Recent Comments in this Document
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Please correct the spelling of A Philip Randolph throughout the title and page. In addition, the typographical errors presented in Randolph’s letter to White were not present in the original document linked to the page. Leaving such typographical errors reduces the credibility of the original author.
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Alexis Sisneros
I find this very interesting, because till this day there is still Native American Reservations and some of them do not like you crossing or visiting their reservations.
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Divine Noella
This passage talks about how industrialization caused a rise in labor unrest, particularly in the railroad industry, which was backed by a lot of capital and government support. Workers felt powerless as their skills became less important in a mass-producing economy. With long hours, dangerous conditions, and low wages, many workers decided to organize and fight against the power of big companies. -
Alex Manes
The citation found at the bottom should be 30-32 not 80-82
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It’s pretty intense how the courts, police, and state militias couldn’t handle the strikes, and it took federal troops to finally put an end to it. When the Pennsylvania militia couldn’t manage it, the government had to step in, and even in West Virginia, they had to break the strike themselves. The deployment of soldiers across northern rail lines to suppress protests and reopen railways shows just how serious the situation was. It’s shocking that nearly 100 people died during “The Great Upheaval” and that workers caused around $40 million in damage. This whole event really changed the landscape for labor in the U.S., pushing for the need for unions and showing businesses the importance of political influence. It’s like a foreshadowing of the labor conflicts that would follow for decades.
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This passage shows the intense conflict between workers and authorities during the strikes of 1877. Business leaders and politicians prioritized restoring order over workers’ rights, leading to violent confrontations. The quote from Thomas Andrew Scott highlights the harsh attitudes towards strikers, suggesting a disregard for their grievances. Overall, it emphasizes the struggle for labor rights and the need for reform during this turbulent time in American history.
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This is really interesting! The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 shows how tough things were for workers back then. It’s crazy that even with government support, they still had to deal with wage cuts. I didn’t realize how significant this event was for future labor movements.
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I really appreciate the collaborative effort behind The American Yawp. It’s amazing to see how we can all contribute to making history more accessible and engaging. I’m excited to check out this chapter and see how I can help improve it!
Mark DeLucia
Timmy
Comments on the Pages
15. Reconstruction (93 comments)
In churches, women continued to fight for equal treatment and access to the pulpit as preachers, even though they were ABLE to vote in church meetings.
Change the word to “unable”
After the Civil War, much of the South lay in ruins. The railroads were destroyed, and the future of the South was uncertain. The states had to be brought back into the Union, but how? Would they be conquered territories or equal states? How would they rebuild their governments, economies, and social systems? What rights did freedom confer on formerly enslaved people?
Basically the radical republicans wanted “all men are created equal” to pertain to the African Americans, and the White Democrats wanted a little more freedom for them as well. BUT because of the South and not paying for labor they wanted to have that resistance against ALL slaves to be able to have rights and freedom.
This paragraph paints overtly positive picture about Black American successes in politics. It is nice that 1000 held offices but out of how many? Yes it was progress compared to slavery times but it is necessary to mention that it was only minuscule anyway. After this type of wording, people may have the tendency to point at how good Black people had it at that time, how they had no obstructions. Please adjust the language to reflect this. Words like “even though” “while…” “just a fraction” “only a brief time” would be useful here.
At the end of the paragraph, I noticed that the author said, “In the South, limits on human freedom endured and would stand for nearly a century more.” This shows that while the previously enslaved were now free they still endured many hard things, probably as a cause of their freedom. What I mean by that is because the freedmen were free now, the South hated them and didn’t want to give them what they wanted such as land, work, and equal/fair treatment.
In my opinion, Andrew Johnson sounds like he was completely unfair to the freedmen and to the Southerners engaged in the rebellion. He pardoned all of the rebels except for the extremely wealthy ones, whom he only fined, and let’s be honest the fine on them probably didn’t affect them that much. Lincoln’s death affected many people and the reconstruction of the nation greatly.
The Civil War was truly like a second American Revolution, As Dr. Johnson said in the Monday lecture. The North and South both had to come up with and reconstruct “A more perfect Union.” A Union that truly abided by the ideal that, “All men are born free and equal.” Just like our new nation had to reconstruct after winning its independence from Britain. So basically, after you gain freedom, you have to figure out what you’re going to do with it, how to handle it and lay down laws just like the leaders of the American Revolution and the Civil War did.
This paragraph shows us that there were many different viewpoints from African-American officeholders. Some had been freed before the Civil War, some had even owned slaves before the Civil War had begun, and some had just become freedmen because of the Civil War. I think that having many different viewpoints, coming from many different backgrounds is a good thing because then you can think about solutions to problems that will help many different people from different backgrounds.
Was the Freedmen’s Bureau completely on the Freedmen’s side? I don’t think so. While the Bureau did help with “fair policies” they didn’t give the Freedmen what they had been promised; land. So that they could start a life of their own, even though they knew that was a top priority and a necessity for survival, especially in the South when work was scarce. Instead, the Bureau told the Black population that they should plan to go back and work for their previous enslaver, only to be paid with wages this time. Of course, the Freed people didn’t like that, and the Freedmen’s Bureau did nothing else to help in that department.
This paragraph is interesting and it makes me really appreciate the education that we get in our nation today. The Freedpeople were eager to learn, so much so that they gave up their evenings and nights to get an education and also to learn about the Bible. They understood that education was very important and it didn’t matter what age you were. Sometimes I take my education for granted when I shouldn’t, I am so lucky to be able to go to school and get an education, it’s what many people wanted for themselves back then.
In the paragraph it states that in the declaration of independence it says, ” all men are created equal” and have ” certain unalienable right” but when the white democrats freed the African Americans, they gave them legal freedom but that was it they still made white more important still putting themselves above the Africans right? So, did the war really do what it was meant to? Or were the Africans freed to avoid another war? Yes, they were freed but didn’t exactly have freedom.
In this paragraph it talks about how Andrew Johnson was an ” unapologetic racist” knowing this information wouldn’t rebellious unions be more inclined to join the restoration? Also, with him pardoning all Southers engaging in rebellion wouldn’t that be an act of treason in itself? In my opinion Andrew Johnson was the worst of them all.
This paragraph talks about the power relationship between Carolina and Mississippi and them passing the law known as the “Black code.” that was put in place to “regulate Black behavior” just helps my theory from my other comments about how the war didn’t do what it was intended to do. Doesn’t this show that blacks were freed but still kept on ” leashes”? in an effort to keep another war from happing but still having control?
I completely agree I think you worded this perfectly!
Another example of President Johnson being an ” unapologetic racist” he opposed the fourteenth Amendment but voted the civil Rights act showing how unfair he was my question is was there ever a movement during this time to remove him from office?
At the middle/end it talks about how every southern state had public school does it mean white and black public schools? or just white?
Please fix the sentence about Anthony’s trial. Anthony was found guilty and fined $100: Featured Document Display: Courting Confrontation: The Arrest of Susan B. Anthony | National Archives Museum
Use of the term “Freedpeople” is awkward and confusing. The contemporary term was “Freedmen.” “Freedmen” should be the term used in this chapter. This should be done for two reasons.One, primary documents of the day use “Freedmen” and the imposition of a perceived gender neutral term is just going to confuse them. it is not the “Freedpeople’s Bureau.”Two, this is an awkward and divisive intrusion of modern, 21st century politics on a text for students who are largely uninterested in such things.
There is a missing closed quotation mark at the very end of the paragraph.
Is:
Six weeks later, on July 9, 1868, the states ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, guaranteeing birthright citizenship and “equal protection of the laws.
Should Be:
Six weeks later, on July 9, 1868, the states ratified the Fourteenth Amendment, guaranteeing birthright citizenship and “equal protection of the laws”.
(It wouldn’t let me leave a comment on the paragraph above…) Why did Lincoln seem too to be “too tolerant towards what they considered to be traitors”? Was it just an attempt to unite the country without uproar? Was Lincolns first goal to unite the country or to abolish slavery during his presidency?
It’s interesting that the white woman hired an African American women to do the things she hated doing, but at the same time was fighting for equality as well as to abolish societal norms… of women.
