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[email protected] CM Histoire des USA S2 MEEF The 15th century Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Guanahani. He said he discovered America (but he did not actually). He was looking for...

[email protected] CM Histoire des USA S2 MEEF The 15th century Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Guanahani. He said he discovered America (but he did not actually). He was looking for India. There were already people living in American, peoples actually. Native Americans were not a unified group. In the 1860s, they become a more unified group. In the 15th century, there were hundreds of tribes (own traditions, organisations…). Some were nomadic, some lived in cities. Columbus Day (2nd Monday of October. In the 15th century, between 3 and 10 million of NA. There were 250,000 by the end of the 19th century. The 16th century The British tried for the 1st time to create a colony in America. They landed on a territory that they called Virginia (to honour the Virgin Queen → Elizabeth I). By 1590, this colony disappeared (1585-1590 : the lost colony of roanoke in Virginia). The living conditions were harsh. People died of a severe draft. The 17th century The first successful British colonies : - Jamestown : 1607 → bullionist colony (then tobacco, the British were told by NA how to grow tobacco) (in order to find precious metal, because at the time the more precious metal the more who were powerful) Jamestown is not remembered as the symbolic foundation of the USA (because it was founded for economic reasons and for the British Crown. - Plymouth : 1620 → Mayflower Compact = symbolic origin of the United States (founded by Puritans in the North of America, around Cape Cod today) Puritans were religious extremists who believed that the Reform had gone far enough and that the Church of England needed to purify from Catholicism (from the Pope). They were Protestants. They were a minority in England and so were persecuted for their beliefs. They had to emigrate to the Netherlands bu they did not feel at home so they decided to found their own land in the New World. They obtained a autorisation from the Crown to found a colony in North America. William Bradford who was their leader made them sign a contract « the Mayflower Compact » which establishes their principle (how the colony was to be organised). It is one of the famous documents who founded the USA. There were a hundred Puritans. They are known as The Pilgrim Fathers. - Massachussetts Bay : 1630 → « A City Upon a Hill » = American exceptionalism It is a Puritan colony too. It was founded by Puritans led by John Winthrop (a preacher). He made a sermon entitled « a model of Christian Charity » and he declared that this colony will be like « a city upon a hill ». According to him, it would be a beacon for the world. American exceptionalism = the American people is an exceptional people, America is an exceptional country Important people : for the Jamestown colony - John Smith : the leader of the colony. He was also a Chesapeake Bay explorer, he explored the region in order to found new territories for the British Crown - Pocahontas : she was the daughter of Chief Powhatan (leader of the Native tribe around Jamestown). She saved Smith’s life twice. She was married by force to Rolfe (violent husband who forced her to change her name « Rebecca », to convert to Christianism, brought her in England to exhibit her). She died in England after giving birth to their son. - John Rolfe : 1st successful tobacco farmer Puritan people : William Bradford : leader of Plymouth Colony 1621 : 1st celebration of Thanskgiving (4th Thursday of November) (a year after the foundation of the colony). The first winter the Puritans spent there was harsh and most of them died. The rest of them survived thanks to NA who shared food with them and showed them how to survive in this new land. Bradford decided to organise a free day feast to thank NA. Thanksgiving is criticised nowadays. Some historians even think that this is all a lie and that instead Bradford was celebrating the killing of NA. There were several reasons to found colonies : - the bullionist economic theory (precious metal) - England was becoming overpopulated - growing poverty in England - religious persecutions (Puritans) - desire from England to compete with other powerful nations already powerful in North America (France, Spain : Catholic nations)  Colonial America (1607-1776) - New England and the Middle Colonies *independent farming, then manufactures *very religious (religion was everywhere in public life) *democratic sentiment (sense of equality between them, everyone has a say about public life) - Southern Colonies *indentured servitude (a form of contractual slavery, the landower paid for the voyage from England and the servants owns him between 5 and 7 years of servitude without pay but they were fed and clothed by the master, it was still very harsh, once they reached the end of their servitude they could pretend to become landowners themselves, around 6 % of servants died before the end of their servitude) then slavery : the economical model was large plantations (a landowner) cultivated by indentured servants *aristocratic SLAVERY  1619 : 1st slaves in Jamestown ➔ 1st time : racial + hereditary  1660-1690 : shift from indentured servitude to slavery => more profitable + tighter control (because of better health conditions, servants had healthier children) In the South, there was a shortage of labour. Slave masters believed that slavery created a tighter control of the workforce (rebellion of indentured servants). In the South, the landowners decided to create a system (« The Organisation ») to have more control on the workers. ➔ 1662 : Virginia Slave Code (organised how slavery should be organised, for example if a child is mixed the status of the other will define his own status) The 18th century - Seven Years’ War : the first war to start in North America. It started when G. Washington invaded the French Ohio Valley. Also fought in Europe, Asia and Africa. It opposed Britain on one side and France + Spain on the other. There were Native Americans on both sides. The consequences : Britain won the war. Treaty of Paris (1763), the French lost their territory in North America. The war was costly. After 1763, the British took several decisions that angered the colonists. Quartering Act (1763) : British soldiers housed and fed by colonists. The King decided to station some soldiers in North America instead of sending them home (in order to secure a new land). Royal Proclamation (1763) : to thank the NA who had fought with the British. The king promised that the colonists will not settle on the West of