The Numerous Changes to America from Reconstruction to the New Deal
Summary:
A general overview about the numerous changes that took place in America from the time of Reconstruction to the New Deal. These changes altered significantly the American social and political climate.
America following Reconstruction was completely different from America during FDR's New Deal. In 1876, the government was based on the ideas of Laissez-faire which meant that government stayed out of the citizens' lives. Society in 1876 was dominated by white men who ran the country while there were no rights for women, blacks, and immigrants. In 1876, Americans lived on farms in rural America. By the 1930's, America was a welfare state with government just starting to control different aspects such as economy and corporations. In the 1930's women, blacks, and immigrants all had the right to vote, and the majority of Americans were living in cities. Blacks had the right to vote; however, they were usually disenfranchised by whites. The main changes in the government were that it went from having no authority to being full-inclusive. The significant change in the society was it went from a white male-dominant society to slowly moving towards equality.
Following Reconstruction, Americans were concerned with building a New South which brought changes to the social traditions since slavery had ended. Because whites believed they were superior, they needed to keep blacks in their place. They first tried segregating them which was legal as long as the facilities were supposedly equal because of the Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson. Then the white Americans also tried to disenfranchise the blacks by implementing poll taxes and grandfather clauses. Finally, to keep blacks in their place, whites went to lynching blacks. Blacks such as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois responded to their racial inequality but had little success against the traditional views of the white Southerners.
The South, following Reconstruction, was still run by Democrats who still had the image of blacks as the inferior race. There was a new smaller political party called the Populist Party that was started by young Southerners. The Populist Party was started by a massive grassroots movement that wanted political reform. The supporters of the Populist Party were usually laborers who were sick of the government supporting big businesses. Because of this support, there were many violent strikes, such as Pullman, Homestead, and Haymarket, where strikers were killed, and the government did nothing. Eventually, the Populist Party combined with the Democratic Party because the Populist Party was limited because of its regional location.
During the Gilded Age, America opened its doors to many immigrants. They flocked from Europe, Mexico, Asia, China, and Japan. Just like blacks, they were discriminated against by the Americans already here because the immigrants and blacks were willing to work in factories for hardly any money. Because of this, most women in the lower class and children worked in the factories to help to support the family. The immigrants and blacks usually lived in small crowded apartments in the cities because they could not afford to live far away from their job. Each immigrant group tried to recreate their neighborhood from their old country in America which caused the cities to become segregated ghettos with ethnic backgrounds. Poor farmers were also apart of the lower class because they were dependent to one crop, and there was only one harvest per year.
With the new technology and the spread of education at this time, this also created a new middle class who could live off of a one-income family. The wife of the middle class family usually spent her days shopping, and the family spent their weekends involved in leisure activities. The owners of the factories were the affluent class who usually owned a corrupt business. These businesses were considered corrupt because they paid workers hardly any money, and the working conditions were awful. The owners of these factories kept getting richer while the lower class kept getting poorer which caused greater class differentials.
The government of the Gilded Age was marked by corrupt individuals who were usually elected because of pay-offs. This was a time of Laissez-faire which was defined as limiting the power of the government. Due to this, the Senate had all of the power, and the Presidency was considered a disgrace. The government was not concerned with the poverty of most of America or the horrible working conditions of the factories. This caused laborers to organize, but their attempts were unsuccessful because workers were afraid of losing their jobs. Since most people believed in Social Darwinism which was the strong survived as the weak died. Middle-class citizens wanted to help these "weak" individuals so private charities such as the Hull House were erected.
The Progressive Era was a reaction to the corruption and poverty that happened during the Gilded Age so society realized that there needed to be changes made. Progressives wanted to reform all of the sins of the society that occurred during the Gilded Age; these sins were drinking alcohol, buying prostitutes, and going to dance houses. Settlement houses were erected to cause urban reform and to clean up the streets of the cities. The society wanted to build more settlement houses to help the poor. There were also labor, protective laws put into place for women and children. The Progressives realized that if children were working then they could not be in school so they also improved the public school system to encourage more children to attend. During the Progressive movement, American no longer had open immigration.
The Progressive movement also wanted to reform the government and move away from Lassiez-faire. Progressives realized that women were not getting the representation that they needed so there was a push for women's suffrage. Since the Progressives realized that there was a problem with elections being corrupt, they did several electoral reforms. For the first time, Americans were using the Australian ballot which is a secret ballot. Progressives also sought municipal reform because during the Gilded Age, the government appointed civil service workers which lead to wasteful or inadequate municipal services. Initiative allowed voters to go straight to the electorate and bypass the legislature. Referendum enabled voters to support or decline legislative measures. The Seventeenth Amendment provided direct election of US senators by means of popular vote. There was also recall which allowed voters to get rid of public officials who were ineffective. Since the American citizens needed more control in Washington, President Theodore Roosevelt was their answer. He was the first President to bring respectability back to the Presidency.