In this paragraph it talks about the challenges during Reconstruction and giving African Americans equal rights. Even though they now had legal freedom, resistance still happened, and Reconstruction ended in failure. The paragraph says “African Americans and Radical Republicans pushed the nation to finally realize the Declaration of Independence’s promises that “all men are created equal.” This quotes shows that they fought to make their country far but they had a hard time because they faced a lot of resistance.
3rd sentence “passably” is spelled wrong should be“possibly”
The paragraph starts with information about railroads and than randomly throws in a bunch of other questions which makes it a bit of a confusing read and a confusing intro. How did the railroads “ disappeared” ? And what are the answers to the questions ?
African Americans and Radical republicans wanted equality for all man and to have “certain unalienable rights” while white democrats granted African Americans legal freedom and a little more. I guess to look at this realistically i can say this was a start of a freedom movement for African Americans
Here Abraham Lincoln was trying to push the Proclamation although “Unsurprisingly, these were also the places that were exempted from the liberating effects of the Emancipation Proclamation” which shows that even though he was trying to make a change others were still against it
Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation that gave freedom to only “enslaved” slaves. So did he really freed the slaves ? Or just some of them. Which than brings me to wonder did he actually freed the slaves and can we claim that he did? Always a very interesting argument.
The 13th amendment was passed with the only exception of “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted” which freed a lot of slaves. Now it shows how Abraham took a first step and made a difference and than the 13th amendment came along and made an even bigger difference.
Lincoln got murdered for making a difference. Devastating but not surprising. When you know a lot of try to make a difference “they” always find a way to take you out.
Andrew Johnson stepped into the office after Lincoln’s death and made his own changes. He prioritized helping the poor which I find to be a good thing. It may seem “unfair” to do that but the wealthy never really suffer much so I don’t see how it really affected them a lot. Realistically prioritizing the poor and helping them makes more sense than helping the wealthy side. So his points are pretty logical.
The “denied fundamental rights” White lawmakers forbade Black men from serving on juries or in state militias, refused to recognize Black testimony..” etc just proves that the war didn’t make much of a difference, Abraham Lincoln didn’t make much of a difference. Despite what happens even in the real world we live in there’s always going to be “racism” and some people will simply never change. And that’s just the sad reality of it.
“While no one could agree on what the best plan for reconstructing the nation would be, Americans understood the moment as critical and perhaps revolutionary” pretty much sums it up. Despite the constant unfairness of politics and other acts it was a step of a huge revolution.
Huge moment in history, to gain citizenship when being born in US
A good example of President Johnson being “an unapologetic racist”, by opposing the 14th amendment
Opened public schools for both races but only on “segregated based” so they were still separated racially but on the good side at least education was created for both
“Antoine Dubuclet of Louisiana and William Breedlove from Virginia, owned enslaved laborers before civil war” both African Americans who owned African American Slaves. Their own people were owned by their own. The comparison between whites and blacks is so common but this exact point surely does not get enough attention for sure. Proves my point from before of how no matter how much movements are involved and revolutions created. There’s always going to be people that cannot be changed. And in this case wealth and money mattered more to these 2 individuals than a race or justice.
Would’ve liked to see what policies those African American politicians had and why the lost the spots in offices
This is pretty messed up along with the fact that freedman’s Bureau didn’t fight for them
“coerced formerly enslaved people into signing contracts with their former enslavers” black on black slavery? Isn’t that still wrong ? How is that policy okay to prosecute if that’s what the African Americans been fighting against for this whole time?
African Americans success in politics
African Americans officeholders and craftsmen gained freedom
more than 2 thousand African American men served in offices in 1877
Term freedmen ( sounds very labeling and not the best term to use)
Freedman did not support giving back land to free people and suggested they work for it. This shows how he wasn’t on the side of fair policies, nor did he care for the people and what they have gone through
1 aspect of pursuing freedom by signing contracts with former enslavers
2nd aspect of pursuing freedom
use marriage as an aspect of freedom
Church became a schoolhouse and became central to the freedom struggle. Developing many policies to end racism and re-design religious, social, and spiritual worlds for African Americans
Churches started to prosecute Post emancipation era this shows that Abraham Lincoln started a very powerful moment after all and that fight for freedom continued after he passed
North Vs South fighting for styles of worship and education requirements
Nannie H. and Virginia B worked to protect black women from sexual violence from white men. Women also continued to fight for equal rights and treatment even though they could not vote in church meetings
Different organizations were created to shape their practice
organizations were created to shape their practice
Susan B Anthony beginning to fight for women’s rights
Fight for women’s rights began. The 13th Amendment served as a Loyal League, proving women’s political efficacy and the possibility for a change. Social change began as well. AERA was created
Elizabeth and Susan allied in the fight for women rights
The man and woman tension soon erupted once the 14th and 15th Amendment was created
Stanton and Anthony started to support white supremacy
The word male was introduced into the Constitution for the first time since 15th Amendment disregarded sex as an unlawful barrier
AERA fell off and NWSA and AWSA were created
14th and 15th Amendments guaranteed women’s suffrage and women were guaranteed the right to vote. Women were encouraged to register to vote and Susan stood up and was one of them and later got arrested and put to trial.
During Susan’s trial, the Supreme Court acknowledged women’s citizenship but argued that suffrage was not a right to guarantee to all citizens.
Many racist argument occurred after
Women were compared to men in many ways. Arguments over that occurred. While the 15th Amendment did not include women’s right to vote, it was a historical change in other aspects due to the amendment covering the right to vote regardless of color and previous status.
White women argue about not having a man’s protection, especially upper class. Formerly wealthy women hoped to maintain their social status by rebuilding the prewar social hierarchy
Black women also had concerns about their lives. The efforts to control their labor met the immediate opposition of southern white women, and a white woman, Gertrude Clanton, hired a black woman to do dishes and cooking. Later on, the misunderstanding got twisted.
similar misunderstanding developed in the south. African American woman refused to work as a protest
African American Woman created Patriotic Association to protest
The differences created similarities between White and Black women since they both suffered similar challenges during Reconstruction.
Divorce and suicide raised in white families more than in black since the southern women faced more economic devastation and trauma.
[They also created the myth that the Civil War was fought over states’ rights instead of slavery, which was the actual cause. ]
good point
[Violence had been used in the antebellum period to enforce slave labor and to define racial differences. In the post-emancipation period, it was used to stifle Black advancement and return to the old order]
[White people were understood as fit for freedom and citizenship, Black people for chattel slave labor.]
key point
working and earning money got twisted into a racial discrimination
KKK terrorizing African Americans The KKK brought violence into the voting polls, the workplace
[Racial violence in the Reconstruction period took three major forms: riots against Black political authority, interpersonal fights, and organized vigilante groups. ]
[In nearly every conflict, white conservatives initiated violence in reaction to Republican rallies or conventions or elections in which Black men were to vote. The death tolls of these conflicts remain incalculable, and victims were overwhelmingly Black]
The conflicts began to expand more
[Even everyday violence between individuals disproportionally targeted African Americans during Reconstruction. African Americans gained citizenship rights like the ability to serve on juries as a result of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment]
[Nightriders harassed and killed Black candidates and officeholders and frightened voters away from the polls. They also aimed to limit Black economic mobility by terrorizing freedpeople who tried to purchase land or otherwise become too independent from the white enslavers they used to rely on.]
Criminal groups were created, and later on, the KKK came into place
KKK 1866 had spread around almost every state.
[Thousands of individual citizens, men and women, white and Black, had their homes raided and were whipped, raped, or murdered.]
The federal government responded with an Enforcement Act to spot the KKK violence and all the other criminal violence. It provided protection and made it criminal to deprive African Americans of their civil rights. and allowed the US troops to protect freedpeople.
KKK weakened but the African Americans continued to suffer from white supremacy
New York Tribute
solid argument
Freeman and Lincoln were given new identities as free citizens.
Residents took pride in the fact that African-Americans owned most of the stuff, which turned into a celebration. Later on, they were provided with spaces where they could live freely
[he Civil War destroyed and then transformed the American economy]
[In contrast to the slave South, northerners praised their region as a land of free labor, populated by farmers, merchants, and wage laborers. It was also home to a robust market economy]
The Civil War affected a lot of people and destroyed lives. Especially in the South. The government struggled to find guns, food, and other supplies from 1861. Cotton sales failed. Inflation happened.