the Appalachians. The colonists resented this because there was a demographic growth and the cultures were profitable (like tobacco) and are very demanding for the soil. The colonists constantly wanted to move west (too many people and evryone wanted his land and agriculture needed new lands). - The Stamp Act (1765) : « No taxation without Representation » : Britain decided to impose taxes on the colonists. The colonists resnted this taxation saying the famous phrase. If they were to pay taxes they wanted to be represented in the British Parliament. This culminated to lead to : 1773 : the Boston Tea Party, during which the settlers dressed as NA and threw tea in the Boston harbour to protest again the taxation of tea and other taxations. The Revolutionary War / War of independence Even after the war has started in 1775, the colonists wanted to negotiate and sent an Olive Branch Peition to the king. On the 4th of July 1776, they signed a declaration of Independence September 1783 : Treaty of Paris => US territory doubled because the other British territories now became part of the territory of the USA. Important figures of the Revolution - Thomas Paine : the author of an essay Common Sense (defended the idea that the colonies should become independent. Before the publication, people were not in favour of independence. It changed with the success of this essay. - Thomas Jefferson : he is the main author of the Declaration of Independence. There were actually 5 people (Benjamin Franklin for instance). He also became the 3rd President of the USA - George Washington : was the Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army (of the Revolutionaries) Before the Constitution, there was an attempt to organise the country : 1777-1789 : The Articles of Confederation (the first document that tried to create a political organization for the United States but it failed) It was written in 1777, it created a very weak central government. At the time, the newly independent Americans were very afraid of creating another tyranny so they created a very weak gov = a failed state, meaning a state that cannot impose what it decides). No executive branch (no President), only Congress. A supermajority was needed (9/13) so they never agreed so no ablity to enforce decisions. The states had their own : foreign policies, money systems. The Northwest Ordinance (1787) by Jefferson  ◦ He proposed a plan to define how new territories could be added to the United States. Newly acquired territory would belong to a federal gov. Once the pop of this territory reached 5,000 they could have an assembly. Once it reached 60,000 they could apply for statehood.  The Philadelphia Convention (May-September 1787) A convention was organized in Philadelphia, with delegates of the 13 states. In the beginning they wanted to change the Articles of Confederation. But they realised to create something new. Two important compromises from this convention : - Great Compromise : the idea was that in the North the states wanted representation in Congress to be equal for every state, and the southern states wanted representation according to population. They compromised to have a bicameral Congress : one being the Senate with 2 senators per state and the other being the House of Representatives with a number of representatives that would vary according to the pop. - 3/5th compromise : in the south, people wanted to count slaves a part of the pop. In the south there were a lot of slaves. The North did not want to count slaves as individuals. So the compromise is : 5 enslaved people = 3 people. The principles of the Constitution - 1st state to ratify the Constitution was Delaware which signed it in November 1787 - Last one to sign : Rhode Island (May 1790) - 3 important principles : popular sovereignty, separation of powers, checks and balances SLAVERY AND THE CONSTITUTION The word slavery was not written in the constitution before the 13th amendment. There was an implicit recognition of slavery through several articles of the constitution : - 3/5th Compromise - the fugitive slave clause : if a slave ran away to a state that did not practice slavery should be send back to his master - the protection of the slave trade for 20 years : it would not be banned for 20 years. In 1808, slavery was banned but smuggling went on. This explains why abolitionists prefer referring to Declaration of Independence. Lincoln preferred to refer slavery in the Declaration of Independence rather than in the Constitution.  THE FIRST ADMINISTRATION (G. Washington)  1789-1796 : George Washington, 1st President (independent)  2-term limit : Washington was invited to be re-elected as President but he said that two terms were enough. They limited (except for Franklin Delano Roosevelt). This became official in the Constitution with the 22nd amendment in 1951 (two terms max.).  Farewell Address : a speech he made in his last days as President (became a tradition for American President before they leave office). They try to remember what they have achieved and they also warn the American people of the dangers that await. Washington warned about political parties. At the time, there were no political parties, there were loose groups. But under Washington, political parties emerged. He thought political parties created division among people. But also, they meant to defend specific groups of individuals and not everyone.  Debates btw Federalists (Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of Treasury) and Anti- federalists (Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State) => National Bank (1791)   Federalists wanted a strong central gov (federal gov)  The Anti-federalists wanted a smaller gov and more power to individual states  National Bank debate : Washington proposed the creation of a National Bank. The Federalists won this debate with a 25 year charter.  The Constitution is written in very vague words so some of them needed to be more defined. This is also why the American Constitution is a strong one.  The administration needed to settle other things like their recognition by European countries. The Declaration of Independence is a piece of propaganda who was directed at France. They wanted to convince France that this was not treason and they deserved their independence. France had sevral colonies and didn’t want to give independence to its colonies. France was an important ally at the beginning of the US. 1778? : France was decisive in winning the War of Independence. ➔ 1798-1800 : Quasi-War with France  The US and France had signed the Treaty of Alliance (1778) but the main economic partner of the US was Britain. So the US decided to delcare its neutrality btw France and Britain. Neither France nor Britain did not respect this neutrality. In 1795 : the US signed the Jay Treaty  1798 : The US sent a diplomatic mission to France. The French diplomat demanded $250,000 to start talks. It became known as the XYZ Affair. This led to a war that lasted for 2 years. This was an indirect conflict between the US navy and French privateers. THE 19th CENTURY ➔ THE MARSHALL COURT (1801-1835) 1803 : Marbury VS. Madison : Supreme Court has power of judicial review. The Supreme Court decides if a law is compatible with the Constitution. (arrêts de la Cour Suprême) 1819 : McCulloch Vs. Maryland : the Supreme Court can define the powers of the other branches. This was linked to the debate of the National Bank.  