1865-18901865-1890

25 Years of History in a Nutshell

The “Unofficial” Civil War

• Official Civil War ended at Appomattox in April of 1865

• Southern mentality –

• Lincoln assassinated

• Tensions between N & S - high

Reconstruction

• After the Civil War, the South was wrecked – Physically– Psychologically– Economically

Physical Wreckage

• Most of fighting in South• Buildings, businesses severely damaged

                                                               

Charelston, SC - 1864

Psychological Damage

Confederate dead behind the stone wall of Marye's Heights, Fredericksburg, Virginia, killed during the Battle of Chancellorsville,

May 1863Civil War Refugee

Economic Damage

• 13th Amendment • Were “Freedmen” citizens?

• 14th Amendment

• Northerners take advantage

The End of Reconstruction

• 1872• The bad news is…

– Freedmen still treated badly– Birth of KKK (terrorists of the time)

• The good news is…– Upward economic swing– Growth of cities– And…

Industrialization

• Technological Revolution– Edison (electricity, light bulb, phonograph)– Morse (telegraph)– Bell (telephone)

• Oil as fuel

• Transcontinental Railroad

Industrialization

• Bessemer Process– Easier &

cheaper to remove impurities from steel

Birth of Big Business

• Robber Barons vs. Captains of Industry• John D. Rockefeller

– Standard Oil Company – philanthropist

• Andrew Carnegie (photo)– Carnegie Steel – “Gospel of Wealth”

Social Darwinism

• Charles Darwin

natural selection evolution

• Herbert Spencer & William Graham Sumner extend to human society

• Problems???

Issues of Industry

• Workers– Women– Children – Immigrants– Abuses

• Conditions– Dangerous

– Unsanitary • Political Bosses &

Corruption

Economic & Social Impact

• Larger gap between rich & poor

• Tenements

• Economy grows– More money to spend

• Consumer goods & services

• Leisure activities

Political Impact

• Birth of Socialism– An economic and political philosophy that favors public

(instead of private) control of property & income

• Reform– Labor Unions– Tariffs & Labor Laws– Settlement house (Hull House)

Westward Expansion

• Western Frontier– Morrill Land-

Grant Act of 1862– Homestead Act

• Work in the West– Mining– Ranching– Farming

Mining

• Gold rush

• Mines opened throughout West– Gold– Silver

Ranching

• Adopted Mexican ranching equipment & dress• Cattle boom (consumers demanded beef over

pork)– Cow towns– Cattle Barons

• Birth of the American Cowboy

– Fact vs. Myth

Farming

• Hard life– Backbreaking labor– Bugs & pests = problems– Droughts

• Building a house– Few to no trees– Built dugout or “soddie”

• Soddie– Walls & roof built from blocks of

sod– Cost = less than $10

• Many “homesteaders” headed back east

• Technology eased farming labor

The End of the Frontier???

• Turner’s Frontier Thesis– 1893, Frederick Jackson Turner– Frontier life made Americans who were:

• Socially mobile• Ready for adventure• Bent on self-improvement• Committed to democracy

• No Where to Go…