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AmericanBiographies

TO THE TEACHER

American Biographies are 74 biographical sketches that provide insightinto the contributions to America made by people from every era.Thesesketches are representative of the great diversity of Americans in all walks oflife: government, business, and labor leaders; religious, military, and minority leaders; sports, entertainment, and media figures. Each biography includes two types of questions designed to provide students with a basic review of thebiography and a critical thinking challenge. Answers to these questions areprovided in the back of this booklet.

Copyright © by the McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Permission isgranted to reproduce the material contained herein on the condition that such materialbe reproduced only for classroom use; and be provided to students, teachers, andfamilies without charge. Any other reproduction, for use or sale, is prohibited withoutprior written permission of the publisher.

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ISBN-13: 978-0-07-874949-0ISBN-10: 0-07-874949-2

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CONTENTS

American Biographies

Dekanawida 1Amerigo Vespucci 2Bartholomé de las Casas 3Anne Hutchinson 4Nathaniel Bacon 5Samuel Adams 6Thomas Paine 7Phillis Wheatley 8George Rogers Clark 9James Madison 10Patrick Henry 11Abigail Adams 12Eli Whitney 13Sacajawea 14Robert Fulton 15Paul Cuffe 16Prudence Crandall 17James Fenimore Cooper 18Osceola 19John C. Calhoun 20William Lloyd Garrison 21Sojourner Truth 22Sarah Hale 23Brigham Young 24Harriet Beecher Stowe 25Julia Ward Howe 26Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson 27Thaddeus Stevens 28Hiram Revels 29Chief Joseph 30Helen Hunt Jackson 31Frederick W.Taylor 32Leonora Marie Kearney Barry 33Samuel Gompers 34Susan B.Anthony 35Thomas Nast 36W. E. B. Du Bois 37

AMERICAN BIOGRAPHIES iii

Mary Elizabeth Lease 38Miguel Antonio Otero 39Jane Addams 40William Jennings Bryan 41Gifford Pinchot 42Ida B.Wells-Barnett 43Jim Thorpe 44Louis Brandeis 45Alvin York 46Jeanette Rankin 47Carrie Chapman Catt 48Clarence Darrow 49Marian Anderson 50Ernest Hemingway 51Frances Perkins 52Langston Hughes 53Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr. 54Luis Muñoz Marín 55Ralph Ellison 56Margaret Bourke-White 57Vladimir Zworykin 58Rosa Parks 59Flannery O’Connor 60Walt Disney 61Martin Luther King, Jr. 62Robert F. Kennedy 63Henry B. Gonzalez 64Gloria Steinem 65Ralph Nader 66Norman Mineta 67Ruth Bader Ginsburg 68Toni Morrison 69Steven Jobs 70Janet Reno 71Amy Tan 72Condoleezza Rice 73Hillary Clinton 74

Answer Key 75–82

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AMERICAN BIOGRAPHY 1

DEKANAWIDA 1425?–1475?

The Iroquois Confederacy was one of the strongest alliances formed by Native Americans.When Benjamin Franklin sought the help of thisConfederacy in the war against the British, few peoplerealized that it had been organized more than 300years earlier. According to Native American legend,Hiawatha and his partner Dekanawida, who lived fromabout 1425 to 1475, established the IroquoisConfederacy.

Dekanawida was born along what is now thesoutheastern edge of Ontario, Canada.This wasHuron territory, so Dekanawida was most likely ofHuron ancestry. Legend says that his mother sawomens at his birth that this one of her seven sonswould bring great harm to the Huron people.

Placing loyalty to her people over love for hernewborn child, according to the legend, she cut ahole in the ice covering a nearby river and droppedthe baby into the freezing water.When Dekanawida’smother awoke the following morning, she found heryoung son nestled safely in her arms. Still fearing theomen, twice more she attempted to drownDekanawida, and twice more she awakened to findherself holding the unharmed infant. Convinced that

the gods had decreed her son should live, she madeup her mind to care for the child.

As Dekanawida grew up, he saw all about himstrife, murder, and war among the various NativeAmerican nations, and he resolved to find a way tobring about universal peace.When he reached earlymanhood, he left his own people to preach hismessage of brotherhood to the Native Americanpeople living in what is now southeastern Canadaand the northeastern United States. At some point heallied himself with the Mohawk Hiawatha, andtogether these two men formulated basic lawsdesigned to end rivalries and bloodshed among theirpeople.Their ultimate aim was to bring together allthe peoples of the area into a confederation based onthe principles of peace and justice.

After long and arduous negotiations, Dekanawidaand Hiawatha finally convinced the Mohawk, Cayuga,and Oneida nations to join the confederation. Laterthe Onondaga and Seneca agreed to join as well,thereby uniting five major Native American nationsinto what came to be called the Iroquois Confederacy.Long after Dekanawida’s death, the Tuscarora tribejoined the Iroquois Confederacy, making it the Leagueof Six Nations. By that time, however, Dekanawida’smajor goals of peace and justice through a union ofpeople had been largely forgotten.The confederationthat he had worked so tirelessly to create had evolvedinto a militaristic power in the Northeast, subduingneighboring Native American nations.The legend of the earlier omen proved true, for among theLeague’s victims were the Huron, the very people towhom his mother had shown loyalty when she triedto destroy her son.

At a GlanceTogether with Hiawatha, Dekanawida framed theconstitutional principles for an alliance amongthe Native Americans of the Northeast, known asthe Iroquois Confederacy. Dekanawida is reveredas a great political leader and lawmaker amongmany Native American peoples.

“I have established your commonwealth, andnone has done what I have done.”

Reviewing the Biography Answer the following questions on a separate sheet ofpaper.

1. Remembering the Details Where were the Iroquois nations located?

2. Understanding Information What were Dekanawida’s goals? How did he work toachieve them?

Thinking Critically3. Analyzing Information An omen is an occurrence believed to foretell an event.

What do you think was the significance of omens to early Native Americans? Howdoes Dekanawida’s mother’s omen help to explain the failure of the confederacy toproduce lasting peace?

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AMERIGO VESPUCCI 1454 –1512

Amerigo Vespucci never intended to name landsacross the Atlantic Ocean after himself.That theselands came to be called “America” was an accident ofhistory.That they came to be recognized as a “NewWorld” and not part of Asia, however, was noaccident, and for this knowledge Amerigo Vespuccideserves full credit.

Vespucci received an excellent education,developing strong interests in geography andastronomy, and collecting books and maps. His workeventually took him to Spain, where he becameintrigued with the idea of sailing west across theAtlantic Ocean to reach Asia. In 1499 Vespucci joineda four-ship expedition to search for the all-importantpassage to the Asian mainland that Genoan explorerChristopher Columbus had not found.

Vespucci, in command of two ships, sailed acrossthe Atlantic and down the coast of South America.

He failed to find an opening to the Asian mainlandand, plagued by lack of food, unfavorable winds andcurrents, and worms eating the hulls of his ships, hereluctantly returned to Spain.

Unable to convince Spain to sponsor anotherexpedition,Vespucci accepted Portugal’s invitation todo so. In 1501 he again sailed across the Atlantic, andskirted South America’s eastern coast, this time almostto the southern tip of the continent, carefullyobserving the native people as well as plant andanimal life.Well-read in the tales of travelers to Asia,Vespucci concluded that the lands he was exploringcould not be the “Indies,” as Columbus insisted.Instead,Vespucci believed these to be lands previouslyunknown to the Europeans, and accordingly namedthem Mundus Novus, or New World.

Vespucci completed his life as a Spanish “pilotmajor,” training sea captains and preparing maps ofnewly discovered territory. While he held this post,Vespucci made near accurate calculations of theearth’s size, and predicted that future explorerswould find that a vast ocean separated the westerncoast of the Americas from the Asian continent.

In 1507 Vespucci gained lasting, though unsought,fame when he was mistakenly credited withdiscovery of the western continents in a bookpublished by little-known geographer MartinWaldseemüller. Mistaken or not, these two newly explored continents became known as theAmericas.

At a GlanceThrough careful observation of the people, plants,and animals of South America, Amerigo Vespucciconcluded that the lands Columbus had exploredwere not Asia. By making clear that these landswere a continent unknown to the Europeans,Vespucci added momentum to Europeanconquest and colonization. His first name wasapplied to the two previously unknowncontinents, both North and South.

“I see no reason why any one should justly objectto calling this part . . . the land of . . . America, afterAmerigo, its discoverer, a man of great ability.”


1. Remembering the Details What led to Vespucci’s first voyage in 1499?

2. Understanding Information How did Vespucci’s second voyage affect availableworld knowledge?

Thinking Critically3. Summarizing What were Vespucci’s contributions to history?

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BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS 1474 –1566

Few individuals had so profound an effect onNative Americans in Spanish America as Bartoloméde las Casas. For more than 50 years of his life, LasCasas was “The Protector of the Indians,” devoted to protecting Native Americans from theconquistadores.

Las Casas’s crusading spirit, however, did notappear until some years after he became a priest atage 36. Indeed, he had been a prosperous planter andslave holder on the island of Hispaniola for someyears, and continued to acquire enslaved people evenafter he became a priest in 1510.Then in 1514, LasCasas suddenly awoke to the cruelties inherent in theSpanish labor system. He gave up both land andenslaved people and made enemies of his fellowSpaniards by denouncing their cruel behavior. LasCasas carried his crusade back to Spain in 1516 withlittle success. He returned again in 1517 to presentthe Spanish king with a plan to save the NativeAmericans from extermination. Many of them haddied from harsh treatment and lack of immunity toEuropean diseases.

Part of his plan called for importing Africans toreplace enslaved native persons. In the followingdecades, thousands of Africans were brought to theSpanish colonies. Las Casas later recognized hiserror, saying:“It is as unjust to enslave Negroes as it isto enslave Indians, and for the same reasons,” anddefense of enslaved Africans then became part of hislife’s work.

Discouraged by the continued enslavement ofNative Americans and the expanded enslavement ofAfricans, in 1520 Las Casas entered a monasterywhere he spent 10 years writing a history of theSpanish conquests in the Caribbean islands.

He emerged from the monastery in the 1530s to renew his antislavery battle.Victory seemed nearin 1542, when the Spanish king announced the “New Laws” of the Indies: no new grants of enslavedNative Americans would be made, and native peoplealready in bondage would be free when theirmasters died. But Spanish adventurers, unwilling toabandon their pursuit of great wealth, simply ignoredthe laws.

Appointed bishop to southern Mexico in 1545,Las Casas and his pro-Native American stance causedsuch hostility among the Spanish colonists that hewas forced to return to Spain two years later. After adebate at the Spanish court over the morality ofslavery won him renewed support, Las Casas spentthe balance of his life writing about the conquerors’crimes and the plight of the Native Americans. HisVery Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies(1522) became the classic indictment of Spanishcruelty to the Native American people.

At a GlanceFrom 1514 to 1566 Bartolomé de las Casas wasone of the most courageous and outspokendefenders of Native Americans against the Spanishadventurers who conquered part of the Americas.His enduring importance rests on his classicindictment of the Spanish exploitation of NativeAmericans, entitled Very Brief Account of theDestruction of the Indies.

“The Spaniards . . . began to commit murder, and strangecruelties: they entered into Townes . . . sparing neitherchildren nor old men, neither women with childe . . . .”


1. Remembering the Details How did Las Casas’s personal life change when hebecame aware of the cruelties of Native American slavery?

2. Understanding Information Why were the “New Laws” of the Indies unsuccessfulin freeing enslaved Native Americans?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions How did Las Casas’s plan to help free Native Americans

extend slavery rather than eliminate it?


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ANNE HUTCHINSON 1591–1643

Anne Hutchinson settled in the Massachusetts BayColony during the early 1630s, and for several yearsseemed an unlikely candidate for controversy, arrest,trial, conviction, banishment, and excommunicationfrom the Puritan church. She was a woman in her40s, a skilled nurse, the wife of a successfulbusinessman, and the mother of 14 children. She andher husband William were active members of JohnCotton’s congregation, having followed the Puritanminister from England after the Anglican churchsilenced him. Hutchinson began holding meetingsduring which she explained John Cotton’s sermonsto her fellow parishioners.These meetings caused noproblems until Anne began adding her owninterpretations of the sermons.

Puritans believed that people could be saved onlyby grace, freely given by an all-powerful God.Theyalso believed that humans could do nothing to earnGod’s favor. Hutchinson’s interpretation of this

teaching was that, since a person could do nothingto win God’s favor or grace, a person therefore didnot need to follow the laws of church or state.Thisabsolute freedom from human authority appealed tomany men and women in the colony, including someof its leaders. Hutchinson’s meetings were crowdedwith her followers, who called themselvesAntinomians (people against the law).

Fearing that her views would lead to anarchy,Puritan authorities accused Hutchinson ofundermining the authority of the colony’s ministersand brought her to trial. Defending herself so wellthat the charges were close to being dismissed,Hutchinson suddenly blurted out that God hadspoken directly to her, and that her enemies wouldbe destroyed.This was blasphemy, for Puritansbelieved that God spoke only through the Bible.Thecourt promptly banished Hutchinson from thecolony. Before she could depart, she was alsoaccused of heresy.When she tried to recant, she wasfurther accused of lying, for which crime the churchdenied her membership.

Expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony,the Hutchinson family moved to Rhode Island, whereWilliam died in 1642. Hutchinson then took her sixyoungest children with her to the Dutch colony ofNew Netherland, later New York. In 1643 all ofHutchinson’s children, except the youngest, werekilled in an attack by Native Americans—an event thatthe Puritans interpreted as a punishment from God.

At a GlanceAnne Hutchinson defended her beliefs against thePuritan leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony,an early sign that in America there would beconflict over matters of religious belief betweenstrong—willed individuals and the communitymajority.Though not a believer in religious libertyfor all, Hutchinson was an important figure in thestruggle for individual freedom in America.

“So to me by an immediate revelation . . . by the voice of hisown spirit to my soul.”—Anne Hutchinson at her trial, expressing the belief that God had spokendirectly to her.


1. Remembering the Details What qualities made Anne Hutchinson a respectedMassachusetts Bay Colony member?

2. Understanding Information How did Hutchinson lose her respected standing?

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences Why did Puritan authorities fear that Hutchinson’s teaching

would lead to anarchy?


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NATHANIEL BACON 1647–1676

Nathaniel Bacon had been in Virginia only twoyears before the rebellion that was named for himflared up in 1676. He came into conflict with Virginia’sgovernor,William Berkeley, primarily due to thegovernor’s method of dealing with local NativeAmerican nations.

In July of 1675, warriors of the Doeg nationraided a plantation.The colonists then attacked thewrong people, the Susquehanaugs, in retaliation.Large-scale raids by the native people then began tooccur, and the colonists demanded protection fromGovernor Berkeley.

Berkely wanted to maintain the friendship andloyalty of the Native American nations, if possible,rather than starting a full-scale war. He proposedbuilding several costly forts manned with army men,which the landowners would pay for through taxes.Outraged at such a passive and expensive response, agroup of colonists asked Bacon to lead them in a warto eliminate the Native Americans completely. Bacon,who considered all Native Americans to be enemies,readily agreed.

As governor, Berkeley headed the colony’s militia. He declared that there could be no otherarmed force in Virginia without a commission fromhim. Berkeley then refused to give Bacon such acommission, even though the existing militia wassome distance from where the Native Americanattacks had taken place.

Bacon, without a commission, set off with hisfollowers to war with the Native American people.On May 10, 1676, Governor Berkeley officiallydeclared Bacon to be in a state of rebellion againstVirginia’s rightful authority.

Early in June, Bacon was captured and broughtbefore the governor. Berkeley severely chastised the29-year-old planter, but granted Bacon a pardon.Thegovernor also promised to supply the neededcommission. Rejoining his supporters, Bacon waited,but no commission was forthcoming.With 600armed men, he stormed into Jamestown and forcedBerkeley to deliver the promised commission.

Fighting broke out between Bacon’s army andBerkeley’s colonial militia. During the summer of1676, Bacon’s forces gained control of nearly theentire colony of Virginia. He even managed to enterand burn the capitol city of Jamestown.

At the height of his power early in the autumn of 1676, Bacon became ill with dysentery and diedon October 26. Deprived of its leader, the rebellioncontinued, but Berkeley was able to regain control of the colony. He proceeded to execute 23 people,without benefit of trial, for their part in therebellion. King Charles II, after hearing aboutBerkeley’s actions from an investigating committee,removed Berkeley as Governor of Virginia.

“We protest against him [William Berkeley] unanimously as aTraytor and most pernicious Enemy to the Publick …”—Bacon’s Oath of Fidelity, 1676


1. Remembering the Details Why did Virginia landowners ask Nathaniel Bacon to leadthem against the Native Americans?

2. Understanding Information Why did Governor Berkeley declare Bacon an outlaw?

Thinking Critically3. Summarizing Enumerate the events from June of 1676 to the end of Bacon’s

rebellion.


At a GlanceNathaniel Bacon became the leader of amovement challenging the authority of officials incolonial Virginia. Bacon has previously beenregarded as the first colonial rebel against Englishrule in America; however, upon closerexamination it seems that his rebellion mayactually have sprung up from a clash of twopowerful personalities: Bacon and WilliamBerkeley, the governor of Virginia.

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SAMUEL ADAMS 1722–1803

Samuel Adams was 42 years old in 1764, whenthe British Parliament passed the Sugar Act in anattempt to extract more money from its NorthAmerican colonies. Adams led the protest against the British action, and from that time until 1776, henever relinquished his position at the forefront ofPatriot resistance. Prior to 1764, Adams had engagedin a number of unsuccessful careers and failedbusiness ventures.The Sugar Act provided thefloundering Adams a fresh opportunity forachievement. Adams attacked the new taxes onsugar as an unreasonable law that violated everyperson’s natural right to be taxed only by legallyelected representatives. In shaping the protestargument as he did, Adams set the tone for colonialresistance to parliamentary policies.

When Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765,Adams expanded his protest activities.Through asteady stream of fiery newspaper essays, he inspiredpatriots in Massachusetts to hang stamp officials ineffigy and even to destroy the home of the royal

governor. He also helped organize the Sons ofLiberty to oppose the obnoxious act.

Parliament’s repeal of the Stamp Act temporarilyended colonial protests, but the Townshend Acts of1767 revived resistance, giving Adams a newopportunity to protest against taxation withoutrepresentation. Adams seized the opportunity toorganize an effective boycott of British-made goodsimported into the colonies.

Repeal of the Townshend Acts in 1770 did little to diminish Adams’s rebellious activities. He led thedemand for the removal of British troops fromBoston following the Boston Massacre. In 1772 hewas instrumental in forming Boston’s Committee of Correspondence to coordinate and communicatewith Patriots in other locations.When Parliamentpassed the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts in response to the Boston Tea Party, Adams organized anotherboycott of British goods and called for anintercolonial congress.

A participant in both Continental Congresses,Adams by this time had become such a leader ofanti-British activity that he—along with JohnHancock—was singled out by the British as exemptfrom any future amnesty.

After the achievement of independence, SamuelAdams remained active in public life. He served inthe Massachusetts convention called to ratify thenew Constitution and later held the offices oflieutenant-governor and then governor. But he neveragain found a role so well suited to him as the onehe played as America’s foremost agitator.

At a GlanceAn agitator and propagandist, Samuel Adamsconvinced fellow colonists to defy parliamentarypolicies in the 1760s and 1770s.Throughspeeches and newspaper essays,Adams kept thetorch of colonial protest burning from 1764 to1776.Through Committees of Correspondence,Adams spread his message of radical resistance to,and ultimately, independence from, Great Britain.

“From the day on which an accommodation takes placebetween England and America, on any other terms than asindependent States, I shall date the ruin of this country.”


1. Remembering the Details How did the Sugar Act of 1764 prove beneficial toSamuel Adams?

2. Understanding Information How did the Stamp Act and the Townshend Actsfurther Adams’s career as an agitator?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions After the Revolutionary War, why did Adams never again find

“a role so well suited to him” as that of “America’s foremost agitator”?


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THOMAS PAINE 1737–1809

For the better part of two decades,Thomas Painewas a world-renowned figure, a master phrasemakerwho used the power of his pen to help free peopleon two continents from despotism.Yet his lifepresents ample evidence that great talent andachievement do not always lead to happiness andsatisfaction.

Born and raised in England, Paine quit school atthe age of 13. For the next 24 years he tried a varietyof jobs: corsetmaker, sailor, teacher, and tax collector.All made him unhappy. Then, in 1774, Paine metBenjamin Franklin, the American colonialrepresentative to Great Britain. Franklin encouragedPaine to emigrate to the American colonies. Arrivingin Philadelphia with Franklin’s letters of introduction,Paine got a job at the Pennsylvania Magazine, butremained almost unknown until January 1776, whenhis pamphlet Common Sense appeared. Paine’sremarkable publication proved a sensation, sellingmore than 100,000 copies in three months.

Filled with memorable phrases and persuasivearguments, Common Sense called on Americans tocease trying to change Parliament’s policies andinstead declare independence immediately. Paineridiculed King George III, making the idea ofmonarchy seem outdated and pointless. After thepublication of Common Sense, many colonists whohad viewed the king as the last hope for protectionof their rights supported independence.

During the Revolutionary War, Paine served in theContinental Army, writing a pamphlet series entitledThe Crisis to bolster the sagging spirits of the wearyAmerican soldiers.

After the war Paine continued to inflame peoplewith his writings, often with unhappy consequencesto himself. Returning to England in 1787, heauthored The Rights of Man, praising the FrenchRevolution. Paine went so far as to call for theoverthrow of the English monarchy. He was forcedto flee to France to avoid being jailed for treason.

In Paris Paine helped draft the new Frenchconstitution but was imprisoned when he opposedthe execution of King Louis XVI.While in jail, hebegan writing The Age of Reason, an attack onorganized religion. Returning to the United States in 1802, Paine was ostracized for his criticism ofChristianity. Even death in 1810 brought Paine nopeace. Refused burial at the cemetery of his choice,his remains were laid to rest on his New York farm.They were later disinterred and shipped to England,where they disappeared forever.

At a GlancePaine’s pamphlet Common Sense persuadedcountless colonists to support Americanindependence. Paine convinced many Americansthat the king no longer deserved their loyalty,thus severing their last emotional link to Britain.Paine had an unswerving faith in the humanability to use reason to achieve freedom, peace,and justice.

“These are the times that try men’s souls.The summer soldierand the sunshine patriot, will . . . shrink from the service ofhis country; . . .Tyranny ... is not easily conquered; yet . . . theharder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”


1. Remembering the Details What was Paine’s life like prior to his meeting Franklin in1774?

2. Understanding Information How was Paine’s pamphlet Common Senseinstrumental in furthering the cause of colonial independence?

Thinking Critically3. Identifying Cause and Effect How was Paine’s talent for persuasion also a major

cause of his unhappiness?


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PHILLIS WHEATLEY 1753?–1784

A young African child, 7 or 8 years old, waskidnapped from her home in Senegal. She survivedthe brutal ocean passage on the slave ship and thenwas sold as a slave to the Wheatley family of Bostonin 1761. John Wheatley, a successful tailor in the city,bought the young African girl to serve as acompanion to his wife Susannah.

The young enslaved girl, whom the Wheatleysnamed Phillis, displayed amazing intelligence and acapacity for learning well beyond her years.Recognizing the girl’s potential, Susannah Wheatleyand her children began to teach Phillis to read. Inaddition to the Bible and English translations ofHomer, Phillis was soon devouring mythology andpoetry along with Latin classics. Her translation of atale by the Latin poet Ovid evoked a wave ofastonishment from Boston’s scholarly elite. Just 13years old when she wrote her first poem, Philliswaited until she was 17 before seeing her work,“Onthe Death of Reverend George Whitefield,”publishedin a Boston newspaper.

When some white Americans scoffed at thenotion that a young enslaved African could create such extraordinarily mature poetry, manydefenders—including Thomas Jefferson, who disliked her poems—vouched for her authenticity.

Emancipated in 1773, Phillis left for England tobolster her frail health.While in London, shepublished her first book, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral. Nearly all the poems reflected Wheatley’s deep religiousconvictions. Raised a Congregationalist in theWheatley household, she belonged to Boston’s Old South Meeting House, despite the fact thatenslaved people were barred from churchmembership.

Although she planned to publish a second volumeof poems,Wheatley cut short her stay in England,returning to Boston in 1774 to be with SusannahWheatley, who had become gravely ill. Susannah diedshortly after Phillis returned, and her death markedthe beginning of the sad, final chapter of PhillisWheatley’s life.

In 1778 she married John Peters, a free AfricanAmerican man, but he proved unable to support herand their two children. Phillis worked at a boardinghouse to provide for herself and her children. Nevera physically strong individual, she died,impoverished, at the age of 31.

Decades following her death, two additionalbooks of Phillis Wheatley’s works were published:Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, in 1834,and Letters of Phillis Wheatley, the Negro Slave-Poet of Boston, in 1864.

At a GlanceDespite being kidnapped as a child and sold intoslavery, Phillis Wheatley became well read and anaccomplished poet.Wheatley became a symbol ofthe intellectual potential of African Americans inthe years before the Civil War. Abolitionists oftencited her work when countering proslaveryarguments based on alleged racial inferiority, andwhen arguing for equal educational opportunitiesfor African Americans.

“I, young in life, by seeming cruel fate was snatched fromAfrica’s fancied happy seat;What pangs excruciatingmolest, What sorrows, labor in my parent’s breast!”


1. Remembering the Details How was Phillis Wheatley educated?

2. Understanding Information How did Phillis Wheatley show her devotion to theWheatley family?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions How did Phillis Wheatley’s life help provide an argument for

abolition?


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GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 1752–1818

The older brother of William Clark, who exploredthe Pacific Northwest with Meriwether Lewis, GeorgeRogers Clark was a captain in the Virginia militia and a successful surveyor. In the spring of 1775,Clark surveyed Kentucky, then a frontier region ofVirginia, then made his home in Kentucky’s firstestablished settlement. Returning to Virginia’s capital,Williamsburg, he convinced officials to protect settlersfrom British-backed attacks by Native Americans. InJanuary 1778, the Virginia legislature promoted Clarkto lieutenant colonel, gave him some money, andinstructed him to capture as much British-heldterritory north of the Ohio River as he could.

Commanding fewer than 200 soldiers, Clark setout in May 1778 to capture British outposts in theNorthwest and to subdue the Native Americans whosided with the British. He journeyed down the OhioRiver, crossed southern Illinois, and in a surpriseattack on July 4, he captured Kaskaskia, the largesttown in the Illinois territory. He followed this victory

with two more at Cahokia and Vincennes. Due tolack of troops, however, he was unable to take thefort at Detroit, the most important British post in theNorthwest.

When the British commander at Detroit realizedwhat Clark had accomplished, he quickly assembleda small army in October 1778 and retook Vincennes.Rather than fight through the winter, however, theBritish commander decided to wait until spring towin back Cahokia and Kaskaskia. Clark, from his baseat Kaskaskia, refused to let winter deter him.Surviving a harrowing forced march over snow-covered ground and through ice-choked rivers,Clark and his troops recaptured Vincennes andimprisoned the British commander.

In 1780 Clark was promoted to brigadier general,but he never again matched his success in the Illinoisterritory. He failed to secure the troops and suppliesneeded for a successful campaign against the Britishat Detroit, managing only to fight a defensive war tolimit the British-led Native American attacks thatcontinued to devastate the frontier.

Because he used his own resources to buysupplies for his forces, Clark found himself deeply indebt at the end of the Revolutionary War.The state ofVirginia demanded that he settle accounts, but hewas unable to do so. Desperate for money, he entereda French scheme for seizing Spanish Louisiana, butPresident Washington foiled the plot in 1793. Fiveyears later, refusing to give up his appointment as aFrench general, Clark fled to St. Louis. He laterreturned to Kentucky, where he died penniless.

At a GlanceClark captured the British outposts of Kaskaskia,Cahokia, and Vincennes. He later recapturedVincennes after it had been retaken by the Britishduring the American Revolution. Not only didClark secure his immediate objective ofprotecting Kentucky settlements from attacks byBritish-backed Native Americans, but he alsoestablished a visible United States presence as farwest as the Mississippi River.

“I knew our case was desperate, but the more I reflected on myweakness, the more I was pleased with the enterprise.”—George Rogers Clark, on going up against the British with less than 200 soldiers


1. Remembering the Details How did Clark become involved in fighting the British?

2. Understanding Information How was Clark able to recapture Vincennes?

Thinking Critically3. Identifying Cause and Effect What led to Clark’s impoverishment?


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JAMES MADISON 1751–1836

James Madison contributed much of lastingimportance to the fledgling United States. His careerbegan in the early 1770s, immediately after hecompleted his education. In his first active politicalrole, Madison marked himself as a Patriot, opposingthe Parliamentary policies that eventually caused thecolonies to declare independence.

At the Virginia Convention to draft a constitutionfor the newly independent state, the young Madisonemerged as a notable defender of individual rights.Adding the words “liberty of conscience for all” tothe religious freedom clause, he took a position farin advance of most of his contemporaries. In 1780Madison announced his Federalist leanings when,elected to the Continental Congress, he alliedhimself with those who wanted a stronger nationalgovernment than that proposed in the Articles ofConfederation.

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 displayed some of Madison’s most outstandingaccomplishments. He formulated the “Virginia Plan”

and created a government powerful enough tofunction effectively, yet still limited from becomingtyrannical by its three-part division—each parthaving a check on the other two. He authored manycompromises that won acceptance of his plan.Finally, Madison maintained careful, complete notesof the Convention’s proceedings, thus preserving forposterity the only full record of the Convention.

With Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, Madisonwrote the Federalist Papers supporting ratification of the Constitution. Once the new government wasestablished, Madison, elected to the House ofRepresentatives, worked to remedy a chief defect of the Constitution: lack of a Bill of Rights.

Madison’s contributions continued throughout theeighteenth century’s last decade and well into the firsthalf of the nineteenth century. He helped establish theDemocratic–Republican party to oppose the policiesof Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton. Hewrote the Virginia Resolutions, decrying the Alien and Sedition Acts, which he deemed a threat to civilliberties. He served as secretary of state to PresidentThomas Jefferson, then followed Jefferson aspresident. Madison’s terms of office were dominatedby foreign affairs, particularly the War of 1812.Thewar ended with no loss of territory and a heightenedsense of American nationalism.

In retirement, Madison attended the 1829convention to draft a new Virginia constitution, thenserved in an administrative post at the University ofVirginia.With his death in 1836, America lost the lastof the republic’s Founders.

At a GlanceIn a lifetime of many accomplishments, perhapsJames Madison’s most important one occurredfrom 1787 to 1789, when he played a leading rolein formulating the Constitution. He convinced hiscontemporaries that a strong representativegovernment could be prevented from abusing therights of the people through a system of checksand balances.

