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https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/113624/overview	Identifying Healthy Behaviors That Affect Personal Health Overview This resource is to be used in a kindergarten-2nd grade classroom to help teach how to Identify Healthy Behaviors That Affect Personal Health Standards, Objectives, and Essential Questions Indiana Academic Standards for Physical Education and/or Health \| 2 .1.1 \| \|\| Interdisciplinary Standards \| \|\|\| Essential Question(s) \| \| Materials and Resources Materials & Resources \| \| Vocabulary Words and Phrases of Focus - Healthy - Unhealthy - Exercise - Nutrition Healthy vs Unhealthy behaviors Understanding a balanced diet Hook and Phenomena Hook/Phenomena \| State the objective and tell students about the assessment. Youtube video about healthy behaviors. \| Instructional Agenda Instructional Agenda \| I DO/Whole Group: We will utilize sticky notes and identify healthy behaviors. The teacher will create 2 different categories “Nutrition” and “Exercise”. We will begin by discussing the importance of making healthy choices for our bodies and then each student will write an example and stick it in the correct category. The teacher will encourage discussion about why they stuck their note where they did. Formative Assessment- Have students write down what they ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner yesterday and rate it on a scale 1-5, with 5 being the healthiest and 1 being the least healthy. The teacher will then do it themselves on the whiteboard to model it for the students. The teacher will have the students help to rate her food items. We Do/Guided Practice: Stations- Formative Assessment- Each student names a healthy behavior that they can do at home. You Do/Independent Practice: The students will draw and label a healthy meal including at least one fruit and one vegetable. Summative Assessment- teacher gives students an assortment of flashcards with different behaviors/foods on them. For example, sitting on the couch, playing outside, apples, potato chips, etc. The students sort them into healthy vs unhealthy piles. \| Scaffolding for Gap Repair and Extended Learning Opportunities Scaffolding for Gap Repair and Extended Learning Opportunities \| SPED \| ELL \| High Ability \| \| \| \| Assesments Assessments \| Formative \| Summative \| - Have students write down what they ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and have them discuss with a partner what the healthy vs. unhealthy options were and rate it on a scale 1-5, with 5 being the healthiest and 1 being the least healthy. - Have each student name a healthy behavior outside of the classroom- i.e. playing outside, going for a walk, playing hopscotch, etc. \| -teacher gives students an assortment of flashcards with different behaviors/foods on them. For example, sitting on the couch, playing outside, apples, potato chips, etc. The students sort them into healthy vs unhealthy piles. \|	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:48.620131	Lesson Plan	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/113624/overview", "title": "Identifying Healthy Behaviors That Affect Personal Health", "author": "Assessment" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/94941/overview	Shortening Relative Clauses: A Free ESL Lesson Plan Overview This lesson focuses on reducing subject relative clauses as well as shortening relative pronouns. An example of reducing a subject relative clause might be removing “who is” from the sentence, “the man who is standing over there.” In that example Relative pronouns include that, which, who, whom, what, and whose. An example might be “He doesn’t like the shirt that I bought.” In defining relative clauses, when the relative pronoun (that) is the object of the clause (I bought)we can drop the relative pronoun. If you want additional lesson plans and support, including teachers’ notes, be sure to register for a free Off2Class account. Off2Class One of the earliest maxims taught in writing to “Omit needless words!” This free ESL Lesson Plan focuses on shortening relative clauses, a practical way of eliminating unnecessary words and ensuring that communication is clear and concise. The lesson provides a firm understanding of relative clauses as well as practice examples on shortening those clauses. And, to clarify, this lesson is suitable for advanced students. This lesson focuses on reducing subject relative clauses as well as shortening relative pronouns. An example of reducing a subject relative clause might be removing “who is” from the sentence, “the man who is standing over there.” In that example Relative pronouns include that, which, who, whom, what, and whose. An example might be “He doesn’t like the shirt that I bought.” In defining relative clauses, when the relative pronoun (that) is the object of the clause (I bought)we can drop the relative pronoun. If you want additional lesson plans and support, including teachers’ notes, be sure to register for a free Off2Class account.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:48.639011	07/06/2022	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/94941/overview", "title": "Shortening Relative Clauses: A Free ESL Lesson Plan", "author": "Christine Chan" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/89482/overview	Education Standards Natural Resources Check In The Lorax Business Planning Sheet Top 11 Natural Resource Examples What are Natural Resources? youtu.be/EdWesdMfyd4 The Lorax: A Study of Natural Resources Overview Study of natural resources using The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Engage “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It's not.”-The Lorax by Dr. Seuss Imagine you’re the last champion for the environment, but no one will listen to you. Today we will be digging into natural resources, and how we can help to protect God’s creation in our everyday life. Let’s begin our study by listening to The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. (Click Here) Explore Whoa! The Lorax definitely paints a not so pretty picture of what our world could be if we aren’t careful with our natural resources. Below you will find more videos, websites, and articles that will help give more information on natural resources. You may also do your own search for videos or articles talking about natural resources. Explain After reading articles, and watching videos, we now have a firm handle on what natural resources we have in our world. Complete the natural resource check in to explain your understanding of natural resources, and to connect your new knowledge to The Lorax. Apply This section of the lesson gives students that opportunity to create their own business, using the natural resources from The Lorax. You will need to front load your students about the basics of production, including byproducts. Use the byproducts that polluted the water and air in the book as examples. Now it's your turn to create a business, just like the Onceler. You are tasked with opening a business that uses the natural resources found in The Lorax. Plan your business using the planning sheet.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:48.665262	Lukas Riley	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/89482/overview", "title": "The Lorax: A Study of Natural Resources", "author": "Activity/Lab" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/111001/overview	Primary Sources: Library of Congress Overview In this activity, students in high school English or US History will use primary sources to learn about the women's suffrage movement. In this activity, students in high school English or US History will use primary sources to learn about the women's suffrage movement.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:48.680275	Dawn Mackesy	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/111001/overview", "title": "Primary Sources: Library of Congress", "author": "Primary Source" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/96466/overview	Education Standards High Desert Plants and Wildfire- 4th Grade Unit Overview NGSS unit addressing the following standards: 4-LS1-1 4-ESS 3-2 This 5E lesson guides students to answer the following questions: - How do plants’ structure and function affect their survival? - How do plants impact wildfires in Oregon? Unit Summary This is a 5E unit tied to the following standards from NGSS: 4-LS1-1 4-ESS 3-2 Students will be learning about structure and function in plants found in Oregon. They will discover how ponderosa pine and cheatgrass have structures to help them reproduce and grow in the high desert and their adaptations to wildfire. Through their investigations, they will discover the difference between a native and invasive plant and will discover that invasive species are outcompeting native species because of their specific plant structures. They will see what impact the increased number of invasive species has had on plants, animals, and people of Central Oregon. Secondly, students will be investigating the question,“How do invasive plants impact wildfires?” They will dive deeper into how a particular invasive plant (Bromus Tectorum) is impacting wildfires in the Northwest. They will investigate how the particular structures of cheat grass make it an ideal fuel for fires during the fire season, and see ways that people are trying to eradicate the species and suggest what to do if you have invasive species in your area.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:48.703564	Lesson Plan	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/96466/overview", "title": "High Desert Plants and Wildfire- 4th Grade Unit", "author": "Physical Geography" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/92859/overview	The Percussion Family Overview The Percussion Family is a complete lesson appropriate for students K-3 (the writing portion would need to be modified to fit the lower grade levels). It also includes an interactive google slide activity appropriate for all elementary grades. LESSON: Percussion (Grade 2) STANDARDS: - Standard 4: I can play instruments alone and with others - Standard 6: I can analyze music. - Standard 8: I can examine music from a variety of stylistic and historical periods and cultures. OBJECTIVES: - Students will be able to perform a steady beat on classroom percussion instruments using varied selections of music. - Students will be able to classify percussion instruments by how they are played. - Students will be able to write a descriptive paragraph to include artwork about their favorite percussion instrument. PROCEDURES: - Begin with a discussion on what “percussion” means. (It is the act of percussing or striking, shaking, or scraping). - Allow students to list instruments they think belong in the percussion family and make a separate list to determine if the instruments are played by hitting, shaking, or scraping. - Allow students to view “live” percussion ensembles. Here are a couple of YouTube sites you can use: - Zeppelin! The Louisville Leopard Percussionists - Clave & Sons-from “Beyond Basic Percussion” - Assign a percussion instrument to each student. Instruments can include: drums, maracas, guiros, tambourines, triangles, rhythm sticks, ect. - Play a couple of musical selections that include varying tempos. Some ideas are: “America!” (My Country ‘Tis of Thee) Excerpts from “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Edvard Grieg “We Will Rock You” by Queen Students will play their instrument while maintaining a steady beat. - Students will complete a google slide activity (Percussion Instruments) to determine if each instrument is played by hitting, shaking, or scraping. - Students will write a descriptive paragraph and include artwork to describe their favorite percussion instrument. MATERIALS NEEDED: - Classroom Percussion Instruments - Chromebooks - Paper, pencils, crayons, colored pencils and/or markers - Google Slide Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PeWwdnALPkfEWCCcRHvdlqmaH2kypgafCSl9SLbQhyc/edit?usp=sharing ASSESSMENT: - Teacher observation of students correctly playing and maintaining a steady beat on their instrument. - Accuracy of google slide activity - Writing/Artwork	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:48.728886	Tammy Oswalt	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/92859/overview", "title": "The Percussion Family", "author": "Lesson" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/82564/overview	- - 3-5 grades - 3-5-grades - ClimeTime - Structure and Function - Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction - climetime - dandelion - diversity and equity - diversity-and-equity - field investigation - field-investigation - flow of matter and energy - flow-of-matter-and-energy - invasive plant species - invasive-plant-species - investigation - modeling - needs of plants - needs-of-plants - observation - patterns in nature - patterns-in-nature - plant parts - plant-parts - plants - structure-and-function - wa-ela - wa-science - License: - Creative Commons Attribution - Language: - English - Media Formats: - Text/HTML Education Standards Learning Domain: Engineering, Technology, & Applications of Science Standard: Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost. Learning Domain: Earth's Systems Standard: Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season. Learning Domain: Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity Standard: Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. Learning Domain: Earth's Systems Standard: Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation. Learning Domain: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures & Processes Standard: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction. Learning Domain: Earth's Systems Standard: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact. Learning Domain: Earth and Human Activity Standard: Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to conserve Earth's resources and environment. Learning Domain: From Molecules to Organisms: Structures & Processes Standard: Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth primarily from air and water. Learning Domain: Energy Standard: Use models to describe that energy in animals' food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led)with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Review the key ideas expressed and explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others�۪ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grade 3Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led)with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others�۪ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grade 4Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Review the key ideas expressed and explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Science Domain: Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science Topic: Engineering Design Standard: Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost. Science Domain: Earth and Space Sciences Topic: Weather and Climate Standard: Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season. [Clarification Statement: Examples of data could include average temperature, precipitation, and wind direction.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment of graphical displays is limited to pictographs and bar graphs. Assessment does not include climate change.] Science Domain: Life Sciences Topic: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems: Environmental Impacts on Organisms Standard: Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. [Clarification Statement: Examples of evidence could include needs and characteristics of the organisms and habitats involved. The organisms and their habitat make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.] Science Domain: Earth and Space Sciences Topic: Earth's Systems: Processes that Shape the Earth Standard: Make observations and/or measurements to provide evidence of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation. [Clarification Statement: Examples of variables to test could include angle of slope in the downhill movement of water, amount of vegetation, speed of wind, relative rate of deposition, cycles of freezing and thawing of water, cycles of heating and cooling, and volume of water flow.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to a single form of weathering or erosion.] Science Domain: Life Sciences Topic: Structure, Function, and Information Processing Standard: Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction. [Clarification Statement: Examples of structures could include thorns, stems, roots, colored petals, heart, stomach, lung, brain, and skin.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to macroscopic structures within plant and animal systems.] Science Domain: Earth and Space Sciences Topic: Earth's Systems: Processes that Shape the Earth Standard: Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact. [Clarification Statement: Examples could include the influence of the ocean on ecosystems, landform shape, and climate; the influence of the atmosphere on landforms and ecosystems through weather and climate; and the influence of mountain ranges on winds and clouds in the atmosphere. The geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere are each a system.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to the interactions of two systems at a time.] Science Domain: Earth and Space Sciences Topic: Earth's Systems: Processes that Shape the Earth Standard: Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment. Science Domain: Life Sciences Topic: Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems Standard: Support an argument that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the idea that plant matter comes mostly from air and water, not from the soil.] Science Domain: Physical Sciences Topic: Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems Standard: Use models to describe that that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun. [Clarification Statement: Examples of models could include diagrams, and flow charts.] Cluster: Comprehension and Collaboration. Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Cluster: Comprehension and Collaboration. Standard: Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion. Cluster: Comprehension and Collaboration. Standard: Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Cluster: Comprehension and Collaboration. Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led)with diverse partners on grade 4 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Cluster: Comprehension and Collaboration. Standard: Review the key ideas expressed and explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion. Cluster: Comprehension and Collaboration. Standard: Paraphrase portions of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. Standard: Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably. Cluster: Key Ideas and Details. Standard: Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments. Lesson 1_Phenomenal Observations Lesson 2_Explanatory Model Lesson 3_Family Interview Lesson 4A_Habitat Comparison Investigation Lesson 4B_Plant Structures Investigation Lesson 4C_Plant Needs Investigation Lesson 5_Seed Dispersal Lesson 6_Global Origins & Uses Lesson 7_Rubric for Explanatory Model Related DCIs Related SEPs and CCCs Slide Deck What Makes a Weed a Weed? (for 3-5 Educators) Overview This professional development course consists of a series of workshops focused on NGSS-aligned & local phenomenon-centered curriculum, developed by IslandWood with funding from the OSPI ClimeTime Grant. It is currently structured to be delivered online and for Upper Elementary (3-5) educators. A slide deck and accompanying handouts are available to complement the course outline. Unlocking wonder with the nature in our communities provides endless opportunities for rich learning. This course guides teachers in using a simple clump of dandelions to anchor a Next Generation Science Standards-aligned storyline that will get students outside and engaged with science learning. Includes activities to implement in the classroom and a chance to debrief and adapt with other 3-5 grade teachers. All shared activities can be used in the schoolyard or by students who are learning remotely.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:48.819084	Environmental Science	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/82564/overview", "title": "What Makes a Weed a Weed? (for 3-5 Educators)", "author": "English Language Arts" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/68637/overview	- - Climate Science - ClimeTime - Forestry - Middle School Science - Wildfire - wa-ela - License: - Creative Commons Attribution - Language: - English Education Standards Learning Domain: Earth and Human Activity Standard: Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects. Learning Domain: Earth and Human Activity Standard: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring, evaluating, and managing a human impact on the environment. Learning Domain: Matter and Its Interactions Standard: Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed. Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6–8 text complexity band independently and proficiently. Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions. Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6–8 texts and topics. Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table). Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically. Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources. Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6��8 texts and topics. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table). Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Science Domain: Earth and Space Sciences Topic: Human Impacts Standard: Analyze and interpret data on natural hazards to forecast future catastrophic events and inform the development of technologies to mitigate their effects. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how some natural hazards, such as volcanic eruptions and severe weather, are preceded by phenomena that allow for reliable predictions, but others, such as earthquakes, occur suddenly and with no notice, and thus are not yet predictable. Examples of natural hazards can be taken from interior processes (such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions), surface processes (such as mass wasting and tsunamis), or severe weather events (such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods). Examples of data can include the locations, magnitudes, and frequencies of the natural hazards. Examples of technologies can be global (such as satellite systems to monitor hurricanes or forest fires) or local (such as building basements in tornado-prone regions or reservoirs to mitigate droughts).] Science Domain: Earth and Space Sciences Topic: Human Impacts Standard: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of the design process include examining human environmental impacts, assessing the kinds of solutions that are feasible, and designing and evaluating solutions that could reduce that impact. Examples of human impacts can include water usage (such as the withdrawal of water from streams and aquifers or the construction of dams and levees), land usage (such as urban development, agriculture, or the removal of wetlands), and pollution (such as of the air, water, or land).] Science Domain: Physical Sciences Topic: Structure and Properties of Matter Standard: Develop a model that predicts and describes changes in particle motion, temperature, and state of a pure substance when thermal energy is added or removed. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on qualitative molecular-level models of solids, liquids, and gases to show that adding or removing thermal energy increases or decreases kinetic energy of the particles until a change of state occurs. Examples of models could include drawing and diagrams. Examples of particles could include molecules or inert atoms. Examples of pure substances could include water, carbon dioxide, and helium.] Cluster: Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity. Standard: By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6–8 text complexity band independently and proficiently. Cluster: Key Ideas and Details. Standard: Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions. Cluster: Craft and Structure. Standard: Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6–8 texts and topics. Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. Standard: Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table). Cluster: Text Types and Purposes. Standard: Introduce claim(s) about a topic or issue, acknowledge and distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and organize the reasons and evidence logically. Cluster: Text Types and Purposes. Standard: Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. PEI SOLS MS Fire: Forest Management Overview Wildfires are a contributing factor to greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists estimate that wildfires emitted 8 billion tons of CO2 per year for the past 20 years. Wildfires have risks and benefits that humans are impacted by. In this storyline, students will learn about the risks and benefits of wildfires, the science behind how fire occurs and the conditions that make a fire catastrophic. Students will evaluate local/regional fires to determine how human activities contribute to wildfires. Students will research how forest management decisions are made to decrease the negative impacts of wildfires and to decrease the amount of CO2 that is emitted from those fires.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:48.879382	Pacific Education Institute	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/68637/overview", "title": "PEI SOLS MS Fire: Forest Management", "author": "Unit of Study" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/84881/overview	Education Standards 00- Slide Deck - Virtual Orientation to the Resources 0-Kindergarten NGSS Topic Unit Resources 0-Kindergarten NGSS Topic Unit Resources pdf 1st Grade NGSS Topic Unit Resources 1st Grade NGSS Topic Unit Resources pdf 2nd Grade NGSS Topic Unit Resources 2nd Grade NGSS Topic Unit Resources pdf 3rd Grade NGSS Topic Unit Resources 3rd Grade NGSS Topic Unit Resources pdf 4th Grade NGSS Topic Unit Resources 4th Grade NGSS Topic Unit Resources pdf 5th Grade NGSS Topic Unit Resources 5th Grade NGSS Topic Unit Resources pdf Integrating Science with ELA and Math Wakelet Learning Design for NGSS Wakelet NGSS Toolkit Wakelet K-5 NGSS Resource Sets for Teaching Science and Integrating with ELA Overview This OSPI resource provides curated collections of free activities, lessons, units, and informational "texts" (articles, passages, e-books, videos, podcasts) to support every NGSS Performance Expectation (standard) in grades K-5. This resource is intended to support teachers with teaching science while also integrating science and ELA to grow student knowledge, thinking, application, and skills in both content areas. Materials are organized into units based on the topics and essential questions in each grade. Resources listed are all freely available online, with some requiring teachers to create free accounts to access. Some trade books are also listed that might be accessed through a library system. Gratitude is expressed to the Washington State Science Fellows, Science Fellows Emeriti, and ELA Fellows who contributed to curating the informational texts. For questions or comments contact OSPI Elementary Science at Kimberley.Astle@k12.wa.us. Viewing the Resource on This Site To easily view the resources by grade level without clicking through all the pages, you can either: 1. Click the drop down arrow next to 2 of 14, which allows you to then choose a grade level. or 2. Click "See Old Layout" in the corner, which displays the page with all the grade level resources listed on the right side of the page. Slides from the Virtual Orientation to this Resource and from NSTA Session Here is the slide deck from the one hour virtual orientation from OSPI on this resource with some tips for integrating content. Also linked is my NSTA Portland Conference Presentation Slidedeck , "Integrating Science and ELA, It's the Perfrect Match!" Background and Purpose Curated activities, lessons, units, and informational "texts" (passages, articles, e-books, videos, podcasts) to support every K-5 NGSS Performance Expectation. Background and Purpose This resource guide is provided as a support, supplement, and encouragement for teachers for design learning for their Next Generation Science Standards and to integrate science learning with English Language Arts. Each grade level’s standards are organized by the Topic Arrangement of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), which bundles the Performance Expectations for each grade into several thematic units, each one driven by one or more overarching essential questions. The essential questions for each grade encompass the performance expectations and can be used to coherently focus the instructional lens and activities on big ideas at the heart of the grade level learning. The Topic Arrangement also provides a defined thematic lens that invites meaningful integration with English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Social Studies, an important strategy for designing learning to make optimal use of limited instructional minutes in the elementary grades. To anchor each unit, a possible driving phenomenon is suggested as an example, knowing that teachers might instead leverage local phenomena or those based on student interest to personalize unit anchors specific to their area and learners. A selection of freely available learning resources at the activity, lesson, unit, and whole year level are provided, knowing that teachers will choose, use and revise to best provide for the situation and needs of their students, whether that is in-person, virtual, or hybrid. Some materials will require adaptation to best work for your class. In addition, a variety of freely available reading and listening resources (“texts”) are provided in order for teachers to select what best suits the needs and interests of their students. These listings are not meant to be comprehensive, but rather to offer support and connections to freely available resources that can help students more deeply understand the science content and concepts in each standard. Some will require teacher registration to access the free materials. Listed text resources were curated by WA State Science Fellows, WA State Science Fellow Emeriti, WA State ELA Fellows, and Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction Associate Director of Elementary Science- Kimberley Astle. We welcome collaboration and invite educators to provide feedback on the listed resources as well as sharing additional freely available materials they feel may be helpful to other teachers. Please email kimberley.astle@k12.wa.us at the OSPI Elementary Science Department with ideas, feedback, questions, resources, or concerns. Disclaimer: Potential learning resources are listed, but teachers should be sure and preview all materials before use with students to ensure they are appropriate for their own students and families. Learning Design and Integrating Informational Texts with Science Learning Experiences Learning Design and Integrating Informational Texts with Science Learning Experiences In NGSS, informational “texts” (articles, passages, videos, podcasts, images, photographs, diagrams, maps, tables, graphs etc.…) that introduce a phenomenon or problem without explaining it for students can be used early in the unit or lesson. Texts that explain phenomena or problems should be saved until later in the learning sequence after students have had ample opportunities to observe, ask questions, investigate, make sense collaboratively, figure out, and explain as much of the phenomenon and science concepts as they can through engaging in scientific behaviors, modeling, talk, and thinking. Engaging with explanatory resources too soon in the learning process robs students of the learning opportunities that allow them to develop scientific literacy. The 5E Model developed by BSCS provides a useful structure to ensure students have a complete cycle of science learning experiences that are student-centered, inquiry-based, and investigative in nature, while at the same time engaging deeply in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and academic vocabulary development. Note that informational texts/videos that introduce phenomena might be used in the engagement or exploration stages and texts/videos that explain phenomena or science concepts are best used in the explanation and elaboration stages to fill in, cement, and extend student learnings. STAGES OF THE 5E MODEL - Engagement: Students' prior knowledge is accessed, and their interest is engaged in the phenomenon. The teacher does not explain or confirm student ideas in this stage. - Exploration: Students participate in activities that allows them to interact with phenomena and begin developing ideas, asking questions, and developing early explanations. - Explanation: Students generate an explanation of the phenomenon. - Elaboration: Students' understanding of the phenomenon is challenged and deepened as they apply and test their explanation in related situations. - Evaluation: Students demonstrate their understanding of the phenomenon. RESOURCES FOR UNDERSTANDING THE 5E MODEL - 5E Model of Instruction \| San Diego County Office of Education Science Resource Center -all rights reserved-free online. Article - Inquiry Science: The 5E Model \| Primary Connections- Linking Science with Literacy- all rights reserved-free online. 4:58 minute video - 5E Instructional Model of Science \| -all rights reserved-free online. 3P Learning- article - Planning Science Lessons Using the 5E Model \| Karagand A University- all rights reserved-free online. Chart showing teacher and students roles in each stage Additional Resources on NGSS Learning Design and on Integrating Content - Learning Design for NGSS Wakelet Collection of various resources supporting NGSS learning design. - Integrating Science with ELA and Math Wakelet Collection of various resources on integration research, instructional strategies, examples, etc… - NGSS Toolkit Wakelet Collection of resources collections on every NGSS topic. Free Online Informational Text Sources TEXT ONLY RESOURCES Readworks K-12 (English) - High-interest reading passages, articles, ebooks, fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. - Teacher will need to make a free account. - You can assign students passages. Create a class and roster student accounts. To avoid using student data for their accounts, use each student’s class number as their name, 1, 2, 3 etc.…. - You can also print materials to a pdf and save it or print to paper. - Students can click to have the passage read to them. - Includes comprehension questions (multiple choice and written answer). Newsela K-12 (English, some Spanish) - High-interest news articles. - Teacher will need to make a free account. - For teacher read-aloud or whole class reading, you can choose “present mode” then highlight and annotate text together. - You cannot assign students passages online with the free version, but you can print articles to a pdf and save it or print to paper. - Includes multiple choice quiz questions and writing prompts. - Students can click to have the passage read to them. - They also have a paid “PRO” version. This allows you to assign articles online to students, track progress (e.g., quiz scores), and access teacher created resources (to pair with the texts). Wonderopolis K-8 (English) - High-interest science passages. - No log in or account needed - Each passage is paired with video clips, photos, vocabulary words, questions, and related activities to try. - Text is not an independent level for very young students. - Students can click to have the passage read to them - You can print passages to a pdf and save it or print to paper. National Geographic Kids K-12 (English) - High-interest animal-related science articles, fact lists, and how to passages. - Site access is free online with no log ins or account needed. Science for Kids: National Geographic UK K-12 (English) - High-interest animal-related fact lists with photos. - Site access is free online with no log-ins or account needed. Teaching Kids News 2-8 (English) - High-interest news articles for kids. - Site access is free online with no log ins or account needed. - Articles can be printed to pdf or paper. - Each article includes a writing/discussion prompt and a reading prompt. PODCAST AND VIDEO SOURCES PBS Learning Media K-12 (English, Spanish) Videos, Lessons, Interactives - This excellent free education site offers lessons, videos, interactives, interactive lessons, other media, and collections. - Teachers will need to make a free account to assign. - Materials often include instructional supports for teachers. - Some resources are aligned to NGSS, but other would need to be adapted to provide the appropriate student interactions with the Science and Engineering Practices and the Crosscutting Concepts. Science Friday 3-12 (English) Podcasts, Stories, Videos - High-interest podcasts, stories, and short videos. - Classes might read the short video introductions together and write/share their questions about the topic, their connections and background knowledge, and predictions for what they will learn in the video. Students can then listen carefully during the video for answers to their questions and information that supports their claims. Teacher can pause the video for discussions along the way. The Kid Should See This K-12 (English) Videos - Short, high-interest videos paired with a transcript of the first part of the video. - Classes might read the text transcript introductions together and write/share their questions about the topic, their connections and background knowledge, and predictions for what they will learn in the video. Students can then listen carefully during the video for answers to their questions and information that supports their claims. Teacher can pause the video for discussions along the way. - Site access is free online with no log ins or account needed. Brains On K-5 (English) Podcasts - Very kid-friendly podcasts on science topics with a kid guest host and a science expert, sometimes answering kid-submitted questions. - 30-40 minute podcasts. Classes might just listen to selected exerpts or listen to the entire podcast in segments over time. - Site access is free online with no log ins or account needed. Ask Dr. Universe K-8 (English) Informational Text Articles, Videos, Podcasts - Very kid-friendly articles, videos, and podcasts on science topics with a kid guest host and a science expert, sometimes answering kid-submitted questions. - Texts are in narrative format, with Dr. Universe answering a student question and explaining the topic. - Site access is free online with no log ins or account needed. Tumble 2-5 (English, Spanish) Podcasts - Kid-friendly podcasts on science topics. - 15-20 minute podcasts. - Site access is free online with no log ins or account needed. - Podcasts have short commercials at the beginning to skip past. NGSS RESOURCES NGSS Toolkit – If you are interested in learning more about the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), this is a collection of resources addressing all areas of NGSS. NSTA Daily Dos K-5+ (English) Lessons and Activities - Quality NGSS-aligned activities and lessons from NSTA (the National Science Teaching Association) - For limited access to materials, go to this site, then click on the “Create a Free User Account” link. Creating a Guest Account gives you access to many free resources and up to 3 resources per month that are normally paid, such as the NSTA Daily Dos. - For full, unlimited access to all NSTA resources, sign up for one of the paid memberships. Going 3D with GRC K-5+ (English) Lessons and Activities - Lesson sketches for each NGSS PE developed by teachers. - Instructional moves are suggested, but not fully fleshed out. - More lessons are available on their site. Kindergarten NGSS Resource Sets Curated activities, lessons, units, and informational "texts" (passages, articles, e-books, videos, podcasts) to support every Kindergarten NGSS Performance Expectation. Please be sure that students engage with explanatory texts AFTER they have had ample opportunity to observe, explore, and explain phenomena and problems as far as they are able themselves. Providing explanatory texts too early in the science learning process prevents students from engaging as scientists and developing science, engineering, thinking, and reasoning skills. Kindergarten Science Through the Essential Questions “The performance expectations in Kindergarten help students formulate answers to grade level essential questions such as: What happens if you push or pull an object harder? Where do animals live and why do they live there? What is the weather like today? How is it different from yesterday?” - Students are able to apply an understanding of the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object to analyze a design solution. - Students are expected to develop understanding of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive and the relationship between their needs and where they live. - Students are also expected to develop understanding of patterns and variations in local weather and the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather. The crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; systems and system models; interdependence of science, engineering, and technology; and influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas. In the kindergarten performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in asking questions, developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Students are expected to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas.” Kindergarten NGSS Front Matter: Topic Arrangement First Grade NGSS Resource Sets Curated activities, lessons, units, and informational "texts" (passages, articles, e-books, videos, podcasts) to support every First Grade NGSS Performance Expectation. Please be sure that students engage with explanatory texts AFTER they have had ample opportunity to observe, explore, and explain phenomena and problems as far as they are able themselves. Providing explanatory texts too early in the science learning process prevents students from engaging as scientists and developing science, engineering, thinking, and reasoning skills. First Grade Through the Essential Questions “The performance expectations in First Grade help students formulate answers to grade level essential questions such as: What happens when materials vibrate? What happens when there is no light? What are some ways plants and animals meet their needs so that they can survive and grow? How are parents and their children similar and different? What objects are in the sky and how do they seem to move? - Students are expected to develop understanding of the relationship between sound and vibrating materials as well as between the availability of light and ability to see objects. The idea that light travels from place to place can be understood by students at this level through determining the effect of placing objects made with different materials in the path of a beam of light. - Students are also expected to develop understanding of how plants and animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs as well as how behaviors of parents and offspring help the offspring survive. The understanding is developed that young plants and animals are like, but not exactly the same as, their parents. - Students are able to observe, describe, and predict some patterns of the movement of objects in the sky. The crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; structure and function; and influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas. In the first grade performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations and designing solutions, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Students are expected to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas.” First Grade NGSS Front Matter: Topic Arrangement Second Grade NGSS Resource Sets Curated activities, lessons, units, and informational "texts" (passages, articles, e-books, videos, podcasts) to support every Second Grade NGSS Performance Expectation. Please be sure that students engage with explanatory texts AFTER they have had ample opportunity to observe, explore, and explain phenomena and problems as far as they are able themselves. Providing explanatory texts too early in the science learning process prevents students from engaging as scientists and developing science, engineering, thinking, and reasoning skills. Second Grade Through the Essential Questions “The performance expectations in Second Grade help students formulate answers to grade level essential questions such as: How does land change and what are some things that cause it to change? What are the different kinds of land and bodies of water? How are materials similar and different from one another, and how do the properties of the materials relate to their use? What do plants need to grow? How many types of living things live in a place?” - Students are expected to develop an understanding of what plants need to grow and how plants depend on animals for seed dispersal and pollination. Students are also expected to compare the diversity of life in different habitats. - An understanding of observable properties of materials is developed by students at this level through analysis and classification of different materials. - Students are able to apply their understanding of the idea that wind and water can change the shape of the land to compare design solutions to slow or prevent such change. Students are able to use information and models to identify and represent the shapes and kinds of land and bodies of water in an area and where water is found on Earth. The crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; energy and matter; structure and function; stability and change; and influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas. In the second grade performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade appropriate proficiency in developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations and designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, valuating, and communicating information. Students are expected to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas. Second Grade NGSS Front Matter: Topic Arrangement Third Grade NGSS Resource Sets Curated activities, lessons, units, and informational "texts" (passages, articles, e-books, videos, podcasts) to support everyThird Grade NGSS Performance Expectation. Please be sure that students engage with explanatory texts AFTER they have had ample opportunity to observe, explore, and explain phenomena and problems as far as they are able themselves. Providing explanatory texts too early in the science learning process prevents students from engaging as scientists and developing science, engineering, thinking, and reasoning skills. Third Grade Through the Essential Questions “The performance expectations in Third Grade help students formulate answers to grade level essential questions such as: “What is typical weather in different parts of the world and during different times of the year? How can the impact of weather-related hazards be reduced? How do organisms vary in their traits? How are plants, animals, and environments of the past similar or different from current plants, animals, and environments? What happens to organisms when their environment changes? How do equal and unequal forces on an object affect the object? How can magnets be used?” - Students are able to organize and use data to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season. By applying their understanding of weather-related hazards, students are able to make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of such hazards. - Students are expected to develop an understanding of the similarities and differences of organisms’ life cycles. Also, that organisms have different inherited traits, and that the environment can affect the traits that an organism develops. - In addition, students are able to construct an explanation using evidence for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing. - Students are expected to develop an understanding of types of organisms that lived long ago and about the nature of their environments. - Third graders are expected to develop an understanding of the idea that when the environment changes some organisms survive and reproduce, some move to new locations, some move into the transformed environment, and some die. - Students are able to determine the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object and the cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other. They are then able to apply their understanding to define a simple design problem that can be solved with magnets. The crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; scale, proportion, and quantity; systems and system models; interdependence of science, engineering, and technology; and influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas. In the third grade performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in asking questions and defining problems; developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations and designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Students are expected to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas. Third Grade NGSS Front Matter: Topic Arrangement Fourth Grade NGSS Resource Sets Curated activities, lessons, units, and informational "texts" (passages, articles, e-books, videos, podcasts) to support every Fourth Grade NGSS Performance Expectation. Please be sure that students engage with explanatory texts AFTER they have had ample opportunity to observe, explore, and explain phenomena and problems as far as they are able themselves. Providing explanatory texts too early in the science learning process prevents students from engaging as scientists and developing science, engineering, thinking, and reasoning skills. Fourth Grade Through the Essential Questions “The performance expectations in Fourth Grade help students formulate answers to grade level essential questions such as: “What are waves and what are some things they can do? How can water, ice, wind, and vegetation change the land? What patterns of Earth’s features can be determined with the use of maps? How do internal and external structures support the survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction of plants and animals? What is energy and how is it related to motion? How is energy transferred? How can energy be used to solve a problem? - Students are able to use a model of waves to describe patterns of waves in terms of amplitude and wavelength, and that waves can cause objects to move. - Students are expected to develop understanding of the effects of weathering or the rate of erosion by water, ice, wind, or vegetation. They apply their knowledge of natural Earth processes to generate and compare multiple solutions to reduce the impacts of such processes on humans. In order to describe patterns of Earth’s features, students analyze and interpret data from maps. - Fourth graders are expected to develop an understanding that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction. By developing a model, they describe that an object can be seen when light reflected from its surface enters the eye. - Students are able to use evidence to construct an explanation of the relationship between the speed of an object and the energy of that object. Students are expected to develop an understanding that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents or from object to object through collisions. They apply their understanding of energy to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another. The crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; energy and matter; systems and system models; interdependence of science, engineering, and technology; and influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas. In the fourth grade performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in asking questions, developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations and designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information. Students are expected to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas. Fourth Grade NGSS Front Matter: Topic Arrangement Fifth Grade NGSS Resource Sets Curated activities, lessons, units, and informational "texts" (passages, articles, e-books, videos, podcasts) to support every Fifth Grade NGSS Performance Expectation. Please be sure that students engage with explanatory texts AFTER they have had ample opportunity to observe, explore, and explain phenomena and problems as far as they are able themselves. Providing explanatory texts too early in the science learning process prevents students from engaging as scientists and developing science, engineering, thinking, and reasoning skills. Fifth Grade Through the Essential Questions “The performance expectations in Fifth Grade help students formulate answers to grade level essential questions such as: When matter changes, does its weight change? How much water can be found in different places on Earth? Can new substances be created by combining other substances? How does matter cycle through ecosystems? Where does the energy in food come from and what is it used for? How do lengths and directions of shadows or relative lengths of day and night change from day to day? How does the appearance of some stars change in different seasons?” - Students are able to describe that matter is made of particles too small to be seen through the development of a model. Students develop an understanding of the idea that regardless of the type of change that matter undergoes, the total weight of matter is conserved. Students determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances. - Through the development of a model using an example, students are able to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact. They describe and graph data to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth. - Students develop an understanding of the idea that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water. Using models, students can describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment and that energy in animals’ food was once energy from the sun. - Students are expected to develop an understanding of patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of stars in the night sky. The crosscutting concepts of patterns; cause and effect; scale, proportion, and quantity; energy and matter; and systems and systems models are called out as organizing concepts for these disciplinary core ideas. In the fifth grade performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, using mathematics and computational thinking, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information; and to use these practices to demonstrate understanding of the core ideas. Fifth Grade NGSS Front Matter: Topic Arrangement Attributions NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press \| Public License Icons from The Noun Project - text by Kudicon from the Noun Project - video by i cons from the Noun Project - podcast by Larea from the Noun Project - stage by Nithinan Tatah from the Noun Project - cogs by Milinda Courey from the Noun Project - questions by Gregor Cresnar from the Noun Project Science books photo by Kimberley Astle \| CC BY NC (book cover images copyright of their respective owners and used pursuant to fair use) License Except where otherwise noted, this work by the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. All logos and trademarks are property of their respective owners. Sections used under fair use doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 107) are marked. This resource contains links to websites operated by third parties. These links are provided for your convenience only and do not constitute or imply any endorsement or monitoring by OSPI. Please confirm the license status of any third-party resources and understand their terms of use before reusing them.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.045485	Physical Geography	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/84881/overview", "title": "K-5 NGSS Resource Sets for Teaching Science and Integrating with ELA", "author": "Literature" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/82621/overview	- - Climate Science - ClimeTime - Ecosystem - Middle School Science - Wetlands - climetime - wa-ela - License: - Creative Commons Attribution - Language: - English Education Standards - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - ... - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - 13 - 14 - 15 - 16 - 17 - 18 - 19 - 20 - 21 - 22 - 23 - 24 - 25 - 26 - 27 - 28 - 29 - 30 - 31 - 32 - 33 - 34 - 35 - 36 - 37 - 38 - 39 - 40 - 41 - 42 - 43 - 44 - 45 - 46 - 47 - 48 - 49 - 50 - 51 - 52 - 53 - 54 - 55 - 56 - 57 - 58 - 59 - 60 - 61 - 62 - 63 - 64 - 65 - 66 - 67 - 68 - 69 - 70 - 71 - 72 - 73 - 74 - 75 - 76 - 77 - 78 - 79 - 80 - 81 - 82 - 83 - 84 - 85 - 86 - 87 - 88 - 89 - 90 - 91 - 92 - 93 - 94 - 95 - 96 - 97 - 98 - 99 - 100 - 101 - 102 - 103 - 104 - 105 - 106 - 107 - 108 - 109 - 110 Learning Domain: Earth and Human Activity Standard: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring, evaluating, and managing a human impact on the environment. Learning Domain: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics Standard: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations. Learning Domain: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics Standard: Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events). Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position from that of others. Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts. Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks. Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table). Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, images, music, sound) and visual displays in presentations to clarify information. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grade 6 Language standards 1 and 3 on page 53 for specific expectations.) Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and findings and emphasize salient points. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grade 7 Language standards 1 and 3 on page 53 for specific expectations.) Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content. Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events). Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position from that of others. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Reading for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects Standard: Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table). Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others�۪ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, images, music, sound) and visual displays in presentations to clarify information. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grade 6 Language standards 1 and 3 on page 53 for specific expectations.) Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others�۪ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and findings and emphasize salient points. Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grade 7 Language standards 1 and 3 on page 53 for specific expectations.) Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 9-10Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 9-10Learning Domain: Speaking and Listening Standard: Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Learning Domain: Writing Standard: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards Grades 6-8Learning Domain: Writing for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects Standard: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research. Science Domain: Earth and Space Sciences Topic: Human Impacts Standard: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of the design process include examining human environmental impacts, assessing the kinds of solutions that are feasible, and designing and evaluating solutions that could reduce that impact. Examples of human impacts can include water usage (such as the withdrawal of water from streams and aquifers or the construction of dams and levees), land usage (such as urban development, agriculture, or the removal of wetlands), and pollution (such as of the air, water, or land).] Science Domain: Life Sciences Topic: Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems Standard: Construct an argument supported by empirical evidence that changes to physical or biological components of an ecosystem affect populations. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on recognizing patterns in data and making warranted inferences about changes in populations, and on evaluating empirical evidence supporting arguments about changes to ecosystems.] Science Domain: Life Sciences Topic: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems Standard: Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of ecosystem services could include water purification, nutrient recycling, and prevention of soil erosion. Examples of design solution constraints could include scientific, economic, and social considerations.] Cluster: Key Ideas and Details. Standard: Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. Standard: Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue. Cluster: Text Types and Purposes. Standard: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence. Cluster: Range of Writing. Standard: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Cluster: Comprehension and Collaboration. Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 6 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas. Standard: Present claims and findings, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas. Standard: Include multimedia components (e.g., graphics, images, music, sound) and visual displays in presentations to clarify information. Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas. Standard: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grade 6 Language standards 1 and 3 on page 53 for specific expectations.) Cluster: Key Ideas and Details. Standard: Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts. Cluster: Key Ideas and Details. Standard: Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks. Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. Standard: Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table). Cluster: Text Types and Purposes. Standard: Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis reflection, and research. Cluster: Key Ideas and Details. Standard: Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. Cluster: Key Ideas and Details. Standard: Determine two or more central ideas in a text and analyze their development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text. Cluster: Key Ideas and Details. Standard: Analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events). Cluster: Craft and Structure. Standard: Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position from that of others. Cluster: Range of Writing. Standard: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions for further research and investigation. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Cluster: Comprehension and Collaboration. Standard: Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 7 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly. Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas. Standard: Present claims and findings, emphasizing salient points in a focused, coherent manner with pertinent descriptions, facts, details, and examples; use appropriate eye contact, adequate volume, and clear pronunciation. Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas. Standard: Include multimedia components and visual displays in presentations to clarify claims and findings and emphasize salient points. Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas. Standard: Adapt speech to a variety of contexts and tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate. (See grade 7 Language standards 1 and 3 on page 53 for specific expectations.) Cluster: Range of Writing. Standard: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a standard format for citation. Cluster: Research to Build and Present Knowledge. Standard: Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas. Standard: Make strategic use of digital media (e.g., textual, graphical, audio, visual, and interactive elements) in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest. PEI SOLS Middle School Wetlands: Ecosystem Services Overview Coastal wetlands bring many benefits to ecosystems including their ability to sequester carbon and mitigate fluctuations in sea levels. Students will understand the ecosystem benefits of coastal wetlands with a focus on the potential of estuaries for climate related planning.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.210384	06/21/2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/82621/overview", "title": "PEI SOLS Middle School Wetlands: Ecosystem Services", "author": "Pacific Education Institute" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/82686/overview	Learning Domain: Earth and Human Activity Standard: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring, evaluating, and managing a human impact on the environment. Learning Domain: Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science Standard: Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions. WY.SCI.MS.LS2.5 Wyoming Science Content and Performance Standards Grades 6-8 Learning Domain: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics Standard: Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services. Science Domain: Earth and Space Sciences Topic: Human Impacts Standard: Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of the design process include examining human environmental impacts, assessing the kinds of solutions that are feasible, and designing and evaluating solutions that could reduce that impact. Examples of human impacts can include water usage (such as the withdrawal of water from streams and aquifers or the construction of dams and levees), land usage (such as urban development, agriculture, or the removal of wetlands), and pollution (such as of the air, water, or land).] Science Domain: Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science Topic: Engineering Design Standard: Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions. Science Domain: Life Sciences Topic: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems Standard: Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.* [Clarification Statement: Examples of ecosystem services could include water purification, nutrient recycling, and prevention of soil erosion. Examples of design solution constraints could include scientific, economic, and social considerations.]	