End of the 20th Century

The United States always has been a place where different ideas and views compete to influence law and social change. The liberal activism of the 1960s–1970s gave way to conservatism in the 1980s.

Conservatives wanted limited government, strong national defense, and tax cuts.
  American politics, however, can change quickly: In 1992, Americans elected the more liberal Bill Clinton as president.
Politics became more bitter than usual when the election was very close in 2000. A Supreme Court ruling about disputed ballots in Florida ensured that George W. Bush won the election over Al Gore.President Bush expected to focus on education, the U.S. economy, and Social Security. On September 11, 2001, everything changed.

Bush declared war on worldwide terrorism and sent U.S. troops into Afghanistan and Iraq. At first, most Americans backed President Bush, but many grew uncomfortable with his policies. In 2008, Americans chose Barack Obama for the presidency. Obama became the first African American to hold the nation’s highest office.

The United States has dramatically changed from its beginnings as 13 little-known colonies. Its population of 300 million people represents almost every national and ethnic group in the world. Progress continues in economics, technology, culture, and society. Americans live in an interdependent, interconnected world.

Cultural Change 1950–1980

At home, some Americans began to have easier lives. Families grew and some moved from the cities into outlying areas where they could purchase larger homes. Not all Americans were so successful. African Americans started a movement to gain fair treatment everywhere.

 In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled that separate schools for black children were not equal to those for white children and must be integrated. President Lyndon Johnson supported the
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his peaceful fight for civil rights and voting rights for African Americans.

 Many black Americans worked toward joining the more prosperous middle class. While racial prejudice was not gone, African Americans had a better chance to live freely and well.

During the 1960s and 1970s, many American women grew angry that they did not have the same opportunities as men.

 In 1992, Ben Nighthorse Campbell became the first Native American elected to the Senate.

Hispanic Americans from Mexico, Central America, Puerto Rico, and Cuba were politically active too. They fought against discrimination. They were elected to local, state, and national positions. 

Long hair, rock ’n’ roll music, and illegal drugs were visible symbols of the “counter-culture” thinking of some young people during this time. Americans became more concerned about pollution. The first Earth Day was designated in 1970.

The Cold War, Korean Conflict, and Vietnam

After World War II, the United States and Great Britain had long-term disagreements with the Soviet Union over the future of Europe, most of which had been freed from Nazi rule by their joint effort. Each wanted to establish governments friendly to its own interests there.
 Russia had been invaded twice in the past 40 years, and the United States twice had been dragged into European wars not of its making. Each believed that its system could best ensure its security, and each believed its ideas produced the most liberty, equality, and prosperity.


After World War II, many empires fell, and many civil wars occurred. The United States wanted stability, democracy, and open trade. Because it feared that postwar economic weakness would increase the popularity of communism, the U.S.

 The Soviet military forced communist governments on nations in Central and Eastern Europe. The United States wanted to limit Soviet expansion.  When the Soviets blockaded West Berlin, a U.S. airlift brought millions of tons of supplies to the divided city.

In 1949, the communist forces of Mao Zedong took control of China. Communist North Korea invaded South Korea with the support of China and the Soviet Union in 1950.
In the 1960s, the United States helped South Vietnam defend itself against communist North Vietnam. All American troops withdrew by 1973. In 1975, North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam.

The New Deal and World War II

President Roosevelt believed that democracy had failed in other countries because of unemployment and insecurity. In the early 1930s, he proposed a “New Deal” to end the Great Depression.
 The New Deal included many programs. Bank accounts were insured. New rules applied to the stock market. Workers could form unions to protect their rights.
The government hired people to plant trees, clean up waterways, and fix national parks.
The government provided flood control and electric power for poor areas. The Social Security system helped the poor, disabled, and elderly.

Many Americans were uneasy with big government, but they also wanted the government to help ordinary people. These programs helped, but they didn’t solve the economic problems. The United States remained neutral while Germany, Italy, and Japan attacked other countries.
As Japan conquered territories in China and elsewhere in Asia, it threatened to seize raw materials used by Western industries. In response, the United States refused to sell oil to Japan.
When the United States demanded that Japan withdraw from its conquered territories, Japan refused. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked the American fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The United States declared war on Japan. Because Germany and Italy were allies of Japan, they declared war on America.