“Resolved, . . . the United States of America . . . constituted ageneral government . . . whensoever [it] assumesundelegated powers, its acts are . . . void, and of no force.”


1. Remembering the Details What was Madison’s important contribution at theConstitutional Convention of 1787?

2. Understanding Information How did Madison’s actions at the ContinentalCongress of 1780 point to his actions at the Constitutional Convention?

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences Why might many see Madison’s contributions at the

Constitutional Convention of 1787 as his most important?

NAME _________________________________DATE ______________________CLASS _______________________


PATRICK HENRY 1736–1799


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In an age that revered oratory and its power toexcite the human spirit, Patrick Henry had fewrivals—and probably no peers—as a speaker. Hispowerful speeches in a 1763 trial so overwhelmedthe jury that he was carried in triumph from thecourtroom.

Henry was at his strongest when he used his giftfor public speaking to defend the liberty of ordinarypeople against the abuses of government. He enteredpolitics, was elected to the House of Burgesses in1765, and quickly became enmeshed in the StampAct crisis. An ardent advocate of colonial rights, hepresented the Virginia legislature with seven anti-British resolutions. In a speech defending hisresolves, Henry seemed to threaten King George III,prompting cries of “Treason!” from his less-radicalcolleagues. Henry allegedly replied:“If this betreason, make the most of it.”

For the next 10 years Henry led the Virginians inprotesting parliamentary policies. He urged hisfellow legislators to defy Virginia’s royal governor,

and when the governor dissolved the House ofBurgesses in 1774, Henry presided over theconvention that met in its place.

In March 1775, when war between the coloniesand Great Britain seemed inescapable, Henry madehis most famous speech—“Give me liberty, or giveme death!”—calling on Virginia to arm itself for thecoming conflict. During the War of Independence,Henry served as Virginia’s first state governor. Hecontinued as governor after the war for twoadditional terms, then served as a representative inthe Virginia Assembly.

Unlike those who saw the weaknesses in thenation’s first government, Patrick Henry supported the Articles of Confederation. An Anti-Federalist,Henry refused to be a delegate to the ConstitutionalConvention of 1787, fearing that the values of a simplerepublic would be threatened by the establishment of a powerful central government. He maintained hisAnti-Federalist position at the Virginia Convention forconstitutional ratification. Opposing James Madison,he charged that the new government could provemore of a threat to individual liberty than George IIIhad been. He pointed with alarm to the absence ofguarantees of specific rights in the Constitution. Henryreconciled himself to ratification, but continued todemand amendments guaranteeing individual rights,a campaign which succeeded with the adoption of the Bill of Rights.

During the 1790s, Henry aligned himself with the Washington administration. He won a seat inVirginia’s state senate in 1799, but died before histerm began.

At a GlanceFrom 1765 to 1775, Patrick Henry’s criticisms of British policies galvanized the colonists tosupport the American Revolution.Throughout hispublic career, Henry championed the interests ofordinary Americans and fought against abuses of individual rights. He opposed tyranny bygovernment, whether the government of GreatBritain or of the new American governmentproposed by the Constitution.

“ . . . Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to bepurchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbidit, almighty God! I know not what course others maytake; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”


1. Remembering the Details Under what circumstances were Patrick Henry’soratorical skills used to the fullest?

2. Understanding Information How did Henry’s Anti-Federalist beliefs influence hiscareer?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions How was Patrick Henry’s talent for oratory particularly suited

to his times?

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ABIGAIL ADAMS 1744 –1818


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The wife of the second President and mother of the sixth, Abigail Adams received no formalschooling, something she always regretted. Sheeducated herself, however, by reading books, andeven taught herself to read French.

In 1764 Abigail married John Adams, a younglawyer. During the first decade of their marriage,Abigail had five children (one daughter died),and the family alternated between homes in ruralMassachusetts and Boston, where John worked onbehalf of the revolutionary cause.

Between 1774 and 1783, Abigail and John Adamswere apart much of the time. John’s work for thenew American republic took him to Philadelphia, andlater, Europe. During John’s long periods away fromhome, Abigail developed into a mature, sensitiveletter-writer. Despite faulty spelling and handwriting(she later laughed at the notion of having her letterspublished), she brought to life the political andpersonal events that shaped the lives of herself, her

family, and her fellow Americans during and after theWar of Independence.

Abigail Adams also lost no opportunity to expressher point of view. She called for Americanindependence long before public opinion supportedsuch a radical step. She often wrote critically of the lack of rights given to women, and she did nothide her hatred of slavery and racial discrimination.She even told John of her feelings about his fellowpatriots from Virginia who expressed a “passion forLiberty” while they “have been accustomed todeprive their fellow Creatures of theirs.”

When American independence was secured in1783, Abigail joined her husband in Paris. In 1785,when John was appointed the first Americanminister to the court of George III, they moved to London. Her letters home captured much of theexcitement of European society as seen through the eyes of a woman from rural Massachusetts.

The Adams family returned to the United Stateswhen John was elected Vice President in 1789.When the nation’s leaders divided into politicalparties during the 1790s, Abigail vigorously backedher husband’s Federalist views. After John waselected President in 1796, she supportedprosecutions under the Alien and Sedition Acts.Following her husband’s presidency and later, hisdeath, Abigail Adams lived out the remainder of herlife at the family home in Quincy, Massachusetts.She continued to write letters—many to her sonJohn Quincy as he made rapid strides forward in his own political career.

At a GlanceSelf-educated, Abigail Adams provided valuablecounsel and support for her brilliant but ofteninsecure husband, John, and nurtured the politicalcareer of her eldest son, John Quincy. Of theapproximately 150 letters of hers that survive,many give a vivid account of life in Americabefore, during, and after the American Revolution.She has also been a source of inspiration to allwho sought equal rights for women.

“Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could . . . put it out of the power to use us with cruelty andindignity . . . Men of Sense . . . abhor those customswhich treat us only as the vassals of your Sex.”


1. Remembering the Details How was Abigail Adams educated?

2. Understanding Information Why are Adams’s letters valuable to students ofhistory?

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences How might Adams’s letters have influenced her husband and

son?

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ELI WHITNEY 1765–1825


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Eli Whitney was the inventor of the cotton ginand a leading developer of mass manufacturing.Almost the perfect example of the ingenious Yankee,Whitney launched his first business making andselling nails as a young boy during the AmericanRevolution. Always inventive, he switched to makinghat pins and other items when profits in the nailbusiness fell.

Whitney intended to study law; to finance hislegal studies, he agreed to tutor children on a SouthCarolina plantation. Before he went, there, however,he stopped to see a friend, Phineas Miller, in Georgia.Miller’s employer, Catherine Greene, told Whitney ofthe problems separating cotton fibers from theplant’s sticky green seeds.

Within 10 days of hearing about the cotton-cleaning problem,Whitney had designed the machinethat would solve it: the cotton gin. Although his ginstill needed a few refinements, within a year he had amodel that could clean 50 pounds of cotton a day. By

comparison, the best one person could do by handwas one pound a day.Whitney’s invention helpedincrease cotton production tenfold by 1800.

Whitney and Miller formed a partnership tomanufacture cotton gins, and Whitney returned to the North to obtain a patent and start making hismachines. Although he received a patent in 1794,Whitney was never able to stop the many piratedversions of his invention. He took some of theimitators to court, and in 1807 won a decisive victory.It was not the cotton gin, however, that providedWhitney with wealth, even though it did give birth to the Cotton Kingdom in the American South.

Whitney’s prosperity came largely from hismethod of making muskets for the United Statesgovernment. By 1799 he had government contractsfor 10,000 muskets. He set up a factory inConnecticut, but rather than hiring craftsworkers to make the guns by hand, he installed a new systemthat relied on machines to produce large quantitiesof interchangeable musket parts.

By using machines to produce uniform parts,workers could assemble the muskets very quickly.Although Whitney missed his deadline for thegovernment muskets, he promoted and popularizedthe new manufacturing method called massproduction. In so doing,Whitney gave a giganticboost to what came to be called the “Americansystem” of manufacturing.This system wouldeventually allow relatively unskilled workers toproduce enormous quantities of goods quickly,efficiently, and relatively cheaply.

At a GlanceThe cotton gin was Whitney’s first and mostsignificant invention, but of greater long-termimportance was his development, imperfectthough it was, of the system of interchangeablemusket parts and the promotion of massproduction.The emergence of the United Statesas a great industrial nation in the nineteenthcentury was due in part to Whitney’s pioneeringefforts at his Connecticut arms factory.

“ . . . I made [a machine] which required thelabor of one man to turn it and . . . which . . .will clean ten times as much cotton as . . . in anyother way before known.”


1. Remembering the Details What idea, started by Whitney, led to mass production inmanufacturing?

2. Understanding Information Why did Whitney fail to pursue a law career?

Thinking Critically3. Identifying Cause and Effect Why was Whitney unable to make much money on

his cotton gin?

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SACAJAWEA 1787?–1812?


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When she was about 14 years old, Sacajawea,a Shoshone, traveled eastward with her people from their lands in what is now Idaho. Somewherenear the Missouri River, a war party of Hidatsaattacked the Shoshones, capturing Sacajawea andtaking her to the Hidatsa village in what is nowNorth Dakota.

When Sacajawea was 18, she married TouissantCharbonneau, a French-Canadian trapper who livedin the village. Sacajawea gave birth to their firstchild, Jean Baptiste, about the time the Lewis andClark expedition—which had left St. Louis in May of1804—reached its winter resting place near theHidatsa village.

In need of interpreters, Lewis and Clark hired theyoung couple, who took their infant son along whenthe expedition set off for the Pacific Northwest onApril 7, 1805. Since the expedition’s successdepended on avoidance of armed conflict withNative Americans, Sacajawea’s presence wasinvaluable, signaling the expedition’s peaceful intent.She also served as a guide and communicated withthe Shoshones further west.

When the explorers reached Shoshone lands,Sacajawea found to her amazement and delight thather brother, from whom she had been separatedsince her capture by the Hidatsas, had become chief.As a result, Lewis and Clark received horses andmuch-needed guidance in directing their expeditionto navigable waters that would carry them westwardto the coast. As the expedition approached thePacific, Sacajawea established a communicationsystem with other Native Americans in the area. Noless valuable than her translating skills was herknowledge of the region’s plant life, so that she wasable to find and cook edible wild plants for thehungry group.

Sacajawea and Charbonneau remained with theexpedition all the way to the coast and for most of the trip back. During the return, Sacajawea served as a guide for a short time through areas with which shewas familiar. She and her family left the expeditionwhen it reached the northern Great Plains.

By that time William Clark had become closelyattached to Sacajawea’s young son Jean Baptiste. In1809 Sacajawea and her husband traveled to Missourito leave their son with Clark, who promised to seethat the boy was well educated. Sacajawea and herhusband apparently tried to settle in St. Louis, butdespite Clark’s help, they could not adjust to city life.By the spring of 1811, Sacajawea was ill, longing toreturn to her Shoshone homelands further west. Sheand her husband returned to an area near theboundary between North and South Dakota, whereSacajawea died, probably the following year.

At a GlanceBy accompanying the Lewis and Clark expeditionto the Pacific Northwest, Sacajawea played animportant role as a translator and guide. Sheassisted the expedition through her connectionsamong the Native American people, and throughher knowledge of the landscape and plant life.

“Sacajawea was beginning to interpret, whenshe recognized her brother: She instantlyjumped up, and . . . embraced him; throwingover him her blanket and weeping profusely . . .”


1. Remembering the Details Why was Sacajawea a valuable addition to Lewis andClark’s expedition?

2. Understanding information Why was Sacajawea able to obtain horses andadditional guides from the Shoshones?

Thinking Critically3. Hypothesizing Why might Sacajawea and her husband have found it difficult to

adjust to city life?

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ROBERT FULTON 1765–1815


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When Robert Fulton first became fascinated withengineering design, he had been living in England for20 years, earning his living as a painter. But as hewatched the construction of new roads, bridges, andfactories during the early years of the IndustrialRevolution, he decided to refocus his career. In 1793Fulton turned from art to concentrate instead oninventions.

Canal development was his first field of interest,and for four years he turned his talents to canalequipment. He designed new canal boats, as well as anew system to replace canal locks. He also inventeda machine to cut canal channels.

Then, around 1797, submarines took hold of hisimagination.For nearly a decade he worked to developan underwater vessel, and he designed a craft thatcould both dive and surface.Underwater propulsion,however,proved to be a problem.His experimentsinterested France and Great Britain,but both countriesrefused to grant him financial assistance.

Disappointed at the lack of interest in hissubmarine, Fulton turned his full attention tosteamboats. Fulton had been working on steamboatssince 1802; in 1803 he launched an experimentalcraft on the Seine River in Paris.The steam enginepowering the boat was so heavy, however, that theboat broke in half. Fulton then designed and built astronger boat that moved a short distance slowlyagainst the current. Encouraged by this success, heordered a steam engine from the leading Britishmanufacturer of the day and returned to the UnitedStates in 1806 to experiment further.

By August 1807, Fulton had his steamboatassembled and ready for its first voyage. Long andnarrow in design, the Clermont, as it was laternamed, had its steam engine toward the front with alarge boiler directly behind.Two giant paddlewheels15 feet in diameter were mounted on each side topropel the boat through the water.

On August 17 the Clermont left New York City onits way up the Hudson River to Albany. Averagingabout 5 miles per hour, it made the round trip in 62hours of actual travel time spread out over 5 days.With this voyage Fulton provided the first practicaldemonstration that people and goods could betransported over water great distances against thecurrent and without wind. Before his death in 1815,he built 17 more steamboats.Within the next 20years, steam-powered navigation took over America’sinland waterways and began to replace sailingvessels on the oceans.

At a GlanceRobert Fulton was the first inventor to produce acommercially successful steamboat, as well asmake important contributions to canal travel andsubmarines. His steamboat demonstrated thatpeople were no longer dependent on the windfor water travel and thus transformed watercommerce—first on inland waterways, and, afterhis death, across the oceans.

“My steamboat voyage to Albany and back . . .has been performed wholly by the power of the steamengine. I overtook many sloops and schooners . . . andpassed them as if they had been at anchor.”


1. Remembering the Details Why did Fulton decide not to pursue an art career?

2. Understanding Information Why did Fulton abandon his work on submarines?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions What was the historical significance of the Clermont’s round

trip between New York City and Albany?

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PAUL CUFFE 1759–1817

Paul Cuffe was a leading entrepreneur during theyears between the War of Independence and the Warof 1812. Born on an island off the coast ofMassachusetts, Cuffe was the son of a NativeAmerican (Wampanoag) mother and a West Africanfather. His father, Cuffe Slocum, was a former enslavedperson who had purchased his freedom.At the age of19, Paul persuaded his many brothers (he was theseventh of ten children) to drop their surname, leftover from slavery days, and replace it with Cuffe.

By this time Cuffe was already a veteran seaman,having signed on as a sailor aboard a whaling vessel atthe age of 16. On his third voyage in 1776, he gainedfirsthand experience of the hostilities breaking outbetween America and Great Britain. Cuffe wascaptured by the British and held for three months inNew York. Not wanting to repeat that experience,when he was released he did not immediately returnto sea but instead earned his living by farming.

Eventually returning to the sea, Cuffe began tobuild ships as well as sail them. Overcoming a series

of setbacks, including the capture of his cargo bypirates, he slowly created a highly profitable shippingbusiness. As the profits flowed in, he reinvested themin the business, gradually replacing his small shipswith larger vessels. Beginning with an open boat ofless than 10 tons, he launched the 69-ton Ranger in1795, and by 1806 owned a fleet of ships as well ashomes and other real estate. By this time he hadbecome a model of economic independence for freeAfrican Americans of his day.

Paul Cuffe knew that his life was a rare exception.Like many of his contemporaries, Cuffe despaired of ever seeing many African Americans enjoy fullfreedom in the United States, even though he himselfhad become a prosperous entrepreneur with a successful business. As early as 1788 he hadsuggested that free African Americans should returnto Africa, and after 1800 he devoted himself tohelping them settle there.

In 1811 Cuffe traveled to the African country ofSierra Leone to assess the possible success of a colonization attempt there. Although the outbreak of the War of 1812 delayed his plans, Cuffe put hisidea into action in 1815. Late that year hetransported 38 African Americans to Africa. Believingthat African colonization would remove a majorobstacle to emancipation in the United States, heenvisioned a greatly expanded effort, but in 1817 his health failed. He died two years before thelaunching of the American Colonization Society,the nation’s most ambitious attempt to settle freeAfrican Americans in Africa.

At a GlanceMotivated by the belief that removal of freeAfrican Americans from the United States wouldencourage emancipation, Paul Cuffe took the firststeps toward sending free African Americans tocolonize a country in Africa. His plan was notsuccessful. Of greater lasting significance was Paul Cuffe’s example of achieving economicindependence in spite of discrimination.

“Among the blacks who were searching for economicindependence and group self-respect during the post-revolutionary period, Paul Cuffe was one of the mostoutstanding.” —John Hope Franklin, African American historian


1. Remembering the Details Why did Paul Cuffe turn from seafaring to farming?

2. Understanding Information Why did Cuffe suggest that free African Americansreturn to Africa?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions How was Cuffe a model and inspiration for African Americans

of his time?


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PRUDENCE CRANDALL 1803–1890

Prudence Crandall’s life was rather uneventfuluntil 1831. In that year the prosperous citizens ofCanterbury, Connecticut, selected her to open andoperate the Canterbury Female Boarding School fortheir daughters. One of the students was SarahHarris, the daughter of a free African Americanfarmer in the area. Her attendance at the school setoff a storm of protest.The wealthy citizens whoprovided the school’s financial support pressuredPrudence Crandall to dismiss Sarah Harris. Crandallannounced instead that she would close the schooltemporarily and then reopen it in 1833 as a boardingschool exclusively for African American girls.

In April 1833, when Crandall’s school reopenedwith 20 African American students, the outragedcitizens of Canterbury resorted to direct action toclose it. Merchants refused to sell food to the school,the local church barred the students from religiousservices, and Prudence Crandall herself was

threatened with physical violence.Yet she did notyield.

Finally, Canterbury coaxed the state legislature intopassing a law prohibiting any school from teachingAfrican Americans who lived outside Connecticut.Since students from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, andNew York—the abolitionist newspaper had advertisedit widely—had enrolled in Crandall’s school, she waspromptly arrested for violating the new law andspent one night in the county jail before beingreleased on bail. Crandall’s case went all the way toConnecticut’s Supreme Court, which overturned herearlier conviction, and ruled in her favor.

Having failed to close Crandall’s school throughlegal means, the citizenry of Canterbury resorted tobreaking its windows, polluting its well, and evenattempting to burn down the building. Under suchintense pressure from the community, in 1834Prudence Crandall finally gave up. One month aftermarrying a minister, she closed her boarding school.She and her new husband left Canterbury andmoved first to New York and then to Illinois, wherethey lived for many years. Following her husband’sdeath in 1874, she moved to Kansas where she spentthe remainder of her life.

A reformer to the very end, Prudence Crandallwas an active supporter of the temperance, peace,and woman suffrage movements. Four years beforeshe died, Connecticut recognized her service to thestate more than a half century earlier by granting her an annual pension of $400.

At a GlanceAlmost three decades before the Civil War,Prudence Crandall took a stand for racial equality.She attempted to break down barriers of racismby allowing a free African American student toattend the girls’ boarding school she operated,then changed the school into one exclusively forAfrican American girls. Her bravery in the face ofthreats and harassment gave strength to theemerging antislavery movement.

“My whole life has been one of opposition. I nevercould find anyone near me to agree with me . . . .I read all sides, and searched for the truth whetherit was in science, religion, or humanity.”


1. Remembering the Details How did Crandall react to demands that she dismissSarah Harris from her school?

2. Understanding Information What means did Canterbury citizens use to closeCrandall’s school?

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences Why was Crandall’s arrest legal trickery?


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JAMES FENIMORE COOPER 1789–1851

James Fenimore Cooper was 30 years old whenhe began his writing career. Until then, he hadoccupied himself primarily with managing hisconsiderable property.Then one day, according totradition, he was reading a boring English romancealoud to his wife when he suddenly declared that hecould write a better book. She challenged him toback up his boast, and he did!

Cooper was born to a wealthy family and grew up in a New York village that his father namedCooperstown. He attended Yale College but wasdismissed for participating in a prank. After a shortterm in the navy, he married and settled down tofarming.

Precaution, the book he wrote in response to hiswife’s challenge, was a poor imitation of the Englishnovels of the day. Cooper received neither criticalnor popular praise for the work. But he learned fromhis mistakes and in 1821 published The Spy, a talebased solely on American themes.The storyrecounted the adventures of a Patriot during theAmerican Revolution who went about his secretmissions in British-occupied New York. Based on the

exploits of an actual spy, the novel displayed asuspense technique that Cooper would use manytimes in his novels: characters in desperate flightfrom their pursuers.

In 1823 Cooper introduced The Pioneers, the first of the “Leatherstocking Tales.” The book reliedheavily on Cooper’s memories of growing up inCooperstown, New York, on the edge of thewilderness. In this novel he created his mostmemorable characters, the woodsman Natty Bumppo(also called Leatherstocking) and his NativeAmerican friend Chingachgook. The Pioneers was agreat success, and Cooper soon added The Last ofthe Mohicans and The Prairie to the series.In addition, he wrote tales of the sea and historicalnovels. By 1826 he had established himself as one of America’s most popular novelists.

Cooper spent the seven years after 1826 livingand writing in Europe.When he returned to theUnited States in 1833, he was appalled to find thatJacksonian democracy had diminished the respectthat country gentlemen such as himself had oncereceived. For a time he turned from fiction-writing tosocial and political commentary. During this periodof his career, Cooper’s most important work was TheAmerican Democrat, in which he expressed hisaristocratic outlook.

In his last years, Cooper revived the Leatherstockingseries with The Pathfinder and The Deerslayer. Hehad never intended to write the series in order fromNatty Bumppo’s youth to old age, and these laterbooks deal with Leatherstocking as a youngwoodsman (The Deerslayer), and as a scout duringthe French and Indian War (The Pathfinder).

At a GlanceJames Fenimore Cooper was the first majorAmerican novelist. In the five “LeatherstockingTales,” his best-known works, Cooper created “theAmerican hero.” His vision of the American Herois of a man who is courageous, moral,straightforward, and self-reliant. In addition, hetapped the American love of nature in hisglorification of the wilderness.

“The Delawares have been peaceable since my sojourn with‘em; and I hold it to be unlawful to take the life of a man,except in open and generous warfare.”—from The Deerslayer


1. Remembering the Details When and how did Cooper begin his career as anovelist?

2. Understanding Information How did reviews of Precaution shape Cooper’swriting?

Thinking Critically3. Identifying Cause and Effect Why did Cooper write the political commentary The

American Democrat?


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OSCEOLA 1800?–1838

A member of the Creek nation, Osceola was born in Georgia but later moved to Florida with his mother.Quite likely, he fought against General Jackson’s troopsduring the first Seminole War (1818–1819). By the1830s, however, he seemed to have made peace withthe United States, even working to prevent troublebetween Native Americans and whites. Gradually, hegained influence among the Seminole population.

In 1832 some Seminole people agreed to a removal treaty with the United States, under the terms of which the Seminole would give up theirlands within three years and move west of theMississippi. Osceola, however, objected to that treaty and to another in 1835.While most Seminole leaders signaled their refusal to sign the second treaty by not touching the pen, Osceolaplunged his knife into the paper.Arrested for his act of defiance, he was released when he told hiscaptors that he would work to win approval of thetreaty if they would let him go.

Once freed Osceola began to gather Seminolewarriors for battle. By the end of the year he and his

followers had killed the local Indian agent and aSeminole leader who had signed a removal treaty.Realizing that he had neither the warriors nor theweaponry to fight on equal terms with the UnitedStates Army, he launched an effective guerrilla warthat came to be known as the Second Seminole War.Hiding the Seminole women and children deep inthe Florida Everglades, he went about harassingUnited States troops for two years.

So successful was Osceola in repelling the armysent to remove the Seminoles from Florida that theofficer in command, General Thomas S. Jesup, cameunder intense criticism. Enraged at charges that hewas ineffective, Jesup resorted to trickery. In October1837, he lured Osceola and some Seminoles out ofthe Everglades under a flag of truce.When theSeminoles entered the Army compound near St.Augustine, Jesup immediately had them arrested andimprisoned.The furor directed at Jesup only grewlouder when news of his tactics reached the public.

In general, people supported the war to removethe Seminoles from Florida, but they did not approveof deceit. However, Osceola’s days as leader of theSecond Seminole War were over. He was transferred to Fort Moultrie near Charleston, South Carolina,where on January 30, 1838, he died of unknowncauses. But his spirit lived on, as the Seminolescontinued their guerrilla war until 1842, costing theUnited States $20 million and the lives of 1,500soldiers. Finally, the American government gave up,and allowed the Seminole to remain in Florida. Underthe leadership of Osceola, they were the only NativeAmerican nation to successfully battle the Americangovernment for the right to remain in their homeland.

At a GlanceOsceola led the Seminole nation in resisting thefederal government’s plan to remove NativeAmericans east of the Mississippi to lands in theWest.Although eventually captured, Osceolademonstrated the value of guerrilla tactics whenfighting a larger, better-equipped force. His effortsinspired the Seminoles to continue theirresistance in the Florida Everglades for severalyears after his death.

“I love my home and will not go from it . . . .When the Great Spirit tells me to go with thewhite men I go, but he tells me not to go . . . . Isay we must not leave our homes and lands.”


1. Remembering the Details What was Osceola’s first act of defiance against thefederal government’s relocation plan?

2. Understanding Information How was General Jesup’s capture of Osceoladeceitful?

Thinking Critically3. Identifying Cause and Effect How did Osceola’s leadership affect the relocation

plan for the Seminoles?


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JOHN C. CALHOUN 1782–1850

In the years between the War of 1812 and theCompromise of 1850, the United States took a sharpturn toward sectionalism.The War of 1812 hadfostered patriotism, and had encouraged Americansto think about their country as a whole. By the1820s, however, those feelings were accompanied bysectional loyalties in the North,West, and South. Fewpolitical leaders reflected the shift from nationalismto sectionalism as well as John C. Calhoun.

During and after the War of 1812, Calhoun was anardent nationalist, supporting the military andbacking government spending on roads, canals, andother internal improvements. He also favored a tariffto help struggling manufacturing companiescompete with cheaper, foreign-made imports.

The tariff issue, however, eventually turnedCalhoun from nationalism to sectionalism. As theNorth became more industrialized during the 1820s,it benefited from higher taxes on imports. But theagricultural South felt penalized by the tariff becauseit raised the prices of goods southerners had to buy.

When the tax rates went up again in 1828 (the“Tariff of Abominations”), Calhoun wrote a pamphletdenouncing the tariff as unconstitutional. He alsosuggested that states could effectively vetounconstitutional laws by “nullifying” them.

When the Tariff of 1832 failed to satisfysoutherners, Calhoun, the vice president at the time,resigned and was elected to the Senate to defend the South’s interests.At the same time, his nativestate of South Carolina nullified the tariffs of 1828and 1832.This meant that those tariff laws would not be obeyed or enforced within the boundaries ofthe state.

President Andrew Jackson threatened to use forceto make South Carolina obey the laws.At the heightof the crisis, Calhoun met with Henry Clay to workout a compromise tariff.The new tariff that theyagreed upon would gradually reduce rates over aperiod of ten years.

For the final two decades of his life, Calhoun wastotally committed to defending the interests of theSouth. From his seat in the Senate, he continued toexert a profound influence. He favored the annexationof Texas to help keep the number of slave states equalto the number of free states. He answered critics ofslavery with a defense of the “peculiar institution,”stating that slavery was not evil but rather a “positivegood” for both races. In his last public appearance onthe Senate floor, he opposed the Compromise of1850, saying it favored the North over the South.When he died just a few weeks later, the last words heuttered were “The South! The poor South!”

At a GlanceJohn C. Calhoun was the leading politician andspokesperson for the South during the 1830s and1840s.To defend the South’s interests, Calhoundeveloped complex arguments in favor of slaveryand states’ rights. Although the Civil Wareffectively settled those questions, Calhoun holdsa place as one of the nation’s most originalpolitical and constitutional thinkers.

“I hold then, that there never has yet existed awealthy and a civilized society in which oneportion of the community did not, in point offact, live on the labor of the other.”


1. Remembering the Details How did political feelings in the United States changebetween the War of 1812 and the Compromise of 1850?

2. Understanding Information How did the tariff issue change Calhoun’s politicalstance?

Thinking Critically3. Summarizing What contributions did Calhoun make toward the movement of

sectionalism?


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WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON 1805–1879

During the three decades before the Civil War,William Lloyd Garrison was one of the nation’s mostoutspoken opponents of slavery. A radical agitatorrather than a practical problem-solver, he demandedthe total and immediate emancipation of all enslavedpeople. In his eyes, slavery was a sin, and the sinnersmust be brought to recognize the error of theirways, then cast off the evil quickly and completely.Compromise played no role in Garrison’s views onslavery.

In 1830 he launched his antislavery newspaper,The Liberator. Although the paper never had acirculation greater than 3,000 and lost money everyyear, Garrison published it for 35 years—stoppingonly when the Thirteenth Amendment to theConstitution, which ended slavery in the UnitedStates, was ratified.

Garrison also played a prominent part inorganizing the national American Antislavery Societyin 1833. His organizing activities—in addition to hispublishing, his uncompromising views, and his harshlanguage denouncing those who held people as

slaves—made him unpopular in the North and hatedin the South. At one point, the state of Georgiaoffered $5,000 for his arrest and conviction; in hishometown of Boston, a mob dragged him throughthe streets with a rope around his neck.

Garrison was most influential during the 1830s,but his leadership had begun to wane by 1840. Bythen, the abolitionist movement was taking adifferent direction, trying to achieve its goal throughpolitical action rather than persuasion. Garrisonwanted nothing to do with political solutions orcompromise, and he lost support when he tried tolink the abolitionist movement to other reforms hefavored—especially women’s rights. In 1840 theAmerican Antislavery Society split into two rivalgroups largely due to a quarrel over Garrison’sinsistence on an equal role for women in themovement.

Some abolitionists also broke with him when hepublicly burned a copy of the Constitution, arguingthat it was “an agreement with hell” because itrecognized the legality of slavery. Adopting theslogan “No union with slaveholders,” Garrison saidthe slave states should be separated from the freestates.When the South actually did secede, however,he backed the Union effort during the Civil Warbecause he saw a Union victory as a step leading toabolition.As late as the beginning of the Civil War,most Northerners were not abolitionists, butGarrison’s three decades of agitation had shiftedpublic opinion significantly. By forcing Americans toface the gap between slavery and the ideals ofliberty and equality, he helped lay the foundation foremancipation.