Income tax was passed in 1862
Greenbacks were created in late 1861
As the war dragged on, inflation also affected the North
State government after the war was in debt
Emancipation was the most significant outcome of the war. The fight between races and constant disagreement leads to many pros and cons.
African Americans finally got to hold property and move freely.
Republicans in the South attempted to transition into a free labor economy like in the North
Vganacy laws justified the arrests of innocent black men and women.
North regained its pre-war pace in the 1870s
American economic and deferral government relationship improved by wartime laws.
It seems very tone deaf and inaccurate to refer to the Ku Klux Klan as a “vigilante” group. Regardless of their original intent for the group, they have since been a terrorist organization and still to this day proclaim themselves as outright racists.
I think they should be presented as accurately as possible through history and removed from this section that labels them as “vigilantes.”
This quote shows how messed up the South was after the Civil War. Railroads – which were super important for getting stuff around – were almost completely gone. Not just damaged, but gone. Stolen, burned… It was a huge problem that made rebuilding super hard. It shows the effects of the war and how people took advantage of the chaos afterwards.
Lincoln’s focus on restoring the Union might have inadvertently created conditions that contributed to future conflicts over racial equality. Lincoln’s early Reconstruction plan prioritized a swift reunification of the Union, even at the expense of fully addressing the issue of slavery in all Confederate states.
The conflict in Kansas shows the complex intersection of race and gender in the fight for suffrage. Alliances shifted based on perceived political advantages. The passage demonstrates that the pursuit of women’s rights wasn’t always consistent with the broader fight for racial equality.
However, Lincoln’s assassination by Johnson Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, changed everything. It’s heartbreaking to think about the impact this had, especially for African Americans who were looking to Lincoln as a leader who genuinely cared about their freedom and rights. With his death, the country was left in a somber state, and it would have been so disheartening for those hoping for a better future.
While four million people gained their freedom, the caveat about punishment for crime created a loophole that would later be exploited. The 13th Amendment marked a monumental legal victory, abolishing slavery across the nation, but its exception clause foreshadowed future injustices. The passage emphasizes that the fight for racial equality didn’t end with the abolition of slavery; rather, it marked a critical transition point to new forms of struggle.
The fact that hundreds of thousands remained enslaved highlights the incomplete nature of the Proclamation and its limitations as a tool for immediate emancipation. The Proclamation’s strategic nature, focusing on rebellious areas, demonstrates that political considerations influenced the fight against slavery.
The citation found at the bottom should be 30-32 not 80-82
21. World War I & Its Aftermath (41 comments)
[ and sparked tensions that would explode across future years. On the battlefield, gruesome moder]
What sort of tensions ?
What new ambitious monarch would overshadow the years of tactful diplomacy?.
Jealous is a strong word, I would say the British viewed the German as a threat.
So Germany was not the only threat to Europe, the ottoman Empire in Turkey w as another one. Turkish lands on its southern border appealed to their strategic goals.
forayed- make or go on a foray. The federal government did not participate in international alliances but they assisted with the expansion of the transalantic economy.
What advice did President George Washington give in 1796 Farewell Address, which is a long time till then or even now, I am not sure it should have been considered because it may not useful especially then.
[ The federal government possessed limited diplomatic tools with which to engage in international struggles for world power. A]
What are the limited diplomatic tools provided? Would having more tools have changed the outcome.?
[ Leave a comment on paragraph 10 0 After the turn of the century, the army and navy faced a great deal of organizational uncertainty. New technologies—airplanes, motor vehicles, submarines, modern artillery—stressed the capability of army and navy personnel to effectively procure and use them.]
Uncertainty in the sense that these are new equipments and they could not navigate them? National Guard program was established, which supplied summer training for college students as a reserve officer corps.
Like the Boarder trouble in Mexico was an important field test for modern Americans military forces. It seems like a couple of things threatens the American business interest in Mexico.
The Marines played a huge role in the sense that they supervised the city government and prevented shipments of German arms to the Mexican leader Victortiano Huerta. In America, President Wilson declared that the national goal was to build the Navy as incomparably, the greatest in the World. Wilson also used the powers of the new National Defense Act to mobilize over one hundred thousand National Guards men across the country as a show of force in northern Mexico.
After the outbreak, President Wilson declared American neutrality, which seems like a smart decision .The conflict in the United states kept getting worse, the trade and financial relations with the Allied nations drew the States further into conflict, some other Countries got affected in a sort of good way, Countries like Great Britain, France and Germany. There wad an attack on the United States, and over a hundred lives were lost which is a whole lot which is really sad.
[ Leave a comment on paragraph 15 0 After the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and Grand Duchess Sophie, Austria secured the promise of aid from its German ally and issued a list of ten ultimatums to Serbia. ]
How did the Archduke Ferdinand and Grand Duchess Sophie pass on?
The German military reused some of the old tactics developed earlier and activated the Schlieffen Plan, which also made Great Britain enter the war against Germany for refusing to respect Belgium as a neutral nation.
What is the coup Germany military prospects?
[The United States was unprepared in nearly every respect for modern war. Considerable time elapsed before an effective army and navy could be assembled, trained, equipped, and deployed to the Western Front in Europe.]
Did they not see the war coming? Why were they unprepared?
[ President Wilson signed it a week later. ]
President Wilson wasted no time in signing and approving the selective service act, maybe because it was it was actually a good thing for the society and war.
[ Leave a comment on paragraph 22 0 The conscription act initially required men from ages twenty-one to thirty to register for compulsory military service]
So it kind of didn’t matter if people, well men didn’t want to, they did not have a choice, it was compulsory? That is bizzare.
[More than 34 percent of those examined were rejected for service or later discharged for neurological, psychiatric, or mental deficiencies.]
And then, if they were not up to par in the military’s eyes they get sent back or rejected for service or later discharged for neurological, or mental deficieneces.
[ Leave a comment on paragraph 23 0 To provide a basis for the neurological, psychiatric, and mental evaluations, the army used cognitive skills tests to determine intelligenc]
Not with taking tests or exams? They had to go through neurological, psychiatric and mental evaluations to determine intelligence. That is deep
[ His data argued that the actual mental age of recruits was only about thirteen years. Among recent immigrants, he said, it was even lower. As a eugenicist, he interpreted the results as roughly equivalent to a mild level of retardation and as an indication of racial deterioration. ]
I am not sure what exactly among recent immigrants, and it being lower and the data argued that the actual mental age of recruits was only about 13 years? Does it mean their mental age of recruits start from 13 years?
[ Leave a comment on paragraph 25 0 Prevailing racial attitudes among white Americans mandated the assignment of white and Black soldiers to different units.]
So basically they had to seperate white and blacks soldiers to different units? And reading further, I am seeing that if black soldiers go to war and die then they deserve full citizenship, after they’re dead? How does that work?
[The army also often restricted the privileges of Black soldiers to ensure that the conditions they encountered in Europe did not lead them to question their place in American society.]
Then again it looks like Black soldiers were valued to an extent in the American Society.
Who exactly are the “doughboys”?
[Civilian wartime organizations, although chaired by male members of the business elite, boasted all-female volunteer workforces. Women performed the bulk of volunteer work during the war. ]
It is a good thing, the women were included, they boosted all female volunteer workforces.
[ Leave a comment on paragraph 28 0 The admittance of women brought considerable upheaval. The War and Navy Departments authorized the enlistment of women to fill positions in several established administrative occupations]
This brought oppourtunities for women, gave them jobs to provide for their families but this also it freed up time and space for men to join combat units.
[The military prohibited Black women from serving as enlisted or appointed medical personnel. The only avenue for Black women to wear a military uniform existed with the armies of the allied nations. A few Black female doctors and nurses joined the French Foreign Legion to escape the racism in the American army. ]
Why did the military prohibit black women from serving as enlisted or appointed medical personnel? Is it because women were not capable of it or..?I am glad a few black women / doctors and nurses joined the French foreign legion to escape the racism in the American army, which is totally good for them. What is that saying, go where you are wanted and needed.
Americans were worried more about the governance or leadership with them, which rightfully so. The Western world lay in the victory or defeat of the Allies took hold in the United States.