The broad constructionist approach : the Constitution has to evolve with society (very vague terms) ➔ THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE (1803)  Bought by Jefferson from Napoleon for $15 million : so it expanded the territory of the US greatly 1804-1806 : Lewis and Clark Expedition (guided by Sacajawea : a NA)  The Purchase led to two movements of expansion : ◦ 1820s : Santa Fe trail ◦ 1830s : Oregon trail ➔ THE FIRST POLITICAL PARTIES  They appeared at the end of the second term of Washington. The Federalists (disappeared after 1812)  aristocratic style (imitated British Mps)  strong federal government  government by an elite  Democratic-Republicans (all presidents between 1801-1825)  plain dress  states sovereignty  government by the people  THE WAR OF 1812 (THE SECOND REVOLUTIONARY WAR)  1803-1812 : impressment of 6,000-8,000 American sailors  they refused to recognize they were American, they said they were British soldiers who had fled the Army  they were forced into the British Navy ? 1807 : Chesapeake Affair → Embargo Act  It was a US ship in US waters, it refused to be searched by the British Navy. Birtish soldiers opened fire and killed three members of the crew.  Congress passed the Embargo Act, this would limit trade with Britain. 1814 : war ends in a stalemate → Treaty of Ghent (1814)  there was no winner at the end of the war  the US resisted the most powerful Navy in the world (British Navy)  Hartford Convention to discuss secession of New England ◦ Held in 1814 ◦ This was to discuss the secession of New England from the rest of the US and signed a separate piece with Britain.  This was seen as treason by the rest of the US ➔ THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE (1820)  Conceived by Henry Clay (The Great Compromiser)  36’30 parallel  Principle of equality between the number of slave and free states  Missouri added as a slave state, Maine created as a free state  Missouri wanted to be added to the Union as a slave state  They created Maine out of Massachusetts as a free state ➔ THE MONROE DOCTRINE (1823)  James Monroe (President of the US)  Principle : Europe doesn’t meddle with US affairs and the other way around.  Warned against European interference in the Americas  protect newly independent nations in Latin America  assert US equal status with other powers ➔ ANDREW JACKSON (1829-1837) 1828 : creation of the Democratic Party  limited federal government ◦ pro-slavery ◦ territorial expansion : wanted the US to acquire new territories “the era of the common man” ◦ restrictions to franchise (right to vote) struck down beginning of the spoils system : you negotiate with people in order to be elected and then you offer them positions in the gov or public contracts to thank them  Indian Removal (during Jackson’s presidency) They wanted to get rid of them or deport them  1830 : Indian Removal Act → 100,000 NA displaced 1838 : Trail of Tears (la Piste des Larmes) → 16,000 Cherokee (were ally of the US) forced to walk (1,000 mile journey) = 4,000 died (displaced West) ➔ THE WHIG PARTY (1825-1854)  Heirs of the Federalists  opponents to Andrew Jackson  founders of the Republican Party  Main principles  development of manufactures  organize immigration/urbanization ◦ opposed to expansion of slavery (not the abolition of slavery yet) ➔ NAT TURNER’S REBELLION (1831)  Nat Turner was a slave and a preacher (could read and write, and knew the Bible) ◦ he motivated 70 slaves to kill 60 whites in Southampton County (Virginia)  slaves were executed  Consequences : laws preventing slaves to learn how to read and write  THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD  a network of antislavery activists and safe-houses to help slaves escape ◦ Harriet Tubman : she escaped and helped 70 people  THE NULLIFICATION CRISIS (1833) 1798 : Virginia and Kentucky (Jefferson and Madison) = a state can oppose a federal law when unconstitutional / threatens rights of its people 1833 : South Carolina declares federal tariffs null and void  federal gov mobilizes the army ➔ MANIFEST DESTINY  John O’Sullivan → “Annexation” (essay published in 1845)  superiority of white Americans and US institutions  mission to redeem the West End of the 19th c: national mythology → painting “American Progress” by John Gast (1872)   SOUTHERN EXPANSION  Texas ◦ 1836 : indpeendence from Mexico ◦ 1845 : annexation by the US (slave sate → 1846 : Oregon added as a free state) Mexican-American War (1846-1848)  Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo -W> Southwest + California ◦ 1849-1850 : Gold Rush (gold found in California)  THE COMPROMISE OF 1850  a debate on slavery bc free states and slave states believed that the other had advantages  Congress decided to found a new compromise to settle the matter of slavery  California : free state + slave trade forbidden in District of Columbia  Fugitive Slave Act : harsher penalties → Underground Railroad actually increased (1000 people/year)  Utah + New Mexico : popular sovereignty  they would decided for themselves whether they are free or slave states  The Kansas and Nebraska Act (1854) Kansas and Nebraska above 36’30 parallel = should have been free states, but instead popular sovereignty (repeal of Missouri Compromise) This is about slavery when Kansas was admitted as a slave state and Nebraska as a free state.??? 1854 : Bleeding Kansas = 100 people killed  Dred Scott VS. Sandford (1857) Taken from Missouri to Illinois by his masters => sued for freedom He took his case to the Supreme Court : people of African descent not citizens + Congress does not have the power to bar slavery from any territory (the Missouri Compromise was illegal) This was a pro-slavery decision.  