At a GlanceWilliam Lloyd Garrison was one of the originalcrusaders in the fight to end slavery. His news-paper, The Liberator, was an important voice ofthe abolitionist movement. Although considered aradical, Garrison played a major role in shapingpublic opinion in the North, so that by theoutbreak of the Civil War, most Northerners werein some degree opposed to the South’s “peculiarinstitution.”

“I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, withmoderation . . . . I am in earnest—I will notequivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreata single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD.”


1. Remembering the Details Why was William Lloyd Garrison unpopular even amongother abolitionists?

2. Understanding Information Why did Garrison’s influence lessen after the 1830s?

Thinking Critically3. Identifying Cause and Effect Why did Garrison change his stand about Southern

secession when the Civil War began?


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SOJOURNER TRUTH 1797–1883

“Children, I talk to God and God talks to me!”With these words Sojourner Truth would beginelectrifying talks on the evils of slavery and theabuse of women. An African-American woman whowould experience both evils in her life, SojournerTruth was born an enslaved person in New York.Named Isabella by her parents, she acquired severalsurnames because she was sold to differentslaveholders during her youth.

Isabella was emancipated in 1827, and worked asa house servant in New York from 1829 to 1843.At that time, rather than using the names of herprevious slaveholders, she changed her name toSojourner Truth and began speaking at revivalmeetings.The movement for abolition of slavery was beginning to gain momentum in the North.Asher reputation as an orator spread, huge crowdsassembled to hear Sojourner Truth’s demands forfreedom for African Americans and political rights for women.

She joined forces with noted abolitionists WilliamLloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass, and like

them, often faced attempts by mobs to silence hermessage. Unlike Douglass, with whom she oftenshared a podium, Sojourner Truth always counselednonviolence in putting an end to slavery.

Concentrating her lecturing activities in theeastern states and throughout the Midwest, shesupported herself through sales of herautobiography, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth.When the Civil War broke out in 1861, she usedmoney raised from her lectures and the sale of herlife story to buy gifts for soldiers and to helpescaped enslaved persons find jobs, food, clothing,and shelter.When African American men finally wereallowed to join the Union army, she gatheredsupplies for their regiments, and in 1864, PresidentLincoln received her at the White House.The GreatEmancipator appointed her counselor to free AfricanAmericans residing in the nation’s capital.

While she was in Washington, D.C., SojournerTruth became the first African American woman totest the legality of segregation on city streetcars. Shelater won a lawsuit that resulted in ending the policyof separating riders on the basis of race in thecapital.

Although nearly 70 years old at the conclusion of the Civil War, Sojourner Truth barely slowed heractive pace. She went into the defeated South topersonally investigate conditions there, especially the treatment of newly emancipated enslavedpersons. She later worked with the Freedmen’sBureau in the South to help people formerly held asslaves adjust to life after bondage.While engaged inthese demanding activities, she also continued herlecturing on racial justice and women’s rights.

At a GlanceFrom the time Sojourner Truth assumed hername, the emancipated woman who had beenenslaved became a noted preacher and lecturer.A spellbinding orator, she crusaded against slaveryand promoted the equality of men and women.Unlike many abolitionists of her day, SojournerTruth advocated nonviolence as the way toaccomplish change. She was also committed toachieving women’s rights.

“I have borne thirteen children and seen themmost all sold off to slavery, and when I criedout with my mother’s grief, none but Jesusheard me!”


1. Remembering the Details Why did Sojourner Truth assume her new name?

2. Understanding Information How was Truth similar to and different fromabolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass?

Thinking Critically3. Summarizing Enumerate Sojourner Truth’s work on behalf of both enslaved and

emancipated African Americans.


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SARAH HALE 1788–1879

Sarah Hale did not really choose to have a career.Left a widow with five young children, she turned towriting as a source of income, producing two booksof poetry and a moderately successful novel. Basedon her budding literary reputation, she was offeredthe editorship of a new monthly women’s magazine.She immediately accepted.

The first issue of the Ladies’ Magazine (laterGodey’s Lady’s Book) appeared in January 1828.From the very start, the magazine reflected Hale’spoint of view, since she wrote most of the materialin each issue. Criticizing women who soughtequality with men, she emphasized that the sexesshould fulfill different roles. In her view, men werebest suited to business, the military, and government,while women were the civilizing influence whoseproper place was in the home.

Hale believed, however, that women could provide this civilizing influence only if they were

well-educated.With this belief, she departed from thetraditional view of women in her time, insisting ongreater educational opportunities for women. She alsochampioned the notion that women students shouldbe taught by women instructors and urged women tofill administrative posts at women’s colleges.

Although Hale initially took the position thatwomen found true fulfillment only as wives andmothers, she modified that view as more and morenineteenth-century women took jobs. Eventually, sheadvocated the idea that every woman should learn auseful skill in order to support herself if the needarose. She was particularly supportive of womenbecoming doctors, and she wrote extensively aboutElizabeth Blackwell, the first American woman toearn a degree in medicine. Hale thought it“unnatural” for male physicians to treat women.

Hale excluded controversial topics from the pagesof her magazine, refusing to publish articles on socialinjustice or radical feminist ideas. She did, however,seek to better the lives of her readers, urging womento exercise, eat wisely, and dress sensibly.

Rarely has a magazine editor exerted as powerfulan influence on a society as Hale did on nineteenth-century America, especially on America’s women.Under Hale’s direction, Godey’s Lady’s Book achievedphenomenal circulation, reaching 150,000 by 1860.During her editorship, Hale also wrote a 36 volumebiographical encyclopedia of famous women.At age90 she announced her retirement in the December1877 issue of her magazine. She died the next April.

At a GlanceFor more than 40 years, Sarah Hale defined formillions of American women what she thoughtshould be their proper role—as refined, educated,moral, wholesome, tasteful, gentle, and skillfulhomemakers. Although not a feminist, Sarah Halenonetheless advanced the position of women inAmerican society by urging that they becomeeducated and prepare themselves for certainprofessions, such as education or medicine.

“. . . every attempt to induce women to . . .participate in the public duties of government[is] injurious to their best interest . . . Our empireis purer, more excellent, and spiritual.”


1. Remembering the Details Why did Sarah Hale become a writer?

2. Understanding Information How did Hale’s editorial policies affect the Ladies’Magazine?

Thinking Critically3. Summarizing How did Hale advance women’s roles in the nineteenth century?


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BRIGHAM YOUNG 1801–1877

In 1844, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormons),was murdered while running for President of theUnited States. Brigham Young, third-ranking memberof the church, who was in Boston campaigning forSmith, rushed back to Nauvoo, Illinois, where hefound church members in a state of panic. Manynon-Mormons were hostile to the church’s beliefs, itsrapid growth, and its members’ importance in statepolitics.When he assumed leadership,Youngdetermined to find a place for the Mormons topractice their religion without persecution.

Young converted to the Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-Day Saints at age 30. Also converting his familyto Mormonism,Young worked for the church as amissionary, traveling all over the eastern UnitedStates seeking converts. By 1835 he gained the rankof third in the administrative body of the Mormonchurch. At the time of Smith’s murder, he was thechurch’s top financial officer.

Taking command after Smith’s murder,Youngdecided to move the church far from its persecutors.His agents scouted likely places in the West, and aftermuch research,Young chose to establish a “newZion” in the Great Salt Lake area.

The Mormons migrated from Illinois to the GreatSalt Lake during 1846 and 1847. From his base inDeseret, the Mormon name for their new home,Young sent colonists to set up Mormon townsthroughout the Great Basin area of the AmericanWest. He also sent missionaries around the world toseek recruits for the new Zion. He directed Mormonsettlers to the most fertile, well-watered farm lands,and—showing great insight into desert living—heinstructed his followers in ways to irrigate more aridlands. He made certain that each Mormon town wassupplied with mechanics and other skilled workers.Ruling with unquestioned authority,Young created athriving Mormon colony in the desert.

The only real threat to Young’s authority camefrom the federal government. Utah became Americanterritory following the Mexican War, and Youngbecame territorial governor. But people throughoutthe United States were so opposed to the Mormonsthat President Buchanan was forced to removeYoung from office.When he refused to leave, amilitary detachment was sent to force him to go.Theso-called “Mormon War” ended peacefully in 1858when Young stepped aside in favor of a non-Mormongovernor. As head of the Mormon Church, however,Young unofficially ruled Utah for the last 20 years ofhis life.

At a GlanceBrigham Young rescued the Mormon religionfrom disaster following the murder of its founder.He led fellow believers to Utah and set up athriving colony in the desert. A man of greatpractical ability, Brigham Young worked out mostof the details involved in marching thousands ofpeople to the Rockies, setting up more than 300towns, and making the Mormon Church afinancial as well as a religious success.

“. . . the time has come for the Saints to go up tothe mountains of the Lord’s house, and help toestablish it upon the tops of the mountains.”


1. Remembering the Details Why did Young feel it necessary to relocate the Mormonchurch?

2. Understanding Information How did Young turn Utah into “a new Zion?”

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions How did Young remain unofficially the leader in Utah, even

though the state had a governor?


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HARRIET BEECHER STOWE 1811–1896

“So this is the little lady who started our bigwar!” said Abraham Lincoln while greeting HarrietBeecher Stowe in 1862.The President was clearlyexaggerating.The petite woman from New Englandwas no warmonger. But her novel Uncle Tom’sCabin had certainly played a key role in convincingboth North and South that the slavery issue wasleading the two regions to an “irrepressible conflict.”

Although she would become one of the mostfamous writers of the nineteenth century, HarrietBeecher Stowe lived much of her life in the shadowof better-known family members. Her father, LymanBeecher, and her brothers were noted speakers andsocial reformers, and her sister opened a school forwomen.

Stowe was living in Brunswick, Maine, with herhusband and seven children when she began writingUncle Tom’s Cabin in 1850. She had observed slaveryin Kentucky, but had no firsthand experience of eitherplantation slavery or of the deep South.The passage of The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and the promptings

of her antislavery family, however, moved her to writea novel in serial form for an antislavery newspaper.

Recounting the life of an enslaved man she namedUncle Tom, Stowe began by describing his death. Shefinished the tale at one sitting and wrote the endingon brown grocery wrap after running out of writingpaper. She then wrote the earlier chapters and sentthem off to the newspaper.The publisher decided tocombine the stories into a book, but he complainedthat the text was too long. Stowe replied that she hadnot written the book; it had written itself.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin appeared in book form in1852 and sold 10,000 copies in its first week.Charges soon appeared in the North as well as in theSouth that the tale misrepresented slavery.Themelodrama of Uncle Tom’s fate at the hands of thevicious slaveholder Simon Legree (who wasNorthern-born) and the escape to freedom byGeorge and Eliza, however, assured a sympatheticreadership in much of the North.

In 1853 Harriet Beecher Stowe published A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin in which she documented her portrayal of slavery by citing facts about thetreatment of enslaved African Americans in the South.This book received little attention, but her next novelabout slavery, Dred:A Tale of the Great DismalSwamp, was another bestseller. She then turned towriting about her native New England. Stowe wrotean average of nearly a book a year following UncleTom’s Cabin until her death in 1896. None of herother works, however, matched Uncle Tom’s Cabin ineither immediate impact or in long-term significance.

At a GlanceHarriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabinmade a greater impact on the course of UnitedStates history than any other. Although many ofStowe’s books had more literary merit, UncleTom’s Cabin was her most significant work. Ithardened antislavery sentiment in the Northwhile convincing the South that extremists wereintent upon destroying its “peculiar institution.”

“Tom stepped upon the block, gave a few anxiouslooks round; . . . almost in a moment came thefinal thump of the hammer . . . as the auctioneerannounced his price, and Tom . . . had a master!”


1. Remembering the Details Why did Stowe write Uncle Tom’s Cabin?

2. Understanding Information What was the public reaction to Stowe’s novel?

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences Why were Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Dred bestsellers?


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JULIA WARD HOWE 1819–1910

Unable to sleep after visiting a Union army campnear Washington, D.C., Julia Ward Howe rose duringthe night and wrote a poem. Some believe she wasinspired by the distant campfires she could see fromher hotel window. Scribbling the lines in darkness sodense she could not see the words on the paper, shetried to capture the emotion of soldiers fighting forhuman freedom. Later, her words were put to thetune of “John Brown’s Body.” The new song,“BattleHymn of the Republic,” so moved listeners thatPresident Lincoln was said to have wept when heheard it.The song quickly became a favorite in theNorth, and it brought Julia Ward Howe fame thatwould endure the rest of her long life.

The daughter of a New York City banker, Julia Wardwas educated by governesses and at private schools.At the age of 21 she married Samuel Gridley Howe, anewspaper publisher and strong abolitionist. A middle-aged woman when she wrote the “Battle Hymn of theRepublic,”Howe had established herself as a publishedpoet and writer even before marriage. Her husband,

however, was opposed to her having a public life, andthe couple frequently argued. Howe continued towrite poems and plays, often anonymously.

The “Battle Hymn of the Republic” altered Howe’slife.Written at the end of 1861, the poem waspublished in the February 1862 edition of theAtlantic Monthly, and when put to music, the songswept through the North. It made the author aninstant celebrity, forcing her husband to recognizeher career.

In 1868 Howe became actively involved in themovement to secure for women the right to vote.In 1876, following her husband’s death, she expandedher role in a number of women’s organizations thatworked for equal opportunities in education,business, and the professional world. A woman ofgreat wit and humor, she was frequently called upon to address conventions for organizations. Shealso continued to write.

In her later years, Howe found herself in financialneed and took to the lecture platform. She spoke onwomen’s rights as well as the gross materialism ofthe Gilded Age. Crowds of people attended herlectures, however, primarily to see the woman whohad written the great anthem of the Civil War, andshe was often called upon to recite it.

When Howe died of pneumonia at the age of 91,the governor of Massachusetts attended her funeral.Hundreds of people had to be turned away fromBoston’s Symphony Hall, where a crowd of morethan 4,000 joined in singing Howe’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

At a GlanceJulia Ward Howe wrote the words to the “BattleHymn of the Republic,” which not only became afavorite song in the North during the Civil War,but also evolved into an unofficial nationalanthem for the entire country. Her famous poemtended to overshadow her other significantachievements, including her involvement invarious reform movements.

“As he died to make men holy,let us die to make men free,While God is marching on.”—Battle Hymn of the Republic


1. Remembering the Details What circumstances prompted Howe to write “BattleHymn of the Republic”?

2. Understanding Information How did the song influence Howe’s later life?

Thinking Critically3. Identifying Cause and Effect How did the popularity of “Battle Hymn of the

Republic” alter Howe’s life with her husband?


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THOMAS “STONEWALL” JACKSON 1824–1863

Two days following the amputation of hiswounded left arm, Confederate General Thomas J.Jackson received a letter from his commander, RobertE. Lee.“You are better off than I am,” Lee wrote,“forwhile you have lost your left, I have lost my rightarm.” Jackson died a week later, but in the two shortyears he served at Lee’s side, he established areputation for military genius that has rarely beenequaled in American history.

A graduate of West Point, Jackson fought withdistinction in the Mexican War, then resigned toaccept a teaching position at the Virginia MilitaryInstitute in 1851.Ten years later, when Virginiaseceded, Jackson accepted a commission in theConfederate army.

Jackson won his first engagement of the Civil War,the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861, which iswhere he was given the nickname “Stonewall.”At hiscommand, his troops had formed closed ranks andrefused to break under the Union assault, eventhough they were greatly outnumbered. Jacksoninsisted that the name really applied to all of his

men, rather than just to him, but the nicknamebecame his alone.

Following the victory at Bull Run, Jackson waspromoted to major general and placed in commandof Confederate forces in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.Outnumbered by three Union armies, Jacksonprevented the Union forces from advancing onRichmond by executing a series of lightening fastmaneuvers that threatened Washington, D.C. He thenjoined forces with Robert E. Lee to push back thehuge Union Army that was slowly advancing on theConfederate capital. By the Second Battle of BullRun—another Confederate victory—Jackson was alegend and a true hero of the South.

In September 1862, while Lee moved intoMaryland, Jackson captured Harper’s Ferry, thenhurried to help Lee at the Battle of Antietam.Thetwo generals understood each other well: Leeplanned strategy, while Jackson executed daringmaneuvers that baffled Union commanders. InDecember Jackson helped rout Union troops atFredericksburg; in May 1863, he won an even morespectacular victory at Chancellorsville.

Chancellorsville was Jackson’s final battle,however. Returning at twilight from an inspection ofenemy lines, one of his pickets shot him, mistakinghim and his staff for Union scouts. Following theamputation of his left arm, Jackson developedpneumonia and died. His last words—perhapsuttered with his exhausted troops in mind—were,“Let us cross over the river and rest in the shade ofthe trees.”The loss of Jackson’s leadership was asevere blow to the Southern cause in the Civil War.

At a GlanceJackson’s defense of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valleyagainst much larger Union forces helped save theConfederate capital during the Civil War’s secondyear.Together, Jackson and Robert E. Lee achievedthe South’s greatest victories. Jackson’s ability towin battles when greatly outnumbered placedhim high on the list of America’s most brilliantmilitary commanders.

“There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Letus determine to die here and we will conquer.”—Officer who rallied his men behind Jackson’s line


1. Remembering the Details How did Jackson earn his nickname “Stonewall”?

2. Understanding Information What made Jackson and Lee an effective militaryteam?

Thinking Critically3. Evaluating Performance Why can Jackson be classified as “one of America’s most

brilliant military leaders”?


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THADDEUS STEVENS 1792–1868

When the guns blazed at Fort Sumter in 1861,President Lincoln made it clear that the North wasfighting to restore the Union, not to free theenslaved people in the South. But some members ofthe President’s political party, called RadicalRepublicans, saw the war as a chance to abolishslavery and achieve some degree of racial equality.The leader of these Radical Republicans in theHouse of Representatives was Thaddeus Stevens.

As a successful lawyer in Gettysburg,Pennsylvania, Stevens’s experiences had turned hisdislike of slavery to hatred. He had not been far fromthe slave state of Maryland, and had often seenenslaved people trying to escape. He had helpedmany captured fugitives avoid return to the South by serving as their lawyer without a fee.

Stevens turned to politics in 1833, and hisunflagging hatred of slavery directed the course ofhis political career. As a member of the Pennsylvaniastate legislature in 1837, he refused to sign the state’snew constitution because it did not give AfricanAmericans the right to vote. As a member of theHouse of Representatives from 1848 to 1853, he was

known as a “free soiler,” committed to keeping thewestern territories free, rather than slave, states. Herefused to run again in 1853, disgusted with theWhig party’s refusal to take a strong stand againstthe expansion of slavery.

The Republican party, formed to oppose new slaveterritories, brought Stevens back into politics. Electedto Congress again in 1858, he began where he hadleft off—blasting slaveholders.A congressionalmember for the next decade, he opposed anycompromise with the South. Once war broke out,he backed emancipation as a Union war aim.

As a northern victory became certain, Stevensinsisted that the defeated Confederate States had lostall rights under the Constitution and should be ruledby Congress as “conquered provinces” rather than bytheir own state governments. Stevens’s ideasconflicted directly with the Reconstruction policiesof Presidents Lincoln and Johnson. Stevens andJohnson exchanged bitter attacks.When Johnsonvetoed bills that Stevens backed, Stevens fought tohave Congress override the vetoes. His greatestachievement was to assure the passage of theFourteenth Amendment, which guaranteed equaltreatment of all Americans under the law.

When the Radicals won support for their programin the elections of 1866, Stevens led the move toimpose military reconstruction on the South. Helater was the driving force behind the impeachmentof President Johnson.The Senate failed to convictJohnson, and Stevens died within a few weeks of thetrial, deeply disappointed.

At a GlanceThaddeus Stevens led the Radical Republicansduring the Civil War and the early years ofReconstruction. Committed to racial equality,Thaddeus Stevens fought for legislation duringand after the Civil War to assure full citizenship to the nation’s African Americans.

“. . . finding other cemeteries limited as to race, bycharter rules, I have chose this that I might illustrate inmy death the . . . equality of man before his Creator.”—Stevens’s epitaph


1. Remembering the Details What focused and directed Stevens’s political career?

2. Understanding Information How did the Radical Republicans differ from theRepublican majority?

Thinking Critically3. Summarizing What actions did Stevens take in support of his antislavery beliefs?


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HIRAM REVELS 1827–1901

In 1861 Jefferson Davis resigned as United StatesSenator from Mississippi to serve as President of theConfederate States of America. His senate seat inWashington remained vacant during the entire CivilWar and for many of the problem-plaguedReconstruction years.When Mississippi finallyelected a senator to fill Davis’s unfinished term, thechoice was Hiram Revels, the nation’s first AfricanAmerican member of either house of Congress.

Revels was a minister living in Baltimore,Maryland, when he began organizing AfricanAmerican troops to fight in the Civil War. Afterestablishing two such regiments in Baltimore in1863, he moved from Maryland to Missouri, wherehe put together another regiment of AfricanAmerican soldiers and set up a school for formerenslaved people at St. Louis. He spent the balance ofthe war serving as a chaplain in the Union Army andhelping the Freedmen’s Bureau with theemancipated enslaved people in Mississippi.

After the war, Revels worked in local Mississippipolitics in Natchez, becoming alderman there in

1868. In January 1870, he won election to the UnitedStates Senate as a Republican. Although some whitesenators opposed giving an African American a seat inCongress, Revels was approved on February 25, 1870,by a vote of 48 to 8. Because he was completing anunexpired term, he served just a little more than ayear, leaving the Senate on March 3, 1871.

During his year in the Senate, Revels generallyheld moderate views, at one point favoring amnestyfor all former Confederates who took an oath ofallegiance to the United States. He later changed hismind about such amnesty, however, and began totake more vigorous stands in favor of protectingAfrican Americans. He backed enforcement of theFifteenth Amendment, and supported a bill todesegregate public schools in the nation’s capital.

Upon his return from Washington, D.C., toMississippi, Revels was appointed the first presidentof Alcorn College, an African American school.Timeswere dangerous for African Americans in Mississippi,and Revels clearly tried to maintain good relationswith whites in power. Revels campaigned for theDemocrats, white candidates who succeeded inregaining control of Mississippi’s state government.Most African Americans, in contrast, supported theRepublican party. Once in control, the whiteconservative Democrats discriminated harshlyagainst African Americans, eventually deprivingalmost all of them of the right to vote by 1890.

Revels, however, remained a favorite ofMississippi’s white leaders, holding onto his post atAlcorn until 1882.The final two decades of his lifewere devoted largely to religious work.

At a GlanceHiram Revels was the first African Americanmember of the United States Senate. Althoughbest-known for his brief term in the Senate,Revels devoted most of his life to bettering theconditions of African Americans. His support forwhite Democrats in Mississippi illustrates thepolitical problems African Americans in the Southfaced during and after Reconstruction.

“I maintain that . . . my race . . . aim not toelevate themselves by sacrificing one singleinterest of their white fellow citizens.”


1. Remembering the Details Why did Jefferson Davis vacate his Senate seat?

2. Understanding Information What was Hiram Revels’s background prior to hiselection to the Senate?

Thinking Critically3. Understanding Cause and Effect Why did Revels not suffer discrimination

following the Democratic victory in Mississippi?


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CHIEF JOSEPH 1840?– 1904

Chief Joseph succeeded to leadership of the NezPercé nation in 1873 during a crisis. Some yearsbefore, gold had been discovered on Nez Percé landin Oregon’s Wallowa Valley. Some Nez Percé hadsigned treaties giving up their land to white settlers,but others, including Joseph’s father, had refused.Instead, these Nez Percé pursued a “nontreaty”policy: they did not provoke trouble with whites butrefused to leave their lands.

Joseph continued his father’s policy, but came upagainst the American government’s determination tohave Nez Percé lands. In 1877 General Oliver O.Howard ordered Joseph and his people to peacefullyleave their ancestral lands, or be forcibly removed.

Reluctantly, Joseph decided to leave in peace.Before he could do so, however, some Nez Percékilled several whites as revenge for acts of terrorismby settlers. In retaliation, General Howard senttroops to capture Joseph and his people.

Knowing that his small band stood no chance ofdefeating the United States army, Joseph quicklydecided to escape to Canada.With fewer than 200warriors and nearly 600 women and children, hebegan a trek northeastward, engaging the army onlywhen he had no other choice.Weaving through fourstates, crossing the Rockies in what is nowYellowstone National Park, Joseph and the Nez Percémade it to the Bear Paw Mountains. After travelingmore than 1,000 miles, the exhausted band was only40 miles from the safety of the Canadian border.

Chief Joseph let his people stop to rest, whichproved a costly error. On September 30, 1877, theNez Percé were surprised by 500 soldiers. Althoughhe had only 87 warriors left, Joseph decided to fightrather than surrender or escape by abandoning thewounded, women, children, and aged. Instead ofattacking, the troops surrounded the Nez Percé andconducted a five-day siege. Chief Joseph was finallyforced to surrender, vowing,“I will fight no moreforever.”

Chief Joseph and his people were taken to areservation in Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. Later,in 1885, Joseph was moved to the ColvilleReservation. He devoted the rest of his life to tryingto better the lives of his people, writing “An Indian’sView of Indian Affairs” in 1897, and traveling toWashington, D.C., in 1903 to urge better treatment of Native Americans. His pleas to be allowed toreturn to his ancestral lands in Oregon were ignored,and he died the following year.

At a GlanceChief Joseph was the leader of the Nez Percénation of Native Americans. Forced from his land,he led his people in an escape from theirhomeland in Oregon to within 40 miles of theCanadian border, a distance of more than 1,000miles.While fighting to save his people, hisnobility never wavered.When faced with certaindefeat, he surrendered with dignity and did all in his power to care for his followers.

“I am tired of fighting . . . Hear me, my chiefs,I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. Fromwhere the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”


1. Remembering the Details Why did Chief Joseph take the Nez Percé to Canadarather than fight the army troops?

2. Understanding Information What was the Nez Percé nontreaty policy and how didit affect government policy?

Thinking Critically3. Identifying Cause and Effect What caused Chief Joseph to flee to Canada, and why

were he and his people captured?


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HELEN HUNT JACKSON 1830–1885

Helen Hunt Jackson overcame personal losses tobecome one of the finest American writers of thenineteenth century. In addition, her major nonfictionwork, A Century of Dishonor, helped to awakenboth the public and the federal government to thesuffering of Native Americans.

Helen Marie Fiske was born in Massachusettswhere her father was a professor of literature andclassical languages. Her mother died when Helenwas 14, and her father died three years later. In 1852she married Edward Hunt, an officer in the UnitedStates army. She had two sons, but her husband andboth sons died within the next ten years. Helen Huntbegan writing to escape her despair and grief overher family’s deaths. Her first published works werepoems that appeared under a pen name, thenmagazine articles under her own name. By the1870s, her work had appeared in nearly everyleading publication of the era, and she wasrecognized as a leading literary figure. Her poemswere collected and published in several volumes, andmuch of her fiction and nonfiction also appeared inbook form, although often under a pen name.

In 1873 Helen Hunt went to Colorado for herhealth; there she met and married William SharplessJackson, a wealthy banker. She devoted all her energiesto her literary career, but, until 1879, her writings werenot concerned with any kind of social reform.

In that year, however, she listened to chief StandingBear of the Ponca nation tell of the wrongs done toNative Americans. She began intensive research intothe federal government’s treatment of NativeAmericans.The result of her research was A Centuryof Dishonor, published in 1881. As soon as her bookwas printed, Jackson sent a copy to every importantofficial involved with Native American affairs.

Jackson’s book led to her appointment as aspecial commissioner to investigate the livingconditions of California’s Mission Native Americans.Fearing that A Century of Dishonor was tooscholarly to win a wide readership, she restated herfindings in the form of a fictional novel. Jacksonhoped to produce a novel that would awaken thepublic to the abuses suffered by Native Americansjust as Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’sCabin had awakened public sentiment to theinjustices of slavery.The result, the romantic novelRamona, published in 1884, portrayed the CaliforniaNative Americans as victims of greedy Americansettlers. Enormously successful, Ramona wentthrough more than 300 printings and was eventuallymade into three different movies.

Shortly after the publication of Ramona, HelenHunt Jackson slipped in her home and broke her legso severely that she never walked again. She died notlong after her accident at age 54.

At a GlanceHelen Hunt Jackson was among the premiereAmerican writers of the nineteenth century. Herbook, A Century of Dishonor, so powerfullypresented the injustices inflicted upon NativeAmericans that it stimulated government effortsto protect their rights. Hunt also wrote poetry,novels, and short stories.

“It makes little difference . . . where one opensthe record of the history of the Indians; everypage and every year has its dark stain.”


1. Remembering the Details Why did Jackson become a writer?

2. Understanding Information What prompted Jackson to write A Century ofDishonor?

Thinking Critically3. Identifying Cause and Effect Why did Jackson write Ramona?


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FREDERICK WINSLOW TAYLOR 1856 –1915

Hired by the Bethlehem Steel Company in 1898to find ways to make steel production moreefficient, Frederick W.Taylor spent five monthsstudying the way workers used shovels. He notedfirst that each worker used his own shovel, andsecond, that each worker used the same shovel tomove many different kinds of materials.“We wouldsee a . . . shoveler go from shoveling rice coal with aload of 3 1/2 pounds to the shovel to handling ore . . . with 38 pounds to the shovel. Now, is 3 1/2pounds . . . or is 38 pounds the proper shovel load?They cannot both be right. Under scientificmanagement . . . it is a question for accurate, careful,scientific investigation.”

By doing precisely that kind of investigation,Frederick Taylor found that the workers needed 15shovels of different sizes and shapes to do their workmost efficiently. He equipped each worker with theproper shovel for the task, then demonstrated howbest to use it. As a result, Bethlehem Steel cut itsshoveling costs in half.While three out of fourshovelers lost their jobs due to Taylor’s efficiency

studies, those who remained received much higherwages because they were far more productive.

As a young man,Taylor had gone to work as alaborer at the Midvale Steel Works in 1878, and hadended his dozen years there as a chief engineer.While there,Taylor had carefully observed his fellowworkers. He sympathized with workers who oftendropped from exhaustion while trying to meet theexpectations of their bosses, and he wanted to knowhow much work could reasonably be expected of aworker in one day.

Taylor broke down every task into the separatemotions that went into it, then timed each motionwith a stopwatch to find the most efficient way ofdoing it.These time-motion studies became the basisof what Taylor called “scientific management.”

