USA Flashcards
Reconstruction (1866)
African American History
The Reconstruction began in 1866, with the** Civil Rights Act**, which stated that all the people of the United States were equal citizens regardless of their race and ethnicity, and lasted until 1877.
It was a period in American History following the Civil War, which addressed the issues of the devastated South and focused on the social tensions between freed African Americans and White citizens. The Civil Rights Act was not satisfactory for the latter.
The plantation business was demolished due to the lack of workforce with the African American emancipation, which led to the drastic economic decline. To keep these changes under control, the sharecropping was introduced. It required people to operate in the field with outcoming dues, such as money and goods. The plantation owners, on their behold, provided the workers with the needed tools. Nevertheless, this system was not equally profitable for both parties, especially with the proposal of the Sharecropper Contract, which must be read and agreed to to work. This was a gimmick which affected the workers in a weaker position - many of them were illiterate. In that way, the Sharecropper Contract merged into the debt-slavery.
Moreover, during the Reconstruction, the segregation laws, or Jim Crow Laws, were active. These laws promoted racial repression and negatively affected the civil rights of the oppressed group. For instance, the denial of voting rights imposed unrealistic expectations on the recently freed people who could not attain financial stability or were not introduced to primary education beforehand. These regulations demanded paying taxes for votes and quoting constitutional acts in the applications. In addition, social oppression was at its peak, because petty offences, such as arguing with a white man, could lead to lynching.
Resistance Movement
African American History
The Resistance began from the very formation of slavery in the Colonial America. The first twenty Africans were brought to the land in 1619, were baptised according to the British law, and indentured by the** Indenture Form** to be servants for a fixed time. In 1640 the first African was sentenced to lifelong servitude after he attempted an escape from the plantation in Virginia.
The idea of slavery was unnatural to those who were under attack, so they would rebel and try to attain any type of justice, such as increased wages or additional hours of spare time.** In 1691 the Act which was designed to deal with runaway slaves was passed**, and the first notion of racial segregation was proposed - the word “white”, along with the prohibition of interracial marriages. However, it was nearly impossible to achieve any solution, especially with straightforward complaints, so the enslaved Africans would often work more slowly or break their tools to slow down the working process.
Later, in** the Great Awakening years (1730-1770),** protestant ministers came to American colonies to preach and try to convert people to their religion. The concepts of tyranny and slavery reflected African American mindsets as well as the poor White citizens, so it planted a seed of hope for liberty in their hearts.
Antebellum Years (1832-1860)
African American History
The Antebellum years occurred in 1832-1860, before the Civil War in 1861. They can be characterised as the most resistant and rebelling years of African American history with the rising tensions between **the Southern Confederacy and Northern Abolitionists. **
For all the African Americans, it was a crucially important epoch. Most of the Northern states had already abolished slavery by the 1800s, and the idea of liberty and emancipation was rooted not only in the minds of free Black men but also in the White society. “The Liberator” - one of the newspapers of the time published by William Lloyd Garrison, promoted negative views on the slavery phenomena and was in high demand. Moreover, the rise of the Slave narrative in printing shed light on the livelihood of ex-slaves in the North and also illustrated the harsh reality to the public, for instance **Narrative of Sojourner Truth. **
However, in 1850 a Figutive Slave Act was proposed, which required the retrieval of runaway slaves to plantations. It was a tricky regulation that would often violate the rights of free men and exacerbate the corrupt schemes across the North. In the later Antebellum years, when the new states were in the process of regulating their systems, it would cause an intense dispute among the anti- and pro-slavery parties, because both pursued different goals. In that way, the Free Soil Movement was established. It believed that slavery would ruin the idea of republicanism, and this led to the Border War, namely Bleeding Kansas, One of the main figures in Bleeding Kansas was John Brown, a strong opponent of slavery, who decided to raid the camp in Harper’s Ferry with a group of armed slaves. Later, he was hanged, but this specific event was a starting point for the Civil War.
Frederick Douglass
A social reformer, abolitionist, wrote an autobiography
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845)
Escaped slavery in 1838 and became the national leader of the African-American Civil Rights movement
Main concepts on how to abolish slavery:
1. Stresses the importance of the ability to convey the thoughts in a well-reasoned way in order to make the transition from slavery to freedom
- Giving a slave a basic education serves as proof of the underlying power of being educated because it would make a slave unfit to work and would change their mindset
- Being a good public speaker
- Not only does he give them a sense of autonomy and equality, but also provides them with the strategies that would help to abolish slavery, such as being knowledgeable, well-grounded in arguments and speaking their mind
Phillis Wheatley (18th century)
The first African American to publish a poetry book. Was emancipated shortly after that.