The Antebellum (between independence and the war of secession) South voir diapo “slave crops” : tobacco, indigo, rice, sugar cane, cotton In the North : modern agriculture with machinery - expansion of slavery The South before the war : an aristocratic pop, wealthy plantation owners with lot of slaves, privileged white people, some free blacks, aristocratic values (chivalry), militarized and patriarchal society, strong pressure on slaves, slaves patrols ➔ The Abolitionist Movement the majority oponion before the middle of the 19th c was gradualism : slavery should be abolished in a number of years or decades and owners should be compensated for their lost immediatism : slavery abolished immediately colonization : slavery should be abolished and slaves should be sent back to Africa in colonies like Sierra Leone or Liberia (they didn’t think blacks and whites could live together, even if black people were born in the US) ➔ Violence increases 1856 : caning of Charles Sumner (Massachussetts) by Preston Brooks (South Carolina) October 1859: John Brown (a white abolitionist) raids Harpers Ferry (federal weapons were stored there) = In order to arm the slaves to join in a rebellion and fight for the abolition of slavery but slaves were reluctant to follow a white man → failure → hanged  Secession December 1860 : South Carolina secedes → joined by 6 more states by February 1861 = government in Richmond (Virginia) [=they were called the Confederacy] April 12th, 1861 : battle of Fort Sumter → 4 more states secede while 4 “border states” remain loyal to the Union Lincoln believed that the US could not be divided and that states could not leave the Union so he decided to use the military??? the matter was not slavery but a constitutional question : can a state secede or not ? Not all slaves states decided to secede. 4 states were slaves states but decided to fight with the North. At the beginning, Virginia was one state but when it decided to secede, West Viginia was created a new state joining the North ➔ Important figures of the Civil War Ulysses S. Grant : Union general (blue uniforms) Jefferson Davis : President of the Confederacy Robert E. Lee : Confederacy general (grey uniforms) A timeline One of the first modern wars in the kind of weapons and tactics 750,000 deaths (1/5 men in the south) + economic growth (North + West) : boosted industrialization (weapons) + boosted the economy of the West + ruined the eco of the South April 1861 – July 1863 : uncertainty : it surprised unionists because they had trained soldiers so they certainly belived that it would be an easy victory for them but the South managed to resist thanks to the militarized society they knew how to use weapons July 1863 : Battles of Gettysburg + Vicksburg : Union’s victories July 1863 – April 1865 : Northern Conquest of Confederate territories Lincoln made a speech : The Gettysburg Address : he gave a definition of democracy which is remembered by philosophical thinks as a definition of modern democracy Victory for federalism: Before the Civil War : the united states is plural After the Civil war : The united states is singular ➔ Reconstruction (1865-1877) They burned the earth before reconstruction 1863 : Emancipation Proclamation → Lincoln made this Proclamtion which delcares that all slaves were now free and encouraged emancipated slaves to join the ranks of the Union (fight with them) and a lot of them did Lincoln wanted this decision to be written and official in the Constitution April 15th, 1865 : Abraham Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth → replaced with Vice President Andrew Johnson (came from a slave state) (the first president to be nearly impeached in 1868) December 1865: 13th Amendment → abolition of slavery + the first time that the word slavery appeared in the Constitution 1868 : 14th Amendment → clarified that former slaves were citizens of the US 1870 : 15th Amendment → voting rights + gave the rights to vote to male (first time this term appeared) + there can be no restrictions of voting rights on the ground of colour, race and … But it created a lupal? Bc in the South they created other excuses to disfranchised former slaves This angered women  “Redemption” (for the South) (because there was a lot of control from the North on southern states) There was a nostalgia for the period before the war, they use a euphemism (“the Lost Cause” = slavery) “Panic” of 1873 (economic crisis) : Important economic crisis especially in the North and this justifies why the North was less inclined to control the South, the North was less concerned about the south bc they focused on the eco crisis 1877 : all Southern states back under Democratic rule (gained back their autonomy) Compromise of 1877 : economic development of the South + withdrawal of federal troops / election of Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) → the North would help the south develop economically speaking and would also remove federal troops and in exchange the President would be a Republican called Hayes 1889-1908 : disenfranchisement (poll tax, Mississippi Plan, grandfather clause) - poll taxes (payer un impot pour avoir le droit de vote): but former slaves were quite poor and they had to pay the tax in advance - Mississippi Plan : - grandfather clause : in order to be able to vote, your grandfather should have been to vote in 1865 and so former slaves were not allowed to vote and so they were excluded from voting rights + literacy tests : if you could read and write you could vote ➔ Jim Crow Laws Jim Crow : a white man making black faces???+ quite famous at the time 1870s-1890s : segregation laws (interracial marriage → schools → public transportation and accommodations) 1896 : Plessy VS. Ferguson : decision of the Supreme court : segregation was conform to the Constitution (“separate but equal”) If they had access to public facilities, it is conform to the Constitution  African-American Activists Frederick Douglass : former slave, writer → he wrote 3 autobiographies Booker T. Washington : economic success over political rights → the blacks should focus on economic success (coming from technical studies) in order to gain political rights W.E.B. Du Bois : Niagara Declaration of Principles (1905); co-founder of National Association for the Advancement of Colored people (NAACP, 1911) ➔ The Gilded Age (1877-1900) = L’Age Doré / l’Age du plaqué ou l’Age du Toc (Mark Twain) tremendous economic growth (industrialization) => political corruption + economic inequalities a minority of people thrived economically speaking (oil companies) (or companies like General Motors) very harsh conditions for a maj of people 1883 : Pendleton Act → a portion of civil servants should be recruited by tests (to take an exam) so this the end of the spoils system 1887 : Interstate Commerce Act → an antitrust law, a law against …, concerning railroads connecting the West to the East This was to regulate monopolies to protect consumers and to make sure that railroads tickets would be regulated 1900 : Gold Standard Act → a law that decided of the the value of money