Even in his private life,Taylor concentrated onefficiency. He counted his steps to his job to discoverthe most economical route. He wore slip-on shoes tosave time in getting them on and off. People laughedwhen he invented a more efficient tennis racket witha curved handle.They stopped laughing when he anda partner won the U.S. doubles championship in1881.After resigning his position with BethlehemSteel in 1901,Taylor devoted his energies to spreadinghis ideas about efficiency. He offered his serviceswithout charge to any business that would seriouslyundertake his principles, and soon “Taylorization” wasadopted by factories, shops, and offices across thecountry. In 1911 he published an influential book, ThePrinciples of Scientific Management, detailing hisideas about increased efficiency and productivity.

At a GlanceFrederick W.Taylor devoted his career to“scientific management,” the study of how manualwork could be accomplished more efficiently.Largely as a result of Taylor’s studies, businessestoday routinely analyze each step in theproduction process in an effort to increaseefficiency.

“The one element . . . which differentiates . . .prosperous from poverty-stricken peoples—isthat the average man in the one is five or sixtimes as productive as the other.”


1. Remembering the Details How did Taylor become interested in time study?

2. Understanding Information How did Taylor define “scientific management”?

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences Why might some workers have been against Taylor’s efficiency

studies?


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LEONORA MARIE KEARNEY BARRY 1849–1930

Forced by the death of her first husband to workin a factory to support herself and her two children,Leonora Marie Kearney Barry earned a total of 65cents for her first week’s wages. Angered by whatshe viewed as gross exploitation, she joined thewomen’s branch of the Knights of Labor union. Herdecision started her on the path that would lead herfrom underpaid factory worker to a leading unionactivist of her day.

Leonora Barry, with two children to support, hadtried to work as a seamstress, but her eyes could notstand the strain. In her factory job she rose rapidlythrough union ranks, becoming first a master workerof her local group, then head of a district assemblyconsisting of 52 locals. In 1886 she was sent to theKnights’ national convention.

The year before the 1886 convention, the Knightshad formed a committee to investigate the workingconditions of women employed in factories. Basedon this committee’s findings, the Knights decided toset up a permanent department representing

women’s work. At the 1886 convention, Barry waselected to take charge of the new department. Forthe next four years, Barry crisscrossed the country,investigating conditions under which women factoryworkers labored. As she traveled, she recruited newmembers for the women’s department of theKnights of Labor and campaigned for higher wagesfor women workers. Each year she prepared a reporton the state of women in the work force. Her reportswere always highly detailed condemnations of theterrible conditions under which both women andchildren labored in sweatshops and factories.

Largely as a result of Barry’s reports, thelegislature of Pennsylvania passed a law in 1889requiring the state to investigate factories within itsborders. Interestingly, Barry, an expert in this area,refused to lobby among the members of thePennsylvania legislature because she thought doingso would be unladylike. Moreover, when she marriedObadiah Read Lake in 1890, she gave up her positionwith the Knights of Labor because she believed that,whenever there was a male breadwinner, a woman’splace was in the home.

Barry did not, however, abandon public lifeentirely.“Mother Lake,” as she came to be called, wasan active member of organizations backingtemperance and woman suffrage. She went on thepublic lecture circuit, drawing crowds who came tohear her denounce the evils of alcohol and proclaimthe benefits of prohibition. She continued to be apopular public speaker until just two years beforeher death.

At a GlanceAs head of the women’s department of theKnights of Labor, Leonora Marie Kearney Barrystruggled to improve wages and workingconditions for female laborers in Americanfactories. In addition to her efforts for Americanworking women, Barry left a legacy ofinvolvement in other reform activities, particularlythe woman suffrage and temperance movements.

“We’re summoning our forces from the shipyard,shop, and mill. Eight hours for work, eight hoursfor rest, eight hours for what we will.”—“Eight Hour Day,” a song of labor in 1886


1. Remembering the Details Why did Barry join the Knights of Labor union?

2. Understanding Information How did Barry’s reports as head of the union’swomen’s department affect women and child laborers?

Thinking Critically3. Values and Beliefs Why did Barry give up her position with the Knights of Labor?


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SAMUEL GOMPERS 1850–1924

Shortly before he died, Samuel Gompers wrotehis autobiography, dedicating it to a Swedishimmigrant named Ferdinand Laurrel. In his book,Gompers recalled the time that, as a young man, hehad rambled on to Laurrel about “some wild plans . . .for human betterment.” Laurel waited for Gompers tofinish and then, according to Gompers,“point bypoint” he replied.“Soon my self-confidence began toebb, and I began to feel physically smaller as Laurrelsystematically and ruthlessly demolished my everystatement. By the time he had finished, I vowed tomyself,“Never again will I talk that stuff—but I willfind principles that will stand the test.” Gompersfulfilled his vow, finding principles that not onlycould stand the test but that would also make him agreat leader of organized labor.

Samuel Gompers was born in London and, likemany children of his day, went to work at the age of10. His family moved to America during the Civil War.Gompers acquired his education in New York’scigarmaking shops.Workers there often carried onheated discussions, and Gompers would join in andread aloud from books or magazines.Within a year of

entering the trade, Gompers joined the Cigarmakers’Union, and by age 16 he was representing workersin disputes with their employers.

From this “schooling,” Gompers developed apractical outlook about union goals. He had no usefor the idealism of socialism, a theory that holds thatall property, as well as all production anddistribution of goods, should be owned andcontrolled by the government. He saw laborersstriving for better wages, improved workingconditions, and greater benefits within the capitalistsystem. He did not feel that the workers should rebelagainst that system.

By 1881 Gompers had begun to combine thevarious craft unions into a single organization. In1886 this organization became the AmericanFederation of Labor, with Gompers as its president.Unlike its rival, the Knights of Labor, the AFLadmitted no unskilled workers, did not look forwardto the end of the wage system, and was not reluctantto use the strike to win its demands from employers.

From its founding in 1886 to his death in 1925,Samuel Gompers served as the union’s presidentevery year but one. Unseated by a socialist in 1894,he reclaimed power the following year, moreconvinced than ever that socialism was bad forsociety in general and for unions in particular. Underhis leadership the AFL grew stronger and stronger,and Gompers became a very powerful man, evenadvising several Presidents. A lover of all his countrystood for, Samuel Gompers uttered the followingwords just before he died:“God bless our Americaninstitutions. May they grow better day by day.”

At a GlanceSamuel Gompers founded the AmericanFederation of Labor and served as its presidentfrom 1886 to 1894 and again from 1895 to 1925.As head of America’s most powerful union,Gompers’ influence on “bread and butter” issuesand his rejection of socialism have characterizedunion goals from his day to the present.

“We do want more, and when it becomes more,we shall still want more. And we shall nevercease to demand more until we have receivedthe results of our labor.”


1. Remembering the Details How did immigrant Ferdinand Laurrel help Gompers?

2. Understanding Information What did Gompers feel should be the goals of aunion?

Thinking Critically3. Making Comparisons Describe the similarities and differences between the

American Federation of Labor and the Knights of Labor.


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SUSAN B. ANTHONY 1820–1906

On November 18, 1872, a United States deputymarshal rang the doorbell at 7 Madison Street inRochester, New York.When Susan B.Anthonyanswered, he placed her under arrest for the crimeof voting in the November 5 election. At her trial thefollowing year Anthony was found guilty and fined$100, but the government never collected the fine.

Susan B.Anthony was born to a Quaker family in Massachusetts. As a young girl she received a good education, and then became a schoolteacher in New York State from 1835 to 1849. She leftteaching to join the temperance and antislaverymovements, but found that the male leaders of both movements discriminated against women—especially women who wanted leadership roles.Increasingly she turned to the fledgling women’srights movement, working with such early feminists as Lucretia Mott, Amelia Bloomer, LucyStone, and, most importantly, Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

During the 1850s and through the Civil War, mostof the emerging women’s rights leaders concentrated

their energies on ending slavery. After the Civil War,Anthony and others urged Congress to expand theprotections of the Fourteenth Amendment to includea woman’s right to vote. Congress was not ready torespond to this request, but Anthony did not give up.From 1868 through 1870, she published a women’srights weekly, The Revolution, which had as itsmotto:“The true republic—men, their rights andnothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.”When her demands were ignored, she voted—the“crime” that got her arrested and also brought her agreat deal of national recognition.

In 1869 Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stantonorganized the National Woman Suffrage Association,which in 1890 merged with the rival AmericanWoman Suffrage Association. Susan B.Anthony servedas president of the unified organization, known asthe National American Woman Suffrage Association,from 1892 to 1900. She wrote and lecturedconstantly on the right of women to vote, often tohostile audiences. She traveled extensively, lobbyingstate legislators to pass suffrage laws. Her ultimategoal was an amendment to the United StatesConstitution that would recognize a woman’s rightto vote in every state.

On Susan B. Anthony’s 86th birthday in 1906, sheattended a dinner in her honor and spoke briefly,concluding her remarks with these words:“Failure isimpossible!” She was right, but she did not live to seethe Nineteenth Amendment that gave women theright to vote ratified in 1920.

At a GlancePossibly more than any other suffragist, Susan B.Anthony inspired the modern feminist movement.As one of the authors of The History of WomanSuffrage, she also helped to provide a detailedrecord of the nineteenth-century women’s rightsmovement.

“It is downright mockery to talk to women oftheir enjoyment of the blessings of liberty whilethey are denied the . . . ballot.”


1. Remembering the Details Who were the early leaders of the women’s rightsmovement?

2. Understanding Information Why did the Civil War Amendments draw attention tothe plight of women?

Thinking Critically3. Writing Persuasive Arguments Did women’s rights leaders such as Anthony really

help to achieve women’s rights, or was the extension of these rights inevitable by the1920s? Write a persuasive argument defending one of these viewpoints.


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THOMAS NAST 1840–1902

When William Marcy Tweed, New York City’scrooked political boss, was arrested in Spain, theperson most responsible for his capture was thecartoonist Thomas Nast. Nast’s cartoons portrayingthe corruption of the “Tweed Ring” made BossTweed so well recognized that even the Spanishauthorities were able to identify him. Perhaps Nast’santi-Tweed cartoons were more effective thananything else he drew because they exposedcorruption in political office.

Born in Germany, Nast came to the United Statesat the age of six. A neighbor gave the youngimmigrant a box of crayons, and soon Nast developeda love of drawing. He attended art school in NewYork City, and by the age of 15 he was earning $4 aweek as an illustrator for Frank Leslie’s IllustratedNewspaper. Before the end of the 1850s, his workappeared in several newspapers and magazines, andin 1862 he became a staff artist for Harper’s Weekly.

At Harper’s Nast emerged as an editorial cartoonistrather than simply an illustrator. During the Civil Warhe took strong stands, supporting the Union causeand the emancipation of enslaved people. Near theend of the war, President Lincoln remarked that,

“Thomas Nast has been our best recruiting sergeant.”After the war, Nast’s targets included Southerners,

who were attacking the newly emancipated enslavedpeople, and President Johnson, who was trying toblock Radical Reconstruction.This was also theperiod (1869 - 1872) in which Thomas Nastconducted his long crusade against the Tweed Ring.At one point Nast was offered $200,000 to stopattacking the city boss and Tammany Hall,Tweed’sDemocratic political machine in New York. Nastrefused, however, to sacrifice his integrity for a bribe.

Thomas Nast continued to fill the pages ofHarper’s Weekly with his satirical cartoons until1886, influencing both politics and journalism. Healso popularized some of America’s best knownsymbols—the Democratic donkey, the Republicanelephant, and even Santa Claus.

By the 1880s Nast had lost much of his influence.Tweed died in 1878, depriving him of a favoritesubject, and his continuing attacks on Southernersirritated many Americans eager to put the Civil Warbehind them. Attacks on new targets, such as laborunions and the Catholic Church, proved to beunpopular.

Facing severe financial difficulties in the 1890s,Nast was rescued from poverty by longtime admirerPresident Theodore Roosevelt, who appointed Nastto a diplomatic post in Ecuador. Although he reallydidn’t want to go to South America, he needed theincome. Accepting the post turned out to be a fatalmistake.Within a year of his arrival in Ecuador, Nastcontracted yellow fever and died.

At a GlanceThomas Nast turned caricature into a powerfulart form when he attacked William Marcy Tweed’scorrupt city machine. He also popularized thepolitical parties’ symbols—the Democraticdonkey and the Republican elephant.

“Hit the enemy between the eyes and knock himdown.”


1. Remembering the Details What corrupt political machine was the target of Nast’scartoons?

2. Understanding Information In what way is a political cartoon different from anillustration?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions How does the story of Nast’s attacks on the Tweed Ring

show the significance of freedom of the press?


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W. E. B. DU BOIS 1868-1963

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois was born inGreat Barrington, Massachusetts. He was the only childof a disabled and impoverished mother. Although itwas rare for African Americans to be enrolled in schoolin the late 1800s, Du Bois realized that knowledge andaccomplishment would be key to his future success.He attended school and excelled academically.

Du Bois studied at Fisk University, an AfricanAmerican institution, in Nashville,Tennessee, andgraduated in 1888.To add to his accomplishments, in1895 Du Bois became the first African American toreceive a Ph. D. degree from Harvard University.

After graduating, Du Bois taught Greek, Latin,sociology, history, and economics at severaluniversities. During this time Du Bois became one ofthe first supporters of Pan-Africanism, the belief thatall African Americans should join together and work toconquer prejudice. Du Bois protested and foughtagainst the injustices of racial discrimination. Hisviews, however, conflicted with those of anotherAfrican American spokesperson, Booker T.Washington.

Washington thought that African Americansshould develop practical, vocational skills to acquire

property that would lead to economic prosperity. Healso believed that African Americans should stopdemanding equal rights, and through compromisetry to get along with whites.

Du Bois, however, thought African Americansshould be free to pursue a college education and thatthey should openly strive for their rights. He believedthat a college-educated African American would havethe best chance to turn the flood of discrimination.

In 1909 Du Bois helped form the most prominentcivil rights organization of the twentieth century: theNational Association for the Advancement of ColoredPeople (NAACP).The NAACP’s goals were to securefull civil and political rights for African Americans.Du Bois was the only African American among theearly white leaders. He held a role as director ofpublications and research and developed theassociation’s magazine, The Crisis.

To further voice his ideas concerning racial issues,Du Bois authored several books. In Dusk of Dawn,Du Bois explained his personal role in helping bothAfricans and African Americans gain theindependence they needed.

Toward the end of his career in 1961 Du Boisbecame increasingly frustrated with the slowprogress of race relations in the United States.He moved to Ghana,Africa where he would spend the remainder of his life as a member of thecommunist party. Du Bois believed that communism offered the best opportunities forequality to African Americans.

Du Bois died on the eve of the historical marchon Washington in 1963.The announcement of hisdeath was issued to 250,000 people gathered at theWashington Monument the next day.

At a GlanceAs a historian, author, professor, sociologist,and journalist,W. E. B. Du Bois believed in theimportance of higher education for AfricanAmericans. He devoted much of his time tospeaking out against racial inequality, and he feltthat African Americans should work together toabolish it. Du Bois is often viewed as one of themost outspoken leaders of the civil rightsmovement in the United States.

“The question as to whether American Negroeswere capable of education was no longer adebatable one . . . .The whole problem wassimply one of opportunity.”


1. Remembering the Details What is Pan–Africanism?

2. Understanding Information How did the NAACP reflect Du Bois’s view onachieving racial equality?

Thinking Critically3. Making Comparisons Describe how Booker T.Washington’s views of African

American issues were different from those of Du Bois.


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MARY ELIZABETH LEASE 1850–1933

Mary Elizabeth Lease was a dynamic speaker who gained fame championing equality for farmersand women, and her life was surrounded bycontroversy and misunderstanding. Some of hercritics gave her the nickname “Yellin’ Mary Ellen,”deliberately changing her middle name. She wascriticized by many men and women for what theyfelt was unsuitably aggressive behavior for a woman.But Mary Lease was not one to be easily discouraged,no matter what her critics said about her.

Born in Pennsylvania, Mary Elizabeth Clyens grewup in New York and attended Catholic schools. Herfather died during the Civil War but she wasnevertheless able to finish her education. She thentaught school for two years.

After moving to Kansas in 1870 to accept ateaching position at a Catholic girls’ school, MaryElizabeth Clyens married Charles L. Lease. From 1873to 1883, the couple struggled to make a living atfarming, first in Kansas and later in Texas. MaryElizabeth hated the lonely life of frontier farming, soshe turned to public speaking when the familyreturned to Kansas from Texas.

While in Texas, she had studied law, pinning hernotes above her washtub to read while she washed

clothes to earn extra money for the family. Onceback in Kansas, she became a lawyer in 1885, anunusual achievement for a women of that timeperiod. Soon she was speaking out about localconcerns, especially the inability of debt-riddenKansas farmers to make a decent living. In an agethat prized public speaking ability, she quickly madea name for herself, campaigning in Kansas forcandidates of the Farmers’Alliance People’s party. Inthe 1890 election she gave over 160 speeches, oftengetting so carried away with emotion that she forgotwhat she said and had to rely on newspaperaccounts of her speeches.

As the Populist revolt gained momentum, Leaseexpanded her travel, touring the West and the South.She played a major role at the Populist Party’sconvention in 1892, giving a speech seconding the nomination of James B.Weaver for President.Then she accompanied Weaver on a campaignswing, but to her dismay, as the 1896 electionapproached many Populists decided to support theDemocratic Party’s nominee William Jennings Bryan.Lease fought this fusion with the Democratic ticket,but she lost. She was so angry that she quit thePopulist movement.

Remarkably, Lease reversed her politics almostcompletely after 1896, becoming a Republican. Sheadmired William McKinley and supported theprogressive Theodore Roosevelt. She left the party in1912 to back Roosevelt’s Progressive “Bull Moose”campaign. During this time she published articles,poetry, and a book in which she put forth many ofher reform ideas, including woman suffrage andprohibition.

At a GlanceFrom 1885 to 1892, Mary Elizabeth Leasedelivered hundreds of speeches favoring womansuffrage, prohibition, and family planning, but hermost effective campaigning was for Populistcandidates who represented thousands of farmersstruggling to improve their lives.

“We need a Napoleon in the industrial world who . . . will lead the people to a realizing senseof their condition and the remedies . . . .”


1. Remembering the Details What speech given in 1892 was perhaps the highlight ofMary Elizabeth Lease’s career?

2. Understanding Information What event caused Lease to quit the Populistmovement?

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences Explain why you think Mary Elizabeth Lease did not use her

speaking ability and reputation as a campaigner to become a candidate herself.


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MIGUEL ANTONIO OTERO 1859–1944

In 1829 Miguel Antonio Otero senior was born inNew Mexico when it was still a territory belongingto Mexico. In 1861 he was appointed actinggovernor of the Territory of New Mexico.When hedied in 1882, his son, also named Miguel AntonioOtero, followed in his father’s career.

Miguel Antonio Otero was born in St. Louis in 1859,while his father was serving in Congress. He waseducated in St. Louis, at Annapolis, and at Notre DameUniversity. He also learned much in the streets offrontier towns and in the offices of his father’sbusiness, Otero, Sellar & Co. Active in ranching,mining,and real estate, Otero eventually turned to politics.Unlike his father, however, he became a Republican.

Otero held a series of elected and appointed postsin New Mexico until 1897, when President WilliamMcKinley appointed him governor of the NewMexico Territory. Beginning as the youngest governorof the territory, he served until 1907.

Just one year after Otero was appointed governor,the Spanish-American War began.When hostilitiesbroke out in 1898, President McKinley sent atelegram to Governor Otero, asking him to assist in

recruiting young men who were good shots andgood riders. Newspapers in the East, however, wereexpressing suspicion of the loyalty of New Mexicansand their Latino governor.There were rumors thatthe large Mexican population would not support awar against Spain. Otero quickly put these rumors torest by calling upon every town and ranch in theterritory for volunteers.The response was so greatthat afterward Roosevelt claimed that half of hisRough Riders were from New Mexico. Following thewar, Otero was made an honorary Rough Rider.

Miguel Otero’s political training and his fluency inboth English and Spanish helped him serve thepeople of New Mexico.When a proposal was madeto admit Arizona and New Mexico to the Union asone state, Otero lobbied against it, arguing that NewMexico’s culture was different from that of Arizona.Otero’s argument succeeded, and the states wereadmitted separately in 1912.

As his second term as governor came to an end,Otero spoke out against President Roosevelt’sNational Forest policy. Republican resentment of thisstand caused President Roosevelt to decide not toreappoint Otero governor in 1908. Otero thenswitched his allegiance to the Democratic Party.

When Woodrow Wilson, a Democrat, was electedPresident, he appointed Miguel Otero United StatesMarshal of the Panama Canal Zone. Otero continuedto be active in Democratic politics until about 1924.In his later years, Otero wrote three autobiographiesdealing with his life on the frontier, as well as abiography of the outlaw Billy the Kid.

At a GlanceAs governor of the New Mexico Territory, MiguelAntonio Otero understood the culturalbackground of his people. He argued for separatestatehood for Arizona and New Mexico. Otero’spolitical skills mirrored those of his father, whohad also served as governor of New Mexico.

“I soon learned that in this life one mustdepend largely upon oneself.…”—from My Life on the Frontier, by Miguel Antonio Otero


1. Remembering the Details What record did Miguel Antonio Otero hold as governorof the New Mexico territory?

2. Understanding Information Why did people in the East feel that New Mexicansmight not support the Spanish-American War?

Thinking Critically3. Understanding Cause and Effect Relationships List the cause(s) for the following

two effects: (a) Otero was made an honorary Rough Rider (b) Otero became aDemocrat.


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JANE ADDAMS 1860-1935

From the beginning Jane Addams had sympathyfor those less fortunate.“She was only six when herfeelings for others was first reflected in her reactionto the poverty she saw,” Edna Baxter recorded in herbiography of Jane Addams.While walking throughimpoverished streets near her hometown in Illinois,the young Addams already showed signs of sympathyfor the poor.

Born in the small community of Cedarville,Illinois, Addams was the eighth of nine children.Her father, who raised her, taught her tolerance,philanthropy (love toward mankind), and a strongwork ethic. After high school, Addams enrolled inthe Rockford Female Seminary and graduated with amedical degree in 1881.

At age 27, Addams went on a trip to Europe with afriend.While touring they visited a settlement housecalled Toynbee Hall, which was a home for the poor.This inspired Addams to create a similar settlementhouse back in Chicago to serve people in need.Whenshe returned home she leased a large vacant housebuilt by Charles Hull in an underprivileged area inChicago. Named Hull House, it was made up of 13buildings, a playground, and a camp that would be asocial settlement center that addressed the needs ofthe community. It provided medical and childcarefacilities, a gymnasium, boarding clubs for girls, and aschool for immigrants. After the first two years it was

host to 2,000 people weekly. Hull House continued togrow, adding kindergarten classes in the morning, anight school in the evening for adults, an art gallery,employment bureau, labor museum, and bookbindery.

Addams’s work did not stop at Hull House. Sheworked with labor and reform groups, addressingissues such as juvenile court laws, tenement-housingregulations, eight-hour working days for women,factory inspections, and worker’s compensation. Sheled investigations in Chicago regarding propermidwifery (childbirth), narcotic consumption, milksupplies, and sanitary conditions.

In 1905 she was appointed to Chicago’s Board of Education and made chairman of the SchoolManagement Committee. In 1908 she assisted in the founding of the Chicago School of Civics andPhilanthropy, and the following year became the first woman president of the National Conference of Charities and Corrections. In 1910 she wasawarded the first honorary degree to a woman fromYale University. She also contributed to the foundingof the most prominent civil rights movement of thetwentieth century: the National Association for theAdvancement of Colored People (NAACP), whichsought to secure full civil and political rights toAfrican Americans.

Along with poverty, Addams strove to rid theworld of war. In 1906 she taught summer lectures atthe University of Wisconsin on peace.The followingyear her ideas became a book entitled Newer Ideasof Peace. In 1915 she accepted a chairmanshipposition of the Women’s Peace Party and fourmonths later the Presidency of the InternationalCongress of Women. In 1931 Addams won the NobelPeace Prize.

At a GlanceJane Addams demonstrated repeated compassion and generosity.Through her multipleaccomplishments, especially the founding of Hull House, she serviced the community andcared for those in need.

“I believe that peace is not merely an absence ofwar, but the nurture of human life, and that intime this nurture would do away with war …”


1. Remembering the Details What was the Hull House?

2. Understanding Information When did Addams develop the idea for the creation ofHull House?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions What type of impact do you think Addams’s life had on the

women’s equal rights movement?


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WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN 1860–1925

At the Democratic Party’s convention in 1896, ayoung man from Nebraska made a speech that soelectrified the delegates that they nominated him astheir candidate for the presidency.William JenningsBryan was only 36 years old at the time, and hisexperience in public office was limited to just twoterms in the House of Representatives. His “Cross ofGold” speech, however, launched his nationalpolitical career.

Born in Salem, Illinois,William Jennings Bryangraduated from college in 1881 and then studied lawfor two years. In 1887 he moved to Lincoln,Nebraska, and in 1890, he entered politics bywinning a seat as a Democrat in a congressionaldistrict that usually elected Republicans.

Reelected in 1892, Bryan became a hero tofarmers and debtors who wanted the government tomint more coins, increasing the money incirculation.This would make it easier to pay backloans. Bryan urged the government to buy moresilver and issue silver coins and silver-based papercurrency.“Free silver” became a political issue.

When his reelection bid in 1894 failed, Bryanbecame a newspaper editor and wrote editorialssupporting free silver. His identification with the

silver issue and his speech at the 1896 conventiontransformed him from an obscure Nebraskapolitician to the Democratic Party’s presidentialnominee. In the 1896 election, Bryan ran a vigorouscampaign, traveling all over the country, but he lostto Republican William McKinley.

In 1900, Bryan again ran against McKinley, thistime speaking out against the imperialism withwhich McKinley was associated. Although Bryanbacked the acquisition of the Philippines from Spainin the Spanish-American War, he promised to one daygive these islands independence. But most Americanssupported the war, and Bryan once again lost toMcKinley.

In 1912, Bryan helped win the Democraticnomination for Woodrow Wilson.When Wilson waselected President, Bryan was appointed secretary ofstate. However, he served just two years in this post,resigning when he perceived that Wilson hadswitched from neutrality to an anti-German stanceduring the early years of World War I.

Bryan, a believer in the Biblical account ofcreation, backed a movement to prohibit theteaching of evolution in public schools.Whenscience teacher John T. Scopes was arrested forteaching evolution, Bryan joined the prosecution.The American Civil Liberties Union hired toughurban defense lawyer Clarence Darrow, whoquestioned Bryan intensely about his beliefs. Evenwith Darrow’s powerful defense, Scopes was stillfound guilty, but five days after the verdict WilliamJennings Bryan, exhausted by the ordeal, died quietlyin his sleep.The Scopes trial later inspired thefamous play and movie Inherit the Wind.

At a GlanceDefending the values of small-town, rural America,William Jennings Bryan won the title the “GreatCommoner.” He was never successful as acandidate for the presidency of the United States,but his oratorical skills advanced the interests offarmers and debtors.

“You shall not press down upon the brow oflabor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucifymankind upon a cross of gold.”


1. Remembering the Details What groups of people generally supported Bryan as acandidate for office?

2. Understanding Information Explain the “Free-Silver” beliefs of Bryan’s supporters.

Thinking Critically3. Supporting Generalizations Write two sentences that support the idea that Bryan

was the “Great Commoner.”


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GIFFORD PINCHOT 1865–1946

In 1909 the head of the United States ForestService, Gifford Pinchot, accused the secretary of theinterior, Richard Ballinger, of giving away public landsin Alaska to private business interests. In the battlebetween Pinchot and Ballinger that followed,President Taft supported Ballinger, while formerPresident Theodore Roosevelt supported his friendPinchot.When Taft finally fired Pinchot, Rooseveltmade conservation a part of his Progressive partychallenge to Taft’s reelection bid in 1912.

On the surface, Gifford Pinchot seemed an unlikelycandidate for political controversy. Born to a wealthyfamily, and educated at private schools, he graduatedfrom Yale University in 1889. Finding no Americanuniversity offering courses in natural resources, hewent to Europe to study the scientific managementof forests.When he returned to the United States in1890, Pinchot was convinced that the governmentshould take control of much of the nation’s forestland and regulate businesses that cut down treeswithout planting new ones.

Soon Pinchot was recognized as the nation’sleading expert on forests. He served as a member ofthe National Forest Commission in 1896, and then in1898 was appointed chief of the Division of Forestry

in the United States Department of Agriculture.Whenthe Department of the Interior took overresponsibility for the nation’s forests, Pinchotbecame head of the Forest Service under thesecretary of the interior. From 1898 to his dismissalfrom the government in 1910, Gifford Pinchotcontinued to make the American people aware ofthe need for conserving the nation’s resources.

Americans who grew up in an era when naturalresources seemed abundant were not always receptiveto the idea of government control and regulation.Business interests wanted to make profits from forestsand other resources.Pinchot had to convince theseinterests and the public of the importance ofconservation.Under his leadership, along withPresident Theodore Roosevelt’s support, the ForestService became a powerful force for conservation.When Roosevelt left office in 1909,Pinchot’s influencedeclined. Secretary of the Interior Ballinger was not aconservationist, and a rift developed between Pinchotand Ballinger that split President Taft’s administrationalmost from the start.Taft fired Pinchot,who thenaligned himself with like-minded political leaders toform the National Progressive Republican League.When the Republican Party renominated Taft in 1912,Pinchot left and helped create the Progressive party,which nominated Roosevelt.

Pinchot returned to the Republican Party in the 1920s and was twice elected governor ofPennsylvania. During his second term, beginning in1931, he launched so many relief and recoveryprograms to combat the Great Depression that hisadministration became known as “the little New Deal.”

At a GlanceFor his unceasing efforts to save the environment,Gifford Pinchot is recognized as the “Father ofAmerican Conservation.” He coined the termconservation and worked to inform Americansabout the depletion of natural resources.

“The outgrowth of conservation, the inevitableresult, is national efficiency. In the greatcommercial struggle between nations . . .national efficiency will be the deciding factor.”


1. Remembering the Details Under what department of government does the UnitedStates Forest Service operate?

2. Understanding Information Why did Gifford Pinchot have battles with businessinterests?

Thinking Critically3. Expressing a Viewpoint Some environmentalists today urge strict controls over the

development of natural resources. Is this kind of government regulation consistentwith America’s free enterprise system? Explain your answer.


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IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT 1862–1931

On March 9, 1892, three men were lynched inMemphis,Tennessee.The fact that they were AfricanAmerican made their hanging fairly commonplace.During the late nineteenth and early twentiethcenturies dozens of African American men werelynched each year in the South.This time, however,an African American woman wrote a newspapercolumn charging that the men had been lynchedsolely because they had competed successfully withwhite businessmen. Not long after the columnappeared a mob stormed the offices of thenewspaper—the Memphis Free Speech—anddestroyed the presses.