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.237551	06/22/2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/82686/overview", "title": "PEI SOLS Middle School Urban Forestry: Ecosystem Benefits of an Urban Forest", "author": "Pacific Education Institute" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/123297/overview	Osteopenia vs. Osteoporosis: Pathophysiology and Treatment Modalities Overview Osteopenia is a silent disease that develops in primarily seniors who may live healthy lifestyles, and have few risk factors. If left untreated osteopenia can progress into osteoporosis. This article addresses the pathophysiology and treatment modalities of osteoporosis. Christine Johns DNP, MSN, MBA-NEA-BC, RN, PHN Deirdre Jones MSN, MPH, RN, PHN, CIC Meg Lyskawa MSN, RN, PHN Osteopenia vs. Osteoporosis: Pathophysiology, Social determinants, and Treatment Modalities Osteopenia is a silent disease that develops in primarily seniors who may live healthy lifestyles, and have few risk factors. Over 200,000 people worldwide are living with Osteoporosis, the later stage of Osteopenia. Osteopenia typically does not show symptoms until it becomes Osteoporosis. At that point, back pain caused by collapse of vertebrae, stooped posture, shortened height, and fractures from low impact indicate Osteoporosis has developed. A case study analyzing a postmenopausal woman with osteopenia was chosen out of interest in a common condition that seems to be a probability-based diagnosis for our team to consider as we grow older. The case presented shows that although one can live a healthy lifestyle, anyone can fall victim to osteopenia and the potential complications that can follow. Social Determinants of Health and Epidemiology There are social determinants of health that correlate to risk of developing osteopenia and osteoporosis, as well as access to the required scans and treatments can be limited as they are highly specialized. When affected patients have difficulty accessing DEXA scan locations, they can lack the treatment they need to improve their quality of life and lower their fracture risk. Socioeconomic Status (SES) in relation to current statistics of people living with osteopenia and osteoporosis in the United States is summarized as follows: Approximately 50% are female, 80-90% identify as white/European American, 23% identify as Hispanic, and approximately 10% identify as Black/African American, (Gough, Roberts, & Godde, 2023). Pathophysiology of Osteopenia and Osteoporosis Osteopenia refers to the early stages of bone loss, characterized by bone density that is below normal but not low enough to be classified as osteoporosis. This condition is typically asymptomatic and is often diagnosed through bone density tests (Reid et al, 2024). It is important to note that when Osteopenia is not treated it can develop into Osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is a more advanced stage of bone loss that significantly increases the risk of fractures. The primary mechanism behind osteoporosis is an imbalance in bone remodeling, where bone resorption by osteoclasts outpaces bone formation by osteoblasts (Föger-Samwald et al., 2020). This results in progressive bone disease, with structural integrity becoming compromised. Bone remodeling involves a complex interplay of the endocrine, immune, and nervous systems. Genetic factors can also influence this process, and certain conditions such as menopause, being underweight, lack of exercise, and specific medications contribute to its progression. Osteoporosis is a multifactorial disease that often develops silently, progressively weakening bones without symptoms until a fracture occurs. Cortical bone, the dense outer layer, becomes thinner and more brittle, while trabecular bone, the spongy inner layer, loses density and structural connectivity (McCance & Huether, 2023). Bone Resorption Osteoporosis arises from increased bone resorption, which can be caused by estrogen deficiency and age-related factors. In postmenopausal women, decreased estrogen levels lead to heightened bone loss, as estrogen plays a critical role in preventing the secretion of RANKL (Receptor Activator of Nuclear Factor-kappa B Ligand) while promoting osteoclast-inhibiting fa ctors such as osteoprotegerin (OPG), GLP-1, and growth hormone (Liang et al., 2022). The reduction in these protective mechanisms accelerates bone resorption. Additionally, aging contributes to increased bone loss due to a natural decline in hormones like estrogen, testosterone, and growth hormone. This hormonal decline impairs the regulatory function of osteocytes, the cells responsible for overseeing bone remodeling, further exacerbating bone resorption and contributing to the development of osteoporosis (Liang et al., 2022). Decreased Bone Formation Decreased bone formation is a key contributor to osteoporosis, particularly as aging reduces the number and activity of osteoblasts, the cells responsible for bone formation. Aging also impairs the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells into osteoblasts, further diminishing bone production. Additionally, osteocytes, the mechanosensing cells embedded within bone, become less responsive with age, reducing their ability to repair microdamage (Föger-Samwald et al., 2020). This results in an imbalance in bone remodeling, where the bone resorption phase surpasses the bone formation phase, leading to progressive thinning and increased fragility of the bones. Changes in bone structure also play a significant role in osteoporosis. The cortical bone, which forms the outer layer, becomes thinner and more porous, compromising its strength (Liang et al.,2022). Similarly, the trabecular bone, the spongy inner layer, loses density and connectivity, greatly reducing its ability to withstand mechanical stress (Liang et al., 2022). These structural changes exacerbate bone fragility. Role of Cytokines and Hormones Cytokines and hormones further regulate bone health through pathways such as the RANK/RANKL/OPG system. RANKL binds to RANK receptors on osteoclast precursors, promoting their maturation and increasing bone resorption (Föger-Samwald et al., 2020). OPG counteracts this by inhibiting RANKL binding, serving as a protective factor. Imbalances in this pathway that favor RANKL activity lead to excessive bone breakdown (Föger-Samwald et al., 2020). Other hormonal factors, such as chronically elevated parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels in primary hyperparathyroidism, also contribute to bone resorption. Additionally, vitamin D deficiency reduces calcium absorption, resulting in secondary hyperparathyroidism and further bone loss. These complex mechanisms collectively drive the progression of osteoporosis. Risk Factors Contributing to Osteoporosis Genetics: A family history of osteoporosis may predispose individuals to lower bone density. Nutritional Deficiencies: Insufficient calcium and vitamin D intake reduces bone mineralization. Chronic Diseases: Conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, hyperthyroidism, and chronic corticosteroid use accelerate bone loss. Postmenopausal estrogen loss. Smoking. Pharmacological Treatments Alendronate, commonly known by the brand name Fosamax®, decreases the rate bone cells are absorbed. This reduced absorption allows the body to increase bone density, which in turn reduces the risk of fracture. Alendronate belongs to the class of bisphosphonate medications. On a molecular level, alendronate works binding to hydroxyapatite crystals within bone and then downregulates osteoclast-mediated bone resorption, thereby leading to a reduction in bone matrix breakdown. Both of these mechanisms collectively contribute to regulating the reabsorption and turnover of minerals. Alendronate differs from other bone-modifying supplements by its ability to suppress bone formation without modifying bone mineral accrual in endocortical or intracortical bone. The bioavailability of alendronate is limited to 0.64% in fasting women and 0.59% in fasting men. However, this bioavailability diminishes by as much as 60% when the drug is taken with food.; hence why dosing instructions require the patient to take on an empty stomach. Alendronate exhibits a notably protracted terminal half-life of approximately 10 years within bone tissues. Alendronate is primarily excreted through urine, accounting for 50% of elimination, with unabsorbed drugs appearing in the feces (Wilkins P., Preuss C., 2024). The dosing recommendations are based on whether the patient’s goal is to treat or prevent osteoporosis. Dosing Osteoporosis treatment of Fosamax dosing is recommended to be: one 70 mg tablet once weekly - or - one bottle of 70 mg oral solution once weekly - or - one 10 mg tablet once daily. Osteoporosis prevention dosing is essentially half of the treatment dose: One 35 mg tablet once weekly or one 5 mg tablet once daily. Calcium and Vitamin D Calcium and vitamin D are essential nutrients for maintaining bone health and preventing osteoporosis. These nutrients complement each other. Calcium is a mineral that builds and maintains strong bones. The recommended daily intake for adults with osteoporosis: 1,200 mg. Sources of calcium include dairy products, leafy green vegetables, and fortified foods. Calcium supplements may be necessary for individuals who cannot meet their dietary needs. Vitamin D helps the body absorb calcium. The recommended daily intake for adults with osteoporosis: 800 IU. Sources of vitamin D include sunlight exposure, fatty fish, and fortified foods. Vitamin D supplements may be necessary for individuals with limited sun exposure or dietary intake. Because Calcium and Vitamin D work in tandem, the benefits of having the recommended daily intake helps osteoporosis patients, reduce bone loss, lower the risk of fractures, improve bone mineral density, hence overall bone health. In conclusion, calcium and vitamin D are crucial nutrients for preventing and managing osteoporosis. By consuming adequate amounts of these nutrients through diet or supplementation, individuals with osteoporosis can improve their bone health and reduce their risk of fractures. Non-Steroidal Anti Inflammatories While ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) is a common pain reliever, it's not typically recommended for long-term use due to potential side effects such as stomach ulcers, kidney issues, and increased risk of cardiovascular problems (Rosen, H., 2024). Suggested alternatives like prescription NSAIDs like celecoxib (Celebrex), acetaminophen (Tylenol), or depending on the severity, even specific muscle relaxants or nerve pain medications (Rosen, H., 2024). According to researchers (Rosen, H., 2024) when NSAIDs are used regularly over an extended period of time, as is often the case with chronic pain, the potential for side effects increases. Evidence suggests that the potential for NSAID-associated complications increases as you get older.3 Some more common side effects include: Stomach irritation and ulcers Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding Increased potential for bruising Exacerbation of asthma symptoms Increased risk of stroke, heart attack, and blood clots Kidney damage The potential for NSAID complications may be increased for patients who: Smoke Drink alcohol regularly Are a senior Have a history of heart disease Have high blood pressure Have ever had any GI problems Have kidney or liver disease All NSAIDs, both prescription and over-the-counter, now sport warning labels thanks to a ruling by the Food and Drug Administration. Despite the warnings, using NSAIDs remains one of the most popular ways to relieve pain (Rosen, H., 2024). Potential alternatives for long-term pain: Prescription NSAIDs: Some prescription NSAIDs like celecoxib (Celebrex) may be considered safer for long-term use due to a lower risk of stomach irritation compared to other NSAIDs. Acetaminophen (Tylenol): This is often considered a safer option for long-term pain relief compared to most NSAIDs, but can still have side effects if taken in high doses. Topical pain relievers: Creams or gels containing capsaicin can be helpful for localized pain. Muscle relaxants: Depending on the source of pain, muscle relaxants may be prescribed. Nerve pain medications: If the pain is related to nerve damage, specific medications like gabapentin or pregabalin may be prescribed. Non - Pharmacological Treatment Alongside medication, consider non-pharmacological pain management strategies like exercise, physical therapy, stress management, and weight management. Nonpharmacological therapies for osteoporosis emphasize lifestyle changes, dietary improvements, and physical activity to maintain bone health, prevent fractures, and enhance quality of life. Nutritional interventions are critical, including adequate calcium and vitamin D intake from sources like dairy products, leafy greens, fortified foods, and sunlight. A balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains supports overall bone health, while excessive salt, caffeine, and alcohol should be limited. Other nutrients, such as magnesium and phosphorus from nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains, also play essential roles in bone mineralization. Physical activity is a cornerstone of osteoporosis management, with weight-bearing exercises like walking, dancing, and jogging stimulating bone formation. Resistance training strengthens muscles and enhances bone density, while balance and flexibility exercises, such as yoga and Tai Chi, reduce fall risks by improving stability. Lifestyle modifications further contribute to bone health; quitting smoking and limiting alcohol intake help minimize bone loss. Fall prevention measures, including using supportive footwear, removing tripping hazards, and installing grab bars at home, are also vital to reducing fracture risks. Physical therapy can play a role by offering postural training to strengthen core muscles and customized exercise programs tailored to an individual’s needs. Mind-body approaches, such as mindfulness meditation and stress management, indirectly support bone health by mitigating stress-related hormonal changes that could impact bone density. Sunlight exposure is another critical component, as it helps maintain adequate vitamin D levels necessary for calcium absorption and bone strength. Assistive devices like orthopedic braces or supports may provide additional stabilization for fractures or weak bones. Regular bone density monitoring using tools such as DEXA scans is essential to evaluate bone health and guide both non pharmacological and pharmacological interventions. Together, these strategies form a comprehensive approach to preventing and managing osteoporosis, reducing fracture risks, and improving overall well-being. Consultation with healthcare providers, including dietitians, physical therapists, and doctors, ensures an individualized plan tailored to specific needs and goals. Epidemiology The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that osteoporosis affects 200 million women worldwide (International Osteoporosis Foundation, n.d.). According to the WHO criteria, “30% of postmenopausal women have Osteoporosis and 54% have Osteopenia” (Bellantoni, , n.d., para. 2). Osteoporosis is a “ major non-communicable disease and the most common bone disease, affecting one in three women and one in five men over the age of 50 worldwide” (International Osteoporosis Foundation, n.d). Worldwide in 2019, fractures accounted for 25.8 million years lived with disability (YLDs), an increase of 65.3% of the absolute YLDs since 1990. The prevalence of Osteopenia among males and females of all age groups is roughly 40.5% and 7.93% for Osteoporosis. For adults over age 50, Osteopenia is at a 42.3% rate and Osteoporosis at a 8.96% prevalence which accounts for the majority, (Fan, et. al, 2024). Physical assessment A Dexa (dual x-ray absorptiometry) scan post-exam is recommended for identifying potential for fractures and assessing overall bone density. This is conducted by “passing a high and low energy XRay beam through the body…[to] diagnose specific conditions such as bone thinning” (CDC, 2024). The CDC also teaches that the amount of radiation is very low and is generally considered for women aged 65 and older, or for women between ages 50-64 if they have certain risk factors, such as family history. Upon physical examination of each limb and joint, the patient will be instructed to provide feedback on pain, stiffness, spasms, and instability. Range of motion (ROM) will be measured using a goniometer, which assists in calculating the angular degrees of motion for abnormal findings (increased or decreased ROM). In an example case where a postmenopausal patient reports having experienced a hyperextension of one of her lower legs and has limited range of motion as a result with a history of bilateral knee tendonitis would primarily be examined with passive ROM assessments on the injured leg, as recommended by Ball, et. al (2023). Given the state of her knee and lower leg injury, the following addresses the method of examination. While the patient is supine, the practitioner would ask the patient to flex the non-injured knee up to 130 degrees (using a goniometer) and extend it up to 15 degrees - keeping in ming that she had tendonitis in both knees. Documentation would likely show: Active ROM: Non-injured left knee flexion: 90 degrees, Extension: 10 degrees. Pain level 2/10. Passive ROM: Non-injured left knee flexion: 130 degrees, Extension: 10 degrees. Pain level 2/10. Following this process, the same would be assessed on the injured leg. Documentation would likely show: Active ROM: Injured right knee flexion: 10 degrees, Extension: 0 degrees. Pain level 6/10. Passive ROM: Injured right knee flexion: 45 degrees, Extension: 0 degrees. Pain level 6/10. Upon examination and palpation, tenderness at a localized, specific point on the body (also known as point tenderness) is a likely identifier of a location that has sustained a fracture and may be accompanied by slight deformities (Campagne, 2024). Pertinent positives include deformity, severe pain, swelling, decreased or no mobility, bruising, and crepitus, confirmed with the appropriate radiographic scans. Negative indicators would be mobility intact, no swelling, and unremarkable XRay and may instead suggest a sprain or non-fracture skeletal injury. The main difference between a skeletal injury and a muscular injury lies in the structures involved. A skeletal injury refers to damage to the bones, such as a fracture and a muscular injury affects the muscles, tendons, ligaments, or other soft tissues of the musculoskeletal system (Fernades et al., 2015). If a patient reports hyperextension of the knee, it would be safe to suspect ligament, tendon, or soft tissue damage around the patellar and lower leg with consideration of possible fracture around the tibial head. This could be ruled out with imaging to see if there is damage to the proximal tibiofibular joint. One aspect to note is the healing for a muscular injury involves repair process and a bone injury involves a regeneration of bone tissue (Fernades et al., 2015). The treatment of osteoporosis aims to reduce the risk of fractures, enhance bone strength, and improve overall quality of life. By combining medications, lifestyle changes, and preventive measures, patients can effectively manage the condition and maintain independence. Regular monitoring and close collaboration with healthcare professionals are essential to ensure optimal treatment outcomes. Early intervention and consistent adherence to the treatment plan are key to preserving bone health and preventing complications. References Ball, J., Dains, J., Flynn, J., Solomon, B., & Stewart, R. (2023). Seidel’s Guide to Physical Examination: an Interprofessional Approach. Bellantoni, M. F. (n.d.). Osteoporosis information. Johns Hopkins Arthritis Center. Retrieved from https://www.hopkinsarthritis.org/arthritis-info/osteoporosis-info/ Campagne, D. (2024). Overview of Fractures. MERCK Manuals, Professional Version. Retrieved from https://www.merckmanuals.com/professional/injuries-poisoning/fractures/overview-of-fractures CDC. (2024). Facts about Bone Density (DEXA Scan). Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/radiation-health/data-research/facts-stats/dexa-scan.html Fan, Y., Li, Q., Liu, Y., Miao, J., Zhao, T., Cai, J., Liu, M., Cao, J., Xu, H., Wei, L., Li, M., & Shen, C. (2024). Sex- and Age-Specific Prevalence of Osteopenia and Osteoporosis: Sampling Survey. JMIR public health and surveillance, 10, e48947. https://doi.org/10.2196/48947 Fernandes, T. L., Pedrinelli, A., & Hernandez, A. J. (2015). MUSCLE INJURY - PHYSIOPATHOLOGY, DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND CLINICAL PRESENTATION. Revista brasileira de ortopedia, 46(3), 247–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2255-4971(15)30190-7 Föger-Samwald, U., Dovjak, P., Azizi-Semrad, U., Kerschan-Schindl, K., & Pietschmann, P. (2020). Osteoporosis: Pathophysiology and therapeutic options. EXCLI journal, 19, 1017–1037. https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2020-2591 Gough Courtney, M., Roberts, J., & Godde, K. (2023). Structural Inequity and Socioeconomic Status Link to Osteoporosis Diagnosis in a Population-Based Cohort of Middle-Older-Age Americans. Inquiry : a journal of medical care organization, provision and financing, 60, 469580231155719. https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580231155719 Harvard Health. (2021). Osteopenia:When you have weak bones, but not osteoporosis. https://www.health.harvard.edu/womens-health/osteopenia-when-you-have-weak-bones-but-not-osteoporosis Hou, X., Tian, F. (2023). STAT3 hints at therapeutic targets for treating osteoporosis, 15 April 2023, PREPRINT (Version 1) available at Research Square [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2818836/v1] International Osteoporosis Foundation. (n.d.). Epidemiology. Retrieved from https://www.osteoporosis.foundation/health-professionals/about-osteoporosis/epidemiology#:~:text=Worldwide%2C%20osteoporosis%20is%20estimated%20to,WHO%20Scientific%20Group%20Technical%20Report. Katz, J. N., Arant, K. R., & Loeser, R. F. (2021). Diagnosis and Treatment of Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis: A Review. JAMA, 325(6), 568–578. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.22171 Liang, B., Burley, G., Lin, S. et al. Osteoporosis pathogenesis and treatment: existing and emerging avenues. Cell Mol Biol Lett 27, 72 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s11658-022-00371-3 McCance, K. L., & Huether, S. E. (2023). Pathophysiology: The Biologic Basis for Disease in Adults and Children (9th ed.). Elsevier, St. Louis, MO. Reid, I. R., & colleagues. (2024). Osteopenia: A key target for fracture prevention. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, 12(11), 856–864. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(24)00211-8 Rosen, H., 2024. Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation in Osteoporosis. https://www.uptodate.com/contents/calcium-and-vitamin-d-supplementation-in-osteoporosis. Ward, K. A., Pearse, C. M., Madanhire, T., Wade, A. N., Fabian, J., Micklesfield, L. K., & Gregson, C. L. (2023). Disparities in the Prevalence of Osteoporosis and Osteopenia in Men and Women Living in Sub-Saharan Africa, the UK, and the USA. Current osteoporosis reports, 21(4), 360–371. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11914-023-00801-x Wilkins Parker LR, Preuss CV. Alendronate. [Updated 2023 Nov 12]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK526073/	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.275135	Meg Lyskawa	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/123297/overview", "title": "Osteopenia vs. Osteoporosis: Pathophysiology and Treatment Modalities", "author": "Homework/Assignment" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/65113/overview	Gender Stereotypes Overview This is an activity that leads students to reflect on how some gender stereotypes can affect their lives which are either held by people of their society or by themselves. For that, they can manifest their opinion about them in a poem. Gender Stereotypes This is an activity that aims at getting students to reflect on some of the stereotypes held in their society, as well as those held by students themselves. In order to do so, students are to write a poem to denote what it's like being a girl or a boy in their society, and try to prove that right or wrong. Ce(tte) œuvre de Zineb Lakkaichi est mise à disposition selon les termes de la licence Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.292876	04/11/2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/65113/overview", "title": "Gender Stereotypes", "author": "Zineb Lakkaichi" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/35140/overview	Education Standards The Language of Advertising: 9 persuasive techniques Overview Engage students in the analysis of the persuasive written language of advertisements. Students will have to recognize some language techniques used in advertising, match the techniques to some printed ads and create slogans, using such techniques. Subject: English Language, Reading Foundational Skills, Writing Foundational Skills Level: secondary education Material Type: Classroom Activity Provider:Terezinha Marcondes Diniz Biazi - State University of Campinas -UNICAMP/BRAZIL Midwest State University –UNICENTRO/BRAZIL Matching techniques to ads The nine techniques are presented below. Which are the techniques that best match to the following 16 ads (slides 15 to 31) ? Discuss. Production of slogans Students have to produce slogans for the two printed ads (slides 33 to 38). They have to take into account the nine language techniques. Discussion of the students’ production (slogans and technique(s) used).	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.322244	Educational Technology	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/35140/overview", "title": "The Language of Advertising: 9 persuasive techniques", "author": "Education" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/87132/overview	original-2001694-1 1st Grade Reading Overview Teaching students how to retell a story to their peers or teachers. Retelling the story What does it mean when the teacher ask you to retell the story ? Answers When the teacher ask you to retell the story, She wants to know who the main characters are? what is the setting of the story? and what are the order of events? Key Words When telling the order of events make sure your using key words like, First Next Then Last Finally	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.341739	10/27/2021	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/87132/overview", "title": "1st Grade Reading", "author": "Kelsey Blue" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/105033/overview	Alabama Laws and Prescription Medications Alabama Laws and Prescription Medications Assignment Med Error Route of Administration Activity Pharmacology for Patient Care Technicians Overview This course is an introduction to basic pharmacology. You will learn about classifications, indications, contraindications, desired effects, and side effects of medications used during diagnostic procedures and the prevention and treatment of common illnesses. Upon completion of the course, the you should be able to relate basic pharmacological concepts to the maintenance of health. HPS114 Pharmacology for Healthcare This course is an introduction to basic pharmacology. You will learn about classifications, indications, contraindications, desired effects, and side effects of medications used during diagnostic procedures and the prevention and treatment of common illnesses. Upon completion of the course, the you should be able to relate basic pharmacological concepts to the maintenance of health.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.360619	Homework/Assignment	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/105033/overview", "title": "Pharmacology for Patient Care Technicians", "author": "Assessment" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/102680/overview	Art Education - Performing arts Visual art and Theater Overview For Art Teachers, By Art Teachers Art educators deserve support at every stage of their careers. Discover a rich K-12 visual arts curriculum, professional development, relevant resources, online graduate courses, and a rigorous master’s degree program. Art Education Art Integration and Bridging the Gap Between Arts and Education Art integration is a pedagogical approach that incorporates various art forms—such as music, dance, theatre, and visual arts—into the teaching and learning process across disciplines. It emphasizes experiential learning, creativity, and critical thinking, making education more engaging and holistic. Importance of Art Integration 1. Holistic Development: Arts stimulate emotional, social, and cognitive growth, nurturing both creativity and analytical skills. 2. Engaged Learning: Students connect better with concepts when they explore them through artistic expression, leading to deeper understanding and retention. 3. Inclusivity: Art provides alternative modes of learning, accommodating diverse learning styles and abilities. Bridging the Gap Between Arts and Education Historically, arts and education have often been seen as separate domains. However, bridging this gap is essential to create a well-rounded educational framework. This involves: Interdisciplinary Learning: Using arts as a medium to teach core subjects like mathematics, science, and history fosters innovative thinking. For instance, drama can be used to explore historical events or music to understand mathematical patterns. Teacher Training: Equipping educators with skills in arts integration ensures that they can effectively incorporate artistic methodologies into their teaching practices. Curriculum Design: Developing curricula that embed arts in academic subjects makes learning dynamic and culturally rich. Policy Support: Governments and educational institutions must prioritize arts in education policies to provide adequate resources and infrastructure. Benefits of Bridging the Gap Enhanced Creativity: Students learn to think outside the box and approach problems innovatively. Cultural Awareness: Arts expose learners to diverse traditions and histories, fostering empathy and global awareness. Lifelong Skills: Skills like collaboration, communication, and emotional intelligence are developed through artistic practices. Art integration transforms education from mere knowledge acquisition to a journey of exploration, creativity, and self-expression. By bridging the gap between arts and education, we not only preserve cultural heritage but also prepare students for a future that values innovation and adaptability.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.380603	Assessment	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/102680/overview", "title": "Art Education - Performing arts Visual art and Theater", "author": "Performing Arts" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/123398/overview	Different searching mechanism in Information Retrieval Overview In Information Retrieval (IR), there are a few sorts of search mechanisms used to discover and recover significant data from a collection of records. Each component changes in how it translates and forms inquiries, positions comes about, and returns data. Different searching mechanism in Information Retrieval In Information Retrieval (IR), there are a few sorts of search mechanisms used to discover and recover significant data from a collection of records. Each component changes in how it translates and forms inquiries, positions comes about, and returns data. Below are the most look components utilized in information retrieval: 1. Boolean Search Mechanism: The Boolean search model uses Boolean operators like AND, OR, and NOT to combine look terms in a inquiry. It works on correct matches between the inquiry and the recorded reports. How It Works: AND: Retrieves documents that contain all the desired terms. OR: Retrieves records that contain at slightest one of the required terms. NOT: Avoids records that contain a specified term. Case: Inquiry: "apple AND orange" retrieves records containing both "apple" and "orange". Inquiry: "apple OR orange" retrieves reports containing either "apple" or "orange". Restrictions: Does not rank results by relevance. Can lead to as well numerous or as well few comes about. No flexibility in dealing with fractional matches or equivalent words. 2. Vector Space Model (VSM) Instrument: In this demonstrate, both inquiries and reports are spoken to as vectors in a multi-dimensional space, where each dimension compares to a term within the collection. The significance of a report is determined by the cosine similitude between the document vector and the inquiry vector. How It Works: Reports and inquiries are changed over into term recurrence vectors. TF-IDF (Term Frequency-Inverse Record Recurrence) is regularly used to weight terms within the vector. The framework calculates the cosine of the point between the inquiry vector and document vectors to degree closeness. Case: A document vector for the term "apple" may well be spoken to as [0, 0.5, 0, 0] (appearing its nearness and recurrence within the report). Restrictions: Comes about may be influenced by the vector's measure and weightings. Does not handle synonyms or contextual meaning well. 3. Probabilistic Demonstrate Mechanism: The probabilistic model expect that each document encompasses a certain probability of being important to a given query. The objective is to assess this probability and rank records appropriately. This demonstrate is based on the probability of relevance. How It Works: Given a inquiry, the framework calculates the likelihood of a record being pertinent using statistical models. BM25 (Best Coordinating 25) could be a well-known probabilistic positioning work, where archive significance is scored based on term recurrence and report length. Example: A document's relevance score is calculated based on the presence and recurrence of terms within the inquiry, altering for variables like archive length. Limitations: Requires modern measurable strategies. May not be as successful in little datasets. 4. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Component: LSI is based on Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) and points to find the latent structure between terms in a corpus. It employments a network decay approach to reduce dimensionality and reveal covered up connections between terms and documents. How It Works: The term-document matrix is deteriorated to discover designs and latent factors (semantic structures) that clarify the term-document connections. This makes a difference overcome issues like synonymy (words with distinctive implications) and polysemy (one word having numerous implications). Case: Words like "car" and "vehicle" could be assembled beneath the same latent semantic concept indeed on the off chance that they do not show up within the same records regularly. Limitations: Computationally intensive. Difficult to translate the reduced dimensions. May not scale well with exceptionally expansive datasets. 5. Machine Learning-based (Learning to Rank) Mechanism: In this approach, machine learning calculations are utilized to memorize the positioning of reports based on a set of highlights, such as significance input, tap information, and document properties. The framework is prepared on labeled information (significant vs. non-relevant archives) to anticipate the foremost pertinent records for future inquiries. How It Works: Features like term frequency, record length, and client interaction information are extracted. A learning algorithm (e.g., SVM (Back Vector Machine), Neural Systems) is prepared to rank records based on these features. Example: In the event that a client frequently clicks on records containing certain keywords, the framework will learn to rank those sorts of records higher for comparative future inquiries. Restrictions: Requires labeled preparing information, Can be computationally expensive , May overfit to specific patterns in the training data. 6. Fuzzy Search Mechanism: Fuzzy search is utilized to find approximate matches to the query. This method permits for slight mismatches, such as incorrect spellings, equivalent words, or comparable terms, making it more adaptable than correct coordinating frameworks like Boolean search. How It Works: The system employments alter separate (Levenshtein distance) to discover terms that are comparative to the look query. It can coordinate terms that have a comparable spelling or are varieties of the inquiry terms. Case: Searching for "color" may return comes about with "colour", or a incorrectly spelled word like "acolor" might still return relevant results. Limitations: May return irrelevant comes about due to approximations. Can be slower for huge datasets. 7. Natural Language Processing (NLP)-based Search Mechanism: NLP-based search mechanisms utilize progressed procedures to handle and get it human dialect more normally. These frameworks are planned to handle complex inquiries, counting those with characteristic dialect language structure, setting, and ambiguity. How It Works: Methods such as named entity recognition (NER), part-of-speech labeling, and reliance parsing offer assistance the framework get it the structure and meaning of the inquiry. The framework may moreover utilize semantic examination to translate inquiries in a way that goes beyond simple keyword matching. Case: A inquiry like "Best Italian restaurants near me" is interpreted not fair as catchphrase coordinating ("best", "Italian", "eateries"), but with an understanding of area and client aim. Limitations: Requires sophisticated models. Can be computationally costly and complex. 8. Conceptual Search Instrument: Conceptual look points to coordinate the meaning of the inquiry with the content of the reports, indeed in case the particular terms utilized within the query don't appear within the archives. It regularly includes utilizing ontologies, thesauri, or semantic systems to decipher the user's aim. How It Works: The system identifies the concepts related to the inquiry and recovers records that are related to those concepts, even on the off chance that they utilize distinctive phrasing. This will be accomplished through semantic coordinating or utilizing outside assets like a information base. Case: Looking for "how to grow roses" may retrieve comes about related to "growing flowers" or "cultivating plants" based on the semantic meaning of the inquiry. Limitations: Requires high-quality ontologies or knowledge bases. May not always return highly relevant results. Summary - Boolean search is rigid and exact, using logical operators. - Vector Space Model calculates relevance based on term frequency and cosine similarity. - Probabilistic models estimate the likelihood of relevance, with BM25 being a popular example. - Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) uncovers hidden semantic structures in documents. - Machine learning-based ranking learns from features to improve document ranking. - Fuzzy search finds approximate matches and handles misspellings or variations. - NLP-based search uses advanced language understanding to interpret and process queries more naturally. - Conceptual search focuses on matching the meaning behind the query, not just the words. Each search mechanism has strengths and weaknesses, and the choice of mechanism depends on the complexity of the query, the data set, and the desired level of precision and recall in the search results. References: 1. Vabatista. (2021, October 18). Introduction to information retrieval. Kaggle. https://www.kaggle.com/code/vabatista/introduction-to-information-retrieval 2. Wikipedia contributors. (2024, September 9). Boolean model of information retrieval. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean_model_of_information_retrieval 3. LibGuides: Boolean Searching: Basic & Advanced Searching with Boolean. (n.d.). https://uscupstate.libguides.com/Boolean_Searching 4. Shin, R. U. (2024, September 17). Top Information Retrieval Techniques and Algorithms - AI Search blog. AI Search Blog. https://www.coveo.com/blog/top-information-retrieval-techniques-and-algorithms/	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.407969	12/26/2024	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/123398/overview", "title": "Different searching mechanism in Information Retrieval", "author": "RUMKI AKHTAR" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/110086/overview	Khan Academy: Light and Shadow Khan Academy: Line Khan Academy: Shape and Form Khan Academy: Space Khan Academy: Texture The Elements of Art Overview This is a resource for research purposes in the classroom. Students are studying the elements of art.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.436339	Hannah Wehrmann	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/110086/overview", "title": "The Elements of Art", "author": "Activity/Lab" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/109843/overview	Education Standards The Washington State Social Studies Learning Standards High School Nisei Soldiers in World War II Overview This is an accompanying teacher's guide to the graphic novel "Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers. The book is a compilation of 6 Nisei, second-generation Japanese Americans, veteran's oral histories. These emotional first-person accounts are visceral and graphically moving. These veterans take us on the journey into intelligence units, into the life of a medic, and into gripping and pivotal moments of the Second World War. The books are available in multiple bookstores and library systems. For more information on where to find this novel, contact education@wingluke.org. Historical Background On February 19, 1942, US President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the military to incarcerate people who may pose a threat to the security of the United States of America. With this authority in hand, the American military carried out the forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans in ten American concentration camps. These facilities were officially labeled “War Relocation Centers” and administered by the War Relocation Authority (WRA). Although they were called “Relocation Centers” they were in fact concentration camps. Approximately one-half of the inmates were children and approximately two-thirds were American citizens. The prisoners were not charged with a specific crime and were held under harsh circumstances for an unspecified time. “Due process of law” – guaranteed by the US Constitution – was conspicuously vacated. Approximately 40 years later, President Regan in his letter of apology cited the reasons as: “race discrimination, wartime hysteria and failed leadership.” Nevertheless, young Japanese Americans volunteered in the camps to fight for America in Europe and the Pacific. Anti-Asian Agitation The 1942 forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans predominantly from the West Coast of the United States into concentration camps was the culmination of years of anti-Japanese and anti-Asian agitation. In order to better understand the Incarceration, it must be viewed in the context of historic anti-Asian racism and discrimination on the West Coast. As the West was expanding in the 1800s, the Chinese were exploited as a source of cheap labor to build the transcontinental and Central Pacific railroads. They also provided labor for other major projects such as mining and construction. For example, Chinese laborers dug the Lake Washington ship canal in Seattle. They were assigned dangerous jobs that most white laborers would not perform, including dynamiting cliffs for the railroad. But when the railroad was finished, their labor was no longer needed at the same time an economic downturn hit the US. The Chinese became scapegoats, blamed for taking jobs away from whites. In the Pacific Northwest, there were anti-Chinese riots and mob violence, spurred by white laborer organizers and carried out by the general public. In 1885, Tacoma residents herded up the Chinese and shipped them off to Portland in railway boxcars. In 1886, Seattle residents attempted to force the Chinese community onto a steamship but were stopped by local law officers at the pier. When one white person was shot and killed by the University Guard, his death caused the crowd to disperse. Federal martial law held sway for two weeks. Because of the hostile attitudes, many Chinese left Seattle. In addition, various local and state laws were passed to exclude, restrict, and disenfranchise the Chinese. For example, during the California gold rush, Chinese claims were stolen with impunity by white miners. Court testimony by the Chinese was not admissible since the court regarded them as “heathens” and therefore rejected their sworn testimony on a bible. The phrase “Didn’t have a Chinaman’s Chance” was coined to recognize how unfairly the Chinese were treated legally and how low the odds of survival were for jobs that they were given such as dynamiting cliffs for the railroad. In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was the first US law that prevented immigration solely on the basis of race. It effectively stopped Chinese immigration for ten years, after which time it was renewed in 1892 and made permanent in 1902. As the economy improved and a need for cheap labor arose again and since Chinese immigrants could no longer fill the need, the US turned to Japanese labor to meet the demand. Japanese worked in the pineapple fields in Hawai‘i, fish canneries in Alaska, forests of the Pacific Northwest, farms along the West, and commercial fishing up and down the coast, among others. Like the Chinese, they suffered from racist acts and policies. When the economy declined, the federal government responded by passing anti-Japanese immigration laws in 1924. Like the Chinese, the Japanese had other restrictive laws passed against them. Federal laws made it impossible for Japanese nationals to become naturalized American citizens. Various Western states including Washington State passed “Alien Land” laws that prevented non-citizens from owning land. Given that Japanese nationals had no route to becoming citizens, they were classified as aliens, and therefore ineligible to own land. US female citizens who married male Japanese immigrants lost their US citizenship. However, if the marriage was terminated through death or divorce, a white woman would have her US citizenship restored, while a woman of Japanese descent (a Nisei, the second generation) was not given her citizenship back. Other states had laws that prevented intermarriage with whites. Although the marriage laws were not necessarily passed against Japanese specifically, nevertheless, they reflected the policies of exclusion that impacted Japanese and other non-white groups as well. With Chinese immigration effectively stopped and Japanese populations emerging in the early 20th century, white Americans passed on the mantel of the “Yellow Peril” from the Chinese to the Japanese. This race-based concept propagated the idea that the “yellow races” would multiply until they squeezed out white Americans, thus preventing whites from obtaining a good life. It was a fear-based approach that portrayed Japanese Americans as a threat to the health, safety, and economic well-being of whites. The Japanese were also were regarded as a potential unsavory foreign influence on white women and children. These unfounded notions were too often taken seriously by some white Americans – either feeding beliefs about maintaining the purity of the white race or as a convenient means to gain monetary profit. Depending on the time period, groups such as the Native Sons of the Golden West, Hearst Newspapers, the Oriental Exclusion League, Ban the Japs Committee, Hollywood producers, Elk, Moose, and Eagles fraternal clubs, various chambers of commerce and many more acted against the Japanese for their own self-interests. Hearst Newspapers fanned the flames of “Yellow Peril” to increase its circulation and profits. Evil Asian villains appeared in Hollywood movies stereotyped as “sly, sneaky, and inscrutable.” By eliminating and stifling Japanese competition, white farmers and other businessmen could increase profits and market share. Within the context of historic anti-Asian discrimination, the attack on Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war with Japan in 1941 exacerbated the already precarious situation for Japanese immigrant and Japanese Americans. Almost immediately, the FBI removed influential Japanese leaders from the community and held them in secured areas and camps. Simultaneously the military, citizens and newspapers exerted pressure to address the “Japanese problem.” Henry McLemore, a Hearst newspaper columnist, wrote in a January 29, 1942 column: I am for immediate removal of every Japanese on the West Coast to a point deep in the interior… Herd ’em up, pack ’em off and give them the inside room in the badlands. Let ’em be pinched, hurt, hungry and dead up against it. Personally I hate the Japanese and that goes for all of them." On February 14, 1942, General John L. DeWitt, wartime commanding general of the Western Defense Command and the Fourth Army, formally recommended that all Japanese nationals and American citizens be removed from strategic areas of the West Coast, even though no crimes of sabotage were committed. DeWitt’s position was that, “A Jap is a Jap and giving him a scrap of paper does not make any difference.” Executive Order 9066 and Concentration Camps On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the forced removal of 120,000 Japanese aliens and non-aliens predominantly from the West Coast. “Non-Aliens” was a term used to describe American citizens of Japanese ancestry. The term clearly disassociated them 1from their status as American citizens. The very next day, the Tolan Congressional Committee began its hearings on incarcerating aliens and others in San Francisco. During testimony, California Governor Culbert Olson, Oregon Governor Charles A. Sprague, Washington Governor Arthur B. Langlie and Seattle Mayor Earl Milliken expressed support for the incarceration of the Japanese and Japanese Americans. The committee, however, made a distinction between handling Italian and German citizens and non-citizens compared to the Japanese. The fact that the father of Yankee baseball hero, Joe DiMaggio, was an Italian alien may have influenced the Committee to be more lenient in the cases of Italians. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who later became the 34th President of the United States, was of German descent. Longstanding, racial prejudice became the major deciding factor for the Japanese and Japanese American incarceration. In April 1942, the forced incarceration began. Japanese populations on the West Coast were removed and taken under armed guard to temporary detention centers and long-term concentration camps. The government claimed the Japanese and Japanese Americans presented a military threat even though approximately two-thirds were American citizens and one-half were children. The Bainbridge Island, Washington Japanese and Japanese American community was the first to experience the forced incarceration after Pearl Harbor. They were sent to the Manzanar camp in California, which was a concentration camp in the desert with barbed wire, armed soldiers, guard towers and machine gun nests with the guns pointed into the camp. Because the Japanese could only take what they could carry, they were forced to sell, liquidate, store, lease or secure all their worldly possessions within a matter of days. Aside from the Bainbridge group which went straight to Manazanar, other communities were taken to temporary detention centers or assembly centers. These camps were holding areas until the final concentration camps were completed. In San Francisco, the Japanese and Japanese Americans spent months living in the vacant horse stalls of the Tanforan Race Tracks. In Washington State, they were taken to the Puyallup Fair Grounds, renamed “Camp Harmony.” Approximately 120,000 prisoners were incarcerated in ten permanent concentration camps: Minidoka, Idaho Tule Lake, California Manzanar, California Topaz, Utah Amache, Colorado Rohwer, Arkansas Jerome, Arkansas Heart Mountain, Wyoming Poston, Arizona Gila River, Arizona The permanent camps were usually located in desolate and or semi-arid or arid regions. Before the war, the government attempted to give Minidoka homestead land grants to citizens, but the land was so harsh and undesirable that the program was discontinued. Nevertheless, Poston had a 20,000-person capacity; Tule Lake 16,000; Gila River 15,000; and the remaining seven camps were in the 8,000 to 10,000 range. The ten camps were physically patterned after US Army camps with rows of barracks, mess halls, canteens or stores, washing areas and toilet facilities. All had barbed wire fences, machine gun placements aimed towards the residents and armed guards. Normal life was impossible for the prisoners. They ate meals in the mess hall and lived in small “apartments,” which were areas sectioned off by hanging army blankets or dividers. Lines were an ever-present part of life. There were lines for the mess hall, canteens, and sometimes latrines. Getting lost was commonplace, since all the barracks looked alike. It was not unusual to find a stranger wandering through a barracks at night trying to get home. Socially, the family structure began to break down as children played and ate with their friends instead of their family. Above all, the Japanese suffered from the loss of productive lives in exchange for life behind barbed wire. Beyond the tangible hardships, the intangible losses were devastating, from the loss of liberty, personal power, dignity, and hopes for the future. Many inmates became volunteers to help make the incarceration more liveable. First generation parents, the Issei, did their best to make camp more bearable for the children. Some created gardens and produced crafts items and art. For young people, there were camp dances, school and socializing with friends. Sporting events were organized for all ages, scouting groups were established, talent shows took place regularly. At Minidoka , huge efforts were made to provide a Christmas gift from Santa for every child in camp to bring some sense of normalcy for the children. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 100th Battalion, Cadet Nurse Corps and Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Young men and women volunteered from the concentration camps when the US Army created opportunities for Japanese Americans to join the military. Approximately 900 volunteered from Minidoka alone to serve in the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT) or the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) in the Pacific. Young women joined the US Army cadet nurse corps to work in US hospitals and tend the wounded. The 442nd RCT joined the 100th Battalion from Hawai‘i to train at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and fought in Italy and France. Their motto was “Go for Broke,” which was the Hawaiian dice shooters phrase for “Shoot the works.” Because they fought heroically on dangerous assignments time and time again, they became the most decorated unit for their size and length of service in US history. The 442nd was famous for rescuing the Texas “Lost Battalion” that was surrounded and pinned down by Germans for days. During the rescue, the 442nd took more casualties than Texans they saved. They also broke the German Gothic Line after other American units failed. The 442nd and 100th were so successful that the US government implemented a military draft at the camps to replenish the losses. In the Pacific, Japanese Americans served in the MIS as translators and intercepted Japanese messages in support of US troops. 442nd/100th Awards Decorations received by the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and 100th Infantry Battalion include: 21 Medals of Honor (20 awarded on June 1, 2000) 29 Distinguished Service Crosses (including 19 Distinguished Service Crosses that were upgraded to Medals of Honor in June 2000) 1 Distinguished Service Medal Over 334 Silver Stars with 28 Oak Leaf Clusters (in lieu of second Silver Star; one Silver Star was upgraded to a Medal of Honor in June 2000) 17 Legion of Merit Medals 15 Soldier’s Medals 1 Air Medal Over 848 Bronze Stars with 1,200 Oak Leaf Clusters (in lieu of second Bronze Star) Over 4,000 Purple Hearts 7 Presidential Unit Citations 36 Army Commendations 87 Division Commendations Over 20 French Croix de Guerre with 2 Palms (in lieu of a second award) 2 Italian Crosses for Military Valor (Croce Al Merito Di Guerra) 2 Italian Medals for Military Valor (Medaglia De Bronzo Al Valor Militaire) 1 Soldier’s Medal (Great Britain) Decorations received by the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) include: 1 Distinguished Service Cross 1 Distinguished Service Medal 18 Silver Stars 3 Legion of Merit Medals 2 Soldier’s Medal 2 Air Medals 132 Bronze Star Medals 7 Purple Hearts 98 Letters of Commendation 6 Presidential Unit Citation (to individuals) 2 Distinguished Unit Citations 35 Combat Infantrymen’s Badges 1 British Empire Medal 10 Military Intelligence Hall of Fame 3 Ranger Hall of Fame The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 100th Infantry Battalion and Military Intelligence Service were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal on November 2, 2011. To learn more about the inspiring stories of Go For Broke veterans, including the world’s largest oral history collection, visit the Go For Broke National Education Center’s website at www.goforbroke.org. Those Who Challenged the Forced Incarceration Not all Japanese Americans believed that “proving their loyalty” meant volunteering for the armed service. Some believed that their loyalty should be assumed and some also rejected the idea of joining a segregated military unit. Incarcerees who answered “No-No” instead of “Yes-Yes” on the government’s “loyalty questionnaire” were subsequently sent to the Tule Lake concentration camp which became the segregation camp for “disloyals”. A number also resisted military service and were sent to federal penitentiaries. Jimmy Mirikitani, a young man in Tule Lake, not only refused to serve in the Army but also renounced his US citizenship. Since he was not a Japanese citizen, he effectively became a man without a country. Still, others challenged the forced incarceration and detention in the courts. In 1942, University of Washington student Gordon Hirabayashi intentionally violated the military curfew, contending that martial law had not been declared and that all citizens should be subject to the curfew, not just Japanese Americans. The US Supreme Court upheld the lower court decision and the appropriateness of the curfew. It was not until 1983 that it was revealed that the government intentionally withheld vital information from the proceedings and the original ruling was challenged. The Ninth Circuit Court in San Francisco effectively reversed Hirabayashi’s convictions for curfew violations and failure to report to the camps over 40 years later, after his initial conviction. In the 1944 Korematsu v. United States case, Fred Korematsu argued that the forced incarceration order was unconstitutional. The US Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling and ruled that the forced incarceration was justified due to military necessity. In 1983, Korematsu’s conviction was overturned, citing key documents that showed Japanese Americans had committed no acts of treason, information the US government intentionally withheld from the original Supreme Court case. A third case was brought by Mitsuye Endo. She demanded her release from the Tule Lake concentration camp, based on habeas corpus or the right to receive a trial, since the 1942 incarceration was implemented without the commission of a crime or trial proceedings. In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled on her behalf. They concluded that the War Relocation Authority did not have the right to detain her and other loyal citizens. This ruling granted Japanese Americans their freedom from the concentration camps. Soldiers Return Home The Japanese and Japanese Americans were given $25 and a train ticket when they left camp. Some returned to their hometowns and others re-located elsewhere. In some cases, the return home was almost as stressful as the initial forced incarceration. Many tried to rebuild their lives where anti-Japanese sentiments by the general population still existed. In Hood River, Oregon, petitions circulated protesting the return of the Japanese. In other towns, anti-Japanese signs and banners were openly displayed. The heroism and valor of the 442nd and 100th helped create a better public image for Japanese Americans as loyal and trustworthy citizens. It took much time and persistence for laws to change: Isseis or first generation Japanese could become naturalized citizens (1952 Immigration and Nationality Act (McCarran-Walter Act)), and Isseis could own land in various states (Alien Land laws in Washington State were repealed in1966). 1988 Reparations In 1988, President Ronald Reagan publicly apologized for the forced incarceration of Japanese and Japanese Americans. Each formerly incarcerated person who was alive in 1988 when reparations were passed received $20,000 with an accompanying letter of apology from either President Reagan, Bush, or Clinton. Three US Presidents Cite the Causes of the WWII Forced Incarceration as Part of Reparations The 1988 Civil Liberties Act authorized redress and reparations. Presidents Reagan, Bush Sr., and Clinton stated the causes of the incarceration in their letters of apology that accompanied a $20,000 check to eligible Japanese Americans. They identified the causes as Race discrimination, wartime hysteria, and failed leadership. These forces are still alive today. Racial prejudice is evidenced by anti-Asian hate crimes related to COVID and Black Lives Matter. Wartime hysteria was called propaganda during WWII and it is now called fake news, alternate facts, or lies. Failed leadership is evidenced today by the number of state/national initiatives promoted by some politicians to curtail civil and voter rights. Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers (FFANS) Graphic Novel--Relationship to State Social Studies Enduring Understandings The Fighting for America Nisei Soldiers graphic novel addresses and explicates all of the historical causes stated by the three presidents through the content, illustrations, and online information/resources. Studying and researching the content will require thought, emotion, and reflection by students as they link historic pathways to relevant personal and larger societal issues today. In addition, the materials support critical/formal thinking with an emphasis on the creation of knowledge by students. This critical thinking approach emphasis aligns with the OSPI Social Studies Skills-Enduring Understandings and Standards. For example: Social studies skills include the formation of questions, the ability to apply disciplinary knowledge and concepts, gather and evaluate sources, and develop claims and use evidence to support those claims. Source OSPI Social Studies Standards Grade 9-2, page 78. One desired FFANS project outcome is that the students walk in the shoes of selected Japanese Americans and Nisei soldiers at a critical time in history and explore/assess the circumstances and create a simulated path to move from darkness to light while not falling victim to despair. This activity will be within the context of dealing with an environment filled with prejudice/wartime hysteria and failed leadership. In the process, it is hoped that they will learn lessons that can apply to their own lives, the current world, and national settings from the Nisei soldiers. Also, the FFANS graphic novel supports implementing a learner-centered environment where students are knowledge-independent and knowledge is not the sole domain of teachers to dispense. This approach is similar to the Constructivist theory which encourages students to reflect on facts, concepts, and findings, and create knowledge. To do so they must be allowed to take control, collaborate, and take ownership of their learning. The FFANS graphic novel encourages and invites students into the lives of notable Japanese Americans at critical historic times. Through words and original art, they will find meaning, make connections and comparisons, and draw conclusions regarding American ideals and values in the light of racial discrimination, wartime hysteria, and failed leadership during WWII and today. Also, the project is based on a heuristic research approach which involves positing internal questions followed by self-discovery. Therefore, one recommended teacher evaluation method aligned with this design is: The “Head, Heart and Hand” paradigm. “Head”, concerns whether the students understood and comprehended the information. “Heart”, did the information touch their emotions and “Heart”? Finally, with their understanding (Head) and heartfelt emotions (Heart), were they motivated to do someone constructive (Hand)? If yes, what? Possible Culminating Student Projects and Outcomes Students can represent their findings and emotional content as charts, dioramas, illustrations, art/art pieces, mind maps etc. The findings can represent the end result of the inquiry or serve as a springboard to more rigorous research. In addition, the research could generate products and or group presentations to showcase their hypotheses, causation findings, research facts, conclusions and relevance of the information to today. Hopefully the students would recognize the role that facts and the scientific method play in generating knowledge. This is critical because in a democracy a well-informed and educated public is necessary in order for the democratic process to function. In dictatorships a well-informed public is not a top priority. In addition, as part of their research, hopefully the students would recognize the role euphemisms played to undercut and normalize the forced incarceration. The government used the following euphemisms regarding concentration camps and incarceration experience: War Relocation Centers instead of concentration camps, evacuation instead of forced incarceration, assembly centers for temporary camps (one was named Camp Harmony), colonists instead of prisoners, evacuees instead of prisoners, non-aliens instead of American citizens, etc. A desired outcome is that students can identify current day euphemisms that normalize inappropriate behavior and strategies to combat lies and unfounded conspiracy theories. Instructions for Teachers The following sections contain the Washington State Social Studies Learning Standards for middle and high school. Accompanying the state sample questions are the Japanese American Poster Project (FFANS) question/suggestions in italics which align with the state standards. The FFANS questions and statements are springboards for further discussion, research, and project development. As a result, the suggestions are not to be followed slavishly but are meant to stimulate thought and discussion leading to student discovery, a desired student outcome, or a culminating individual/group project. Washington State standards for grades 7-12 are attached. Sources and Resources BIBLIOGRAPHY Elementary/Jr. High Reading Level K-8 Bunting, Eve. So Far from the Sea. New York: Clarion Books, 1998. Print. (Ages 8-12) Cooper, Michael. Remembering Manzanar. New York: Clarion Books, 2002. Print. (Ages 9-12) Denenberg, Barry. The Journal of Ben Uchida. New York: Scholastic Books, 1999. Print. (Ages 9-12) Funke, Teresa R. The No-No Boys. Fort Collins: Victory House Press, 2008. Print. (Ages 9-12) Kadohata, Cynthia. Weedflower. New York: Athenneum Books for Young Readers, 2006. Print. (Ages 12+) Larson, Kirby. Dash. New York: Scholastic Press, 2014. Print. (Grades 3-7) Larson, Kirby. Fences Between Us. New York: Scholastic Press, 2010. Print. (Grades 5-8) Lee-Tai, Amy. A Place Where Sunflowers Grow. New York: Children’s Book Press, 2012. Print. (Ages 7-11) Mochizuki, Ken. Baseball Saved Us. New York: Lee and Low Books, 1993. Print. (Ages 8-12) Mochizuki, Ken. Heroes. New York: Lee and Low Books, 1997. Print. (Ages 4+) Salisbury, Graham. Under the Blood-Red Sun. New York: Delacourt Press, 1994. Print. (Ages 12+) Shigekawa, Marlene. Blue Jay in the Desert. Chicago: Polychrome Publishing, 1993. Print (Grades K-5) Shigekawa, Marlene. Welcome Home Swallows. Chicago: Polychrome Publishing, 2001. Print (Grades K-5) Stanley, Jerry. I Am An American. New York: Crown Publishing, 1994. Print. (Ages 9-12) Uchida, Yoshiko. A Jar of Dreams. New York: Aladdin, 1993. Print. (Ages 10-14) Uchida, Yoshiko. The Bracelet. New York: PaperStar Books, 1993. Print. (Ages 8-12) Uchida, Yoshiko. The Invisible Thread. Englewood Cliffs: J. Messner, 1991. Print. (Ages 8-12) Uchida, Yoshiko. Journey to Topaz. New York: Turtleback Books, 2005. Print. (Ages 9-12) Yabu, Shigeru. Hello Maggie. Camarillo: Yabitoon Books, 2007. Print. (Grades 2-4) High School/Adult Reading Level And Then There Were Eight: The Men of I Company, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, World War II. Honolulu: Item Chapter, 442nd Veterans Club, 2003. Print. Asahina, Robert. Just Americans. New York: Penguin Group USA, 2007. Print. Bosworth, Allan R. America’s Concentration Camps. New York: Norton, 1967. Print. Conrat, Maisie, Richard Conrat, and Dorothea Lange. Executive Order 9066; The Internment of 110,000 Japanese Americans. San Francisco: California Historical Society, 1972. Print. Crost, Lyn. Honor By Fire: Japanese Americans at War in Europe and the Pacific. Novato: Presidio, 1994. Print. Daniels, Rogers, Sandra C. Taylor, and Harry H.L. Kitano, eds. Japanese Americans from Relocation to Redress. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991. Print. Fiset, Louis. Imprisoned Apart: The World War II Correspondence of An Issei Couple. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1997. Print. Ford, Jamie. Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. New York: Ballantine Books, 2009. Print. Chang, Thelma. I Can Never Forget: Men of the 100th/442nd. Honolulu: Sigi Productions, 1991. Print. Gruenewald, Mary Matsuda. Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese-American Internment Camps. Troutdale: NewSage Press, 2005. Print. Hayami, Stanley, Joanne Oppenheim, and Daniel K. Inouye. Stanley Hayami, Nisei Son: His Diary, Letters, and Story from an American Concentration Camp to Battlefield, 1942-1945. New York: Brick Tower, 2008. Print. Hosokawa, Bill. Nisei: The Quiet Americans. New York: W. Morrow, 1969. Print. Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki. Farewell to Manzanar. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973. Print. Cooper, Michael L. Fighting for Honor: Japanese Americans and World War II. New York: Clarion Books, 2000. Print. Kaneko, Lonnie. Coming Home from Camp & Other Poems. Burton, Washington: Endicott & Hugh, 2015. Kitagawa, Daisuke. Issei and Nisei/The Internment Years. New York: Seabury Press, 1967. Print. Lorella, Teresa. Japanese Roses. Seattle: Lorella Rose Publishing, 2013. Print. Masuda, Minoru. Letters from the 442nd. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008. Print. Matsuda, Lawrence. A Cold Wind From Idaho: Poems. New York: Black Lawrence Press, 2010. Print. Matsuda, Lawrence and Roger Shimomura. Glimpses of a Forever Foreigner: Poetry & Artwork Inspired by Japanese American Experiences. Charleston: CreateSpace, 2014. Print. Matsuda, Lawrence. My Name is Not Viola. Endicott and Hugh Press, 2019. Matsuda, Lawrence. Shapeshifter, Minidoka Concentration Camp Legacy, Endicott and Hugh Press, 2022. Mochizuki, Ken. Meet Me at Higo: An Enduring Story of a Japanese American Family. Seattle: Wing Luke Museum, 2011. Print. Oppenheim, Joanne. Dear Miss Breed: True Stories of the Japanese American Incarceration During World War II and a Librarian Who Made a Difference. New York: Scholastic Books, 2006. Print. Sone, Monica. Nisei Daughter. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1979. Print. Takami, David. Divided Destiny: A History of Japanese Americans in Seattle. Seattle: Wing Luke Museum, 1998. Print. Graphic Novels/Comics Abe, Frank & Nimura, Tamiko. We Hereby Refuse. Seattle: Wing Luke Museum, 2021. Hayashi, Stacey. Journey of Heroes: The Story of the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Hawai‘i: 442 Comic Book LLC, 2012. Print. (Grades 3-7) Hughes, Kiku. Displacement. New York: First Second, 2020. Matsuda, Lawrence. Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers. Seattle: Wing Luke Museum, 2015. Mochizuki, Ken. Those Who Helped Us. Seattle: Wing Luke Museum, 2022. Pyle, Kevin. Take What You Can Carry. New York: Henry Hold Co., 2012. Takei, George. They Called Us Enemy. Marietta, Georgia: Top Shelf Productions, 2019. Tucci, Billy. The Lost Battalion (Sgt. Rock). New York: DC Comics, 2009. Websites 442nd/100th Rose Parade Float. http://www.cityofalhambra.org/news/read/149/2015_tournament_of_roses_parade_float/ Densho Oral History Project. www.densho.org Discover Nikkei. “Concentration Camp” or “Relocation Center” – What’s in a Name? James Hirabayashi. http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2008/4/24/enduring-communities/ Friends of Minidoka. https://www.minidoka.org Go For Broke National Education Center. www.goforbroke.org Gordon Hirabayashi. www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwBcj3DgtyE Japanese American Citizens League. Power of Words. https://jacl.org/education/power-of-words/ Jimmie Kanaya’s Story, WWII Dog Tag Experience. http://www.dogtagexperience.org/ (use the number 0000081a13 and click his picture). Minidoka Pilgrimage. www.minidokapilgrimage.org Tsuru for Solidarity, tsuruforsolidarity.org US Army Center of Military History. President William J. Clinton’s Comments Honoring Asian American Medal of Honor Recipients. http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/clinton_apmoh.html Videos/Movies The Cats of Mirikitani. Prod./Dir. Linda Hattendorf. Prod. Masa Yoshikawa. Ed. Keiko Deguchi. Cinedigm Entertainment. 2009. DVD. Going for Broke. Ed. William Mallek. Daniel K. Inouye and George Takei. Questar, 2005. DVD. Come See the Paradise. Dir. Alan Parker. Perf. Dennis Quaid, Tamlyn Tomita. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2006. DVD. Honor Bound: A Personal Journey. Prod. Wendy Hanamura. Filmakers Library. DVD. Honor and Sacrifice: The Roy Matsumoto Story. Prod. Don Sellers and Lucy Ostrander. Stourwater Pictures. 2014. DVD. Kash: The Legend and Legacy of Shiro Kashino. Dir. Vince Matsudaira. E-Shadow Productions, 2011. DVD. Acknowledgements The author and artist wish to acknowledge and thank each Nisei hero and their families for sharing their stories. Special thanks to the Graphic Novel Curriculum committee: Cassie Chinn, Debbie Kashino, Louise Kashino, Larry Matsuda, Karen Matsumoto, Paul Murakami, Mako Nakagawa, Matt Sasaki, May Sasaki and David Yamashita. With additional thanks to Mary Hoy, Cindy Nomura, Erica Swanson, and Jordan Wong. Special thanks to Vince Matsudaira for his assistance with the Shiro Kashino chapter and information from his DVD, Kash: The Legend of Shiro Kashino. Thanks also to the Wing Luke Museum, Nisei Veterans Committee (NVC) Foundation, and the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service for the funding and project administration. Note: The stories are inspired by the experiences of real-life people and events. In the process of adapting the stories, the author and artist took some liberties in terms of drama, sequence, setting, physical appearance, and chronology. This curriculum guide, the full graphic novel and accompanying publication, produced by the Seattle NVC Foundation and the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, is based upon work assisted by a grant from the US Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, findings conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the US Department of the Interior. This material received Federal financial assistance for the preservation and interpretation of US confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, the US Department of Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in its federally funded assisted projects. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program, activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire further information, please write to: Chief, Office of Equal Opportunity Programs US Department of the Interior National Park Service 1201 Eye Street, NW (2740) Washington, DC 20005 AUTHOR/ARTIST BIOS Lawrence Matsuda was born in the Minidoka, Idaho Concentration Camp during World War II. He and his family were among the approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese held without due process for approximately three years or more. Matsuda has a Ph.D. in education from the University of Washington and was: a secondary teacher, university counselor, state-level administrator, school principal, assistant superintendent, educational consultant, and visiting professor at Seattle University (SU). In 2005, he and two SU colleagues co-edited the book, Community and difference: teaching, pluralism and social justice, Peter Lang Publishing, New York. It won the 2006 National Association of Multicultural Education Philip Chinn Book Award. In July 2010, his book of poetry entitled, A Cold Wind from Idaho, was published by Black Lawrence Press in New York. His poems appear in Ambush Review, Raven Chronicles, New Orleans Review, Floating Bridge Review, Black Lawrence Press website, Poets Against the War website, Cerise Press, Nostalgia Magazine, Plumepoetry, Malpais Review, Zero Ducats, Surviving Minidoka (book), Meet Me at Higo (book), Minidoka: An American Concentration Camp (book and photographs), Tidepools Magazine, and the Seattle Journal for Social Justice. In addition, eight of his poems were the subject of a 60-minute dance presentation entitled, Minidoka, performed by Whitman College students in Walla Walla, Washington (2011). His new book, Glimpses of a Forever Foreigner, published by CreateSpace was released in August 2014. It is collection of Matsuda’s poetry and Roger Shimomura’s art. Artist Matt Sasaki Matt Sasaki was born in Seattle, Washington, the only boy amongst three sisters. He and his siblings grew up in the neighborhood of Beacon Hill. His father was a pharmacist and mother a schoolteacher. As a child, Matt channeled his youthful energy into drawing bizarre characters and creating storylines for the little ballpoint pen books he created out of scraps of paper and staples. Soon little Matty discovered that if he did art projects for his teachers, he could get out of doing real schoolwork. In his young adult years, Matt worked nights stocking shelves in a neighborhood grocery story while taking classes at the Art Institute of Seattle. After he graduated, he could not find work in the commercial art field, so he took classes in automobile collision repair and found a job in a local bodyshop. Later, Matt started painting signs. During this time, he went back to school to study digital art and computer graphics at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology. Matt lives with his wife, their serial killer cat and a very sweet old dog in a Zen-like home surrounded by a peaceful stand of tall evergreen trees north of Seattle. Samples of his work can be found at: mattsasaki.com.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.548056	Module	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/109843/overview", "title": "Nisei Soldiers in World War II", "author": "U.S. History" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/117268/overview	Education Standards Biomagnification Presentation Biomagnification in the Food Web Overview This lesson aims to teach students the difference between food webs and food chains, as well as how toxins in our environment affect large predators through biomagnification. In partnership with the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and the legislature-funded ClimeTime program, the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment has created the Climate Literacy Fellows program. Biomagnification in the Food Web Lesson Overview Lesson Title: Biomagnification in the Food Web Grade Level: 5th Disciplinary Area: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics Duration: 45 minutes Learning Objectives: - Students will be given a definition of food chains and food webs and how they are different. They will learn about the different trophic levels and will work with peers to build a food chain. - Students will visualize a food web that they would find in Spokane's local ecosystems and they will visualize biomagnification of toxins up a food web. - Students will draw connections between biomagnification, bioaccumulation, and climate change and learn how it affects animals and us. Key Terms: Food Chain, Food Web, Producer, Primary Consumer, Secondary Consumer, Tertiary Consumer Standards: Next Generation Science Standards - 5-LS2-1: Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. Materials: \| Material: \| Link for Purchasing: \| \| Ecosystem Food Web Template \| Included in Lesson PDF \| \| Animal/Plant Cutouts for Food Chain Activity \| Included in Lesson PDF \| \| Animal/Plant Cutouts for Food Web Actvity \| Included in Lesson PDF \| \| Red Beads \| Red Pony Beads \| \| PowerPoint \| Included \| \| Student Exit Tickets \| Included in Lesson PDF \| Authors: Zoe Driml, Gonzaga Class of 2023 Revised by Georgia LaPlante, Gonzaga Class of 2026	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.575590	Activity/Lab	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/117268/overview", "title": "Biomagnification in the Food Web", "author": "Life Science" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/117266/overview	Education Standards Invaders! Presentation Invaders! Overview This lesson aims to teach students about invasive species, native species, and non-native species. The lesson also covers the potential damages that an invasive species can cause to an ecosystem. In partnership with the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and the legislature-funded ClimeTime program, the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment has created the Climate Literacy Fellows program. Invaders! Lesson Overview Lesson Title: Invaders! Grade Level: 5th-6th Grade Disciplinary Area: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics Duration: 45 minutes Big Question: What is an invasive species and why are they dangerous to ecosystems they are not native to? Learning Objectives: - Students will learn the difference between a native species, invasive species, and non-native species. - Students will learn how a changing climate impacts ecosystems and the organisms that inhabit them. - Students will learn how to identify invasive species in their region and ways they can help prevent the spread of invasives. Key Terms: Invasive Species, Native Species, Nonnative Species, Climate Change Standards: Next Generation Science Standards - MS-LS2-2: Construct an explanation that predicts patterns of interactions among organisms across multiple ecosystems. Materials: \| Material: \| Link for Purchasing: \| \| Game Board \| Included in Lesson PDF \| \| Game Pieces \| Mice Game Pieces, Rabbit Game Pieces \| \| Expo Markers \| Pack of Markers \| \| Score Card \| Included in Lesson PDF \| \| Dice \| Dice \| Authors: Grant Plotner, Gonzaga Class of 2023 Revised by Holly Fijolek, Gonzaga Class of 2025	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.610054	Activity/Lab	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/117266/overview", "title": "Invaders!", "author": "Life Science" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/92733/overview	Direct vs. Indirect Characteristics Video Clips Jenny Grogan Scar Character Analysis Overview This lesson is designed for a sixth or seventh-grade English Language Arts class; however, can be used in other classes where character analysis is necessary such as a drama class, history class, etc. Learners will work through a series of tasks incorporating text, pictures, and videos to define character analysis, compare and contrast direct and indirect characteristics, describe character traits using direct characterization, and analyze characters using indirect characterization. This lesson can be tailored to fit individual students’ interests and hobbies by changing the pictures they are describing in the introduction activity. The resources used to create this lesson are a hybrid of resources—online videos are used to capture the learners’ attention and interests and a Word document with a chart identifying direct and indirect characteristics that will need to be printed out for each student and a piece of paper will be necessary for students to complete the first activity as well. Students will also have extra practice with analyzing characters by completing the activity in the “Challenge Yourself” section. This section ensures that students are transferring their learning of character analysis from video to literature selections. Introduction Pictures can be changed to match students' interests or favorite characters. For each of the pictures below, write three adjectives describing what you can see from the character in the picture. Learning Objectives After this lesson you will be able to: - Define character analysis. - Compare and contrast direct and indirect characterization. - Describe character traits using direct characterization. - Analyze characters using indirect characterization. What is Character Analysis? What does character analysis do? Character analysis helps the reader or audience to understand the character based on their traits, emotions, actions, etc. How do we analyze characters? Actions and Words OR Direct and Indirect Characteristics Direct vs. Indirect Characteristics \| Direct \| Indirect \| \| External \| Internal \| \| Words tell you what a character is like \| A character's actions show what they are like \| \| No guesswork- You are told by the author/writer what the character is like \| You decide what the character is like based on their actions: \| Go back to your introduction activity and decide whether the adjectives you wrote are direct or indirect characteristics. CIRCLE the direct characteristics and UNDERLINE the indirect characteristics. Once you have identified all of your adjectives as direct or indirect characteristics, continue on to the next section of the lesson. Using Direct Characterization Watch the attached video clips. As you watch each clip, use the attached chart to describe ONLY the DIRECT characteristics we are told about each of the characters listed on the chart. Using Indirect Characterization Watch the attached video clips again. This time as you watch each clip, use the attached chart to describe the INDIRECT characteristics you are given clues to. After watching the clips, use the space below your chart to write one to two sentences about each character that you can infer from their actions. Learning Objective Check Now that you have finished the lesson, can you: - Define character analysis? - Compare and contrast direct and indirect characterization? - Describe character traits using direct characterization? - Analyze characters using indirect characterization?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.640438	Lesson	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/92733/overview", "title": "Character Analysis", "author": "Reading Literature" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/116292/overview	Education Standards ClimeTime - Ecosystem Restoration (pdf) Fifth Grade Elementary Science and Integrated Subjects: Local Ecosystem Restoration Overview This Fifth Grade Elementary Framework for Science and Integrated Subjects - Local Ecosystem Restoration, includes detailed lesson plans, materials, and activities for students to understand the big ideas of: - What impact do invasive species have on an ecosystem? - How can humans create riparian areas within an ecosystem in order to return the ecosystem to healthier state? It is part of Elementary Framework for Science and Integrated Subjects project, a statewide Clime Time collaboration among Washington Educational Service Districts ESD 123, ESD 105, North Central ESD, and the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. Development of the resources is in response to a need for research- based science lessons for elementary teachers that are integrated with English language arts, mathematics and other subjects such as social studies. Introduction: Integrated Content Standards Frameworks for Elementary Science and Integrated Subjects are designed to be an example of how to develop a coherent lesson or suite of lessons that integrate other content areas such as English Language Arts, Mathematics and other subjects into science learning for students. The examples provide teachers with ways to think about all standards, identify anchoring phenomena, and plan for coherence in science and integrated subjects learning. Washington Learning Standards Washington State Science and Learning Standards 5th Grade Disciplinary Core Ideas include Physical Science, Life Science, Earth’s Systems, and Earth and Human Activity For Local Ecosystem Restoration, students are expected to develop an understanding of: - PS3.D: Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life - LS1.C: Organization for Matter and Energy Flow in Organisms - LS2.A: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems - LS2.B: Cycles of Matter and Energy Transfer in Ecosystems - ESS2.A: Earth Materials and Systems - ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems - ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems - ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions Crosscutting Concepts: - Energy and Matter - Systems and System Models - Scale, Proportion, and Quantity - Cause and Effect Science and Engineering Practices: - Asking Questions and Defining Problems - Developing and Using Models - Planning and Carrying Out Investigations - Analyzing and Interpreting Data - Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking - Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions - Engaging in Argument from Evidence - Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Performance Expectations: Identify Performance Expectation(s) from Next Generation Science Standards that will be your focus (Climate Science related PEs preferred but not mandatory). Copy and paste below all the possible disciplinary core ideas and performance expectations that relate to your topic. 5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment. [Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on the idea that matter that is not food (air, water, decomposed materials in soil) is changed by plants into matter that is food. Examples of systems could include organisms, ecosystems, and the Earth.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include molecular explanations.] 5-ESS2-1. Develop a model using an example to describe ways the geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and/or atmosphere interact. [Clarification Statement: Examples could include the influence of the ocean on ecosystems, landform shape, and climate; the influence of the atmosphere on landforms and ecosystems through weather and climate; and the influence of mountain ranges on winds and clouds in the atmosphere. The geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere are each a system.] 5-ESS3-1. Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment. Science and Engineering Practices Which SEPs will be a focus for investigating this topic/phenomenon? Modeling in 3–5 builds on K–2 models and progresses to building and revising simple models and using models to represent events and design solutions. (5-LS2-1) Develop a model to describe phenomena. Modeling in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to building and revising simple models and using models to represent events and design solutions. (5-ESS2-1) Develop a model using an example to describe a scientific principle. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information in 3–5 builds on K–2 experiences and progresses to evaluating the merit and accuracy of ideas and methods. (5-ESS3-1) Obtain and combine information from books and/or other reliable media to explain phenomena or solutions to a design problem. Crosscutting Concepts Which Crosscutting Concepts will be a focus for investigating this topic/phenomenon? (5-LS1-2) Systems and System Models - A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. (5-ESS3-1) Systems and System Models - A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions. English Language Arts (ELA) Standards How will I Integrate ELA Standards (which standard, what strategy…?) RI.5.7 Draw on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question quickly or to solve a problem efficiently. (5-ESS3-1) RI.5.9 Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the subject knowledgeably. (5-ESS3-1) W.5.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources. (5-ESS3-1) W.5.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. (5-ESS3-1) Mathematics Standards How will I Integrate Mathematics Standards? MP.2 Reason abstractly and quantitatively. (5-ESS2-1) MP.4 Model with mathematics. (5-ESS2-1) 5.G.A.2 Represent real world and mathematical problems by graphing points in the first quadrant of the coordinate plane, and interpret coordinate values of points in the context of the situation. (5-ESS2-1) Phenomena and Routines Phenomena - What is an invasive species? - Why are native plants not thriving in the restoration area? - What do different plants need to thrive? Phenomena Resources: Communicating in Scientific Ways \| OpenSciEd Big Ideas What impact do invasive species have on an ecosystem? - They disrupt native species, often by outcompeting them or disrupting ecological processes (e.g. pollination and availability of nutrients) - They may disrupt local economies by negatively affecting flora and fauna related to local agriculture How can humans create riparian areas within an ecosystem in order to return the ecosystem to a healthier state? - Remove invasive species and pollutants from the riparian zone - Plant native vegetation along riverbanks to stabilize soil and prevent erosion. Open Sci Ed Routines Routine \| Description of Routine \| \|---\|---\| Anchoring Phenomenon Routine \| Develop curiosity to drive learning throughout the suite of lessons or unit based on a common experience of a phenomenon \| Navigation Routine \| Establish and reinforce the connections between what we have previously done in a unit, what we are about to do, what we will do in the future, and what our driving purpose is in the contexts of the suite of lessons or unit. \| Investigation Routine \| Use scientific practices to investigate and make sense of a phenomenon. \| Putting Pieces Together Routine \| Take the pieces of ideas we have developed across multiple lessons and figure out how they can be connected to account for the phenomenon we have been working on. \| Problematizing Routine \| Evaluate the adequacy of our scientific ideas to explain and phenomenon in order to identify what we still need to understand. \| Lesson 1: Invasive Versus Native Species This lesson includes both a classroom component and two field experiences. It can be spread over three sessions. Anchoring Phenomenon Routine; Investigation Routine Teacher Materials - Invasive vs. Native Species Slides presentation Student Materials - Science Journal - Student handouts (1 per student) - Macroinvertebrate groups - Key to Macroinvertebrate Life in the River - Key to Life in the Pond - Water Sample Collection Materials (One for every group of four students) - Turkey basters - Ice cube trays - Magnifying glass - Small net - My Soil Soil Test Kit (2 per class) Preparation - Gather necessary materials - Create groups of 4 students - Locate a previously restored riparian site - Locate a site in need of restoration - Arrange transportation - Acquire parent permission Vocabulary - Native species - Invasive species - Macroinvertebrate - Water quality - Ecosystem - Organism Procedures Session 1 (Classroom) - Use the Slides presentation to deliver information about native species within your local area. - Insert handouts and data tables into science notebooks. Session 2 (Field Experience #1) - Arrive at the previously restored riparian site and make observations of the native species that have been planted in the established riparian zone. Record observations in science notebooks. - Distribute water sample materials to groups of students - Students will collect water samples directly from the water source. Immediately observe, identify, and record the macroinvertebrates found in their water samples. - Use the collected data to determine the quality of the water samples as an indicator of the health of the ecosystem. - Collect soil samples, following the provided directions that come with the kit. - Student observation of riparian site - Instruct students to spread out around the site and silently observe their surroundings, recording their observations in their journals Session 3 (Field Experience #2) - Arrive at the restoration site and make observations of the native and invasive species. Record observations in science notebooks. - Distribute water sample materials to groups of students - Students will collect water samples directly from the water source. Immediately observe, identify, and record the macroinvertebrates found in their water samples. - Use the collected data to determine the quality of the water samples as an indicator of the health of the ecosystem. - Collect soil samples, following the provided directions that come with the kit. - Student observation of restoration site - Instruct students to spread out around the site and silently observe their surroundings, recording their observations in their journals Lesson 2: Why is Soil Important This lesson includes two classroom components and a field experience. It can be spread over three sessions. Anchoring Phenomenon Routine; Navigation Routine; Investigation Routine; Putting Pieces Together Routine Teacher Materials - Why is Soil Important Slides presentation - Site Plan Slides Presentation - “Every Tree for Itself” game instruction - Poker Chips Student Materials - Science Journal - Student handouts (1 per student) - Map of the restoration site - List of native plants to be planted - Planting Materials - Native plants - Chokecherry; Water birch; Gray rabbbitbrush; Snowberry; Kinnikinnick; Indian Blanketflower; Columbine; Mock Orange - Shovels (approximately one for every two students) - Rakes (two for the entire class) - Flagging Materials (colored plastic ribbon) - Mixture of water and plant fertilizer based on the needs of the soil - Native plants Preparation - Gather necessary materials - Determine appropriate native plants and order them - Create a list of native plants that students will be planting for student use (list must include plant name, sun requirements, planting directions, quantity of plants to be planted, and color of flagging material to be used) - Label poker chips according to the “Every Tree for Itself” teacher instructions - Create a map of the restoration site - Arrange transportation - Acquire parent permission Vocabulary - Soil - Clay - Sand - Silt - Nutrients - Weathering - Erosion - Property - Restoration Procedures Session 1 (Classroom) - Use the Why is Soil Important? Slides presentation to deliver information about different types of soil and the impact soil has on an ecosystem. - Insert soil data table handouts and soil analysis questions into science notebooks. - After guided discussion of soil test results, students work in groups to answer analysis questions. - Students play “Every Tree for Itself” Session 2 (Classroom) - Use the Homeowners Guide to Riparian Buffers to identify existing problems in the restoration site and propose solutions to those problems. - Insert native plant information sheets into science notebooks for plants that will be available for planting. - Model how to use native plant information to determine planting locations to label on the site map. - Students create their own restoration plan for their site using the data collected. Session 3 (Field Experience #3) - Assign students locations on the site map and plants that will be planted there - Transport students to the site - Provide a demonstration of proper planting techniques - Distribute planting supplies to groups - Plants - Shovels - Rakes - Flagging - Students will plant and flag their plants according to the site plan - After planting and flagging is complete, apply the mixture of water and fertilizer Appendix: Lesson Resources Presenter Slides: Lesson 1, Session 1 Lesson 1 Slides: Invasive vs. Native Species \| Alison Crowley, WWCCD Presenter Slides: Lesson 2, Session 1 Lesson 2 Slides: Why Is Soil Important \| Alison Crowley, WWCCD Video 1: What Are Invasive Species (Lesson 1, Session 1) What Are Invasive Species? \| Explore Nature \| YouTube Video 2: Why Plant Native Trees? (Lesson 1, Session 1) Why Plant Native Trees? \| The Right Green \| YouTube Video 3: Types of Soil (Lesson 2, Session 1) Types of Soil \| Next Generation Science \| YouTube Handout 1: Aquatic Macroinvertebrates (Lesson 1, Session 1) Aquatic Macroinvertebrates \| National Park Service Handout 2: Key to Macroinvertebrate Life (Lesson 1, Session 1) Key to Macroinvertebrate Life in the River \| University of Wisconsin-Extension Handout 3: Key to Life in the Pond (Lesson 1, Session 1) Key to Life in the Pond \| University of Wisconsin-Extension Handout 4: Homeowner’s Guide to Riparian Buffers (Lesson 2, Session 2) Homeowner's Guide to Riparian Buffers\| Creating Urban Riparian Buffers (CURB) Attribution and License Attribution NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press \| Public License Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved \| Public License Cover image by congerdesign from Pixabay License Except where otherwise noted, this work developed for ClimeTime is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All logos and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Sections used under fair use doctrine (17 U.S.C. § 107) are marked. This resource may contain links to websites operated by third parties. These links are provided for your convenience only and do not constitute or imply any endorsement or monitoring. If this work is adapted, note the substantive changes and re-title, removing any ClimeTime logos. Provide the following attribution: This resource was adapted from How do Plants Grow and Survive? by ClimeTime and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Access the original work for free in the ClimeTime group on the OER Commons Washington Hub. This resource was made possible by funding from the ClimeTime initiative, a state-led network for climate science learning that helps teachers and their students understand climate science issues affecting Washington communities.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.753091	Unit of Study	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/116292/overview", "title": "Fifth Grade Elementary Science and Integrated Subjects: Local Ecosystem Restoration", "author": "Lesson Plan" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/117230/overview	Education Standards Energy Explorers Presentation Energy Explorers Overview This lesson enables students to see where their energy comes from and the future of renewable energy. In partnership with the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and the legislature-funded ClimeTime program, the Gonzaga Institute for Climate, Water, and the Environment has created the Climate Literacy Fellows program. Energy Explorers Lesson Overview Lesson Title: Energy Explorers Grade Level: 4th Grade Disciplinary Area: Energy Conversion Duration: 45-60 minutes Big Question: What are the different kinds of energy and how is energy transferred? Learning Objectives: - Students will be given a definition of energy and will identify several sources of energy. They will learn the diffrences between renewable and nonrenewable energy. - Students will visibly see how energy is transferred from one source to another. - Students will draw connections between the activity they did and how renewable energy can help power cities. Key Terms: Energy, Energy Coversion, Renewable Energy, Non-Renewable Energy Standards: Next Generation Science Standards - 4-PS3-2 Energy: Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents. - 4-PS3-4 Energy: Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another. Materials: \| Material: \| Link for Purchasing: \| \| Energy Conversion Set \| Carolina Energy Conversion Set \| \| AA Rechargeable Batteries \| Rechargeable Batteries \| \| Fan \| Desk Fan \| \| 1500 Lumens Flashlight \| Flashlight \| \| Sunglasses \| Tinted Safety Glasses \| \| Extension Cords \| Surge Protector Power Strip \| Authors: Jordan Cruz, Gonzaga Class of 2022 Revised by Kali Natarajan, Climate Literacy Outreach Specialist, 2024	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.781360	Environmental Studies	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/117230/overview", "title": "Energy Explorers", "author": "Engineering" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/96285/overview	Learning Domain: Standard 3: Accessing Information Standard: Describe ways to locate school and community health helpers. Learning Domain: Earth and Human Activity Standard: Ask questions to obtain information about the purpose of weather forecasting to prepare for, and respond to, severe weather. OR.SS.1.3 Oregon Social Sciences Standards Grade 1 Learning Domain: Economics Standard: Identify sources of income (some examples could be gifts, borrowing, allowance, work wages, government assistance). OR.SS.2.24 Oregon Social Sciences Standards Grade 2 Learning Domain: Social Science Analysis Standard: Compare and contrast past and present situations, people, and events in neighborhoods and communities. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject area. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently. Learning Domain: Reading for Literature Standard: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. Learning Domain: Reading for Literature Standard: Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. Learning Domain: Reading for Literature Standard: With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 2��3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject area. Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text Standard: Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently. Learning Domain: Reading Literature Standard: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. Learning Domain: Reading Literature Standard: Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. Learning Domain: Reading Literature Standard: With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story. Cluster: Key Ideas and Details. Standard: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text. Cluster: Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity. Standard: Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding. Cluster: Craft and Structure. Standard: With prompting and support, name the author and illustrator of a story and define the role of each in telling the story. Cluster: Key Ideas and Details. Standard: Describe the connection between two individuals, events, ideas, or pieces of information in a text. Cluster: Craft and Structure. Standard: Ask and answer questions to help determine or clarify the meaning of words and phrases in a text. Cluster: Craft and Structure. Standard: Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information provided by the words in a text. Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. Standard: Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas. Cluster: Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity. Standard: By the end of year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range. Cluster: Craft and Structure. Standard: Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 2 topic or subject area. Cluster: Craft and Structure. Standard: Know and use various text features (e.g., captions, bold print, subheadings, glossaries, indexes, electronic menus, icons) to locate key facts or information in a text efficiently.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.841329	Elementary Education	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/96285/overview", "title": "Elementary K-2 Career Unit", "author": "Business and Communication" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/93513/overview	Education Standards Sentence Frames and Transition Words Summary Paraphrase Graphic Organizer Romeo & Juliet - Paraphrase and Summary Activity Overview Students will paraphrase and summarize a key scene from Romeo & Juliet in writing, working both in groups and individually. \| LESSON DESCRIPTION [Romeo & Juliet - Paraphrase & Summary Activity] Author of the Lesson: Hilary Reed Lesson Summary/Overview: Students will paraphrase and summarize a key scene from Romeo & Juliet in writing, working both in groups and individually. LESSON GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Alignment and Objectives Content Standards: W.9-10.4 produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience RL.9-10.4 determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone SL.9-10.1 initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively L.9-10.3 apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening (extension activity) L.9-10.4 determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grades 9-10 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies Content Objectives: - Determine the meaning of Act III, scene i through reading and discussion - Put a scene from Shakespeare into your own words through group work and discussion - Summarize Act III, scene i individually in writing ELP Standards: 9-10.7 adapt language choices to purpose, task, and audience when speaking and writing Language (ELP) Objectives: - Determine the meaning of words and phrases and put them into their own words - Identify main ideas from a passage of text and construct a written summary Supporting Academic Language Language Functions: Paraphrase, Summarize Language Modalities: Summary, Paraphrase Reading - allowing students access to print and digital versions; allowing students access to digital resources (summaries, alternate versions of texts) Writing - graphic organizer; slideshow with definitions and reminders Speaking - structured talk routines Listening - structured talk routines, volunteers and cold calling for whole group discussion Vocabulary: summary, paraphrase, modernize Syntax or Sentence Structure(s): possible sentence frames for writing warm-up; list of transition words for summaries Discourse: Paraphrase, Summary LESSON PREPARATION Considerations Prerequisite Knowledge and Skills: This lesson takes place in the middle of a unit about Romeo & Juliet and in the second semester of the year. Students have had ample opportunity to work together on a variety of tasks in class and all play an active role in the academic community we’ve constructed. Specifically, students have already practiced summarizing and paraphrasing texts of various lengths, styles, and complexities. They have watched me paraphrase, summarize, and then modernize a previous scene from the play (Act II, scene ii - “The Balcony Scene”) and have access to that work in their Google Classroom. They have also watched two different film versions of Romeo & Juliet (with subtitles) and thus have a strong foundational understanding of the play so far. Students also have experience with structured talk routines where they share in a prescribed order with a predetermined talk partner. They are used to cold calling to report out what their partner has shared. For homework, students read Act III, scene i of Romeo & Juliet. Though most of them read the version from our textbook, they know about multiple resources to help them. They are encouraged to read in their home language if they would like. In addition, No Fear Shakespeare offers graphic novel versions of each scene along with modernizations and summaries. Students have practiced using the textbook notes to help guide their reading comprehension. Instructional Materials - Physical copy of Romeo & Juliet - Internet connection - Chromebook with access to Google Classroom and Google Docs - Physical copies of Summary/Paraphrase Graphic Organizer Learning Supports Socio-emotional supports: peer-to-peer connections; teacher connection; structured routines Cultural & Linguistic Responsiveness: Heterogeneous seating in table groups; students paired to support each other; extension activity allows for alternative representations (home language, cultural context, gender reimaginings, etc). Accessibility: bank of transition words; access to paraphrase and summary models; slides with directions; graphic organizer Instructional Supports Differentiation: L1 Supports: allow students to paraphrase in home language, graphic organizers partially filled in, key words highlighted and defined, some translations provided, audio version and/or version in home language provided L2 Development (by level): graphic organizers partially filled in, key words highlighted and defined, some translations provided, audio version provided LESSON PROCEDURES Anticipatory Set/Motivation/Hook Time: First 15 minutes of class, in student notebooks (with computer option if needed) Teacher Does/Students Do: Teacher projects Warm-Up Question on the slideshow which also has a timer. Slides are available in Google Classroom if students need to see it more closely. Warm-Up Question: Have you ever made a hasty decision and then later regretted it? What happened? In general, do you tend to be impulsive or think things through? Do you think this quality is changeable over time? Have a student read the slide aloud. Discuss the definitions of hasty and impulsive and write them on the board, having another student repeat them back. Start the timer for 10 minutes. Teacher circles the class, prompting students to get started. Teacher checks in with students who might need support, offering sentence starters (either verbally or in writing in their notebooks) when needed. At the end of the 10 minutes, students turn to their talk partner and talk for 1 minute about what they wrote. They can say exactly what they wrote or can paraphrase. Partners switch after one minute. At the end, the teacher calls on 1 student from each table group to report what their partner said (8 students total, or fewer if the day is rushed). Focused Instruction (Teacher-as-Model) Time: 10 minutes Teacher Does/Students Do: Teacher already modeled how to paraphrase and summarize a scene in a previous lesson, using Act II, scene ii (“The Balcony Scene”) as a guide. Teacher will put that modernization back up on the screen and do a review of the process for students who may have missed it. Teacher will pass out the Act III, scene i Paraphrase, Summarize, Adapt Activity graphic organizer, but students will also have access to a digital copy if preferred. Teacher will have a student read the top of the graphic organizer aloud (what does it mean to paraphrase?). Teacher will then go over instructions for the activity (listed in next section). Group Application (Student-to-Student Joint Responsibility) Time: 40 minutes Teacher Does/Students Do: Students sit in heterogeneous table groups of 4 and have lettered desks. Students will work together on all paraphrases, but each student will be responsible for leading and reporting out on their assigned lines. Teacher will circulate throughout the activity, helping students who are stuck. After the 30 minute mark, students will report out their paraphrased lines to the class so that they can compare their ideas to those of their classmates and fill in any holes in their comprehension. Individual Learning (Independent Practice and Application) Time: 15 minutes Teacher Does/Students Do: Teacher will ask for student volunteers to recall what the qualities are of an effective summary. Teacher will project reminder slides based on previous lessons. Students will have the rest of the class period to complete Step Two: Summary of the scene they read. Students will have access to a list of transition words and phrases during the activity (projected on the slideshow). Teacher will project “I Can” Statements for the activity and have students read them aloud. Teacher will identify students who may need to demonstrate understanding in an alternative way - options include but not limited to a verbal summary (given to teacher in a one-on-one setting), drawing (sequence of events), or summary in an alternate language (with a verbal explanation to teacher). Closure Time: 5-7 minutes Teacher Does/Students Do: Students will read their summaries to their table talk partners. If time allows, the teacher will ask a few students to read their summaries. Students will turn in documents on their way out. ASSESSMENTS Formative Assessment Content: Writing Warm-Up, Paraphrase, Summary Language: ability to understand the words “hasty” and “impulsive” in context; ability to define and practice paraphrase; ability to define and practice summary Plans for Summative Assessments Content: timed quote analysis paragraph, continued summary/paraphrase practice, modernization, acting out (as whole unit) Language: varies EXTENSIONS Ideas for Key Assignments, Extensions, and Adaptations for Online Learning Environments: One key extension for this lesson is to turn the paraphrased scene into an adaptation, set in a different time period, language, or cultural context. Examples could include: cowboys vs. aliens; a fight over a girl at her quinceanera; high school musical; etc. This is a prime opportunity for translanguaging. Students could work in table groups for increased collaboration time or could work solo so as to best represent their linguistic/cultural contexts. If working in groups, students could act out their scenes as an additional extension. As I have students in an Advanced English class, I extended the lesson and spent another two class periods doing the adaptation, which was highly successful and the students’ favorite part. Students incorporated their own cultural contexts and languages into their scripts, and it was very rewarding to watch and experience their collaborative process.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.889332	Hilary Reed	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/93513/overview", "title": "Romeo & Juliet - Paraphrase and Summary Activity", "author": "Lesson Plan" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/84521/overview	Introduction to History of Floral Design Overview An overview of introduction to floral design. Covers the Ancient Egyptian period of floral design and leads into an assignment of making an ancient inspired floral design. Floral Design - Define floral design: what is it? A creative form of expression using flowers, foliage and accessories Usually in a container – not always Any colors, any size, any shapes - Arrangements are ALWAYS one of a kind! - When did we start using floral desing? Dates back to ancient civilizations Discovered through excavation of artifacts that show flowers in everyday life Flowers also used for special events Each period of history has its own style which is easy to identify History: Important periods include: Ancient, European, Oriental, American, Modern Ancient: Egyptian Era Cut flowers and foliage used as everyday decor for: special events religious ceremonies personal adornment everyday life Style of design in Egyptian era: Simplistic Repetitious Arranged patterns Exact flower placement Arrangements: Many flowers used Large vases or urns, wide mouthed bowls, baskets, basins Wreaths or chaplets were worn Garlands hung/draped on structures Egyptian era flowers include: Acacia Gladiolus Jasmine Lily Lupine Narcissus Rose Violet Water lily Lotus Morning glory Poppy Bachelor button Strawflower Activity for the day: Use classroom safety rules and information about ancient Egyptian floral design to design your own floral design!	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.911039	Madison Clark	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/84521/overview", "title": "Introduction to History of Floral Design", "author": "Lecture" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/61266/overview	Post Secondary Education Vs Employment - Richelle Montgomery Overview Students will apply research skills in searching for a job. Students will design a budgeting plan, based on average pricing for the city in which they live. This will include mortgage rates (with 0% down) vs. renting, health insurance, car loans, gasoline, car maintenance, student loans, utilities (gas, electric, water & sewer, phone, cable, gas), groceries, medical expenses, child care, miscellaneous, emergency fund, savings account. Students will be able to analyze, compare, and contrast the pros and cons to two different post secondary plans. Post Secondary Education:, including school of choice, rate of student loans based on income, and research in desired profession (using the low average income to average income as a reference point). Subject: English 10-12 Time Required: 2 weeks / 10 45minute class periods Lesson Overview - Students will apply research skills in searching for a job. - Students will design a budgeting plan, based on average pricing for the city in which they live. This will include mortgage rates (with 0% down) vs. renting, health insurance, car loans, gasoline, car maintenance, student loans, utilities (gas, electric, water & sewer, phone, cable, gas), groceries, medical expenses, child care, miscellaneous, emergency fund, savings account. - Students will be able to analyze, compare, and contrast the pros and cons to two different post secondary plans. - Post Secondary Education:, including school of choice, rate of student loans based on income, and research in desired profession (using the low average income to average income as a reference point). - Employment: option will be to research a local company that hires direct from high school (ex. Manufacturing companies). This can be done after completing a transition tour of the facility, or may be done independently. A choice between local companies may be assigned by the teacher. Students may research company with information on starting salary, benefits, room for growth, additional education provided by the company, etc. PA Core Standards Career Education & Work Standards CEW 13.1.11.F Analyze the relationship between career choices and career preparation opportunities, such as, but not limited to: - Associate degree - Baccalaureate degree - Certificate/licensure - Entrepreneurship - Immediate part/full time employment - Industry training - Military training - Professional degree - Registered apprenticeship - Tech Prep - Vocational Rehabilitation Centers 13.1.11H. Review personal high school plan against current personal career goals and select postsecondary opportunities based upon personal career interests. 13.2.11. B. Apply research skills in searching for a job. Essential Questions - What are the pros & cons of obtaining employment directly after graduation? - What are current statics of post secondary education? Pros & cons? Students Will Know \| Students Will Be Doing \| \| \| Instructional Process (i.e., Lesson Delivery) Introduction Video Day 1 & 2 - Show introduction video (15min) - Class discussion on the Education Paradigm - Begin, review & complete life blueprint attachment Day 3 - Begin Research with Budget Calculator, based on average city cost of living. Day 4 - Research post secondary employment, universities, student loan rates, etc. - Fill in budget sheet with included numbers from research - Complete Pros & Cons list Day 5 - Transitional Tour (if able) local manufacturing facility - OR Complete Research one 1 of 3 (local) companies provided by teacher Day 6 - Complete research one 1 of 3 (local) companies provided by teacher - Fill in employment budget sheet with included numbers from research Day 7 - Break into small groups (3-4 students) to compare findings. Have students collaborate together to put together 5 pros & 5 cons for post secondary education, and 5 pros & 5 cons for employment options. Day 8 - Group presentations of pros & Cons Day 9 - Active & Engaged student discussion from presentations Day 10 - Write Final Reflection Differentiation & Enrichment Lower Achieving Students \| Higher Achieving Students \| \| \| Assessment / Demonstration & Monitoring of Student Progress Assessments (Formative and Summative): \| Performance Task(s) \| \| \| Resources / Links / Materials \| Presentations \| Materials \| \| Introduction Video Budget Calculator Life Blueprint \|	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.968425	01/07/2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/61266/overview", "title": "Post Secondary Education Vs Employment - Richelle Montgomery", "author": "Larissa Mallon" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/72787/overview	Basics of Writing a Cover Letter Overview Middle and High School educators across Lebanon County, Pennsylvania developed lesson plans to integrate the Pennsylvania Career Education and Work Standards with the content they teach. This work was made possible through a partnership between the South Central PA Workforce Investment Board (SCPa Works) and Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13 (IU13) and was funded by a Teacher in the Workplace Grant Award from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. This lesson plan was developed by one of the talented educators who participated in this project during the 2019-2020 school year. Title of Lesson: Basics of Writing a Cover Letter Course Name: 7th grade ELA Grade Level: 7th grade Author’s Name: Jessica Huber Author’s School District: Palmyra Area Middle School \| PA Academic Standards for English Language Arts \| \| CC.1.4.7 Writing CC.1.4.7.E - Write with an awareness of the stylistic aspects of composition. CC.1.4.7.T - With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have been addressed. \| \| \| PA Academic Standards for Career Education and Work \| \| 13.2.8 Career Acquisition 13.2.8.C - Prepare a draft of career acquisition documents, such as, but not limited to: \| \| \| Learning Objectives \| \| \| In bulleted format, list your student learning objectives for this lesson. \| \| \| \| \| Conceptual Background \| \| \| While 7th grade students are not necessarily old enough to begin applying for part-time jobs, most will be before they leave middle school.In a world where text-speech runs rampid, it is important for students to learn how to write a formal letter. Students also need to learn how to present themselves in a positive light for a job, without the use of instagram, snapchat, or TikTok. This lesson will help students to establish the basic formatting for a formal letter as well as the purpose of the letter and each section it contains.It is important for students to understand that the purpose of a piece of writing can dictate the style of writing. \| \| \| Instructional Procedure \| \| \| Pacing \| Instructional Procedure \| \| Day 1 - 10 minutes \| Teacher poses the following question:What part time job would you like to have once you turn 15/16/18?Students respond verbally \| \| Day 1 - 5 minutes \| Discussion:How do you go about getting that job that you said?Students responses varyFollow up question: who has heard of a cover letter/what is a cover letter?What is the purpose of a cover letter?Answer: To present yourself in a positive light in order to gain a desired job/ position. \| \| Day 1 - 15 minutes \| Think back to that job you want. What are 3 (2-4) characteristics or skills that someone would need in order to be successful in that position?As a class, brainstorm experiences that middle school students may have that could develop/show these traits as examplesExamples: \| \| Day 1 - 5 minutes \| So how do we do this/where do we start??Show PowToon Video on how to write a cover letterHave students summarize with a partner what they learned from the videoHave students share out what they learned from the video \| \| Day 1 - 10 minutes \| Open a new google docLet’s begin with formatting:Write the following at the top of the page in the left corner: \| \| Day 1 - 5 minutes \| Salutation:After you’ve written the address you are sending the letter to, hit return so there is a space before the next lineThen type the “salutation” or opening.It can begin with “Dear” or “To” followed by the person’s name.If you don’t know the person’s name, you can write “Sir or Madam” or the department/job title you are sending the letter to “Director of HR at the Hershey Company”After the name what do you put?Answer: a colonWhy don’t we use a comma?Answer: because this is a formal letter, not a friendly letter \| \| Day 2 - 15 minutes \| Identifying characteristics and examplesNow that we have the salutation completed, let’s decide what qualities/characteristics you want to emphasize about yourself.Think back to those characteristics that you felt are necessary for your desired position. Pick the two or three that you feel that you inhabit.Type those in a list below your salutation on your letter. You will delete these later, but they will help keep you focused as you write your letter.Hit return twice to start a new paragraph.This is the introduction paragraph. In this paragraph you need to state: \| \| Day 2 - 15 minutes \| Hit return twice to start a new paragraph.This is the first paragraph where you will highlight your strengths or characteristics that you can bring to the position.Start this paragraph with a transition. Examples include but are not limited to: \| \| Day 2 - 10 minutes \| After these two paragraphs are completed, there is one more that needs to be written.Hit return twice to start a new paragraph.This paragraph would include any additional skills or relevant information that would help you in this position. This could include: good grades, honor roll, other languages, work ethic, technology skills, etc.End the paragraph with a statement about how these skills make you a great candidate for the position.Give the students 5 minutes to write this paragraph.Provide students with the example should they need it. \| \| Day 2 - 5 minutes \| Hit return twice to start a new paragraph (but it won’t be a whole paragraph).Write a 1-2 sentence statement thanking them for their time and encouraging them to reach out.For example: \| \| Day 2 - 5 minutes \| ClosingHit return twice and time an appropriate closing. Examples include (but are not limited to): \| \| Day 2 - follow up/homework \| Finish whatever paragraphs have not been completed and bring it back for submission tomorrow. \| \| Formative Assessment \| \| \| Students will submit a FIRST DRAFT of a cover letter for a hypothetical position they would like to have. \| \| \| Materials Needed \| \| \| PowToon VideoIntro paragraph exampleCharacteristic paragraphs exampleAdditional skills paragraph example \| \| \| References \| \|	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:49.996286	Jessica Huber	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/72787/overview", "title": "Basics of Writing a Cover Letter", "author": "Rachael Haverstick" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/70956/overview	Education Standards Ribbon Technique Soil Ribbon Method - Brandy Soil Skeleton Notes Texture worksheet Video - Soil/Dirt Difference What is Soil - pptx Soil Types and Texture Overview This Lesson will examine the definition of Soil using written and video references. The lesson will also demonstrate how to identify different soil types by examining the texture of different soil samples. The lab portion will allow students to collect, evaluate and determine soil texture and type using the hands-on ribbon method. The lesson is meant to be conducted over a period of two to three days depending on class period length. What is Soil? Class will begin with an inquisitive discussion about what students think soil is and if there is a difference between dirt and soil. Watch youtube video over the difference between dirt and soil. The PowerPoint will be viewable to the class and we will discuss and fill out skeleton notes as we go. Students may also pick 1 fact from each slide to write on their "The more you Know" index cards. Information on these cards is used for entry/exit tickets each day. This lesson will serve as a predecessor for examining soil types and texture. MAIN IDEA: What is soil, how did it form and what does it do that is important to human life on earth? The term "soil" should not be hard to define. It is what you find in fields and gardens where crops are grown. However, the most accurate definition of soil should cover both what it is and what it does. - A soil scientist defines soil based on what it is, as "organized natural bodies similar to different types of ecosystems." - A plant scientist, or agronomist, defines soil in terms of what it does, as "the unconsolidated upper part of the earth's crust capable of supporting terrestrial plant life." WHAT SOIL INCLUDES Soil is a very complex mixture of mineral matter, air, water, decaying organic matter and living organisms. All of these are necessary for soil to support the growth of plants and trees. - Minerals found in soil are inorganic compounds in the earth's crust. Most rocks from which soils were formed are a mixture of minerals. - Organic matter is material of plant or animal origin that decays in the soil. When dead plants and animals decompose, they become humus. Humus is a gelatin-like substance that binds soil particles together. - The living organisms found in soil include decomposer microorganisms that break down organic matter and convert nutrients into forms plants can use. - Air and water are extremely important elements of soil, and should make up about half of the soil mixture on a volume basis. For ideal plant growth, a soil will be made up of about 45% minerals, 25% air, 25% water and five% organic matter. HOW SOIL IS FORMED The soils found on earth were formed over millions of years. In practical terms, lost topsoil is impossible to replace. Soil formation takes place by a process known as weathering. This process includes the decomposition of minerals and organic matter by rain, heat, cold, freezing, thawing, glaciers and landslides. Many different types of soil are formed by this process. The type of soil and rate at which it is formed is influenced by: - The type of original or parent material, such as limestone, glacial deposits or from alluvial deposits. - The climate, including average temperatures and rainfall. - The type of organisms that live on and in the land, including plants, humans and animals. - The topography of the land, whether it is steep or flat. - The length of time that parent material has been weathered. Given time, the weathering process is a powerful force. It can break up huge rocks and grind them down into a rich soil mixture. The process starts when water collects in tiny cracks found on a rock. When water freezes, it expands, causing the crack to get larger. When thawing occurs, more water enters the crack, it freezes, and the crack is again enlarged. Freezing and thawing over time break rocks apart. More cracks are formed and more freezing and thawing continues to break rocks into smaller parts. As weathering takes place, plants begin to play a role in the processes. Small cracks in rocks begin to collect soil and seeds. Once the seeds start to grow, the roots of the plants further break down the rocks. In some cases, the seed itself aids in the breaking of rocks. This takes place when a seed falls into the crack in a rock. Once there is enough water for it to start to grow, it pushes against the rocks and breaks them. As soil is blown, some will land on the growing seed, allowing it to continue to grow. Frequently you may see a tree growing out of the cracks in rocks. As the tree grows, the roots continue to break apart the rocks, making a place for other plants to grow. THE FUNCTIONS AND PURPOSE OF SOIL The main purpose of soil is to provide a way for plants to grow. To do this, soil must provide four functions: - Soil serves as an anchor for plant roots. - Soil supplies water to plants. - Soil provides air for plant roots to breathe. - Soil furnishes plants with nutrients they need to grow. Soil is also used for a number of other purposes in addition to supporting plants. As a geologic substance, soil serves as a roadbed, an aggregate for concrete and asphalt, a foundation for structures and bodies of water, and is used in landfills. Soil is vital to human life. All of the crops we grow and the livestock we raise depend on soil and soil fertility. All terrestrial life, including wildlife, prairies and forests, depends on soil and the products of soil. In addition, soil acts as a filtration system for earth's hydrologic cycle. This makes it possible for fish and other life to exist in lakes and streams. BOTTOM LINE: Soil is a key factor in what makes life on earth possible. Exploring Soil Texture We will use the PowerPoint to discuss and use as a reference to fill out the worksheet, however this section will focus mainly on the LAB. We will start the lab by collecting soil samples from 3 different areas using a soil probe. We will use 1 sample that has been collected from eastern Nebraska. Students will have access to the video on the "Ribbon Method" on location. The lab will be conducted on the sample site. Samples will also be taken back to the classroom and the students will conduct the ribbon method to determine the makeup of the different soil types and determine what type of soil it is. Our focus will be primarily on the soil's structure. It may take a while to get the hang of ribboning the soil so we will spend most of the class period practicing in groups of 2. Supplies needed for the lab: 1. Soil probe or probes for each group 2. Straw, squirt bottles of water for moistening the soil. Plastic baggies and sharpie markers for containing and labeling the soil samples for future use. MAIN IDEA: What is meant by soil texture and soil structure, and why are they important? Texture of soil is determined by the size of soil particles. Many times you can feel those differences by rubbing soil between your thumb and fingers. Sand has larger particles and feels coarse. Clay has fine particles and feeds smooth. In most cases, a soil is made up of a combination of larger and smaller particles. The texture is then based upon the proportion of various particle sizes, such as sand, silt and clay, which are included in the mix. Soil particle sizes are usually grouped into four size classes. - Gravel particles are 2.0 mm or larger - Sand particles are 2.0 mm to .05 mm - Silt particles are .05 mm to .002 mm - Clay particles are .002 mm and smaller Notice that the largest sand particles are 1,000 times as large as the largest clay particles. It would require 40 large silt particles to equal one large sand particle. Classes of soil based on texture include: - Sandy soils contain 70% or more sand. - Silt soils contain 80% or more silt. - Clay soils contain 40% or more clay. - Loam soils contain an intermediate mixture of sand, silt and clay. WHY SOIL TEXTURE IS IMPORTANT Soil texture determines the soil's ability to hold nutrients, store water and provide for plant root growth and development. All of these are related to particle size. That is because particle size determines the total amount of particle surface area in a given volume of soil. Imagine filling a large cup with golf balls. It would not take many. Fill another cup with marbles and a third with BB shot. If you then filled each one with water, which do you imagine would have the most surface area in contact with the water? The BB shot will easily win. The same is true with soil particles. The surface area of the particles in a soil is important in determining the water-holding capacity of the soil. Water in soil is held as a film on the surface of individual particles. Thus, the more surface, the more water and plant nutrients the soil is able to hold. The difference can be dramatic. A handful of sand may have the surface area of a ping-pong table, while the surface area of the same size handful of clay would be closer to a football field. At the same time, water can soak into sand very rapidly, while it soaks into clay very slowly. This is referred to as the "permeability" of the soil. Permeability is also important. It is the ease with which gases, liquids or plant roots can penetrate or pass through the soil. - Clay soils tend to have a high ability to hold water and nutrients; however, they are very low in permeability. - Sandy soils tend to be very low in ability to hold nutrients; however, they are very high in permeability. - Silty soils are moderate in both ability to hold nutrients and permeability. WHY SOIL STRUCTURE IS IMPORTANT Soil structure is defined as the arrangement of soil particles into aggregates, also called peds. Soil gets structure when soil particles are cemented together by some natural cementing agent such as clay, organic matter or iron and aluminum oxides. Soil aggregates that occur naturally in soil are called peds, while clumps of soil caused by tillage are called clods. Some peds are quite large. They range in size from as small as a large grain of sand to several inches in size. Space between clay particles is tiny, because the particles are so small. Because of this, clay is sometimes called a "tight" soil which lacks permeability. Drainage is poor. However, spaces between the peds may be large, which greatly improves a tight soil such as clay for plant growth. Good structure improves air and water movement and makes it easier for roots to grow. The spaces between the peds also improves the water-holding capacity. COLOR AND SMELL You can learn a lot about a soil by the way it looks and how it smells. Black to brown soil: Black to brown soils get their color from organic matter or from dark parent materials. You can learn more about their history from their smell. - Organic soils are often produced by waterlogged conditions, such as a lowland or marsh. These soils have a sour, oily smell. - Organic matter can also be high in well-aerated soil. These soils have the earthy smell of good soil. - Soil from dark parent material often has a faint chalky odor. White to light gray soil: White to light gray color may indicate a soil that has been leached, removing chemicals and organic matter. Often these are sandy soils. White color also may be due to accumulations of lime, gypsum or other salts. Yellow to red soil: Yellow to red soils, often seen in warmer climates, get their color from iron oxide. This is the same compound found on rusty metal. The red color indicates good drainage because air with oxygen is required to form the oxide. Yellow is from an iron oxide that includes some water, producing the mineral limonite. Yellow means the soil is slightly less well-drained than red soil. Bluish-gray soil: Bluish-gray color is produced by unoxidized iron and indicates a lack of oxygen in the soil. This often is the result of waterlogging caused by poor drainage. This condition is sometimes called "greying" of soil. Mottled soil: Mottled soils show patches of different colors, often including spots of rust, yellow and gray. This mottled condition suggests a soil that is waterlogged for part, but not all, of the year. SELECTING THE BEST SOILS You can observe the condition of a soil in a number of ways. Color and smell are obvious conditions you can observe by going out to a plowed or cultivated field. Texture and structure are a little more difficult to determine. Measuring soil texture: An accurate measurement of soil texture requires the use of a graduated cylinder. Dry soil is filtered down through several screens which sort the soil particles by size, taking out the sand first, followed by silt, and allowing the finest clay particles to settle to the bottom. You also can make an estimate of soil texture by kneading it in your hand and feeling it between your fingers. This is called the "ribbon test" or "feel method" of determining soil structure. Observing soil structure: Soil structure is more difficult to determine. It is best observed through a microscope. You also may be able to see the results of poor structure or good structure in a field. Rain soaks rapidly into soil with good structure and poorly into tight soil. Poor crop growth on end rows where there has been more tractor traffic is an indication of compaction or a breakdown of soil structure. Ideal agricultural soil: The ideal soil for agricultural purposes contains 10-20% clay, 40% sand and 40% silt. This is called a loam soil. The color should be dark brown or black indicating a fair amount of organic matter produced under conditions of good aeration. It also should have a good open, granular, or crumb structure that provides aeration and water-holding capacity.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.048782	08/06/2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/70956/overview", "title": "Soil Types and Texture", "author": "Kristin Rut" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/68348/overview	Information Technology Overview Article On Information Technology:- IT In this Generation,Technology Is the most important part for everyone.it's the part of new generation in which generation we are living. During whole day we need help of technology. Information Technology Is specially based on computer science.It is a wonderful invention of modern science. Besides computers, it also includes telephone,television,radio,wireless,email,fax,the internet etc. The Internet is a giant member information technology. It is the source of news and information. There is no information but is available in the internet. Thus, internet fulfills the demand of every individual. In Old generation if we want to contact anyone we have to write a letter and it goes too late.but now,we can contact anyone with video from our house.all are the gift of technology. But information technology is not free from demerits. Social and anti-social movement, hijacking, fraudulence and many other crimes can take place for the misuse of information technology. Just a notice for everyone,plz don't use technology for any bad works.use the innovation for good works and help to grow the human civilization.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.062156	06/11/2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/68348/overview", "title": "Information Technology", "author": "satish kumar" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/90343/overview	Music Theory Work Book Overview A collection of PDF fillable worksheets aligned with most common instrumental music method books. These can be attached to an LMS so students can access, complete, and submit electronically. Instrumental Music: Music Workbook Supplemental Material The attached folder contains short work sheets in a fillable PDF format. These worksheets are designed to be used regularly as a short formative assessments of music theory terminology and concepts. The intent is for a music educator to have the ability to attach these fillable forms to an LMS of some kind so students can access, complete, and submit with their devices. These particular worksheets were created and aligned with the "Sound Innovations: Book 1" band method book, but will most likely align with most instrumental music methods out there.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.079764	Scott Maack	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/90343/overview", "title": "Music Theory Work Book", "author": "Homework/Assignment" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/123629/overview	Managing Station Rotation- Slides Overview This workshop, designed for administrators or facilitators to use with K-12 educators, focuses on strategies for effectively managing the station rotation framework in classrooms. Participants will learn techniques for organizing groups, setting expectations, and ensuring accountability across direct, independent, and collaborative stations. Introduction This workshop, designed for administrators or facilitators to use with K-12 educators, focuses on managing the station rotation framework to maximize its effectiveness in classrooms. Participants will explore key strategies for organizing and managing groups, setting expectations, and ensuring accountability in direct, independent, and collaborative stations. Practical tools such as visual timers, learner reflection activities, and differentiated content planning will be highlighted. Special thanks to the Lancaster-Lebanon IU13 team for their invaluable resources and support in making this professional development available! To preview, open the attached PDF. To get your own copy of the slides, use this link.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.096669	Tracy Rains	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/123629/overview", "title": "Managing Station Rotation- Slides", "author": "Kendy Schiffert" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/106443/overview	OREGON MATH STANDARDS (2021): [3.OA] Overview The intent of clarifying statements is to provide additional guidance for educators to communicate the intent of the standard to support the future development of curricular resources and assessments aligned to the 2021 math standards. Clarifying statements can be in the form of succinct sentences or paragraphs that attend to one of four types of clarifications: (1) Student Experiences; (2) Examples; (3) Boundaries; and (4) Connection to Math Practices. 