[By 1916, American trade with the Allies tripled, while trade with the Central Powers shrank to less than 1 percent of previous levels]
Why did the trade have different effects , the Central Powers shrank to less than 1 percent of previous levels, while the American trade with the Allies tripled and American military intervention.
[The Allies and the Central Powers had quickly raised and mobilized vast armies and navies. The United States still had a small military]
Everything worked out for others in the military aspect except for the United States because they still had a small military. President Wilson signed the Espionage Act in 1917 and the Sedation Act in 1918, about a year after each other. America was trying to make the world a safe place for its community.
[ Leave a comment on paragraph 34 0 European powers struggled to adapt to the brutality of modern war. ]
Other countries should have trouble or struggle to adapt the brutality of modern war.
[On August 8, 1918, two million men of the American Expeditionary Forces joined British and French armies in a series of successful counteroffensives that pushed the disintegrating German lines back across France. German general Erich Ludendorff referred to the launch of the counteroffensive as the “black day of the German army.” ]
A whole lot of American Expeditionary Forces joined British and French armies because i am guessing the American Forces was not palatable enough or the unjust methods were not tolerated.
[The virus spread like wildfire. The camp had brought disparate populations together, shuffled them between bases, sent them back to their homes across the nation, and, in consecutive waves, deployed them around the world.]
Influenza breakout was in the spring of 1918, a starting of the flu virus that started in Kansas and spread out to Camp Funston, the virus swiftly spread like wildfire and shuffled them between bases which sent people back to their homes across the nation and developed them around the world.
In 1918, President Wilson became the first American president to travel overseas during his term, he travelled because he wanted to try to make peace with the war, the war which brought an abrupt end to four great European imperial powers. French was very much more acomodating.
Daunting- seeming difficult to deal with anticipation, intimidating. I kind of see why Wilson’s fellow statesmen were less enthusiastic about his plans for postwar Europe. They refused to sacrifice further, the treaty was a great compromise that included demands for German reparations and the promise of collective security, but for Wilson, it was an imperfect peace which was better than no peace at all, which he was not wrong about.
[. During his grueling cross-country trip, however, President Wilson suffered an incapacitating stroke. His opponents had the upper hand. ((John Milton Cooper, Breaking the Heart of the World: Wo]
IF he didn’t suffer a stroke , would his opponents have had the upper hand? It kind of seems like they stood no chance
President Wilson’s dream for the League of Nations died on the floor of the senate? Is it that his dreams died with him? Did he die?
Okay, well he didn’t die. President Wilson call for self-determination was accepted to many under the Ottoman Empire’s rule , after the war President Wilson sent a ccommison or commissioner to investigate the region to determine the conditions and aspirations of the populace, the wishes were ignored and the lands of the former Ottoman Empire were divided into mandates through the Treaty of Severes at the San Antonio conference in 1920
Back in the United States they were dealing with the postwar realities which I am sure was not easy for them especially the civilians seeing that they had no say in going to war , it was all the President and Allies’s ideas.
During the Red Summer, a lot of lives were lost, massive bloodshed which included thousands of injuries, hundreds of deaths and worldwide destruction of private and public properties. The Black people defended their famillies and communities with millitant force.
The World War I was the start of empires fallong
The caption for this image says they are American soldiers, however, the information listed on LOC’s website says they are British soldiers. I’m not sure which is correct but I wanted to bring this inconsistency to the editor’s attention.
01. Indigenous America (38 comments)
[There, three crops in particular—corn, beans, and squash, known as the Three Sisters—provided nutritional needs necessary to sustain cities and civilizations]
The “Three Sisters”- corn, beans, and squash, seem to have been one of the major necessities for these prehistoric civilizations to continue to prosper. The fact that these people from this time period were able to develop the skills for farming , and hunting for themselves, is an intriguing concept. When I think about this tie period, I try to imagine myself in the time period, and wonder how skills were taught, or even mastered to be passed down to others, amongst the tribes. It’s fascinating to learn that humans are resilient even in pre-historic times, for survival.
[Between twelve and twenty thousand years ago, Native ancestors crossed the ice, waters, and exposed lands between the continents of Asia and America. These mobile hunter-gatherers traveled in small bands, exploiting vegetable, animal, and marine resources into the Beringian tundra at the northwestern edge of North America. DNA evidence suggests that these ancestors paused—for perhaps fifteen thousand years—in the expansive region between Asia and America. ((David J. Meltzer, First Peoples in a New World: Colonizing Ice Age America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010),]
I have questions, regarding the evidence that supports the migrations timeline of pre-historic nomadic peoples travels, during the freeze over period of the waters. “How did these groups of nomadic people survive the harsh conditions of the whether, the limitations of food and water, and how did they know where they were traveling to?” Did these people rely on their faith and their leader to guide their tribe in the right direction? or “Did these tribes simply migrate until they found familiar settling grounds?”
Learning about the way of life from this pre-historic time period, reflects the current cultural traditions people have today. I wonder if it is just a natural part of what humans do in any community with social order. The Potlaches are basically parties for special events they all want to celebrate. Along with a show of power, dominance, and respect in the social network is expressed even in the pre-historic time periods. I found that these celebrations, or traditions, to be one of the main key points regarding how the past inquiries have influenced, or shaped, our owe current societies.
As awful as this part of history is to learn and hear about, the amount of determination to discover, conquer, and then learn how to survive in the new territory, shows how natives and Europeans, or the people of this time period, had to adjust and survive in the conditions they had been delt. The Europeans enslaving the Canary Island natives, or the Guanches, ultimately take over their entire territory, because of the poor defense’s and ignorance to how the world worked at that time.
Growing up, the teacher never taught this part of history about Christopher Columbus, and the true nature of his voyages. Obviously, teaching the horrific facts of the true reality and nature of what Christopher Columbus did to the Natives, is something adolescences shouldn’t hear about, but even in high school the teacher never revealed the true nature of what was actually happening in his journeys. The entire native community was whipped out, torched, and/or enslaved by conquistadors. All this to gather as much fortune as possible to return to the King and Queen of Spain.
I agree Kaitlyn its informing to see how they were able to farm and prosper without being taught, or how? It’s interesting by far learning how agriculture ran back then. I wonder how they got the corn to flourish so well.
This quote by Bernal Diaz del Castillo, sums up what discovery feels like. For example, a child with no experience whatsoever is in awe and amazement by almost everything they encounter. The Spaniards discovering this new place, where and how the structures were designed on the water and land, astonished them, as if it were a dream in front of their eyes. They had never thought a place like this could exist, and it is exactly like when a child tasting new food for the first time, and feels the astonishment of what they had just discovered. People who travel to new environments would, likely, feel as the Spaniards did when coming upon the new sights of their travels.
In my opinion, this entire battle had no winner in the end. Everyone was decimated by the Europeans diseases brought to the land or were killed in battle. In the picture below, I think is a great representation of this battle, because it shows all the parties involved fighting each other, while disease is spreading amongst the entire civilization. Nobody was safe, and the entire population was effected one way or another.
I feel like in these time periods of discovery, exploration, and new settlement are going to be surrounded around the infestation of diseases and constant battles for conquering territory. No matter what time period in history I learn about, I find that their is always some kind of battle and/or disease spread, savory, and conquering of lands. Further back in history, their are stories of battles between tribes or states or country, and it continues on all the way to current times.
The conclusion to this chapter was well written in explaining the “big picture” and it hit all the main important points on what transpired during this time period of the two different worlds colliding with each other. When the two world collided into one “New World,” the amount of disease, destruction, discovery, reestablishment and death was all part of what was and would soon become our present day lifestyles.
I agree with the above comment left by Michael H. Ending that second sentence with “but” sounds awkward, clumsy, and lazy. Please consider editing that sentence and like sentences in the text. Thank you.
Columbian exchange – global exchange of people, animal, plants and microbes between the old age world and the new age world. It increased the trade across the places but the negative impacts were the slavery and disease in people.
Please consider adding the years in which this chapter will cover for the sake of note-takers. thank you
I think this is a very good and perspicacious question. Also, What made them stop traveling and to settle? Knowing there was much more land to travel. Did they suffer tragedies to put their travels on hold? Or did they find another settling ground with other people and left their previous lifted to start new ones?