In 1898 while Teddy Roosevelt was still vice-President, Americans got involved in the Spanish-American War. At this time Americans believed in imperialism, and it is defined as the procedures of taking advantage of smaller nations and their citizens through means of military occupation and colonial rule. The government wanted to push America outward in hopes of creating an empire. Americans had no respect for the people whose lives they were trying to take over; they just wanted their land. It is said that the Spanish-American War got Americans "ready" for World War I.
When American joined WWI, women had to go to work because the men were in the battlefields which was a significant social change. Since women were now in the workforce, this helped them to achieve women's suffrage and prohibition. African Americans and immigrants were now replacing white women at their own jobs. This caused many blacks to migrate north in search of jobs that were finally available to them.
During the First World War, the government started to become more involved many different aspects of citizens' lives such as the war economy than ever before in history. The change was the American economy was pushing closer towards a welfare state. The War Industries Board (WIB) was created to organize industries, coordinate purchasing, and supervise business. The government was also in charge of ensuring that soldiers oversees had food. Government propaganda was put into effect to encourage the general public to join the war spirit. The government also had to be concerned about how to finance the war so Liberty Bonds were created.
After the war, there was social conflict back home. Women and blacks were laid off as the soldiers came back home. Women were supposed to return to the kitchen after working while the men were away. Blacks were now living in the North with no jobs or places to live. Industrial workers wanted to new rights to protect them in the factories.
Following the war, Americans had a sense of going back to the way things were prior to the Progressive movement. The change to the government at this time was a push back towards Lassies-faire. The government also favored business over other pressing issues which seemed like something that was common in the Gilded Age. One of the few accomplishes of the Twenties was the government did pass the first social welfare law--the Sheppard-Towner Maternity and Infancy act. However, the three Presidencies were filled with corruption; for example, during the Harding Administration, there was the Teapot Dome Scandal.
The Twenties was the first time that more Americans lived in the cities or suburban than on farms in the country. In the 1920's Americans started to enjoy leisure and entertainment. For example, many citizens went to clubs to listen to famous jazz musicians, and they also began glorifying many sports heroes such as Jack Dempsey and Babe Ruth. This was also a time of nativism and immigration restriction which is shown in the National Origins Act or 1924. The Klan began killing other racial groups besides African Americans. Despite prohibition laws, many citizens openly broke these laws while drinking at speakeasies or acquiring the alcohol from bootleggers. This was also a time when people began pushing to go back to religious teaching despite science and technology advances that proved these teachings wrong; this is proved in the Scopes Monkey Trial.
On October 23, 1929 the Stock Market crashed. Since Hoover believed in Laissez-faire, he did nothing, and the situation just kept getting worse. The crash was not the reason for the Great Depression. Families were forced to live in Hoovervilles which were makeshift houses that were actually houses or tents. Men were actually fired more than women during the depression. By 1930, unemployment was the highest in American history. In 1932, a group of unemployed WWI veterans, called the Bonus Army, marched to the White House and built a shantytown there. On July 28, American troops cleared the area and set fire to the Bonus Army's shantytown.
In 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected President and promised America a New Deal to help get out of the Great Depression. The President would speak to the nation through fireside chats which was where he would explain his plans and programs in layman's terms. FDR tried to give assurance that banks would never fail again by starting the FDIC. FDR created new jobs that helped to stimulate the economy. FDR started a program called the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) which constructed dams, encouraged conservation, improved navigation, and modernized the public school system throughout Appalachia. The New Deal had many critics because it does not end the Depression right away. FDR then put into effect programs that would help to prevent another Great Depression such as social security. He also reformed money, tax, and land issues. Eleanor Roosevelt made sure that women were also taken care of in the New Deal. Minorities were discriminated against even in the New Deal programs. The New Deal did not provide recovery to the American economy right away, but it did restore the policies and programs to ensure that another depression does not happen in American history. The economy did not completely recover until after World War II.
In conclusion, America went through many drastic changes from the end Reconstruction to the New Deal. Most of these changes involved significant alterations to the social and political climates of American.
REFERENCE
Goldfield, D., Abbott, C., Anderson, V.D., Argersinger, J. E., Argersinger, P.H., Barney, W.L.,
& Weir, R.M. (2004). The American journey: A history of the United States (Volume II, 3rd
ed.). New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.
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