Japan refused to surrender even as U.S. forces approached the Japane
se home islands. Some Americans thought invading Japan would cause larger numbers of U.S. and Japanese deaths. When the atomic bomb was ready, President Harry S. Truman decided to use it on two Japanese cities— Hiroshima and Nagasaki—to bring the war to an end without an invasion.

World War II was finally over in August 1945. 

World War I, 1920s Prosperity, and the Great Depression

In 1914, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey fought Britain, France, Italy, and Russia. Other nations joined the conflict, and the war reached across the Atlantic Ocean to affect the United States. The British and German navies blocked American shipping. In 1915, almost 130 Americans died when a German submarine sank the British ocean liner Lusitania. President Woodrow Wilson demanded an end to the German attacks. They stopped but started again in 1917. The United States declared w
ar.

President Wilson had a 14-point peace plan, including the creation of a League of Nations. He hoped the League would guarantee the peace, but in the final Treaty of Versailles, the victors of the war insisted on harsh punishment.
 After the war, the United States had problems with racial tension, struggling farms, and labor unrest. After Russia’s revolution in 1917, Americans feared the spread of communism. This period is often known as the Red Scare.

In October 1929 the good times ended with the collapse of the stock market and an economic depression. Businesses and factories shut down. Banks failed. Farms suffered. By November 1932, 20 percent of Americans did not have jobs.

Discontent and Reform

By 1900, the United States had seen growth, civil war, economic prosperity, and economic hard times. Americans still believed in religious freedom. Free public education was mostly accessible. The free press continued. On the negative side, it often seemed that political power belonged to a few corrupt officials and their friends in business. In response, the idea of Progressivism was born. Progressives wanted greater democracy and justice. They wanted an honest government to reduce the power of business.

the  President Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909) believed in Progressivism. He worked with Congress to regulate businesses that had established monopolies. He also worked hard to protect the country’s natural resources.
The Federal Reserve banking system set interest rates and controlled the money supply. The Federal Trade Commission dealt with unfair business practices.

 During the Progressive Era, more immigrants settled in the United States. Almost 19 million people arrived between 1890 and 1921 from Russia, Poland, Greece, Canada, Italy, Mexico, and Japan.  Although the government created quotas to restrict immigration, it relaxed those restrictions in the 1960s, assuring that the United States would remain a nation in which many different people and cultures could forge an identity as Americans.

Growth and Transformation

The United States changed after the Civil War. The frontier became less wild. Cities grew in size and number. More factories, steel mills, and railroads were built. Immigrants arrived in the United States with dreams of better lives.
This was the age of inventions. Alexander Graham Bell developed the telephone. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. George Eastman made the moving picture, later called a movie. Before 1860, the government issued 36,000 patents. From 1860 to 1890, the government issued 440,000. Separate companies merged to become larger companies, sometimes called trusts.

Farming was still America’s main occupation. Scientists improved seeds. New machines did some of the work that men had done. American farmers produced enough grain, meat, cotton, and wool to ship the surplus overseas.

When Europeans first arrived on the East Coast, they pushed the native people west. Each time, the government promised new land for the native people so they would have a home. Many tribes would live on reservations, which are federal lands administered by Indian tribes. Today there are more than 300 reservations.
Toward the end of the 1800s, European powers colonized Africa and fought for rights to trade in Asia. Many Americans believed that the United States should do the same.

United States encouraged them to become selfgoverning. In reality, the United States kept control. Idealism in foreign policy co-existed with the desire to prevent European powers from acquiring territories that might enable them to project military power toward the United States.

Civil War and Post-War Reconstruction

The American Civil War started in April 1861. President Lincoln led the Northern states. He was determined to stop the rebellion and keep the country united.

September 17, 1862, was the bloodiest day of the war. The two armies met at Antietam Creek in  Maryland. Gen. Robert E.
The battle was not decisive, but it was politically important. Britain and France had planned to recognize the Confederacy, but they delayed. The South never received the help it desperately needed.  Later in 1862, President Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation that freed all slaves in the Confederate states.

 In Virginia in April 1865, Gen. Lee surrendered to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. The Civil War was over. More Americans died in the Civil War than in any other U.S. conflict.
Vice President Andrew Johnson became president with the job of uniting the country. Johnson was a Southerner. He gave pardons to many Southerners, giving them back their political rights.