The writer was Ida B.Wells. Born to enslavedparents in Mississippi,Wells received her educationat a freedmen’s school following the Civil War.Whenher parents and several brothers and sisters died in ayellow fever epidemic, she had to support herselfand four siblings. Although only 14 years old, shesaid she was 18 in order to obtain a teaching job. In1884 she moved from Mississippi to Memphis toteach in the city’s African American schools.

In 1892 the Memphis school board fired Wellsfrom her teaching position because she had refusedto give up her seat in the “whites only” car of a local

train. She then turned from teaching to journalism,eventually becoming part-owner of the MemphisFree Speech.

When the mob destroyed her presses,Wellsmoved to New York, where she launched a crusadeagainst lynching, lecturing and writing articles on the subject and organizing anti-lynching societies. In1895 she published A Red Record, an account of thelynchings of the previous three years in the South.Gradually, her focus on this crime, primarilyperpetrated against African American men,broadened into a concern about all forms of racism.She wrote a pamphlet criticizing the World’sColumbian Exposition in Chicago for failing to giveAfrican Americans a meaningful role.

Upon moving to Chicago,Wells married FerdinandLee Barnett, a lawyer.Together they continued thebattle against lynching.Wells also served as the city’sfirst African American probation officer from 1913 to1916. Aware of the smoldering resentments inChicago’s African American community, she warnedof trouble brewing, but her words went unheededuntil scores of people were killed and hundredsinjured during the Chicago race riots of 1919.

Ida B.Wells-Barnett opposed the compromisingattitude of Booker T.Washington and sided withW.E.B. DuBois. She had little to do with the NationalAssociation for the Advancement of Colored Peoplebecause she did not feel that it was sufficientlymilitant.As a result of her outspokenness, she wasaccused of being overly self-righteous andcombative. But few worked harder than Ida B.Wells-Barnett for racial justice during the last part of thenineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

At a GlanceThrough her writing and lectures, Ida B.Wells-Barnett worked tirelessly to arouse public opinionagainst racial injustice and the lynching of AfricanAmericans. She made it clear that AfricanAmericans should win justice and equality forthemselves.

“. . . human beings [should] . . . pay tribute towhat they believe one possesses in the way ofqualities of mind and heart, rather than to thecolor of the skin.”


1. Remembering the Details What was the subject of A Red Record?

2. Understanding Information Why did a mob destroy the printing presses of theMemphis Free Speech?

Thinking Critically3. Making Comparisons Compare the methods used by Ida B.Wells-Barnett with those

of W. E. B. Du Bois to better the lives of African Americans.


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JIM THORPE 1888–1953

Jim Thorpe was born in Indian Country (nowOklahoma) and attended the Sac and Fox reservationschool. His athletic abilities went unnoticed until hereached the government-run school for NativeAmericans in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. One day hewatched the school’s high jumpers repeatedly fail toclear the bar at six feet.Thorpe ran over in his streetclothes and heavy boots and cleared the bar easily.Football coach Glenn S.“Pop”Warner recognized anatural athlete and put him on the varsity footballteam.

Jim Thorpe sat on the bench of the Carlisle IndianSchool football team nearly the entire 1908 season.During the game against the stronger University ofPennsylvania, Carlisle’s regular halfback was injured,and Thorpe finally got a chance to play. Making themost of his opportunity, he ran for touchdowns of 65and 85 yards, leading Carlisle to an upset victoryover highly favored Pennsylvania.

A star after the Pennsylvania game,Thorpe left theCarlisle school temporarily in 1909-10 to playbaseball in the Carolina League.Apparently he neverrealized that the money he received (about $2.00 agame) would violate the Olympic rules for amateurathletes. Returning to Carlisle in 1911, he led thefootball team to a stunning win over Harvard.Thorpe

was named an All-American. He also began trainingfor the Olympic track and field events to be held inSweden in 1912.

At the 1912 Olympic Games, Jim Thorpe easily wonboth the pentathlon and the decathlon. He wasrecognized by many as the greatest athlete in the world.

Returning to Carlisle after the Olympics,Thorpeagain made the All-American football team. However,word of his involvement in semiprofessional baseballreached the Amateur Athletic Union. Following aninvestigation, the AAU ruled that his play in theCarolina League had made him ineligible for amateurathletics.Thorpe was ordered to return his Olympictrophies, and his name was erased from the Olympicrecord books.

Although devastated by the incident,Thorpe wenton to become a professional athlete. For a short timehe played baseball for the New York Giants. In 1920he helped found the American Professional FootballAssociation, which later renamed itself the NationalFootball League.Thorpe was the first president ofthe NFL. Later,Thorpe led the Canton (Ohio)Bulldogs to a league championship, then played forthe New York Giants and the Chicago Cardinalsbefore retiring at the age of 41.

After retirement,Thorpe went to Hollywood. Heplayed a few small roles in movies, then moved backto Oklahoma, where he took an active part in NativeAmerican affairs. In 1950, a Hollywood studioproduced Jim Thorpe All-American, based on his lifestory, and he served as a technical adviser for the film.

In 1982, 29 years after Jim Thorpe’s death, hisdaughter Grace won her battle to get the InternationalOlympic Committee to return the gold medals herfather had won at the Games in 1912.

At a GlanceIn the 1912 Olympic games Native American Jim Thorpe won both the pentathlon and thedecathlon. In 1950 a panel of sportswritersnamed him the greatest athlete and the greatestfootball player of the first half of the twentiethcentury.

“You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world.”—Sweden’s King Gustavus V, presenting awards to JimThorpe at the 1912 Olympic games


1. Remembering the Details What achievement resulted in Thorpe’s being named thegreatest athlete in the world?

2. Understanding Information How did Jim Thorpe lose his Olympic medals?

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences Why might Jim Thorpe have decided to pursue a career in

athletics rather than complete his college education?


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LOUIS D. BRANDEIS 1856-1941

In the 1908 case of Muller v. Oregon, the SupremeCourt upheld an Oregon law that limited the numberof hours women could be required to work.This casewas especially important because the lawyerrepresenting the state of Oregon argued that theCourt had to consider the effect working long hourshad on women.The lawyer, Louis Brandeis, won thecase by convincing the justices that legal decisionshad to reflect changing social reality.

Louis Brandeis was born in Louisville, Kentucky toimmigrant parents. Having a special understanding ofand interest in law, he was allowed to enter HarvardLaw School at the age of 18 without first obtaining aformal college degree.When he was ready tograduate, after achieving one of the best records inthe school’s history, Harvard granted him a specialwaiver from the rule requiring a person to be 21years old before receiving a law degree.

Brandeis developed a successful law practice,and he was able to represent people fighting forimportant social causes without charging them a fee. He became known as “the people’s attorney.”During the 1890s he began arguing for a “living law,”which meant that legal decisions had to keep pacewith the rapid economic and social changes ofindustrialization. Like Woodrow Wilson, LouisBrandeis opposed big business trusts and wanted

to see an America where competition—notmonopolies—ruled the economy. He became a majorsupporter of Wilson’s “New Freedom” program, buthe turned down an offer to join the president’scabinet. He did serve as an adviser to the presidentuntil 1916, when Wilson nominated him to theSupreme Court. A bitter political fight followed.Some senators considered Brandeis too radical;others opposed his nomination simply because hewas Jewish. Despite powerful opposition, however,the Senate confirmed the Brandeis nomination.

As a Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeismaintained the same philosophy he had held as alawyer. In cases involving important public issues, hebelieved that social and economic factors countedfor more than legal precedents or theory. He earnedthe nickname the “Great Dissenter” by oftendisagreeing with the majority of the justices, whoseviews were far more traditional than his.

Brandeis also became known for his strong standin favor of civil liberties. In two important cases, heopposed the government’s interference with freespeech during wartime and the government’s use of the new technique of wiretapping to gatherinformation. In both cases he wrote his dissent fromthe majority decision, and in both cases hisdissenting views later became accepted as law.

Louis Brandeis served on the Supreme Court until1939. After retiring from the Court, he urgedAmericans to protest Adolf Hitler’s Nazi policies byboycotting German products, and he worked tocreate a Jewish nation in Palestine. Six years after hisdeath, Brandeis University in Massachusetts wasnamed in his honor.

At a GlanceAs a justice of the Supreme Court, Louis Brandeisplaced social and economic factors above legalprecedent and theory. He supported civil libertiesand consistently backed the New Deal.

“. . . able lawyers have, to a large extent, allowedthemselves to become adjuncts of greatcorporations and have neglected the obligation touse their powers for the protection of the people.”


1. Remembering the Details During what years did Louis Brandeis serve on theSupreme Court?

2. Understanding Information What factors did Brandeis believe were moreimportant than legal precedents?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions How did Brandeis apply the concept of a “living law” in the

case of Muller v. Oregon?


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ALVIN YORK 1887–1964

Alvin York was one of the most famous soldiers ofWorld War I. He earned the Congressional Medal ofHonor by attacking a German machinegun nestsinglehandedly, capturing 132 prisoners and 35machine guns. Asked how he had done this all byhimself, he answered: “I surrounded ‘em.”

York was born to a family of 11 children in themountains of Tennessee. His father was a blacksmith,and Alvin left school after the third grade in order towork in his father’s shop.When his father died, Alvinbecame the main source of financial support for thefamily.

York was a rebellious youth, and he was a crackshot with a rifle and pistol. His life underwent aprofound change, however, when he fell in love witha young woman of deep religious convictions. Sheurged him to change his rowdy behavior and toattend church.York gave up his wild lifestyle andbecame an elder in the Church of Christ in ChristianUnion.

York’s church took literally the commandment“Thou shalt not kill.”When he was drafted into thearmy in World War I, he declared himself aconscientious objector. But the government refusedhis request for an exemption and inducted York inNovember 1917. Sent to Georgia for training, hequickly showed his skill with a rifle.When asked toshoot at targets shaped like human silhouettes,

however, he refused. His commanding officer senthim home on leave to think things over. Afterspending two days alone on a hilltop,York told hisfamily simply,“I’m going.”

A member of the 82nd Infantry Division,York wasordered to take part in the battle of the ArgonneForest.The 82nd was stopped by German machine-gun fire. After York saw some of his friends get shot,he joined 16 other Americans on a mission to takeout the enemy guns.

The Americans surprised some Germans whosurrendered, but the main body of German gunnersspotted the Americans and opened fire. Soon thedetail was down to 8, with York in command.Noticing that the Germans were firing high to avoidhitting their own men,York crawled to a pointwhere he could see the enemy. Every time a machinegunner raised his head,York squeezed off a shot. Heeliminated 17 Germans before the remaining 8gunners realized that York was alone and nearly outof ammunition.They charged with fixed bayonets,but York picked off all 8 with his pistol. A Germanofficer then agreed to have his men surrender if Yorkwould stop shooting. Soon York and the 7 survivingAmericans marched 132 prisoners to headquarters.

American officers refused to believe York’s storyuntil they went out to the field and found 25 deadGermans and 35 abandoned machine guns. Honorsthen were showered upon the man from Tennessee,including the highest medals for valor from severalcountries, a parade in New York City, and a visit withPresident Woodrow Wilson.York accepted a farmfrom his native state as a reward, but from themoney that he earned for his autobiography and amovie based on his life, he donated most to a fundfor educating mountain youth in Tennessee.

At a GlanceAlvin York became a hero in World War I,embodying the ideals of strength, courage,modesty, and patriotism.This is surprising becauseas a conscientious objector York had, at first,refused to fight.

“Sir, I am doing wrong. Practicing to kill peopleis against my religion.”


1. Remembering the Details When did Alvin York become a conscientious objector?

2. Understanding Information Why did York’s commanding officer send him home?

Thinking Critically3. Identifying Cause and Effect Discuss three events in York’s life that contributed to

his strength of character.


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JEANNETTE RANKIN 1880–1973

“I want to stand by my country, but I cannot votefor war,” said the new representative from Montana.By voting against war on Germany in 1917, however,Jeannette Rankin damaged a promising politicalcareer.The first woman ever elected to Congress,she chose to sacrifice personal achievement ratherthan abandon her pacifist principles.

Born in Montana when it was still a territory,Rankin grew up in a frontier society that was moreopen to the ambitions of women than were themore settled areas of the country. Although she didnot like school, she graduated from the University ofMontana and later studied social work at the NewYork School of Philanthropy. She tried severalcareers—teacher, social worker, even seamstress—but she disliked them all.

In 1909 Rankin enrolled at the University ofWashington.While a student, she joined themovement for woman suffrage in the state. In 1911she went back to Montana to lobby for the right ofwomen to vote, and her efforts were rewarded in1914. Between 1911 and 1914 she traveled all overthe country, campaigning for woman suffrage. In1913 she was made a field secretary in the NationalAmerican Woman Suffrage Association.

In 1916 Rankin made history by winning a seat inCongress as a progressive Republican. Four days aftertaking her seat in the House of Representatives, shecast her vote against entering World War I. Her voteidentified Rankin as a pacifist, costing her a seat inthe Senate in 1918.

For the next 22 years, Jeannette Rankin remainedactive in both the women’s movement and the peacemovement. In 1940 Montana reelected her to theHouse of Representatives. In Congress she opposedthe draft, the Lend-Lease program, and militaryspending. None of these stands created the furor thatgreeted her on December 8, 1941, the day after theJapanese attack on Pearl Harbor, when she cast theonly vote against the declaration of war. Knowingthe effect of this vote on her political career, she didnot seek reelection in 1942.

Although she retired from public office, Rankindid not retire from public life. She launched a studyof pacifist programs in other countries, visiting Indiaseven times to observe Mahatma Gandhi’snonviolent campaign for independence.At home, shequietly opposed the Korean War and the cold warwhile supporting the emerging women’s movement.

In the 1960s Rankin suddenly found herself witha cause once again: opposition to the war inVietnam. At the age of 87 she organized and led theJeannette Rankin Brigade, which included nearly10,000 women, rock musicians, students, and otherantiwar activists in a march on Washington to protestAmerican involvement in Southeast Asia. Sheremained active until she suffered a fatal heart attackat the age of 93.

At a GlanceSuccessful in the fight for a woman’s right to voteand to hold public office, Jeanette Rankin was thefirst woman elected to Congress. She votedagainst United States entry into World War I andWorld War II and led other war protests.

“Women must devote all their energies today in gaining enoughpolitical offices to influence the direction of government awayfrom the military-industrial complex and toward solving themajor social disgraces that exist in our country . . . .”


1. Remembering the Details How many members of the House voted against WorldWar I? World War II?

2. Understanding Information Why did Jeanette Rankin decide not to run forreelection in 1942?

Thinking Critically3. Writing a Persuasive Argument Do you think that members of Congress should

vote according to the views of their constituents, or their own views? Explain.


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CARRIE CHAPMAN CATT 1859–1947

On August 18, 1920, the Tennessee legislaturevoted to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment to theConstitution by only a one-vote margin.Tennessee’svote provided the necessary three-fourths majorityfor ratification of the amendment that gave womenthe right to vote. Success was directly due to thework of Carrie Chapman Catt.

Born in Ripon,Wisconsin, Carrie Lane was raisedon a farm in Iowa. Although she completed highschool in only three years, her father resistedsending her to college. So she taught school for ayear to earn enough money to enter Iowa StateCollege.There she worked in the library and washeddishes to support herself until graduation in 1880.Taking a job as a high school principal, she rose two years later to the position of superintendent ofschools. Both positions were rarely held by a womanin her day.

In 1885 Carrie Lane married a newspaperpublisher, Leo Chapman, and gave up her career ineducation to become an editor. But Leo Chapmandied of typhoid fever the following year, and theyoung widow earned her living in Iowa as a lecturer.

By the end of 1887, Carrie Chapman was deeplyinvolved in the woman suffrage movement in Iowa.This involvement did not end when, in 1890, shemarried George William Catt. Not only did her new

husband support woman suffrage, his wealthallowed his wife to devote her time to themovement. By 1900 Carrie Chapman Catt rose tosucceed Susan B. Anthony as president of theNational American Woman Suffrage Association.

Although forced by her husband’s poor health to resign her NAWSA post in 1904, Catt worked towin the vote for women in New York, where herorganizational skills led her back to the presidencyof NAWSA in 1915. She developed a program andgave it the name “Winning Plan.” It called forlobbying Congress for a constitutional amendmentand the states for laws giving women the vote. Pro-suffrage states would elect members of Congresswho, in turn, would support a constitutionalamendment, while the states would provide thevotes for ratification. Her strategy worked beautifully,even after the country’s attention was diverted byWorld War I.To execute her strategy she drove hercoworkers hard, but she drove herself even harder.Passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1919 andratification in 1920 crowned her efforts.

Catt was a realist, unlike many backers of suffragewho thought that giving women the vote wouldusher in a new age of virtue in politics. She knewthat the work of educating women to vote wiselywas just beginning, and she launched the League ofWomen Voters in 1919 for that purpose. Catt spentmost of the final three decades of her life working forworld peace and disarmament. She supported boththe League of Nations and the United Nations, soughtto have the United States join the World Court, andcame to the aid of German refugees escaping Nazityranny in the years before World War II.

At a GlanceFounder of the League of Women Voters, CarrieCatt led the successful campaign for passage andratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. Shealso worked to promote world peace and justice.

“This world taught women nothing skillful and then saidher work was worthless. It permitted her no opinions andsaid she did not know how to think . . . . It denied her theschools, and said the sex had no genius . . . .”


1. Remembering the Details Name four positions that Carrie Chapman Catt heldbefore becoming president of NAWSA.

2. Understanding Information What was the strategy of “Winning Plan”?

Thinking Critically3. Summarizing Describe Carrie Chapman Catt’s activities that led directly to passage

and ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment.


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CLARENCE DARROW 1857–1938

In 1924 two college students were tried formurder. Charged with killing a 14-year-old boy forthe thrill of committing “the perfect crime,” NathanLeopold and Richard Loeb—on their lawyer’sinsistence—pleaded guilty.Then their lawyer arguedthat the students should not be executed for theircrime. Introducing sociological and psychiatricevidence, he argued that they had been driven to killby forces beyond their control. After a trial thatcaptured headlines around the world, Leopold andLoeb were sent to prison rather than to the electricchair.Their lawyer was Clarence Darrow.

Born in Ohio, Clarence Darrow had a mediocreeducation, completing just one year of college andone year of law school before starting a law practicein a small Ohio town. In 1887 he moved to Chicago,where he began to build the reputation that wouldmake him the most famous attorney of his era.

From 1887 to 1894, Clarence Darrow practicedcivil law in Chicago. After serving as lawyer for hisadopted city, be became an attorney for the Chicagoand North Western Railway. He became well knownin the city’s legal community and was an activemember of the Democratic Party.

In 1894 Clarence Darrow launched a new careeras a labor lawyer, quitting his job with the railroad todefend union leader Eugene Debs. Not only did theDebs case give Darrow a national reputation, it alsoestablished him as an attorney who sided with theunderdog against the established powers. Over thenext two decades, Darrow defended many unionleaders, including William “Big Bill” Haywood, head ofthe Industrial Workers of the World. Haywood hadbeen charged with trying to murder the formergovernor of Idaho, but he was acquitted, largely dueto Darrow’s brilliant defense.

The defense of union leaders led Darrow into thefield of criminal law. A series of spectacular trials,beginning with the Leopold and Loeb case in 1924,gave Darrow a reputation as the nation’s leadingcriminal defense attorney. After defending the twocollege students, Darrow headed to Tennessee todefend a young science teacher accused of teachingthe theory of evolution. Although the teacher, John T.Scopes, was convicted, Darrow’s defense eventuallyconvinced states to allow the teaching of evolution.

The same year as the Scopes trial, 1925, Darrowdefended an African American family charged withusing force against a mob that tried to drive thefamily out of their home in a white neighborhood ofDetroit. Not only did Darrow win the case, he alsospoke out eloquently against racial segregation. In hiscases, Darrow often tried to reach beyond thecourtroom to the public at large, to deliver a messageabout social justice. He also lectured and wrote booksand articles in which he denounced violations of civilrights and argued for wide-ranging reforms.

At a GlanceOne of the greatest lawyers of his time, ClarenceDarrow earned a reputation by defending unionleaders.Then, as a criminal lawyer, Darrow’s famespread. Finally, his stands for social justice and hisfight against the death penalty left enduringmarks on the American justice system.

“Do you think you can cure the hatreds and themaladjustments of the world by hanging them?You simply show your ignorance and your hatewhen you say it.”


1. Remembering the Details Which two well-known union leaders did Darrowdefend?

2. Understanding Information On what grounds did Darrow argue that NathanLeopold and Richard Loeb should be sent to prison rather than to the electric chair?

Thinking Critically3. Expressing a Viewpoint Do you agree with Darrow’s defense that says some people

are driven to commit crimes by “forces beyond their control?” Why or why not?


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MARIAN ANDERSON 1902-1993

In 1939, the great American singer Marian Andersonwanted to give a concert in Washington, D.C., but theowners of the concert hall, the Daughters of theAmerican Revolution, refused to let her perform.TheDAR objected because Marian Anderson was AfricanAmerican.

Due to their refusal, Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin Roosevelt, resigned hermembership in the DAR and helped arrange anotherlocation for the concert: the Lincoln Memorial.Thereon a chilly Easter Sunday, Marian Anderson sang for anaudience of 75,000, as millions listened on the radio.

Born in Philadelphia, Marian Anderson was raisedin a home filled with love, music, and religion, but notmuch money.Yet her talent was so obvious thatmembers of her church started a “Marian Anderson’sFuture” trust fund to pay for voice lessons. By thetime she was 15, she was well known throughout thestate of Pennsylvania, and in 1925 she won first prizein a vocal competition that led to a series of recitals.

But Marian Anderson was discovering that therewere few doors open to an African American artist.Racial discrimination prevented her from achieving

the kind of universal recognition she deserved.Rather than give up, however, she toured Europe.There she enjoyed tremendous success, givingcommand performances for the monarchs ofSweden, Norway, Denmark, and Great Britain. Newsof her triumphs crossed the Atlantic to the UnitedStates as European critics praised Anderson as “thegreatest singer in the world.”

Marian Anderson returned to the United States astar. Although still denied equal accommodationswhen she traveled, she sang to packed concert hallsfrom coast to coast and gave a recital at the WhiteHouse. Her performances combined classical musicwith operatic songs and the African American spiritualsshe had learned as a child. Her open-air concert in thenation’s capital—standing in front of the statue ofAbraham Lincoln—made her a symbol of democraticideals as well as one of the country’s favorite singers.

In 1955, Anderson made her debut at theMetropolitan Opera in New York City.The firstAfrican American singer to perform at the Met, shereceived a standing ovation before singing a note inGiuseppi Verdi’s The Masked Ball.

As her performing career drew to a close,Anderson became a goodwill ambassador for theUnited States, a position that President Eisenhowerformalized when he appointed her as a delegate tothe United Nations. In 1963 President Johnsonawarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, thehighest award this country gives to a civilian. Aseries of farewell concerts that took her once moreacross the United States and around the worldconcluded her career as a performing artist.

At a GlanceMarian Anderson’s concert at the LincolnMemorial in 1939 established her as one ofAmerica’s greatest sopranos. In 1955 she becamethe first African American singer to perform atNew York’s Metropolitan Opera. A pioneer in theperforming arts, she never lost her dignity whenfaced with discrimination and injustice.

“Not everyone can be turned aside from meannessand hatred, but the great majority of Americans isheading in that direction. I have a great belief inthe future of my people and my country.”


1. Remembering the Details What problem led to Marian Anderson’s famous concertgiven at the Lincoln Memorial?

2. Understanding Information Give evidence of racial discrimination against MarianAnderson, even after she was recognized as a great singer.

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions What events show that racial prejudice diminished in the

United States during Marian Anderson’s career?


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ERNEST HEMINGWAY 1899-1961

In the early twentieth century, much of thewriting styles used in literature underwent a changefrom the formal style of the 1800s to the new,experimental forms of Modernism. ErnestHemingway, one of the authors to follow this newwriting style, was one of the most importantAmerican authors during the early 1920s.

Ernest Miller Hemingway was born and raised inthe Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. He was anactive high school student who enjoyed writing.Upon graduating from high school, Hemingwaycraved adventure, rather than college, so he went towork as a reporter for the Kansas City Star.WhenWorld War I broke out, a bad eye kept him fromserving in the army. Instead he volunteered to drive anambulance for the Red Cross.Within a few weeks ofarriving in Europe, he was injured on the Italianborder and hospitalized for months.

After his recovery back in Oak Park, Hemingwaytook a job as a foreign reporter for the Toronto Starin Paris.There he met other American authors suchas F. Scott Fitzgerald and Gertrude Stein. Some ofHemingway’s personal writing was published inParis during the early 1920s. In 1925, his first bookof short stories was published in New York City.Thenext year, his first novel, The Sun Also Rises, was

published. In his mid-twenties, Hemingway wasquickly becoming a respected writer.

Over the next thirty-five years, Hemingway movedfrom Paris to the Caribbean Islands to Idaho. Hecontinued to write and report on major wars.Hemingway made several trips to Spain during theSpanish Civil War, from 1936 to 1939. He wroteabout the war, and raised money for the Republicanswho were fighting the fascists. Shortly thereafter, hetraveled to China to report on the Japanese invasion.During World War II, he joined American troopswhile crossing the English Channel on the D-Dayinvasion of Normandy.

The themes of Hemingway’s writings aresimilar—man’s search for the meaning of life duringa time filled with violence. His characters are oftenengaged in war or on a violent adventure likehunting or bullfighting.The main character almostalways tries to face his challenges with a strongpersonal code of courage, professionalism, and skill.

Hemingway’s writing style reflects his purpose.He writes in the simple and direct style that helearned while working as a journalist. He wanted hiswriting to be free of the big words and long,complex sentences common in literature of the1800s so his meaning would be clear. He uses mostlynouns and verbs for a lively, active voice.

Hemingway’s style was imitated by many writers inthe twentieth century. He was a key figure amongModernists who were searching for a new way tounderstand the world. His two famous war novels,A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls, werevery popular when they were published and are stillconsidered great American novels. In the 1950s,Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize and the NobelPrize for Literature for The Old Man and the Sea.

At a GlanceOne of the most influential of American authors,Ernest Hemingway contributed to a growingchange in how fiction was written in the early tomid-1900s. His stories of adventure mirrored hislife, and his concise writing style delivers hismessage in clear, honest prose. His charactersseek meaning in a violent time.

“All good books have one thing in common—they are truer than if they had really happened.”


1. Remembering the Details How was Hemingway’s career related to journalism?

2. Understanding Information Describe Hemingway’s writing style.

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences How did Hemingway’s life contribute to his writing?


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FRANCES PERKINS 1882–1965

When President Franklin Roosevelt appointedFrances Perkins as Secretary of Labor in 1933, she hadalready established herself as one of the nation’sleading reformers. As the first woman to hold a cabinetposition, she advanced the cause of American workers.

Born in Boston, Frances Perkins was raised in amiddle-class home and educated at Mount HolyokeCollege, graduating in 1902 with a degree inchemistry and physics. She taught science for a fewyears at several schools, the last one located in theChicago area. During her stay near Chicago, shebegan to spend time at the city’s settlement houses,especially Hull House.There she gained knowledgeof life among the less fortunate.

Leaving Chicago in 1907, Perkins moved first toPhiladelphia and then to New York City. In NewYork, she took a position with the city’s Consumers’League and began investigating sweatshop workingconditions and unsanitary procedures in bakeries.

Perkins experienced a turning point in her life onMarch 25, 1911, when fire broke out at the TriangleShirtwaist Company. Living near the site, she was awitness to some of the deaths of the 146 workers

who perished—mostly young women who plungedfrom windows of the upper stories to escape theflames. Perkins joined the Committee on Safety ofthe City of New York and began investigatinghazardous working conditions. Her findingsinfluenced New York to pass laws for worker safety.

In her investigations of New York factories,Frances Perkins worked closely with Alfred E. Smith,a prominent politician.When Smith becamegovernor in 1919, he appointed Perkins to a high-ranking position in the state labor department.WhenFranklin Roosevelt succeeded Smith as governor,Perkins became New York’s labor commissioner, thefirst woman to hold such a high office in New York.

With the onset of the Great Depression, Perkinsmade New York a model of progressive approachesto the economic crisis. She fought for unemploymentinsurance and expanded state programs to help thejobless.When Roosevelt was elected President in1932, rumors circulated that he would appointPerkins to head the Department of Labor. Unions,who had preferred a man of their own choice for theposition, quickly discovered that Perkins was a friend,devoted to advancing their interests.

In addition to running the Labor Department,Perkins played a key role in developing New Deal legislation. Roosevelt relied on her advice,and she provided a link between the White Houseand organized labor. Although her role declinedwhen the nation’s focus shifted from the Depression to World War II, she continued to serve ably until resigning shortly after Roosevelt’sdeath in 1945.

At a GlanceFrances Perkins was the first woman cabinetmember in American history. She was also one ofthe longest-serving cabinet officers, joining theRoosevelt administration in 1933. Her work assecretary of labor capped a career in which shedevoted herself to improving working conditionsfor all American working people.

“I had been taught by my grandmother that ifanybody opens a door, one should always gothrough.”


1. Remembering the Details Where did Frances Perkins first gain knowledge of lifeamong the less fortunate?

2. Understanding Information Describe two experiences that prepared FrancesPerkins for appointment as secretary of labor in Roosevelt’s cabinet.

Thinking Critically3. Summarizing What do you believe were Frances Perkins’s main goals in life?


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LANGSTON HUGHES 1902–1967

Langston Hughes was a multitalented author. Hiscollected works comprise novels, plays, poetry,anthologies, history, and biographies. One of theleading lights of the Harlem Renaissance in the1920s, Hughes maintained his literary career throughthe 1960s. Along the way he captured the AfricanAmerican musical and oral traditions like no otherauthor of his day, turning them into compellingliterature.

Born in Joplin, Missouri, Hughes spent his formativeyears in the home of his grandmother, who instilled inhim a passion for social and racial justice. He was anexcellent student and a track star in high school.Elected class poet and editor of the yearbook his senioryear, Hughes decided to make writing his career.

Hughes entered Columbia University in 1921, buthe left college after one year. Doing odd jobs tosupport himself, he saw his first poem,“The NegroSpeaks of Rivers,” published in 1921 in the NAACP’sCrisis. The poem earned him some recognition butnot much money, so Hughes decided to go to workat sea. One of his voyages took him to the western

coast of Africa, inspiring him to experiment withwhat he called “racial rhythms” in his work. In 1924he jumped ship in Europe and went to work at aParis nightclub that featured African Americanperformers. He continued his experimentation withjazz and blues rhythms in verse.