The Declaration of Independence
4th of July, 1776
“United States” (formed after 1776), a British then-colony was harshly taxed after Anglo-French Seven Years’ War ended in 1763 to recoup the expenses.
The Sugar Act - 1764 (all imported sugar from non-British colonies was taxed)
The Stamp Act - 1765 (all documents must be legalised with stamps that could only be retrieved by paying taxes)
The Tea Act (1773) led to the Boston Tea Party and a group of American colonists disguised as Mohawk Natives initiated a massacre.
The Townshend Acts (1767) - generally speaking, a set of tax duties to claim the funds.
Many colonists believed that war with Great Britain was inevitable and encouraged the pursuit of complete independence. In March 1775, Patrick Henry, a founding father, delivered his famous speech to the Second Virginia Convention, stating, “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
Less than one month later, the Battles of Lexington and Concord sparked the beginning of the American Revolutionary War. The Second Continental Congress convened, functioning as a national government, to form armies and strategise.
1774: Continental Congress Established
At the beginning of 1776, Thomas Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense, which encouraged colonists to strive for independence from Great Britain. It is credited for paving the way for the Declaration of Independence and convincing many colonists to support independence.
George Washington - The Founding Father - the first president of the United States of America (1789)
Founding Fathers
Founding Fathers, the most prominent statesmen of America’s Revolutionary generation, responsible for the successful war for colonial independence from Great Britain, the liberal ideas celebrated in the Declaration of Independence, and the republican form of government defined in the United States Constitution.
Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, etc.
Whiskey Rebellion (1794)
As the new country began finding its feet, U.S. President George Washington sent troops to western Pennsylvania in 1794 to quell the Whiskey Rebellion, an uprising by citizens who refused to pay a liquor tax that had been imposed to raise money for the national debt and to assert the power of the national government.
Federalists cheered the triumph of national authority, while members of Thomas Jefferson’s Republican (later Democratic-Republican) Party were appalled by what they saw as government overreach.
The Prohibition Era (Сухой закон)
Jazz Age, Roaring Twenties, Speakeasies
The period from 1920 to 1933 when the United States prohibited the production, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages.
Well-organized criminal gangs took control of the beer and liquor supply for many cities, unleashing a crime wave that shocked the U.S. This prohibition was taken advantage of by gangsters such as Al Capone
Illegal alcohol was smuggled across the borders of Canada and the United States. The resulting illicit speakeasies that grew from this era became lively venues of the “Jazz Age”, hosting popular music that included current dance songs, novelty songs and show tunes.
Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
Abraham Lincoln “freed” the slaves of the Confederate states in rebellion against the Union.
It took more than two years for news of the proclamation to reach the slaves in the distant state of Texas.
The arrival of the news on June 19 (of 1865) is now celebrated as a national holiday—Juneteenth or Emancipation Day.
Harvey Milk (1930-1978)
First open gay man to be elected to public office in California
Stock Market Crash/ The Wall Street Crash (1929)
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as the Great Crash or the Crash of ‘29, was a major American stock market crash that occurred in the autumn of 1929.
Marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth as well as for personal advancement. Altogether, there was a general loss of confidence in the economic future.
The Great Depression (1931-1939)
The usual explanations include numerous factors, especially high consumer debt, ill-regulated markets with overoptimistic loans by banks and investors (probably as an outcome of the Roaring Twenties’ over-consuming, materialistic culture), and the lack of high-growth new industries. These all interacted to create a downward economic spiral of reduced spending, falling confidence and lowered production.
Cold War (1947-1991)
1) the threat of nuclear war
2) competition over the allegiance (loyalty) of newly independent nations
3) the military and economic support of each other’s enemies around the world.
The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension marked by competition and confrontation between communist nations led by the Soviet Union and Western democracies including the United States. During World War II, the United States and the Soviets fought together as allies against Nazi Germany.
However, U.S./Soviet relations were never truly friendly: Americans had long been wary of Soviet communism and Russian leader Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical rule. The Soviets resented Americans’ refusal to give them a leading role in the international community, as well as America’s delayed entry into World War II, in which millions of Russians died.
Civil War (1861-1865)
North (Union)
The Republicans did not want slavery. Abraham Lincoln was elected. The Northern States organically grew more industrialised, establishin the cities rather than agriculture spots. Lots of fugitive slaves from the South.
South (Confedercay)
The Old Cotton Belt was economically dependant on slaves, especially after Cotton Gin’s success.
The First Battle of Bull Run - the first battle of the Civil War