[Humans have lived in the Americas for over ten thousand years]
important
While the Europeans were making ground breaking discoveries the Indigenous societies were still very traditional and decided/were forced to pause exploring for a period of time. The start of the a more modern way of life is coming about. A society with technology, social societies, kingdoms, and etc.
I think the answer to your question is there, in part, in the text itself you quoted. Humans are remarkably durable and adaptable, and a small band of resourceful, closely-knit travelers can survive any condition. There was much more exposed land in the Pacific Ocean, meaning more stops on their journey. Think of how verdant and prosperous Hawaii was. The lands that are gone now would have been colder, obviously, and not all would be volcanic, but they were abundant nonetheless. As for navigation, it’s easy to know in which direction you are going using celestial navigation, which we’ve been doing for as long as we have been able to think.
They may not have known what lied ahead of them, but they knew the direction they were going. Such is the intrepidness of all great explorers.
This is the best party fact for history buffs. People who don’t study history are always baffled by the origins of these foods, and their conceptions of different cultural cuisines are turned upside down. It’s lots of fun to watch.
THIS is the kind of thing that deserves an entire book written about it. What a glorious conquest of swine that would have been.
I truly believe that there was never a city more beautiful than Tenochtitlan, and never has been since. I’d give anything to see it as the Spanish did with my own eyes.
There was also a king of Mali, the predecessor of Mansa Musa (the wealthiest man in history) who attempted to cross the Atlantic from Africa in the early 14th century. He gave up his rule and his estate to assemble a seafaring expedition. He was never seen again, and some like to believe he reached the Americas. Their sailing technology wasn’t quite there, though, and they most likely broke apart in the Canary current and were shattered on islands off the west coast of Africa.
The fact that agriculture weakend peoples health and their hygiene, shows that history has not yet changed. It is a dramatically change in appearance and how one feels inside.
I can see why Natives flt a personal ownership to their tools and other items they used. They probably most likely made them themselves.
I like that it provides context on obsidian and turquoise because i didn’t know where they came from or how they got here. So i learned something new
I wonder what kind of food they would give to their guests. It is really interesting learning what kind of organizations they had and why it would take place. I didn’t think they would throw partys i just thought they would hunt and work on building things, interesting.
of course the europeans would change everything. They dont mind their business. The natives were thriving and living peacefully within one another until the europeans arived
The paragraph describes the diverse ways in which Native American groups in different geographic regions utilized their natural environments for sustenance and cultural practices.
the paragraph explores the significance of Native American origin stories, using the example of the Salinan people to illustrate the diversity and richness of indigenous narrative
….”in search of wealth and enslaved laborers.” might more correctly read “…in search of wealth and laborers who could be enslaved.”
Is there any way that the page can be turned into an audio? Like a text-to-speech mode of some sort.
It’s crazy how much spiritual connections and more are used throughout US History. Like it was a big part of their history, what happened to it? It’s almost extinct now.
Consider moving the first four sentences of this paragraph to the previous paragraph; this will allow a clear transition from talking about Puebloan cultures to talking about Mississippian cultures.
It’s misleading to combine the reconquista and the inquisition and expulsion in one comment. And also worth mentioning that it was from these events that the Spanish crown suddenly came into a lot of money to fund Columbus. I recommend:
… the Spanish crown concluded centuries of intermittent warfare — the Reconquista— against Muslim Moors in 1492. Just as Christopher Columbus looked to sail west, the Spanish Crown aquired new wealth through the Reconquista, the expulsion of Iberian Muslims and, and the Spanish Inquisition. With new wealth and power, these new nations….
What are the sources of our understanding of Indigenous approaches property ownership/collective management of land?
Throughout this section on Indigenous ways of life, culture, and traditions, please please please change at least some of it to present tense!! Ex: “continue to thrive in a land with a moderate…”; “Images of salmon decorate totem poles…”; “The fish is treated with spiritual respect and its image represents…” etc. So many people in the PNW still carve, fish, hold potlatches, weave, and maintain the traditions that people have passed on since time immemorial. I’m from Southeast Alaska so I know the most about Tlingit culture, but I know that other Native people throughout America still continue to practice their traditions as well. Having this entire section in past tense perpetuates the extremely harmful and inaccurate narrative that all Native people disappeared/were killed/were assimilated. Nope, nope, nope. They still exist!!
How could Columbus promise such a thing as gold and free labor workers ? also to leave thirty military persons behind to guard a place that they have just come to know from the people who have lived there all their lives is rude. how did he choose who he was going to enslave as well?
Lenape Woman did a lot for the community, they planted tobacco, sunflowers, and gourds. They harvested fruits and nuts from trees and clultivated numerous medicinal plants. They take advantage of growing seasons, they watch and payed attention to migration patterns of animals. For fishing they caught shellfish and catch shad. The Lenapes wove nets,baskets,mats, and other household items to use in the streams, rivers, and coasts.
The slave trade in the early years was as brutal and was indeed chattel slavery, just as it was in the antebellum United States.
17. The West (18 comments)
to eliminate the relationship of something
honestly, I never knew about gold and silver rushes, and its really interesting to see how they affected the economy. its also interesting to me that each state had its own turn of booming in these rushes.
to me this kind of reminds me of globalizing out to the West, they are just going to claim that they live there and add society to the land.
this is so shocking and I’ve never even heard of this situation. I wonder why it states “the illegal influx of American farmers pushed Dakota to the breaking point” what was illegal here? the population growth? and I don’t understand why it only mentions the farmers???
i think that this is such a closeminded decision, they are actively trying to alter the indigenous people’s culture, it’s not that they are lazy it’s how they choose to live and want to live off the land. it also makes me kind of frustrated how the white people call the indigenous people lazy because they are literally working every day for food and goods to survive!!
This paragraph seems to imply that the Little Bighorn battlefield was in the Black Hills, but it was well to the west in Montana.
In this passage, Chief Joseph saw no other way for peaceful living for his people even though he fought hard, his “heart was sick and sad”. He used his leadership to move towards a reservation without war and for a more peaceful future, I think that is true leadership. I don’t see Chief Joseph necessarily surrendering as much as choosing an alternate destiny for not only him but for those who followed him.
The American West was indeed dominated by Native American tribes for a long time. They had established trade routes, traveled across the land, and engaged in warfare. The Spanish, French, British, and later the Americans were involved in trade and settlement, but no one had complete control over the entire continent. However, the Civil War brought significant changes. It disconnected the West from the slavery issue and coincided with the industrialization and westward expansion of the United States. The construction of railroads and the growing population pushed further west. It was a transformative period in American history
Indigenous Americans have a rich history in North America, spanning over ten millennia. In the late nineteenth century, there were still around 250,000 Native people living in the American West. However, the relentless waves of American settlers, the military, and the power of American capital led to the conquest of the land. Unfortunately, the United States often violated its own treaties and forcibly relocated Native groups to smaller reservations. The West was incorporated as territories and eventually became states, giving the United States control over the vast land between the two oceans. It’s a complex and difficult history to reckon with.
what a topic
The Board of Indian Commissioners was created in April 1869, one month after the inauguration.
According to this pbs film with Dr. Vincent Brown of Harvard (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qufNIgaCQC8), this photograph is not of Densmore recording Mountain Chief, but, rather, of Mountain Chief interpreting a past recording. This changes the interpretation of the photograph significantly. As Brown and others argue in the film, instead of seeing Mountain Chief as a tragic figure who approaches Densmore to preserve a piece of his dying culture, she is coming to him as an expert to assist her with her scientific endeavor. He is granting her request for his own motivations.
The last sentence of this paragraph identifies Cossacks as “Russian.” While historically Cossacks did inhabit territory that is now known as Russia, they initially settled in territory now known as Ukraine, in which Cossacks are nowadays an essential part of the country’s culture. All this to say that Cossacks would be more accurately described here as “Slavic.” (i.e. “Slavic Cossacks”).
Let’s not forget that Christian missionaries did quite a bit of good. They stopped lots of angry battles between Natives and the settlers.
Life of the Mormons during the 18th century traveling west.