One of the major poems to come out of thisexperimental period,“The Weary Blues,” won firstprize in a contest, and soon a New York publisherbrought out Hughes’s first book of poems, also calledThe Weary Blues. An essay titled “The Negro Artistand the Racial Mountain,” calling on young AfricanAmerican writers to deal candidly with the subjectof race and to appreciate their African Americanheritage, made Langston Hughes a leading figure ofthe Harlem Renaissance.

Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Hughesstruggled to make a living while he continued towrite poems, plays, and other works. In 1942 he begana weekly column in the Chicago Defender in whichhe developed a comic character named Jesse B.Semple, known as “Simple.” It was not until 1947,however, that Hughes achieved commercial success,writing the lyrics for a Broadway musical entitledStreet Scene. A decade later he wrote another musical,Simply Heavenly, based on his character Simple.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Hughes wrotechildren’s books dealing with African Americanculture. Although increasingly the focus of attacks by more militant African American artists, LangstonHughes remained one of the most important AfricanAmerican writers of his day.

At a GlanceLangston Hughes was one of the leading AfricanAmerican writers of the twentieth century. Anaccomplished poet, novelist, playwright,biographer, and anthologist, he reached his largestaudience with his newspaper columns featuringJesse B.“Simple” Semple, a character who touchedmillions of Americans.

“. . . it is the duty of the Negro artist to . . . changethrough the force of his art that old whispering‘I want to be white,’ to ‘Why should I want to bewhite? I am a Negro — and beautiful.’”


1. Remembering the Details What activities in high school pointed to Hughes’swriting career?

2. Understanding Information Do you think that writing poetry was a means ofearning a living, or a way to fulfill a need for expression for Hughes? Explain youranswer.

Thinking Critically3. Expressing a Viewpoint What do you think Langston Hughes tried to communicate

to African Americans?


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BENJAMIN OLIVER DAVIS, JR. 1912–

In 1935, one year before he was due to graduatefrom West Point, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., applied forpilot training in the Army Air Corps. He had everyreason to believe he would be accepted, since hewas in excellent physical condition and he ranked35th in his class of 276.Yet his application wasrejected with just a one-sentence explanation:“TheArmy Air Corps has no Negro units and none arecontemplated.” Less than a decade later, Davis wasflying combat missions deep into enemy territory,and he was on his way to becoming the nation’s firstAfrican American Air Force general.

Davis grew up in Washington, D.C., the son ofBenjamin O. Davis, Sr., America’s first AfricanAmerican Army general.The younger Davis moved toChicago at the age of 18 in order to qualify for anappointment to West Point. An Illinois congressmansecured the appointment for him, but Davis failedthe academy’s entrance exam. He launched a year ofintensive study, then passed the entrance exameasily. But most of the people at West Point were notready to accept an African American cadet. Entering

in 1932, Davis had to endure four years of race-based“silencing”: no white cadet would speak to him.Totally isolated, he spent the majority of his timestudying and trying to avoid demerits.

When Davis graduated, the Army did not knowwhat to do with him. At first Davis was assigned toserve as an aide to his father, but as the threat of asecond world war intensified, the Army suddenlyreversed itself. In need of pilots, it sent Davis fortraining, and soon he was flying with a group ofother African American pilots, known as the“Tuskegee Airmen,” over Germany and Italy.During 1943 and 1944, Davis, now a colonel, and the other African American pilots shot down more than 200 planes of the Nazi Luftwaffe without losing a single bomber to enemy fighters.His 60 combat missions refuted the unspoken beliefof the United States military that African Americanpilots could not measure up to their whitecounterparts.

Throughout World War II, Davis served exclusivelyin African American units. It was not until 1948 thatthe American military was ordered to integrate. Daviswent on to hold many more important commands,serving in Europe and Asia and in many poststhroughout the United States. He adapted quickly tothe age of the jet fighter, and even played a key rolein creating the official Air Force acrobatic team, theThunderbirds. Promoted to brigadier general in1954, Davis reached the rank of three-star lieutenantgeneral before retiring in 1970. He then became aconsultant to the National Air and Space Museum,part of the Smithsonian Institution.

At a GlanceBenjamin O. Davis, Jr., was one of America’s firstAfrican American fighter pilots, and was its firstAfrican American Air Force general.Although theyhad to overcome racism nearly every step of theway from West Point to the skies over Germanyduring World War II, Davis and his fellow“Tuskegee Airmen” proved that they were theequals of any pilots in the American military.

“I felt a very grave concern about how well I’d acquit myselfin the eyes of my fellows, as well as in my own eyes.Thescariest part was always the answer to the question, ‘Were yousuccessful?’—concern that we might be subject to criticism.”

Reviewing the Biography Answer the following questions on a separate. sheet ofpaper.

1. Remembering the Details Who were the “Tuskeegee Airmen”?

2. Understanding Information What achievement proved Davis’s capabilities as apilot?

Thinking Critically3. Writing a Persuasive Argument Assume that you were an African American who

qualified for entrance to West Point in the 1940s.Write a paragraph explaining whydiscrimination against minorities will hinder the goals of the academy.


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LUIS MUÑOZ MARÍN 1898–1980

Two months after Luis Muñoz Marín was born,the United States took control of Puerto Rico fromSpain during the Spanish-American War. Reconcilingthe interests of the Caribbean island with those ofthe United States became the lifelong task of theman who would emerge as Puerto Rico’s foremostpolitical leader.

Luis Muñoz Marín spent much of his youth in theUnited States, where his father served as PuertoRico’s resident commissioner—a nonvoting memberof the House of Representatives. He was educated inAmerican schools and attended law school, but hedid not graduate. His poetry and articles on LatinAmerican culture were published in manymagazines.

Throughout the 1920s Marín divided his timebetween the United States and Puerto Rico, but in1931 he went back to his native island to stay. He took an active role in politics, supporting socialismand independence from the United States. Elected tothe Puerto Rican senate in 1932, he became one of themost popular politicians on the island. In part, he

owed his popularity to the fact that he obtainedmillions of dollars in New Deal grants to help PuertoRican peasants devastated by the Depression.

By the late 1930s, Luis Muñoz Marín had foundedthe Popular Democratic party.With the slogan“Bread, Land, and Liberty,” he urged the poor not tosell their votes but rather to use their political powerto improve life for the many illiterate and joblessPuerto Ricans living in urban slums. He led his partyto victory in 1940.The following year Muñoz Marínworked with the United States appointed governor,Rexford Tugwell, to improve Puerto Rico’s economyby stimulating industry and agriculture.Theirpartnership proved so productive that Puerto Ricotripled its income between 1940 and 1950 andunemployment declined sharply. In 1947 PresidentTruman appointed Muñoz Marín the island’s firstnative-born governor, and the following year hebecame the island’s first elected governor. He wonreelection three times, retiring in 1964.

During his long service as governor of PuertoRico, Luis Muñoz Marín rejected demands forindependence on the one hand and statehood onthe other. Instead, he pushed for commonwealthstatus so that the island could have a permanentprotective relationship with the United Stateswithout losing its Hispanic identity. Such status wasofficially granted in 1952, but Marín faced acontinuing fight with extremists from both sides forthe rest of his political career.As late as 1978, at theage of 80 and with his health broken by a stroke,Luis Muñoz Marín came out of retirement tocampaign throughout Puerto Rico in support of thecommonwealth status.

At a GlanceLuis Muñoz Marín was Puerto Rico’s firstgovernor, initially appointed by President Trumanand later elected by his own people. Under hisleadership, Puerto Rico ended decades of extremepoverty. He also secured commonwealth statusfor Puerto Rico, which provided the advantages ofa close relationship with the United Stateswithout sacrificing the island’s Hispanic cultureand identity.

“Remember this:You can have justice, or youcan have two dollars. But you can’t have both.”—Luis Muñoz Marín, urging Puerto Rican peasants not tosell their votes to politicians


1. Remembering the Details How was the governor of Puerto Rico chosen in 1941?

2. Understanding Information What two alternative views of Puerto Ricangovernment did Marín reject?

Thinking Critically3. Making Comparisons Describe the potential differences for the people of Puerto

Rico between becoming an independent nation or remaining a commonwealth of theUnited States.


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RALPH ELLISON 1914-1994

During the 1950s American writers began toexpress concern about loss of individual identity.Americans were becoming more alike, affected bymass culture—wearing the same kinds of clothes,living in identical houses, and watching the same TVprograms.The search for identity became one of themain themes of 1950s literature. Ralph Waldo Ellisonincorporated this theme in a book about the plightof African Americans in a world of prejudice.

Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Ralph WaldoEllison at first seemed headed for a career as amusician. He played the trumpet at the age of 8 andtook courses in classical composition at the TuskegeeInstitute. In 1936, however, he left school to studyarchitecture in New York City. Finally, inspired byAfrican American author Richard Wright, Ellisondecided to devote himself to literature.

From 1937 to 1953, Ralph Ellison was known forhis essays, short stories, and book reviews aimed atAfrican American and politically radical readers.Much of his writing focused on African Americanidentity in a white-dominated society, a theme hechose for his finest work, Invisible Man. Ellison’splace among highly regarded American authors of

the twentieth century rests on that book. InvisibleMan won the National Book Award for fiction and inlarge part constituted the rationale for Ellisonreceiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, thenation’s highest civilian award, in 1969. In a 1965poll by Book Week magazine, Invisible Man wasnamed the ‘most distinguished single work’published over the preceding two decades.

The narrator/hero of Invisible Man is a namelessAfrican American man who lives in an undergroundcellar in New York.Through a series of episodes,starting with the man’s high school graduation in theSouth, Ellison reveals how society has denied thisman his identity, in essence making him invisible.Theman ultimately comes to see the world as full ofchaos, but one that is not without hope.Thisrealization opens the door to establishing a trueidentity, which can only be defined by one’s self.

Following the publication of Invisible Man, Ellisonlived in Rome for two years, and later taught creativewriting at a number of colleges and universities. Hismost notable literary work following Invisible Manwas Shadow and Act, a 1964 collection of interviewsand essays celebrating African American culture.Although the public was anxiously awaiting one,Ellison did not publish another novel in his lifetime.

Five years after Ellison’s death, however, an editorput together a manuscript from over 2,000 writtenpages left behind by Ellison.This novel, which Ellisonwas never quite able to finish, was published in 1999,and is entitled Juneteenth.While Juneteenth isprobably not exactly the novel that Ellison envisioned,it is still a compelling look at American society andrelations between whites and African Americans.

At a GlanceRalph Waldo Ellison is a highly regarded AfricanAmerican author whose fame rests mainly on his1952 novel Invisible Man.The theme of AfricanAmerican identity in white society runsthroughout his literary works. Ellison explored thistheme most compellingly in Invisible Man, winnerof the National Book Award for fiction in 1953.

“I am an invisible man. . . . I am invisible,understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”—from Invisible Man


1. Remembering the Details What two career paths interested Ralph Ellison before hebegan to write?

2. Understanding Information Explain the theme that Ellison chose for InvisibleMan.

Thinking Critically3. Expressing a Viewpoint What circumstances may make a young person feel

invisible today?


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MARGARET BOURKE-WHITE 1904–1971

With her camera, Margaret Bourke-Whitecaptured much of the technological achievementand personal suffering that characterized thetwentieth century. Reaching professional maturity inthe decades before television, she created the photo-journalistic essay, a visual experience that broughtpowerful images to millions of magazine readers.

Born Margaret White to prosperous parents inNew York City, she added her mother’s maiden namewhen she began her professional career.After takingpictures for the yearbook at the University ofMichigan and creating a photographic panorama ofthe Cornell University campus, she decided to makeher living with a camera.

Due to her interest in the beauty of technology,Margaret Bourke-White launched her career as aphotographer of industrial subjects, particularlyarchitecture and machinery. She established a studioin New York City, dividing her time between thenewly created Fortune magazine and her work as afreelance photographer.

A trip to the Soviet Union and the impact of theDepression on Americans in the early 1930s

transformed Margaret Bourke-White from aphotographer of industrial subjects to a sensitiverecorder of human suffering. In 1935 she was hiredby Life, a new magazine. Sent to Montana tophotograph a dam under construction, she also tookpictures of people in nearby towns. Life featuredBourke-White’s photos on its first cover and in itslead article.

In 1936 Margaret Bourke-White toured the South,photographing the terrible plight of sharecroppers.Her pictures, along with text by writer ErskineCaldwell, were published in 1937 as a book, You HaveSeen Their Faces.The book graphically portrayedhuman, social, and environmental decay, and isgenerally regarded as Bourke-White’s finest work.

In Moscow in 1941, she suddenly found herself awar correspondent when Germany attacked the SovietUnion. After the United States entered the war, shebecame the first woman war correspondent givenofficial credentials to accompany American militaryforces. She covered the campaigns in North Africa andItaly, and she rode along with General George Patton’sarmy into Germany in 1944. It was with Patton’s armythat Bourke-White entered Buchenwald and the otherdeath camps of Nazi Germany. Her photos shocked theworld and made real the horrors of the Holocaust.

Margaret Bourke-White continued to work for Lifemagazine after the war, traveling on assignment tocover the actions of Mahatma Gandhi in India, racialconflict in South Africa, and the outbreak of war inKorea. Although her career was increasingly hamperedby Parkinson’s disease, she continued her associationwith Life until her formal retirement in 1969.

At a GlanceMargaret Bourke-White popularized the photoessay as a journalistic device.While on the staff ofLife magazine, she created photo essays about theGreat Depression,World War II, the Holocaust, theKorean War, and racial strife in South Africa. Asmuch an artist as a journalist, much of her workhas lasting value.

“Whatever art will come out of this industrial age will come from the subjects of industrythemselves, which are sincere and unadorned intheir beauty, and close to the heart of the people.”


1. Remembering the Details What subjects first interested Margaret Bourke-White as aphotographer?

2. Understanding Information What independent decision by Bourke-White madeher first photographs for Life suitable as a cover feature?

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences How may a photojournalist influence society?


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VLADIMIR ZWORYKIN 1889–1982

The first high-quality television broadcast tookplace in England in 1936. It took another five years before such a broadcast occurred in America.Although several more years would go by before thetelevision set became a fixture in every Americanhome and networks filled the airwaves withprograms, the crucial technology was in place.Theman most responsible for that technology,“the fatherof television,” was Vladimir K. Zworykin.

Born to an aristocratic Russian family,VladimirZworykin received his education in electricalengineering at the St. Petersburg Institute ofTechnology and later did graduate work at theCollege of France in Paris.While not responsible forthe idea of television—primitive mechanical versionsexisted before World War I—Zworykin realized thatbroadcasting high-resolution, constantly changingimages required sophisticated electronic equipment.

Serving with the Russian army during World War I,Zworykin was assigned to inspect radio equipment, ajob that increased his knowledge of electronics.Thechaos of the Russian Revolution forced him to fleeRussia, and he went around the world beforedeciding to settle in the United States in 1920,becoming an American citizen in 1924. Intent upon

developing a completely electronic televisionsystem, he took a job as a researcher with theWestinghouse Company.

In 1923 Zworykin applied for a patent on anelectronic camera tube called the iconoscope.A radical departure from previous televisioncameras, the iconoscope increased the brightnessand sharpness of the picture being broadcast. In1924 he patented the kinescope, a television receiverbased on the cathode-ray tube.Thus, by the middleof the 1920s, he had invented the crucial elements of the all-electronic television system.

Westinghouse, however, was not enthusiastic.Zworykin was told to do “something more useful.”Undaunted, he asked RCA’s David Sarnoff whetherhe might perfect his television system while headingRCA’s electronics research center. Sarnoff inquiredhow much it would cost to make a commerciallyviable television system.“About $100,000,” Zworykinreplied. Sarnoff loved to recall that first meeting,adding “RCA spent $50 million before we ever got apenny back from TV.”

Zworykin was promoted to vice president of RCAin 1947 and remained with the company until heretired in 1954. From 1954 to 1962 he served asdirector of the Rockefeller Institute for MedicalResearch, contributing to the development ofelectronic medical instruments. In 1966 he receivedthe nation’s highest scientific award, the NationalMedal of Science.

Perhaps the greatest disappointment in Zworykin’slife was the use made of television.“I had visions ofthe thrilling educational, cultural, and scientificapplications of television,” he said.“ It could havebeen the golden medium. But it failed... Now it’scontaminating our society.”

Reviewing the Biography Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.

1. Remembering the Details In what country was Vladimir Zworykin born?

2. Understanding Information What were two important inventions in the development of broadcasttelevision?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions List some benefits of and some drawbacks to commercial television in the United

States today.


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At a GlanceRegarded as “the father of television,”VladimirZworykin developed the major electroniccomponents of modern television broadcasting in the 1920s. He transformed television from amechanical system to an all-electronic one, makingpossible today’s fast-changing, high-resolutionimages. He was, however, disappointed at the trivialcommercial uses to which his invention was put.

“The technique is wonderful. I didn’t evendream it would be so good. But I would neverlet my children to come close to the thing[television]. It’s awful what they are doing.”

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ROSA PARKS 1913–2005

Growing up in Pine Level, Alabama, Rosa LouiseMcCauley was raised on a farm with her youngerbrother. At about age 11, Rosa started attendingMontgomery Institute, an all-girls school that stressedself-worth to young women. She furthered hereducation by attending Alabama State TeachersCollege, then married Raymond Parks.

The Parkses worked for the National Associationfor the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), anassociation that tried to secure full civil and politicalrights for African Americans.With other members ofthe NAACP, the Parkses tried to improve conditionsfor African Americans in the segregated South, butthe organization’s message was often ignored.

One evening in 1955, after a long day of work,Parks boarded a public bus for a ride home. After theseats had filled, a white man requested that Parks getup so he could sit in her place. Parks refused tomove. The white bus driver then tried to order her tothe back of the bus. Still Parks remained in her seat.Finally, she was forced to move by other bus riders.

Because of her resistance, Parks was arrested, fined,jailed, and brought to trial.This caused an outcryamong African Americans. Under the leadership of ayoung Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., African Americans

boycotted (refused to use) the Montgomery publicbus system. Instead, to get to their destinations theywalked or carpooled with each other, meeting athomes, workplaces, and churches.The Montgomerybus boycott caused the public bus system to rapidlylose money due to a lack of passengers. In 1956 theSupreme Court outlawed segregation on all publictransportation.The boycott was a success.

The reason Parks refused to give up her seat isusually attached to her being physically tired. Parksherself gave a different meaning to the word “tired.”Parks said that she was tired of the treatment sheand other African Americans received daily throughracism and segregation.“I remember going to sleepas a girl and hearing the [Ku Klux] Klan ride at nightand hearing a lynching and being afraid the housewould burn down . . . . Our mistreatment was notright and I was tired of it.”

Although she is honored and recognized all overthe world for her stand against segregation, Parkswas careful to say that she did not stand alone.“I amstill uncomfortable with the credit given to me forstarting the bus boycott. I would like [people] toknow that I was not the only person involved. I wasjust one of many . . . ”

Rosa Parks spent her later years preparing meals,going to church, and visiting people in hospitals.In 1999 she was awarded the Congressional GoldMedal of Honor, the highest honor a civilian canreceive in the United States. Parks continued to striveto better the lives of others.“I would like to be knownas a person who is concerned about freedom andequality and justice and prosperity for all people.”


1. Remembering the Details What is the NAACP?

2. Understanding Information What experience did Parks have that triggered the busboycott?

Thinking Critically3. Summarizing How did the Supreme Court’s ruling on the bus boycott affect

segregated public transportation?


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At a GlanceBold responses to racial injustice by Rosa Parkstriggered much of the civil rights movement thatended public segregation.Through hercourageousness, she has been labeled by many as“the mother of the civil rights movement.”

“I do the very best I can to look upon life withoptimism and hope and looking forward to abetter day . . . ”

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FLANNERY O’CONNOR

Southern writers have produced some of thecountry’s greatest art in the twentieth century.Themost well-known art form to develop primarily inthe South is probably that of blues and jazz music.However, writers like William Faulkner, Eudora Welty,and Flannery O’Connor produced rich works ofliterature that have influenced American literature asa whole, but that retains a distinctly Southern feel.

Much of Southern literature focuses on theunique characteristics of the region.The South was,and still is, a land rich in tradition, social customs,and religious beliefs. Southerners are often portrayedas people who value individual freedom and the landthat they and their neighbors own.The heat anddense vegetation of the South can create an intimateand vivid atmosphere.

Mary Flannery O’Connor, who would later dropher first name, spent her childhood in the mossytown squares of Savannah, Georgia. As a teenager,she moved with her mother to the small town ofMilledgeville, Georgia. From 1942 to 1945, sheattended college at the Georgia State College forWomen, studying English and sociology. She thenspent two years in the writing program at theUniversity of Iowa, where she achieved a Master’sDegree of Fine Arts in writing. It was during these

years that she first published stories in literarymagazines.

The topics of O’Connor’s writings were oftenspecifically Southern issues. Religion is a constantpresence in her writings. Her characters oftenconfront issues of their faith or the faith of others.O’Connor herself was very religious. Although shewas Catholic, she often wrote about Protestantism,because Protestant religions were the prevailingones in Southern society. Her other topics stem fromthe many conflicts between the ideals of the oldSouth and those of modern times. Her workrepeatedly addresses racism, lack of education, andgender issues.

O’Connor uses simple language and local dialectto tell her stories. Her stories usually involvecommon places and everyday events. However, hercharacters are often very strange—a young man whoblinds himself or a Bible salesman who steals a girl’swooden leg.The characters and their behavior turnrealistic situations into odd, absurd moments. Often astory begins as pleasant or humorous and ends uptragic or brutal.Violence plays a major role in herwork. Historically, violence was seen in the Civil Warand the system of enslaving people, and later in themistreatment of African Americans and the poor.Atevery turn, O’Connor’s writings reflect Southernsociety, including the good, the bad, and themysterious.

Flannery O’Connor’s major works include thenovels Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away. Shealso wrote thirty-two short stories, including thosecollected in the book A Good Man Is Hard to Find.While O’Connor was in her twenties, she contractedthe debilitating disease lupus. Despite this, sheworked for fifteen years, creating some of America’sfinest literature. She died at the age of thirty-nine.


1. Remembering the Details What topics does O’Connor explore in her writings?

2. Understanding Information How does O’Connor use characters in her writing?

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences What aspects of Southern society shapes its fiction?


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At a GlanceFlannery O’Connor was a writer of Southernfiction. Living most of her life in rural Georgia,she wrote colorful stories full of interestingpeople and places.Through her varied characters,O’Connor explores religious questions and theunique qualities of life in the South. She diedyoung, but left a collection of work that had astrong influence on American literature.

“All my stories are about the action of grace ona character who is not very willing to supportit, but most people think of these stories ashard, hopeless and brutal.”

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WALT DISNEY 1901–1966

Combining a vivid imagination, a love for thelatest technology, and a keen business sense,WaltDisney built an entertainment empire. He created amovie studio that has won many Academy Awards,and went on to plan and build the most successfulamusement parks in the world.

Born in Chicago,Walt Disney grew up in KansasCity, Missouri. At the age of 17, he dropped out ofschool, lied about his age, and became a Red Crossambulance driver in France during World War I.While overseas he began submitting drawings to thearmy publication Stars and Stripes.

When Disney returned from France he wanted tobe a commercial artist. He worked briefly for anadvertising firm, then joined a Kansas City firmproducing animated cartoon advertisements thatwere shown at local movie houses. Once he masteredthe new medium, Disney went into business forhimself. Years of struggle followed as he searched forartists, distributors, and financial backing.

In 1923 Disney moved to Hollywood, setting uphis studio in a garage. From this studio came two

primitive cartoon series, Alice in Cartoonland andOswald the Rabbit. In 1927 Disney came up withthe idea for a new character.

In November 1928, Mickey Mouse made his debutin the sound film Steamboat Willie. The film markeda turning point in Disney’s fortune, changing himfrom a struggling cartoon producer to the head of asuccessful Hollywood studio. Other now-famouscharacters followed, including Donald Duck, Pluto,and Goofy. Disney cartoons of the early 1930s were astring of commercial successes.

In 1937 Disney produced his first feature-lengthcartoon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It wasan immense hit, encouraging Disney to producePinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi. AlthoughWorld War II temporarily sidetracked the Disneystudios into making training films for the armedservices, Disney came back with Cinderella, Alice inWonderland, and Peter Pan in the early 1950s. Atthe same time, he revealed a mastery of wildlifedocumentaries and action films with live actors.Mary Poppins, a 1964 hit, broke new ground bycombining live actors, animated characters, andspecial effects.

Walt Disney started his own television show in1954, and achieved another series of hits in this newmedium, including the Mickey Mouse Club. In 1955he opened Disneyland in California, a huge fantasy-based amusement park that was tremendouslysuccessful. At the time of his death in 1966, Disneywas working on developing Disney World, an evenlarger park in Orlando, Florida.

At a GlanceFrom a small studio,Walt Disney went on to buildthe world’s largest entertainment empire. In thelate 1920s and early 1930s he introduced MickeyMouse and a host of other popular characters.For the next three decades Disney triumphed infilms, television, and, finally, his amusement parksin California and Florida.

“There is a lot of the Mouse [Mickey] in me.”


1. Remembering the Details In what cartoon did Mickey Mouse first appear?

2. Understanding Information Besides cartoons and films, what other successfulventures did Disney launch?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions How did the following contribute to Disney’s success: his

ability to draw cartoons, his sense of what the public wanted, his love of technologicalinnovations, and his business abilities?


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DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. 1929–1968

From 1956 to 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,guided the civil rights movement. He was a believerin nonviolence, and his death at the hands of anassassin in April 1968 was a tragic loss for the causeof social justice.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born in Atlanta, son of a prominent Baptist minister. He followed in hisfather’s footsteps, becoming pastor of the DexterAvenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, in1954.The following year he received his doctorate in theology from Boston University.

In 1955, when Rosa Parks was arrested forrefusing to give up her bus seat to a white man,King took charge of the boycott aimed at applyingeconomic pressure to the bus company.The buscompany gave in, and the triumph received addedsupport when the Supreme Court declaredMontgomery’s bus segregation laws unconstitutional.

In 1957 Dr. King was elected president of theSouthern Christian Leadership Conference, a group ofAfrican American ministers who led the fight for civilrights. He soon worked out a strategy that called for

mass confrontations with authorities to break downthe barriers of long-standing segregation. King insistedthat these confrontations should be nonviolent.

King’s strategy distressed white moderates whoclaimed that the civil rights movement shouldproceed more slowly through legal channels. Hisinsistence on nonviolence angered some AfricanAmerican militants who wanted more forcefulconfrontation. King still managed to convince African Americans and whites to march indemonstrations, and not to fight back even whenclubbed or knocked down by jets of water fromhigh-power hoses.

Eventually, the Jim Crow system of segregationcrumbled under the massive demonstrations. In1963, Dr. King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speechto more than 250,000 people in front of the LincolnMemorial. He was named Time magazine’s “Man ofthe Year,” and in 1964 he became the youngestperson ever to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

King tried to organize African Americans inChicago in 1966, but the effort produced few positiveresults. He also lost white moderate support when hecriticized the Vietnam War on moral grounds and as a drain on resources that could have gone toantipoverty programs. Despite these setbacks, Kingwas in constant demand as a speaker and protestleader. In March 1968, he went to Memphis,Tennessee, to help city workers better their workingconditions. Addressing a rally on April 3, he hintedthat his life was in danger.The next night he wasstruck and killed by a rifle bullet.

At a GlanceMartin Luther King, Jr., was one of the mosteffective leaders of the civil rights movement.Under his leadership, African Americans in theSouth were able to end the Jim Crow system of racial segregation. King received the NobelPeace Prize in 1964.Tragically, four years later hewas assassinated in Memphis.

“I have a dream that my four little children willone day live in a nation where they will not bejudged by the color of their skin but by thecontent of their character.”


1. Remembering the Details What event first brought Dr. King national attention?

2. Understanding Information How did King’s methods for civil rights differ fromthose of white moderates and African American militants?

Thinking Critically3. Writing a Persuasive Argument Write a letter to either white moderates or African

American activists in the 1960s, explaining why Dr. King’s nonviolent methods aremore likely to be effective.


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ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1925–1968

In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy seemed on his way tobeing elected President of the United States.To manyAmericans, Kennedy offered hope for restoring theidealism of the early 1960s, which had beenshattered by war, assassinations, and violent politicalprotest.That hope was dashed on the night of June4, when, following his victory speech in theCalifornia primary election, Kennedy was shot andkilled in Los Angeles.

Born in Brookline, Massachusetts, Robert was thethird son of Joseph and Rose Kennedy.When hisoldest brother, Joseph, Jr., was killed during WorldWar II, Robert dropped out of Harvard to enlist inthe navy. He returned to Harvard after the war,graduated in 1948, and earned a law degree from theUniversity of Virginia in 1951.

Despite their wealth, the Kennedys believed theyhad an obligation to serve the public, and in 1951Robert Kennedy went to work for the United StatesDepartment of Justice. He resigned the following yearto manage his brother John’s successful campaign forthe Senate, then returned to government service in1953 as a counsel to the Senate subcommittee

chaired by Joseph McCarthy. Disgust with McCarthy’smethods caused him to resign his post in less than ayear, but he rejoined the subcommittee in 1954 whenMcCarthy was replaced.

In the late 1950s, Kennedy investigatedcorruption in the Teamsters Union, focusing onTeamsters leader James Hoffa.When Hoffa was sentto prison, Kennedy won national recognition. Hethen became the nation’s Attorney General after hisbrother John was elected President of the UnitedStates in 1960.

Robert Kennedy’s appointment was widelycriticized. Opponents cited nepotism as well as hisinexperience.Yet he distinguished himself bysupporting civil rights laws and attacking organizedcrime. He also provided counsel during such eventsas the Cuban missile crisis.

Following President Kennedy’s assassination in1963, Robert Kennedy stayed on as Attorney Generaluntil resigning in 1964 to run for the Senate. As thejunior senator from New York from 1965 to 1968, heemerged as a spokesperson for the liberal wing ofthe Democratic Party and a symbolic leader ofDemocrats opposed to President Lyndon Johnson.When the president decided not to run forreelection, Kennedy fought hard in primaries acrossthe country to secure his party’s nomination. Hisnarrow victory in the California primary seemed toplace the nomination, and perhaps the election,within Kennedy’s grasp. But an assassin’s bulletended his quest and deepened the gloom thatalready enveloped the nation in a year marked bytragedies.

At a GlanceRobert Kennedy served as a Justice Departmentattorney, a presidential campaign manager, asAttorney General of the United States, and as asenator from New York. His strong support ofcivil rights and opposition to the war in Vietnamwere the basis of his campaign for the presidencywhen he was assassinated in 1968.

“What we need in the United States is notdivision; . . . not hatred; . . . not violence orlawlessness, but love and wisdom, andcompassion toward one another.”