By the end of 1865, most of the former Confederate states canceled the acts of secession but refused to abolish slavery.

 President Johnson tried to stop many of these policies. The House of Representatives impeached Johnson, but the Senate was one vote short of the two-thirds majority required to remove Johnson from office.
The Southern states were not allowed to send representatives to Congress until they passed constitutional amendments barring slavery, granting all citizens “equal protection of the laws,” and allowing all male citizens the right to vote regardless of race.

Conflict within the United States

In 1850, the United States was a large country, full of contrasts. New England and the Middle Atlantic states were the centers of finance, trade, shipping, and manufacturing. Their products included lumber, machinery, and textiles. Southern states had many farms that used slave labor to grow tobacco, sugar, and cotton.
In 1819, Missouri asked to become a state. Northerners were against this because 10,000 slaves lived there. Because the Constitution allowed each new state to elect two senators, new states could change the political balance between “free” and “slave” states.

 In the following years, each side held its beliefs more strongly. Many Northerners thought slavery was wrong.

In 1860, however, one-third of the total population of slave states was not free.

A young politician from Illinois believed that this was not a local issue, but a national one. His name was Abraham Lincoln. He agreed that the South could keep its slaves, but he fought to keep slavery out of the territories

“This government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free.” ( Abraham Lincoln.) 

Early Years, Westward Expansion, and Regional Differences

George Washington became the first president of the United States on April 30, 1789. He had been in charge of the army. As president, his job was to create a working government.
 With Congress, he created the Treasury, Justice, and War departments. Together, the leaders of these departments and the others that were founded in later years are called the cabinet.

George Washington served two four-year terms as president before leaving office but  the next two presidents—John Adams and Thomas Jefferson —had different ideas about the role of government. This led to the creation of political parties.
For about 20 years, the United States was friendly to other countries and neutral toward their disputes, but France and Britain again were at war. After years of unsuccessful diplomacy, the United States went to war with Britain in 1812. The battles took place mostly in the Northeastern states and along the East Coast.

The Americans won important battles on land and sea. Weakened and in debt from its recent war with France, Britain signed a peace treaty with the U.S. in 1815. The U.S. victory made sure that Britain wouldn’t establish colonies south of the Canadian border.

An important addition to foreign policy was the Monroe Doctrine. President James Monroe’s announcement of solidarity with newly independent nations in Central and South America was a warning to Europe not to seek colonies in Latin America. 

Forming a National Government

In 1783, the 13 colonies became the United States. Before the war ended, the colonies had developed the Articles of Confederation. Each state had its own money, army, and navy. Each state traded and worked directly with other countries. Each state collected taxes in its own way. Each state believed its way was the right way. It was a nation of 13 countries.

In May 1787, 55 delegates met in Philadelphia. They knew about history, law, and political theory,  so they proposed a constitution describing a new form of government based on separate legislative, executive, and judicial authorities, but the problem was that  the delegates did not agree on all the details.

Some delegates wanted fewer people to have the right to vote; they believed that most people lacked the education to make good decisions. 

The Constitution provided the framework for the new government. The national government could create money, impose taxes, deal with foreign countries, keep an army, create a postal system, and wage war, constitution divided it into three equal parts—a legislature (Congress), an executive (president), and a judicial system (Supreme Court).

On September 17, 1787, most of the delegates signed the new Constitution. They agreed the Constitution would become the law of the United States when nine of the 13 states ratified, or accepted, it. 

It took about a year to ratify the Constitution. The country was divided into two groups. The Federalists wanted a strong central government. They supported the Constitution. The anti-Federalists wanted a loose group of states. They feared that a strong central government would become tyrannical. They were against the Constitution.

Revolution.

The American Revolution and the war for independence from Britain began with a small fight between British troops and colonists on April 19, 1775.

 At Lexington, they met armed colonists who were called Minutemen because they could be ready to fight in a minute. The Minutemen planned to protest silently and not shoot unless the British shot first. The British ordered the Minutemen to leave but after  British troops attacked the Minutemen with guns and bayonets.

Fighting broke out in other places along the way as the British soldiers in their bright red uniforms returned to Boston. More than 250 “redcoats” were killed or wounded. The Americans lost 93 men. Colonial representatives hurried to Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress. More than half voted to go to war against Britain.