The use of the word “rituals” adds a negative feel to the sentence. Also, the movement of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is listed incorrectly. They started in New York, then moved to Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois, then the Utah Territory. They never settled in Nebraska. Winter Quarters, the place the Saints created, was a place for the groups who came after the initial group from Nauvoo to spend the winter before moving on to the Salt Lake Valley.
Change William Sheridan to Philip Sheridan
I find this very interesting, because till this day there is still Native American Reservations and some of them do not like you crossing or visiting their reservations.
03. British North America (14 comments)
The Native Americans were exploited and forced into the Catholic religion by the Spanish rule. No freedom of worship.
I’ve seen it spelled Metacom, and Metacomet, but neither seem to be definitively correct. Is there a more correct spelling?
there is a gramor error here. there should be only one “the”
the Hudson River wasn’t as noticed as other Dutch colonies so it was later established in an area where it was more recognizable, being it formed with New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island in 1625.
Charles ll and Duke of York wanted to strength English control over the Atlatinc seaboard to contribute to better tax in colonies
bacon and Berkley had a fought against each other, which led to Bacons bloodflyx later on, his death :((, this made Bacons rebellion even more intense btw the only reason they fought was bc Bacon didn’t like the way berkley was governing things lol, and berkley was like ¨grr u have no right to question me, i shall kill u for thinking that way traitor!!! graaa
What was the experiment?
asia was also connected
[Similarly, most English citizens felt no racial identification with the Irish or the even the Welsh. ]
There’s an extra “the” before “even the Welsh”
it was a millatary force who dubbed themselves ” Sword of the lord ” and they were english puritains from Massachusset bay plymouth and connecticut
In the first sentence, it is suggested that some colonists came as “powerful planters” from England. They became planters after arrival and often after several generations farming.
“Enslaved Native Americans died quickly form slavery and caused by diseases. however, others were murdered or died from starvation.” European slavers transported millions of Africans across the ocean in a terrifying journey known as the Middle Passage. Writing at the end of the eighteenth century, Olaudah Equiano recalled the fearsomeness of the crew, the filth and gloom of the hold, the inadequate provisions allotted for the captives, and the desperation that drove some enslaved people to suicide.
Foods live cassava were originally imported to west Africa as part of the Slave trade.
The English Civil war was established the commonwealth of England in 1649 by Charles Landseer.
02. Colliding Cultures (13 comments)
Spelling error — should read “…more often lived with or alongside Indigenous people.”.
Can’t all currency be used to buy bread to land?
In paragraph 12, when the writer refers to what the Spaniards did to the Native Americans, it seems that they misspelled “day” for “daie”.
Powhatan, who should be called Wahusenach, actually died in 1618. He retired from the cheifdom after his daughter died or of old age, but more likely the former.
What Aidan Fouts says is very true. Indeed, all currency can accomplish this. This is redundant and unnecessary.
Amazing work on the entire article, but it seems you missed a comma. I don’t mean to be annoying but you did ask if we wanted to improve this chapter, so, here it is! It probably should be “But still, there were not enough of them” Or, to make it just a little clearer maybe you could change it to “However, there still were not enough of them” Excellent work btw!
Sorry to burst your bubble but I actually believe “daie” was an old english term for “day” If I’m wrong I apologize but I do remember myself asking the same question and getting the answer that it was the same as “day.”
“That same year, a Dutch slave ship sold twenty Africans to the Virginia colonists. Southern slavery was born.”
I am not entirely sure this is correct. I believe the ship in question, the White Lion, was English, not Dutch. I also think the number may have been nearer to thirty, at least according to some sources.
I forgot that New Netherlands became New York after Colonies were established in North America until this passage refreshed my memory.
Following the European expansion and all it brought with them, disease, new goods, and riches. The expansion had brought about two different outcomes between the Spanish monarchy and the Europeans. While the European population boomed in the Americas. Spain on the other hand grew rich due to raiding the Aztecs and Incan empires which strengthened the Spanish monarchy. Spain would later use their new riches to gain advantage over other European nations but would ultimately backfire.
In this paragraph, It isn’t really clear who is trading what, I request that paragraph 46 is more concise. “The Powhatan had welcomed the English and placed a high value on metal ax-heads, kettles, tools, and guns and eagerly traded furs and other abundant goods for them.” This sentence is just really confusing.
I love using American Yawp as a resource for my students in my American History to 1877 course.
I do, however, notice a persistent issue with the framing of the early chapters, particularly Chapters 1 and 2.
Africa, particularly West Africa, is non-existent in the discussion of pre-colonial societies and early colonial efforts. I recognize that keeping length manageable and narrative coherence is important, but Africans are treated as “Africans” without any real distinction based on ethnicity or kingdoms and are almost only ever discussed in terms of their enslavement and arrival in the Americas as slaves.
It would be helpful for my students to be able to understand the societies that had established contact with Europeans well before traveling to the Americas and considering figures like Nzinga Mbemba (King Afonso of the Kongo) as fundamental to the development of the colonial period in Africa and Europe. Thanks for your consideration!
Of the figure immediately following the section header, the caption is missing a space following the comma and preceding the year.
26. The Affluent Society (12 comments)
This post has left me inspired and motivated; it’s exactly what I needed.
شركة مكافحة حشرات
This whole paragraph should in parentheses include corresponding percentages for Black people to drive the point home. Otherwise this whole section is watered down when it comes to how severe systemic racism and its effects were and how still relevant all this is to this day.
This paragraph needs additional examples from what this meant for Black people because otherwise people reading it, let’s say of or thinking of Russian or Mexican or Japanese heritage could equate experiences of these people to experiences of African Americans and those aren’t in any way comparable. This again waters down the situation and perpetuates the racial belief that pervade modern day.
The ending of the description under the first picture needs to be elaborated on with details and drawn consequences affecting life in the 2000s because just a tiny comment under a picture yet again waters down the realities of Black people. I’m starting to wonder if this has been written by a person who has a very limited understanding of the current and past situations of African Americans.
The inclusion of the super racist quote here is absolutely useless or rather it adds further fire and teaches expressions to the readers who might not have thought this way. There are other, more sensitive, more appropriate, more educated ways to express that there was racist redlining and providing racist expressions from the old times to new minds is absolutely unacceptable.
The ending of the paragraph needs to correspond to what the paragraph said. If you say that new deal etc increased stability for white people, you don’t just say that it increased segregation for African Americans. You say that it threw African Americans even further into instability and prevented them from building wealth, health, etc
You guys need to do better whoever is writing this
One could possibly note that the same thing lasts until today and that schools with majority of African American or Latinx students are absolutely uncomparable to others, lacking in basic materials, quality faculty, even quality curricula.
While reading this using safari as my browser, the second half of the paragraph is in a smaller font than the rest. The following sentences are in the smaller font, “local ministers and civil rights workers formed the Montgomery Improvement Association (MIA) to coordinate an organized, sustained boycott of the city’s buses. The Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted from December 1955 until December 20, 1956, when the Supreme Court ordered their integration. The boycott not only crushed segregation in Montgomery’s public transportation, it energized the entire civil rights movement and established the leadership of the MIA’s president, a recently arrived, twenty-six-year-old Baptist minister named Martin Luther King Jr.”
sypialnie
Here, the industrial era actually resulted in a significant enrichment of society. Of course, uneven, but still. The young couple could afford a car, a house, a bedroom with a bed and a wide mattress to sleep on. Low loans caused a huge boom in house construction in the suburbs
It is for me too
16. Capital and Labor (10 comments)
The paragraph was difficult to read and understand.
The term “The Great Upheaval” is used here in reference to the railroad strike of 1877. However, other historians use the term to refer to the strikes of 1886. For example, chapter 14 in Richard White’s The Republic for Which it Stands is called “The Great Upheaval” and covers to the conflicts of 1886. On page 518 he discussed another historian who coined the term.
Conversely, I’ve seen online sources such as ushistory.org use the term in reference to 1877 (source: https://www.ushistory.org/us/37a.asp).
I’m not sure what to make of the discrepancy, but I thought I’d point it out. Thanks!
I can understand their perspective on the matter. The order of the system was evolving and the lack awareness for the bigger picture on both side was obvious. It moments in time like this one where you observe because this issue is ongoing right now; CPS negotiating with their teachers.