1. Remembering the Details What education prepared Robert Kennedy to work forthe United States Department of Justice?

2. Understanding Information What groups made up Robert Kennedy’s main supportin his campaign for the presidency?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions How was Robert Kennedy’s relationship with his brother

John Kennedy both an advantage and a disadvantage in his political career?


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HENRY B. GONZALEZ 1916–2000

When Henry Gonzalez arrived on the House floorfor his swearing-in ceremony in 1961, he carriedwith him a bill to repeal the poll tax. Congressquickly learned that Gonzalez was a passionatecrusader. Many years would pass, however, before hisreputation in Congress matched the esteem given tohim by his home district in San Antonio.

Henry Gonzalez was born in San Antonio in 1916,the son of Mexican American parents. After graduatingfrom San Antonio Junior College, he earned a lawdegree at St. Mary’s University. Military service inWorld War II interrupted Gonzalez’s career, but hereturned to help his father operate a translationservice. He served as a public relations counselor foran insurance company and as a probation officer.

Gonzalez was elected to the San Antonio citycouncil in 1953 and then to the state senate in 1956.There he became known for filibustering against a billsupported by Governor Price Daniel to allow the stateto close schools threatened by disturbances overintegration. In 1958 Gonzalez lost to Governor Danielin the Democratic gubernatorial primary, but thedefeat only served to strengthen his political ambition.

In 1961 Gonzalez was again defeated in acampaign for the senate seat vacated by Lyndon

Johnson. Later that year, however, a Democratresigned from the House, opening anotheropportunity. Endorsed by the Kennedyadministration, Gonzalez became the first Mexican American to be elected to the House from Texas.

In his first term, Gonzalez fought against thecreation of a privately operated communicationssatellite system called Telstar.When his doggedresistance was rewarded, he referred to himself as“the man that fought the Telstar giveaway.”

Gonzalez developed a reputation as a toughwarrior in Congress during his brief chairmanship of the House Assassinations Committee. His speecheson the House floor suggested organized crime wasbehind the murder of a federal judge in 1979.Whena grand jury finally handed down five indictments in the case, the FBI director personally thankedGonzalez for keeping the issue alive.

As chairperson of the Housing SubcommitteeGonzalez fought President Reagan’s efforts todismantle some federal housing programs. Backing a scaled-down housing bill in 1987, he helped breakthe deadlock between the Congress and thePresident. Still, he continued to openly warn oftrouble in housing.

In 1988 Gonzalez was chosen to head the HouseBanking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee. Hecame to the position at a time of crisis in the savingsand loan industry that threatened the Federal Savingsand Loan Insurance Corporation.Working with theBush administration, Gonzalez steered through thecommittee a bill to tighten regulations and to restorethe insurance fund.

At a GlanceA civil rights advocate in Texas, Henry Gonzalezwas elected to the United States House ofRepresentatives in a special election in 1961.Serving in the House through three decades, hefought against organized crime and for civilrights, better housing, and reforms in banking.

“The special interests have paralyzed thelegislative process with all their pushing andshoving.”


1. Remembering the Details What two important House committees did Gonzalezchair?

2. Understanding Information Give evidence to show that Henry Gonzalez was noteasily discouraged.

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences List three views or decisions made by Henry Gonzalez that

identify his political position.


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GLORIA STEINEM 1934–

From its first appearance as an independentpublication in 1972, Ms. magazine heralded a newstage in the feminist movement. Following a sampleissue published as an insert in New York magazine in1971, Ms. became a monthly voice for the interestsand concerns of America’s feminists under thedirection of its editor, Gloria Steinem.

Steinem was born in Toledo,Ohio,but she spentmuch of her childhood traveling in a house trailer. Shewas 12 when her parents divorced, and for the next sixyears she lived with her invalid mother in a Toledo slumapartment. Steinem moved to Washington,D.C., to livewith her sister before her senior year of high school.She entered Smith College in 1952 and graduated PhiBeta Kappa and magna cum laude in 1956.

Awarded a fellowship that allowed her to study inIndia for two years, Steinem returned to the UnitedStates in 1958 and looked for a job as a journalist.She had already written freelance articles and aguidebook while in India, but not until 1960 was sheable to get her first job in publishing.

Steinem’s other career as a writer advancednotably in 1963 when her exposé of life as a waitress

in New York’s Playboy Club appeared. Soon herfeature articles were being published in the topwomen’s magazines—Glamour, McCall’s, Vogue, andCosmopolitan—and Gloria Steinem became a New York celebrity.

Assigned her own weekly column in New Yorkmagazine in 1968, Steinem began to focus herinterests and her writing skills on politics, especiallythe politics of protest. She marched with CesarChavez in California and supported first EugeneMcCarthy and later Robert Kennedy in the 1968Democratic presidential primary campaign. It was also in 1968 that she attended a meeting of a radicalwomen’s group and began to align herself with thefeminist movement. Her first openly feminist essay—“After Black Power,Women’s Liberation”—soonfollowed. By 1971 Steinem had joined Betty Friedanand Shirley Chisholm in an effort to get more women to run for political office. At the same time,she began exploring the idea of a feminist magazinethat would be owned, operated, and edited bywomen.When the first issue of Ms. sold out its printrun of 300,000 in just eight days, Steinem knew thatan audience existed for the kinds of articles that shewanted to publish.

Gloria Steinem took a leading role in theunsuccessful effort to have the states ratify the EqualRights Amendment. She continues to promote thefeminist cause in print, in lectures, and as a frequentguest on TV talk shows, while simultaneouslyadvancing her writing career with books and articlesbearing her by-line.

At a GlanceSince the beginning of the modern feministmovement, Gloria Steinem has been one of themost ardent and visible campaigners for women’sliberation. As the founder and editor of Ms.magazine, she emerged as the feministmovement’s most recognized personality.

“What gives you confidence is the sense there isa clear injustice.Trying to change that gives youa shared purpose with other people.”


1. Remembering the Details How did Steinem support herself before getting her firstfull-time position as a journalist?

2. Understanding Information How was Ms. different from any other magazine thathad been published?

Thinking Critically3. Summarizing In addition to publishing Ms., how did Steinem promote feminist

causes?


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RALPH NADER 1934–

The largest wave of corporate mergers inAmerican history took place in the late 1960s, asgiant corporations increased their share of theindustrial assets in the United States from 26 to 46 percent. Both the concentration of industry andthe Vietnam War often contributed to a feeling ofpowerlessness on the part of many individuals.

During the 1960s some young people chose to“drop out” of the system and join the hippiemovement. Others, like Ralph Nader, prepared to dobattle. Born to Lebanese immigrants in 1934, Naderwent to Princeton University and Harvard LawSchool. His training equipped him for his first majorchallenge: taking on General Motors.

Ralph Nader’s powerful exposé of a rear-enginecompact car produced by General Motorsestablished his reputation as a defender of the publicinterest. His 1964 book, Unsafe at Any Speed,attacked the car as an example of speed and styleover safety. The president of General Motors decidedto discredit the author, so he hired private detectivesto investigate Nader.When Nader found out, heinformed Congress.The resulting Senate investigationawakened public interest in Nader’s findings andultimately put pressure on the federal government

to set standards for automobiles. In 1966 Congressresponded to public pressure and passed theNational Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.

Ralph Nader sued General Motors and won$500,000 in damages.With this money and his bookroyalties, he built a public-interest law firm. Popularlyknown as “Nader’s Raiders,” the firm attracted scoresof young lawyers and economists eager to challengecorporate giants. Nader continued his efforts asfounder of Public Citizen, Inc., from 1971 to 1980.Nader’s organizations investigated coal mines,natural gas pipelines, and meatpacking plants.Theytested the air and water.Their methods includedinvestigations, reports, lawsuits, and governmentlobbying. In 1972 Nader studied the Congress itselfand published Who Runs Congress?, charging thatsome of its members were overly influenced bycorporate interests.

Largely as a result of Nader’s work, Congresspassed consumer protection legislation including theWholesome Meat Act in 1967, the Truth-in-LendingAct, the Truth-in-Packaging Act, health warnings oncigarette packages, and other controls on businesspractices. In addition, the federal governmentestablished the National Commission on ProductSafety.

In the 1990s, Nader opposed international tradeagreements such as NAFTA. He argued that they werebad for American workers and that they exploitedforeign workers and the environment. He ran forpresident on the Green Party ticket in 1996 and in2000. Excluded from televised debates and kept offthe ballot in several states, he still won close to threemillion votes in the 2000 presidential election.

At a GlanceBeginning in the 1960s, Ralph Nader became themost recognized advocate of American consumerinterests. His organizations influenced nationallegislation in such areas as automobile safety,natural gas pipelines, air pollution, and foodindustry standards.

“Air pollution alone is a devastating form ofviolence. It takes far more victims each yearthan street crime. . . .”


1. Remembering the Details What events launched Nader’s career as advocate of thepublic interest?

2. Understanding Information What methods did Nader’s organizations use toinvestigate corporate practices?

Thinking Critically3. Expressing a Viewpoint Do you think the government should regulate corporations

in order to protect consumers?


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NORMAN Y. MINETA 1931–

When Congress passed legislation to provide aformal apology and $20,000 compensation to eachof the surviving Japanese victims who sufferedinternment in World War II, Norman Mineta signedthe bill on behalf of the House. Although he hadbeen a member of Congress for 12 years, this was his most rewarding moment.

Norman Mineta was born in San Jose, California,in 1931. For Japanese families in California, survivingthe Depression of the 1930s proved to be lessdifficult than the problems that began for them in1941. After Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, fear ofinvasion swept across the West Coast. Militaryofficers believed that Japanese people living in thearea might try to sabotage United States coastaldefenses. President Roosevelt responded early in1942 by ordering the removal of people of Japaneseancestry from the area. Among the 112,000 peoplethe army rounded up, 71,000 were Americancitizens. Norman Mineta was only 10 years old whenhe and his family were sent from their San Josehome to an internment camp in Wyoming.Therethey remained until the war was over.

The camps provided large wooden barracksfurnished with army cots. Everyone ate together in mess halls. Although the camps were closed

beginning in 1944, the experience left manyJapanese Americans with deep emotional scars.

After the war, Norman Mineta finished school andentered the University of California at Berkeley. Aftergraduating, he married May Hinoki and then ran aninsurance business with his father in San Jose.Working with the Japanese American Citizens Leaguein the 1960s led him to San Jose’s Human RelationsCommission. Soon he was elected to city council,and then to the post of mayor in 1971.

While Mineta was serving as mayor of San Jose,he ran for the 13th District seat in the U. S. House of Representatives. His popularity as mayor helpedhim win the Democratic primary and the generalelection in November 1974.

In 1978 Mineta won passage of a bill to grantretirement benefits to interned Japanese American civilservants.Then, in 1987,came the legislation that offereda formal apology for internment.“Injustice does notdim with time,”Mineta said of the long wait for the bill.

Reelected by large margins throughout the 1970sand 1980s, Mineta became a powerful force, first aschair of the Public Works and TransportationSubcommittee on Aviation, then on the SurfaceTransportation Subcommittee, and finally as chair ofthe entire committee. Mineta wrote the IntermodalSurface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991.Thisact resulted in increases in the use of mass transitsystems and other transportation projects thatreduced pollution such as bike paths. Later hechaired the National Aviation Review Commissionwhich sought to reform the aviation industry.

In 2001, President George W. Bush named NormanMineta the Secretary of Transportation, head of theexecutive agency that manages all federaltransportation programs.

At a GlanceElected Mayor of San Jose, California, in 1971, andchosen as a member of the United States Houseof Representatives in 1974, Norman Minetarealized a lifelong goal in 1987.That year hehelped pass a bill to provide compensation forJapanese Americans who had been interned bythe United States government in World War II.

“Some say the internment was for our owngood, but even as a boy of 10, 1 could see thatthe machine guns and the barbed wire facedinward.”


1. Remembering the Details When did internment of Japanese Americans begin?

2. Understanding Information What steps launched Mineta’s political career?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions What does Mineta’s life say about American democracy?


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RUTH BADER GINSBURG (1933– )

Ruth Bader was born in Brooklyn, New York, in1933. Sadly, her older sister died quite young, leavingRuth an only child. She became very close to hermother, who taught her the value of a goodeducation, but when Bader was 17, her mother diedof cancer. Bader went on to attend CornellUniversity, where she met Martin Ginsburg on ablind date.They were married in 1954, the same yearthat she graduated with high honors from Cornell.She then attended the law school at HarvardUniversity from 1956 to 1958, caring for her infantchild, Jane, at the same time.

Ginsburg encountered people at Harvard whowere not supportive of her career choice in law.During her first year there, a professor exclaimed toher,“All of you women are occupying seats thatcould be taken by qualified men!” In fact, she wasone of only nine women in a class of 400 people. Inher final year, she transferred to Columbia LawSchool, still dedicated to finding a career in the fieldof law. Despite graduating at the top of her class in1959, however, she found it difficult, as a Jewishwoman and a mother, to find employment.

Finally, Ginsburg secured a job as a clerk for the U. S. District Court of Appeals in New York. From1963 to 1972, she taught at Rutgers University Schoolof Law, then she returned to Columbia Law School asthe first female professor with a permanent job at theuniversity. At the time, there were only 20 womenlaw professors in the United States.

As a lawyer, Ginsburg demanded an end todiscrimination against women. She argued six caseson gender equality before the Supreme Court,winning five of them. In 1980 President JimmyCarter nominated her to the U. S. Court of Appealsfor the District of Columbia Circuit. She was admiredfor her balanced and thoughtful opinions.

Ginsburg’s greatest professional accomplishmentcame in 1993 when she was appointed AssociateJustice of the United States Supreme Court by then-President Bill Clinton. She was the second womanever to be appointed to the Supreme Court,following Sandra Day O’Conner, who was appointedin 1981. During her acceptance speech, Ginsburgmade a heartfelt tribute to her late mother, saying,“Ipray that I may be all that she would have been hadshe lived in an age when women could aspire andachieve.”

More recently, in 1999, Ruth Bader Ginsburg wasselected to receive the American Bar Association’sThurgood Marshall Award, in recognition of her long-term contributions to the advancement of genderequality and civil rights. She feels that “[t]hechallenge . . . is to make and keep our communitiesplaces where we can tolerate, even celebrate, ourdifferences, while pulling together for the commongood.”

At a GlanceA professor of law and an Associate Justice of theUnited States Supreme Court, Ruth BaderGinsburg has had to struggle to achieve thesepositions in a profession dominated by men.Using balanced and scholarly opinions, she haschallenged discrimination against women andargued that unequal treatment for men andwomen is unconstitutional.

“It’s important to be secure in your ownjudgment, to be ready to make decisions andnot look back.”


1. Remembering the Details Who was an early inspiration to Ginsburg’s life?

2. Understanding Information To what position was Ginsburg appointed in 1993 byBill Clinton?

Thinking Critically3. Making Inferences Women have struggled to have equal employment

opportunities.Write your thoughts on why it is important to allow equal opportunitiesfor all men and women.


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TONI MORRISON 1931–

Toni Morrison’s first novel was not publisheduntil she was nearly forty years old. Until that time,she was a teacher, editor, and mother. Since thepublication of that first novel, however, she hasbecome one of the most influential African Americanauthors of literature.

Morrison grew up in a poor family in Ohio duringthe Great Depression. Her parents raised her with an appreciation of African American culture. Sheexcelled in school and eventually went to college atHoward University to study English. She graduated in1953 and received a Master’s degree from CornellUniversity in English in 1955.

In 1967 she moved to New York and became asenior editor at a publishing firm.While editingbooks, she was also trying to find a publisher for herown first novel, The Bluest Eye, which waseventually published in 1970 to much criticalacclaim. During the 1970s, while still an editor andsometimes also working as a college professor,Morrison published three more novels, all of whichwere well received. Her book Song of Solomon,published in 1977, won the National Book Critic’sCircle Award and the American Academy andInstitute of Arts and Letters Award. Morrison was alsoappointed by President Jimmy Carter to the National

Council on the Arts.Toni Morrison has, over time, joined the ranks of

the most influential African American writers of thetwentieth century, including Richard Wright, RalphEllison, and Alice Walker. Her 1987 novel Belovedwon the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. In 1993 Morrisonbecame the first African American woman to win theNobel Prize for Literature. She says that her positionas an African American woman has provided moreopportunities for her:“I really think the range ofemotions and perceptions I have had access to as ablack person and a female person are greater thanthose of people who are neither. . . .”

Morrison delivers her stories in a clear and poeticstyle. She often uses fantasy and mystical elementslike ghosts or spirits. The Bluest Eye, a powerfulnovel, is about a neglected young African Americangirl who prays for blue eyes, because she believesthat if she has them, like the white girls she seesaround her, then she will be loved and beautiful. InThe Song of Solomon, an African American man fromOhio travels to the South to learn about his familyhistory. In Beloved, which Morrison based on a truestory from 1851, an escaping enslaved woman whois about to be recaptured kills her own daughter sothat the girl will not grow up in slavery.

Morrison’s writings address the African Americanexperience. Her characters are often searching for acultural identity—a sense of who they are and howthey belong—in white and in African Americansociety. Her stories show how finding an AfricanAmerican identity within white society poses seriouschallenges. Morrison has always sought to writeabout important issues:“The problem I face as awriter is to make my stories mean something.”

At a GlanceToni Morrison’s books deal with the AfricanAmerican experience. Her characters are oftensearching for a cultural identity—an explanationof who they are and what their role is in society.She has become one of the most influentialwriters of the twentieth century.

“There is really nothing more to say—exceptwhy. But since why is difficult to handle, onemust take refuge in how.”


1. Remembering the Details What literature prizes has Toni Morrison won?

2. Understanding Information What is a cultural identity?

Thinking Critically3. Expressing a Viewpoint Why have many African Americans had to struggle to find

their place in American society?


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STEVEN JOBS 1955–

In 1975 Steven Jobs sold his most valuablepossession, a Volkswagen minivan, to raise money for a new business that he and a partner werelaunching.Within five years the new business, AppleComputer, had become a billion dollar company, andJobs’s personal fortune exceeded $200,000,000. In1985 Jobs was forced out as the head of Apple, butrather than retire at the age of 30 he started all overagain, creating a new company.

Steven Jobs was an orphan when he was adoptedby Paul and Clara Jobs of Mountain View, California.While in high school in Los Altos, he got a summerjob at the Hewlett-Packard electronics firm in nearby Palo Alto.There he met Stephen Wozniak,who would become his partner in starting Apple.After high school Jobs enrolled at Reed College inPortland, Oregon, but he dropped out after onesemester. He briefly worked as a video gamedesigner at Atari, but he quit after a few months,having saved enough money for a trip to India toseek spiritual enlightenment.

When Jobs returned to California in 1974, herenewed his friendship with Stephen Wozniak and

started attending meetings of Wozniak’s computerclub. In 1975 they designed a personal computerand built a prototype in his garage.When Jobsconvinced a store to order 25 of their machines, Jobssold his minivan and Wozniak sold his scientificcalculator to raise money for their new venture,which Jobs named Apple.

In 1976 Jobs and Wozniak introduced the Apple I.Although it sold only about 600 units to hobbyists,the Apple I pointed the way to the future of personalcomputing.The Apple II, which came out in 1977, setthe standard in personal computers, earning thecompany nearly $140,000,000 in three years. By1980 Apple Computer was a publicly heldcorporation with stock worth $1.2 billion.

Within a few years, however, Apple was in decline.Jobs’s day-to-day management was weak. In 1983 hehired a new chief executive, John Sculley.Two yearslater Sculley forced Jobs out of Apple Computer.

Jobs formed his own company, NeXT, to developcomputer hardware and software. In 1986 he boughtPixar studios from George Lucas. Using NeXTcomputers, Pixar made computer-animated films,including the successful “Toy Story” in 1995.

In 1996 Apple bought NeXT, and Jobs returned as an adviser to his old company. Apple was losingprofits to generic computers and Apple’smanagement asked Jobs to take the position of chiefexecutive. Jobs accepted and went to work onrevitalizing the company. In 1998 Jobs helped launchthe iMac computer. The iMac was offered toconsumers at a relatively low price in a variety ofcolors. By the end of the year, it was the country’sbest-selling personal computer.

At a GlanceSteven Jobs launched the personal computerrevolution when he and partner Stephen Wozniakcreated the first Apple computer in the mid-1970s.Within a few years he went from apenniless college dropout to a multimillionaire.Jobs was forced out of the company in 1985, buttwelve years later, he would return to revitalizeApple.

“We started out to get a computer in the handsof everyday people, and we succeeded beyondour wildest dreams.”


1. Remembering the Details Where did Jobs and Wozniak build the prototype of thefirst personal computer?

2. Understanding Information What caused Apple Computer’s decline beginning in1980?

Thinking Critically3. Making Comparisons Compare the skills that are required in designing and building

computers with the skills necessary to manage a large corporation.


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JANET RENO 1938–

When Janet Reno went to Harvard Law School in1960, she was one of only sixteen women in a classof more than five hundred.When she graduated, shehad difficulty getting a job because she was awoman. In 1993, however, Janet Reno was sworn inas the first female Attorney General of the UnitedStates, the top legal official in the country.

Reno was raised with her three siblings in thecountryside near Miami, Florida. Her mother builttheir house and encouraged her children to be activeoutdoors. Reno excelled in high school, especially indebate. She attended Cornell University and studiedscience, deciding later to concentrate on law. Afterlaw school, she returned to Florida and eventuallyfound work as a lawyer. Reno worked for almost thirtyyears in south Florida.

In 1971, Reno was named staff director of theJudiciary Committee of the Florida House ofRepresentatives. From this position, she rose to be anassistant to the Florida attorney general and, in 1978,was appointed the state attorney for Dade County,which includes the city of Miami. She was the firstfemale to hold this position, the highest legal officialin both county and city, and was reelected five times.As state attorney of Dade County, she was known asa reformer. She established a juvenile department tomore effectively deal with young offenders. She also

created the Miami Drug Court, which soughtalternative punishments for nonviolent offenders,such as less jail time and more community service.

In 1993, President Clinton chose Reno to be theU.S.Attorney General, a powerful position within theexecutive branch of the government.The AttorneyGeneral heads the Department of Justice, whichincludes the Federal Bureau of Investigations, theDrug Enforcement Agency, the Bureau of Prisons, andthe Immigration and Naturalization Service.TheAttorney General is also a member of the president’scabinet. However, the main responsibility of theAttorney General and the Department of Justice is toexecute the laws of the United States.

Janet Reno is known for being one of the mostindependent Attorney Generals in U.S. history. She wasthe first woman to hold the position and did so forlonger than anyone in fifty years. She has a reputationfor being thorough, principled, and forceful.

Reno was widely praised and criticized. Early inher term, she ordered the final raid on the BranchDavidian cult compound in Waco,Texas, wherefollowers were holding many illegal weapons. Duringthe raid, a fire broke out and killed nearly onehundred people.While Republicans criticized thedecision for being too aggressive, she earned respectfor taking responsibility for the agencies that workedfor her. She also angered Democrats by initiating anindependent council, or investigating committee, toinvestigate President Clinton and the Whitewatercase, an investigation into real estate dealings of Billand Hillary Clinton.This independent councilindirectly led to Clinton’s impeachment trial. Inevery case, Janet Reno argued that she was merelyupholding the law—the job of the Attorney General.

At a GlanceJanet Reno was the first woman to serve as theU.S.Attorney General, the head lawyer of theDepartment of Justice. She has spent most of hercareer in public service and is known for beingforceful and independent.

“There is no money in the world that wouldever be a substitute for the opportunities that I have had in public service, as a lawyer and aprosecutor, and as the Attorney General.”


1. Remembering the Details What office did Reno hold before becoming AttorneyGeneral?

2. Understanding Information What is the main responsibility of the AttorneyGeneral?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions List some of the jobs done by the Department of Justice.


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AMY TAN 1952–

Amy Tan’s parents had recently moved to theUnited States from China when she was born inCalifornia in 1952. Raised in California, Amy Tanexcelled in school and attended San Jose StateUniversity, where she studied English and linguisticsand eventually received a Master’s degree inlinguistics. Her education in Chinese was less formal.She had never been to China, but she had learnedChinese traditions from her mother.

Amy Tan did not become a novelist immediately.After college,Tan worked with programs for disabledchildren. Following that, her education and writingskills led her to work for a magazine, and then towork as a freelance business writer for largecorporations like IBM and AT&T. During this time,Tan worked very hard and turned to jazz piano andfiction writing as a way to relax.

In 1987 Tan traveled with her mother to China forthe first time. In China, she met two of her half-sisters whom she had never seen.This trip providedinspiration for her first novel, The Joy Luck Club.This book is about four Chinese mothers living inSan Francisco, their four daughters, and how they allrelate, despite being raised in different cultures.

Tan’s novels discuss the immigrant experience ofChinese Americans. Many of her characters mustbalance an American lifestyle with their Chineseheritage.This conflict is an identity crisis, a struggleto explain who they are and how they fit into their

family and society. Another challenge to immigrantsis a generation gap, a significant difference betweenone generation and the next. Often the firstgeneration of immigrants is very different from thesecond.The second generation usually learns Englishfaster and adapts more quickly into American culturethan the first. Amy Tan addresses these conflictswithin individuals. She also addresses these issuesand how they relate to families.

Tan says she writes in the traditions of Americanliterature, not Chinese. For example, she often uses thefirst person narrative voice, which is not common inChinese literature.The concepts of analyzing one’shistory or controlling one’s own life is another featureof American literature found in Tan’s writing that isgenerally not found in traditional Chinese literature.

Tan focuses on good storytelling in her novels. Forexample, The Joy Luck Club has many layers ofnarrative, with many different voices telling theirstories. Each new voice tells their story in a differentway and contributes new perspectives.

Much of Tan’s work is autobiographical. She often draws on her own experiences and beliefs for her fiction. Her relationship with her mother and her status as the daughter of first-generationChinese immigrants provide inspiration for herstories.When she discusses life and death or thespirit world, those ideas may well have beeninfluenced by the tragic deaths of her father andbrother at a young age or her strong beliefs in aspiritual world.

Her major works include four novels: The JoyLuck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife, The HundredSecret Senses, and The Bonesetter’s Daughter. AmyTan has also written two children’s books, The MoonLady and The Chinese Siamese Cat.

At a GlanceIn the last decade,Amy Tan has become arespected and popular writer. In her four novels,she addresses the immigrant experience ofChinese Americans and family relationships.

“I’m very proud to say I’m Chinese American.But when it comes to what I do as a writer,what I write, I think of that as Americanfiction.”


1. Remembering the Details Why is there often a generation gap within immigrantfamilies?

2. Understanding Information How is Tan’s writing style more American than Chinese?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions How is Tan well-suited to write about the immigrant

experience in America?


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CONDOLEEZZA RICE 1954–

Growing up in Birmingham,Alabama during the1950s and 1960s gave Condoleezza Rice first-handexperiences of the civil rights movement. One eventthat affected her deeply was the killing of achildhood friend, along with three other AfricanAmerican children, in the firebombing of a churchby the Ku Klux Klan.“Birmingham could have mademe bitter…Instead, I think it made me, and I know alot of my friends, just resilient [able to recover frommisfortune],” she recalls.With this ability Rice pushedherself to rise above present difficulties anddisadvantages and to strive for achievement.

Both of Rice’s parents were educators whostressed to her how important it was to excelacademically. Her strong intellect enabled her toenter college at the University of Denver when shewas only 15 years old. At age 19 she graduated withhonors and went on to earn a Master’s degree ininternational relations at the University of NotreDame the following year. Following that success shewent back to the University of Denver, where sheearned a doctorate in political science. Shortlythereafter, Rice became an assistant professor at

Stanford University. Here she established herreputation as a sharp and eloquent foreign policyanalyst. She excelled so much at her job that sheearned a place in the Ronald Reagan White House asan adviser to the Joint Chief of Staff in 1987.Thisposition requires making crucial decisions regardingthe Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guardduring times of international conflict. She laterreturned to Stanford where she was an administrator.

At Stanford Rice continued to contribute to theUniversity and other institutions in profound ways.Through years of dedication she established theCenter for a New Generation, an after schoolacademy. She also became a corporate board memberfor large resource and investment corporations suchas Chevron, the Hewlett Foundation, and CharlesSchwab. In addition, she served as a member of J.P.Morgan’s international advisory council where sheadvised business leaders about global transactions.

Having served under the Reagan presidency andafter years of experience in dealing with diplomatic(foreign) relations, Rice is considered an expert inher field. In January 2001, President George W. Bushappointed her to his cabinet as National SecurityAdvisor of the United States—the first time awoman had been appointed to the position. InJanuary 2005, Rice was appointed the cabinetposition of Secretary of State by President Bush. Inthis position, Rice is the President’s chief foreignadvisor and carries out the President’s foreignpolicy.

At a GlanceCondoleezza Rice wouldn’t let setbacks get in theway of her dreams.Through her accomplishmentsshe has demonstrated that both AfricanAmericans and women can excel in high-levelgovernmental positions.

“With education and hard work, it really doesnot matter where you came from; it mattersonly where you are going.”

Reviewing the Portrait Answer the following questions on a separate sheet ofpaper.

1. Remembering the Details During whose presidency did Condoleezza Rice firstserve?

2. Understanding Information What is Rice’s current occupation in the presidency,and what does it involve?

Thinking Critically3. Drawing Conclusions Rice used the setbacks she experienced as a youth to help

her strive to achieve in her life.Write about a time when you may have donesomething similar.


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HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON 1947–

Hillary Rodham was raised in Chicago, Illinois.She came from a supportive family and attendedpublic schools. She went to Wellesley College in the1960s, a time of increasing social protest andactivism. Her political beliefs shifted to theDemocratic Party. Graduating from Wellesley in 1969with a degree in political science, she continued herstudy at Yale Law School, where she met Bill Clinton.

Graduating from Yale in 1973, she taught for threeyears at the University of Arkansas School of Law. Sheworked to help the disadvantaged by directing thelegal-aid clinic in Arkansas, which provided legalservices to those who could not afford them.

In 1975, Hillary Rodham and Bill Clinton weremarried. In 1977, she went to work for a law firm inLittle Rock, Arkansas, where she became a partner in1980. During these years as a practicing lawyer,Hillary Clinton worked with programs for childrenand served on the board of directors for several bigcorporations. She was named one of the top 100most influential lawyers by the National LawJournal in 1988 and 1991.

When Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, Hillary Clinton embraced the role of First Lady and vowed to use the position to further herideals. She fought for health care and early childhoodeducation. She traveled to foreign countries withoutthe president and spoke on issues like women’sempowerment and children’s rights. In 1996, shepublished the best-selling book It Takes a Village:And Other Lessons Children Teach Us. Sheadvocated childcare for working parents and thepolicy of preserving U.S. historical landmarks.