George Washington of Virginia became the commander-in-chief. At the same time, they sent King George III a peace resolution to try to avoid a war. The king rejected it. On August 23, 1775, the king said the American colonies were in rebellion, the desire for independence increased in the next few months.

Thomas Paine, he described two possible conditions for America. The people could remain unequal citizens under a king, or they could live in an independent country with hopes of liberty and happiness.

The Second Continental Congress created a committee to write a document that outlined the colonies because the reasons were based on French and British ideas.

The Declaration of Independence told the world of a new nation and its beliefs about human freedom. It argued that political rights are basic human rights and are universal.

The colonies and Britain went to war. British soldiers defeated General Washington’s forces in New York and took control of Philadelphia, forcing the Second Continental Congress to flee. The Continental Army won at Saratoga in New York and at Princeton and Trenton in New Jersey. In 1778, France recognized the United States as an independent country and signed a treaty of alliance. 

The Revolution affected more than North America. 

The Road To Independence

The ideas of liberalism and democracy are the basic of the U.S. political system. As the colonist built their new society, the believed more strongly in these ideas. Britain´s 13 colonies grew in po`pulation and economic strength during the 1700s.
Afer Britain won a costly war with France in the 1750s, the colonist were asked to help pay for the war, and for Britain´s large empire. These policies restricted the colonists´way of life. For example,The Currency Act of 1764 made it illegal to print paper money in the colonies.
 The Stamp Act united the colonists in an organized resistance. The main problem was that they weren’t allowed to participate in the government that taxed them.
Samuel Adams,  he wrote newspaper articles and made speeches. The groups he helped to organize became a big part of the revolutionary movement.

By 1773, colonial traders, who were angry with British regulation of the tea trade, were interested in Sam Adams’s ideas.  The British Parliament punished Massachusetts by closing Boston’s port and by restricting local authority. Colonists called these new laws the Intolerable Acts and united to oppose them.
Colonists were angry with the British for taking away their rights, but not everyone agreed on the solution.

Colonial Period.

Most people who came tho British colonies in the 1600 were English. Others came from The Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France, Scotland and Nothern Ireland.
People come for different reasons. Some left their homes to escape war. Others sougth political or religious freedom.
In time, the 13 colonies dveloped whitin three distinc regions.
The first settlements were along the Atlantic coast and rivers that flowed into the ocean. The North east was called New England, and it included Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The economy was based on timber, Fishing, ship building and trade.
After that people worked in industry and agriculture. The society was more diverse and sophisticated but the same time most people were farmers. Some owned small farm that they worked themselves. The wealthy farmers owned large plantantions and used Aafrica slaves as workers.
The colonies developed goverments based on the British tradition of citizen participation. Iin Britain, The glorious revolution of 1688-1689 limited the power of the king and grave more power to the people. The American colonists colosely observed these changes. They passed laws that limited the power of the royal governor and increased their own authoroty but the disagreements between the royal governors and the assemblies continued.

Early Aamerica

The first American crossed the land bridge from Asia. historian believe that they lived what now is Alaska for thousands of years. They moved south into today`s mainland United States. 

they lived in the mountains and deserts of of the Southwest and along the Mississipi River in the Midwest.

They built villages and grew crops. Their lives were connected to the land, the family and community were important to them and they were writting with hieroglyphics.

The nature was important to their spiritual beliefs. Some groups built big piles of arth in the shapes of snakes, birds, or pyramids. 

No one knows why,but these groups dissapeared. Other groups, Hopi and zunni, latercame to this land and prospered. By the time the first Europeans arrived, about two million native people lived in what now is the United States. 

THE EXPLORATION

Historian believe that the first explorer were Europeans.

They  did not know about America.They were looking for away to go Asia from Europe by sea.
The most famous was Christopher Columbus. He was itlian. Columbus landed on islands in the Caribbeab Sea in 1492.
In 1497, Jhon Cabot, an explorer sailing for England, landed in eastern Canada. During the 1500s, Spain explored and claimed more land in the Americas than did done any other country. 
Spain conquered Mexico in 152, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado wanted to find the mythical seven cities of Cibola. He started looking in mexico and then traveled north to the Gran Canyion in arizona. 
The first permanet European settlement in North Aamerica was Spanish.It was built in St. Augustine in Florida.