2021 Oregon Math Guidance: 3.OA.A.1 Cluster: 3.OA.A - Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division. STANDARD: 3.OA.A.1 Standards Statement (2021): Represent and interpret multiplication of two factors as repeated addition of equal groups. Connections: Preceding Pathway Content (2021) \| Subsequent Pathway Content (2021) \| Cross Domain Connections (2021) \| Common Core (CCSS) (2010) \| 2.OA.C.3, 2.OA.C.4 \| 3.OA.B.5, 3.OA.A.3, 3.OA.B.6, 3.OA.A.2, 5.NF.B.4 \| 5.NF.B.5, 5.NF.B.6 \| 3.OA.A.1 3.OA.A Crosswalk \| Standards Guidance: Boundaries: - Interpret the factors as representing the number of equal groups and the number of objects in each group. Describe a context in which a total number of objects can be expressed as __ x __. - This standard does not include calculating products. It is about understanding the meaning of each of the factors in 5 x 7, not the product of 5 x 7. Progressions - The equation 3 x 6 = ? means how many are in 3 groups of 6 things each: three sixes. But in many other countries the equation 3 x 6 = ? means how many are 3 things taken 6 times (6 groups of 3 things each): six threes. Some students bring this interpretation of multiplication equations into the classroom. So it is useful to discuss the different interpretations and allow students to use whichever is used in their home. (Please reference page 25 in the Progression document). Examples - Student Achievement Partners: 2021 Oregon Math Guidance: 3.OA.A.2 Cluster: 3.OA.A - Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division. STANDARD: 3.OA.A.2 Standards Statement (2021): Represent and interpret whole-number quotients as dividing an amount into equal sized groups. Connections: Preceding Pathway Content (2021) \| Subsequent Pathway Content (2021) \| Cross Domain Connections (2021) \| Common Core (CCSS) (2010) \| 3.OA.A.1, 3.OA.A.3, 3.OA.B.6 \| 3.OA.B.5 \| 5.NF.B.3, 5.NF.B.5, 5.NF.B.6 \| 3.OA.A.2 3.OA.A Crosswalk \| Standards Guidance: Clarifications - Students should solve multiplication problems including single-digit factors and division problems including single- digit divisors and quotients. Terminology - This standard focuses on two models of division: partition models and measurement (repeated subtraction) models. - Partition models focus on "How many in each equal-sized group?" - Measurement (repeated subtraction) models focus on "How many groups can you make?". - This standard does not include calculating. It is about understanding the meaning of what does 56 ÷ 8 mean, not the quotient of what does 56 ÷ 8 equal. Boundaries - Students should be able to use numerical reasoning to learn multiplication and division facts through playing games and solving contextual, mathematical problems. - Fluency does not lend itself to timed tests or speed. Students should be given opportunities to choose flexibly among strategies to solve mathematical problems accurately and efficiently. Teaching Strategies - Multiplication strategies may include repeated addition, equal-sized groups, arrays, area models, equal jumps on a number line and skip counting. Multiplication tables may be used to help students discover patterns and relationships. - Division strategies may include repeated subtraction, equal sharing, and forming equal groups. Progressions - In Equal Groups, the roles of the factors differ. One factor is the number of objects in a group (like any quantity in addition and subtraction situations), and the other is a multiplier that indicates the number of groups. So, for example, 4 groups of 3 objects is arranged differently than 3 groups of 4 objects. Thus there are two kinds of division situations depending on which factor is the unknown (the number of objects in each group or the number of groups). (Please reference page 24 in the Progression document). Examples - Illustrative Mathematics: 2021 Oregon Math Guidance: 3.OA.A.3 Cluster: 3.OA.A - Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division. STANDARD: 3.OA.A.3 Standards Statement (2021): Use multiplication and division within 100 to solve problems in authentic contexts involving equal groups, arrays, and/or measurement quantities. Connections: Preceding Pathway Content (2021) \| Subsequent Pathway Content (2021) \| Cross Domain Connections (2021) \| Common Core (CCSS) (2010) \| 3.OA.A.1, 3.OA.A.2 \| 3.OA.A.4, 3.OA.D.8, 4.OA.A.1, 4.OA.A.2 \| 3.OA.A.3 3.OA.A Crosswalk \| Standards Guidance: Clarifications - Students should be able to solve practical, real-life division problems including “how many in each group” and “how many groups” using efficient and flexible strategies. - 7 x 3 is known, then 3 x 7 is also known (Commutative Property) - 3 x 5 x 2 can be found by 3 x 5 = 15, then 15 x 2 = 30, or 5 x 2 = 10, then 3 x 10 = 30 (Associative Property) - Knowing 8 x 5 = 40 and 8 x 2 = 16, 8 x 7 can be found as the sum of these partial products: 8 x (5 + 2) = (8 x 5) + (8 x 2) = 40 + 16 = 56 (Distributive Property) Boundaries - Solve multiplication word problems with factors up to and including 10. - Solve division word problems with a divisor and quotient up to and including 10. - Students at this grade level are not expected to formally name or identify the specific properties (e.g. commutative, associative, and distributive). Teaching Strategies - Students should use a variety of representations for creating and solving one-step word problems, including using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number. - Some problems should include reading bar graphs, pictographs, and dot plots, as well as measurements in grams, kilograms, liters. Dot plots and line plots can be used interchangeably. Progressions - Relating Equal Group situations to Arrays, and indicating rows or columns within arrays, can help students see that a corner object in an array (or a corner square in an area model) is not double counted: at a given time, it is counted as part of a row or as a part of a column but not both. - Problems in terms of “rows” and “columns,” e.g., “The apples in the grocery window are in 3 rows and 6 columns,” are difficult because of the distinction between the number of things in a row and the number of rows. There are 3 rows but the number of columns (6) tells how many are in each row. There are 6 columns but the number of rows (3) tells how many are in each column. (Please reference page 24 in the Progression document). Examples - Illustrative Mathematics: - Student Achievement Partners: 2021 Oregon Math Guidance: 3.OA.A.4 Cluster: 3.OA.A - Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division. STANDARD: 3.OA.A.4 Standards Statement (2021): Determine the unknown number in a multiplication or division equation relating three whole numbers by applying the understanding of the inverse relationship of multiplication and division. Connections: Preceding Pathway Content (2021) \| Subsequent Pathway Content (2021) \| Cross Domain Connections (2021) \| Common Core (CCSS) (2010) \| 3.OA.A.3 \| N/A \| 4.NBT.B.6, 4.GM.B.6 \| 3.OA.A.4 3.OA.A Crosswalk \| Standards Guidance: Boundaries - The focus of 3.OA.4 goes beyond the traditional notion of fact families by having students explore the inverse relationship of multiplication and division. Examples - Determine the unknown number that makes the equation true in each of the equations 8 × ? = 48, 5 = __÷ 3, 6 × 6 = ?. - Illustrative Mathematics: - Student Achievement Partners: 2021 Oregon Math Guidance: 3.OA.B.5 Cluster: 3.OA.B - Understand properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division. STANDARD: 3.OA.B.5 Standards Statement (2021): Apply properties of operations as strategies to multiply and divide. Connections: Preceding Pathway Content (2021) \| Subsequent Pathway Content (2021) \| Cross Domain Connections (2021) \| Common Core (CCSS) (2010) \| 3.OA.A.1, 3.OA.A.2 \| 3.OA.C.7, 3.OA.D.9 \| 4.NBT.B.5, 4.NBT.B.6 \| 3.OA.B.5 3.OA.B Crosswalk \| Standards Guidance: Boundaries - Students need not use formal terms for these properties. Progressions - In the Array situations, the roles of the factors do not differ. One factor tells the number of rows in the array, and the other factor tells the number of columns in the situation. But rows and columns depend on the orientation of the array. If an array is rotated 90º, the rows become columns and the columns become rows. This is useful for seeing the commutative property for multiplication in rectangular arrays and areas. (Please reference page 24 in the Progression document). Examples - If 6 × 4 = 24 is known, then 4 × 6 = 24 is also known. (Commutative property of multiplication.) - If 3 × 5 × 2 can be found by 3 × 5 = 15 then 15 × 2 = 30, or by 5 × 2 = 10 then 3 × 10 = 30. (Associative property of multiplication.) - Knowing that 8 × 5 = 40 and 8 × 2 = 16, one can find 8 × 7 as 8 × (5 + 2) = (8 × 5) + (8 × 2) = 40 + 16 = 56. (Distributive property.) - Illustrative Mathematics: - Student Achievement Partners: 2021 Oregon Math Guidance: 3.OA.B.6 Cluster: 3.OA.B - Understand properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division. STANDARD: 3.OA.B.6 Standards Statement (2021): Understand division as an unknown-factor in a multiplication problem. Connections: Preceding Pathway Content (2021) \| Subsequent Pathway Content (2021) \| Cross Domain Connections (2021) \| Common Core (CCSS) (2010) \| 3.OA.A.1 \| 3.OA.C.7, 3.OA.A.2 \| 4.NBT.B.6, 5.NF.B.3, 5.NF.B.7 \| 3.OA.B.6 3.OA.B Crosswalk \| Standards Guidance: Boundaries - Solve an unknown factor problem, by using division strategies or changing the division problem to an equivalent multiplication problem. - Since multiplication and division are inverse operations, students are expected to solve problems and explain their processes of solving division problems that can also be represented as unknown factor multiplication problems. Examples - Divide 32 ÷ 8 by finding the number that makes 32 when multiplied by 8. (8 x ? = 32) - Student Achievement Partners: 2021 Oregon Math Guidance: 3.OA.C.7 Cluster: 3.OA.C - Multiply and divide within 100. STANDARD: 3.OA.C.7 Standards Statement (2021): Fluently multiply and divide within 100 using accurate, efficient, and flexible strategies and algorithms based on place value and properties of operations. Connections: Preceding Pathway Content (2021) \| Subsequent Pathway Content (2021) \| Cross Domain Connections (2021) \| Common Core (CCSS) (2010) \| 3.OA.B.5, 3.OA.B.6 \| 4.OA.B.4 \| 4.NBT.B.5, 4.NBT.B.6, 4.GM.B.4 \| 3.OA.C.7 3.OA.C Crosswalk \| Standards Guidance: Terminology - This standard uses the word fluently, which means accuracy, efficiency (using a reasonable amount of steps and time), and flexibility (using strategies such as the distributive property). - Fluently/Fluency – To achieve fluency, students should be able to choose flexibly among methods and strategies to solve mathematical problems accurately and efficiently. Boundaries - By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of one-digit numbers. “Know from memory” should not focus only on timed tests and repetitive practice. - This standard does not require timed assessments. Ample opportunity to develop efficient, accurate, and flexible strategies is essential. - Students should be allowed to choose an appropriate strategy to demonstrate fluency. - Finding and using key words is not an appropriate strategy. Teaching Strategies - Ample experiences working with manipulatives, pictures, arrays, word problems, and numbers to internalize the basic facts (up to 9 x 9). - Some problems should include reading bar graphs, pictographs, and dot plots. Some problems should involve grams, kilograms, and liters. Dot plots and line plots can be used interchangeably. Progressions - All of the understandings of multiplication and division situations, of the levels of representation and solving, and of patterns need to culminate by the end of Grade 3 in fluent multiplying and dividing of all single-digit numbers and 10. - Organizing practice so that it focuses most heavily on understood but not yet fluent products and unknown factors can speed learning. To achieve this by the end of Grade 3, students must begin working toward fluency for the easy numbers as early as possible. (Please reference pages 26 & 27 in the Progression document) Examples - Student Achievement Partners: 2021 Oregon Math Guidance: 3.OA.D.8 Cluster: 3.OA.D - Solve problems involving the four operations, and identify and explain patterns in arithmetic. STANDARD: 3.OA.D.8 Standards Statement (2021): Solve two-step problems in authentic contexts that use addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division in equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. Connections: Preceding Pathway Content (2021) \| Subsequent Pathway Content (2021) \| Cross Domain Connections (2021) \| Common Core (CCSS) (2010) \| 2.OA.A.1, 3.OA.A.3 \| 4.OA.A.3 \| 3.GM.B.4 \| 3.OA.D.8 3.OA.D Crosswalk \| Standards Guidance: Clarifications - Students should represent problems using equations with a variable standing for the unknown quantity and justify their answers. Boundaries - This standard is limited to problems posed with whole numbers and having whole-number answers; students should know how to perform operations in the conventional order when there are no parentheses to specify a particular order (Order of Operations). - This is limited to problems posed with whole numbers and having whole-number answers. Situations involving money should not include decimal numbers. Teaching Strategies - Represent these problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies including rounding. - Some problems should include reading bar graphs, pictographs, and dot plots, as well as measurements in grams, kilograms, liters. Dot plots and line plots can be used interchangeably. - Represent these problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. - Students should use numerical reasoning to assess the reasonableness of answers. Progressions - Use of two-step problems involving easy or middle difficulty adding and subtracting within 1,000 or one such adding or subtracting with one step of multiplication or division can help to maintain fluency with addition and subtraction while giving the needed time to the major Grade 3 multiplication and division standards. (Please reference page 28 in the Progression document). Examples - At the movies, tickets cost $11 each, popcorn costs $7 each, and drinks costs $4 each. If I have $25, do I have enough to purchase 1 ticket, 1 popcorn, and 2 drinks? - Illustrative Mathematics: - Student Achievement Partners: 2021 Oregon Math Guidance: 3.OA.D.9 Cluster: 3.OA.D - Solve problems involving the four operations, and identify and explain patterns in arithmetic. STANDARD: 3.OA.D.9 Standards Statement (2021): Identify and explain arithmetic patterns using properties of operations, including patterns in the addition table or multiplication table. Connections: Preceding Pathway Content (2021) \| Subsequent Pathway Content (2021) \| Cross Domain Connections (2021) \| Common Core (CCSS) (2010) \| 2.OA.C.3, 3.OA.B.5 \| 4.OA.C.5 \| N/A \| 3.OA.D.9 3.OA.D Crosswalk \| Standards Guidance: Boundaries - Identifying patterns can help students derive and automatize multiplication facts. - Multiplication tables may be used to help students discover patterns and relationships. - A student looking at a multiplication table may discover that multiples of even numbers (2, 4, 6, and 8) are always even; the products in each row and column increase by the same amount (skip counting); the multiples of 6 are double the multiples of 3; the multiples of any number fall on a horizontal and a vertical line due to the commutative property, etc. - Patterns may include exposure to even and odd extending from previous work in 2nd grade. Teaching Strategies - Opportunities for students to examine numerical patterns. - The ability to recognize and explain patterns in mathematics leads students to developing the ability to make generalizations, a foundational concept in algebraic thinking. - Students investigate multiplication tables in search of patterns and explain why these patterns make sense mathematically. - The multiples of 4, 6, 8, and 10 are all even because they can all be decomposed into two equal groups. - The doubles (multiples of 2) in a multiplication table fall on horizontal and vertical lines. - On a multiplication chart, the products in each row and column increase by the same amount (skip counting). - All the multiples of 5 end in a 0 or 5 while all the multiples of 10 end with 0. Every other multiple of 5 is a multiple of 10. Examples - Observe that 4 times a number is always even, and explain why 4 times a number can be decomposed into two equal addends. - A student highlighting the multiples of 9 on a hundreds chart might notice 2 x 9 is 2 away from 20, 3 x 9 is 3 away from 30, and so forth. - Illustrative Mathematics:	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.228704	07/07/2023	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/106443/overview", "title": "OREGON MATH STANDARDS (2021): [3.OA]", "author": "Mark Freed" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/73188/overview	CUENTOS Overview La historia presentada tiene la finalidad de mostrar parate las videncias del escritor. LEYENDO CUENTOS En torno a la ciudad de Huánuco existen tres cerros o jircas: Marabamba, Rondos y Paucarbamba. Una leyenda lugareña, de origen prehispánico, contaba el origen de esos nombres: eran de tres guerreros antiguos, venidos de lejos en busca del amor de una hermosa doncella. El autor recoge esta leyenda y la recrea de manera magistral. El curaca de esa región, llamado Pillco-Rumi, tenía una hermosísima hija única, Cori Huayta (Flor de Oro). El padre no quería que su adorada hija se casara porque para él no existía en su reino un hombre perfecto y capaz de hacerla feliz. Pero al actuar así iba contra las leyes del reino, que obligaban a toda mujer adulta a contraer matrimonio. Varios pretendientes se dispusieron a pelear para conseguir la mano de la bella Cori Huayta, entre ellos tres guerreros famosos: Maray, Runtus y Páucar, venidos de la puna, del mar y de la selva, respectivamente, al frente de numerosos ejércitos. Al verse rodeado, Pillco-Rumi implora desesperadamente la ayuda del dios Pachacámac; este interviene matando a los pretendientes y convirtiéndoles en cerros. Luego, el dios va en busca a Cori-Huayta, a la que toma para sí, fulminándola con un rayo. Es en ese instante en que se escucha la voz del dios que decía «huañucuy» (¡muérete!); los pobladores, asustados, abandonan el lugar y fundan otra población, a la que bautizan Huánuco, en alusión a la voz divina. López Albújar, Enrique. Cuentos andinos. Lima, Peisa, 1986, p. 7.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.244075	10/05/2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/73188/overview", "title": "CUENTOS", "author": "Ronald Ramos" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/123391/overview	Evaluation of Information Retrieval System Overview Evaluation is very crucial and tedious task in information retrieval system. There are many retrieval models, algorithms and systems in literature so in order to proclaim the best among many, choose one to use and improve there is need to evaluate them. Evaluation of Information Retrieval System Introduction: In the discipline of library science, Information Retrieval (IR) encompasses the systematic process of searching for, identifying, and obtaining pertinent information from a variety of resources, including books, articles, digital records, and multimedia materials. As the volume of both physical and digital content continues to expand, the implementation of IR techniques becomes crucial for assisting library patrons in navigating extensive and varied collections to find the information they require. Libraries utilize a range of IR systems, such as cataloguing databases, digital repositories, and online search engines, to systematically organize and facilitate access to information. The rise of digital technologies and the internet has significantly altered traditional library methodologies, leading to the adoption of more sophisticated techniques like full-text indexing, metadata tagging, and semantic search. Within library science, IR prioritizes not only the precision and relevance of search outcomes but also the enhancement of user experience through personalized, efficient, and effective retrieval strategies, thereby fostering research, learning, and knowledge acquisition in an increasingly information-saturated environment. One of the significant challenges in contemporary information retrieval is the effective evaluation of Information Retrieval Systems (IRS) to predict their future performance within a specific application domain. Here I will discusses how visual and scalar evaluation methods can work in tandem to provide a comprehensive evaluation of information retrieval systems. Visual evaluation methods can demonstrate whether one IRS outperforms another, either completely or partially. In contrast, scalar evaluation methods reveal the overall performance of the IRS. Employing both evaluation types offers a clearer understanding of the performance of various IRSs. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve and the Precision-Recall (P-R) curve serve as examples of visual evaluation methods, while scalar methods such as precision, recall, Area Under Curve (AUC), and F measure are also utilized. Evaluation plays a vital role in information retrieval systems. There are so many retrieval models, algorithms, and systems documented in the literature, it is essential to evaluate these options in order to identify the most effective one for implementation and enhancement. I n Information Retreival system we want to see which system performs better and how level of performane of any system is improved. There are two basic parameter to measure the level of performance – effectiveness and efficiency. Effectiveness in Information Retrieval means how it gives relevant information. In efficiency, we mean how economically the system is archiving its objective or with what minimal cost the system work effectively. Lancaster states that we can evaluate an information retrieval system by considering three issues- - How well the system is satisfying its objectives, that is how well it is satisfying the demands place upon it. - How efficiently it is satisfying its objectives - Whether the system justifies its existence. Need and purpose of evaluation: Keen (1971) gives three major purposes of evaluating an information retrieval system as follows: a. The need for measures with which to make merit comparison within a single test situation. In other words, evaluation studies are conducted to compare the merits (or demerits) of two or more systems b. The need for measures with which to make comparisons between results obtained in different test situations, and c. The need for assessing the merit of real-life system. Swanson (1971) states that evaluation studies have one or more of the following purposes: a. To assess a set of goals, a program plan, or a design prior to implementation. b. To determine whether and how well goals or performance expectations are being fulfilled. c. To determine specific reasons for successes and failures. d. To uncover principles underlying a successful program. e. To explore techniques for increasing program effectiveness. f. To establish a foundation of further research on the reasons for the relative success of alternative techniques, and g.To improve the means employed for attaining objectives or to redefine sub goals or goals in view of research findings. Evaluation Criteria: The evaluation of Information Retrieval is approached from two distinct perspectives. 1. Managerial perspective: When the evaluation is carried out from a managerial standpoint, it is referred to as managerial-oriented evaluation. 2. User perspective: When the evaluation is performed from the user's standpoint, it is termed user-oriented evaluation. Cleverdon (1962) says that a user oriented evaluation should try to answer the following questions which are quite relevant in modern context too: • To what extent does the system meet both the expressed and latent needs of its users’ community? • What are the reasons for the failure of the system to meet the users’ needs? • What is the cost-effectiveness of the searches made by the users themselves as against those made by the intermediaries? • What basic changes are required to improve the output? • Can the costs be reduced while maintaining the same level of performance? • What would be the possible effect if some new services were introduced or an existing service were withdrawn? In 1966, Cleverdon identified six criteria for the evaluation of an information retrieval system. These are: • recall, i.e., the ability of the system to present all the relevant items • precision, i.e., the ability of the system to present only those item that are relevant • time lag, i.e. the average interval between the time the search request is made and the time an answer is provided • effort, intellectual as well as physical, required from the user in obtaining answers to the search requests • form of presentation of the search output, which affects the user’s ability to make use of the retrieved items, and • coverage of the collection, i.e. the extent to which the system includes relevant matter. Vickery (1970) identifies six criteria, grouped into two sets as follows: Set 1 • Coverage = the proportion of the total potentially useful literature that has been analysed • recall – the proportion of such references that are retrieved in a search, and • Response time – the average time needed to obtain a response from the system. These three criteria are related to the availability of information, while the following three are related to the selectivity of output. Set 2 • precision – the ability of the system to screen out irrelevant references • usability – the value of the references retrieved, in terms of such factors as their reliability, comprehensibility, currency, etc., and • Presentation – the form in which search results are presented to the user. In 1971, Lancaster proposed five evaluation criteria: • coverage of the system • ability of the system to retrieve wanted items (i.e. recall); • ability of the system to avoid retrieval of unwanted items (i.e. precision) • the response time of the system, and • The amount of effort required by the user. All these factors are related to the system parameters, and thus in order to identify the role played by each of the performance criteria mentioned above, each must be tagged with one or more system parameters. Recall and Precision: The concept of recall pertains to the evaluationof whether a specific item can be retrieved, as well as the degree to which the retrieval of desired items takes place. When a user submits a query, it is the system's duty to extract all items pertinent to that query. However, in practice, it may not be feasible to retrieve every relevant item from a large collection. Consequently, a system may only manage to retrieve a fraction of the total relevant documents in response to a particular query. The effectiveness of a system is frequently evaluated using the recall ratio, which indicates the percentage of relevant items retrieved in a specific context. The general formulas for calculating recall and precision can be expressed as follows: Recall = (Number of relevant items retrieved / Total number of relevant items in the collection) × 100 Precision = (Number of relevant items retrieved / Total number of items retrieved) × 100 Recall is thus associated with the system's capability to retrieve relevant documents, while precision pertains to its ability to avoid retrieving non-relevant documents. An ideal system aims for both 100% recall and 100% precision, meaning it strives to retrieve all relevant documents and only relevant documents. However, achieving this in practice is not feasible, as an increase in recall often leads to a decrease in precision. These two metrics are inversely related. The following example illustrates the relationship between recall and precision for a specific search scenario. In a hypothetical scenario, consider a system that retrieves a total of ‘a+b’ documents, where ‘a’ represents the number of relevant documents and ‘b’ denotes the number of non-relevant documents. For instance, let us assume that ‘c+d’ documents remain in the collection after the search process is completed. This figure is expected to be substantial, as it reflects the entire collection excluding the documents that were retrieved. Among the ‘c+d’ documents, it can be posited that ‘c’ documents are relevant to the query but were not retrieved, while ‘d’ documents are non-relevant and have been accurately excluded. In the context of a large collection, the value of ‘d’ is likely to be significantly greater than that of ‘c’, as it accounts for all non-relevant documents minus those that were incorrectly retrieved (represented by ‘b’). Lancaster proposes that these statistics can be illustrated in the following table. Recall-precision Matrix \| \| Relevant \| Non-relevant \| Total \| Retrieved \| a(hits) \| b(noise) \| a+b \| Non retrieved \| c(misses) \| d(rejected) \| c+d \| Total \| a+c \| b+d \| a+b+c+d \| If the system mises documents then that should be retrieved and d should be rejected as it is not relevant to the given query. The recall will be calculated as- R=[a/(a+c)] x 100 P=[a/(a+b)] x 100 The value of recall will be increased if value a is increased. This only happens when there is a increasing number of retrieved item is present. When the number of retrieved documents increased , the number of non relevant item is also increased and value of b will fluctuate the value of precision. Key Differences: - Recall is about retrieving all relevant documents, even if it means retrieving some irrelevant documents. - Precision is about retrieving only relevant documents, even if it means missing some relevant ones. Trade-off Between Recall and Precision: In practice, there is often a trade-off between recall and precision: - Increasing recall (by retrieving more documents) often results in lower precision because irrelevant documents may be retrieved as well. - Increasing precision (by being more selective in retrieval) can often result in lower recall because some relevant documents may not be retrieved. For example, if a system retrieves 100 documents and most of them are relevant, the recall will be high but the precision may be low if it also retrieves a few irrelevant documents. On the other hand, if the system retrieves only a few documents, but they are all highly relevant, the precision will be high, but recall may be low because many relevant documents weren't retrieved. F1-Score (Harmonic Mean of Precision and Recall): To balance precision and recall, a combined metric called the F1-score is often used. The F1-score is the harmonic mean of precision and recall and provides a single measure that balances both aspects. - Formula: F1-score=2×Precision×RecallPrecision+RecallF1\text{-score} = 2 \times \frac{\text{Precision} \times \text{Recall}}{\text{Precision} + \text{Recall}}F1-score=2×Precision+RecallPrecision×Recall - Interpretation: The F1-score ranges from 0 to 1, with 1 being the best performance (perfect precision and recall). It is especially useful when you need to balance both precision and recall. Example: If: - Precision = 0.8 - Recall = 0.8 Then, the F1-score is: F1=2×0.8×0.80.8+0.8=2×0.641.6=0.8F1 = 2 \times \frac{0.8 \times 0.8}{0.8 + 0.8} = 2 \times \frac{0.64}{1.6} = 0.8F1=2×0.8+0.80.8×0.8=2×1.60.64=0.8 High precision mainly useful for saving users time and effort. Most of the time, recall and precision level are set around 60% as most of the users want a few documents. Fallout and generality: In Information Retrieval (IR), assessing the effectiveness of a search system includes a variety of measurements that degree how well the framework recovers relevant documents in reaction to a user's inquiry. Among the foremost commonly used metrics are review and accuracy, which assess the completeness and exactness of the recovered comes about, separately. Recall focuses on the capacity of the framework to discover all significant records, whereas precision measures how many of the recovered reports are significant. Past these, there are extra measurements that offer more profound bits of knowledge into the behavior of an IR framework. Fall-out measures the extent of unimportant archives that are erroneously recovered by the framework, highlighting its propensity to create untrue positives. On the other hand, simplification looks at the breadth of the reports recovered, assessing how well the framework covers a wide run of themes or categories, hence giving a more comprehensive set of comes about. Together, these measurements give a comprehensive system for understanding the execution of an IR framework. Whereas review and accuracy offer a coordinate evaluationof pertinence, fall-out and sweeping statement encourage improve this examination by highlighting how the framework handles unimportant data and how broadly it looks for pertinent substance over assorted regions. Adjusting these components is fundamental for building successful and proficient look frameworks that cater to a wide array of user. Cut-off= (a+b)/(a+b+c+d) Cut-off is made through the document collection to distinguish received items from non-retreived ones. Whenever it is difficult to assess the relevance of documents, it is needed to use relevance feedback method which utilizes user relevance judgements. Recall and precision can combined in a single measure called effectiveness. E=100×[1- 1+β2PRβ2 P+R ] Where P = precision and R= recall, β=0.5 corresponds to attaching half as much importance to recall as precision. SYMBOL \| EVALUATION MEASURE \| FORMULA \| EXPLANATION \| R \| RECALL \| a/(a+c) \| Proportion of relevant items retrieved \| P \| PRECISION \| a/(a+b) \| Proportion of retrieved items that are relevant \| F \| FALLOUT \| b/(b+d) \| Proportion of non-relevant items retrieved \| G \| GENERALITY \| (a+c)/(a+b+c+d) \| Proportion of relevant items per query. \| Table: Retrieval Measures The Steps of evaluation: The process of evaluation in Information Retrieval (IR) is a systematic approach used to assess how effectively an IR system retrieves relevant documents in response to user queries. This evaluation is crucial for improving the quality of search results and ensuring that the system meets the needs of its users. Below are the typical steps involved in evaluating an Information Retrieval system: 1. Define the Evaluation Goals - Purpose: Establish the specific objectives of the evaluation. This can include assessing the system’s overall effectiveness, comparing multiple systems or algorithms, or testing specific components (e.g., indexing, ranking algorithms). - Scope: Determine the scope of the evaluation—whether it will cover all types of queries (broad/general queries) or focus on specific types of information needs (e.g., fact-based, exploratory). - Evaluation Context: Define the context, such as whether the evaluation is being conducted in an offline or online environment. Offline evaluation uses pre-collected data, while online evaluation involves real-time user interaction. 2. Select Evaluation Measurements Select the suitable evaluationmeasurements that adjust with the objectives. A few common IR measurements incorporate: Accuracy: The extent of recovered archives that are important. Review: The extent of important archives that are recovered. F1-Score: The consonant cruel of exactness and review. Cruel Normal Exactness (Outline): The cruel of accuracy at each important record recovered, found the middle value of over questions. Normalized Marked down Aggregate Pick up (NDCG): A metric utilized to assess positioned comes about, considering both pertinence and the position of significant archives. Client Fulfillment: Measured through overviews or client behavior, reflecting how well the framework meets client desires. Time to Data: The time it takes clients to discover the important data. 3. Get ready the Test Collection Archive Collection: Gather a agent test of the archive corpus that the IR framework will look through. This might incorporate both organized and unstructured information (e.g., books, articles, web pages). Inquiry Set: Create a set of inquiries that speak to commonplace client data needs. These questions can be real-world questions or produced physically to cover a extend of points. Pertinence Judgments: Human assessors must assess which reports are important or unimportant for each inquiry. These judgments are basic for calculating measurements like review and accuracy. 4. Run the IR Framework Execute Inquiries: Input the questions into the IR framework and recover comes about. This includes utilizing the system's look interface or backend calculation to return a list of reports based on pertinence to the inquiry. Capture Comes about: Record the documents retrieved by the framework for each inquiry. These comes about will be utilized for advance. 5. Calculate Evaluation Measurements Degree Exactness and Review: Calculate the extent of important records recovered (accuracy) and the extent of add up to significant archives recovered (review). Other Measurements: Calculate other important measurements based on the test set, such as F1-score, Outline, or NDCG, depending on the evaluationgoals. Comparison: On the off chance that different frameworks are being assessed, compare the comes about over frameworks based on these measurements. 6. Analyze Comes about Decipher the Information: Look at the comes about of the assessment. Tall accuracy implies the framework recovers generally important reports, whereas tall review demonstrates the framework recovers most of the significant records accessible. Distinguish Qualities and Shortcomings: Analyze the system's qualities (e.g., tall exactness) and shortcomings (e.g., moo review or tall fall-out). This makes a difference to recognize ranges where the framework can be progressed. Client Encounter: In case client fulfillment is portion of the assessment, evaluate how well clients are able to discover pertinent reports, considering components like ease of utilize, interface plan, and inquiry definition. 7. Refine and Move forward the Framework Recognize Change Regions: Based on the evaluationcomes about, make alterations to the framework. This seem incorporate: Calculation Tuning: Altering positioning calculations to move forward accuracy or review. Ordering and Metadata: Making strides how archives are ordered or how metadata is utilized to superior coordinate client questions. Client Interface Upgrades: Adjusting the look interface for way better client encounter, such as including channels or progressing inquiry recommendations. Re-test: Once enhancements are made, re-run the evaluationto decide in case the changes have progressed framework execution. 8. Client Input and Testing Conduct Client Testing: On the off chance that conceivable, include genuine clients within the assessment. This might be done through studies, center bunches, or A/B testing to get it their encounters with the framework. Criticism Instruments: Collect input from users with respect to look result significance, ease of route, and in general fulfillment. This could give experiences that are not captured by formal evaluationmeasurements alone. 9. Report and Archive Discoveries Record Comes about: Summarize the evaluation process, metrics utilized, discoveries, and experiences. A clear report ought to incorporate an examination of qualities and shortcomings, in conjunction with recommended enhancements. Proposals: Based on the comes about, offer significant proposals to progress the IR framework. This seem include specialized changes or plan changes. Ceaseless Evaluation: Evaluation ought to be an continuous prepare. As the framework advances, ceaseless checking and occasional assessments guarantee that the framework adjusts to changing client needs and innovative propels. Conclusion: The evaluationof Information Retrieval (IR) systems is an essential undertaking that guarantees the efficiency of search engines, databases, and various retrieval mechanisms in delivering pertinent and precise results to users. This process follows a structured methodology, beginning with the clear articulation of evaluation objectives, the selection of suitable metrics, the preparation of a test collection, and the analysis of outcomes to evaluate the system's performance. Widely used evaluation metrics, including precision, recall, and F1-score, offer quantitative insights into a system's capability to retrieve relevant documents, while user satisfaction and other qualitative indicators reflect the overall user experience. Through evaluation, it becomes possible to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of an IR system, facilitating ongoing enhancements and refinements. These enhancements may involve modifications to algorithms, improved indexing, or upgrades to the user interface, all designed to provide a more accurate and user-friendly search experience. Ultimately, a thoroughly evaluated IR system not only fulfills the information requirements of its users but also adapts to changing needs and technological progress. In summary, the regular and thorough evaluation of IR systems is vital for sustaining their relevance and effectiveness. By emphasizing both quantitative and qualitative metrics and engaging users in the evaluation process, libraries, search engines, and other organizations can ensure that their IR systems consistently deliver high-quality, dependable, and user-focused information retrieval experiences. References 1.Chowdhury, G. G. (2010). Introduction to modern information retrieval. Facet Publishing. 2. Lancaster, F. W. (1968). Information retrieval systems: Characteristics, Testing, and Evaluation. John Wiley & Sons. 3.Zuva, K. (2012). Evaluation of information retrieval systems. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology, 4(3), 35–43. https://doi.org/10.5121/ijcsit.2012.4304 4.Zuva, K. (2012). Evaluation of information retrieval systems. International Journal of Computer Science and Information Technology, 4(3), 35–43. https://doi.org/10.5121/ijcsit.2012.4304 5.Evaluation in information retrieval. (2009). In Online edition (pp. 151–153). Cambridge University Press. https://nlp.stanford.edu/IR-book/pdf/08eval.pdf 6.Evaluation and measurement of Information Retrieval System – Information Storage and Retrieval. (n.d.). https://ebooks.inflibnet.ac.in/lisp7/chapter/evaluation-and-measurement-of-information-retrieval-system/	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.332760	12/26/2024	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/123391/overview", "title": "Evaluation of Information Retrieval System", "author": "RUMKI AKHTAR" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/124338/overview	Worksheet Idea Archaeology in a Box - Middle School Social Studies Overview Lesson plan supporting middle-school aged students. Background Information Objective Students will learn to identify and explain what each 3D printed manipulative is and its historical function and the human connection in a 40–45-minute period. Standards Career Readiness Standards: 13.1.1-5.E Using school resources to learn about various jobs. 12.1.6-8.E meeting and talking to community members to learn about jobs. History Standards: 8.2.7.B Identify the role of local community as related to significant historical documents, artifacts, and places critical to Pennsylvania history. 8.3.7.B Examine the importance of significant historical documents, artifacts, and places critical to United States History. Process - Ask students, - What is an Artifact? - What is an archaeologist? - What do archaeologist look for? (Size shape material) - Split students into 5-6 groups. - Give each group 1 artifact. - Provide students with questions worksheet. - Student answer questions on worksheet. - Pass artifacts clockwise. - Repeat 5 –6 for all artifacts. - Explain artifacts and what we know about the articles. - Explain were archologist able to figure out about the artifact and the people who used them. - Student are expected to follow along filling out their worksheet. - Ask students if they remember Otzi the Icemen? What was he found with? If you remember Otzi the Iceman and the artifacts that were found with him now it is your turn to create a story about the person who once owned the artifact in front of you. - Then share with the group around you. - If wanted; share with the class.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.360487	Thomas McClain	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/124338/overview", "title": "Archaeology in a Box - Middle School Social Studies", "author": "Lesson Plan" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/73627/overview	"'Personalization' for All": Artificial Intelligence in Education as a Means for Personalized Learning on a Mass Scale, and How it Ensures Inclusive Education and Sustainability Overview This OER goes about to relate Personalized-Learning, Artificial Intelligence in Education, Inclusive Education, and Massive Open Online Courses, as well as talk about sustainabality. Introduction In this lesson, you will be introduced to mind-opening topics which interlink in a way to shape possible digital futures in learning. First topic to be discussed is inclusive education (IE), it will be defined and explored in relation to its position against personalized-learning (PL). Next, PL is presented as "Tailoring of learning to each students' strengths, needs, and interests-including giving students voice and choice in what, how, when, and where they learn - to provide flexibility and support, to ensure mastery of the highest standards possible" (Aurora Institute, 2016) and demonstrated in context of Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIEd). After that, this lesson goes on to showcase how massive open online courses' (MOOCs) provide PL experiences for students, and how these experiences are viewed with regards to sustainability. By the end of this lesson, you will have engaged with the topics mentioned above enough to have an idea and position concerning: - Where do IE and PL meet and/or differ? - How is PL demonstrated in AIEd? And What are the criticism and challenges AIEd and PL face? - What makes PL and MOOCs sustainable or unsustainable? (Title image: "Computer AI - Why I keep losing" by Si-MOCs is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) Inclusive Education (IE) For this section, you will watch the video of Prof. Lani Florian giving a conference on Inclusive Pedagogy. As you watch the lecture, keep in mind what Florian has to say about the students' individual differences, unique educational needs, and social inclusion where marginalization is concerned. Section Activity: Answer the question found in the link below (recommended to open in a new tab): Inclusive Education Section Activity Optional Additional Resource on Inclusive Education: (Note: if interested in the following video seminar, come back to it after the end of the OER session) Personalized-Learning (PL) In 2004, Pollard & James claimed that personalized-learning was the "Big Idea" back then. Now, what is PL exactly, and how did it come to be? PL was said to be originated from Gardner's multliple intelligences theory (Guldberg, 2004; Johnson, 2004). Meaning that students' learning experiences must be tailored based on their individual abilities, style, interests and needs, for the best learning outcomes (Good & Brophy, 1990). Moreover, in the ‘A National Conversation about Personalised Learning’ document, PL is explained as: "... the drive to tailor education to individual need, interest and aptitude so as to fulfil every young person’s potential." (DfES, 2004a: 4) Also worth noting, another goal for PL is to promote "equity and social justice" (DfES, 2004a), and cancel out the distinctions that may arise from gender bias, social economic status or ethnicity. Although the whole idea of PL still seems ambiguous, remember that was all mostly in 2004, and recent studies have lead to its evolution (which we will be discussing in the sections). Attached is an optional reading (Free Access) on PL Personalized-Learning (PL) and Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIEd) "Artificial Intelligence & AI & Machine Learning" by mikemacmarketing is licensed under CC BY 2.0 In recent advancements in the field of education, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is starting to make an appearance, and it is believed that AIEd technology are presenting new scientific precision in analyzing educational activities. Which, in turn, can provide 'deeper, and more fine-grained understandings of how learning actually happens' and 'an intelligent, personal tutor for every learner' (Luckin et al., 2016). Moreover, PL has stepped up a level with the novel AI involvement in education. With the addition of 'intelligent' and data-driven technology, tailored educational contents and automatic teacher feedback are generated faster, leading to an enhanced and fast-forward learning experience, and to easier access. Furthermore, by adapting to each student, an ideal AI tutor could become an ultimate pedagogue (Knox et al., 2019). Watch the videos below in order: Introducing IBM Watson Education Example of AI tutor Watson at work Additional fun yet informative TEDx talk by Ashok Goel Based on Luckin & Cukurova (2019) statements, evidence of well-designed AI working in Education are increasing. Some of these AI's are OLI learning courses (Lovett, Meyer, & Thille, 2008), SQL-Tutor (Mitrovic & Ohlsson, 1999), ALEKS (Craig et al., 2013), Cognitive Tutor (Pane, Griffin, McCaffrey, & Karam, 2014) and ASSISTments (Koedinger, McLaughlin, & Heffernan, 2010), they have all shown statistically significant positive results towards students learning. On another note, AIEd and intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) are both aiming to produce intelligent tutoring software for every student. They are encouraging effective skill development and promoting more engagement with learning content by including 'interactive software, adaptive learning delivers paced, customized instructions with real-time feedback that allow faster student progression' (Six benefits of adaptive learning 2013). Furthermore, technology-enhanced learning (TEL) is making the job for teachers easier and allowing them to be more effective in their teaching and mentoring, as it removes the administration and bureaucracy workloads by 'marking, planning their lessons' and many other similar functions (Ferster 2014). Also, because the quality and range of the adaptive customization differs throughout varied TEL environments, intelligent learning environments (ILEs) were introduced. ILEs are unique TEL systems that work to create 'interactive and adaptive learning experiences' that are suitable for a student using a variety of AI techniques (Brusilovsky 1994). Criticism and Challenges involving PL and AIEd To begin with, it is beneficial to understand the discourses between IE and PL through AIEd. As previously mentioned, AIEd supports the idea of 'an automated, and personalized, one-to-one tutor for every learner', whereas IE tends to focus on methods to include 'marginalized and excluded individuals' and creating an inclusive educational environment (Knox, Wang, & Gallagher, 2019). That is to say, IE argues against a one-to-one tutor/student approach and for a ‘common ground’, as it views that PL marginalizes students further instead of bringing them all together and foster acceptance and growth as a community. Also, Luckin & Cukurova (2019) have noted that AI technologies in Education are lacking enough evidence at scale (Baker, 2016) and are less effective in providing more complex instructions (eg. Collaboration or self-explanation) (Koedinger et al., 2012). Additionally, AI may still create forms of injustice, as mostly rich students and organizations could get access to it and make use of its better digital skills (Wood, 2019), possibly widening the already present gap. Section Activity: Watch video below and take notes of the challenges Cynthia Breazeal presents where AI and PL are involved. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) MOOCs Logos - by Programmableweb.com Watch Video and take notes of what makes MOOCs ideal and to who and in what occasions: Introduction to MOOCs Section Activity: After watching the video, answer the question provided in the link below (recommended to open in a new tab): Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and MOOCs Read the discussion: In 2005, the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) campaign, promoted by UNESCO, claimed education as a significant contributor to sustainable development. Moreover, assuming sustainable development is achievable, the required knowledge and skills can be described particularly through technical innovation, efficiency, and different consumer habits (cf. Kopnina 2014). As a result, the future becomes measurable and predictable (Holfelder, 2019). With the rise of new technology, including AI, massive open online courses (MOOCS), machine learning and data mining, further improvements in teaching and learning are occurring. Noticeably, the fast increase in popularity of the MOOCS did raise concerns in ESD. In comparison to MOOCS, the semantic analysis branch of AI supports both flexibility in information management and learning behavior mining better (Ling Wang, 2018). Besides that, MOOCS allows access to affordable personalized education, which can support sustainable development and decrease poverty (Ling Wang, 2018). Unfortunately, learner attrition is limiting MOOCS development, and there is also not enough evidence its capacity of sustainable development (Ling Wang, 2018). Nonetheless, higher education institutions have recently been researching through different teaching modes, as some types of education have not been backing sustainable development appropriately. With traditional teaching methods not taking into consideration the diversity of abilities available, this slows the development of traditional education since it inhibits diverse students to use their own abilities for their own advantage. Additionally, the widespread of new technologies is altering living habits, ways of thinking and values, and with it greatly changing the traditional way of teaching in higher education. MOOCs is enabling access to new knowledge and courses of interests and/or need for students anywhere at any time. Unluckily, studies show that students drop out of these courses after two weeks, and the main reasons are 'lack of time, lack of motivation, feelings of isolation, lack of interactivity, and insufficient background or skills" (Ling Wang, 2018). There is no question that the traditional education mode offers its learners learning platforms for their development, and positively impacts their social and scientific growth. But with their increasing need for free development, their demand for personalized learning experiences also increases. Furthermore, there are several indications that there is a need to implement new technology within the traditional education model to adjust to the sustainable development in education. And so, the surfacing of MOOCs does not only give a selection of course choices to the students, but also it gives them a sense of autonomy in learning and fosters their individual learning plans depending on their interests and needs. The only thing left, in this case, is to improve MOOCs applicability and serviceability (Ling Wang, 2018). "Grumpy MOOC cat" by ryan2point0 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 References - Readings List Ainscow, M., Slee, R., & Best, M. (2019). Editorial: the Salamanca Statement: 25 years on. International journal of inclusive education, 23(7-8), 671-676. doi:10.1080/13603116.2019.1622800 Courcier, I. (2007). Teachers' Perceptions of Personalised Learning. Evaluation & Research in Education, 20(2), 59-80. doi:10.2167/eri405.0 Holfelder, A.-K. (2019). Towards a sustainable future with education? Sustainability Science, 14(4), 943-952. doi:10.1007/s11625-019-00682-z Knox, J., Wang, Y., & Gallagher, M. (2019). Introduction: AI, Inclusion, and ‘Everyone Learning Everything’. In J. Knox, Y. Wang, & M. Gallagher (Eds.), Artificial Intelligence and Inclusive Education: Speculative Futures and Emerging Practices (pp. 1-13). Singapore: Springer Singapore. Ling Wang, G. H. a. T. Z. (2018). Semantic Analysis of Learners’ Emotional Tendencies on Online MOOC Education. Sustainability. Luckin, R. (2018). AI is coming: use it or lose to it. The Times Educational Supplement(5306). Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/2064293840?accountid=10673 Luckin, R., & Cukurova, M. (2019). Designing educational technologies in the age of AI: A learning sciences-driven approach. British Journal of Educational Technology, 50(6), 2824-2838. doi:10.1111/bjet.12861 Nganji, J. T. (2018). Towards learner-constructed e-learning environments for effective personal learning experiences. Behaviour & Information Technology, 37(7), 647-657. doi:10.1080/0144929X.2018.1470673	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.397063	10/19/2020	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/73627/overview", "title": "\"'Personalization' for All\": Artificial Intelligence in Education as a Means for Personalized Learning on a Mass Scale, and How it Ensures Inclusive Education and Sustainability", "author": "Zainab Ezzeddine" }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15429/overview	Introduction Overview - Common Sense: From Monarchy to an American Republic - How Much Revolutionary Change? - Debating Democracy - The Constitutional Convention and Federal Constitution After the Revolutionary War, the ideology that “all men are created equal” failed to match up with reality, as the revolutionary generation could not solve the contradictions of freedom and slavery in the new United States. Trumbull’s 1780 painting of George Washington (Figure) hints at some of these contradictions. What attitude do you think Trumbull was trying to convey? Why did Trumbull include Washington’s slave Billy Lee, and what does Lee represent in this painting? During the 1770s and 1780s, Americans took bold steps to define American equality. Each state held constitutional conventions and crafted state constitutions that defined how government would operate and who could participate in political life. Many elite revolutionaries recoiled in horror from the idea of majority rule—the basic principle of democracy—fearing that it would effectively create a “mob rule” that would bring about the ruin of the hard-fought struggle for independence. Statesmen everywhere believed that a republic should replace the British monarchy: a government where the important affairs would be entrusted only to representative men of learning and refinement.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.412759	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15429/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Creating Republican Governments, 1776–1790", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15430/overview	Common Sense: From Monarchy to an American Republic Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Compare and contrast monarchy and republican government - Describe the tenets of republicanism While monarchies dominated eighteenth-century Europe, American revolutionaries were determined to find an alternative to this method of government. Radical pamphleteer Thomas Paine, whose enormously popular essay Common Sense was first published in January 1776, advocated a republic: a state without a king. Six months later, Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence affirmed the break with England but did not suggest what form of government should replace monarchy, the only system most English colonists had ever known. In the late eighteenth century, republics were few and far between. Genoa, Venice, and the Dutch Republic provided examples of states without monarchs, but many European Enlightenment thinkers questioned the stability of a republic. Nonetheless, after their break from Great Britain, Americans turned to republicanism for their new government. REPUBLICANISM AS A POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY Monarchy rests on the practice of dynastic succession, in which the monarch’s child or other relative inherits the throne. Contested dynastic succession produced chronic conflict and warfare in Europe. In the eighteenth century, well-established monarchs ruled most of Europe and, according to tradition, were obligated to protect and guide their subjects. However, by the mid-1770s, many American colonists believed that George III, the king of Great Britain, had failed to do so. Patriots believed the British monarchy under George III had been corrupted and the king turned into a tyrant who cared nothing for the traditional liberties afforded to members of the British Empire. The disaffection from monarchy explains why a republic appeared a better alternative to the revolutionaries. American revolutionaries looked to the past for inspiration for their break with the British monarchy and their adoption of a republican form of government. The Roman Republic provided guidance. Much like the Americans in their struggle against Britain, Romans had thrown off monarchy and created a republic in which Roman citizens would appoint or select the leaders who would represent them. Visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art to see a Roman-style bust of George Washington, complete with toga. In 1791, Italian sculptor Giuseppe Ceracchi visited Philadelphia, hoping the government might commission a monument of his creation. He did not succeed, but the bust of Washington, one of the ones he produced to demonstrate his skill, illustrates the connection between the American and Roman republics that revolutionaries made. While republicanism offered an alternative to monarchy, it was also an alternative to democracy, a system of government characterized by majority rule, where the majority of citizens have the power to make decisions binding upon the whole. To many revolutionaries, especially wealthy landowners, merchants, and planters, democracy did not offer a good replacement for monarchy. Indeed, conservative Whigs defined themselves in opposition to democracy, which they equated with anarchy. In the tenth in a series of essays later known as The Federalist Papers, Virginian James Madison wrote: “Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.” Many shared this perspective and worked hard to keep democratic tendencies in check. It is easy to understand why democracy seemed threatening: majority rule can easily overpower minority rights, and the wealthy few had reason to fear that a hostile and envious majority could seize and redistribute their wealth. While many now assume the United States was founded as a democracy, history, as always, is more complicated. Conservative Whigs believed in government by a patrician class, a ruling group composed of a small number of privileged families. Radical Whigs favored broadening the popular participation in political life and pushed for democracy. The great debate after independence was secured centered on this question: Who should rule in the new American republic? REPUBLICANISM AS A SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY According to political theory, a republic requires its citizens to cultivate virtuous behavior; if the people are virtuous, the republic will survive. If the people become corrupt, the republic will fall. Whether republicanism succeeded or failed in the United States would depend on civic virtue and an educated citizenry. Revolutionary leaders agreed that the ownership of property provided one way to measure an individual’s virtue, arguing that property holders had the greatest stake in society and therefore could be trusted to make decisions for it. By the same token, non-property holders, they believed, should have very little to do with government. In other words, unlike a democracy, in which the mass of non-property holders could exercise the political right to vote, a republic would limit political rights to property holders. In this way, republicanism exhibited a bias toward the elite, a preference that is understandable given the colonial legacy. During colonial times, wealthy planters and merchants in the American colonies had looked to the British ruling class, whose social order demanded deference from those of lower rank, as a model of behavior. Old habits died hard. Benjamin Franklin’s Thirteen Virtues for Character Development In the 1780s, Benjamin Franklin carefully defined thirteen virtues to help guide his countrymen in maintaining a virtuous republic. His choice of thirteen is telling since he wrote for the citizens of the thirteen new American republics. These virtues were: 1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation. 2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation. 3. Order. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time. 4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve. 5. Frugality. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing. 6. Industry. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions. 7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty. 9. Moderation. Avoid extremes; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. 10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation. 11. Tranquillity. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable. 12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation. 13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates. Franklin’s thirteen virtues suggest that hard work and good behavior will bring success. What factors does Franklin ignore? How would he likely address a situation in which children inherit great wealth rather than working for it? How do Franklin’s values help to define the notion of republican virtue? Check how well you are demonstrating all thirteen of Franklin’s virtues on thirteenvirtues.com, where you can register to track your progress. George Washington served as a role model par excellence for the new republic, embodying the exceptional talent and public virtue prized under the political and social philosophy of republicanism. He did not seek to become the new king of America; instead he retired as commander in chief of the Continental Army and returned to his Virginia estate at Mount Vernon to resume his life among the planter elite. Washington modeled his behavior on that of the Roman aristocrat Cincinnatus, a representative of the patrician or ruling class, who had also retired from public service in the Roman Republic and returned to his estate to pursue agricultural life. The aristocratic side of republicanism—and the belief that the true custodians of public virtue were those who had served in the military—found expression in the Society of the Cincinnati, of which Washington was the first president general (Figure). Founded in 1783, the society admitted only officers of the Continental Army and the French forces, not militia members or minutemen. Following the rule of primogeniture, the eldest sons of members inherited their fathers’ memberships. The society still exists today and retains the motto Omnia relinquit servare rempublicam (“He relinquished everything to save the Republic”). Section Summary The guiding principle of republicanism was that the people themselves would appoint or select the leaders who would represent them. The debate over how much democracy (majority rule) to incorporate in the governing of the new United States raised questions about who was best qualified to participate in government and have the right to vote. Revolutionary leaders argued that property holders had the greatest stake in society and favored a republic that would limit political rights to property holders. In this way, republicanism exhibited a bias toward the elite. George Washington served as a role model for the new republic, embodying the exceptional talent and public virtue prized in its political and social philosophy. Review Questions To what form of government did the American revolutionaries turn after the war for independence? - republicanism - monarchy - democracy - oligarchy Hint: A Which of the following was not one of Franklin’s thirteen virtues? - sincerity - temperance - mercy - tranquility Hint: C What defined republicanism as a social philosophy? Hint: Citizenship within a republic meant accepting certain rights and responsibilities as well as cultivating virtuous behavior. This philosophy was based on the notion that the success or failure of the republic depended upon the virtue or corruption of its citizens.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.437274	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15430/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Creating Republican Governments, 1776–1790", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15431/overview	How Much Revolutionary Change? Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Describe the status of women in the new republic - Describe the status of nonwhites in the new republic Elite republican revolutionaries did not envision a completely new society; traditional ideas and categories of race and gender, order and decorum remained firmly entrenched among members of their privileged class. Many Americans rejected the elitist and aristocratic republican order, however, and advocated radical changes. Their efforts represented a groundswell of sentiment for greater equality, a part of the democratic impulse unleashed by the Revolution. THE STATUS OF WOMEN In eighteenth-century America, as in Great Britain, the legal status of married women was defined as coverture, meaning a married woman (or feme covert) had no legal or economic status independent of her husband. She could not conduct business or buy and sell property. Her husband controlled any property she brought to the marriage, although he could not sell it without her agreement. Married women’s status as femes covert did not change as a result of the Revolution, and wives remained economically dependent on their husbands. The women of the newly independent nation did not call for the right to vote, but some, especially the wives of elite republican statesmen, began to agitate for equality under the law between husbands and wives, and for the same educational opportunities as men. Some women hoped to overturn coverture. From her home in Braintree, Massachusetts, Abigail Adams (Figure) wrote to her husband, Whig leader John Adams, in 1776, “In the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestor. Do not put such unlimited power in the husbands. Remember, all men would be tyrants if they could.” Abigail Adams ran the family homestead during the Revolution, but she did not have the ability to conduct business without her husband’s consent. Elsewhere in the famous 1776 letter quoted above, she speaks of the difficulties of running the homestead when her husband is away. Her frustration grew when her husband responded in an April 1776 letter: “As to your extraordinary Code of Laws, I cannot but laugh. We have been told that our Struggle has loosened the bands of Government every where. That Children and Apprentices were disobedient—that schools and Colledges were grown turbulent—that Indians slighted their Guardians and Negroes grew insolent to their Masters. But your Letter was the first Intimation that another Tribe more numerous and powerfull than all the rest were grown discontented. . . . Depend on it, We know better than to repeal our Masculine systems.” Another privileged member of the revolutionary generation, Mercy Otis Warren, also challenged gender assumptions and traditions during the revolutionary era (Figure). Born in Massachusetts, Warren actively opposed British reform measures before the outbreak of fighting in 1775 by publishing anti-British works. In 1812, she published a three-volume history of the Revolution, a project she had started in the late 1770s. By publishing her work, Warren stepped out of the female sphere and into the otherwise male-dominated sphere of public life. Inspired by the Revolution, Judith Sargent Murray of Massachusetts advocated women’s economic independence and equal educational opportunities for men and women (Figure). Murray, who came from a well-to-do family in Gloucester, questioned why boys were given access to education as a birthright while girls had very limited educational opportunities. She began to publish her ideas about educational equality beginning in the 1780s, arguing that God had made the minds of women and men equal. Murray’s more radical ideas championed woman’s economic independence. She argued that a woman’s education should be extensive enough to allow her to maintain herself—and her family—if there was no male breadwinner. Indeed, Murray was able to make money of her own from her publications. Her ideas were both radical and traditional, however: Murray also believed that women were much better at raising children and maintaining the morality and virtue of the family than men. Adams, Murray, and Warren all came from privileged backgrounds. All three were fully literate, while many women in the American republic were not. Their literacy and station allowed them to push for new roles for women in the atmosphere of unique possibility created by the Revolution and its promise of change. Female authors who published their work provide evidence of how women in the era of the American Revolution challenged traditional gender roles. Overall, the Revolution reconfigured women’s roles by undermining the traditional expectations of wives and mothers, including subservience. In the home, the separate domestic sphere assigned to women, women were expected to practice republican virtues, especially frugality and simplicity. Republican motherhood meant that women, more than men, were responsible for raising good children, instilling in them all the virtue necessary to ensure the survival of the republic. The Revolution also opened new doors to educational opportunities for women. Men understood that the republic needed women to play a substantial role in upholding republicanism and ensuring the survival of the new nation. Benjamin Rush, a Whig educator and physician from Philadelphia, strongly advocated for the education of girls and young women as part of the larger effort to ensure that republican virtue and republican motherhood would endure. THE MEANING OF RACE By the time of the Revolution, slavery had been firmly in place in America for over one hundred years. In many ways, the Revolution served to reinforce the assumptions about race among white Americans. They viewed the new nation as a white republic; blacks were slaves, and Indians had no place. Racial hatred of blacks increased during the Revolution because many slaves fled their white masters for the freedom offered by the British. The same was true for Indians who allied themselves with the British; Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence that separation from the Empire was necessary because George III had incited “the merciless Indian savages” to destroy the white inhabitants on the frontier. Similarly, Thomas Paine argued in Common Sense that Great Britain was guilty of inciting “the Indians and Negroes to destroy us.” For his part, Benjamin Franklin wrote in the 1780s that, in time, alcoholism would wipe out the Indians, leaving the land free for white settlers. Phillis Wheatley: “On Being Brought from Africa to America” Phillis Wheatley (Figure) was born in Africa in 1753 and sold as a slave to the Wheatley family of Boston; her African name is lost to posterity. Although most slaves in the eighteenth century had no opportunities to learn to read and write, Wheatley achieved full literacy and went on to become one of the best-known poets of the time, although many doubted her authorship of her poems because of her race. Wheatley’s poems reflected her deep Christian beliefs. In the poem below, how do her views on Christianity affect her views on slavery? Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land, Taught my benighted soul to understand That there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too: Once I redemption neither sought nor knew. Some view our sable race with scornful eye, “Their colour is a diabolic dye.” Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train. —Phillis Wheatley, “On Being Brought from Africa to America” Slavery Slavery offered the most glaring contradiction between the idea of equality stated in the Declaration of Independence (“all men are created equal”) and the reality of race relations in the late eighteenth century. Racism shaped white views of blacks. Although he penned the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson owned more than one hundred slaves, of whom he freed only a few either during his lifetime or in his will (Figure). He thought blacks were inferior to whites, dismissing Phillis Wheatley by arguing, “Religion indeed has produced a Phillis Wheatley; but it could not produce a poet.” White slaveholders took their female slaves as mistresses, as most historians agree that Jefferson did with one of his slaves, Sally Hemings. Together, they had several children. Browse the Thomas Jefferson Papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society to examine Jefferson’s “farm books,” in which he kept records of his land holdings, animal husbandry, and slaves, including specific references to Sally Hemings. Jefferson understood the contradiction fully, and his writings reveal hard-edged racist assumptions. In his Notes on the State of Virginia in the 1780s, Jefferson urged the end of slavery in Virginia and the removal of blacks from that state. He wrote: “It will probably be asked, Why not retain and incorporate the blacks into the state, and thus save the expense of supplying, by importation of white settlers, the vacancies they will leave? Deep rooted prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections, by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; new provocations; the real distinctions which nature has made; and many other circumstances, will divide us into parties, and produce convulsions which will probably never end but in the extermination of the one or the other race. —To these objections, which are political, may be added others, which are physical and moral.” Jefferson envisioned an “empire of liberty” for white farmers and relied on the argument of sending blacks out of the United States, even if doing so would completely destroy the slaveholders’ wealth in their human property. Southern planters strongly objected to Jefferson’s views on abolishing slavery and removing blacks from America. When Jefferson was a candidate for president in 1796, an anonymous “Southern Planter” wrote, “If this wild project succeeds, under the auspices of Thomas Jefferson, President of the United States, and three hundred thousand slaves are set free in Virginia, farewell to the safety, prosperity, the importance, perhaps the very existence of the Southern States” (Figure). Slaveholders and many other Americans protected and defended the institution. Freedom While racial thinking permeated the new country, and slavery existed in all the new states, the ideals of the Revolution generated a movement toward the abolition of slavery. Private manumissions, by which slaveholders freed their slaves, provided one pathway from bondage. Slaveholders in Virginia freed some ten thousand slaves. In Massachusetts, the Wheatley family manumitted Phillis in 1773 when she was twenty-one. Other revolutionaries formed societies dedicated to abolishing slavery. One of the earliest efforts began in 1775 in Philadelphia, where Dr. Benjamin Rush and other Philadelphia Quakers formed what became the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. Similarly, wealthy New Yorkers formed the New York Manumission Society in 1785. This society worked to educate black children and devoted funds to protect free blacks from kidnapping. Slavery persisted in the North, however, and the example of Massachusetts highlights the complexity of the situation. The 1780 Massachusetts constitution technically freed all slaves. Nonetheless, several hundred individuals remained enslaved in the state. In the 1780s, a series of court decisions undermined slavery in Massachusetts when several slaves, citing assault by their masters, successfully sought their freedom in court. These individuals refused to be treated as slaves in the wake of the American Revolution. Despite these legal victories, about eleven hundred slaves continued to be held in the New England states in 1800. The contradictions illustrate the difference between the letter and the spirit of the laws abolishing slavery in Massachusetts. In all, over thirty-six thousand slaves remained in the North, with the highest concentrations in New Jersey and New York. New York only gradually phased out slavery, with the last slaves emancipated in the late 1820s. Indians The 1783 Treaty of Paris, which ended the war for independence, did not address Indians at all. All lands held by the British east of the Mississippi and south of the Great Lakes (except Spanish Florida) now belonged to the new American republic (Figure). Though the treaty remained silent on the issue, much of the territory now included in the boundaries of the United States remained under the control of native peoples. Earlier in the eighteenth century, a “middle ground” had existed between powerful native groups in the West and British and French imperial zones, a place where the various groups interacted and accommodated each other. As had happened in the French and Indian War and Pontiac’s Rebellion, the Revolutionary War turned the middle ground into a battle zone that no one group controlled. During the Revolution, a complex situation existed among Indians. Many villages remained neutral. Some native groups, such as the Delaware, split into factions, with some supporting the British while other Delaware maintained their neutrality. The Iroquois Confederacy, a longstanding alliance of tribes, also split up: the Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Seneca fought on the British side, while the Oneida and Tuscarora supported the revolutionaries. Ohio River Valley tribes such as the Shawnee, Miami, and Mungo had been fighting for years against colonial expansion west; these groups supported the British. Some native peoples who had previously allied with the French hoped the conflict between the colonies and Great Britain might lead to French intervention and the return of French rule. Few Indians sided with the American revolutionaries, because almost all revolutionaries in the middle ground viewed them as an enemy to be destroyed. This racial hatred toward native peoples found expression in the American massacre of ninety-six Christian Delawares in 1782. Most of the dead were women and children. After the war, the victorious Americans turned a deaf ear to Indian claims to what the revolutionaries saw as their hard-won land, and they moved aggressively to assert control over western New York and Pennsylvania. In response, Mohawk leader Joseph Brant helped to form the Western Confederacy, an alliance of native peoples who pledged to resist American intrusion into what was then called the Northwest. The Northwest Indian War (1785–1795) ended with the defeat of the Indians and their claims. Under the Treaty of Greenville (1795), the United States gained dominion over land in Ohio. RELIGION AND THE STATE Prior to the Revolution, several colonies had official, tax-supported churches. After the Revolution, some questioned the validity of state-authorized churches; the limitation of public office-holding to those of a particular faith; and the payment of taxes to support churches. In other states, especially in New England where the older Puritan heritage cast a long shadow, religion and state remained intertwined. During the colonial era in Virginia, the established church had been the Church of England, which did not tolerate Catholics, Baptists, or followers or other religions. In 1786, as a revolutionary response against the privileged status of the Church of England, Virginia’s lawmakers approved the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which ended the Church of England’s hold and allowed religious liberty. Under the statute, no one could be forced to attend or support a specific church or be prosecuted for his or her beliefs. Pennsylvania’s original constitution limited officeholders in the state legislature to those who professed a belief in both the Old and the New Testaments. This religious test prohibited Jews from holding that office, as the New Testament is not part of Jewish belief. In 1790, however, Pennsylvania removed this qualification from its constitution. The New England states were slower to embrace freedom of religion. In the former Puritan colonies, the Congregational Church (established by seventeenth-century Puritans) remained the church of most inhabitants. Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire all required the public support of Christian churches. Article III of the Massachusetts constitution blended the goal of republicanism with the goal of promoting Protestant Christianity. It reads: As the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion and morality; and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community, but by the institution of the public worship of GOD, and of public instructions in piety, religion and morality: Therefore, to promote their happiness and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this Commonwealth have a right to invest their legislature with power to authorize and require, and the legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies-politic, or religious societies, to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of GOD, and for the support and maintenance of public protestant teachers of piety, religion and morality, in all cases where such provision shall not be made voluntarily. . . . And every denomination of Christians, demeaning themselves peaceably, and as good subjects of the Commonwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the law: And no subordination of any one sect or denomination to another shall ever be established by law. Read more about religion and state governments at the Religion and the Founding of the American Republic exhibition page on the Library of Congress site. What was the meaning of the term “nursing fathers” of the church? Section Summary After the Revolution, the balance of power between women and men and between whites, blacks, and Indians remained largely unchanged. Yet revolutionary principles, including the call for universal equality in the Declaration of Independence, inspired and emboldened many. Abigail Adams and others pressed for greater rights for women, while the Pennsylvania Abolition Society and New York Manumission Society worked toward the abolition of slavery. Nonetheless, for blacks, women, and native peoples, the revolutionary ideals of equality fell far short of reality. In the new republic, full citizenship—including the right to vote—did not extend to nonwhites or to women. Review Questions Which of the following figures did not actively challenge the status of women in the early American republic? - Abigail Adams - Phillis Wheatley - Mercy Otis Warren - Judith Sargent Murray Hint: B Which state had the clearest separation of church and state? - New Hampshire - Pennsylvania - Virginia - New York Hint: C How would you characterize Thomas Jefferson’s ideas on race and slavery? Hint: Although he owned hundreds of slaves in his lifetime and fathered several children with his slave Sally Hemings, Jefferson opposed slavery. He argued that the institution should be abolished and slaves returned to Africa, believing that blacks and whites could not live together in a free society without the result of a race war.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.468072	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15431/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Creating Republican Governments, 1776–1790", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15432/overview	Debating Democracy Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the development of state constitutions - Describe the features of the Articles of Confederation - Analyze the causes and consequences of Shays’ Rebellion The task of creating republican governments in each of the former colonies, now independent states, presented a new opportunity for American revolutionaries to define themselves anew after casting off British control. On the state and national levels, citizens of the new United States debated who would hold the keys to political power. The states proved to be a laboratory for how much democracy, or majority rule, would be tolerated. THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS In 1776, John Adams urged the thirteen independent colonies—soon to be states—to write their own state constitutions. Enlightenment political thought profoundly influenced Adams and other revolutionary leaders seeking to create viable republican governments. The ideas of the French philosopher Montesquieu, who had advocated the separation of powers in government, guided Adams’s thinking. Responding to a request for advice on proper government from North Carolina, Adams wrote Thoughts on Government, which influenced many state legislatures. Adams did not advocate democracy; rather, he wrote, “there is no good government but what is republican.” Fearing the potential for tyranny with only one group in power, he suggested a system of checks and balances in which three separate branches of government—executive, legislative, and judicial—would maintain a balance of power. He also proposed that each state remain sovereign, as its own republic. The state constitutions of the new United States illustrate different approaches to addressing the question of how much democracy would prevail in the thirteen republics. Some states embraced democratic practices, while others adopted far more aristocratic and republican ones. Visit the Avalon Project to read the constitutions of the seven states (Virginia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware) that had written constitutions by the end of 1776. The 1776 Pennsylvania constitution and the 1784 New Hampshire constitution both provide examples of democratic tendencies. In Pennsylvania, the requirement to own property in order to vote was eliminated, and if a man was twenty-one or older, had paid taxes, and had lived in the same location for one year, he could vote (Figure). This opened voting to most free white male citizens of Pennsylvania. The 1784 New Hampshire constitution allowed every small town and village to send representatives to the state government, making the lower house of the legislature a model of democratic government. Conservative Whigs, who distrusted the idea of majority rule, recoiled from the abolition of property qualifications for voting and office holding in Pennsylvania. Conservative Whig John Adams reacted with horror to the 1776 Pennsylvania constitution, declaring that it was “so democratical that it must produce confusion and every evil work.” In his mind and those of other conservative Whigs, this constitution simply put too much power in the hands of men who had no business exercising the right to vote. Pennsylvania’s constitution also eliminated the executive branch (there was no governor) and the upper house. Instead, Pennsylvania had a one-house—a unicameral—legislature. The Maryland and South Carolina constitutions provide examples of efforts to limit the power of a democratic majority. Maryland’s, written in 1776, restricted office holding to the wealthy planter class. A man had to own at least £5,000 worth of personal property to be the governor of Maryland, and possess an estate worth £1,000 to be a state senator. This latter qualification excluded over 90 percent of the white males in Maryland from political office. The 1778 South Carolina constitution also sought to protect the interests of the wealthy. Governors and lieutenant governors of the state had to have “a settled plantation or freehold in their and each of their own right of the value of at least ten thousand pounds currency, clear of debt.” This provision limited high office in the state to its wealthiest inhabitants. Similarly, South Carolina state senators had to own estates valued at £2,000. John Adams wrote much of the 1780 Massachusetts constitution, which reflected his fear of too much democracy. It therefore created two legislative chambers, an upper and lower house, and a strong governor with broad veto powers. Like South Carolina, Massachusetts put in place office-holding requirements: To be governor under the new constitution, a candidate had to own an estate worth at least £1,000. To serve in the state senate, a man had to own an estate worth at least £300 and have at least £600 in total wealth. To vote, he had to be worth at least sixty pounds. To further keep democracy in check, judges were appointed, not elected. One final limit was the establishment of the state capitol in the commercial center of Boston, which made it difficult for farmers from the western part of the state to attend legislative sessions. THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION Most revolutionaries pledged their greatest loyalty to their individual states. Recalling the experience of British reform efforts imposed in the 1760s and 1770s, they feared a strong national government and took some time to adopt the Articles of Confederation, the first national constitution. In June 1776, the Continental Congress prepared to announce independence and began to think about the creation of a new government to replace royal authority. Reaching agreement on the Articles of Confederation proved difficult as members of the Continental Congress argued over western land claims. Connecticut, for example, used its colonial charter to assert its claim to western lands in Pennsylvania and the Ohio Territory (Figure). Members of the Continental Congress also debated what type of representation would be best and tried to figure out how to pay the expenses of the new government. In lieu of creating a new federal government, the Articles of Confederation created a “league of friendship” between the states. Congress readied the Articles in 1777 but did not officially approve them until 1781 (Figure). The delay of four years illustrates the difficulty of getting the thirteen states to agree on a plan of national government. Citizens viewed their respective states as sovereign republics and guarded their prerogatives against other states. The Articles of Confederation authorized a unicameral legislature, a continuation of the earlier Continental Congress. The people could not vote directly for members of the national Congress; rather, state legislatures decided who would represent the state. In practice, the national Congress was composed of state delegations. There was no president or executive office of any kind, and there was no national judiciary (or Supreme Court) for the United States. Passage of any law under the Articles of Confederation proved difficult. It took the consensus of nine states for any measure to pass, and amending the Articles required the consent of all the states, also extremely difficult to achieve. Further, any acts put forward by the Congress were non-binding; states had the option to enforce them or not. This meant that while the Congress had power over Indian affairs and foreign policy, individual states could choose whether or not to comply. The Congress did not have the power to tax citizens of the United States, a fact that would soon have serious consequences for the republic. During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress had sent requisitions for funds to the individual former colonies (now revolutionary states). These states already had an enormous financial burden because they had to pay for militias as well as supply them. In the end, the states failed to provide even half the funding requested by the Congress during the war, which led to a national debt in the tens of millions by 1784. By the 1780s, some members of the Congress were greatly concerned about the financial health of the republic, and they argued that the national government needed greater power, especially the power to tax. This required amending the Articles of Confederation with the consent of all the states. Those who called for a stronger federal government were known as nationalists. The nationalist group that pushed for the power to tax included Washington’s chief of staff, Alexander Hamilton; Virginia planter James Madison; Pennsylvania’s wealthy merchant Robert Morris (who served under the Confederation government as superintendent of finance in the early 1780s); and Pennsylvania lawyer James Wilson. Two New Yorkers, Gouverneur Morris and James Duane, also joined the effort to address the debt and the weakness of the Confederation government. These men proposed a 5 percent tax on imports coming into the United States, a measure that would have yielded enough revenue to clear the debt. However, their proposal failed to achieve unanimous support from the states when Rhode Island rejected it. Plans for a national bank also failed to win unanimous support. The lack of support illustrates the Americans’ deep suspicion of a powerful national government, a suspicion that originated from the unilateral and heavy-handed reform efforts that the British Parliament imposed on the colonies in the 1760s and 1770s. Without revenue, the Congress could not pay back American creditors who had lent it money. However, it did manage to make interest payments to foreign creditors in France and the Dutch Republic, fearful that defaulting on those payments would destroy the republic’s credit and leave it unable to secure loans. One soldier in the Continental Army, Joseph Plumb Martin, recounted how he received no pay in paper money after 1777 and only one month’s payment in specie, or hard currency, in 1781. Like thousands of other soldiers, Martin had fought valiantly against the British and helped secure independence, but had not been paid for his service. In the 1780s and beyond, men like Martin would soon express their profound dissatisfaction with their treatment. Their anger found expression in armed uprisings and political divisions. Establishing workable foreign and commercial policies under the Articles of Confederation also proved difficult. Each state could decide for itself whether to comply with treaties between the Congress and foreign countries, and there were no means of enforcement. Both Great Britain and Spain understood the weakness of the Confederation Congress, and they refused to make commercial agreements with the United States because they doubted they would be enforced. Without stable commercial policies, American exporters found it difficult to do business, and British goods flooded U.S. markets in the 1780s, in a repetition of the economic imbalance that existed before the Revolutionary War. The Confederation Congress under the Articles did achieve success through a series of directives called land ordinances, which established rules for the settlement of western lands in the public domain and the admission of new states to the republic. The ordinances were designed to prepare the land for sale to citizens and raise revenue to boost the failing economy of the republic. In the land ordinances, the Confederation Congress created the Mississippi and Southwest Territories and stipulated that slavery would be permitted there. The system of dividing the vast domains of the United States stands as a towering achievement of the era, a blueprint for American western expansion. The Ordinance of 1784, written by Thomas Jefferson and the first of what were later called the Northwest Ordinances, directed that new states would be formed from a huge area of land below the Great Lakes, and these new states would have equal standing with the original states. The Ordinance of 1785 called for the division of this land into rectangular plots in order to prepare for the government sale of land. Surveyors would divide the land into townships of six square miles, and the townships would be subdivided into thirty-six plots of 640 acres each, which could be further subdivided. The price of an acre of land was set at a minimum of one dollar, and the land was to be sold at public auction under the direction of the Confederation. The Ordinance of 1787 officially turned the land into an incorporated territory called the Northwest Territory and prohibited slavery north of the Ohio River (Figure). The map of the 1787 Northwest Territory shows how the public domain was to be divided by the national government for sale. Townships of thirty-six square miles were to be surveyed. Each had land set aside for schools and other civic purposes. Smaller parcels could then be made: a 640-acre section could be divided into quarter-sections of 160 acres, and then again into sixteen sections of 40 acres. The geometric grid pattern established by the ordinance is still evident today on the American landscape. Indeed, much of the western United States, when viewed from an airplane, is composed of an orderly grid system. Visit Window Seat to explore aerial views of the grid system established by the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which is still evident in much of the Midwest. The land ordinances proved to be the great triumph of the Confederation Congress. The Congress would appoint a governor for the territories, and when the population in the territory reached five thousand free adult settlers, those citizens could create their own legislature and begin the process of moving toward statehood. When the population reached sixty thousand, the territory could become a new state. SHAYS’ REBELLION Despite Congress’s victory in creating an orderly process for organizing new states and territories, land sales failed to produce the revenue necessary to deal with the dire economic problems facing the new country in the 1780s. Each state had issued large amounts of paper money and, in the aftermath of the Revolution, widespread internal devaluation of that currency occurred as many lost confidence in the value of state paper money and the Continental dollar. A period of extreme inflation set in. Added to this dilemma was American citizens’ lack of specie (gold and silver currency) to conduct routine business. Meanwhile, demobilized soldiers, many of whom had spent their formative years fighting rather than learning a peacetime trade, searched desperately for work. The economic crisis came to a head in 1786 and 1787 in western Massachusetts, where farmers were in a difficult position: they faced high taxes and debts, which they found nearly impossible to pay with the worthless state and Continental paper money. For several years after the peace in 1783, these indebted citizens had petitioned the state legislature for redress. Many were veterans of the Revolutionary War who had returned to their farms and families after the fighting ended and now faced losing their homes. Their petitions to the state legislature raised economic and political issues for citizens of the new state. How could people pay their debts and state taxes when paper money proved unstable? Why was the state government located in Boston, the center of the merchant elite? Why did the 1780 Massachusetts constitution cater to the interests of the wealthy? To the indebted farmers, the situation in the 1780s seemed hauntingly familiar; the revolutionaries had routed the British, but a new form of seemingly corrupt and self-serving government had replaced them. In 1786, when the state legislature again refused to address the petitioners’ requests, Massachusetts citizens took up arms and closed courthouses across the state to prevent foreclosure (seizure of land in lieu of overdue loan payments) on farms in debt. The farmers wanted their debts forgiven, and they demanded that the 1780 constitution be revised to address citizens beyond the wealthy elite who could serve in the legislature. Many of the rebels were veterans of the war for independence, including Captain Daniel Shays from Pelham (Figure). Although Shays was only one of many former officers in the Continental Army who took part in the revolt, authorities in Boston singled him out as a ringleader, and the uprising became known as Shays’ Rebellion. The Massachusetts legislature responded to the closing of the courthouses with a flurry of legislation, much of it designed to punish the rebels. The government offered the rebels clemency if they took an oath of allegiance. Otherwise, local officials were empowered to use deadly force against them without fear of prosecution. Rebels would lose their property, and if any militiamen refused to defend the state, they would be executed. Despite these measures, the rebellion continued. To address the uprising, Governor James Bowdoin raised a private army of forty-four hundred men, funded by wealthy Boston merchants, without the approval of the legislature. The climax of Shays’ Rebellion came in January 1787, when the rebels attempted to seize the federal armory in Springfield, Massachusetts. A force loyal to the state defeated them there, although the rebellion continued into February. Shays’ Rebellion resulted in eighteen deaths overall, but the uprising had lasting effects. To men of property, mostly conservative Whigs, Shays’ Rebellion strongly suggested the republic was falling into anarchy and chaos. The other twelve states had faced similar economic and political difficulties, and continuing problems seemed to indicate that on a national level, a democratic impulse was driving the population. Shays’ Rebellion convinced George Washington to come out of retirement and lead the convention called for by Alexander Hamilton to amend the Articles of Confederation in order to deal with insurgencies like the one in Massachusetts and provide greater stability in the United States. Section Summary The late 1770s and 1780s witnessed one of the most creative political eras as each state drafted its own constitution. The Articles of Confederation, a weak national league among the states, reflected the dominant view that power should be located in the states and not in a national government. However, neither the state governments nor the Confederation government could solve the enormous economic problems resulting from the long and costly Revolutionary War. The economic crisis led to Shays’ Rebellion by residents of western Massachusetts, and to the decision to revise the Confederation government. Review Questions Which of the following states had the most democratic constitution in the 1780s? - Pennsylvania - Massachusetts - South Carolina - Maryland Hint: A Under the Articles of Confederation, what power did the national Confederation Congress have? - the power to tax - the power to enforce foreign treaties - the power to enforce commercial trade agreements - the power to create land ordinances Hint: D What were the primary causes of Shays’ Rebellion? Hint: A group of farmers in western Massachusetts, including Daniel Shays, rebelled against the Massachusetts government, which they saw as unresponsive to their needs. Many were veterans of the Revolutionary War and faced tremendous debts and high taxes, which they couldn’t pay with their worthless paper money. They felt that they didn’t have a voice in the Massachusetts government, which seemed to cater to wealthy Boston merchants. They wanted their debts to be forgiven and the Massachusetts constitution to be rewritten to address their needs, and when these demands weren’t met, they rebelled.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.498196	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15432/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Creating Republican Governments, 1776–1790", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15433/overview	The Constitutional Convention and Federal Constitution Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Identify the central issues of the 1787 Constitutional Convention and their solutions - Describe the conflicts over the ratification of the federal constitution The economic problems that plagued the thirteen states of the Confederation set the stage for the creation of a strong central government under a federal constitution. Although the original purpose of the convention was to amend the Articles of Confederation, some—though not all—delegates moved quickly to create a new framework for a more powerful national government. This proved extremely controversial. Those who attended the convention split over the issue of robust, centralized government and questions of how Americans would be represented in the federal government. Those who opposed the proposal for a stronger federal government argued that such a plan betrayed the Revolution by limiting the voice of the American people. THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION There had been earlier efforts to address the Confederation’s perilous state. In early 1786, Virginia’s James Madison advocated a meeting of states to address the widespread economic problems that plagued the new nation. Heeding Madison’s call, the legislature in Virginia invited all thirteen states to meet in Annapolis, Maryland, to work on solutions to the issue of commerce between the states. Eight states responded to the invitation. But the resulting 1786 Annapolis Convention failed to provide any solutions because only five states sent delegates. These delegates did, however, agree to a plan put forward by Alexander Hamilton for a second convention to meet in May 1787 in Philadelphia. Shays’ Rebellion gave greater urgency to the planned convention. In February 1787, in the wake of the uprising in western Massachusetts, the Confederation Congress authorized the Philadelphia convention. This time, all the states except Rhode Island sent delegates to Philadelphia to confront the problems of the day. The stated purpose of the Philadelphia Convention in 1787 was to amend the Articles of Confederation. Very quickly, however, the attendees decided to create a new framework for a national government. That framework became the United States Constitution, and the Philadelphia convention became known as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Fifty-five men met in Philadelphia in secret; historians know of the proceedings only because James Madison kept careful notes of what transpired. The delegates knew that what they were doing would be controversial; Rhode Island refused to send delegates, and New Hampshire’s delegates arrived late. Two delegates from New York, Robert Yates and John Lansing, left the convention when it became clear that the Articles were being put aside and a new plan of national government was being drafted. They did not believe the delegates had the authority to create a strong national government. Read “Reasons for Dissent from the Proposed Constitution” in order to understand why Robert Yates and John Lansing, New York’s delegates to the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, didn’t believe the convention should draft a new plan of national government. THE QUESTION OF REPRESENTATION One issue that the delegates in Philadelphia addressed was the way in which representatives to the new national government would be chosen. Would individual citizens be able to elect representatives? Would representatives be chosen by state legislatures? How much representation was appropriate for each state? James Madison put forward a proposition known as the Virginia Plan, which called for a strong national government that could overturn state laws (Figure). The plan featured a bicameral or two-house legislature, with an upper and a lower house. The people of the states would elect the members of the lower house, whose numbers would be determined by the population of the state. State legislatures would send delegates to the upper house. The number of representatives in the upper chamber would also be based on the state’s population. This proportional representation gave the more populous states, like Virginia, more political power. The Virginia Plan also called for an executive branch and a judicial branch, both of which were absent under the Articles of Confederation. The lower and upper house together were to appoint members to the executive and judicial branches. Under this plan, Virginia, the most populous state, would dominate national political power and ensure its interests, including slavery, would be safe. The Virginia Plan’s call for proportional representation alarmed the representatives of the smaller states. William Paterson introduced a New Jersey Plan to counter Madison’s scheme, proposing that all states have equal votes in a unicameral national legislature. He also addressed the economic problems of the day by calling for the Congress to have the power to regulate commerce, to raise revenue though taxes on imports and through postage, and to enforce Congressional requisitions from the states. Roger Sherman from Connecticut offered a compromise to break the deadlock over the thorny question of representation. His Connecticut Compromise, also known as the Great Compromise, outlined a different bicameral legislature in which the upper house, the Senate, would have equal representation for all states; each state would be represented by two senators chosen by the state legislatures. Only the lower house, the House of Representatives, would have proportional representation. THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY The question of slavery stood as a major issue at the Constitutional Convention because slaveholders wanted slaves to be counted along with whites, termed “free inhabitants,” when determining a state’s total population. This, in turn, would augment the number of representatives accorded to those states in the lower house. Some northerners, however, such as New York’s Gouverneur Morris, hated slavery and did not even want the term included in the new national plan of government. Slaveholders argued that slavery imposed great burdens upon them and that, because they carried this liability, they deserved special consideration; slaves needed to be counted for purposes of representation. The issue of counting or not counting slaves for purposes of representation connected directly to the question of taxation. Beginning in 1775, the Second Continental Congress asked states to pay for war by collecting taxes and sending the tax money to the Congress. The amount each state had to deliver in tax revenue was determined by a state’s total population, including both free and enslaved individuals. States routinely fell far short of delivering the money requested by Congress under the plan. In April 1783, the Confederation Congress amended the earlier system of requisition by having slaves count as three-fifths of the white population. In this way, slaveholders gained a significant tax break. The delegates in Philadelphia adopted this same three-fifths formula in the summer of 1787. Under the three-fifths compromise in the 1787 Constitution, each slave would be counted as three-fifths of a white person. Article 1, Section 2 stipulated that “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several states . . . according to their respective Number, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free Persons, including those bound for service for a Term of Years [white servants], and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other persons.” Since representation in the House of Representatives was based on the population of a state, the three-fifths compromise gave extra political power to slave states, although not as much as if the total population, both free and slave, had been used. Significantly, no direct federal income tax was immediately imposed. (The Sixteenth Amendment, ratified in 1913, put in place a federal income tax.) Northerners agreed to the three-fifths compromise because the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, passed by the Confederation Congress, banned slavery in the future states of the northwest. Northern delegates felt this ban balanced political power between states with slaves and those without. The three-fifths compromise gave an advantage to slaveholders; they added three-fifths of their human property to their state’s population, allowing them to send representatives based in part on the number of slaves they held. THE QUESTION OF DEMOCRACY Many of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention had serious reservations about democracy, which they believed promoted anarchy. To allay these fears, the Constitution blunted democratic tendencies that appeared to undermine the republic. Thus, to avoid giving the people too much direct power, the delegates made certain that senators were chosen by the state legislatures, not elected directly by the people (direct elections of senators came with the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1913). As an additional safeguard, the delegates created the Electoral College, the mechanism for choosing the president. Under this plan, each state has a certain number of electors, which is its number of senators (two) plus its number of representatives in the House of Representatives. Critics, then as now, argue that this process prevents the direct election of the president. THE FIGHT OVER RATIFICATION The draft constitution was finished in September 1787. The delegates decided that in order for the new national government to be implemented, each state must first hold a special ratifying convention. When nine of the thirteen had approved the plan, the constitution would go into effect. When the American public learned of the new constitution, opinions were deeply divided, but most people were opposed. To salvage their work in Philadelphia, the architects of the new national government began a campaign to sway public opinion in favor of their blueprint for a strong central government. In the fierce debate that erupted, the two sides articulated contrasting visions of the American republic and of democracy. Supporters of the 1787 Constitution, known as Federalists, made the case that a centralized republic provided the best solution for the future. Those who opposed it, known as Anti-Federalists, argued that the Constitution would consolidate all power in a national government, robbing the states of the power to make their own decisions. To them, the Constitution appeared to mimic the old corrupt and centralized British regime, under which a far-off government made the laws. Anti-Federalists argued that wealthy aristocrats would run the new national government, and that the elite would not represent ordinary citizens; the rich would monopolize power and use the new government to formulate policies that benefited their class—a development that would also undermine local state elites. They also argued that the Constitution did not contain a bill of rights. New York’s ratifying convention illustrates the divide between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists. When one Anti-Federalist delegate named Melancton Smith took issue with the scheme of representation as being too limited and not reflective of the people, Alexander Hamilton responded: It has been observed by an honorable gentleman [Smith], that a pure democracy, if it were practicable, would be the most perfect government. Experience has proven, that no position in politics is more false than this. The ancient democracies, in which the people themselves deliberated, never possessed one feature of good government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity: When they assembled, the field of debate presented an ungovernable mob, not only incapable of deliberation, but prepared for every enormity. In these assemblies, the enemies of the people brought forward their plans of ambition systematically. They were opposed by their enemies of another party; and it became a matter of contingency, whether the people subjected themselves to be led blindly by one tyrant or by another. The Federalists, particularly John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison, put their case to the public in a famous series of essays known as The Federalist Papers. These were first published in New York and subsequently republished elsewhere in the United States. James Madison on the Benefits of Republicanism The tenth essay in The Federalist Papers, often called Federalist No. 10, is one of the most famous. Written by James Madison (Figure), it addresses the problems of political parties (“factions”). Madison argued that there were two approaches to solving the problem of political parties: a republican government and a democracy. He argued that a large republic provided the best defense against what he viewed as the tumult of direct democracy. Compromises would be reached in a large republic and citizens would be represented by representatives of their own choosing. From this view of the subject, it may be concluded, that a pure Democracy, by which I mean a Society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the Government in person, can admit of no cure for the mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert result from the form of Government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party, or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is, that such Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives, as they have been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians, who have patronized this species of Government, have erroneously supposed, that by reducing mankind to a perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in their possessions, their opinions, and their passions. A Republic, by which I mean a Government in which the scheme of representation takes place, opens a different prospect, and promises the cure for which we are seeking. Let us examine the points in which it varies from pure Democracy, and we shall comprehend both the nature of the cure, and the efficacy which it must derive from the Union. The two great points of difference, between a Democracy and a Republic, are, first, the delegation of the Government, in the latter, to a small number of citizens elected by the rest: Secondly, the greater number of citizens, and greater sphere of country, over which the latter may be extended. Does Madison recommend republicanism or democracy as the best form of government? What arguments does he use to prove his point? Read the full text of Federalist No. 10 on Wikisource. What do you think are Madison’s most and least compelling arguments? How would different members of the new United States view his arguments? Including all the state ratifying conventions around the country, a total of fewer than two thousand men voted on whether to adopt the new plan of government. In the end, the Constitution only narrowly won approval (Figure). In New York, the vote was thirty in favor to twenty-seven opposed. In Massachusetts, the vote to approve was 187 to 168, and some claim supporters of the Constitution resorted to bribes in order to ensure approval. Virginia ratified by a vote of eighty-nine to seventy-nine, and Rhode Island by thirty-four to thirty-two. The opposition to the Constitution reflected the fears that a new national government, much like the British monarchy, created too much centralized power and, as a result, deprived citizens in the various states of the ability to make their own decisions. Section Summary The economic crisis of the 1780s, shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation, and outbreak of Shays’ Rebellion spurred delegates from twelve of the thirteen states to gather for the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Although the stated purpose of the convention was to modify the Articles of Confederation, their mission shifted to the building of a new, strong federal government. Federalists like James Madison and Alexander Hamilton led the charge for a new United States Constitution, the document that endures as the oldest written constitution in the world, a testament to the work done in 1787 by the delegates in Philadelphia. Review Questions Which plan resolved the issue of representation for the U.S. Constitution? - the Rhode Island Agreement - the New Jersey Plan - the Connecticut Compromise - the Virginia Plan Hint: C How was the U.S. Constitution ratified? - by each state at special ratifying conventions - at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 - at the Confederation Convention - by popular referendum in each state Hint: A Explain the argument that led to the three-fifths rule and the consequences of that rule. Hint: Southern slaveholders wanted slaves to count for the purposes of representation, while people from northern states feared that counting slaves would give the southern states too much power. Their fears were valid; the three-fifths rule, which stated that each slave counted as three-fifths of a white person for purposes of representation, gave the southern states the balance of political power. Critical Thinking Questions Describe the state constitutions that were more democratic and those that were less so. What effect would these different constitutions have upon those states? Who could participate in government, whether by voting or by holding public office? Whose interests were represented, and whose were compromised? In what ways does the United States Constitution manifest the principles of both republican and democratic forms of government? In what ways does it deviate from those principles? In this chapter’s discussion of New York’s ratifying convention, Alexander Hamilton takes issue with Anti-Federalist delegate Melancton Smith’s assertion that (as Hamilton says) “a pure democracy, if it were practicable, would be the most perfect government.” What did Smith—and Hamilton—mean by “a pure democracy”? How does this compare to the type of democracy that represents the modern United States? Describe popular attitudes toward African Americans, women, and Indians in the wake of the Revolution. In what ways did the established social and political order depend upon keeping members of these groups in their circumscribed roles? If those roles were to change, how would American society and politics have had to adjust? How did the process of creating and ratifying the Constitution, and the language of the Constitution itself, confirm the positions of African Americans, women, and Indians in the new republic? How did these roles compare to the stated goals of the republic? What were the circumstances that led to Shays’ Rebellion? What was the government’s response? Would this response have confirmed or negated the grievances of the participants in the uprising? Why?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.532132	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15433/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Creating Republican Governments, 1776–1790", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15467/overview	Introduction Overview - The Compromise of 1850 - The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Republican Party - The Dred Scott Decision and Sectional Strife - John Brown and the Election of 1860 The heated sectional controversy between the North and the South reached new levels of intensity in the 1850s. Southerners and northerners grew ever more antagonistic as they debated the expansion of slavery in the West. The notorious confrontation between Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina and Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner depicted in the image above (Figure), illustrates the contempt between extremists on both sides. The “Caning of Sumner” in May 1856 followed upon a speech given by Sumner two days earlier in which he condemned slavery in no uncertain terms, declaring: “[Admitting Kansas as a slave state] is the rape of a virgin territory, compelling it to the hateful embrace of slavery; and it may be clearly traced to a depraved longing for a new slave state, the hideous offspring of such a crime, in the hope of adding to the power of slavery in the national government.” Sumner criticized proslavery legislators, particularly attacking a fellow senator and relative of Preston Brooks. Brooks responded by beating Sumner with a cane, a thrashing that southerners celebrated as a manly defense of gentlemanly honor and their way of life. The episode highlights the violent clash between pro- and antislavery factions in the 1850s, a conflict that would eventually lead to the traumatic unraveling of American democracy and civil war.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.547997	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15467/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15468/overview	The Compromise of 1850 Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the contested issues that led to the Compromise of 1850 - Describe and analyze the reactions to the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act At the end of the Mexican-American War, the United States gained a large expanse of western territory known as the Mexican Cession. The disposition of this new territory was in question; would the new states be slave states or free-soil states? In the long run, the Mexican-American War achieved what abolitionism alone had failed to do: it mobilized many in the North against slavery. Antislavery northerners clung to the idea expressed in the 1846 Wilmot Proviso: slavery would not expand into the areas taken, and later bought, from Mexico. Though the proviso remained a proposal and never became a law, it defined the sectional division. The Free-Soil Party, which formed at the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848 and included many members of the failed Liberty Party, made this position the centerpiece of all its political activities, ensuring that the issue of slavery and its expansion remained at the front and center of American political debate. Supporters of the Wilmot Proviso and members of the new Free-Soil Party did not want to abolish slavery in the states where it already existed; rather, Free-Soil advocates demanded that the western territories be kept free of slavery for the benefit of white laborers who might settle there. They wanted to protect white workers from having to compete with slave labor in the West. (Abolitionists, in contrast, looked to destroy slavery everywhere in the United States.) Southern extremists, especially wealthy slaveholders, reacted with outrage at this effort to limit slavery’s expansion. They argued for the right to bring their slave property west, and they vowed to leave the Union if necessary to protect their way of life—meaning the right to own slaves—and ensure that the American empire of slavery would continue to grow. BROKERING THE COMPROMISE The issue of what to do with the western territories added to the republic by the Mexican Cession consumed Congress in 1850. Other controversial matters, which had been simmering over time, complicated the problem further. Chief among these issues were the slave trade in the District of Columbia, which antislavery advocates hoped to end, and the fugitive slave laws, which southerners wanted to strengthen. The border between Texas and New Mexico remained contested because many Texans hoped to enlarge their state further, and, finally, the issue of California had not been resolved. California was the crown jewel of the Mexican Cession, and following the discovery of gold, it was flush with thousands of emigrants. By most estimates, however, it would be a free state, since the former Mexican ban on slavery still remained in force and slavery had not taken root in California. The map below (Figure) shows the disposition of land before the 1850 compromise. The presidential election of 1848 did little to solve the problems resulting from the Mexican Cession. Both the Whigs and the Democrats attempted to avoid addressing the issue of slavery publicly as much as possible. The Democrats nominated Lewis Cass of Michigan, a supporter of the idea of popular sovereignty, or letting the people in the territories decide the issue of whether or not to permit slavery based on majority rule. The Whigs nominated General Zachary Taylor, a slaveholder from Louisiana, who had achieved national prominence as a military hero in the Mexican-American War. Taylor did not take a personal stand on any issue and remained silent throughout the campaign. The fledgling Free-Soil Party put forward former president Martin Van Buren as their candidate. The Free-Soil Party attracted northern Democrats who supported the Wilmot Proviso, northern Whigs who rejected Taylor because he was a slaveholder, former members of the Liberty Party, and other abolitionists. Both the Whigs and the Democrats ran different campaigns in the North and South. In the North, all three parties attempted to win voters with promises of keeping the territories free of slavery, while in the South, Whigs and Democrats promised to protect slavery in the territories. For southern voters, the slaveholder Taylor appeared the natural choice. In the North, the Free-Soil Party took votes away from Whigs and Democrats and helped to ensure Taylor’s election in 1848. As president, Taylor sought to defuse the sectional controversy as much as possible, and, above all else, to preserve the Union. Although Taylor was born in Virginia before relocating to Kentucky and owned more than one hundred slaves by the late 1840s, he did not push for slavery’s expansion into the Mexican Cession. However, the California Gold Rush made California’s statehood into an issue demanding immediate attention. In 1849, after California residents adopted a state constitution prohibiting slavery, President Taylor called on Congress to admit California and New Mexico as free states, a move that infuriated southern defenders of slavery who argued for the right to bring their slave property wherever they chose. Taylor, who did not believe slavery could flourish in the arid lands of the Mexican Cession because the climate prohibited plantation-style farming, proposed that the Wilmot Proviso be applied to the entire area. In Congress, Kentucky senator Henry Clay, a veteran of congressional conflicts, offered a series of resolutions addressing the list of issues related to slavery and its expansion. Clay’s resolutions called for the admission of California as a free state; no restrictions on slavery in the rest of the Mexican Cession (a rejection of the Wilmot Proviso and the Free-Soil Party’s position); a boundary between New Mexico and Texas that did not expand Texas (an important matter, since Texas allowed slavery and a larger Texas meant more opportunities for the expansion of slavery); payment of outstanding Texas debts from the Lone Star Republic days; and the end of the slave trade (but not of slavery) in the nation’s capital, coupled with a more robust federal fugitive slave law. Clay presented these proposals as an omnibus bill, that is, one that would be voted on its totality. Clay’s proposals ignited a spirited and angry debate that lasted for eight months. The resolution calling for California to be admitted as a free state aroused the wrath of the aged and deathly ill John C. Calhoun, the elder statesman for the proslavery position. Calhoun, too sick to deliver a speech, had his friend Virginia senator James Mason present his assessment of Clay’s resolutions and the current state of sectional strife. In Calhoun’s eyes, blame for the stalemate fell squarely on the North, which stood in the way of southern and American prosperity by limiting the zones where slavery could flourish. Calhoun called for a vigorous federal law to ensure that runaway slaves were returned to their masters. He also proposed a constitutional amendment specifying a dual presidency—one office that would represent the South and another for the North—a suggestion that hinted at the possibility of disunion. Calhoun’s argument portrayed an embattled South faced with continued northern aggression—a line of reasoning that only furthered the sectional divide. Several days after Mason delivered Calhoun’s speech, Massachusetts senator Daniel Webster countered Calhoun in his “Seventh of March” speech. Webster called for national unity, famously declaring that he spoke “not as a Massachusetts man, not as a Northern man, but as an American.” Webster asked southerners to end threats of disunion and requested that the North stop antagonizing the South by harping on the Wilmot Proviso. Like Calhoun, Webster also called for a new federal law to ensure the return of runaway slaves. Webster’s efforts to compromise led many abolitionist sympathizers to roundly denounce him as a traitor. Whig senator William H. Seward, who aspired to be president, declared that slavery—which he characterized as incompatible with the assertion in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal”—would one day be extinguished in the United States. Seward’s speech, in which he invoked the idea of a higher moral law than the Constitution, secured his reputation in the Senate as an advocate of abolition. The speeches made in Congress were published in the nation’s newspapers, and the American public followed the debates with great interest, anxious to learn how the issues of the day, especially the potential advance of slavery, would be resolved. Colorful reports of wrangling in Congress further piqued public interest. Indeed, it was not uncommon for arguments to devolve into fistfights or worse. One of the most astonishing episodes of the debate occurred in April 1850, when a quarrel erupted between Missouri Democratic senator Thomas Hart Benton, who by the time of the debate had become a critic of slavery (despite owning slaves), and Mississippi Democratic senator Henry S. Foote. When the burly Benton appeared ready to assault Foote, the Mississippi senator drew his pistol (Figure). President Taylor and Henry Clay, whose resolutions had begun the verbal fireworks in the Senate, had no patience for each other. Clay had long harbored ambitions for the White House, and, for his part, Taylor resented Clay and disapproved of his resolutions. With neither side willing to budge, the government stalled on how to resolve the disposition of the Mexican Cession and the other issues of slavery. The drama only increased when on July 4, 1850, President Taylor became gravely ill, reportedly after eating an excessive amount of fruit washed down with milk. He died five days later, and Vice President Millard Fillmore became president. Unlike his predecessor, who many believed would be opposed to a compromise, Fillmore worked with Congress to achieve a solution to the crisis of 1850. In the end, Clay stepped down as leader of the compromise effort in frustration, and Illinois senator Stephen Douglas pushed five separate bills through Congress, collectively composing the Compromise of 1850. First, as advocated by the South, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, a law that provided federal money—or “bounties”—to slave-catchers. Second, to balance this concession to the South, Congress admitted California as a free state, a move that cheered antislavery advocates and abolitionists in the North. Third, Congress settled the contested boundary between New Mexico and Texas by favoring New Mexico and not allowing for an enlarged Texas, another outcome pleasing to the North. Fourth, antislavery advocates welcomed Congress’s ban on the slave trade in Washington, DC, although slavery continued to thrive in the nation’s capital. Finally, on the thorny issue of whether slavery would expand into the territories, Congress avoided making a direct decision and instead relied on the principle of popular sovereignty. This put the onus on residents of the territories to decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. Popular sovereignty followed the logic of American democracy; majorities in each territory would decide the territory’s laws. The compromise, however, further exposed the sectional divide as votes on the bills divided along strict regional lines. Most Americans breathed a sigh of relief over the deal brokered in 1850, choosing to believe it had saved the Union. Rather than resolving divisions between the North and the South, however, the compromise stood as a truce in an otherwise white-hot sectional conflict. Tensions in the nation remained extremely high; indeed, southerners held several conventions after the compromise to discuss ways to protect the South. At these meetings, extremists who called for secession found themselves in the minority, since most southerners committed themselves to staying in the Union—but only if slavery remained in the states where it already existed, and if no effort was made to block its expansion into areas where citizens wanted it, thereby applying the idea of popular sovereignty (Figure). THE FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT AND ITS CONSEQUENCES The hope that the Compromise of 1850 would resolve the sectional crisis proved short-lived when the Fugitive Slave Act turned into a major source of conflict. The federal law imposed heavy fines and prison sentences on northerners and midwesterners who aided runaway slaves or refused to join posses to catch fugitives. Many northerners felt the law forced them to act as slave-catchers against their will. The law also established a new group of federal commissioners who would decide the fate of fugitives brought before them. In some instances, slave-catchers even brought in free northern blacks, prompting abolitionist societies to step up their efforts to prevent kidnappings (Figure). The commissioners had a financial incentive to send fugitives and free blacks to the slaveholding South, since they received ten dollars for every African American sent to the South and only five if they decided the person who came before them was actually free. The commissioners used no juries, and the alleged runaways could not testify in their own defense. The operation of the law further alarmed northerners and confirmed for many the existence of a “Slave Power”—that is, a minority of elite slaveholders who wielded a disproportionate amount of power over the federal government, shaping domestic and foreign policies to suit their interests. Despite southerners’ repeated insistence on states’ rights, the Fugitive Slave Act showed that slaveholders were willing to use the power of the federal government to bend people in other states to their will. While rejecting the use of federal power to restrict the expansion of slavery, proslavery southerners turned to the federal government to protect and promote the institution of slavery. The actual number of runaway slaves who were not captured within a year of escaping remained very low, perhaps no more than one thousand per year in the early 1850s. Most stayed in the South, hiding in plain sight among free blacks in urban areas. Nonetheless, southerners feared the influence of a vast Underground Railroad: the network of northern whites and free blacks who sympathized with runaway slaves and provided safe houses and safe passage from the South. Quakers, who had long been troubled by slavery, were especially active in this network. It is unclear how many slaves escaped through the Underground Railroad, but historians believe that between 50,000 and 100,000 slaves used the network in their bids for freedom. Meanwhile, the 1850 Fugitive Slave Act greatly increased the perils of being captured. For many thousands of fugitives, escaping the United States completely by going to southern Ontario, Canada, where slavery had been abolished, offered the best chance of a better life beyond the reach of slaveholders. Harriet Tubman, one of the thousands of slaves who made their escape through the Underground Railroad, distinguished herself for her efforts in helping other enslaved men and women escape. Born a slave in Maryland around 1822, Tubman, who suffered greatly under slavery but found solace in Christianity, made her escape in the late 1840s. She returned to the South more than a dozen times to lead other slaves, including her family and friends, along the Underground Railroad to freedom. Harriet Tubman: An American Moses? Harriet Tubman (Figure) was a legendary figure in her own time and beyond. An escaped slave herself, she returned to the South thirteen times to help over three hundred slaves through the Underground Railroad to liberty in the North. In 1869, printer William J. Moses published Sarah H. Bradford’s Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman. Bradford was a writer and biographer who had known Tubman’s family for years. The excerpt below is from the beginning of her book, which she updated in 1886 under the title Harriet, the Moses of Her People. It is proposed in this little book to give a plain and unvarnished account of some scenes and adventures in the life of a woman who, though one of earth’s lowly ones, and of dark-hued skin, has shown an amount of heroism in her character rarely possessed by those of any station in life. Her name (we say it advisedly and without exaggeration) deserves to be handed down to posterity side by side with the names of Joan of Arc, Grace Darling, and Florence Nightingale; for not one of these women has shown more courage and power of endurance in facing danger and death to relieve human suffering, than has this woman in her heroic and successful endeavors to reach and save all whom she might of her oppressed and suffering race, and to pilot them from the land of Bondage to the promised land of Liberty. Well has she been called “Moses,” for she has been a leader and deliverer unto hundreds of her people. —Sarah H. Bradford, Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman How does Bradford characterize Tubman? What language does Bradford use to tie religion into the fight for freedom? The Fugitive Slave Act provoked widespread reactions in the North. Some abolitionists, such as Frederick Douglass, believed that standing up against the law necessitated violence. In Boston and elsewhere, abolitionists tried to protect fugitives from federal authorities. One case involved Anthony Burns, who had escaped slavery in Virginia in 1853 and made his way to Boston (Figure). When federal officials arrested Burns in 1854, abolitionists staged a series of mass demonstrations and a confrontation at the courthouse. Despite their best efforts, however, Burns was returned to Virginia when President Franklin Pierce supported the Fugitive Slave Act with federal troops. Boston abolitionists eventually bought Burns’s freedom. For many northerners, however, the Burns incident, combined with Pierce’s response, only amplified their sense of a conspiracy of southern power. The most consequential reaction against the Fugitive Slave Act came in the form of a novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In it, author Harriet Beecher Stowe, born in Connecticut, made use of slaves’ stories she had heard firsthand after marrying and moving to Ohio, then on the country’s western frontier. Her novel first appeared as a series of stories in a Free-Soil newspaper, the National Era, in 1851 and was published as a book the following year. Stowe told the tale of slaves who were sold by their Kentucky master. While Uncle Tom is indeed sold down the river, young Eliza escapes with her baby (Figure). The story highlighted the idea that slavery was a sin because it destroyed families, ripping children from their parents and husbands and wives from one another. Stowe also emphasized the ways in which slavery corrupted white citizens. The cruelty of some of the novel’s white slaveholders (who genuinely believe that slaves don’t feel things the way that white people do) and the brutality of the slave dealer Simon Legree, who beats slaves and sexually exploits a slave woman, demonstrate the dehumanizing effect of the institution even on those who benefit from it. Stowe’s novel proved a runaway bestseller and was the most-read novel of the nineteenth century, inspiring multiple theatrical productions and musical compositions. It was translated into sixty languages and remains in print to this day. Its message about the evils of slavery helped convince many northerners of the righteousness of the cause of abolition. The novel also demonstrated the power of women to shape public opinion. Stowe and other American women believed they had a moral obligation to mold the conscience of the United States, even though they could not vote (Figure). Visit the Documenting the American South collection on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill website to read the memoirs of Levi Coffin, a prominent Quaker abolitionist who was known as the “president” of the Underground Railroad for his active role in helping slaves to freedom. The memoirs include the story of Eliza Harris, which inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous character. The backlash against the Fugitive Slave Act, fueled by Uncle Tom’s Cabin and well-publicized cases like that of Anthony Burns, also found expression in personal liberty laws passed by eight northern state legislatures. These laws emphasized that the state would provide legal protection to anyone arrested as a fugitive slave, including the right to trial by jury. The personal liberty laws stood as a clear-cut example of the North’s use of states’ rights in opposition to federal power while providing further evidence to southerners that northerners had no respect for the Fugitive Slave Act or slaveholders’ property rights. Go to an archived page from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources site to read the original text of Michigan’s 1855 personal liberty laws. How do these laws refute the provisions of the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850? Section Summary The difficult process of reaching a compromise on slavery in 1850 exposed the sectional fault lines in the United States. After several months of rancorous debate, Congress passed five laws—known collectively as the Compromise of 1850—that people on both sides of the divide hoped had solved the nation’s problems. However, many northerners feared the impact of the Fugitive Slave Act, which made it a crime not only to help slaves escape, but also to fail to help capture them. Many Americans, both black and white, flouted the Fugitive Slave Act by participating in the Underground Railroad, providing safe houses for slaves on the run from the South. Eight northern states passed personal liberty laws to counteract the effects of the Fugitive Slave Act. Review Questions What was President Zachary Taylor’s top priority as president? - preserving the Union - ensuring the recapture of runaway slaves - expanding slavery - enlarging the state of Texas Hint: A Which of the following was not a component of the Compromise of 1850? - the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act - the admission of Kansas as a free state - the admission of California as a free state - a ban on the slave trade in Washington, DC Hint: B Why did many in the North resist the Fugitive Slave Act? Hint: This federal law appeared to northerners to be further proof of a “Slave Power” conspiracy and elite slaveholders’ disproportionate influence over U.S. domestic policy. Northerners also resented being compelled to serve as de facto slave-catchers, as the law punished people not only for helping fugitive slaves, but also for failing to aid in efforts to return them. Finally, the law rankled many northerners for the hypocrisy that it exposed, given southerners’ arguments in favor of states’ rights and against the federal government’s meddling in their affairs.