While some former First Ladies had been active in influencing government policy, Hillary Clintondrew enormous criticism because she attempted todo so publicly. In 1993, Bill Clinton appointed her tohead the Task Force on National Health Care Reform.She conducted closed-door meetings and tried toreform the 800 billion dollar industry. Her criticsclaimed that a First Lady should not have such power because she was never elected. Her health care plan eventually failed, and she ultimately played a more traditional role during Clinton’s second termas president.

During her time as First Lady, Hillary Clinton wasthe subject of much controversy. She was investigatedfor her financial dealings in the Whitewater case, inwhich her investment into a real estate developmentdeal in Arkansas was called into question.

In 2000, as her husband finished his second term as president, Hillary Clinton ran for a U.S.Senate seat in New York. Despite never having livedin New York, she won by a decisive margin,becoming the only First Lady ever to be elected topublic office.

At a GlanceHillary Clinton was already a successful lawyerbefore her husband, Bill Clinton, becamePresident. As First Lady, Hillary Clinton was vocalabout issues such as health care and childhoodeducation and was active in trying to formgovernmental policy on these issues. In 2000,New York voters elected her as their senator,making her the only First Lady ever to be electedto public office.

“The job of health care reform in America cannot bedone when any of our citizens’ access to care dependson the color of their skin, or the neighborhood theylive in, or the amount of money in their wallet.”


1. Remembering the Details What did Hillary Clinton do while Bill Clinton wasgovernor?

2. Understanding Information How was Hillary Clinton’s public image different fromformer First Ladies?

Thinking Critically3. Expressing a Viewpoint Support or refute the following statement: Hillary Clinton

should have not been publicly involved in the government as the First Lady.


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Dekanawida 11. The Iroquois were located in what is now

southeastern Canada and the northeastern U. S.

2. He wanted to bring peace to all people. Hepreached the message of peace to many NativeAmerican nations, then joined with Hiawatha tobring all peoples of the area into a confederation.

3. Omens helped to explain the unknown causes ofevents. Dekanawida’s mother’s omen accountedfor the eventual attacks by the confederacy uponthe Huron people.

Amerigo Vespucci 21. Vespucci’s education and interest in geography

and astronomy led to his work in Spain, where he became interested in the idea of sailing westacross the Atlantic to get to Asia. In 1499, hisinterests led to his joining a voyage to search for a passage to the East.

2. His second voyage allowed him to observe thepeople, plants, and animals of South America. Hisobservations led him to conclude that the landwas not part of the Indies, but a “new world.”

3. Vespucci proved that the lands discovered byColumbus were previously undiscovered “new”lands and not the outskirts of the “Indies.” Hemade very nearly accurate calculations of theearth’s size, and predicted the discovery of thePacific Ocean, rather than a passage to Asia.

Bartholomé de las Casas 31. Las Casas freed his enslaved people, gave up his

land, and made enemies of his fellow Spaniards bydenouncing their cruel treatment of NativeAmericans.

2. Spanish adventurers ignored the laws, and theking was too far away to enforce them.

3. Las Casas’ plan called for the replacement ofenslaved Native Americans with enslaved Africans.Thus, in addition to the Native Americans whowere already enslaved, thousands of kidnappedAfricans were imported to the Spanish colonies.

Anne Hutchinson 41. Hutchinson possessed excellent nursing skills, was

the wife of a successful businessman, had borneand raised 14 children, and was an active memberof the Puritan congregation.

2. Hutchinson began to preach her owninterpretations of Puritan beliefs.

3. The Puritan authorities believed that if peoplefollowed Hutchinson’s teachings, no one wouldfollow any of the colony’s laws or the Church’steachings.

Nathaniel Bacon 51. The landowners felt that the governor’s plan was

expensive and not active enough.What they reallywanted was a war against the Native Americans,which Bacon also favored.

2. The planter fought Native Americans without adirect commission from the colonial leader.

3. Upon capture, Bacon begged pardon from thegovernor, and also asked for a commission.Berkeley promised such a commission, but Baconhad to force it from him. Berkeley’s and Bacon’stroops fought during the summer of 1676, withBacon gaining control of most of Virginia. In thefall, Bacon died of dysentery, and Berkeley quelledBacon’s rebellion by January of 1677.

Samuel Adams 61. The Sugar Act provided an opportunity for Adams

to display his ability as a writer of fiery protests,which rallied the colonists to the revolutionarycause.

2. Although both Acts were repealed, each providedAdams with yet another opportunity to prodAmerican colonists to protest the British.

3. Adams’s particular brand of writing andspeechmaking was at its most effective whenpleading a cause.When the colonists won theRevolutionary War, Adams’s primary cause nolonger existed.

Thomas Paine 71. Paine worked at a number of jobs, most of which

he disliked.

2. Common Sense ridiculed King George III andmade the concept of a monarchy seem outdatedand pointless. Its arguments persuaded manycolonists that the British King would not protecttheir rights.

3. Often Paine’s opinions were not popular, and hesuffered both imprisonment and disapproval forthem.

Phillis Wheatley 81. The Wheatleys recognized Phillis’s intelligence

and capacity for learning, with the whole familycontributing to her education.

2. She returned from England to Boston when sheheard Susannah Wheatley was ill.

3. The abolitionists realized that if Phillis, anenslaved African American, could so excel inlearning so as to be able to learn three languages,as well as produce her own poetry, then otherenslaved Africans could do so as well.


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George Rogers Clark 91. After settling in the Kentucky territory, Clark

persuaded the Virginia government that thesettlers needed protection from British-inspiredattacks by Native Americans.The Virginiagovernment commissioned Clark to undertake thetask of capturing British forts in the region.

2. Clark fought his campaign during the winter,which the British commander did not expect.

3. Clark had provided for his troops with his ownresources, and had no money at the end of thewar with which to pay his debts.

James Madison 101. Madison formulated the concept of a three

branch Federal government, and the system ofchecks and balances which would keep any onebranch from becoming too powerful.

2. Madison showed that he favored a strong federalgovernment by allying himself with the leaders ofthe Congress who wanted a stronger federalgovernment.

3. By creating the system of checks and balances,Madison was able to find a common ground foragreement on the basic form of federalgovernment.

Patrick Henry 111. When defending the liberty of ordinary people

against the abuses of government, Henry used hisspeechmaking power to the fullest.

2. An avid Anti-Federalist, Henry continually spokeout against what he thought were tyrannies onthe part of the government. He refused to takepart in the Constitutional Convention, and workedto obtain a Bill of Rights.

3. Henry was able to use his oratorical gift to winsupport for the colonial cause by speakingforcefully against King George Ill’s treatment ofthe colonies and encouraging his fellow coloniststo declare independence from England.

Abigail Adams 121. Abigail Adams educated herself at home by

reading books.

2. Abigail’s letters, both those to her husband Johnoverseas, and those sent home when she lived inLondon, recount people, places, and events familiarto her, affording history a first-hand look at the era.

3. Abigail expressed her opinions strongly in herletters, and it is possible that both her husbandand son were influenced by her ideas.

Eli Whitney 131. Making products from interchangeable parts led

to mass production in manufacturing.

2. In South Carolina,Whitney learned about theneed for a better cotton gin. He designed such agin, becoming an inventor rather than a lawyer.

3. Others stole the design for Whitney’s gin, and,even though he did get a patent, there was verylittle he could do about stopping others fromproducing their versions of his invention.

Sacajawea 141. Sacajawea provided a symbol of the expedition’s

peaceful intent; she could also translate for theparty, and guide them through territory withwhich she was familiar.

2. She found that her brother, from whom she hadbeen separated, was now chief of the Shoshones.Because of his position, he was able to give thehelp Sacajawea requested.

3. A couple used to living in a frontier wildernessmight find the unaccustomed noise, crowds, andother normal city conditions uncomfortable.

Robert Fulton 151. As the Industrial Revolution progressed, Fulton

became more interested in the design and buildingof machines.

2. Fulton faced two problems with his submarines:he couldn’t provide underwater propulsion, andhe could find no one to fund more experiments.

3. Although the Clermont’s initial voyage was rathershort, it demonstrated that the steamboat couldmove against both the water current and thewind. In so doing, Fulton began the changeover toa new age of commercial navigation.

Paul Cuffe 161. During one of his voyages, Cuffe was taken

prisoner by the British. Not wanting to repeat theexperience, he tried farming.

2. Cuffe believed that African Americans wouldnever enjoy full freedom in the United States.

3. He built a successful shipping business in a timeof strong racism, and devoted himself to helpingfree African Americans better their lives.

Prudence Crandall 171. Rather than dismiss Sarah Harris, Crandall

expanded her school to include 20 more AfricanAmerican girls.

2. First the citizens attempted social pressure, thenthey had a law passed that outlawed her school,then they resorted to physical intimidation.

3. The law was not in effect when Crandall openedher school; it was created merely to provide a“legal” reason to close the school. It was an expost facto law.

James Fenimore Cooper 181. Cooper began his career as a novelist when he

was 30 years old in response to a challenge fromhis wife.

2. Reviews of Precaution were not favorable;Cooper then stopped imitating popular English


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novels, and wrote instead on American themes,creating American characters.

3. When Cooper returned from Europe hediscovered that the respect once due him as awealthy landowner had disappeared due to thegrowth of the ideals of Jacksonian democracy. TheAmerican Democrat was Cooper’s response.

Osceola 191. Osceola plunged his knife into a treaty that the

U.S. government wanted him to sign.

2. In order to get Osceola out of the Everglades,Jesup raised a flag of truce. Instead of honoringthe truce, however, Jesup had Osceola arrestedand imprisoned.

3. Rather than ending the Seminoles’ resistance,Osceola’s death prolonged their resistance forfour additional years, costing the federalgovernment high losses of men and money.

John C. Calhoun 201. After the War of 1812, Americans were very

patriotic and nationalistic, thinking of the countryas a whole. By 1850, Americans were thinkingmore in terms of the interests of the section inwhich they lived.

2. Calhoun had at first favored the tariff, because ithelped the country’s manufacturers as a whole.But when the North prospered from the tariff, andthe South did not, Calhoun began to work againstthe tariff.

3. Calhoun resigned his Vice Presidency and took aSenate seat to defend southern interests, hepushed for the annexation of Texas as a slavestate, he defended the institution of slavery, andhe opposed the Compromise of 1850.

William Lloyd Garrison 211. Garrison refused to compromise on any of his

opinions; he used harsh, antagonistic languagetoward those with whom he disagreed.

2. Garrison refused to accept political action as ameans to abolishing slavery, and he tried to linkthe abolitionist movement with other reforms.

3. Before the war, Garrison had seen secession as asolution to the problems of the Union; after thewar began, however, he believed that it would leadto abolition.

Sojourner Truth 221. Truth had many surnames, all given to her by her

different slaveholders.When she was emancipated,she changed her first name and chose her own lastname.

2. Truth was like both Garrison and Douglass in that her speeches often antagonized crowds, whotried to prevent her from preaching. Unlike them,she advocated nonviolent methods to abolishslavery.

3. Truth used much of the money she earned to buygifts for soldiers and to help escaped enslavedpeople find jobs, food, clothing, and homes, shegathered supplies for African American regiments,she counseled emancipated African Americans inWashington, she traveled South after the Civil Warto investigate the treatment of emancipatedenslaved people, she challenged the legality ofWashington, D.C.’s segregation policies on publictransportation, and she continually lectured onracial issues and women’s rights.

Sarah Hale 231. Hale became a writer to support her five children

when she was left a widow.

2. Hale wrote most of each issue herself and did notallow any controversial topics in the magazine.Therefore, the magazine reflected only her ownideas and points of view.

3. Although Hale believed that women belonged inthe home, she also believed that they needed aneducation. In addition, she supported women inmedicine, believing it unnatural that male doctorsshould care for women. She also urged herreaders to exercise, eat well, and dress sensibly.

Brigham Young 241. Young wanted to lead the Mormons away from

persecution.

2. Young had colonists establish towns throughoutUtah’s Great Basin region, he sent missionariesaround the world to seek new recruits, heinstructed all Mormon farmers on irrigationtechniques, and he supplied each Mormon townwith skilled workers.

3. Most settlers in Utah were of the Mormon religion,and followed Young’s leadership without question,because he was the head of the Mormon church.

Harriet Beecher Stowe 251. Stowe and her family were opposed to the

Fugitive Slave Act of 1850; at her family’spromptings, Stowe wrote the novel in protest.

2. The book became a bestseller, with Northernersfinding the characters and plot sympathetic, andSoutherners finding the book inflammatory andbiased.

3. Both books were about a highly controversialtopic on which almost everyone had an opinion.Proslavery readers could read the books andcondemn Stowe for her misrepresentations;antislavery readers could read her book and findmaterial to support their cause.

Julia Ward Howe 261. Howe had been visiting a Union army camp, and

she wanted to try to capture the emotions of thesoldiers she had seen there.

2. Although Howe took up lecturing about variousissues in her later years, many people came not to


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hear her lectures, but to see and hear the authorof “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

3. The popularity of “Battle Hymn of the Republic”was so great that Howe became a celebrity,forcing her husband to acknowledge her career.

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson 271. Jackson’s nickname from the fact that during the

Battle of Bull Run, his men saw him standing still,courageously refusing back down in the face ofthe enemy.

2. The two men’s fighting methods complementedeach other: Lee planned brilliant, daring strategies;Jackson executed brilliant and daring maneuvers.

3. Jackson’s record for the two years he was in thefield—continual victories against oftenoverwhelming odds—demonstrated hisoutstanding military ability.

Thaddeus Stevens 281. Stevens’ political career focused on, and was

driven by, his hatred of slavery and the need toabolish it.

2. The Radical Republicans saw the war as a chanceto eradicate slavery; the Republican majority sawthe war as a fight to restore the Union.

3. Stevens served without fee as lawyer to fugitiveenslaved people; he refused to sign Pennsylvania’sconstitution; in Congress, he opposed any extensionof slavery to the western territories and attackedthe institution of slavery; he worked to have thedefeated South governed by Congress; he helpedget the 14th amendment passed.

Hiram Revels 291. Jefferson Davis left his seat to serve as President

of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

2. Revels was a minister who had organized AfricanAmerican regiments for the Civil War. He workedwith the Freedmen’s Bureau and in local politicsin Natchez Mississippi.

3. Revels probably realized that the Democratswould regain power in Mississippi politics. Hecampaigned for the Democratic Party and securedhis position at Alcorn College.

Chief Joseph 301. Chief Joseph knew that he and his small band of

Nez Percé could not hope to defeat the army.

2. Under the non-treaty policy, Native Americansrefused to sign a treaty and leave, but they didnothing to provoke a confrontation with thewhites.The government did not accept this courseof action; through General Howard, thegovernment demanded that the Nez Percé relocate.

3. The killings of white settlers by Nez Percé bravesdestroyed Chief Joseph’s chances of leavingOregon peacefully; he was forced to flee becauseof retaliation by Howard; he and his people were

eventually taken prisoner because they had stoppedto rest, exhausted after their thousand-mile trek.

Helen Hunt Jackson 311. Jackson turned to writing to help her overcome

the unhappiness caused by the deaths of her firsthusband and two sons.

2. Jackson wrote A Century of Dishonor to exposethe mistreatment of Native Americans.

3. Fearing that A Century of Dishonor would not bewidely popular because of its scholarly treatment,Jackson wrote Ramona to present themistreatment of Native Americans by thegovernment in a way that would be understandableand popular with the American reading public.

Frederick W. Taylor 321. Taylor sympathized with exhausted workers

trying to meet the demands of their bosses, andhe wanted to know how much work a personcould reasonably be expected to do.

2. “Scientific management” was the accurate, carefulinvestigation of the number of movements aworker took to do a task, how long eachmovement took, and the manner in whichdifferent moves and/or equipment could help aworker do a task more efficiently.

3. Some workers might find Taylor’s studiesthreatening because a time study, although itmight increase efficiency, might also eliminatejobs by finding a more efficient method thatrequired fewer workers.

Leonora Marie Kearney Barry 331. Barry was paid just 65 cents for a week’s work

at a factory. She felt that she was being exploitedand joined the union for protection.

2. Barry’s reports of the conditions under whichmost women and children worked caused thePennsylvania legislature to pass a law in 1889requiring state investigation of all the state’sfactories.

3. Barry believed that, in a home with a husband, heshould be the one to work and support the family.This belief caused her to quit her job in 1890when she married a second time.

Samuel Gompers 341. By challenging the young Gompers’s thoughts,

Laurrel forced Gompers to clarify his ideas,establish goals, and find methods of achievingthose goals.

2. Gompers developed a practical outlook aboutunion goals: better wages, improved workingconditions, and greater worker benefits within thecapitalist system.

3. Both unions were working toward betterconditions for laborers; the Knights of Laboradmitted both skilled and unskilled workers, anddid not use strikes as a method to win its


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demands.The American Federation of Laboradmitted only skilled workers and used the strikesystem to win its demands.

Susan B. Anthony 351. Lucretia Mott, Amelia Bloomer, Lucy Stone,

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

2. These amendments extended rights to formerlyenslaved people, making women the lastsignificant group to face these legaldiscriminations.

3. Answers will vary.Those who support the ideathat leaders of the women’s movement reallyachieved women’s rights should include thatCongress resisted extending rights to women, andsomeone had to take the lead in insisting onchange.Those who argue that the changes wereinevitable should include the economicdevelopments of the early 1900s that gave womenmore independence and the increasededucational opportunities that prepared womenfor political participation.

Thomas Nast 361. Tammany Hall, run by William Marcy Tweed in

New York City.

2. An illustration is simply a picture that addsmeaning to the text, while a political cartoonusually expresses a point of view.

3. Because Thomas Nast was free to publish hisopinions in political cartoons, the people becameaware of the corruption in their localgovernment. If freedom of the press did not exist,corrupt government could go unchallenged.

W. E. B. Du Bois 371. Pan-Africanism is the belief that all African

Americans should work to conquer prejudice.

2. The NAACP was an organization created to helpAfrican Americans secure civil and political rights,which came from Du Bois’s belief that AfricanAmericans should openly strive for their rights.

3. Washington believed that African Americansshould pursue a practical education to achieveeconomic prosperity and try to get along withwhites. Du Bois thought that African Americansshould be able to pursue a college education andactively pursue their rights.

Mary Elizabeth Lease 381. The speech seconding the nomination of James B.

Weaver for President.

2. The Populists supporters decided to back theDemocratic candidate,William Jennings Bryan.

3. In most states women could not vote or holdoffice.

Miguel Antonio Otero 391. He was the youngest person to be a governor of

the territory.

2. They felt that the Mexican population might notsupport fighting against Spain.

3. (a.) Otero recruited many New Mexicans for theRough Riders. (b.) Otero’s opposition to Roosevelt’sforest policy caused Roosevelt not to appointOtero governor in 1908.

Jane Addams 401. The Hull House was a social settlement center

that addressed the needs of the community, suchas providing medical and childcare facilities, agymnasium for youth, boarding clubs for girls, anda school where immigrants could learn Englishand vocational skills.

2. Addams got the idea for Hull House by viewingthe Toynbee Hall while touring in Europe.

3. Answers may include that her life showed thatwomen can play a direct role in solving problemsin society.

William Jennings Bryan 411. Farmers and debtors tended to support Bryan.

2. Those who wanted the government to mintunlimited amounts of silver believed thatincreasing money in circulation would make iteasier to pay back loans.

3. Bryan allied himself with farmers and debtors. Healso tried to defend beliefs held in much of ruralAmerica, in the Scopes and other trials.

Gifford Pinchot 421. The Department of the Interior

2. Some businesses cut down trees without plantingnew ones and did not support conservation.

3. Answers will vary but may include: Conservationhas developed along with free enterprise in theUnited States throughout the 20th century.

Ida B. Wells–Barnett 431. A Red Record is an account of three years of

lynchings.

2. They wanted to stop her from printing anantilynching column.

3. Both Du Bois and Wells confronted racial prejudiceby writing and speaking out against injustice.

Jim Thorpe 441. He won the decathlon and the pentathlon in the

1912 Olympics.

2. He participated in a semi-professional baseballleague.

3. Thorpe was extremely good at many sports, andchose to concentrate on becoming a great athlete,rather than a scholar.

Louis Brandeis 451. He served from 1916 to 1939.

2. Social and economic factors were more importantthan legal precedents.


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3. He argued that the Court should consider theeffect of working long hours on women. In sodoing it would keep pace with the economic andsocial changes of industrialization.

Alvin York 461. He joined a church that believed killing was wrong.

2. In order to think about whether he couldparticipate in the war.

3. Answers will vary but may include: the death ofhis father, falling in love with a woman of deepreligious convictions, changing his lifestyle andattending church, and being drafted into the army.

Jeanette Rankin 471. World War I – 57,World War II – 1

2. She believed that the people would not vote forher after she cast the only vote against the UnitedStates’ declaration of war.

3. Answers will vary according to the student’sopinion.

Carrie Chapman Catt 481. She was a high school principal, a superintendent

of schools, an editor, and a lecturer.

2. The “Winning Plan” involved lobbying Congressfor a constitutional amendment, while lobbyingthe states for laws giving women the right tovote, so that states would elect members ofCongress who favored the amendment and wouldlater provide the votes to ratify it.

3. Catt spoke for woman suffrage in Iowa, then shebecame president of the National AmericanWoman Suffrage Association. She worked to winthe vote for women in New York, then took overleadership of NAWSA again and developed“Winning Plan.”

Clarence Darrow 491. Eugene V. Debs and William Haywood

2. They had been driven to kidnap and kill by forcesbeyond their control.

3. Answers will vary, but should consider theenvironmental influences upon people and each individual’s responsibility for their ownactions.

Marian Anderson 501. She was denied the opportunity to sing at the

DAR’s concert hall in Washington, D.C., so EleanorRoosevelt arranged for her to sing at the LincolnMemorial.

2. When she traveled she was denied equalaccomodations.

3. In 1955 Marian Anderson was given a standingovation at the Metropolitan Opera before shesang, in 1957 the State Department sponsored hertour, President Eisenhower made her a delegate tothe United Nations, and in 1963 President

Johnson awarded her the Presidential Medal ofFreedom.

Ernest Hemingway 511. His first job was at a newspaper and he was a

foreign correspondent in Paris after World War I.He covered foreign wars as a journalist.

2. His writing style was spare and simple, free ofheavy language and long sentences. He usedmostly nouns and verbs for a lively, active voice.

3. Hemingway’s experiences with war helped himfocus on themes where an individual tries tounderstand life’s meaning during a time ofviolence.The main character attempts to dealwith violence with a strong personal code ofcourage, professionalism, and skill.

Frances Perkins 521. She volunteered at Hull House in Chicago.

2. She investigated working conditions as a memberof the Consumer’s League; she investigatedhazardous working conditions and influencedNew York legislation; she served New York Stateas labor commissioner.

3. Answers will vary but may include: to help theless fortunate, to improve conditions for workingpeople, generally to serve people.

Langston Hughes 531. He was elected class poet and editor of the

yearbook.

2. It fulfilled a need for expression, because hewrote poetry that did not earn him much money.

3. He tried to communicate that their heritage wasvaluable and that they should see being AfricanAmerican as beautiful.

Benjamin Oliver Davis, Jr. 541. They were a unit of African American pilots in

World War II.

2. He and other African American pilots flew 60combat missions, shooting down enemy aircraftwithout losing one American bomber.

3. Answers will vary but may include the followingreasons: Important goals of recognizingachievement and ability will become less significantif capable people are denied opportunity becausethey are minorities; the main motivation for fightingfor a democracy will be undermined; the principlesof the Declaration of Independence will be ignored;some potential leaders will never be discovered.

Luis Muñoz Marín 551. The United States appointed the governor.

2. He rejected becoming an independent nation orstatehood.

3. Answers will vary, but may include: If Puerto Ricowere independent, it would be able to direct itsown affairs, but it would lose the economic


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advantages and protection of being acommonwealth. If Puerto Rico became a state,its Hispanic culture might be weakened orabsorbed.

Ralph Ellison 561. He was interested in music and architecture.

2. The theme was African American identity in awhite-dominated society.The novel focused on aman who had been denied an identity andtherefore feels invisible.

3. Answers will vary.

Margaret Bourke–White 571. She photographed industrial architecture and

machinery.

2. She decided to photograph the people in theMontana towns as well as the dam underconstruction.

3. A photojournalist can raise the readers’ awarenessof the subject photographed while bringing asense of reality to the subject.

Vladimir Zworykin 581. He was born in Russia.

2. Two important inventions were the iconoscopeand the kinescope

3. Answers will vary but may include: Commercialtelevision is “free,” making it available to almosteveryone. It presents a variety of entertainmentprograms and responds directly to viewerinterests. However, commercial television hasbecome largely an entertainment medium,failing to provide many cultural or educationalprograms. It is dominated by the need to makemoney, and it presents a somewhat distortedimage of life.

Rosa Parks 591. The NAACP is an association that works to secure

full civil and political rights for African Americans.

2. Parks refused to move from her seat on a bus for awhite man at the request of the driver.

3. The Supreme Court’s ruling ended segregation onall public transportation.

Flannery O’Connor 601. O’Connor explores the topics of religion and the

conflicts between the old South and moderntimes, such as racism, lack of education, andgender issues.

2. O’Connor uses characters to reflect the nature ofthe South. Her characters are often strange and actin absurd or surreal ways, often turning violent.These strange behaviors reflect the complexitiesof Southern society as O’Connor sees it.

3. The South has a distinct character that grew fromits history and its people, and it is rich in traditionand culture.The heat and dense vegetation of the

South makes it an intense setting. Individualism, aconnection to the land, and strong religiousbeliefs combine to create complex characters.

Walt Disney 611. He first appeared in Steamboat Willie.

2. He launched a television show and amusementparks.

3. Answers will vary but may include: a. Disney’screativity in cartooning was unique. b.The variousventures in which Disney was successful showthat he knew what the public wanted. c. In an erawhen technological innovation was a key tosuccess, Disney’s passion for new cinematographyraised him above all competitors. d. Disney wasmore than a cartoonist and innovator, he had allthe qualities of a good businessman: ambition,sense of public needs, willingness to take risks,and vision.

Martin Luther King, Jr. 621. The Montgomery bus boycott brought King

national attention.

2. Dr. King believed in nonviolent demonstrations,while white moderates wanted to use only legalchannels and some African American activistswere in favor of violent confrontations.

3. Answers will vary but may include: Laws alreadyexisted to protect civil rights, but in manyinstances the laws were ignored or circumvented.Nonviolent demonstrations would draw attentionto the problem and force the communities tochange.Violence, however, might have theopposite effect intended, as many people whomight otherwise support civil rights would refuseto support violent confrontations.

Robert F. Kennedy 631. He graduated from Harvard and received a law

degree from the University of Virginia.

2. Liberal Democrats, supporters of civil rights,people who opposed the Vietnam War.

3. Being a brother to the President gave Robertname recognition and appointment to politicaloffice. However, he did have to prove himself tomany people who believed that he was appointedAttorney General just because he was a relative.

Henry B. Gonzalez 641. The House Assassinations Committee and House

Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee

2. He lost two important elections before winning aseat in the House. He fought against privatelyowned satellite communications until he won and he kept alive interest in the murder of afederal judge.

3. He favored a bill to end the poll tax, opposedclosing of schools in Texas during disturbancesover integration, opposed privately owned


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satellite communications, and he supportedincreased funds for housing.

Gloria Steinem 651. She wrote articles as a freelance writer.

2. Ms. was the first women’s magazine that wasentirely owned and operated by women.

3. She tried to get women to run for political office,worked for the Equal Rights Amendment, gavelectures, appeared on television talk shows, andwrote books and articles.

Ralph Nader 661. Nader used his college education to challenge

General Motors. He wrote Unsafe at Any Speedand became nationally known.

2. They used investigations, reports, lawsuits, andlobbying the government.

3. Answers will vary but should consider the reasonswhy the government should or should notregulate corporations to protect the consumer.

Norman Mineta 671. It began early in 1942 after Japan bombed Pearl

Harbor.

2. He became active in San Jose’s Japanese AmericanCitizens League, which led to the HumanRelations Commission, city council, and then hiselection as mayor.

3. Answers will vary but may include: Democracy in America has not worked perfectly: sometimesrights of individuals and groups have beenviolated. Democracy has permitted an opendiscussion of wrongs and an attempt to establishjustice and equality.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg 681. An early inspiration in Ginsburg’s life was her

mother.

2. In 1993 Ginsburg was appointed Associate Justiceof the United States Supreme Court by Bill Clinton.

3. Answers will vary.

Toni Morrison 691. Toni Morrison has won the Pulitzer Prize for

fiction and the Nobel Prize for Literature.

2. A cultural identity is a sense of who one is andhow one belongs in society.

3. Answers will vary but may include how, sinceAfrican Americans have been enslaved andsegregated from white society, they have beendenied their own culture and history by the whitemajority.

Steven Jobs 701. They built it in Steven Jobs’s garage.

2. Steven Jobs was not a very good manager.

3. Answers will vary but may include: Skills fordesign and building a computer require an

understanding of math, physics, and electronics,creativity, ability to concentrate on details, andability to work alone. Skills necessary in managinga large corporation are understanding of math andbusiness, knowledge of consumer needs, ability toorganize many different tasks, ability to work withpeople and to delegate responsibility.

Janet Reno 711. Reno was the state attorney for Dade County,

Florida—the highest legal office in the county.

2. The Attorney General must execute the laws ofthe United States.

3. Answers will vary but may include:The FederalBureau of Investigations solves bank robberies andkidnapping cases.The Drug Enforcement Agencypursues drug dealers.The Bureau of Prisonsmanages thousands of prisons around the country.The Immigration and Naturalization Servicecontrols how many people cross U.S. borders.

Amy Tan 721. The second generation to live in the United States

usually learns English faster and assimilates morequickly into American culture.

2. Tan uses the first person voice, which is oftenused in American literature, while the third personvoice is generally used in Chinese literature. Also,the concepts of analyzing one’s history or creatingone’s life how one wants it is usually a feature ofAmerican literature rather than Chinese.

3. Being raised in the United States and studyingEnglish and linguistics,Tan was well-assimilatedinto American culture. However, she was alsotaught Chinese traditions by her mother andtraveled to China with her.

Condoleezza Rice 731. Condoleezza Rice first served in Ronald Reagan’s

presidency.

2. Rice currently serves as the Secretary of State,which involves advising the President on foreignaffairs and carrying out the President’s foreignpolicy.

3. Answers may vary.

Hillary Clinton 741. Hillary Clinton served on two important

governmental committees, worked as a lawyer,served on corporate boards, and worked withprograms for children.

2. She was very open and vocal about issues and tookan active public role shaping governmental policy.

3. Answers will vary.Those who support thestatement may claim that she was never elected tooffice and therefore should have no power.Thosewho refute the statement may say that First Ladieshave always been involved and she was only beingpublic about it.


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