing giant, exports surpassed imports by far, and the rest of the world began to rely on us. This was a new responsibility that America had never really had before.
2. How did the economic depression that began in 1893 deepen the divisions in American society? Which groups suffered the most during the depression?
During the depression of 1893, millions of Americans lost their jobs due to instability in the markets. City-dwellers had to worry about losing their jobs and farmers had to worry about being further in the hole they had already begun to sink into. The depression led many workers to be angered by the people running the industry they worked in. They believed that they were making manufacturing workers vulnerable with their policies, so they began to strike, which deepened the divisions already beginning to arise in America between workers and management.
3. What were the values many Americans attached to the frontier? Why did many Americans fear that the closing of the frontier would harm America's national character?
Many, mostly white, Americans attached the feeling of prosperity and resourcefulness with the western frontier. They attributed the hardiness of Americans and America’s ability to endure to the settlers moving west into wild land and taming it for America. When the boundaries of America were set, many white Americans were frightened. They had lived their whole lives with the settling of the west as proof that America could get through anything, and they feared they had nothing to subscribe to anymore. They were also scared of social tensions arising and the growing population with nowhere to go.
4. Why did some Americans suggest greater involvement overseas?
With the continental United States completely settled, some Americans began to worry that The U.S. didn’t have a way of asserting itself over foreign nations. They worried that America might lose its status. Hence, they suggested a more aggressive approach, one that involved essentially invading overseas markets. Many set their eyes on China, where many European countries were going to, others on Central America. These expansionists believed we needed to catch up with the other world powers, most of whom already had established empires around the world. A final reason was purely strategic, arguing that the U.S. should take over islands along trade routes for refueling easily and islands that would allow for the navy to better protect the continental United States.
5. How did the theories of social Darwinism and scientific racism lend support to the cause of American imperialism?
The idea of social Darwinism suggests that in society as well as ecosystems, the community best fit to their environment survives. Supporters of imperialism suggested that the only way for America to assert itself as the fittest was to conquer other weaker nations in the world. The idea of scientific racism lent itself nicely to this theory as well. This concept stated that some races were biologically superior in intelligence and strength to others, based on pseudoscience involving brain size and skull development. These two ideas based around pseudoscience helped imperialists support their views.
6. Summarize why the United States became involved in Samoa, Hawaii, and several Latin American nations.
Although President McKinley was initially against imperialism, eventually it began to become a necessity. After agreeing to protect Samoa in exchange for free use of the islands for refueling, the need to protect it actually arose. After many conflicts with Germany and Britain, the islands were split and one part was made a U.S. territory. In Hawaii, the threat of Japan after we drove out Japanese immigrants was too high for most Americans to be comfortable, hence we forcefully annexed Hawaii. The Monroe Doctrine was the driving force for entering Latin America, as most Americans were afraid Europe would try to “carve up” South America as they had Africa. America fulfilled its duties to police the Western hemisphere from invading Europeans and attempted to drive them out.
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