The statement, “Abraham Lincoln had been a corporate lawyer who defended railroads,” is misleading. Lincoln was in a partnership with William Herndon. Lincoln and Herndon represented corporations in some cases, but Lincoln was primarily a general practice attorney who handled a wide range of civil and criminal cases, not just the railroads. Saying that he was a “corporate lawyer” implies that he was an lawyer in the sole employ of a railroad company or company, which is not true. Lincoln took cases as they came to him, as law firms did then and now.
This may seem like a minor detail, but I don’t think the general consensus is that all 7 officers were killed by the blast. At least a few were killed by friendly fire when the shooting started.
I really appreciate the collaborative effort behind The American Yawp. It’s amazing to see how we can all contribute to making history more accessible and engaging. I’m excited to check out this chapter and see how I can help improve it!
This is really interesting! The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 shows how tough things were for workers back then. It’s crazy that even with government support, they still had to deal with wage cuts. I didn’t realize how significant this event was for future labor movements.
This passage shows the intense conflict between workers and authorities during the strikes of 1877. Business leaders and politicians prioritized restoring order over workers’ rights, leading to violent confrontations. The quote from Thomas Andrew Scott highlights the harsh attitudes towards strikers, suggesting a disregard for their grievances. Overall, it emphasizes the struggle for labor rights and the need for reform during this turbulent time in American history.
It’s pretty intense how the courts, police, and state militias couldn’t handle the strikes, and it took federal troops to finally put an end to it. When the Pennsylvania militia couldn’t manage it, the government had to step in, and even in West Virginia, they had to break the strike themselves. The deployment of soldiers across northern rail lines to suppress protests and reopen railways shows just how serious the situation was. It’s shocking that nearly 100 people died during “The Great Upheaval” and that workers caused around $40 million in damage. This whole event really changed the landscape for labor in the U.S., pushing for the need for unions and showing businesses the importance of political influence. It’s like a foreshadowing of the labor conflicts that would follow for decades.
This passage talks about how industrialization caused a rise in labor unrest, particularly in the railroad industry, which was backed by a lot of capital and government support. Workers felt powerless as their skills became less important in a mass-producing economy. With long hours, dangerous conditions, and low wages, many workers decided to organize and fight against the power of big companies.
23. The Great Depression (9 comments)
I’m grateful for this post; it’s a reminder of the beauty in the world.
شركات كشف تسربات المياه المعتمدة
I think the consistent two parentheses are an error, given that it’s not repeated anywhere else. Just flagging that! 🙂
“During her assignment as a photographer for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), Dorothea Lange documented the movement of migrant families forced from their homes by drought and economic depression. This family, captured by Lange in 1938, was in the process of traveling 124 miles by foot, across Oklahoma, because the father was ill and therefore unable to receive relief or WPA work.”
This caption inaccurately asserts that Dorothea Lange was a photographer for the WPA. She was a photographer for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and took this picture as part of her assignment with that agency.
Did this include women? When did women start working or what did they do?
The sentence “Still, the court-packing scheme damaged the Roosevelt administration emboldened New Deal opponents” near the end of the paragraph should be changed to either “administration, emboldening” or “administration and emboldened”.
I think it would be such a good idea to cover the Business Plot of 1933 and the KKK/American-Nazi/Wall Street attempted coup to overthrow FDR due to this “communist” New Deal in this chapter. It is so important but not well known.
I think it would be so beneficial to cover the KKK/American-Nazi/Wallstreet Business Plot of 193 and the attempted coupe to overthrow FDR after his “communist” New Deal. It is so important and so many people are unaware of it.
Yeah it’s missing a space
Dorothea Lange worked as a photographer for the Farm Security Administration (FSA), not the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The FSA hired photographers to document conditions across the U.S.
18. Life in Industrial America (8 comments)
I think it should say victims were not simply hung instead of victims were not simply hanged.
Hi there, I think its important to mention that this event has a name! At the end of the paragraph, it says “This was a full-blown coup”. That’s cool and accurate as it is known as the Wilmington Coup as well as the Wilmington Massacre. I think we should make sure to call it what it is in an accurate way. It was not just a coup. The murder of black people is mentioned of course, but I think the title of “Wilmington Massacre” carries more weight and is hard to leave out of the paragraph.
“They also issued a twelve-hour ultimatum that editor of the city’s black daily paper flee the city.” I believe this sentence is missing “the,” and it should read “… that THE editor of the city’s black daily paper flee the city.” Thanks for taking my thoughts into account!
It would be a large improvement to the accessibility of your textbook to have a “read outloud” function. This would increase the accessibility to students with learning disabilities.
Thank you for your time and consideration
In this case, the correct word would be hanged. Hanged is the past tense use of the word “hang” when it is referring to the act of hanging a person as a means of killing them. Hung would be correct if this was in reference to a non-human entity, such as in the case “the rope was hung from the tree, on which the person was hanged.”
Hi there! Pretty sure there’s a small error here regarding the sentence structure that I wanted to point out. It should be “Lynching was not the only form of racial violence…”
But if many who flocked to Chicago should be
but of many who flocked to Chicago.
You mention in this chapter the industrialization and expansion of railroads and the variety of newcomers, but there is no mention of the chinese and mexican immigrants who worked on those railroads during the late 19th to mid 20th century in California especially (also known as “Traqueros”) who would eventually settle down and expand the mexican-american population we see today in that region (my family being one of them). Just thought it was worthy of mentioning.
05. The American Revolution (7 comments)
There are multiple errors in punctuation in this primary source. For example,
we will take them! “
Please consider editing this section again.
The radical/patriot Whigs were trying to resolve the issues at hand without imposing laborious taxes on the colonies and find other ways to eliminate the British debts incurred from wars.
Missing the fact that Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation offered freedom to those in quotes OWNED/CONTROLLED BY REBEL PATRIOTS ONLY. Meaning, did not apply to “all indentured servants, Negros, and others” owned/controlled by Loyalists.
This paragraph desperately needs a clarifying statement that, although slavery was allowed to persist after a revolution based on liberty, if it wasn’t for that revolution, the grounds would never have been laid for a system in which slavery COULD be abolished. As Tad R. Callister has said, if we judge the founding fathers by the modern standards we have today in terms of slavery, yes they failed, but they laid the foundation that allowed our government to then do the right thing and create a nation where the evils of slavery could be abolished. To judge the people who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries who lived in a drastically different culture than we do today by today’s standards is not only unfair, it’s immature and dangerously arrogant. For anyone to self-righteously assume the authority to judge people who aren’t even alive anymore (who set the foundation that allowed slavery to be abolished) as somehow less moral simply because they didn’t make the changes some think they “should have made faster” without having lived in that time period is childish, prejudice and ignorantly judgmental.
one the interesting causes to the American revolution
I’m not a historian of the revolutionary era, but I am a historian of slavery in the antebellum United States, so I do know that some of the controversy among Gordon Wood and the other historians who voiced concerns about the 1619 Project included debate over the Somerset case. Considering that, I think it’s important to have a citation of a book or article with evidence that enslavers did pay attention to Somerset and that it had some connection to the American Revolution. I’ve never looked into the controversy personally, so I don’t know the answer, but I think it’s important that this information be appropriately cited given recent, very public debates on this in the last few years.
Possible typo: Should “deferential” be “differential”, as opposed to “egalitarian”?
24. World War II (6 comments)
The man behind the G.I. Bill was Harry Colmery, not Henry. Small change. Thanks!
If I may: in January 1944 we were already quite aware, as evidenced by the Treasury Department Report To President Roosevelt, viewable at USHMM: perspectives.ushmm.org/item/treasury-department-report-to-president-roosevelt/collection/us-government-rescue-efforts.
On page five, it says that, in January 1943, the State Department received a telegram stating the basic details of the Holocaust (admittedly sans gas, but hey, he got the broad strokes!).
On page six, the author writes, “Although this cable [suggesting not to transmit reports] on its face is most innocent and innocuous, when read together with the previous cables is it anything less than an attempted suppression of information requested by this Government concerning the murder of the Jews by Hitler?”
This wasn’t secret; any attentive reader of, say, the World Almanac of 1944 would have learned of the Jews dying (citation: I have the almanac).
I’ll leave my final words to a deleted possible ending to the report: “Unless remedial steps of a drastic nature are taken…this Government will have to share for all time responsibility for this extermination [of Jews].”