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.577821	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15468/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15469/overview	The Kansas-Nebraska Act and the Republican Party Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the political ramifications of the Kansas-Nebraska Act - Describe the founding of the Republican Party In the early 1850s, the United States’ sectional crisis had abated somewhat, cooled by the Compromise of 1850 and the nation’s general prosperity. In 1852, voters went to the polls in a presidential contest between Whig candidate Winfield Scott and Democratic candidate Franklin Pierce. Both men endorsed the Compromise of 1850. Though it was considered unseemly to hit the campaign trail, Scott did so—much to the benefit of Pierce, as Scott’s speeches focused on forty-year-old battles during the War of 1812 and the weather. In New York, Scott, known as “Old Fuss and Feathers,” talked about a thunderstorm that did not occur and greatly confused the crowd. In Ohio, a cannon firing to herald Scott’s arrival killed a spectator. Pierce was a supporter of the “Young America” movement of the Democratic Party, which enthusiastically anticipated extending democracy around the world and annexing additional territory for the United States. Pierce did not take a stance on the slavery issue. Helped by Scott’s blunders and the fact that he had played no role in the bruising political battles of the past five years, Pierce won the election. The brief period of tranquility between the North and South did not last long, however; it came to an end in 1854 with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. This act led to the formation of a new political party, the Republican Party, that committed itself to ending the further expansion of slavery. THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT The relative calm over the sectional issue was broken in 1854 over the issue of slavery in the territory of Kansas. Pressure had been building among northerners to organize the territory west of Missouri and Iowa, which had been admitted to the Union as a free state in 1846. This pressure came primarily from northern farmers, who wanted the federal government to survey the land and put it up for sale. Promoters of a transcontinental railroad were also pushing for this westward expansion. Southerners, however, had long opposed the Wilmot Proviso’s stipulation that slavery should not expand into the West. By the 1850s, many in the South were also growing resentful of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which established the 36° 30' parallel as the geographical boundary of slavery on the north-south axis. Proslavery southerners now contended that popular sovereignty should apply to all territories, not just Utah and New Mexico. They argued for the right to bring their slave property wherever they chose. Attitudes toward slavery in the 1850s were represented by a variety of regional factions. Throughout the South, slaveholders entrenched themselves in defense of their “way of life,” which depended on the ownership of slaves. Since the 1830s, abolitionists, led by journalist and reformer William Lloyd Garrison, had cast slavery as a national sin and called for its immediate end. For three decades, the abolitionists remained a minority, but they had a significant effect on American society by bringing the evils of slavery into the public consciousness. By the 1850s, some abolitionists advocated the use of violence against those who owned slaves. In 1840, the Liberty Party, whose members came from the ranks of ministers, was founded; this group sought to work within the existing political system, a strategy Garrison and others rejected. Meanwhile, the Free-Soil Party committed itself to ensuring that white laborers would find work in newly acquired territories and not have to compete with unpaid slaves. It is important to note that, even among those who opposed the expansion of slavery in the West, very different attitudes toward slavery existed. Some antislavery northerners wanted the West to be the best country for poor whites to go and seek opportunity. They did not want white workers to have to compete with slave labor, a contest that they believed demeaned white labor. Radical abolitionists, in contrast, envisioned the end of all slavery, and a society of equality between blacks and whites. Others opposed slavery in principle, but believed that the best approach was colonization; that is, settling freed slaves in a colony in Africa. The growing political movement to address the issue of slavery stiffened the resolve of southern slaveholders to defend themselves and their society at all costs. Prohibiting slavery’s expansion, they argued, ran counter to basic American property rights. As abolitionists fanned the flames of antislavery sentiment, southerners solidified their defense of their enormous investment in human chattel. Across the country, people of all political stripes worried that the nation’s arguments would cause irreparable rifts in the country (Figure). As these different factions were agitating for the settlement of Kansas and Nebraska, leaders of the Democratic Party in 1853 and 1854 sought to bind their party together in the aftermath of intraparty fights over the distribution of patronage jobs. Illinois Democratic senator Stephen Douglas believed he had found a solution—the Kansas-Nebraska bill—that would promote party unity and also satisfy his colleagues from the South, who detested the Missouri Compromise line. In January 1854, Douglas introduced the bill (Figure). The act created two territories: Kansas, directly west of Missouri; and Nebraska, west of Iowa. The act also applied the principle of popular sovereignty, dictating that the people of these territories would decide for themselves whether to adopt slavery. In a concession crucial to many southerners, the proposed bill would also repeal the 36° 30' line from the Missouri Compromise. Douglas hoped his bill would increase his political capital and provide a step forward on his quest for the presidency. Douglas also wanted the territory organized in hopes of placing the eastern terminus of a transcontinental railroad in Chicago, rather than St. Louis or New Orleans. After heated debates, Congress narrowly passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act. (In the House of Representatives, the bill passed by a mere three votes: 113 to 110.) This move had major political consequences. The Democrats divided along sectional lines as a result of the bill, and the Whig party, in decline in the early 1850s, found its political power slipping further. Most important, the Kansas-Nebraska Act gave rise to the Republican Party, a new political party that attracted northern Whigs, Democrats who shunned the Kansas-Nebraska Act, members of the Free-Soil Party, and assorted abolitionists. Indeed, with the formation of the Republican Party, the Free-Soil Party ceased to exist. The new Republican Party pledged itself to preventing the spread of slavery into the territories and railed against the Slave Power, infuriating the South. As a result, the party became a solidly northern political organization. As never before, the U.S. political system was polarized along sectional fault lines. BLEEDING KANSAS In 1855 and 1856, pro- and antislavery activists flooded Kansas with the intention of influencing the popular-sovereignty rule of the territories. Proslavery Missourians who crossed the border to vote in Kansas became known as border ruffians; these gained the advantage by winning the territorial elections, most likely through voter fraud and illegal vote counting. (By some estimates, up to 60 percent of the votes cast in Kansas were fraudulent.) Once in power, the proslavery legislature, meeting at Lecompton, Kansas, drafted a proslavery constitution known as the Lecompton Constitution. It was supported by President Buchanan, but opposed by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. The Lecompton Constitution Kansas was home to no fewer than four state constitutions in its early years. Its first constitution, the Topeka Constitution, would have made Kansas a free-soil state. A proslavery legislature, however, created the 1857 Lecompton Constitution to enshrine the institution of slavery in the new Kansas-Nebraska territories. In January 1858, Kansas voters defeated the proposed Lecompton Constitution, excerpted below, with an overwhelming margin of 10,226 to 138. ARTICLE VII.—SLAVERY SECTION 1. The right of property is before and higher than any constitutional sanction, and the right of the owner of a slave to such slave and its increase is the same and as inviolable as the right of the owner of any property whatever. SEC. 2. The Legislature shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent of the owners, or without paying the owners previous to their emancipation a full equivalent in money for the slaves so emancipated. They shall have no power to prevent immigrants to the State from bringing with them such persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the United States or Territories, so long as any person of the same age or description shall be continued in slavery by the laws of this State: Provided, That such person or slave be the bona fide property of such immigrants. How are slaves defined in the 1857 Kansas constitution? How does this constitution safeguard the rights of slaveholders? The majority in Kansas, however, were Free-Soilers who seethed at the border ruffians’ co-opting of the democratic process (Figure). Many had come from New England to ensure a numerical advantage over the border ruffians. The New England Emigrant Aid Society, a northern antislavery group, helped fund these efforts to halt the expansion of slavery into Kansas and beyond. Go to the Kansas Historical Society’s Kansapedia to read the four different state constitutions that Kansas had during its early years as a United States Territory. What can you deduce about the authors of each constitution? In 1856, clashes between antislavery Free-Soilers and border ruffians came to a head in Lawrence, Kansas. The town had been founded by the New England Emigrant Aid Society, which funded antislavery settlement in the territory and were determined that Kansas should be a free-soil state. Proslavery emigrants from Missouri were equally determined that no “abolitionist tyrants” or “negro thieves” would control the territory. In the spring of 1856, several of Lawrence’s leading antislavery citizens were indicted for treason, and federal marshal Israel Donaldson called for a posse to help make arrests. He did not have trouble finding volunteers from Missouri. When the posse, which included Douglas County sheriff Samuel Jones, arrived outside Lawrence, the antislavery town’s “committee of safety” agreed on a policy of nonresistance. Most of those who were indicted fled. Donaldson arrested two men without incident and dismissed the posse. However, Jones, who had been shot during an earlier confrontation in the town, did not leave. On May 21, falsely claiming that he had a court order to do so, Jones took command of the posse and rode into town armed with rifles, revolvers, cutlasses and bowie knives. At the head of the procession, two flags flew: an American flag and a flag with a crouching tiger. Other banners followed, bearing the words “Southern rights” and “The Superiority of the White Race.” In the rear were five artillery pieces, which were dragged to the center of town. The posse smashed the presses of the two newspapers, Herald of Freedom and the Kansas Free State, and burned down the deserted Free State Hotel (Figure). When the posse finally left, Lawrence residents found themselves unharmed but terrified. The next morning, a man named John Brown and his sons, who were on their way to provide Lawrence with reinforcements, heard the news of the attack. Brown, a strict, God-fearing Calvinist and staunch abolitionist, once remarked that “God had raised him up on purpose to break the jaws of the wicked.” Disappointed that the citizens of Lawrence did not resist the “slave hounds” of Missouri, Brown opted not to go to Lawrence, but to the homes of proslavery settlers near Pottawatomie Creek in Kansas. The group of seven, including Brown’s four sons, arrived on May 24, 1856, and announced they were the “Northern Army” that had come to serve justice. They burst into the cabin of proslavery Tennessean James Doyle and marched him and two of his sons off, sparing the youngest at the desperate request of Doyle’s wife, Mahala. One hundred yards down the road, Owen and Salmon Brown hacked their captives to death with broadswords and John Brown shot a bullet into Doyle’s forehead. Before the night was done, the Browns visited two more cabins and brutally executed two other proslavery settlers. None of those executed owned any slaves or had had anything to do with the raid on Lawrence. Brown’s actions precipitated a new wave of violence. All told, the guerilla warfare between proslavery “border ruffians” and antislavery forces, which would continue and even escalate during the Civil War, resulted in over 150 deaths and significant property loss. The events in Kansas served as an extreme reply to Douglas’s proposition of popular sovereignty. As the violent clashes increased, Kansas became known as “Bleeding Kansas.” Antislavery advocates’ use of force carved out a new direction for some who opposed slavery. Distancing themselves from William Lloyd Garrison and other pacifists, Brown and fellow abolitionists believed the time had come to fight slavery with violence. The violent hostilities associated with Bleeding Kansas were not limited to Kansas itself. It was the controversy over Kansas that prompted the caning of Charles Sumner, introduced at the beginning of this chapter with the political cartoon Southern Chivalry: Argument versus Club’s (). Note the title of the cartoon; it lampoons the southern ideal of chivalry, the code of behavior that Preston Brooks believed he was following in his attack on Sumner. In Sumner’s “Crime against Kansas” speech he went much further than politics, filling his verbal attack with allusions to sexuality by singling out fellow senator Andrew Butler from South Carolina, a zealous supporter of slavery and Brooks’s uncle. Sumner insulted Butler by comparing slavery to prostitution, declaring, “Of course he [Butler] has chosen a mistress to whom he has made his vows, and who, though ugly to others, is always lovely to him; though polluted in the sight of the world, is chaste in his sight. I mean the harlot Slavery.” Because Butler was aged, it was his nephew, Brooks, who sought satisfaction for Sumner’s attack on his family and southern honor. Brooks did not challenge Sumner to a duel; by choosing to beat him with a cane instead, he made it clear that he did not consider Sumner a gentleman. Many in the South rejoiced over Brooks’s defense of slavery, southern society, and family honor, sending him hundreds of canes to replace the one he had broken assaulting Sumner. The attack by Brooks left Sumner incapacitated physically and mentally for a long period of time. Despite his injuries, the people of Massachusetts reelected him. THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1856 The electoral contest in 1856 took place in a transformed political landscape. A third political party appeared: the anti-immigrant American Party, a formerly secretive organization with the nickname “the Know-Nothing Party” because its members denied knowing anything about it. By 1856, the American or Know-Nothing Party had evolved into a national force committed to halting further immigration. Its members were especially opposed to the immigration of Irish Catholics, whose loyalty to the Pope, they believed, precluded their loyalty to the United States. On the West Coast, they opposed the entry of immigrant laborers from China, who were thought to be too foreign to ever assimilate into a white America. The election also featured the new Republican Party, which offered John C. Fremont as its candidate. Republicans accused the Democrats of trying to nationalize slavery through the use of popular sovereignty in the West, a view captured in the 1856 political cartoon Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Free Soiler (Figure). The cartoon features the image of a Free-Soiler settler tied to the Democratic Party platform while Senator Douglas (author of the Kansas-Nebraska Act) and President Pierce force a slave down his throat. Note that the slave cries out “Murder!!! Help—neighbors help, O my poor Wife and Children,” a reference to the abolitionists’ argument that slavery destroyed families. The Democrats offered James Buchanan as their candidate. Buchanan did not take a stand on either side of the issue of slavery; rather, he attempted to please both sides. His qualification, in the minds of many, was that he was out of the country when the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed. In the above political cartoon, Buchanan, along with Democratic senator Lewis Cass, holds down the Free-Soil advocate. Buchanan won the election, but Fremont garnered more than 33 percent of the popular vote, an impressive return for a new party. The Whigs had ceased to exist and had been replaced by the Republican Party. Know-Nothings also transferred their allegiance to the Republicans because the new party also took an anti-immigrant stance, a move that further boosted the new party’s standing. (The Democrats courted the Catholic immigrant vote.) The Republican Party was a thoroughly northern party; no southern delegate voted for Fremont. Section Summary The application of popular sovereignty to the organization of the Kansas and Nebraska territories ended the sectional truce that had prevailed since the Compromise of 1850. Senator Douglas’s Kansas-Nebraska Act opened the door to chaos in Kansas as proslavery and Free-Soil forces waged war against each other, and radical abolitionists, notably John Brown, committed themselves to violence to end slavery. The act also upended the second party system of Whigs and Democrats by inspiring the formation of the new Republican Party, committed to arresting the further spread of slavery. Many voters approved its platform in the 1856 presidential election, though the Democrats won the race because they remained a national, rather than a sectional, political force. Review Questions Which of the following was a focus of the new Republican Party? - supporting Irish Catholic immigration - encouraging the use of popular sovereignty to determine where slavery could exist - promoting states’ rights - halting the spread of slavery Hint: D Border ruffians helped to ________. - chase abolitionists out of Missouri - elect a proslavery legislature in Kansas - capture runaway slaves - disseminate abolitionist literature in Kansas Hint: B How did the “Bleeding Kansas” incident change the face of antislavery advocacy? Hint: In response to proslavery forces’ destruction of the antislavery press and Free State Hotel, radical abolitionists, including John Brown, murdered proslavery settlers at Pottawatomie. This was a turning point for Brown and many other radical abolitionists, who—unlike their largely pacifist counterparts, such as William Lloyd Garrison—came to believe that slavery must be extinguished by any means necessary, including open violence.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.609550	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15469/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15470/overview	The Dred Scott Decision and Sectional Strife Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the importance of the Supreme Court's Dred Scott ruling - Discuss the principles of the Republican Party as expressed by Abraham Lincoln in 1858 As president, Buchanan confronted a difficult and volatile situation. The nation needed a strong personality to lead it, and Buchanan did not possess this trait. The violence in Kansas demonstrated that applying popular sovereignty—the democratic principle of majority rule—to the territory offered no solution to the national battle over slavery. A decision by the Supreme Court in 1857, which concerned the slave Dred Scott, only deepened the crisis. DRED SCOTT In 1857, several months after President Buchanan took the oath of office, the Supreme Court ruled in Dred Scott v. Sandford. Dred Scott (Figure), born a slave in Virginia in 1795, had been one of the thousands forced to relocate as a result of the massive internal slave trade and taken to Missouri, where slavery had been adopted as part of the Missouri Compromise. In 1820, Scott’s owner took him first to Illinois and then to the Wisconsin territory. However, both of those regions were part of the Northwest Territory, where the 1787 Northwest Ordinance had prohibited slavery. When Scott returned to Missouri, he attempted to buy his freedom. After his owner refused, he sought relief in the state courts, arguing that by virtue of having lived in areas where slavery was banned, he should be free. In a complicated set of legal decisions, a jury found that Scott, along with his wife and two children, were free. However, on appeal from Scott’s owner, the state Superior Court reversed the decision, and the Scotts remained slaves. Scott then became the property of John Sanford (his name was misspelled as “Sandford” in later court documents), who lived in New York. He continued his legal battle, and because the issue involved Missouri and New York, the case fell under the jurisdiction of the federal court. In 1854, Scott lost in federal court and appealed to the United States Supreme Court. In 1857, the Supreme Court—led by Chief Justice Roger Taney, a former slaveholder who had freed his slaves—handed down its decision. On the question of whether Scott was free, the Supreme Court decided he remained a slave. The court then went beyond the specific issue of Scott’s freedom to make a sweeping and momentous judgment about the status of blacks, both free and slave. Per the court, blacks could never be citizens of the United States. Further, the court ruled that Congress had no authority to stop or limit the spread of slavery into American territories. This proslavery ruling explicitly made the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional; implicitly, it made Douglas’s popular sovereignty unconstitutional. Roger Taney on Dred Scott v. Sandford In 1857, the United States Supreme Court ended years of legal battles when it ruled that Dred Scott, a slave who had resided in several free states, should remain a slave. The decision, written by Chief Justice Roger Taney, also stated that blacks could not be citizens and that Congress had no power to limit the spread of slavery. The excerpt below is from Taney’s decision. A free negro of the African race, whose ancestors were brought to this country and sold as slaves, is not a “citizen” within the meaning of the Constitution of the United States. . . . The only two clauses in the Constitution which point to this race treat them as persons whom it was morally lawfully to deal in as articles of property and to hold as slaves. . . . Every citizen has a right to take with him into the Territory any article of property which the Constitution of the United States recognises as property. . . . The Constitution of the United States recognises slaves as property, and pledges the Federal Government to protect it. And Congress cannot exercise any more authority over property of that description than it may constitutionally exercise over property of any other kind. . . . Prohibiting a citizen of the United States from taking with him his slaves when he removes to the Territory . . . is an exercise of authority over private property which is not warranted by the Constitution, and the removal of the plaintiff [Dred Scott] by his owner to that Territory gave him no title to freedom. How did the Supreme Court define Dred Scott? How did the court interpret the Constitution on this score? The Dred Scott decision infuriated Republicans by rendering their goal—to prevent slavery’s spread into the territories—unconstitutional. To Republicans, the decision offered further proof of the reach of the South’s Slave Power, which now apparently extended even to the Supreme Court. The decision also complicated life for northern Democrats, especially Stephen Douglas, who could no longer sell popular sovereignty as a symbolic concession to southerners from northern voters. Few northerners favored slavery’s expansion westward. THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES The turmoil in Kansas, combined with the furor over the Dred Scott decision, provided the background for the 1858 senatorial contest in Illinois between Democratic senator Stephen Douglas and Republican hopeful Abraham Lincoln (Figure). Lincoln and Douglas engaged in seven debates before huge crowds that met to hear the two men argue the central issue of slavery and its expansion. Newspapers throughout the United States published their speeches. Whereas Douglas already enjoyed national recognition, Lincoln remained largely unknown before the debates. These appearances provided an opportunity for him to raise his profile with both northerners and southerners. Douglas portrayed the Republican Party as an abolitionist effort—one that aimed to bring about miscegenation, or race-mixing through sexual relations or marriage. The “black Republicans,” Douglas declared, posed a dangerous threat to the Constitution. Indeed, because Lincoln declared the nation could not survive if the slave state–free state division continued, Douglas claimed the Republicans aimed to destroy what the founders had created. For his part, Lincoln said: “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half Slave and half Free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction: or its advocates will push it forward till it shall became alike lawful in all the States—old as well as new, North as well as South.” Lincoln interpreted the Dred Scott decision and the Kansas-Nebraska Act as efforts to nationalize slavery: that is, to make it legal everywhere from New England to the Midwest and beyond. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates On August 21, 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas met in Ottawa, Illinois, for the first of seven debates. People streamed into Ottawa from neighboring counties and from as far away as Chicago. Reporting on the event was strictly partisan, with each of the candidates’ supporters claiming victory for their candidate. In this excerpt, Lincoln addresses the issues of equality between blacks and whites. [A]nything that argues me into his idea of perfect social and political equality with the negro, is but a specious and fantastic arrangement of words, . . . I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which, in my judgment, will probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality, . . . I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position. . . . [N]otwithstanding all this, there is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the white man. . . . [I]n the right to eat the bread, without the leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man. —Lincoln’s speech on August 21, 1858, in Ottawa, Illinois How would you characterize Lincoln’s position on equality between blacks and whites? What types of equality exist, according to Lincoln? Go to the Lincoln Home National Historic Site on the National Park Service’s website to read excerpts from and full texts of the debates. Then, visit The Lincoln/Douglas Debates of 1858 on the Northern Illinois University website to read different newspaper accounts of the debates. Do you see any major differences in the way the newspapers reported the debates? How does the commentary vary, and why? During the debates, Lincoln demanded that Douglas explain whether or not he believed that the 1857 Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case trumped the right of a majority to prevent the expansion of slavery under the principle of popular sovereignty. Douglas responded to Lincoln during the second debate at Freeport, Illinois. In what became known as the Freeport Doctrine, Douglas adamantly upheld popular sovereignty, declaring: “It matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into a territory under the Constitution, the people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please.” The Freeport Doctrine antagonized southerners and caused a major rift in the Democratic Party. The doctrine did help Douglas in Illinois, however, where most voters opposed the further expansion of slavery. The Illinois legislature selected Douglas over Lincoln for the senate, but the debates had the effect of launching Lincoln into the national spotlight. Lincoln had argued that slavery was morally wrong, even as he accepted the racism inherent in slavery. He warned that Douglas and the Democrats would nationalize slavery through the policy of popular sovereignty. Though Douglas had survived the election challenge from Lincoln, his Freeport Doctrine undermined the Democratic Party as a national force. Section Summary The Dred Scott decision of 1857 went well beyond the question of whether or not Dred Scott gained his freedom. Instead, the Supreme Court delivered a far-reaching pronouncement about African Americans in the United States, finding they could never be citizens and that Congress could not interfere with the expansion of slavery into the territories. Republicans erupted in anger at this decision, which rendered their party’s central platform unconstitutional. Abraham Lincoln fully articulated the Republican position on the issue of slavery in his 1858 debates with Senator Stephen Douglas. By the end of that year, Lincoln had become a nationally known Republican icon. For the Democrats’ part, unity within their party frayed over both the Dred Scott case and the Freeport Doctrine, undermining the Democrats’ future ability to retain control of the presidency. Review Questions On what grounds did Dred Scott sue for freedom? - the inherent inhumanity of slavery - the cruelty of his master - the fact that he had lived in free states - the fact that his family would be torn apart Hint: C Which of the following was not a result of the Lincoln-Douglas debates? - Douglas was elected senator of Illinois. - Lincoln’s national profile was raised. - Citizens in both the North and South followed the debates closely. - Lincoln successfully defended the principle of popular sovereignty. Hint: D What are the main points of the Dred Scott decision? Hint: The Supreme Court decided that Dred Scott had not earned freedom by virtue of having lived in a free state; thus, Scott and his family would remain enslaved. More broadly, the Court ruled that blacks could never be citizens of the United States and that Congress had no authority to stop or limit the spread of slavery into American territories.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.636661	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15470/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15471/overview	John Brown and the Election of 1860 Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Describe John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry and its results - Analyze the results of the election of 1860 Events in the late 1850s did nothing to quell the country’s sectional unrest, and compromise on the issue of slavery appeared impossible. Lincoln’s 1858 speeches during his debates with Douglas made the Republican Party’s position well known; Republicans opposed the extension of slavery and believed a Slave Power conspiracy sought to nationalize the institution. They quickly gained political momentum and took control of the House of Representatives in 1858. Southern leaders were divided on how to respond to Republican success. Southern extremists, known as “Fire-Eaters,” openly called for secession. Others, like Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis, put forward a more moderate approach by demanding constitutional protection of slavery. JOHN BROWN In October 1859, the radical abolitionist John Brown and eighteen armed men, both blacks and whites, attacked the federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia. They hoped to capture the weapons there and distribute them among slaves to begin a massive uprising that would bring an end to slavery. Brown had already demonstrated during the 1856 Pottawatomie attack in Kansas that he had no patience for the nonviolent approach preached by pacifist abolitionists like William Lloyd Garrison. Born in Connecticut in 1800, Brown (Figure) spent much of his life in the North, moving from Ohio to Pennsylvania and then upstate New York as his various business ventures failed. To him, slavery appeared an unacceptable evil that must be purged from the land, and like his Puritan forebears, he believed in using the sword to defeat the ungodly. Brown had gone to Kansas in the 1850s in an effort to stop slavery, and there, he had perpetrated the killings at Pottawatomie. He told other abolitionists of his plan to take Harpers Ferry Armory and initiate a massive slave uprising. Some abolitionists provided financial support, while others, including Frederick Douglass, found the plot suicidal and refused to join. On October 16, 1859, Brown’s force easily took control of the federal armory, which was unguarded (Figure). However, his vision of a mass uprising failed completely. Very few slaves lived in the area to rally to Brown’s side, and the group found themselves holed up in the armory’s engine house with townspeople taking shots at them. Federal troops, commanded by Colonel Robert E. Lee, soon captured Brown and his followers. On December 2, Brown was hanged by the state of Virginia for treason. Visit the Avalon Project on Yale Law School’s website to read the impassioned speech that Henry David Thoreau delivered on October 30, 1859, arguing against the execution of John Brown. How does Thoreau characterize Brown? What does he ask of his fellow citizens? John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry generated intense reactions in both the South and the North. Southerners grew especially apprehensive of the possibility of other violent plots. They viewed Brown as a terrorist bent on destroying their civilization, and support for secession grew. Their anxiety led several southern states to pass laws designed to prevent slave rebellions. It seemed that the worst fears of the South had come true: A hostile majority would stop at nothing to destroy slavery. Was it possible, one resident of Maryland asked, to “live under a government, a majority of whose subjects or citizens regard John Brown as a martyr and Christian hero?” Many antislavery northerners did in fact consider Brown a martyr to the cause, and those who viewed slavery as a sin saw easy comparisons between him and Jesus Christ. THE ELECTION OF 1860 The election of 1860 triggered the collapse of American democracy when the elevation of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency inspired secessionists in the South to withdraw their states from the Union. Lincoln’s election owed much to the disarray in the Democratic Party. The Dred Scott decision and the Freeport Doctrine had opened up huge sectional divisions among Democrats. Though Brown did not intend it, his raid had furthered the split between northern and southern Democrats. Fire-Eaters vowed to prevent a northern Democrat, especially Illinois’s Stephen Douglas, from becoming their presidential candidate. These proslavery zealots insisted on a southern Democrat. The Democratic nominating convention met in April 1860 in Charleston, South Carolina. However, it broke up after northern Democrats, who made up a majority of delegates, rejected Jefferson Davis’s efforts to protect slavery in the territories. These northern Democratic delegates knew that supporting Davis on this issue would be very unpopular among the people in their states. A second conference, held in Baltimore, further illustrated the divide within the Democratic Party. Northern Democrats nominated Stephen Douglas, while southern Democrats, who met separately, put forward Vice President John Breckinridge from Kentucky. The Democratic Party had fractured into two competing sectional factions. By offering two candidates for president, the Democrats gave the Republicans an enormous advantage. Also hoping to prevent a Republican victory, pro-Unionists from the border states organized the Constitutional Union Party and put up a fourth candidate, John Bell, for president, who pledged to end slavery agitation and preserve the Union but never fully explained how he’d accomplish this objective. In a pro-Lincoln political cartoon of the time (Figure), the presidential election is presented as a baseball game. Lincoln stands on home plate. A skunk raises its tail at the other candidates. Holding his nose, southern Democrat John Breckinridge holds a bat labeled “Slavery Extension” and declares “I guess I’d better leave for Kentucky, for I smell something strong around here, and begin to think, that we are completely skunk’d.” The Republicans nominated Lincoln, and in the November election, he garnered a mere 40 percent of the popular vote, though he won every northern state except New Jersey. (Lincoln’s name was blocked from even appearing on many southern states’ ballots by southern Democrats.) More importantly, Lincoln did gain a majority in the Electoral College (Figure). The Fire-Eaters, however, refused to accept the results. With South Carolina leading the way, Fire-Eaters in southern states began to withdraw formally from the United States in 1860. South Carolinian Mary Boykin Chesnut wrote in her diary about the reaction to the Lincoln’s election. “Now that the black radical Republicans have the power,” she wrote, “I suppose they will Brown us all.” Her statement revealed many southerners’ fear that with Lincoln as President, the South could expect more mayhem like the John Brown raid. Section Summary A new level of animosity and distrust emerged in 1859 in the aftermath of John Brown’s raid. The South exploded in rage at the northern celebration of Brown as a heroic freedom fighter. Fire-Eaters called openly for disunion. Poisoned relations split the Democrats into northern and southern factions, a boon to the Republican candidate Lincoln. His election triggered the downfall of the American experiment with democracy as southern states began to leave the Union. Review Questions Why did John Brown attack the armory at Harpers Ferry? - to seize weapons to distribute to slaves for a massive uprising - to hold as a military base against proslavery forces - in revenge after the sacking of Lawrence - to prevent southern states from seceding Hint: A Which of the following did not contribute to Lincoln’s victory in the election of 1860? - the split between northern and southern democrats - the defeat of the Whig party - Lincoln’s improved national standing after his senatorial debates with Stephen Douglas - the Constitutional Union party’s further splintering the vote Hint: B What were southerners’ and northerners’ views of John Brown? Hint: Antislavery northerners tended to view Brown as a martyr for the antislavery cause; some saw in him a Christ-like figure who died for his beliefs. Southerners, for their part, considered Brown a terrorist. They felt threatened by northerners’ deification of Brown and worried about the potential for other, similar armed insurrections. Critical Thinking Questions Why would Americans view the Compromise of 1850 as a final solution to the sectional controversy that began with the Wilmot Proviso in 1846? If you were a proslavery advocate, how would you feel about the platform of the newly formed Republican Party? Based on the text of the Lincoln-Douglas debates, what was the position of the Republican Party in 1858? Was the Republican Party an abolitionist party? Why or why not? John Brown is often described as a terrorist. Do you agree with this description? Why or why not? What attributes might make him fit this profile? Was it possible to save American democracy in 1860? What steps might have been taken to maintain unity? Why do you think these steps were not taken?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.663255	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15471/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Troubled Times: the Tumultuous 1850s", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15539/overview	Introduction Overview - The Challenges of Peacetime - The Cold War - The American Dream - Popular Culture and Mass Media - The African American Struggle for Civil Rights Is This Tomorrow? (Figure), a 1947 comic book, highlights one way that the federal government and some Americans revived popular sentiment in opposition to Communism. The United States and the Soviet Union, allies during World War II, had different visions for the postwar world. As Joseph Stalin, premier of the Soviet Union, tightened his grip on the countries of Eastern Europe, Americans began to fear that it was his goal to spread the Communist revolution throughout the world and make newly independent nations puppets of the Soviet Union. To enlist as many Americans as possible in the fight against Soviet domination, the U.S. government and purveyors of popular culture churned out propaganda intended to convince average citizens of the dangers posed by the Soviet Union. Artwork such as the cover of Is This Tomorrow?, which depicts Russians attacking Americans, including a struggling woman and an African American veteran still wearing his uniform, played upon postwar fears of Communism and of a future war with the Soviet Union. These fears dominated American life and affected foreign policy, military strategy, urban planning, popular culture, and the civil rights movement.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.678406	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15539/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15540/overview	The Challenges of Peacetime Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Identify the issues that the nation faced during demobilization - Explain the goals and objectives of the Truman administration - Evaluate the actions taken by the U.S. government to address the concerns of returning veterans The decade and a half immediately following the end of World War II was one in which middle- and working-class Americans hoped for a better life than the one they lived before the war. These hopes were tainted by fears of economic hardship, as many who experienced the Great Depression feared a return to economic decline. Others clamored for the opportunity to spend the savings they had accumulated through long hours on the job during the war when consumer goods were rarely available. African Americans who had served in the armed forces and worked in the defense industry did not wish to return to “normal.” Instead, they wanted the same rights and opportunities that other Americans had. Still other citizens were less concerned with the economy or civil rights; instead, they looked with suspicion at the Soviet presence in Eastern Europe. What would happen now that the United States and the Soviet Union were no longer allies, and the other nations that had long helped maintain a balance of power were left seriously damaged by the war? Harry Truman, president for less than a year when the war ended, was charged with addressing all of these concerns and giving the American people a “fair deal.” DEMOBILIZATION AND THE RETURN TO CIVILIAN LIFE The most immediate task to be completed after World War II was demobilizing the military and reintegrating the veterans into civilian life. In response to popular pressure and concerns over the budget, the United States sought to demobilize its armed forces as quickly as possible. Many servicemen, labeled the “Ohio boys” (Over the Hill in October), threatened to vote Republican if they were not home by Christmas 1946. Understandably, this placed a great deal of pressure on the still-inexperienced president to shrink the size of the U.S. military. Not everyone wanted the government to reduce America’s military might, however. Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal and Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson warned Truman in October 1945 that an overly rapid demobilization jeopardized the nation’s strategic position in the world. While Truman agreed with their assessment, he felt powerless to put a halt to demobilization. In response to mounting political pressure, the government reduced the size of the U.S. military from a high of 12 million in June 1945 to 1.5 million in June 1947—still more troops than the nation ever had in arms during peacetime. Soldiers and sailors were not the only ones dismissed from service. As the war drew to a close, millions of women working the jobs of men who had gone off to fight were dismissed by their employers, often because the demand for war materiel had declined and because government propaganda encouraged them to go home to make way for the returning troops. While most women workers surveyed at the end of the war wished to keep their jobs (75–90 percent, depending on the study), many did in fact leave them. Nevertheless, throughout the late 1940s and the 1950s, women continued to make up approximately one-third of the U.S. labor force. Readjustment to postwar life was difficult for the returning troops. The U.S. Army estimated that as many of 20 percent of its casualties were psychological. Although many eagerly awaited their return to civilian status, others feared that they would not be able to resume a humdrum existence after the experience of fighting on the front lines. Veterans also worried that they wouldn’t find work and that civilian defense workers were better positioned to take advantage of the new jobs opening up in the peacetime economy. Some felt that their wives and children would not welcome their presence, and some children did indeed resent the return of fathers who threatened to disrupt the mother-child household. Those on the home front worried as well. Doctors warned fiancées, wives, and mothers that soldiers might return with psychological problems that would make them difficult to live with. The GI Bill of Rights Well before the end of the war, Congress had passed one of the most significant and far-reaching pieces of legislation to ease veterans’ transition into civilian life: the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, also known as the GI Bill (Figure). Every honorably discharged veteran who had seen active duty, but not necessarily combat, was eligible to receive a year’s worth of unemployment compensation. This provision not only calmed veterans’ fears regarding their ability to support themselves, but it also prevented large numbers of men—as well as some women—from suddenly entering a job market that did not have enough positions for them. Another way that the GI Bill averted a glut in the labor market was by giving returning veterans the opportunity to pursue an education; it paid for tuition at a college or vocational school, and gave them a stipend to live on while they completed their studies. The result was a dramatic increase in the number of students—especially male ones—enrolled in American colleges and universities. In 1940, only 5.5 percent of American men had a college degree. By 1950, that percentage had increased to 7.3 percent, as more than two million servicemen took advantage of the benefits offered by the GI Bill to complete college. The numbers continued to grow throughout the 1950s. Upon graduation, these men were prepared for skilled blue-collar or white-collar jobs that paved the way for many to enter the middle class. The creation of a well-educated, skilled labor force helped the U.S. economy as well. Other benefits offered by the GI Bill included low-interest loans to purchase homes or start small businesses. However, not all veterans were able to take advantage of the GI Bill. African American veterans could use their educational benefits only to attend schools that accepted black students. The approximately nine thousand servicemen and women who were dishonorably discharged because they were gay or lesbian were ineligible for GI Bill benefits. Benefits for some Mexican American veterans, mainly in Texas, were also denied or delayed. The Return of the Japanese While most veterans received assistance to help in their adjustment to postwar life, others returned home to an uncertain future without the promise of government aid to help them resume their prewar lives. Japanese Americans from the West Coast who had been interned during the war also confronted the task of rebuilding their lives. In December 1944, Franklin Roosevelt had declared an end to the forced relocation of Japanese Americans, and as of January 1945, they were free to return to their homes. In many areas, however, neighbors clung to their prejudices and denounced those of Japanese descent as disloyal and dangerous. These feelings had been worsened by wartime propaganda, which often featured horrific accounts of Japanese mistreatment of prisoners, and by the statements of military officers to the effect that the Japanese were inherently savage. Facing such animosity, many Japanese American families chose to move elsewhere. Those who did return often found that in their absence, “friends” and neighbors had sold possessions that had been left with them for safekeeping. Many homes had been vandalized and farms destroyed. When Japanese Americans reopened their businesses, former customers sometimes boycotted them. For more on the experiences of Japanese Americans after internment, read about their return to communities in Oregon after World War II. THE FAIR DEAL Early in his presidency, Truman sought to build on the promises of Roosevelt’s New Deal. Besides demobilizing the armed forces and preparing for the homecoming of servicemen and women, he also had to guide the nation through the process of returning to a peacetime economy. To this end, he proposed an ambitious program of social legislation that included establishing a federal minimum wage, expanding Social Security and public housing, and prohibiting child labor. Wartime price controls were retained for some items but removed from others, like meat. In his 1949 inaugural address, Truman referred to his programs as the “Fair Deal,” a nod to his predecessor’s New Deal. He wanted the Fair Deal to include Americans of color and became the first president to address the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He also took decisive steps towards extending civil rights to African Americans by establishing, by executive order in December 1946, a Presidential Committee on Civil Rights to investigate racial discrimination in the United States. Truman also desegregated the armed forces, again by executive order, in July 1948, overriding many objections that the military was no place for social experimentation. Congress, however, which was dominated by Republicans and southern conservative Democrats, refused to pass more “radical” pieces of legislation, such as a bill providing for national healthcare. The American Medical Association spent some $1.5 million to defeat Truman’s healthcare proposal, which it sought to discredit as socialized medicine in order to appeal to Americans’ fear of Communism. The same Congress also refused to make lynching a federal crime or outlaw the poll tax that reduced the access of poor Americans to the ballot box. Congress also rejected a bill that would have made Roosevelt’s Fair Employment Practices Committee, which prohibited racial discrimination by companies doing business with the federal government, permanent. At the same time, they passed many conservative pieces of legislation. For example, the Taft-Hartley Act, which limited the power of unions, became law despite Truman’s veto. Section Summary At the end of World War II, U.S. servicemen and women returned to civilian life, and all hoped the prosperity of the war years would continue. The GI Bill eased many veterans’ return by providing them with unemployment compensation, low-interest loans, and money to further their education; however, African American, Mexican American, and gay veterans were often unable to take advantage of these benefits fully or at all. Meanwhile, Japanese Americans faced an uphill struggle in their attempts to return to normalcy, and many women who had made significant professional gains in wartime found themselves dismissed from their positions. President Harry Truman attempted to extend Roosevelt’s New Deal with his own Fair Deal, which had the goal of improving wages, housing, and healthcare, and protecting the rights of African Americans. Confronted by a Congress dominated by Republicans and southern Democrats, however, Truman was able to achieve only some of his goals. Review Questions Truman referred to his program of economic and social reform as the ________. - New Deal - Square Deal - Fair Deal - Straight Deal Hint: C Which of the following pieces of Truman’s domestic agenda was rejected by Congress? - the Taft-Hartley Act - national healthcare - the creation of a civil rights commission - funding for schools Hint: B How did the GI Bill help veterans return to civilian life? What were its limitations? Hint: The GI Bill provided returning veterans with a year of unemployment compensation, so they did not have to worry about finding jobs immediately. It allowed them to receive low-interest loans to buy homes or start businesses, and it paid for tuition for those who wished to attend college or vocational school. However, African American veterans could use their educational benefits only to attend schools that accepted black students, and some Mexican American veterans had difficulty gaining access to their benefits. Also, because those who had received a dishonorable discharge were not eligible, thousands of gay and lesbian servicemen and women who had been dishonorably discharged for their sexual orientation were unable to receive benefits.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.702528	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15540/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15541/overview	The Cold War Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain how and why the Cold War emerged in the wake of World War II - Describe the steps taken by the U.S. government to oppose Communist expansion in Europe and Asia - Discuss the government’s efforts to root out Communist influences in the United States As World War II drew to a close, the alliance that had made the United States and the Soviet Union partners in their defeat of the Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—began to fall apart. Both sides realized that their visions for the future of Europe and the world were incompatible. Joseph Stalin, the premier of the Soviet Union, wished to retain hold of Eastern Europe and establish Communist, pro-Soviet governments there, in an effort to both expand Soviet influence and protect the Soviet Union from future invasions. He also sought to bring Communist revolution to Asia and to developing nations elsewhere in the world. The United States wanted to expand its influence as well by protecting or installing democratic governments throughout the world. It sought to combat the influence of the Soviet Union by forming alliances with Asian, African, and Latin American nations, and by helping these countries to establish or expand prosperous, free-market economies. The end of the war left the industrialized nations of Europe and Asia physically devastated and economically exhausted by years of invasion, battle, and bombardment. With Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and China reduced to shadows of their former selves, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the last two superpowers and quickly found themselves locked in a contest for military, economic, social, technological, and ideological supremacy. FROM ISOLATIONISM TO ENGAGEMENT The United States had a long history of avoiding foreign alliances that might require the commitment of its troops abroad. However, in accepting the realities of the post-World War II world, in which traditional powers like Great Britain or France were no longer strong enough to police the globe, the United States realized that it would have to make a permanent change in its foreign policy, shifting from relative isolation to active engagement. On assuming the office of president upon the death of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman was already troubled by Soviet actions in Europe. He disliked the concessions made by Roosevelt at Yalta, which had allowed the Soviet Union to install a Communist government in Poland. At the Potsdam conference, held from July 17 to August 2, 1945, Truman also opposed Stalin’s plans to demand large reparations from Germany. He feared the burden that this would impose on Germany might lead to another cycle of German rearmament and aggression—a fear based on that nation’s development after World War I (Figure). Although the United States and the Soviet Union did finally reach an agreement at Potsdam, this was the final occasion on which they cooperated for quite some time. Each remained convinced that its own economic and political systems were superior to the other’s, and the two superpowers quickly found themselves drawn into conflict. The decades-long struggle between them for technological and ideological supremacy became known as the Cold War. So called because it did not include direct military confrontation between Soviet and U.S. troops, the Cold War was fought with a variety of other weapons: espionage and surveillance, political assassinations, propaganda, and the formation of alliances with other nations. It also became an arms race, as both countries competed to build the greatest stockpile of nuclear weapons, and also competed for influence in poorer nations, supporting opposite sides in wars in some of those nations, such as Korea and Vietnam. CONTAINMENT ABROAD In February 1946, George Kennan, a State Department official stationed at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, sent an eight-thousand-word message to Washington, DC. In what became known as the “Long Telegram,” Kennan maintained that Soviet leaders believed that the only way to protect the Soviet Union was to destroy “rival” nations and their influence over weaker nations. According to Kennan, the Soviet Union was not so much a revolutionary regime as a totalitarian bureaucracy that was unable to accept the prospect of a peaceful coexistence of the United States and itself. He advised that the best way to thwart Soviet plans for the world was to contain Soviet influence—primarily through economic policy—to those places where it already existed and prevent its political expansion into new areas. This strategy, which came to be known as the policy of containment, formed the basis for U.S. foreign policy and military decision making for more than thirty years. As Communist governments came to power elsewhere in the world, American policymakers extended their strategy of containment to what became known as the domino theory under the Eisenhower administration: Neighbors to Communist nations, so was the assumption, were likely to succumb to the same allegedly dangerous and infectious ideology. Like dominos toppling one another, entire regions would eventually be controlled by the Soviets. The demand for anti-Communist containment appeared as early as March 1946 in a speech by Winston Churchill, in which he referred to an Iron Curtain that divided Europe into the “free” West and the Communist East controlled by the Soviet Union. The commitment to containing Soviet expansion made necessary the ability to mount a strong military offense and defense. In pursuit of this goal, the U.S. military was reorganized under the National Security Act of 1947. This act streamlined the government in matters of security by creating the National Security Council and establishing the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to conduct surveillance and espionage in foreign nations. It also created the Department of the Air Force, which was combined with the Departments of the Army and Navy in 1949 to form one Department of Defense. The Truman Doctrine In Europe, the end of World War II witnessed the rise of a number of internal struggles for control of countries that had been occupied by Nazi Germany. Great Britain occupied Greece as the Nazi regime there collapsed. The British aided the authoritarian government of Greece in its battles against Greek Communists. In March 1947, Great Britain announced that it could no longer afford the cost of supporting government military activities and withdrew from participation in the Greek civil war. Stepping into this power vacuum, the United States announced the Truman Doctrine, which offered support to Greece and Turkey in the form of financial assistance, weaponry, and troops to help train their militaries and bolster their governments against Communism. Eventually, the program was expanded to include any state trying to withstand a Communist takeover. The Truman Doctrine thus became a hallmark of U.S. Cold War policy. The Truman Doctrine In 1947, Great Britain, which had assumed responsibility for the disarming of German troops in Greece at the end of World War II, could no longer afford to provide financial support for the authoritarian Greek government, which was attempting to win a civil war against Greek leftist rebels. President Truman, unwilling to allow a Communist government to come to power there, requested Congress to provide funds for the government of Greece to continue its fight against the rebels. Truman also requested aid for the government of Turkey to fight the forces of Communism in that country. He said: At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. Should we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect will be far reaching to the West as well as to the East. The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died. We must keep that hope alive. The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world—and we shall surely endanger the welfare of our own nation. Great responsibilities have been placed upon us by the swift movement of events. I am confident that the Congress will face these responsibilities squarely. What role is Truman suggesting that the United States assume in the postwar world? Does the United States still assume this role? The Marshall Plan By 1946, the American economy was growing significantly. At the same time, the economic situation in Europe was disastrous. The war had turned much of Western Europe into a battlefield, and the rebuilding of factories, public transportation systems, and power stations progressed exceedingly slowly. Starvation loomed as a real possibility for many. As a result of these conditions, Communism was making significant inroads in both Italy and France. These concerns led Truman, along with Secretary of State George C. Marshall, to propose to Congress the European Recovery Program, popularly known as the Marshall Plan. Between its implantation in April 1948 and its termination in 1951, this program gave $13 billion in economic aid to European nations. Truman’s motivation was economic and political, as well as humanitarian. The plan stipulated that the European nations had to work together in order to receive aid, thus enforcing unity through enticement, while seeking to undercut the political popularity of French and Italian Communists and dissuading moderates from forming coalition governments with them. Likewise, much of the money had to be spent on American goods, boosting the postwar economy of the United States as well as the American cultural presence in Europe. Stalin regarded the program as a form of bribery. The Soviet Union refused to accept aid from the Marshall Plan, even though it could have done so, and forbade the Communist states of Eastern Europe to accept U.S. funds as well. Those states that did accept aid began to experience an economic recovery. George C. Marshall and the Nobel Peace Prize The youngest child of a Pennsylvania businessman and Democrat, George C. Marshall (Figure) chose a military career. He attended the Virginia Military Institute, was a veteran of World War I, and spent the rest of his life either in the military or otherwise in the service of his country, including as President Truman’s Secretary of State. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953, the only soldier to ever receive that honor. Below is an excerpt of his remarks as he accepted the award. There has been considerable comment over the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a soldier. I am afraid this does not seem as remarkable to me as it quite evidently appears to others. I know a great deal of the horrors and tragedies of war. Today, as chairman of the American Battle Monuments Commission, it is my duty to supervise the construction and maintenance of military cemeteries in many countries overseas, particularly in Western Europe. The cost of war in human lives is constantly spread before me, written neatly in many ledgers whose columns are gravestones. I am deeply moved to find some means or method of avoiding another calamity of war. Almost daily I hear from the wives, or mothers, or families of the fallen. The tragedy of the aftermath is almost constantly before me. I share with you an active concern for some practical method for avoiding war. . . . A very strong military posture is vitally necessary today. How long it must continue I am not prepared to estimate, but I am sure that it is too narrow a basis on which to build a dependable, long-enduring peace. The guarantee for a long continued peace will depend on other factors in addition to a moderated military strength, and no less important. Perhaps the most important single factor will be a spiritual regeneration to develop goodwill, faith, and understanding among nations. Economic factors will undoubtedly play an important part. Agreements to secure a balance of power, however disagreeable they may seem, must likewise be considered. And with all these there must be wisdom and the will to act on that wisdom. What steps did Marshall recommend be taken to maintain a lasting peace? To what extent have today’s nations heeded his advice? Showdown in Europe The lack of consensus with the Soviets on the future of Germany led the United States, Great Britain, and France to support joining their respective occupation zones into a single, independent state. In December 1946, they took steps to do so, but the Soviet Union did not wish the western zones of the country to unify under a democratic, pro-capitalist government. The Soviet Union also feared the possibility of a unified West Berlin, located entirely within the Soviet sector. Three days after the western allies authorized the introduction of a new currency in Western Germany—the Deutsche Mark—Stalin ordered all land and water routes to the western zones of the city Berlin to be cut off in June 1948. Hoping to starve the western parts of the city into submission, the Berlin blockade was also a test of the emerging U.S. policy of containment. Unwilling to abandon Berlin, the United States, Great Britain, and France began to deliver all needed supplies to West Berlin by air (Figure). In April 1949, the three countries joined Canada and eight Western European nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), an alliance pledging its members to mutual defense in the event of attack. On May 12, 1949, a year and approximately two million tons of supplies later, the Soviets admitted defeat and ended the blockade of Berlin. On May 23, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), consisting of the unified western zones and commonly referred to as West Germany, was formed. The Soviets responded by creating the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, in October 1949. CONTAINMENT AT HOME In 1949, two incidents severely disrupted American confidence in the ability of the United States to contain the spread of Communism and limit Soviet power in the world. First, on August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb—no longer did the United States have a monopoly on nuclear power. A few months later, on October 1, 1949, Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong announced the triumph of the Chinese Communists over their Nationalist foes in a civil war that had been raging since 1927. The Nationalist forces, under their leader Chiang Kai-shek, departed for Taiwan in December 1949. Immediately, there were suspicions that spies had passed bomb-making secrets to the Soviets and that Communist sympathizers in the U.S. State Department had hidden information that might have enabled the United States to ward off the Communist victory in China. Indeed, in February 1950, Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy, a Republican, charged in a speech that the State Department was filled with Communists. Also in 1950, the imprisonment in Great Britain of Klaus Fuchs, a German-born physicist who had worked on the Manhattan Project and was then convicted of passing nuclear secrets to the Soviets, increased American fears. Information given by Fuchs to the British implicated a number of American citizens as well. The most infamous trial of suspected American spies was that of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed in June 1953 despite a lack of evidence against them. Several decades later, evidence was found that Julius, but not Ethel, had in fact given information to the Soviet Union. Fears that Communists within the United States were jeopardizing the country’s security had existed even before the victory of Mao Zedong and the arrest and conviction of the atomic spies. Roosevelt’s New Deal and Truman’s Fair Deal were often criticized as “socialist,” which many mistakenly associated with Communism, and Democrats were often branded Communists by Republicans. In response, on March 21, 1947, Truman signed Executive Order 9835, which provided the Federal Bureau of Investigation with broad powers to investigate federal employees and identify potential security risks. State and municipal governments instituted their own loyalty boards to find and dismiss potentially disloyal workers. In addition to loyalty review boards, the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC), established in 1938 to investigate suspected Nazi sympathizers, after World War II also sought to root out suspected Communists in business, academia, and the media. HUAC was particularly interested in Hollywood because it feared that Communist sympathizers might use motion pictures as pro-Soviet propaganda. Witnesses were subpoenaed and required to testify before the committee; refusal could result in imprisonment. Those who invoked Fifth Amendment protections, or were otherwise suspected of Communist sympathies, often lost their jobs or found themselves on a blacklist, which prevented them from securing employment. Notable artists who were blacklisted in the 1940s and 1950s include composer Leonard Bernstein, novelist Dashiell Hammett, playwright and screenwriter Lillian Hellman, actor and singer Paul Robeson, and musician Artie Shaw. TO THE TRENCHES AGAIN Just as the U.S. government feared the possibility of Communist infiltration of the United States, so too was it alert for signs that Communist forces were on the move elsewhere. The Soviet Union had been granted control of the northern half of the Korean peninsula at the end of World War II, and the United States had control of the southern portion. The Soviets displayed little interest in extending its power into South Korea, and Stalin did not wish to risk confrontation with the United States over Korea. North Korea’s leaders, however, wished to reunify the peninsula under Communist rule. In April 1950, Stalin finally gave permission to North Korea’s leader Kim Il Sung to invade South Korea and provided the North Koreans with weapons and military advisors. On June 25, 1950, troops of the North Korean People’s Democratic Army crossed the thirty-eighth parallel, the border between North and South Korea. The first major test of the U.S. policy of containment in Asia had begun, for the domino theory held that a victory by North Korea might lead to further Communist expansion in Asia, in the virtual backyard of the United States’ chief new ally in East Asia—Japan. The United Nations (UN), which had been established in 1945, was quick to react. On June 27, the UN Security Council denounced North Korea’s actions and called upon UN members to help South Korea defeat the invading forces. As a permanent member of the Security Council, the Soviet Union could have vetoed the action, but it had boycotted UN meetings following the awarding of China’s seat on the Security Council to Taiwan instead of to Mao Zedong’s People’s Republic of China. On June 27, Truman ordered U.S. military forces into South Korea. They established a defensive line on the far southern part of the Korean peninsula near the town of Pusan. A U.S.-led invasion at Inchon on September 15 halted the North Korean advance and turned it into a retreat (Figure). As North Korean forces moved back across the thirty-eighth parallel, UN forces under the command of U.S. General Douglas MacArthur followed. MacArthur’s goal was not only to drive the North Korean army out of South Korea but to destroy Communist North Korea as well. At this stage, he had the support of President Truman; however, as UN forces approached the Yalu River, the border between China and North Korea, MacArthur’s and Truman’s objectives diverged. Chinese premier Zhou Enlai, who had provided supplies and military advisors for North Korea before the conflict began, sent troops into battle to support North Korea and caught U.S. troops by surprise. Following a costly retreat from North Korea’s Chosin Reservoir, a swift advance of Chinese and North Korean forces and another invasion of Seoul, MacArthur urged Truman to deploy nuclear weapons against China. Truman, however, did not wish to risk a broader war in Asia. MacArthur criticized Truman’s decision and voiced his disagreement in a letter to a Republican congressman, who subsequently allowed the letter to become public. In April 1951, Truman accused MacArthur of insubordination and relieved him of his command. The Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed, calling the escalation MacArthur had called for “the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy.” Nonetheless, the public gave MacArthur a hero’s welcome in New York with the largest ticker tape parade in the nation’s history. By July 1951, the UN forces had recovered from the setbacks earlier in the year and pushed North Korean and Chinese forces back across the thirty-eighth parallel, and peace talks began. However, combat raged on for more than two additional years. The primary source of contention was the fate of prisoners of war. The Chinese and North Koreans insisted that their prisoners be returned to them, but many of these men did not wish to be repatriated. Finally, an armistice agreement was signed on July 27, 1953. A border between North and South Korea, one quite close to the original thirty-eighth parallel line, was agreed upon. A demilitarized zone between the two nations was established, and both sides agreed that prisoners of war would be allowed to choose whether to be returned to their homelands. Five million people died in the three-year conflict. Of these, around 36,500 were U.S. soldiers; a majority were Korean civilians. Read firsthand accounts of U.S. soldiers who served in Korea, including prisoners of war. As the war in Korea came to an end, so did one of the most frightening anti-Communist campaigns in the United States. After charging the U.S. State Department with harboring Communists, Senator Joseph McCarthy had continued to make similar accusations against other government agencies. Prominent Republicans like Senator Robert Taft and Congressman Richard Nixon regarded McCarthy as an asset who targeted Democratic politicians, and they supported his actions. In 1953, as chair of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, McCarthy investigated the Voice of America, which broadcast news and pro-U.S. propaganda to foreign countries, and the State Department’s overseas libraries. After an aborted effort to investigate Protestant clergy, McCarthy turned his attention to the U.S. Army. This proved to be the end of the senator’s political career. From April to June 1954, the Army-McCarthy Hearings were televised, and the American public, able to witness his use of intimidation and innuendo firsthand, rejected McCarthy’s approach to rooting out Communism in the United States (Figure). In December 1954, the U.S. Senate officially condemned his actions with a censure, ending his prospects for political leadership. One particularly heinous aspect of the hunt for Communists in the United States, likened by playwright Arthur Miller to the witch hunts of old, was its effort to root out gay men and lesbians employed by the government. Many anti-Communists, including McCarthy, believed that gay men, referred to by Senator Everett Dirksen as “lavender lads,” were morally weak and thus were particularly likely to betray their country. Many also believed that lesbians and gay men were prone to being blackmailed by Soviet agents because of their sexual orientation, which at the time was regarded by psychiatrists as a form of mental illness. Section Summary Joy at the ending of World War II was quickly replaced by fears of conflict with the Soviet Union. The Cold War heated up as both the United States and Soviet Union struggled for world dominance. Fearing Soviet expansion, the United States committed itself to assisting countries whose governments faced overthrow by Communist forces and gave billions of dollars to war-torn Europe to help it rebuild. While the United States achieved victory in its thwarting of Soviet attempts to cut Berlin off from the West, the nation was less successful in its attempts to prevent Communist expansion in Korea. The development of atomic weapons by the Soviet Union and the arrest of Soviet spies in the United States and Britain roused fears in the United States that Communist agents were seeking to destroy the nation from within. Loyalty board investigations and hearings before House and Senate committees attempted to root out Soviet sympathizers in the federal government and in other sectors of American society, including Hollywood and the military. Review Questions What was the policy of trying to limit the expansion of Soviet influence abroad? - restraint - containment - isolationism - quarantine Hint: B The Truman administration tried to help Europe recover from the devastation of World War II with the ________. - Economic Development Bank - Atlantic Free Trade Zone - Byrnes Budget - Marshall Plan Hint: D What was agreed to at the armistice talks between North and South Korea? Hint: The border between North and South Korea was established close to the original line along the thirty-eighth parallel, with a demilitarized zone serving as a buffer. Prisoners of war were free to decide whether they wanted to be returned home.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.734938	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15541/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15542/overview	The American Dream Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Describe President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s domestic and foreign policies - Discuss gender roles in the 1950s - Discuss the growth of the suburbs and the effect of suburbanization on American society Against the backdrop of the Cold War, Americans dedicated themselves to building a peaceful and prosperous society after the deprivation and instability of the Great Depression and World War II. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the general who led the United States to victory in Europe in 1945, proved to be the perfect president for the new era. Lacking strong conservative positions, he steered a middle path between conservatism and liberalism, and presided over a peacetime decade of economic growth and social conformity. In foreign affairs, Eisenhower’s New Look policy simultaneously expanded the nation’s nuclear arsenal and prevented the expansion of the defense budget for conventional forces. WE LIKE IKE After Harry Truman declined to run again for the presidency, the election of 1952 emerged as a contest between the Democratic nominee, Illinois governor Adlai Stevenson, and Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had directed American forces in Europe during World War II (Figure). Eisenhower campaigned largely on a promise to end the war in Korea, a conflict the public had grown weary of fighting. He also vowed to fight Communism both at home and abroad, a commitment he demonstrated by choosing as his running mate Richard M. Nixon, a congressman who had made a name for himself by pursuing Communists, notably former State Department employee and suspected Soviet agent Alger Hiss. In 1952, Eisenhower supporters enthusiastically proclaimed “We Like Ike,” and Eisenhower defeated Stevenson by winning 54 percent of the popular vote and 87 percent of the electoral vote (Figure). When he assumed office in 1953, Eisenhower employed a leadership style he had developed during his years of military service. He was calm and willing to delegate authority regarding domestic affairs to his cabinet members, allowing him to focus his own efforts on foreign policy. Unlike many earlier presidents, such as Harry Truman, Eisenhower was largely nonpartisan and consistently sought a middle ground between liberalism and conservatism. He strove to balance the federal budget, which appealed to conservative Republicans, but retained much of the New Deal and even expanded Social Security. He maintained high levels of defense spending but, in his farewell speech in 1961, warned about the growth of the military-industrial complex, the matrix of relationships between officials in the Department of Defense and executives in the defense industry who all benefited from increases in defense spending. He disliked the tactics of Joseph McCarthy but did not oppose him directly, preferring to remain above the fray. He saw himself as a leader called upon to do his best for his country, not as a politician engaged in a contest for advantage over rivals. In keeping with his goal of a balanced budget, Eisenhower switched the emphasis in defense from larger conventional forces to greater stockpiles of nuclear weapons. His New Look strategy embraced nuclear “massive retaliation,” a plan for nuclear response to a first Soviet strike so devastating that the attackers would not be able to respond. Some labeled this approach “Mutually Assured Destruction” or MAD. Part of preparing for a possible war with the Soviet Union was informing the American public what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. The government provided instructions for building and equipping bomb shelters in the basement or backyard, and some cities constructed municipal shelters. Schools purchased dog tags to help identify students in the aftermath of an attack and showed children instructional films telling them what to do if atomic bombs were dropped on the city where they lived. “A Guide for Surviving Nuclear War” To prepare its citizens for the possibility of nuclear war, in 1950, the U.S. government published and distributed informative pamphlets such as “A Guide for Surviving Nuclear War” excerpted here. Just like fire bombs and ordinary high explosives, atomic weapons cause most of their death and damage by blast and heat. So first let’s look at a few things you can do to escape these two dangers. Even if you have only a second’s warning, there is one important thing you can do to lessen your chances of injury by blast: Fall flat on your face. More than half of all wounds are the result of being bodily tossed about or being struck by falling and flying objects. If you lie down flat, you are least likely to be thrown about. If you have time to pick a good spot, there is less chance of your being struck by flying glass and other things. If you are inside a building, the best place to flatten out is close against the cellar wall. If you haven’t time to get down there, lie down along an inside wall, or duck under a bed or table. . . . If caught out-of-doors, either drop down alongside the base of a good substantial building—avoid flimsy, wooden ones likely to be blown over on top of you—or else jump in any handy ditch or gutter. When you fall flat to protect yourself from a bombing, don’t look up to see what is coming. Even during the daylight hours, the flash from a bursting A-bomb can cause several moments of blindness, if you’re facing that way. To prevent it, bury your face in your arms and hold it there for 10 to 12 seconds after the explosion. . . . If you work in the open, always wear full-length, loose-fitting, light-colored clothes in time of emergency. Never go around with your sleeves rolled up. Always wear a hat—the brim could save you a serious face burn. What do you think was the purpose of these directions? Do you think they could actually help people survive an atomic bomb blast? If not, why publish such booklets? View this short instructional film made in 1951 that teaches elementary school children what to do in the event an atomic bomb is dropped. Why do you think officials tried to convey the message that a nuclear attack was survivable? Government and industry allocated enormous amounts of money to the research and development of more powerful weapons. This investment generated rapid strides in missile technology as well as increasingly sensitive radar. Computers that could react more quickly than humans and thereby shoot down speeding missiles were also investigated. Many scientists on both sides of the Cold War, including captured Germans such as rocket engineer Werner von Braun, worked on these devices. An early success for the West came in 1950, when Alan Turing, a British mathematician who had broken Germany’s Enigma code during World War II, created a machine that mimicked human thought. His discoveries led scientists to consider the possibility of developing true artificial intelligence. However, the United States often feared that the Soviets were making greater strides in developing technology with potential military applications. This was especially true following the Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik (Figure), the first manmade satellite, in October 1957. In September 1958, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act, which pumped over $775 million into educational programs over four years, especially those programs that focused on math and science. Congressional appropriations to the National Science Foundation also increased by $100 million in a single year, from $34 million in 1958 to $134 million in 1959. One consequence of this increased funding was the growth of science and engineering programs at American universities. In the diplomatic sphere, Eisenhower pushed Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to take a firmer stance against the Soviets to reassure European allies of continued American support. At the same time, keenly sensing that the stalemate in Korea had cost Truman his popularity, Eisenhower worked to avoid being drawn into foreign wars. Thus, when the French found themselves fighting Vietnamese Communists for control of France’s former colony of Indochina, Eisenhower provided money but not troops. Likewise, the United States took no steps when Hungary attempted to break away from Soviet domination in 1956. The United States also refused to be drawn in when Great Britain, France, and Israel invaded the Suez Canal Zone following Egypt’s nationalization of the canal in 1956. Indeed, Eisenhower, wishing to avoid conflict with the Soviet Union, threatened to impose economic sanctions on the invading countries if they did not withdraw. SUBURBANIZATION Although the Eisenhower years were marked by fear of the Soviet Union and its military might, they were also a time of peace and prosperity. Even as many Americans remained mired in poverty, many others with limited economic opportunities, like African Americans or union workers, were better off financially in the 1950s and rose into the ranks of the middle class. Wishing to build the secure life that the Great Depression had deprived their parents of, young men and women married in record numbers and purchased homes where they could start families of their own. In 1940, the rate of homeownership in the United States was 43.6 percent. By 1960, it was almost 62 percent. Many of these newly purchased homes had been built in the new suburban areas that began to encircle American cities after the war. Although middle-class families had begun to move to the suburbs beginning in the nineteenth century, suburban growth accelerated rapidly after World War II. Several factors contributed to this development. During World War II, the United States had suffered from a housing shortage, especially in cities with shipyards or large defense plants. Now that the war was over, real estate developers and contractors rushed to alleviate the scarcity. Unused land on the fringes of American cities provided the perfect place for new housing, which attracted not only the middle class, which had long sought homes outside the crowded cities, but also blue-collar workers who took advantage of the low-interest mortgages offered by the GI Bill. An additional factor was the use of prefabricated construction techniques pioneered during World War II, which allowed houses complete with plumbing, electrical wiring, and appliances to be built and painted in a day. Employing these methods, developers built acres of inexpensive tract housing throughout the country. One of the first developers to take advantage of this method was William Levitt, who purchased farmland in Nassau County, Long Island, in 1947 and built thousands of prefabricated houses. The new community was named Levittown. Levitt’s houses cost only $8,000 and could be bought with little or no down payment. The first day they were offered for sale, more than one thousand were purchased. Levitt went on to build similar developments, also called Levittown, in New Jersey and Pennsylvania (Figure). As developers around the country rushed to emulate him, the name Levittown became synonymous with suburban tract housing, in which entire neighborhoods were built to either a single plan or a mere handful of designs. The houses were so similar that workers told of coming home late at night and walking into the wrong one. Levittown homes were similar in other ways as well; most were owned by white families. Levitt used restrictive language in his agreements with potential homeowners to ensure that only whites would live in his communities. In the decade between 1950 and 1960, the suburbs grew by 46 percent. The transition from urban to suburban life exerted profound effects on both the economy and society. For example, fifteen of the largest U.S. cities saw their tax bases shrink significantly in the postwar period, and the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives shifted to the suburbs and away from urban areas. The development of the suburbs also increased reliance on the automobile for transportation. Suburban men drove to work in nearby cities or, when possible, were driven to commuter rail stations by their wives. In the early years of suburban development, before schools, parks, and supermarkets were built, access to an automobile was crucial, and the pressure on families to purchase a second one was strong. As families rushed to purchase them, the annual production of passenger cars leaped from 2.2 million to 8 million between 1946 and 1955, and by 1960, about 20 percent of suburban families owned two cars. The growing number of cars on the road changed consumption patterns, and drive-in and drive-through convenience stores, restaurants, and movie theaters began to dot the landscape. The first McDonalds opened in San Bernardino, California, in 1954 to cater to drivers in a hurry. As drivers jammed highways and small streets in record numbers, cities and states rushed to build additional roadways and ease congestion. To help finance these massive construction efforts, states began taxing gasoline, and the federal government provided hundreds of thousands of dollars for the construction of the interstate highway system (Figure). The resulting construction projects, designed to make it easier for suburbanites to commute to and from cities, often destroyed urban working-class neighborhoods. Increased funding for highway construction also left less money for public transportation, making it impossible for those who could not afford automobiles to live in the suburbs. THE ORGANIZATION MAN As the government poured money into the defense industry and into universities that conducted research for the government, the economy boomed. The construction and automobile industries employed thousands, as did the industries they relied upon: steel, oil and gasoline refining, rubber, and lumber. As people moved into new homes, their purchases of appliances, carpeting, furniture, and home decorations spurred growth in other industries. The building of miles of roads also employed thousands. Unemployment was low, and wages for members of both the working and middle classes were high. Following World War II, the majority of white Americans were members of the middle class, based on such criteria as education, income, and home ownership. Even most blue-collar families could afford such elements of a middle-class lifestyle as new cars, suburban homes, and regular vacations. Most African Americans, however, were not members of the middle class. In 1950, the median income for white families was $20,656, whereas for black families it was $11,203. By 1960, when the average white family earned $28,485 a year, blacks still lagged behind at $15,786; nevertheless, this represented a more than 40 percent increase in African American income in the space of a decade. While working-class men found jobs in factories and on construction crews, those in the middle class often worked for corporations that, as a result of government spending, had grown substantially during World War II and were still getting larger. Such corporations, far too large to allow managers to form personal relationships with all of their subordinates, valued conformity to company rules and standards above all else. In his best-selling book The Organization Man, however, William H. Whyte criticized the notion that conformity was the best path to success and self-fulfillment. Conformity was still the watchword of suburban life: Many neighborhoods had rules mandating what types of clotheslines could be used and prohibited residents from parking their cars on the street. Above all, conforming to societal norms meant marrying young and having children. In the post-World War II period, marriage rates rose; the average age at first marriage dropped to twenty-three for men and twenty for women. Between 1946 and 1964, married couples also gave birth to the largest generation in U.S. history to date; this baby boom resulted in the cohort known as the baby boomers. Conformity also required that the wives of both working- and middle-class men stay home and raise children instead of working for wages outside the home. Most conformed to this norm, at least while their children were young. Nevertheless, 40 percent of women with young children and half of women with older children sought at least part-time employment. They did so partly out of necessity and partly to pay for the new elements of “the good life”—second cars, vacations, and college education for their children. The children born during the baby boom were members of a more privileged generation than their parents had been. Entire industries sprang up to cater to their need for clothing, toys, games, books, and breakfast cereals. For the first time in U.S. history, attending high school was an experience shared by the majority, regardless of race or region. As the baby boomers grew into adolescence, marketers realized that they not only controlled large amounts of disposable income earned at part-time jobs, but they exerted a great deal of influence over their parents’ purchases as well. Madison Avenue began to appeal to teenage interests. Boys yearned for cars, and girls of all ethnicities wanted boyfriends who had them. New fashion magazines for adolescent girls, such as Seventeen, advertised the latest clothing and cosmetics, and teen romance magazines, like Copper Romance, a publication for young African American women, filled drugstore racks. The music and movie industries also altered their products to appeal to affluent adolescents who were growing tired of parental constraints. Section Summary In 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower became president of the United States. Fiscally conservative but ideologically moderate, he sought to balance the budget while building a strong system of national defense. This defense policy led to a greater emphasis on the possible use of nuclear weapons in any confrontation with the Soviet Union. Committed to maintaining peace, however, Eisenhower avoided engaging the United States in foreign conflicts; during his presidency, the economy boomed. Young Americans married in record numbers, moved to the growing suburbs, and gave birth to the largest generation to date in U.S. history. As middle-class adults, they conformed to the requirements of corporate jobs and suburban life, while their privileged children enjoyed a consumer culture tailored to their desires. Review Questions The name of the first manmade satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, was ________. - Triton - Cosmolskaya - Pravda - Sputnik Hint: D The first Levittown was built ________. - in Bucks County, Pennsylvania - in Nassau County, New York - near Newark, New Jersey - near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Hint: B How did suburbanization help the economy? Hint: The construction of houses meant more work for people in the construction trades, including plumbers and electricians, and for those who worked in the lumber and appliance industries. The growth of the suburbs also led to a boom in the manufacture and sale of automobiles, which, in turn, created jobs for those in the steel, rubber, and oil industries.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.766372	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15542/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15543/overview	Popular Culture and Mass Media Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Describe Americans’ different responses to rock and roll music - Discuss the way contemporary movies and television reflected postwar American society With a greater generational consciousness than previous generations, the baby boomers sought to define and redefine their identities in numerous ways. Music, especially rock and roll, reflected their desire to rebel against adult authority. Other forms of popular culture, such as movies and television, sought to entertain, while reinforcing values such as religious faith, patriotism, and conformity to societal norms. ROCKING AROUND THE CLOCK In the late 1940s, some white country musicians began to experiment with the rhythms of the blues, a decades-old musical genre of rural southern blacks. This experimentation led to the creation of a new musical form known as rockabilly, and by the 1950s, rockabilly had developed into rock and roll. Rock and roll music celebrated themes such as young love and freedom from the oppression of middle-class society. It quickly grew in favor among American teens, thanks largely to the efforts of disc jockey Alan Freed, who named and popularized the music by playing it on the radio in Cleveland, where he also organized the first rock and roll concert, and later in New York. The theme of rebellion against authority, present in many rock and roll songs, appealed to teens. In 1954, Bill Haley and His Comets provided youth with an anthem for their rebellion—”Rock Around the Clock” (Figure). The song, used in the 1955 movie Blackboard Jungle about a white teacher at a troubled inner-city high school, seemed to be calling for teens to declare their independence from adult control. Haley illustrated how white artists could take musical motifs from the African American community and achieve mainstream success. Teen heartthrob Elvis Presley rose to stardom doing the same. Thus, besides encouraging a feeling of youthful rebellion, rock and roll also began to tear down color barriers, as white youths sought out African American musicians such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard (Figure). While youth had found an outlet for their feelings and concerns, parents were much less enthused about rock and roll and the values it seemed to promote. Many regarded the music as a threat to American values. When Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, a popular television variety program, the camera deliberately focused on his torso and did not show his swiveling hips or legs shaking in time to the music. Despite adults’ dislike of the genre, or perhaps because of it, more than 68 percent of the music played on the radio in 1956 was rock and roll. HOLLYWOOD ON THE DEFENSIVE At first, Hollywood encountered difficulties in adjusting to the post-World War II environment. Although domestic audiences reached a record high in 1946 and the war’s end meant expanding international markets too, the groundwork for the eventual dismantling of the traditional studio system was laid in 1948, with a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. Previously, film studios had owned their own movie theater chains in which they exhibited the films they produced; however, in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., this vertical integration of the industry—the complete control by one firm of the production, distribution, and exhibition of motion pictures—was deemed a violation of antitrust laws. The HUAC hearings also targeted Hollywood. When Senator McCarthy called eleven “unfriendly witnesses” to testify before Congress about Communism in the film industry in October 1947, only playwright Bertolt Brecht answered questions. The other ten, who refused to testify, were cited for contempt of Congress on November 24. The next day, film executives declared that the so-called “Hollywood Ten” would no longer be employed in the industry until they had sworn they were not Communists (Figure). Eventually, more than three hundred actors, screenwriters, directors, musicians, and other entertainment professionals were placed on the industry blacklist. Some never worked in Hollywood again; others directed films or wrote screenplays under assumed names. Watch a 1953 episode of a popular television show from the 1950s, I Led Three Lives, the highly fictionalized story of a member of a Communist organization who is also an FBI informant. Hollywood reacted aggressively to these various challenges. Filmmakers tried new techniques, like CinemaScope and Cinerama, which allowed movies to be shown on large screens and in 3-D. Audiences were drawn to movies not because of gimmicks, however, but because of the stories they told. Dramas and romantic comedies continued to be popular fare for adults, and, to appeal to teens, studios produced large numbers of horror films and movies starring music idols such as Elvis. Many films took espionage, a timely topic, as their subject matter, and science fiction hits such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, about a small town whose inhabitants fall prey to space aliens, played on audience fears of both Communist invasion and nuclear technology. THE TRIUMPH OF TELEVISION By far the greatest challenge to Hollywood, however, came from the relatively new medium of television. Although the technology had been developed in the late 1920s, through much of the 1940s, only a fairly small audience of the wealthy had access to it. As a result, programming was limited. With the post-World War II economic boom, all this changed. Where there had been only 178,000 televisions in homes in 1948, by 1955, over three-quarters of a million U.S. households, about half of all homes, had television (Figure). Various types of programs were broadcast on the handful of major networks: situation comedies, variety programs, game shows, soap operas, talk shows, medical dramas, adventure series, cartoons, and police procedurals. Many comedies presented an idealized image of white suburban family life: Happy housewife mothers, wise fathers, and mischievous but not dangerously rebellious children were constants on shows like Leave It to Beaver and Father Knows Best in the late 1950s. These shows also reinforced certain perspectives on the values of individualism and family—values that came to be redefined as “American” in opposition to alleged Communist collectivism. Westerns, which stressed unity in the face of danger and the ability to survive in hostile environments, were popular too. Programming designed specifically for children began to emerge with shows such as Captain Kangaroo, Romper Room, and The Mickey Mouse Club designed to appeal to members of the baby boom. Section Summary Young Americans in the postwar period had more disposable income and enjoyed greater material comfort than their forebears. These factors allowed them to devote more time and money to leisure activities and the consumption of popular culture. Rock and roll, which drew from African American roots in the blues, embraced themes popular among teenagers, such as young love and rebellion against authority. At the same time, traditional forms of entertainment, such as motion pictures, came under increasing competition from a relatively new technology, television. Review Questions The disc jockey who popularized rock and roll was ________. - Bill Haley - Elvis Presley - Alan Freed - Ed Sullivan Hint: C What challenges did Hollywood face in the 1950s? Hint: Antitrust lawsuits deprived studios of their theaters, and the careers of many actors, directors, and screenwriters were destroyed by Senator McCarthy’s blacklist of suspected Communists. Meanwhile, the new technology of television drew audiences away from the movies by providing convenient at-home entertainment.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.790218	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15543/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15544/overview	The African American Struggle for Civil Rights Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain how Presidents Truman and Eisenhower addressed civil rights issues - Discuss efforts by African Americans to end discrimination and segregation - Describe southern whites’ response to the civil rights movement In the aftermath of World War II, African Americans began to mount organized resistance to racially discriminatory policies in force throughout much of the United States. In the South, they used a combination of legal challenges and grassroots activism to begin dismantling the racial segregation that had stood for nearly a century following the end of Reconstruction. Community activists and civil rights leaders targeted racially discriminatory housing practices, segregated transportation, and legal requirements that African Americans and whites be educated separately. While many of these challenges were successful, life did not necessarily improve for African Americans. Hostile whites fought these changes in any way they could, including by resorting to violence. EARLY VICTORIES During World War II, many African Americans had supported the “Double-V Campaign,” which called on them to defeat foreign enemies while simultaneously fighting against segregation and discrimination at home. After World War II ended, many returned home to discover that, despite their sacrifices, the United States was not willing to extend them any greater rights than they had enjoyed before the war. Particularly rankling was the fact that although African American veterans were legally entitled to draw benefits under the GI Bill, discriminatory practices prevented them from doing so. For example, many banks would not give them mortgages if they wished to buy homes in predominantly African American neighborhoods, which banks often considered too risky an investment. However, African Americans who attempted to purchase homes in white neighborhoods often found themselves unable to do so because of real estate covenants that prevented owners from selling their property to blacks. Indeed, when a black family purchased a Levittown house in 1957, they were subjected to harassment and threats of violence. For a look at the experiences of an African American family that tried to move to a white suburban community, view the 1957 documentary Crisis in Levittown. The postwar era, however, saw African Americans make greater use of the courts to defend their rights. In 1944, an African American woman, Irene Morgan, was arrested in Virginia for refusing to give up her seat on an interstate bus and sued to have her conviction overturned. In Morgan v. the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1946, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the conviction should be overturned because it violated the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution. This victory emboldened some civil rights activists to launch the Journey of Reconciliation, a bus trip taken by eight African American men and eight white men through the states of the Upper South to test the South’s enforcement of the Morgan decision. Other victories followed. In 1948, in Shelley v. Kraemer, the U.S. Supreme Court held that courts could not enforce real estate covenants that restricted the purchase or sale of property based on race. In 1950, the NAACP brought a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that they hoped would help to undermine the concept of “separate but equal” as espoused in the 1896 decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, which gave legal sanction to segregated school systems. Sweatt v. Painter was a case brought by Herman Marion Sweatt, who sued the University of Texas for denying him admission to its law school because state law prohibited integrated education. Texas attempted to form a separate law school for African Americans only, but in its decision on the case, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected this solution, holding that the separate school provided neither equal facilities nor “intangibles,” such as the ability to form relationships with other future lawyers, that a professional school should provide. Not all efforts to enact desegregation required the use of the courts, however. On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson started for the Brooklyn Dodgers, playing first base. He was the first African American to play baseball in the National League, breaking the color barrier. Although African Americans had their own baseball teams in the Negro Leagues, Robinson opened the gates for them to play in direct competition with white players in the major leagues. Other African American athletes also began to challenge the segregation of American sports. At the 1948 Summer Olympics, Alice Coachman, an African American, was the only American woman to take a gold medal in the games (Figure). These changes, while symbolically significant, were mere cracks in the wall of segregation. DESEGREGATION AND INTEGRATION Until 1954, racial segregation in education was not only legal but was required in seventeen states and permissible in several others (Figure). Utilizing evidence provided in sociological studies conducted by Kenneth Clark and Gunnar Myrdal, however, Thurgood Marshall, then chief counsel for the NAACP, successfully argued the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas before the U.S. Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Earl Warren. Marshall showed that the practice of segregation in public schools made African American students feel inferior. Even if the facilities provided were equal in nature, the Court noted in its decision, the very fact that some students were separated from others on the basis of their race made segregation unconstitutional. Thurgood Marshall on Fighting Racism As a law student in 1933, Thurgood Marshall (Figure) was recruited by his mentor Charles Hamilton Houston to assist in gathering information for the defense of a black man in Virginia accused of killing two white women. His continued close association with Houston led Marshall to aggressively defend blacks in the court system and to use the courts as the weapon by which equal rights might be extracted from the U.S. Constitution and a white racist system. Houston also suggested that it would be important to establish legal precedents regarding the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling of separate but equal. By 1938, Marshall had become “Mr. Civil Rights” and formally organized the NAACP’s Legal Defense and Education Fund in 1940 to garner the resources to take on cases to break the racist justice system of America. A direct result of Marshall’s energies and commitment was his 1940 victory in a Supreme Court case, Chambers v. Florida, which held that confessions obtained by violence and torture were inadmissible in a court of law. His most well-known case was Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which held that state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students were unconstitutional. Later in life, Marshall reflected on his career fighting racism in a speech at Howard Law School in 1978: Be aware of that myth, that everything is going to be all right. Don’t give in. I add that, because it seems to me, that what we need to do today is to refocus. Back in the 30s and 40s, we could go no place but to court. We knew then, the court was not the final solution. Many of us knew the final solution would have to be politics, if for no other reason, politics is cheaper than lawsuits. So now we have both. We have our legal arm, and we have our political arm. Let’s use them both. And don’t listen to this myth that it can be solved by either or that it has already been solved. Take it from me, it has not been solved. When Marshall says that the problems of racism have not been solved, to what was he referring? Plessy v. Fergusson had been overturned. The challenge now was to integrate schools. A year later, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered southern school systems to begin desegregation “with all deliberate speed.” Some school districts voluntarily integrated their schools. For many other districts, however, “deliberate speed” was very, very slow. It soon became clear that enforcing Brown v. the Board of Education would require presidential intervention. Eisenhower did not agree with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision and did not wish to force southern states to integrate their schools. However, as president, he was responsible for doing so. In 1957, Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, was forced to accept its first nine African American students, who became known as the Little Rock Nine. In response, Arkansas governor Orval Faubus called out the state National Guard to prevent the students from attending classes, removing the troops only after Eisenhower told him to do so. A subsequent attempt by the nine students to attend school resulted in mob violence. Eisenhower then placed the Arkansas National Guard under federal control and sent the U.S. Army’s 101st airborne unit to escort the students to and from school as well as from class to class (Figure). This was the first time since the end of Reconstruction that federal troops once more protected the rights of African Americans in the South. Throughout the course of the school year, the Little Rock Nine were insulted, harassed, and physically assaulted; nevertheless, they returned to school each day. At the end of the school year, the first African American student graduated from Central High. At the beginning of the 1958–1959 school year, Orval Faubus ordered all Little Rock’s public schools closed. In the opinion of white segregationists, keeping all students out of school was preferable to having them attend integrated schools. In 1959, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the school had to be reopened and that the process of desegregation had to proceed. WHITE RESPONSES Efforts to desegregate public schools led to a backlash among most southern whites. Many greeted the Brown decision with horror; some World War II veterans questioned how the government they had fought for could betray them in such a fashion. Some white parents promptly withdrew their children from public schools and enrolled them in all-white private academies, many newly created for the sole purpose of keeping white children from attending integrated schools. Often, these “academies” held classes in neighbors’ basements or living rooms. Other white southerners turned to state legislatures or courts to solve the problem of school integration. Orders to integrate school districts were routinely challenged in court. When the lawsuits proved unsuccessful, many southern school districts responded by closing all public schools, as Orval Faubus had done after Central High School was integrated. One county in Virginia closed its public schools for five years rather than see them integrated. Besides suing school districts, many southern segregationists filed lawsuits against the NAACP, trying to bankrupt the organization. Many national politicians supported the segregationist efforts. In 1956, ninety-six members of Congress signed “The Southern Manifesto,” in which they accused the U.S. Supreme Court of misusing its power and violating the principle of states’ rights, which maintained that states had rights equal to those of the federal government. Unfortunately, many white southern racists, frightened by challenges to the social order, responded with violence. When Little Rock’s Central High School desegregated, an irate Ku Klux Klansman from a neighboring community sent a letter to the members of the city’s school board in which he denounced them as Communists and threatened to kill them. White rage sometimes erupted into murder. In August 1955, both white and black Americans were shocked by the brutality of the murder of Emmett Till. Till, a fourteen-year-old boy from Chicago, had been vacationing with relatives in Mississippi. While visiting a white-owned store, he had made a remark to the white woman behind the counter. A few days later, the husband and brother-in-law of the woman came to the home of Till’s relatives in the middle of the night and abducted the boy. Till’s beaten and mutilated body was found in a nearby river three days later. Till’s mother insisted on an open-casket funeral; she wished to use her son’s body to reveal the brutality of southern racism. The murder of a child who had been guilty of no more than a casual remark captured the nation’s attention, as did the acquittal of the two men who admitted killing him. THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT One of those inspired by Till’s death was Rosa Parks, an NAACP member from Montgomery, Alabama, who became the face of the 1955–1956 Montgomery Bus Boycott. City ordinances in Montgomery segregated the city’s buses, forcing African American passengers to ride in the back section. They had to enter through the rear of the bus, could not share seats with white passengers, and, if the front of the bus was full and a white passenger requested an African American’s seat, had to relinquish their place to the white rider. The bus company also refused to hire African American drivers even though most of the people who rode the buses were black. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give her seat to a white man, and the Montgomery police arrested her. After being bailed out of jail, she decided to fight the laws requiring segregation in court. To support her, the Women’s Political Council, a group of African American female activists, organized a boycott of Montgomery’s buses. News of the boycott spread through newspaper notices and by word of mouth; ministers rallied their congregations to support the Women’s Political Council. Their efforts were successful, and forty thousand African American riders did not take the bus on December 5, the first day of the boycott. Other African American leaders within the city embraced the boycott and maintained it beyond December 5, Rosa Parks’ court date. Among them was a young minister named Martin Luther King, Jr. For the next year, black Montgomery residents avoided the city’s buses. Some organized carpools. Others paid for rides in African American-owned taxis, whose drivers reduced their fees. Most walked to and from school, work, and church for 381 days, the duration of the boycott. In June 1956, an Alabama federal court found the segregation ordinance unconstitutional. The city appealed, but the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the decision. The city’s buses were desegregated. Section Summary After World War II, African American efforts to secure greater civil rights increased across the United States. African American lawyers such as Thurgood Marshall championed cases intended to destroy the Jim Crow system of segregation that had dominated the American South since Reconstruction. The landmark Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education prohibited segregation in public schools, but not all school districts integrated willingly, and President Eisenhower had to use the military to desegregate Little Rock’s Central High School. The courts and the federal government did not assist African Americans in asserting their rights in other cases. In Montgomery, Alabama, it was the grassroots efforts of African American citizens who boycotted the city’s bus system that brought about change. Throughout the region, many white southerners made their opposition to these efforts known. Too often, this opposition manifested itself in violence and tragedy, as in the murder of Emmett Till. Review Questions The NAACP lawyer who became known as “Mr. Civil Rights” was ________. - Earl Warren - Jackie Robinson - OrvalFaubus - Thurgood Marshall Hint: D The Arkansas governor who tried to prevent the integration of Little Rock High School was ________. - Charles Hamilton Houston - Kenneth Clark - OrvalFaubus - Clark Clifford Hint: C What was the significance of Shelley v. Kraemer? Hint: Shelley v. Kraemer held that state courts could not enforce agreements that prevented homeowners from selling to members of particular races. The ruling made it easier for African Americans to purchase houses in neighborhoods of their choosing. Critical Thinking Questions How did some Americans turn their wartime experiences into lasting personal gains (i.e. better employment, a new home, or an education) after the war was over? Why did others miss out on these opportunities? What was the reason for the breakdown in friendly relations between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II? What were the results of this conflict? How did fear of the Soviet Union and Communism affect American culture and society? What social changes took place in the United States after World War II? What role did the war play in those changes? How did the wartime experiences of African Americans contribute to the drive for greater civil rights after the war?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.821111	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15544/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15444/overview	Introduction Overview - A New Political Style: From John Quincy Adams to Andrew Jackson - The Rise of American Democracy - The Nullification Crisis and the Bank War - Indian Removal - The Tyranny and Triumph of the Majority The most extraordinary political development in the years before the Civil War was the rise of American democracy. Whereas the founders envisioned the United States as a republic, not a democracy, and had placed safeguards such as the Electoral College in the 1787 Constitution to prevent simple majority rule, the early 1820s saw many Americans embracing majority rule and rejecting old forms of deference that were based on elite ideas of virtue, learning, and family lineage. A new breed of politicians learned to harness the magic of the many by appealing to the resentments, fears, and passions of ordinary citizens to win elections. The charismatic Andrew Jackson gained a reputation as a fighter and defender of American expansion, emerging as the quintessential figure leading the rise of American democracy. In the image above (Figure), crowds flock to the White House to celebrate his inauguration as president. While earlier inaugurations had been reserved for Washington’s political elite, Jackson’s was an event for the people, so much so that the pushing throngs caused thousands of dollars of damage to White House property. Characteristics of modern American democracy, including the turbulent nature of majority rule, first appeared during the Age of Jackson.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.837115	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15444/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Jacksonian Democracy, 1820–1840", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15445/overview	A New Political Style: From John Quincy Adams to Andrew Jackson Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain and illustrate the new style of American politics in the 1820s - Describe the policies of John Quincy Adams’s presidency and explain the political divisions that resulted In the 1820s, American political culture gave way to the democratic urges of the citizenry. Political leaders and parties rose to popularity by championing the will of the people, pushing the country toward a future in which a wider swath of citizens gained a political voice. However, this expansion of political power was limited to white men; women, free blacks, and Indians remained—or grew increasingly—disenfranchised by the American political system. THE DECLINE OF FEDERALISM The first party system in the United States shaped the political contest between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. The Federalists, led by Washington, Hamilton, and Adams, dominated American politics in the 1790s. After the election of Thomas Jefferson—the Revolution of 1800—the Democratic-Republicans gained ascendance. The gradual decline of the Federalist Party is evident in its losses in the presidential contests that occurred between 1800 and 1820. After 1816, in which Democratic-Republican James Monroe defeated his Federalist rival Rufus King, the Federalists never ran another presidential candidate. Before the 1820s, a code of deference had underwritten the republic’s political order. Deference was the practice of showing respect for individuals who had distinguished themselves through military accomplishments, educational attainment, business success, or family pedigree. Such individuals were members of what many Americans in the early republic agreed was a natural aristocracy. Deference shown to them dovetailed with republicanism and its emphasis on virtue, the ideal of placing the common good above narrow self-interest. Republican statesmen in the 1780s and 1790s expected and routinely received deferential treatment from others, and ordinary Americans deferred to their “social betters” as a matter of course. For the generation who lived through the American Revolution, for instance, George Washington epitomized republican virtue, entitling him to great deference from his countrymen. His judgment and decisions were considered beyond reproach. An Anglican minister named Mason Locke Weems wrote the classic tale of Washington’s unimpeachable virtue in his 1800 book, The Life of Washington. Generations of nineteenth-century American children read its fictional story of a youthful Washington chopping down one of his father’s cherry trees and, when confronted by his father, confessing: “I cannot tell a lie” (Figure). The story spoke to Washington’s unflinching honesty and integrity, encouraging readers to remember the deference owed to such towering national figures. Washington and those who celebrated his role as president established a standard for elite, virtuous leadership that cast a long shadow over subsequent presidential administrations. The presidents who followed Washington shared the first president’s pedigree. With the exception of John Adams, who was from Massachusetts, all the early presidents—Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe—were members of Virginia’s elite slaveholder aristocracy. DEMOCRATIC REFORMS In the early 1820s, deference to pedigree began to wane in American society. A new type of deference—to the will of the majority and not to a ruling class—took hold. The spirit of democratic reform became most evident in the widespread belief that all white men, regardless of whether they owned property, had the right to participate in elections. Before the 1820s, many state constitutions had imposed property qualifications for voting as a means to keep democratic tendencies in check. However, as Federalist ideals fell out of favor, ordinary men from the middle and lower classes increasingly questioned the idea that property ownership was an indication of virtue. They argued for universal manhood suffrage, or voting rights for all white male adults. New states adopted constitutions that did not contain property qualifications for voting, a move designed to stimulate migration across their borders. Vermont and Kentucky, admitted to the Union in 1791 and 1792 respectively, granted the right to vote to all white men regardless of whether they owned property or paid taxes. Ohio’s state constitution placed a minor taxpaying requirement on voters but otherwise allowed for expansive white male suffrage. Alabama, admitted to the Union in 1819, eliminated property qualifications for voting in its state constitution. Two other new states, Indiana (1816) and Illinois (1818), also extended the right to vote to white men regardless of property. Initially, the new state of Mississippi (1817) restricted voting to white male property holders, but in 1832 it eliminated this provision. In Connecticut, Federalist power largely collapsed in 1818 when the state held a constitutional convention. The new constitution granted the right to vote to all white men who paid taxes or served in the militia. Similarly, New York amended its state constitution in 1821–1822 and removed the property qualifications for voting. Expanded voting rights did not extend to women, Indians, or free blacks in the North. Indeed, race replaced property qualifications as the criterion for voting rights. American democracy had a decidedly racist orientation; a white majority limited the rights of black minorities. New Jersey explicitly restricted the right to vote to white men only. Connecticut passed a law in 1814 taking the right to vote away from free black men and restricting suffrage to white men only. By the 1820s, 80 percent of the white male population could vote in New York State elections. No other state had expanded suffrage so dramatically. At the same time, however, New York effectively disenfranchised free black men in 1822 (black men had had the right to vote under the 1777 constitution) by requiring that “men of color” must possess property over the value of $250. PARTY POLITICS AND THE ELECTION OF 1824 In addition to expanding white men’s right to vote, democratic currents also led to a new style of political party organization, most evident in New York State in the years after the War of 1812. Under the leadership of Martin Van Buren, New York’s “Bucktail” Republican faction (so named because members wore a deer’s tail on their hats, a symbol of membership in the Tammany Society) gained political power by cultivating loyalty to the will of the majority, not to an elite family or renowned figure. The Bucktails emphasized a pragmatic approach. For example, at first they opposed the Erie Canal project, but when the popularity of the massive transportation venture became clear, they supported it. One of the Bucktails’ greatest achievements in New York came in the form of revisions to the state constitution in the 1820s. Under the original constitution, a Council of Appointments selected local officials such as sheriffs and county clerks. The Bucktails replaced this process with a system of direct elections, which meant thousands of jobs immediately became available to candidates who had the support of the majority. In practice, Van Buren’s party could nominate and support their own candidates based on their loyalty to the party. In this way, Van Buren helped create a political machine of disciplined party members who prized loyalty above all else, a harbinger of future patronage politics in the United States. This system of rewarding party loyalists is known as the spoils system (from the expression, “To the victor belong the spoils”). Van Buren’s political machine helped radically transform New York politics. Party politics also transformed the national political landscape, and the election of 1824 proved a turning point in American politics. With tens of thousands of new voters, the older system of having members of Congress form congressional caucuses to determine who would run no longer worked. The new voters had regional interests and voted on them. For the first time, the popular vote mattered in a presidential election. Electors were chosen by popular vote in eighteen states, while the six remaining states used the older system in which state legislatures chose electors. With the caucus system defunct, the presidential election of 1824 featured five candidates, all of whom ran as Democratic-Republicans (the Federalists having ceased to be a national political force). The crowded field included John Quincy Adams, the son of the second president, John Adams. Candidate Adams had broken with the Federalists in the early 1800s and served on various diplomatic missions, including the mission to secure peace with Great Britain in 1814. He represented New England. A second candidate, John C. Calhoun from South Carolina, had served as secretary of war and represented the slaveholding South. He dropped out of the presidential race to run for vice president. A third candidate, Henry Clay, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, hailed from Kentucky and represented the western states. He favored an active federal government committed to internal improvements, such as roads and canals, to bolster national economic development and settlement of the West. William H. Crawford, a slaveholder from Georgia, suffered a stroke in 1823 that left him largely incapacitated, but he ran nonetheless and had the backing of the New York machine headed by Van Buren. Andrew Jackson, the famed “hero of New Orleans,” rounded out the field. Jackson had very little formal education, but he was popular for his military victories in the War of 1812 and in wars against the Creek and the Seminole. He had been elected to the Senate in 1823, and his popularity soared as pro-Jackson newspapers sang the praises of the courage and daring of the Tennessee slaveholder (Figure). Results from the eighteen states where the popular vote determined the electoral vote gave Jackson the election, with 152,901 votes to Adams’s 114,023, Clay’s 47,217, and Crawford’s 46,979. The Electoral College, however, was another matter. Of the 261 electoral votes, Jackson needed 131 or better to win but secured only 99. Adams won 84, Crawford 41, and Clay 37. Because Jackson did not receive a majority vote from the Electoral College, the election was decided following the terms of the Twelfth Amendment, which stipulated that when a candidate did not receive a majority of electoral votes, the election went to the House of Representatives, where each state would provide one vote. House Speaker Clay did not want to see his rival, Jackson, become president and therefore worked within the House to secure the presidency for Adams, convincing many to cast their vote for the New Englander. Clay’s efforts paid off; despite not having won the popular vote, John Quincy Adams was certified by the House as the next president. Once in office, he elevated Henry Clay to the post of secretary of state. Jackson and his supporters cried foul. To them, the election of Adams reeked of anti-democratic corruption. So too did the appointment of Clay as secretary of state. John C. Calhoun labeled the whole affair a “corrupt bargain” (Figure). Everywhere, Jackson supporters vowed revenge against the anti-majoritarian result of 1824. THE PRESIDENCY OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS Secretary of State Clay championed what was known as the American System of high tariffs, a national bank, and federally sponsored internal improvements of canals and roads. Once in office, President Adams embraced Clay’s American System and proposed a national university and naval academy to train future leaders of the republic. The president’s opponents smelled elitism in these proposals and pounced on what they viewed as the administration’s catering to a small privileged class at the expense of ordinary citizens. Clay also envisioned a broad range of internal transportation improvements. Using the proceeds from land sales in the West, Adams endorsed the creation of roads and canals to facilitate commerce and the advance of settlement in the West. Many in Congress vigorously opposed federal funding of internal improvements, citing among other reasons that the Constitution did not give the federal government the power to fund these projects. However, in the end, Adams succeeded in extending the Cumberland Road into Ohio (a federal highway project). He also broke ground for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal on July 4, 1828. Visit the Cumberland Road Project and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park to learn more about transportation developments in the first half of the nineteenth century. How were these two projects important for westward expansion? Tariffs, which both Clay and Adams promoted, were not a novel idea; since the birth of the republic they had been seen as a way to advance domestic manufacturing by making imports more expensive. Congress had approved a tariff in 1789, for instance, and Alexander Hamilton had proposed a protective tariff in 1790. Congress also passed tariffs in 1816 and 1824. Clay spearheaded the drive for the federal government to impose high tariffs to help bolster domestic manufacturing. If imported goods were more expensive than domestic goods, then people would buy American-made goods. President Adams wished to promote manufacturing, especially in his home region of New England. To that end, in 1828 he proposed a high tariff on imported goods, amounting to 50 percent of their value. The tariff raised questions about how power should be distributed, causing a fiery debate between those who supported states’ rights and those who supported the expanded power of the federal government (Figure). Those who championed states’ rights denounced the 1828 measure as the Tariff of Abominations, clear evidence that the federal government favored one region, in this case the North, over another, the South. They made their case by pointing out that the North had an expanding manufacturing base while the South did not. Therefore, the South imported far more manufactured goods than the North, causing the tariff to fall most heavily on the southern states. The 1828 tariff generated additional fears among southerners. In particular, it suggested to them that the federal government would unilaterally take steps that hurt the South. This line of reasoning led some southerners to fear that the very foundation of the South—slavery—could come under attack from a hostile northern majority in Congress. The spokesman for this southern view was President Adams’s vice president, John C. Calhoun. John C. Calhoun on the Tariff of 1828 Vice President John C. Calhoun, angry about the passage of the Tariff of 1828, anonymously wrote a report titled “South Carolina Exposition and Protest” (later known as “Calhoun’s Exposition”) for the South Carolina legislature. As a native of South Carolina, Calhoun articulated the fear among many southerners that the federal government could exercise undue power over the states. If it be conceded, as it must be by every one who is the least conversant with our institutions, that the sovereign powers delegated are divided between the General and State Governments, and that the latter hold their portion by the same tenure as the former, it would seem impossible to deny to the States the right of deciding on the infractions of their powers, and the proper remedy to be applied for their correction. The right of judging, in such cases, is an essential attribute of sovereignty, of which the States cannot be divested without losing their sovereignty itself, and being reduced to a subordinate corporate condition. In fact, to divide power, and to give to one of the parties the exclusive right of judging of the portion allotted to each, is, in reality, not to divide it at all; and to reserve such exclusive right to the General Government (it matters not by what department) to be exercised, is to convert it, in fact, into a great consolidated government, with unlimited powers, and to divest the States, in reality, of all their rights, It is impossible to understand the force of terms, and to deny so plain a conclusion. —John C. Calhoun, “South Carolina Exposition and Protest,” 1828 What is Calhoun’s main point of protest? What does he say about the sovereignty of the states? Section Summary The early 1800s saw an age of deference give way to universal manhood suffrage and a new type of political organization based on loyalty to the party. The election of 1824 was a fight among Democratic-Republicans that ended up pitting southerner Andrew Jackson against northerner John Quincy Adams. When Adams won through political negotiations in the House of Representatives, Jackson’s supporters derided the election as a “corrupt bargain.” The Tariff of 1828 further stirred southern sentiment, this time against a perceived bias in the federal government toward northeastern manufacturers. At the same time, the tariff stirred deeper fears that the federal government might take steps that could undermine the system of slavery. Review Questions Which group saw an expansion of their voting rights in the early nineteenth century? - free blacks - non-property-owning men - women - Indians Hint: B What was the lasting impact of the Bucktail Republican Party in New York? - They implemented universal suffrage. - They pushed for the expansion of the canal system. - They elevated Martin Van Buren to the national political stage. - They changed state election laws from an appointee system to a system of open elections. Hint: D Who won the popular vote in the election of 1824? - Andrew Jackson - Martin Van Buren - Henry Clay - John Quincy Adams Hint: A Why did Andrew Jackson and his supporters consider the election of John Quincy Adams to be a “corrupt bargain”? Hint: Jackson and his supporters resented Speaker Henry Clay’s maneuvering in the House of Representatives, which gave Adams the election even though Jackson had won the popular vote. When Adams, after taking office, gave Clay the post of secretary of state, it seemed that Adams was rewarding Clay—perhaps even fulfilling the terms of a secret bargain. Who stood to gain from the Tariff of Abominations, and who expected to lose by it? Hint: Northern manufacturers were expected to gain from the tariff because it made competing goods from abroad more expensive than those they made. Southern plantation owners expected the tariff would be costly for them, because it raised the price of goods they could only import. Southerners also feared the tariff represented an unwelcome expansion of federal power over the states.