regarding gold (how much gold does 1 dollar rather than how much gold would you have with 1 dollar) Immigration, Industrialization and Urbanization (in the gilded age) 1860 -1930 : 1,5 million patents registered 1880-1920 : 20 million immigrants 1886 : France gifts Statue of Liberty + there is a famous poem written on the base of the statue (saying that the US is a land of opportunity for immigrants) 1870 : 25% in cities 1920 : 50% in cities  Waves of immigration - Old Immigration North-West Europe - c.1850 Irish Catholics (because of the potato famine), Germans (brought socialism to the US), Chinese (starting with the gold in California) nativism = founded by white people and defended the idea that people born in the US should be preferred over immigrants → 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act = banned immigration from China) - New Immigration (by the end of the century) Poles, Italians, Russian Jews 1870s-1890s : “Indian Wars” Conflicts between Native Americans and the us government June 1876 : battle of Little Big Horn (Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapahoe victory VS US Army) = remembered as the sacrifice of US soldiers 1881 : Sitting Bull (Sioux) surrenders 1886 : Geronimo (Apaches) surrenders The actual end of the Indian Wars = 1890 : Wounded Knee Massacre → 300 Lakota (women, children etc) shot by US Army 1886 : a major year for workers May 1st : 1st celebration of Labor Day (started in the US first) (now 1st Monday of September) May 4th : Haymarket Bombing (Chicago) → one of the first terrorist attacks in the US, there was a protest from workers for better conditions and the police was there and anarchists (all of German origins) bombed policemen and succeeded to kill a few policemen December : foundation of American Federation of Labor → still one of the most important trade unions in the US today THE 20th CENTURY The Progressive Era (1900-1920) Goals -protect common good - experts (social sciences) over politicians - end of abuses (slums, corruption...) Reforms - direct democracy : the 17th amendment which changed the rule for senators (senators used to be elected with indirect elections), but with this amendment it became a direct election - anti-trust laws : to regulate monopolies - income tax : 18th amendment the federal gov has the right to tax people (gradual tax according to your revenues) - working conditions Limits - paternalistic : white people (male), thought they knew better than the people concerned what was best for them - technocracy : they wanted society to be run like a business - moderate Yellow journalism and Muckrakers yellow journalism (come from the yellow kid a cartoon with a boy who lived in a slum and using a colorful language) = sensationalism these newspapers started selling stories without chkecking they were true but they knew they would sell lot of papers muckrakers = investigative journalists tried to reveal actual scandals not just to make money but to reveal the truth to the public this name was given by Theodore Roosevelt bc Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt : 1901-1909 (uncle of Fraklin D. Roosevelt) ➔ Feminism (1st wave) 1848 : Declaration of Sentiments → a rewriting of the declaration of independence (written in the feminine and depicts men as the oppressors) Women were for abolitionism bc women thought that if slaves had the right to vote so do they (but it didn’t happen this way) Susan B. Anthony : co-founder of National Woman Suffrage Association (1869) Wyoming gave the right to vote before the federal gov Alice Paul : founder of National Woman’s Party (1916) defending voting rights 1920 : 19th amendment (right to vote for women) Margaret Sanger : founder of American Birth Control Society (now Planned Parenthood, 1921) Work theories 1880S-1890s : Taylorism (scientific management) : the idea that science could help run or organise a business 1905 : Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism → religious beliefs of the American people that had led to the creation of capitalism Puritans believe they were chosen by God, and one of the way to show the world that you have been chosen by God is with economic success So he theorized that portestants were hard-working and driven by economic success bc it reflected their status and future life in Heaven Fordism : mobile production line + high wages (bc workers need to be able to buy the products they made) 1908 : 1st model T 1913-1927 : 15 million sold Imperialism in Latin America Platt Amendment (Cuba) Panama Canal : Panama belonged to Colombia but Colombia refused to negotiate on the matter of the canal. The US supported the independence of Panama in exchange of the right of exploitation. 1904 : corollary to the Monroe Doctrine Teddy Roosevelt : added a corollary that meant the US considered itself as the policeman of Latin America “Speak softly and carry a big stick” – Teddy Roosevelt Prohibition It started in separate states and even small territories inside states (banning alcohol) dry = alcohol is dry 18th Amendment : banned the consumption, the manufacture and the sell of alcohol in the US. This was repealed with the 21st Amendment in 1933. World War I isolationism : foreign policy since George Washington. They felt it was a European conflict caused by european nationalism. Difficult for the US to pick a side because of the immigration (Germans, French, British in US) Lusitania (British ship but American citizens): sank by German forces, so some people thought America should enter the war Zimmermann telegram : Germany had planned to ally with Mexico to attack US. Wilson’s 14 points (speech) : he explained what he imagined the world would be after the war??… he advised democracy and self-determination for the people, he wanted the creation of the League of Nations (ancestor of the United Nations) (a place to negotiate btw nations) But the President does not sign treaties and the Senate refused to ratify the treaty so the US returned to isolationism. Remarkable trials Sacco and Vanzetti two Italian anarchists, they were arrested for robbery and murder without any evidence proving they had committed these, they were convicted to their sentence to death Time of the Red Scare : fear of communism revival of native white protestant supremacy : revival of the Ku Klux Klan (mostly the South and Oregon) African American migration : they were leaving the South to go live in urban areas in the North (Chicago) Scopes trial (took place in Tennessee) a teacher who had told the theory of evolution at the time it was fobidden (religious beliefs were more important) he was an activist it is an illustration of fundamentalist-modernist controversy fundamentalist (Eve comes from Adam for example) // modernist (the