“…armed with modern rifles, artillery, armor, and aircraft”should probably be aircrafts instead.
“the United States found itself alone as the worlds’ greatest superpower” is pretty American centric considering the Soviet Union arguably did more to defeat Nazi Germany than the US, and both countries proceeded to spend 60 years fighting for whose superpower would determine the fate of the world…changing this to “the United States found itself as a superpower”, which really didn’t exist before World War 2 and maybe make an allusion to the conflict with the Soviet Union
A more accurate final sentence would read: “Such tactics, coupled with American racial prejudice, turned the Pacific Theater into a more brutal and barbarous conflict than what American forces participated in on the European Western Front.” Dower’s point isn’t that the Pacific Theater was more barbarous than the Eastern Front–where the Nazis and Soviets engaged in a brutal race war of their own–but rather to compare the experiences of US troops on the Western Front with those in the Pacific.
“Atrocities flourished in the Pacific at a level unmatched in Europe.” This sentence is not true. Again, I think this is likely intended to be a comparison between US experiences in the Pacific versus the Western Front, but it reads as if it’s talking about the Eastern Front, as well.
14. The Civil War (6 comments)
“… people were free, Butler reasoned called them “contraband of war,” and he had as much a right to seize them as he did to seize enemy horses or cannons.”
I believe this should say “Butler called them “contraband of war”, and reasoned he…” instead of “reasoned called”.
Looking at the quiz questions, I can’t find fire-eaters discussed in this chapter, but it appears as a correct quiz answer.
Grammar error? “Butler reasoned called them”
Why did you suddenly switch to gendered language?
I am certain this has been addressed in other comments awaiting moderation, but “Butler reasoned called them” could use an edit or two.
and bound sings together in shared commitments to mutual sacrifice
seems that this should be:
and bound singers together
22. The New Era (6 comments)
Garvey was not pardoned. Coolidge commuted his sentence but his descendants have been pushing for a pardon for a while (https://www.msnbc.com/podcast/case-pardon-marcus-garvey-n1283459)
I think it might be a nice addition to talk about the rise in Spiritualism or Spiritual Revival during the 1920s too as that roses due to the death tolls of WWI (similar to the Civil War), also, it influences the counter-culture attack by Fundamentalist Christians. It would provide a nice comparison of faith since this chapter covers counter-cultures so much.
https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2021/10/14/understanding-the-1920s-spiritualism-revival/#:~:text=By%201921%2C%20a%20journalist%20writing,of%20the%201920s%20Spiritualism%20revival.
I’d like to add too the Fortune-Telling Bill with Harry Houdini made headline news too, illustrating it was a rather large event during the 1920s. Spiritual Revivalism plus the rise in a more open lifestyle led to the Fundamentalist Christianity.
I don’t think the last sentence needs two commas around the word “and”
Change this to While Americans went to the movies more and more, at home they had the radio. It works better
I am a high school student using this textbook for my Dual Credit US History class. (This textbook has been a huge blessing, I might add.) I just wanted to say that the book “The League: How Five Rivals Created the NFL and Launched a Sports Empire” by John Eisenberg is a great sourc if you wanted to add more about Red Grange and professional football. (Or even if you wanted another source for the bibliography, because most of the book is spent talking about the birth of professional football.
13. The Sectional Crisis (5 comments)
Clean up on isle my pants! this was a wonderful chapter.
“The accusation that northern Democrats were lapdogs for southern enslavers had real power.-Not a correct sentence. “The accusation that northern Democrats were lapdogs for southern enslavers, who had real power.
framers’ mis-spelled word
Members of the LDS Faith should not be referred to as Mormons — they are simply “Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”.
Something I noticed in chapter nine is that in the second source it says ” to right for the right”. But I think is supposed to say “to fight for the right”. I’m not sure but since I can’t put any comments on that chapter. So I went to the next open chapter to leave a comment and hope it gets looked at.
19. American Empire (3 comments)
I was just wondering why the Ellis Island Immigration Station was left out, when it is a huge part of Immigration history.
“with war looming in Europe” definitely needs to be rephrased. War was already king on Europe. The US just hadn’t entered it yet.
First mention of Porfirio Díaz needs the accent to match his name in the next sentence.
20. The Progressive Era (3 comments)
How did Rauschenbuschs experience as a pastor influence his theological ideals?
Yeah it is
Referring to Ellen Gates Starr as a “longtime confidant and companion” omits her romantic relationship with Addams, which is relevant in the context of social advancement and minority groups in the 19th century. Addams has been inducted into the Chicago LGBT hall of fame (2008) and letters between her and her other long time romantic partner, Mary Rozet Smith, (accessed via citations on her wikipedia page) back up the claim. Even Hull House, the organization she founded, acknowledges her romantic relationships with women. Adding the word “romantic” before “companion” would add enough context.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Addams
https://www.hullhousemuseum.org/hullhouse-blog/2022/6/27/jane-addams-amp-mary-rozet-smith-more-than-gal-pals
25. The Cold War (2 comments)
This passage highlights how religion played a key role in Cold War politics. It’s interesting to see how figures like McCarthy and Eisenhower framed the struggle against communism as a battle between good and evil. The involvement of both conservative and liberal religious leaders shows that this wasn’t just a one-sided movement but a broader national mindset.
This passage seems to suggest that there were only five seats on the UN Security Council. The UN Security Council has five permanent members with veto power, but it also includes other rotating members.
27. The Sixties (1 comment)
This post is a breath of fresh air; it restores my faith in humanity.
استوديو تصوير نسائي
29. The Triumph of the Right (1 comment)
I believe that the stock market crash on October 19th 1987 happened on a Monday and is referred to as Black Monday not Black Friday.
00. Feedback Instructions (1 comment)
I use the American Yawp and thought it was so cool that you could bring new information but in chapter 10: Religion and Reform, on paragraph 12, I am confused. I tried to comment there but it does not work so I am commenting here. The paragraph refers to the Church of Jesus Christ as the “Mormon Church” which is not a formal name. I understand it would be important to mention that nickname but the paragraph refers to the church as “Mormon” several times. Mormon was a prophet of the church, not God. The church of Jesus Christ worships God and Christ which is what the name should and does reflect. Prophets teach of God and guide the church, the only person who can receive revelation for the whole church but they are not worshiped. The paragraph says the name was later changed to “The Church of Jesus Christ” but in the linked historical document, Joseph Smith himself calls it the Church of Jesus Christ. Also it fails to mention Joseph Smith’s absolute disgust for polygamy and how much he opposed the practice. The paragraph also says that “near-constant opposition from both Protestant ministers and neighbors suspicious of their potential political power forced the Mormons to move several times.” This fails to mention the tar and feathering of Joseph Smith, harassment, imprisonment, and to put it more plainly: abuse that actually drove members of the Church of Jesus Christ out of Missouri and other places.
30. The Recent Past (1 comment)
Micro-needling is a minimally invasive cosmetic procedure that involves using a device with fine needles to create tiny punctures in the skin’s surface. These micro-injuries stimulate the body’s natural collagen production, leading to improved skin texture, reduced scars, and a more youthful appearance.
08. The Market Revolution (1 comment)
also left instead of left also (grammatical error)
07. The Early Republic (1 comment)
Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa were not above using this unifying rhetoric to legitimate their own authority within Indigenous communities at the expense of other Native leaders.
Legitimate does not make sense here. It should be legitimize.
06. A New Nation (1 comment)
Would the farmers’ self sufficiency, or perceived self sufficiency be at the heart of the rebellion? Yes, opposed to tax because they conceived of farming as a way of life where very little government is needed. You take care of yourself. It’s that old clash between a conception of liberty in the coastal area, reciprocal liberty living in a diverse place like the port of Philadelphia, comes up against what James H Fischer called natural rights liberty. We can maybe inject here a notion of different conceptions of what govt is and isn’t and what liberty is and isn’t. Farmers v. more settled and commercial areas.
General Comments (1 comment)
Please correct the spelling of A Philip Randolph throughout the title and page. In addition, the typographical errors presented in Randolph’s letter to White were not present in the original document linked to the page. Leaving such typographical errors reduces the credibility of the original author.