Bible is compatible with science/evolution) Native Americans Snyder Act : gave citizenship to native americans (voting rights for example) Wheeler-Howard Act : return of some American lands to Native American tribes The Great depression and the New Deal 1929 Stock Market crashes : At the time Hoover was the President : “laisser faire economics” the economy would deal on itself Hoover became incredibly unpopular (people losing their homes, jobs, no food) Franklin D. Roosevelt elected in a landslide : “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” 1933 New Deal : - national bank holiday (all banks are closed to be audited and the ones strong enough reopened) - Works Progress Administration : to build roads, infrastructures, damns, bridges etc at the federal level and this gave people jobs - Tennessee Valley Authority : creating infrastructures in this region to bring water, electricity to this regions (favoured agriculture) The New Deal was very popular but in 1936 the Supreme court strikes down the New deal policies and said they were unconstitutional so in 1937 Roosevelt enacted a “court-packing” plan (saying the members were old and so he appointed 6 more justices) ad Congress rebelled against that and so refused to grant him more Supreme Court justices so this plan failed After this, ironically, the Supreme Court started accepting the New Deal US views on war 1937 Neutrality Act : saying that the US would be neutral in conflicts in europe (including civil wars) and would not sell products to countries at war (especially weapons) 1939 : Roosevelt made this act accepted by Congress : Cash and Carry : … France and Uk had to managed the transport of products themselves and had to pay in cash 1941 : Atlantic Charter : a treaty signed btw Churchill and Roosevelt, the US promised he would do everything he could to help the UK (to convince Congress) without being at war itself Attack on Pearl Harbour : Roosevelt speech “a date which will live in infamy” the surprise attack by the Japanese on a US naval base This was perceived as a betrayal bc at the time Japan and the US were negotiating The US in WW2 1942 (turn of the war) : Battle of Midway showed an advance for the Allies in the Pacific Manhattan Project started : led to the creation of the atomic bomb 1944 : D-Day : US soldiers in France to free France Bretton Woods Conference : discussed the economy after the war but visible tensions btw USSR and the US (feeling of the beginning of the Cold War) 1945 : Yalta + Potsdam conferences (feeling of the beginning of the Cold War) different visions for the world after the war FDR dies so his vice-president Truman became president Hiroshima and Nagasaki : authorized by Truman and this led to the end of the war in Japan G.I. Bills = series of laws to help the soldiers (veterans) to get back on their feet in the US (jobs, colleges, houses) and this is responsible for the emergence of a middle-class (creation of a middle-class culture) The beginning of the Cold War George Kennan’s “Long Telegram” (an American chargé d’affaires), he explained it was impossible to negotiate with the USSR and that they wanted world domination (communism in the world) Kennan himself criticised his own telegram very quickly this long telegram inspired the Truman Doctrine Truman Doctrine = if a people is threatened by a minority or a foreign power the US would intervene (interventionism) => beginning of the Domino Theory : the idea that if a country became communist, countries around would become communist after it Marshall Plan : a way to lending money to the European to make sure they would not fall to Soviet influence NATO : an alliance btw the US and the West of Europe McCarthyism (Senator McCarthy): according tot him american institutions were invaded by communist spies (Period of the Witch Hunt, also in Hollywood) HUAC : House of Unamerican Activists Community ? Communist party was banned in the beginning of the 1950s McCarthy was an alcoholic and unstable man and so he was quickly discredited Eisenhower Doctrine : derives from the Monroe Doctrine : concept of brinksmanship (bringing the country on the brink of war), the idea was that eisnehower was not afraid to raise the tension with ussr and he believed that at some point the USSR would abandon (so to make them think he would go to war to frighten them but he would not actually) The First Crisis of the Cold War After WW2 Korea was divided : North and South China helped the North to invade the South and so the US helped the South (at some point the US wanted to reunite both sides with a capitalist gov) Korea : 1950- 1953 : the war was a stalemate so Korea went back to what it was after WW2 Berlin : the USSR wanted Berlin under communist rule but the US refused so USSR builds wall (1961) Cuba : 1960 revolution in Cuba (the dictator Batista allied with the US), the revolution was led by Castro (communist) asking for the support of USSR When Kennedy came to power, there was a plan called ‘Bay of Pigs Invasion” (the idea was that Cuban citizens would be trained by the CIA and sent to invade Cuba and overthrow Castro) but it failed bc easily captured by Castro’s men (humiliation for the US and for Kennedy who had to admit he knew about the plan) October 1962 : Cuba Missile Crisis (culminating moment of the Cold War, the closest to a nuclear war) : the US discovered that the USSR had nuclear missile aimed at the US (50 miles between Cuba and the American Coast (Florida)), it was resolved with the Soviet Union taking back his missile and with the US taking back its missiles in Turkey also the period they created the red phone (line between US and USSR to negotiate) The Civil Rights Movements African-American demonstrating against segregation Brown VS. Board … : Supreme Court said that segregation in schools was unconstitutional This created a movement known as “white flight” (white fleeing bc they did not want their children to go to school with black children) so white people went to the suburbs (rich and white // cities black and quite poor) Rosa Parks : activist of the NAACP, she refused to give up her seat and this led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott (lasted almost 1 year and almost caused the bankrupcy of the bus company) and this led to the desegregation of public transport in the US Little Rock : the governor of Arkansas decided to send the national guards to prevent African American to go to school But Eisenhower decided it was time for the federal gov to get involved in this so he sent federal guards to assure the security of these students Greensboro sit-ins : occupation of stores peacefully and led to the desegregation of stores in a few months 1961 : freedom rides to show the pop what is for an African-American to travel in the South (this shock public opinion and so people who were not involved, decided to take part to the movement) March on Washinton : speech “I have a dream” MLK : peaceful protests, civil disobedience Malcom X : more violent, taking by force  The Great Society Lyndon B. Johnson (vide-president of Kennedy who became president when Kennedy was assassinated) His plan for the US for more equality in the US (people of colour and war on poverty) War on poverty → Medicare / Medicaid (social security) (mostly the same system, social security for the poor and the elderly) Civil Rights Act : for African American : banning segregation in the US Voting Rights Act : banning the restrictions on voting Southern Democrats join Republican Party War on Indochina 1946 – 1954 : war in Indochina (French colony looking to be independent) 1946-1950 : hands-off approach : the US no intervention 1950-1954 : support for France (money, equipment etc..) This was not enough and so in 1954 the French surrendered (Dienbienphu) 3 countries were created out of Indochina : Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia Vietcong : Vietnamese communists Under Kennedy’s presidency The Vietnam War (known as the American War) started in 1954 with the Guff of Tonkin Resolution : Congress surrendered its war-making power to the President This how in 1965 Johnson launched Operation Rolling Thunder (lots of bombs on Vietnam and sending troops on Vietnam soil) → Americanization of the War Tet offensive : on Vietnamese New Year → successful assault on American buildings in South Vietnam by North Vietnam My Lai Massacre : a village in which american soldiers murdered, mutilated, rapped children women elderly people (civilians, not soldiers) This changed public opinion about the war when it was known in the US People started questioning why American were at war with Vietnam Vietnamization of the war : the US will withdraw (still bombing however) and bring support to South Vietnam The Pentagon Papers : secret documents from the Department of Defense which were revealed and showed the successive Presidents of the US had disregarded the advice that they had received about Vietnam and that they had lied to the American people deliberately Paris Peace Accords in 1973 : the Civil war kept going between the South and North in Vietnam + Vietnam was a single country under communist rule Brown Power / Red Power Mexican worker’s strike : they were paid much less than the minimum wage and very often mexican immigrants in california were housed by landowners but housed in squalled houses Native Americans started to organise Association NA tribes occupied Alcantraz (wanted to make a museum for NA culture) first time there was a collective indian movement (to achieve political rights) This led to the Philadelphia Plan (by Nixon) : he lead a politic of Affirmative Action 1969 : Philadelphia Plan => Affirmative Action (more balance btw people of colour and white people) The second wave of feminism (abortion, birth control, sexual freedom) 1966 : foundation of NOW (National organisation for Women) “the personal is political” 1968 : NOW issued its Bills of Rights for women and in it they asked for an Equal Rights Amendment (to clearly state that men women are equal in the US) 1972 : introduced in the House of Representatives but Equal Rights Amendment fails 22 states ratified the Amendment, 5 more states and then 3 states started receding?? their ratification which posed a constitutional question 1979 : women were worried that the equal rights amendment will not be ratified President Carter gave a 3 year extension to the Equal Rights Amendment however no more states ratified the Amendment so in 1982 the amendment failed => “Stop Taking Our Privileges” (Phyllis Schlafly = political activist from the Republican Party and created an organization called ‘stop era’, she thinks that this amendment would be a bad thing for women, she believed that women would lose their rights to allemony? Etc) by 1980 : the Republican Party no more supported the Equal Rights Movement Gay Power June 1969 : Stonewall (a gay bar, at the time there was a law forbidding 3 gay people at the same time in a bar) riots , the police raided the bar but this time the clients refused to leave the bar June 1970 : 1st celebration of Gay Pride (to commemorate the Stonewall riot) Harvey Milk = was the first openly gay politician to be elected in California (get a public office), his political career was brief bc he was assassinated Watergate a scandal that started in June 1972 Nixon was seeking reelection (Republican), he decided to spy on the Democratic party (on their campaign) June 1972 : a group of guys dressed in plumbers broke into the watergate complexe where the democratic party had its headquarters to place bugs they were arrested when they came out, this was the beginning of the scandal bc there was an investigation and this started to point directly to the President 1973 : impeachment process began 1974 : Nixon resigned before being impeached period of “Malaise” bc the Americans had lost confidence in their political system and politicians Ford : appointed by Nixon The second half of the Cold War period of “Détente” (appeasement) under Nixon eco crisis at the time in the US Nixon Doctrine : to limit the US involvement in the world the exception of the doctrine is Latin America : they supported coups to have dictators allied to the US rather than communist/socialist leaders Date ? Chile : the CIA assassinated the President of Chile (Salvador Allende) to put a dictator (Pinochet) Nixon opened to a new diplomatic relation with China, he paid a diplomatic in China Carter had a more idealistic vision of foreign policy wanted to stop being afraid of the cold war but more problems appeared under his presidency In Iran : a dictator was put in place by the CIA but he was replaced by an Islamic republic the Iranian revolutionists raided the US ambassy and took hostages 1979-1981 War in Afghanistan : civil war ever since WW2, the war was between the communits party of afghanistan and a muslim group in 1979 : the soviet union invaded afghanistan and they beleieved they would be dicreet enough so that the US won’t notice but carter noticed launched a boycott of the Olympics which took place in Moscow they started to sell arms etc to the Muslim fighters (Mujahidin) Reagan and Bush SDI strategic defense initiative = a plan by Reagan to create a shield in space to prevent missiles to get to the US it was nicknamed “star wars” (reagan was inspired a lot by the movie) Evil Empire Speech : reagan called the USSR “the evil empire” Iran-Contra Affair : in Nicaragua there were socialist revolutionaries who took power and so the US supported the counter-revolution until at some point Congress said that this involvement should stop but reagan disobeyed congress and found a way (selling weapons to iran and use the money made from these arm sells to fund the contras) and he also disobeyed congress to sell arms to iran (a terrorist country) also had an impact on Bush’ presidency bc he pardons people involved in the Iran-contra affair 1989-1991 : end of the Cold War 1989 : fall of the Berlin Wall 1990 : reunification of gErmany 1991 : dismantelling of the soviet union Presidency of Reagan he managed to bring together all sources of Conservatives he even managed to seduce “Reagan Democrats” period of televangelism is created = specific tv channel devoted to religion (very conservative) Reaganomics : he supported tricle-down economics (théorie du ruissellement) if you provided tax for the wealthy they are going to spend more money and it would profit to the poorest indirectly The 1st Gulf War during the presidency of Reagan war btw iran and iraq (ended in a stalemate) The US not officially involved but supported Iraq Sadam Hussein was anti-communist Iraq decided to invade Kuwait to gain money from its oil and Kuwait had access to the sea Kuwait was a US ally so Bush responded with Operation Desert Storm “New Democrats” Bush had done one term and was seeking reelection had been very popular for ending the cold war but he could not deal with the eco crisis at home Clinton (Democrat) Clinton policy : to deal less with foreign policy and more with internal policy Clinton had to deal with Newt Gingrich who managed to reunite Republicans under a contract known as “contract with America” in the 1992 clinton had promised to lift the ban for gay people in the military “don’t ask, don’t tell” : allowed to be gay in the military but you should not say it (if you it you could be fired) Foreign and Domestic Affairs Creation of al-Quaeda cretaed by Ben Laden 1st terrorist attack under Bush : bombing of 2 US embassies Bush wanted to retaliate but at the same time there was a revelation Monica Lewinsky : a white house intern who had sexual relation with Clinton it created a scandal for the religion fringe of the US (adultery) what disappointed the Americans is that he first lied in 1998 : impeachment process 1999 : impeachment trial in the Senate but Clinton was cleared The contested 2000 election Gore was the VP of Clinton? Governor of Florida was Bush little brother the ballot poorly printed so that people would vote for the wrong candidate? In florida there was an investigation on these irregularities so they wanted the votes to be counted manually the republicans fought against that and florida asked for the recount to stop Bush V. Gore : President “Select” = the supreme Court decided that Bush had won the election and Gore had won Florida vote 9/11 this event launched the war on terrorism/terror on September 14 : Congress passed the authorization to use military force (Barbara Lee was the only representative to vote agsints military force bc she thought that it could cause another vietnam) Bush : you are with the US or with the terrorists Operation Enfuring Freedom : beginning of war in Patriot Act : passed by Congress to increase the powers of intelligence agencies which reduced civil liberties in the US in order to help the fight on terrorism (became a permanent situation) Guantanamo Bay Prison : the US opened this prison in December (not on American soil) so they profited from that to practice torture against people accused of terrorism but without any evidence War in Iraq 2002 : the republicans around Bush started shiltfing public attention on the “Axis of Evil” (Iraq, Iran and North Korea) Iraq was the main focus the republicans around bush started creating links btw al quaeda and sadam hussein (nuclear weapons) and that the net terrortist attack would be a nuclear one March 2003 : launched Operation (invasion of Iraq) Summer 2003 : “what I didn’t find in Africa” Wilson-Plame affair : to find proof that saddam hussein was creating nuclear weapons Joe Wilson had been sent in Africa to find evidence that Hussein was dealing to find uranium in july : he revealed what he actually said in his report (bc the bush administration said that the report saying that hussein was looking for uranium??) Bush administration revaled Wilson’s wife identity (worked at the CIA, she was called Plame) 2004 : Abu Ghraib : the Americans started to be against the war in Iraq Bush Presidency at home Hurricane Katrina : touched Louisiana brought attention to the inequalities in New Orleans 2006 : bush cut funding for stem cell research = when there is in vitro fertilisation there are some stem cells which can be manipulated by scientists to become specific cells bush said it was potential for life so he prevented it 2007 : the subprime crisis Obama presidency “rule of law” = end of the practice of torture in the war on terrorism obama replaced the term “war on terrorrism” with “overseas …” less soldiers on the ground and more targeted assassinations on suspected terrorists “the killed list” : soldiers were authorized to kill people on this list 2011 : the us army manged to kill ben laden this helped obama to be re-elected However he was prevented from doing everything he had promised by a republican congress he had promised to close guantanamo prison but it is still open today he also wanted to end the war in iraq but he could not the unstability in iraq was in favour of al quaeda al quaeda renamed itself ISIS in iraq social justice and social movements obamacare = extending social security for more people in the US but a lot of trouble passing the Act repeal of don’t ask don’t tell in the military gays were finally accepted in the military occupy wall street =anti-capitalist movement born in NY to protest against inequalities in the US obama’s opponents in the rpeublican party : Sarah Palin far right of the republican party = called tea party (ref to boston tea party) birther movement = represnted by Trump which asked to see obama birth certificate bc they claimed he was born in Africa (actually he was born in Ohio) 2016 elections a republican president lost the popular vote but won the elections establishment = career in politics populism = people who are not professional politicians and who represents a fight against the system same fight in the primaries (elections) FBI investigation against hilary clinton bc they found she used her phone to deal with important affairs/mails Trump therefore chanted “lock her up” trump decided to end the war in afghanistan he told them that if the talibans helped the us agaisnt al quaeda the talibans said yes but they came back to power in afghanistan trump manaded to appoitn 3 supreme court justices