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.868554	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15445/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Jacksonian Democracy, 1820–1840", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15446/overview	The Rise of American Democracy Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Describe the key points of the election of 1828 - Explain the scandals of Andrew Jackson’s first term in office A turning point in American political history occurred in 1828, which witnessed the election of Andrew Jackson over the incumbent John Quincy Adams. While democratic practices had been in ascendance since 1800, the year also saw the further unfolding of a democratic spirit in the United States. Supporters of Jackson called themselves Democrats or the Democracy, giving birth to the Democratic Party. Political authority appeared to rest with the majority as never before. THE CAMPAIGN AND ELECTION OF 1828 During the 1800s, democratic reforms made steady progress with the abolition of property qualifications for voting and the birth of new forms of political party organization. The 1828 campaign pushed new democratic practices even further and highlighted the difference between the Jacksonian expanded electorate and the older, exclusive Adams style. A slogan of the day, “Adams who can write/Jackson who can fight,” captured the contrast between Adams the aristocrat and Jackson the frontiersman. The 1828 campaign differed significantly from earlier presidential contests because of the party organization that promoted Andrew Jackson. Jackson and his supporters reminded voters of the “corrupt bargain” of 1824. They framed it as the work of a small group of political elites deciding who would lead the nation, acting in a self-serving manner and ignoring the will of the majority (Figure). From Nashville, Tennessee, the Jackson campaign organized supporters around the nation through editorials in partisan newspapers and other publications. Pro-Jackson newspapers heralded the “hero of New Orleans” while denouncing Adams. Though he did not wage an election campaign filled with public appearances, Jackson did give one major campaign speech in New Orleans on January 8, the anniversary of the defeat of the British in 1815. He also engaged in rounds of discussion with politicians who came to his home, the Hermitage, in Nashville. At the local level, Jackson’s supporters worked to bring in as many new voters as possible. Rallies, parades, and other rituals further broadcast the message that Jackson stood for the common man against the corrupt elite backing Adams and Clay. Democratic organizations called Hickory Clubs, a tribute to Jackson’s nickname, Old Hickory, also worked tirelessly to ensure his election. In November 1828, Jackson won an overwhelming victory over Adams, capturing 56 percent of the popular vote and 68 percent of the electoral vote. As in 1800, when Jefferson had won over the Federalist incumbent John Adams, the presidency passed to a new political party, the Democrats. The election was the climax of several decades of expanding democracy in the United States and the end of the older politics of deference. Visit The Hermitage to explore a timeline of Andrew Jackson’s life and career. How do you think the events of his younger life affected the trajectory of his political career? SCANDAL IN THE PRESIDENCY Amid revelations of widespread fraud, including the disclosure that some $300,000 was missing from the Treasury Department, Jackson removed almost 50 percent of appointed civil officers, which allowed him to handpick their replacements. This replacement of appointed federal officials is called rotation in office. Lucrative posts, such as postmaster and deputy postmaster, went to party loyalists, especially in places where Jackson’s support had been weakest, such as New England. Some Democratic newspaper editors who had supported Jackson during the campaign also gained public jobs. Jackson’s opponents were angered and took to calling the practice the spoils system, after the policies of Van Buren’s Bucktail Republican Party. The rewarding of party loyalists with government jobs resulted in spectacular instances of corruption. Perhaps the most notorious occurred in New York City, where a Jackson appointee made off with over $1 million. Such examples seemed proof positive that the Democrats were disregarding merit, education, and respectability in decisions about the governing of the nation. In addition to dealing with rancor over rotation in office, the Jackson administration became embroiled in a personal scandal known as the Petticoat affair. This incident exacerbated the division between the president’s team and the insider class in the nation’s capital, who found the new arrivals from Tennessee lacking in decorum and propriety. At the center of the storm was Margaret (“Peggy”) O’Neal, a well-known socialite in Washington, DC (Figure). O’Neal cut a striking figure and had connections to the republic’s most powerful men. She married John Timberlake, a naval officer, and they had three children. Rumors abounded, however, about her involvement with John Eaton, a U.S. senator from Tennessee who had come to Washington in 1818. Timberlake committed suicide in 1828, setting off a flurry of rumors that he had been distraught over his wife’s reputed infidelities. Eaton and Mrs. Timberlake married soon after, with the full approval of President Jackson. The so-called Petticoat affair divided Washington society. Many Washington socialites snubbed the new Mrs. Eaton as a woman of low moral character. Among those who would have nothing to do with her was Vice President John C. Calhoun’s wife, Floride. Calhoun fell out of favor with President Jackson, who defended Peggy Eaton and derided those who would not socialize with her, declaring she was “as chaste as a virgin.” (Jackson had personal reasons for defending Eaton: he drew a parallel between Eaton’s treatment and that of his late wife, Rachel, who had been subjected to attacks on her reputation related to her first marriage, which had ended in divorce.) Martin Van Buren, who defended the Eatons and organized social gatherings with them, became close to Jackson, who came to rely on a group of informal advisers that included Van Buren and was dubbed the Kitchen Cabinet. This select group of presidential supporters highlights the importance of party loyalty to Jackson and the Democratic Party. Section Summary The Democratic-Republicans’ “corrupt bargain” that brought John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay to office in 1824 also helped to push them out of office in 1828. Jackson used it to highlight the cronyism of Washington politics. Supporters presented him as a true man of the people fighting against the elitism of Clay and Adams. Jackson rode a wave of populist fervor all the way to the White House, ushering in the ascendency of a new political party: the Democrats. Although Jackson ran on a platform of clearing the corruption out of Washington, he rewarded his own loyal followers with plum government jobs, thus continuing and intensifying the cycle of favoritism and corruption. Review Questions What was the actual result of Jackson’s policy of “rotation in office”? - an end to corruption in Washington - a replacement of Adams’s political loyalists with Jackson’s political loyalists - the filling of government posts with officials the people chose themselves - the creation of the Kitchen Cabinet Hint: B The election of 1828 brought in the first presidency of which political party? - the Democrats - the Democratic-Republicans - the Republicans - the Bucktails Hint: A What were the planks of Andrew Jackson’s campaign platform in 1828? Hint: Jackson campaigned as a man of the people, intent on sweeping away the corrupt elite by undoing the “corrupt bargain” of Adams’s election, making new federal appointments, and elevating officials whose election actually reflected the will of the majority of voters. What was the significance of the Petticoat affair? Hint: The Petticoat affair divided those loyal to President Jackson from Washington, DC, insiders. When Washington socialite Peggy O’Neal’s husband committed suicide and O’Neal then married John Eaton, a Tennessee senator with whom she was reportedly unfaithful to her husband, Jackson and those loyal to him defended Peggy Eaton against other Washington, DC, socialites and politicians. Martin Van Buren, in particular, supported the Eatons and became an important figure in Jackson’s “Kitchen Cabinet” of select supporters and advisers.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.895275	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15446/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Jacksonian Democracy, 1820–1840", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15447/overview	The Nullification Crisis and the Bank War Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the factors that contributed to the Nullification Crisis - Discuss the origins and creation of the Whig Party The crisis over the Tariff of 1828 continued into the 1830s and highlighted one of the currents of democracy in the Age of Jackson: namely, that many southerners believed a democratic majority could be harmful to their interests. These southerners saw themselves as an embattled minority and claimed the right of states to nullify federal laws that appeared to threaten state sovereignty. Another undercurrent was the resentment and anger of the majority against symbols of elite privilege, especially powerful financial institutions like the Second Bank of the United States. THE NULLIFICATION CRISIS The Tariff of 1828 had driven Vice President Calhoun to pen his “South Carolina Exposition and Protest,” in which he argued that if a national majority acted against the interest of a regional minority, then individual states could void—or nullify—federal law. By the early 1830s, the battle over the tariff took on new urgency as the price of cotton continued to fall. In 1818, cotton had been thirty-one cents per pound. By 1831, it had sunk to eight cents per pound. While production of cotton had soared during this time and this increase contributed to the decline in prices, many southerners blamed their economic problems squarely on the tariff for raising the prices they had to pay for imported goods while their own income shrank. Resentment of the tariff was linked directly to the issue of slavery, because the tariff demonstrated the use of federal power. Some southerners feared the federal government would next take additional action against the South, including the abolition of slavery. The theory of nullification, or the voiding of unwelcome federal laws, provided wealthy slaveholders, who were a minority in the United States, with an argument for resisting the national government if it acted contrary to their interests. James Hamilton, who served as governor of South Carolina in the early 1830s, denounced the “despotic majority that oppresses us.” Nullification also raised the specter of secession; aggrieved states at the mercy of an aggressive majority would be forced to leave the Union. On the issue of nullification, South Carolina stood alone. Other southern states backed away from what they saw as the extremism behind the idea. President Jackson did not make the repeal of the 1828 tariff a priority and denied the nullifiers’ arguments. He and others, including former President Madison, argued that Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution gave Congress the power to “lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises.” Jackson pledged to protect the Union against those who would try to tear it apart over the tariff issue. “The union shall be preserved,” he declared in 1830. To deal with the crisis, Jackson advocated a reduction in tariff rates. The Tariff of 1832, passed in the summer, lowered the rates on imported goods, a move designed to calm southerners. It did not have the desired effect, however, and Calhoun’s nullifiers still claimed their right to override federal law. In November, South Carolina passed the Ordinance of Nullification, declaring the 1828 and 1832 tariffs null and void in the Palmetto State. Jackson responded, however, by declaring in the December 1832 Nullification Proclamation that a state did not have the power to void a federal law. With the states and the federal government at an impasse, civil war seemed a real possibility. The next governor of South Carolina, Robert Hayne, called for a force of ten thousand volunteers (Figure) to defend the state against any federal action. At the same time, South Carolinians who opposed the nullifiers told Jackson that eight thousand men stood ready to defend the Union. Congress passed the Force Bill of 1833, which gave the federal government the right to use federal troops to ensure compliance with federal law. The crisis—or at least the prospect of armed conflict in South Carolina—was defused by the Compromise Tariff of 1833, which reduced tariff rates considerably. Nullifiers in South Carolina accepted it, but in a move that demonstrated their inflexibility, they nullified the Force Bill. The Nullification Crisis illustrated the growing tensions in American democracy: an aggrieved minority of elite, wealthy slaveholders taking a stand against the will of a democratic majority; an emerging sectional divide between South and North over slavery; and a clash between those who believed in free trade and those who believed in protective tariffs to encourage the nation’s economic growth. These tensions would color the next three decades of politics in the United States. THE BANK WAR Congress established the Bank of the United States in 1791 as a key pillar of Alexander Hamilton’s financial program, but its twenty-year charter expired in 1811. Congress, swayed by the majority’s hostility to the bank as an institution catering to the wealthy elite, did not renew the charter at that time. In its place, Congress approved a new national bank—the Second Bank of the United States—in 1816. It too had a twenty-year charter, set to expire in 1836. The Second Bank of the United States was created to stabilize the banking system. More than two hundred banks existed in the United States in 1816, and almost all of them issued paper money. In other words, citizens faced a bewildering welter of paper money with no standard value. In fact, the problem of paper money had contributed significantly to the Panic of 1819. In the 1820s, the national bank moved into a magnificent new building in Philadelphia. However, despite Congress’s approval of the Second Bank of the United States, a great many people continued to view it as tool of the wealthy, an anti-democratic force. President Jackson was among them; he had faced economic crises of his own during his days speculating in land, an experience that had made him uneasy about paper money. To Jackson, hard currency—that is, gold or silver—was the far better alternative. The president also personally disliked the bank’s director, Nicholas Biddle. A large part of the allure of mass democracy for politicians was the opportunity to capture the anger and resentment of ordinary Americans against what they saw as the privileges of a few. One of the leading opponents of the bank was Thomas Hart Benton, a senator from Missouri, who declared that the bank served “to make the rich richer, and the poor poorer.” The self-important statements of Biddle, who claimed to have more power that President Jackson, helped fuel sentiments like Benton’s. In the reelection campaign of 1832, Jackson’s opponents in Congress, including Henry Clay, hoped to use their support of the bank to their advantage. In January 1832, they pushed for legislation that would re-charter it, even though its charter was not scheduled to expire until 1836. When the bill for re-chartering passed and came to President Jackson, he used his executive authority to veto the measure. The defeat of the Second Bank of the United States demonstrates Jackson’s ability to focus on the specific issues that aroused the democratic majority. Jackson understood people’s anger and distrust toward the bank, which stood as an emblem of special privilege and big government. He skillfully used that perception to his advantage, presenting the bank issue as a struggle of ordinary people against a rapacious elite class who cared nothing for the public and pursued only their own selfish ends. As Jackson portrayed it, his was a battle for small government and ordinary Americans. His stand against what bank opponents called the “monster bank” proved very popular, and the Democratic press lionized him for it (Figure). In the election of 1832, Jackson received nearly 53 percent of the popular vote against his opponent Henry Clay. Jackson’s veto was only one part of the war on the “monster bank.” In 1833, the president removed the deposits from the national bank and placed them in state banks. Biddle, the bank’s director, retaliated by restricting loans to the state banks, resulting in a reduction of the money supply. The financial turmoil only increased when Jackson issued an executive order known as the Specie Circular, which required that western land sales be conducted using gold or silver only. Unfortunately, this policy proved a disaster when the Bank of England, the source of much of the hard currency borrowed by American businesses, dramatically cut back on loans to the United States. Without the flow of hard currency from England, American depositors drained the gold and silver from their own domestic banks, making hard currency scarce. Adding to the economic distress of the late 1830s, cotton prices plummeted, contributing to a financial crisis called the Panic of 1837. This economic panic would prove politically useful for Jackson’s opponents in the coming years and Van Buren, elected president in 1836, would pay the price for Jackson’s hard-currency preferences. WHIGS Jackson’s veto of the bank and his Specie Circular helped galvanize opposition forces into a new political party, the Whigs, a faction that began to form in 1834. The name was significant; opponents of Jackson saw him as exercising tyrannical power, so they chose the name Whig after the eighteenth-century political party that resisted the monarchical power of King George III. One political cartoon dubbed the president “King Andrew the First” and displayed Jackson standing on the Constitution, which has been ripped to shreds (Figure). Whigs championed an active federal government committed to internal improvements, including a national bank. They made their first national appearance in the presidential election of 1836, a contest that pitted Jackson’s handpicked successor, Martin Van Buren, against a field of several Whig candidates. Indeed, the large field of Whig candidates indicated the new party’s lack of organization compared to the Democrats. This helped Van Buren, who carried the day in the Electoral College. As the effects of the Panic of 1837 continued to be felt for years afterward, the Whig press pinned the blame for the economic crisis on Van Buren and the Democrats. Explore a Library of Congress collection of 1830s political cartoons from the pages of Harper’s Weekly to learn more about how Andrew Jackson was viewed by the public in that era. Section Summary Andrew Jackson’s election in 1832 signaled the rise of the Democratic Party and a new style of American politics. Jackson understood the views of the majority, and he skillfully used the popular will to his advantage. He adroitly navigated through the Nullification Crisis and made headlines with what his supporters viewed as his righteous war against the bastion of money, power, and entrenched insider interests, the Second Bank of the United States. His actions, however, stimulated opponents to fashion an opposition party, the Whigs. Review Questions South Carolina threatened to nullify which federal act? - the abolition of slavery - the expansion of the transportation infrastructure - the protective tariff on imported goods - the rotation in office that expelled several federal officers Hint: C How did President Jackson respond to Congress’s re-chartering of the Second Bank of the United States? - He vetoed it. - He gave states the right to implement it or not. - He signed it into law. - He wrote a counterproposal. Hint: A Why did the Second Bank of the United States make such an inviting target for President Jackson? Hint: Many people saw the Second Bank of the United States, the “monster bank,” as a tool for the privileged few, not for the public good. To Jackson, who saw himself as a spokesman for the common people against a powerful minority elite, it represented the elites’ self-serving policies. Fighting to dismantle the bank increased his popularity among many American voters. What were the philosophies and policies of the new Whig Party? Hint: Whigs opposed what they viewed as the tyrannical rule of Andrew Jackson. For this reason, they named themselves after the eighteenth-century British-American Whigs, who stood in opposition to King George. Whigs believed in an active federal government committed to internal improvements, including the establishment of a national bank.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.922465	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15447/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Jacksonian Democracy, 1820–1840", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15448/overview	Indian Removal Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the legal wrangling that surrounded the Indian Removal Act - Describe how depictions of Indians in popular culture helped lead to Indian removal Pro-Jackson newspapers touted the president as a champion of opening land for white settlement and moving native inhabitants beyond the boundaries of “American civilization.” In this effort, Jackson reflected majority opinion: most Americans believed Indians had no place in the white republic. Jackson’s animosity toward Indians ran deep. He had fought against the Creek in 1813 and against the Seminole in 1817, and his reputation and popularity rested in large measure on his firm commitment to remove Indians from states in the South. The 1830 Indian Removal Act and subsequent displacement of the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Cherokee tribes of the Southeast fulfilled the vision of a white nation and became one of the identifying characteristics of the Age of Jackson. INDIANS IN POPULAR CULTURE Popular culture in the first half of the nineteenth century reflected the aversion to Indians that was pervasive during the Age of Jackson. Jackson skillfully played upon this racial hatred to engage the United States in a policy of ethnic cleansing, eradicating the Indian presence from the land to make way for white civilization. In an age of mass democracy, powerful anti-Indian sentiments found expression in mass culture, shaping popular perceptions. James Fenimore Cooper’s very popular historical novel, The Last of the Mohicans, published in 1826 as part of his Leatherstocking series, told the tale of Nathaniel “Natty” Bumppo (aka Hawkeye), who lived among Indians but had been born to white parents. Cooper provides a romantic version of the French and Indian War in which Natty helps the British against the French and the feral, bloodthirsty Huron. Natty endures even as his Indian friends die, including the noble Uncas, the last Mohican, in a narrative that dovetailed with most people’s approval of Indian removal. Indians also made frequent appearances in art. George Catlin produced many paintings of native peoples, which he offered as true representations despite routinely emphasizing their supposed savage nature. The Cutting Scene, Mandan O-kee-pa Ceremony (Figure) is one example. Scholars have long questioned the accuracy of this portrayal of a rite of passage among the Mandan people. Accuracy aside, the painting captured the imaginations of white viewers, reinforcing their disgust at the savagery of Indians. The Paintings of George Catlin George Catlin seized upon the public fascination with the supposedly exotic and savage Indian, seeing an opportunity to make money by painting them in a way that conformed to popular white stereotypes (Figure). In the late 1830s, he toured major cities with his Indian Gallery, a collection of paintings of native peoples. Though he hoped his exhibition would be profitable, it did not bring him financial security. Catlin routinely painted Indians in a supposedly aboriginal state. In Attacking the Grizzly Bear, the hunters do not have rifles and instead rely on spears. Such a portrayal stretches credibility as native peoples had long been exposed to and adopted European weapons. Indeed, the painting’s depiction of Indians riding horses, which were introduced by the Spanish, makes clear that, as much as Catlin and white viewers wanted to believe in the primitive and savage native, the reality was otherwise. In Wi-jún-jon, Pigeon's Egg Head (The Light) Going To and Returning From Washington, the viewer is shown a before and after portrait of Wi-jún-jon, who tried to emulate white dress and manners after going to Washington, DC. What differences do you see between these two representations of Wi-jún-jon? Do you think his attempt to imitate whites was successful? Why or why not? What do you think Catlin was trying to convey with this depiction of Wi-jún-jon’s assimilation? THE INDIAN REMOVAL ACT In his first message to Congress, Jackson had proclaimed that Indian groups living independently within states, as sovereign entities, presented a major problem for state sovereignty. This message referred directly to the situation in Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, where the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Cherokee peoples stood as obstacles to white settlement. These groups were known as the Five Civilized Tribes, because they had largely adopted Anglo-American culture, speaking English and practicing Christianity. Some held slaves like their white counterparts. Whites especially resented the Cherokee in Georgia, coveting the tribe’s rich agricultural lands in the northern part of the state. The impulse to remove the Cherokee only increased when gold was discovered on their lands. Ironically, while whites insisted the Cherokee and other native peoples could never be good citizens because of their savage ways, the Cherokee had arguably gone farther than any other indigenous group in adopting white culture. The Cherokee Phoenix, the newspaper of the Cherokee, began publication in 1828 (Figure) in English and the Cherokee language. Although the Cherokee followed the lead of their white neighbors by farming and owning property, as well as embracing Christianity and owning their own slaves, this proved of little consequence in an era when whites perceived all Indians as incapable of becoming full citizens of the republic. Jackson’s anti-Indian stance struck a chord with a majority of white citizens, many of whom shared a hatred of nonwhites that spurred Congress to pass the 1830 Indian Removal Act. The act called for the removal of the Five Civilized Tribes from their home in the southeastern United States to land in the West, in present-day Oklahoma. Jackson declared in December 1830, “It gives me pleasure to announce to Congress that the benevolent policy of the Government, steadily pursued for nearly thirty years, in relation to the removal of the Indians beyond the white settlements is approaching to a happy consummation. Two important tribes have accepted the provision made for their removal at the last session of Congress, and it is believed that their example will induce the remaining tribes also to seek the same obvious advantages.” The Cherokee decided to fight the federal law, however, and took their case to the Supreme Court. Their legal fight had the support of anti-Jackson members of Congress, including Henry Clay and Daniel Webster, and they retained the legal services of former attorney general William Wirt. In Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, Wirt argued that the Cherokee constituted an independent foreign nation, and that an injunction (a stop) should be placed on Georgia laws aimed at eradicating them. In 1831, the Supreme Court found the Cherokee did not meet the criteria for being a foreign nation. Another case involving the Cherokee also found its way to the highest court in the land. This legal struggle—Worcester v. Georgia—asserted the rights of non-natives to live on Indian lands. Samuel Worcester was a Christian missionary and federal postmaster of New Echota, the capital of the Cherokee nation. A Congregationalist, he had gone to live among the Cherokee in Georgia to further the spread of Christianity, and he strongly opposed Indian removal. By living among the Cherokee, Worcester had violated a Georgia law forbidding whites, unless they were agents of the federal government, to live in Indian territory. Worcester was arrested, but because his federal job as postmaster gave him the right to live there, he was released. Jackson supporters then succeeded in taking away Worcester’s job, and he was re-arrested. This time, a court sentenced him and nine others for violating the Georgia state law banning whites from living on Indian land. Worcester was sentenced to four years of hard labor. When the case of Worcester v. Georgia came before the Supreme Court in 1832, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in favor of Worcester, finding that the Cherokee constituted “distinct political communities” with sovereign rights to their own territory. Chief Justice John Marshall’s Ruling in Worcester v. Georgia In 1832, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Marshall ruled in favor of Samuel Worcester in Worcester v. Georgia. In doing so, he established the principle of tribal sovereignty. Although this judgment contradicted Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, it failed to halt the Indian Removal Act. In his opinion, Marshall wrote the following: From the commencement of our government Congress has passed acts to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indians; which treat them as nations, respect their rights, and manifest a firm purpose to afford that protection which treaties stipulate. All these acts, and especially that of 1802, which is still in force, manifestly consider the several Indian nations as distinct political communities, having territorial boundaries, within which their authority is exclusive, and having a right to all the lands within those boundaries, which is not only acknowledged, but guaranteed by the United States. . . . The Cherokee Nation, then, is a distinct community, occupying its own territory, with boundaries accurately described, in which the laws of Georgia can have no force, and which the citizens of Georgia have no right to enter but with the assent of the Cherokees themselves or in conformity with treaties and with the acts of Congress. The whole intercourse between the United States and this nation is, by our Constitution and laws, vested in the government of the United States. The act of the State of Georgia under which the plaintiff in error was prosecuted is consequently void, and the judgment a nullity. . . . The Acts of Georgia are repugnant to the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States. How does this opinion differ from the outcome of Cherokee Nation v. Georgia just one year earlier? Why do you think the two outcomes were different? The Supreme Court did not have the power to enforce its ruling in Worcester v. Georgia, however, and it became clear that the Cherokee would be compelled to move. Those who understood that the only option was removal traveled west, but the majority stayed on their land. In order to remove them, the president relied on the U.S. military. In a series of forced marches, some fifteen thousand Cherokee were finally relocated to Oklahoma. This forced migration, known as the Trail of Tears, caused the deaths of as many as four thousand Cherokee (Figure). The Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole peoples were also compelled to go. The removal of the Five Civilized Tribes provides an example of the power of majority opinion in a democracy. Explore the interactive Trail of Tears map at PBS.org to see the routes the Five Civilized Tribes traveled when they were expelled from their lands. Then listen to a collection of Cherokee oral histories including verses of a Cherokee-language song about the Trail of Tears. What do you think is the importance of oral history in documenting the Cherokee experience? BLACK HAWK’S WAR The policy of removal led some Indians to actively resist. In 1832, the Fox and the Sauk, led by Sauk chief Black Hawk (Makataimeshekiakiah), moved back across the Mississippi River to reclaim their ancestral home in northern Illinois. A brief war in 1832, Black Hawk’s War, ensued. White settlers panicked at the return of the native peoples, and militias and federal troops quickly mobilized. At the Battle of Bad Axe (also known as the Bad Axe Massacre), they killed over two hundred men, women, and children. Some seventy white settlers and soldiers also lost their lives in the conflict (Figure). The war, which lasted only a matter of weeks, illustrates how much whites on the frontier hated and feared Indians during the Age of Jackson. Section Summary Popular culture in the Age of Jackson emphasized the savagery of the native peoples and shaped domestic policy. Popular animosity found expression in the Indian Removal Act. Even the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of the Cherokee in Georgia offered no protection against the forced removal of the Five Civilized Tribes from the Southeast, mandated by the 1830 Indian Removal Act and carried out by the U.S. military. Review Questions How did most whites in the United States view Indians in the 1820s? - as savages - as being in touch with nature - as slaves - as shamans Hint: A The 1830 Indian Removal Act is best understood as ________. - an example of President Jackson forcing Congress to pursue an unpopular policy - an illustration of the widespread hatred of Indians during the Age of Jackson - an example of laws designed to integrate Indians into American life - an effort to deprive the Cherokee of their slave property Hint: B What was the Trail of Tears? Hint: The Trail of Tears was the route of the forced removal of the Cherokee and other Indian tribes from their ancestral lands in the southeastern United States to what is now Oklahoma. The expulsion was carried out by the U.S. military, and thousands of Indians perished on the way.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.951018	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15448/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Jacksonian Democracy, 1820–1840", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15449/overview	The Tyranny and Triumph of the Majority Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain Alexis de Tocqueville’s analysis of American democracy - Describe the election of 1840 and its outcome To some observers, the rise of democracy in the United States raised troubling questions about the new power of the majority to silence minority opinion. As the will of the majority became the rule of the day, everyone outside of mainstream, white American opinion, especially Indians and blacks, were vulnerable to the wrath of the majority. Some worried that the rights of those who opposed the will of the majority would never be safe. Mass democracy also shaped political campaigns as never before. The 1840 presidential election marked a significant turning point in the evolving style of American democratic politics. ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE Perhaps the most insightful commentator on American democracy was the young French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville, whom the French government sent to the United States to report on American prison reforms (Figure). Tocqueville marveled at the spirit of democracy that pervaded American life. Given his place in French society, however, much of what he saw of American democracy caused him concern. Tocqueville’s experience led him to believe that democracy was an unstoppable force that would one day overthrow monarchy around the world. He wrote and published his findings in 1835 and 1840 in a two-part work entitled Democracy in America. In analyzing the democratic revolution in the United States, he wrote that the major benefit of democracy came in the form of equality before the law. A great deal of the social revolution of democracy, however, carried negative consequences. Indeed, Tocqueville described a new type of tyranny, the tyranny of the majority, which overpowers the will of minorities and individuals and was, in his view, unleashed by democracy in the United States. In this excerpt from Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville warns of the dangers of democracy when the majority will can turn to tyranny: When an individual or a party is wronged in the United States, to whom can he apply for redress? If to public opinion, public opinion constitutes the majority; if to the legislature, it represents the majority, and implicitly obeys its injunctions; if to the executive power, it is appointed by the majority, and remains a passive tool in its hands; the public troops consist of the majority under arms; the jury is the majority invested with the right of hearing judicial cases; and in certain States even the judges are elected by the majority. However iniquitous or absurd the evil of which you complain may be, you must submit to it as well as you can. The authority of a king is purely physical, and it controls the actions of the subject without subduing his private will; but the majority possesses a power which is physical and moral at the same time; it acts upon the will as well as upon the actions of men, and it represses not only all contest, but all controversy. I know no country in which there is so little true independence of mind and freedom of discussion as in America. Take the Alexis de Tocqueville Tour to experience nineteenth-century America as Tocqueville did, by reading his journal entries about the states and territories he visited with fellow countryman Gustave de Beaumont. What regional differences can you draw from his descriptions? THE 1840 ELECTION The presidential election contest of 1840 marked the culmination of the democratic revolution that swept the United States. By this time, the second party system had taken hold, a system whereby the older Federalist and Democratic-Republican Parties had been replaced by the new Democratic and Whig Parties. Both Whigs and Democrats jockeyed for election victories and commanded the steady loyalty of political partisans. Large-scale presidential campaign rallies and emotional propaganda became the order of the day. Voter turnout increased dramatically under the second party system. Roughly 25 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots in 1828. In 1840, voter participation surged to nearly 80 percent. The differences between the parties were largely about economic policies. Whigs advocated accelerated economic growth, often endorsing federal government projects to achieve that goal. Democrats did not view the federal government as an engine promoting economic growth and advocated a smaller role for the national government. The membership of the parties also differed: Whigs tended to be wealthier; they were prominent planters in the South and wealthy urban northerners—in other words, the beneficiaries of the market revolution. Democrats presented themselves as defenders of the common people against the elite. In the 1840 presidential campaign, taking their cue from the Democrats who had lionized Jackson’s military accomplishments, the Whigs promoted William Henry Harrison as a war hero based on his 1811 military service against the Shawnee chief Tecumseh at the Battle of Tippecanoe. John Tyler of Virginia ran as the vice presidential candidate, leading the Whigs to trumpet, “Tippecanoe and Tyler too!” as a campaign slogan. The campaign thrust Harrison into the national spotlight. Democrats tried to discredit him by declaring, “Give him a barrel of hard [alcoholic] cider and settle a pension of two thousand a year on him, and take my word for it, he will sit the remainder of his days in his log cabin.” The Whigs turned the slur to their advantage by presenting Harrison as a man of the people who had been born in a log cabin (in fact, he came from a privileged background in Virginia), and the contest became known as the log cabin campaign (Figure). At Whig political rallies, the faithful were treated to whiskey made by the E. C. Booz Company, leading to the introduction of the word “booze” into the American lexicon. Tippecanoe Clubs, where booze flowed freely, helped in the marketing of the Whig candidate. The Whigs’ efforts, combined with their strategy of blaming Democrats for the lingering economic collapse that began with the hard-currency Panic of 1837, succeeded in carrying the day. A mass campaign with political rallies and party mobilization had molded a candidate to fit an ideal palatable to a majority of American voters, and in 1840 Harrison won what many consider the first modern election. Section Summary American culture of the 1830s reflected the rise of democracy. The majority exercised a new type of power that went well beyond politics, leading Alexis de Tocqueville to write about the “tyranny of the majority.” Very quickly, politicians among the Whigs and Democrats learned to master the magic of the many by presenting candidates and policies that catered to the will of the majority. In the 1840 “log cabin campaign,” both sides engaged in the new democratic electioneering. The uninhibited expression during the campaign inaugurated a new political style. Review Questions The winner of the 1840 election was ________. - a Democrat - a Democratic-Republican - an Anti-Federalist - a Whig Hint: D Which of the following did not characterize political changes in the 1830s? - higher voter participation - increasing political power of free black voters - stronger partisan ties - political battles between Whigs and Democrats Hint: B How did Alexis de Tocqueville react to his visit to the United States? What impressed and what worried him? Hint: Tocqueville came to believe that democracy was an unstoppable force whose major benefit was equality before the law. However, he also described the tyranny of the majority, which overpowers the will of minorities and individuals. Critical Thinking Questions What were some of the social and cultural beliefs that became widespread during the Age of Jackson? What lay behind these beliefs, and do you observe any of them in American culture today? Were the political changes of the early nineteenth century positive or negative? Explain your opinion. If you were defending the Cherokee and other native nations before the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1830s, what arguments would you make? If you were supporting Indian removal, what arguments would you make? How did depictions of Indians in popular culture help to sway popular opinion? Does modern popular culture continue to wield this kind of power over us? Why or why not? Does Alexis de Tocqueville’s argument about the tyranny of the majority reflect American democracy today? Provide examples to support your answer.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.979127	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15449/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Jacksonian Democracy, 1820–1840", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15461/overview	Introduction Overview - An Awakening of Religion and Individualism - Antebellum Communal Experiments - Reforms to Human Health - Addressing Slavery - Women’s Rights This masthead for the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator shows two Americas (Figure). On the left is the southern version where slaves are being sold; on the right, free blacks enjoy the blessing of liberty. Reflecting the role of evangelical Protestantism in reforms such as abolition, the image features Jesus as the central figure. The caption reads, “I come to break the bonds of the oppressor,” and below the masthead, “Our country is the World, our Countrymen are all Mankind.” The reform efforts of the antebellum years, including abolitionism, aimed to perfect the national destiny and redeem the souls of individual Americans. A great deal of optimism, fueled by evangelical Protestantism revivalism, underwrote the moral crusades of the first half of the nineteenth century. Some reformers targeted what they perceived as the shallow, materialistic, and democratic market culture of the United States and advocated a stronger sense of individualism and self-reliance. Others dreamed of a more equal society and established their own idealistic communities. Still others, who viewed slavery as the most serious flaw in American life, labored to end the institution. Women’s rights, temperance, health reforms, and a host of other efforts also came to the forefront during the heyday of reform in the 1830s and 1840s.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:50.994815	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15461/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15462/overview	An Awakening of Religion and Individualism Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the connection between evangelical Protestantism and the Second Great Awakening - Describe the message of the transcendentalists Protestantism shaped the views of the vast majority of Americans in the antebellum years. The influence of religion only intensified during the decades before the Civil War, as religious camp meetings spread the word that people could bring about their own salvation, a direct contradiction to the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. Alongside this religious fervor, transcendentalists advocated a more direct knowledge of the self and an emphasis on individualism. The writers and thinkers devoted to transcendentalism, as well as the reactions against it, created a trove of writings, an outpouring that has been termed the American Renaissance. THE SECOND GREAT AWAKENING The reform efforts of the antebellum era sprang from the Protestant revival fervor that found expression in what historians refer to as the Second Great Awakening. (The First Great Awakening of evangelical Protestantism had taken place in the 1730s and 1740s.) The Second Great Awakening emphasized an emotional religious style in which sinners grappled with their unworthy nature before concluding that they were born again, that is, turning away from their sinful past and devoting themselves to living a righteous, Christ-centered life. This emphasis on personal salvation, with its rejection of predestination (the Calvinist concept that God selected only a chosen few for salvation), was the religious embodiment of the Jacksonian celebration of the individual. Itinerant ministers preached the message of the awakening to hundreds of listeners at outdoors revival meetings (Figure). The burst of religious enthusiasm that began in Kentucky and Tennessee in the 1790s and early 1800s among Baptists, Methodists, and Presbyterians owed much to the uniqueness of the early decades of the republic. These years saw swift population growth, broad western expansion, and the rise of participatory democracy. These political and social changes made many people anxious, and the more egalitarian, emotional, and individualistic religious practices of the Second Great Awakening provided relief and comfort for Americans experiencing rapid change. The awakening soon spread to the East, where it had a profound impact on Congregationalists and Presbyterians. The thousands swept up in the movement believed in the possibility of creating a much better world. Many adopted millennialism, the fervent belief that the Kingdom of God would be established on earth and that God would reign on earth for a thousand years, characterized by harmony and Christian morality. Those drawn to the message of the Second Great Awakening yearned for stability, decency, and goodness in the new and turbulent American republic. The Second Great Awakening also brought significant changes to American culture. Church membership doubled in the years between 1800 and 1835. Several new groups formed to promote and strengthen the message of religious revival. The American Bible Society, founded in 1816, distributed Bibles in an effort to ensure that every family had access to the sacred text, while the American Sunday School Union, established in 1824, focused on the religious education of children and published religious materials specifically for young readers. In 1825, the American Tract Society formed with the goal of disseminating the Protestant revival message in a flurry of publications. Missionaries and circuit riders (ministers without a fixed congregation) brought the message of the awakening across the United States, including into the lives of slaves. The revival spurred many slaveholders to begin encouraging their slaves to become Christians. Previously, many slaveholders feared allowing their slaves to convert, due to a belief that Christians could not be enslaved and because of the fear that slaves might use Christian principles to oppose their enslavement. However, by the 1800s, Americans established a legal foundation for the enslavement of Christians. Also, by this time, slaveholders had come to believe that if slaves learned the “right” (that is, white) form of Christianity, then slaves would be more obedient and hardworking. Allowing slaves access to Christianity also served to ease the consciences of Christian slaveholders, who argued that slavery was divinely ordained, yet it was a faith that also required slaveholders to bring slaves to the “truth.” Also important to this era was the creation of African American forms of worship as well as African American churches such as the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first independent black Protestant church in the United States. Formed in the 1790s by Richard Allen, the African Methodist Episcopal Church advanced the African American effort to express their faith apart from white Methodists (Figure). In the Northeast, Presbyterian minister Charles Grandison Finney rose to prominence as one of the most important evangelicals in the movement (Figure). Born in 1792 in western New York, Finney studied to be a lawyer until 1821, when he experienced a religious conversion and thereafter devoted himself to revivals. He led revival meetings in New York and Pennsylvania, but his greatest success occurred after he accepted a ministry in Rochester, New York, in 1830. At the time, Rochester was a boomtown because the Erie Canal had brought a lively shipping business. The new middle class—an outgrowth of the Industrial Revolution—embraced Finney’s message. It fit perfectly with their understanding of themselves as people shaping their own destiny. Workers also latched onto the message that they too could control their salvation, spiritually and perhaps financially as well. Western New York gained a reputation as the “burned over district,” a reference to the intense flames of religious fervor that swept the area during the Second Great Awakening. TRANSCENDENTALISM Beginning in the 1820s, a new intellectual movement known as transcendentalism began to grow in the Northeast. In this context, to transcend means to go beyond the ordinary sensory world to grasp personal insights and gain appreciation of a deeper reality, and transcendentalists believed that all people could attain an understanding of the world that surpassed rational, sensory experience. Transcendentalists were critical of mainstream American culture. They reacted against the age of mass democracy in Jacksonian America—what Tocqueville called the “tyranny of majority”—by arguing for greater individualism against conformity. European romanticism, a movement in literature and art that stressed emotion over cold, calculating reason, also influenced transcendentalists in the United States, especially the transcendentalists’ celebration of the uniqueness of individual feelings. Ralph Waldo Emerson emerged as the leading figure of this movement (Figure). Born in Boston in 1803, Emerson came from a religious family. His father served as a Unitarian minister and, after graduating from Harvard Divinity School in the 1820s, Emerson followed in his father’s footsteps. However, after his wife died in 1831, he left the clergy. On a trip to Europe in 1832, he met leading figures of romanticism who rejected the hyper-rationalism of the Enlightenment, emphasizing instead emotion and the sublime. When Emerson returned home the following year, he began giving lectures on his romanticism-influenced ideas. In 1836, he published “Nature,” an essay arguing that humans can find their true spirituality in nature, not in the everyday bustling working world of Jacksonian democracy and industrial transformation. In 1841, Emerson published his essay “Self-Reliance,” which urged readers to think for themselves and reject the mass conformity and mediocrity he believed had taken root in American life. In this essay, he wrote, “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist,” demanding that his readers be true to themselves and not blindly follow a herd mentality. Emerson’s ideas dovetailed with those of the French aristocrat, Alexis de Tocqueville, who wrote about the “tyranny of the majority” in his Democracy in America. Tocqueville, like Emerson, expressed concern that a powerful majority could overpower the will of individuals. Visit Emerson Central to read the full text of “Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. How have Emerson’s ideas influenced American society? Emerson’s ideas struck a chord with a class of literate adults who also were dissatisfied with mainstream American life and searching for greater spiritual meaning. Many writers were drawn to transcendentalism, and they started to express its ideas through new stories, poems, essays, and articles. The ideas of transcendentalism were able to permeate American thought and culture through a prolific print culture, which allowed magazines and journals to be widely disseminated. Among those attracted to Emerson’s ideas was his friend Henry David Thoreau, whom he encouraged to write about his own ideas. Thoreau placed a special emphasis on the role of nature as a gateway to the transcendentalist goal of greater individualism. In 1848, Thoreau gave a lecture in which he argued that individuals must stand up to governmental injustice, a topic he chose because of his disgust over the Mexican-American War and slavery. In 1849, he published his lecture “Civil Disobedience” and urged readers to refuse to support a government that was immoral. In 1854, he published Walden; Or, Life in the Woods, a book about the two years he spent in a small cabin on Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts (Figure). Thoreau had lived there as an experiment in living apart, but not too far apart, from his conformist neighbors. Margaret Fuller also came to prominence as a leading transcendentalist and advocate for women’s equality. Fuller was a friend of Emerson and Thoreau, and other intellectuals of her day. Because she was a woman, she could not attend Harvard, as it was a male-only institution for undergraduate students until 1973. However, she was later granted the use of the library there because of her towering intellect. In 1840, she became the editor of The Dial, a transcendentalist journal, and she later found employment as a book reviewer for the New York Tribune newspaper. Tragically, in 1850, she died at the age of forty in a shipwreck off Fire Island, New York. Walt Whitman also added to the transcendentalist movement, most notably with his 1855 publication of twelve poems, entitled Leaves of Grass, which celebrated the subjective experience of the individual. One of the poems, “Song of Myself,” amplified the message of individualism, but by uniting the individual with all other people through a transcendent bond. Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” Walt Whitman (Figure) was a poet associated with the transcendentalists. His 1855 poem, “Song of Myself,” shocked many when it was first published, but it has been called one of the most influential poems in American literature. I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. I loafe and invite my soul, I lean and loafe at my ease observing a spear of summer grass. My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death. . . . And I say to mankind, Be not curious about God, For I who am curious about each am not curious about God, (No array of terms can say how much I am at peace about God and about death.) I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least, Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself. . . . I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. . . . You will hardly know who I am or what I mean, But I shall be good health to you nevertheless, And filter and fibre your blood. Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged, Missing me one place search another, I stop somewhere waiting for you. What images does Whitman use to describe himself and the world around him? What might have been shocking about this poem in 1855? Why do you think it has endured? Some critics took issue with transcendentalism’s emphasis on rampant individualism by pointing out the destructive consequences of compulsive human behavior. Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, Or, The Whale emphasized the perils of individual obsession by telling the tale of Captain Ahab’s single-minded quest to kill a white whale, Moby Dick, which had destroyed Ahab’s original ship and caused him to lose one of his legs. Edgar Allan Poe, a popular author, critic, and poet, decried “the so-called poetry of the so-called transcendentalists.” These American writers who questioned transcendentalism illustrate the underlying tension between individualism and conformity in American life. Section Summary Evangelical Protestantism pervaded American culture in the antebellum era and fueled a belief in the possibility of changing society for the better. Leaders of the Second Great Awakening like Charles G. Finney urged listeners to take charge of their own salvation. This religious message dovetailed with the new economic possibilities created by the market and Industrial Revolution, making the Protestantism of the Second Great Awakening, with its emphasis on individual spiritual success, a reflection of the individualistic, capitalist spirit of the age. Transcendentalists took a different approach, but like their religiously oriented brethren, they too looked to create a better existence. These authors, most notably Emerson, identified a major tension in American life between the effort to be part of the democratic majority and the need to remain true to oneself as an individual. Review Questions Which of the following is not a characteristic of the Second Great Awakening? - greater emphasis on nature - greater emphasis on religious education of children - greater church attendance - belief in the possibility of a better world Hint: A Transcendentalists were most concerned with ________. - the afterlife - predestination - the individual - democracy Hint: C What do the Second Great Awakening and transcendentalism have in common? Hint: They both emphasize the power of the individual over that of the majority. Evangelists of the Second Great Awakening preached the power of personal spirituality, whereas transcendentalists were more concerned with the individual soul.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.022431	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15462/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15463/overview	Antebellum Communal Experiments Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Identify similarities and differences among utopian groups of the antebellum era - Explain how religious utopian communities differed from nonreligious ones Prior to 1815, in the years before the market and Industrial Revolution, most Americans lived on farms where they produced much of the foods and goods they used. This largely pre-capitalist culture centered on large family units whose members all lived in the same towns, counties, and parishes. Economic forces unleashed after 1815, however, forever altered that world. More and more people now bought their food and goods in the thriving market economy, a shift that opened the door to a new way of life. These economic transformations generated various reactions; some people were nostalgic for what they viewed as simpler, earlier times, whereas others were willing to try new ways of living and working. In the early nineteenth century, experimental communities sprang up, created by men and women who hoped not just to create a better way of life but to recast American civilization, so that greater equality and harmony would prevail. Indeed, some of these reformers envisioned the creation of alternative ways of living, where people could attain perfection in human relations. The exact number of these societies is unknown because many of them were so short-lived, but the movement reached its apex in the 1840s. RELIGIOUS UTOPIAN SOCIETIES Most of those attracted to utopian communities had been profoundly influenced by evangelical Protestantism, especially the Second Great Awakening. However, their experience of revivalism had left them wanting to further reform society. The communities they formed and joined adhered to various socialist ideas and were considered radical, because members wanted to create a new social order, not reform the old. German Protestant migrants formed several pietistic societies: communities that stressed transformative individual religious experience or piety over religious rituals and formality. One of the earliest of these, the Ephrata Cloister in Pennsylvania, was founded by a charismatic leader named Conrad Beissel in the 1730s. By the antebellum era, it was the oldest communal experiment in the United States. Its members devoted themselves to spiritual contemplation and a disciplined work regime while they awaited the millennium. They wore homespun rather than buying cloth or premade clothing, and encouraged celibacy. Although the Ephrata Cloister remained small, it served as an early example of the type of community that antebellum reformers hoped to create. In 1805, a second German religious society, led by George Rapp, took root in Pennsylvania with several hundred members called Rappites who encouraged celibacy and adhered to the socialist principle of holding all goods in common (as opposed to allowing individual ownership). They not only built the town of Harmony but also produced surplus goods to sell to the outside world. In 1815, the group sold its Pennsylvanian holdings and moved to Indiana, establishing New Harmony on a twenty-thousand-acre plot along the Wabash River. In 1825, members returned to Pennsylvania, and established themselves in the town called Economy. The Shakers provide another example of a community established with a religious mission. The Shakers started in England as an outgrowth of the Quaker religion in the middle of the eighteenth century. Ann Lee, a leader of the group in England, emigrated to New York in the 1770s, having experienced a profound religious awakening that convinced her that she was “mother in Christ.” She taught that God was both male and female; Jesus embodied the male side, while Mother Ann (as she came to be known by her followers) represented the female side. To Shakers in both England and the United States, Mother Ann represented the completion of divine revelation and the beginning of the millennium of heaven on earth. In practice, men and women in Shaker communities were held as equals—a radical departure at the time—and women often outnumbered men. Equality extended to the possession of material goods as well; no one could hold private property. Shaker communities aimed for self-sufficiency, raising food and making all that was necessary, including furniture that emphasized excellent workmanship as a substitute for worldly pleasure. The defining features of the Shakers were their spiritual mysticism and their prohibition of sexual intercourse, which they held as an example of a lesser spiritual life and a source of conflict between women and men. Rapturous Shaker dances, for which the group gained notoriety, allowed for emotional release (Figure). The high point of the Shaker movement came in the 1830s, when about six thousand members populated communities in New England, New York, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. Learn more about the musical heritage of the Shakers, including the well-known song “Simple Gifts,” which has become part of American culture. Another religious utopian experiment, the Oneida Community, began with the teachings of John Humphrey Noyes, a Vermonter who had graduated from Dartmouth, Andover Theological Seminary, and Yale. The Second Great Awakening exerted a powerful effect on him, and he came to believe in perfectionism, the idea that it is possible to be perfect and free of sin. Noyes claimed to have achieved this state of perfection in 1834. Noyes applied his idea of perfection to relationships between men and women, earning notoriety for his unorthodox views on marriage and sexuality. Beginning in his home town of Putney, Vermont, he began to advocate what he called “complex marriage:” a form of communal marriage in which women and men who had achieved perfection could engage in sexual intercourse without sin. Noyes also promoted “male continence,” whereby men would not ejaculate, thereby freeing women from pregnancy and the difficulty of determining paternity when they had many partners. Intercourse became fused with spiritual power among Noyes and his followers. The concept of complex marriage scandalized the townspeople in Putney, so Noyes and his followers removed to Oneida, New York. Individuals who wanted to join the Oneida Community underwent a tough screening process to weed out those who had not reached a state of perfection, which Noyes believed promoted self-control, not out-of-control behavior. The goal was a balance between individuals in a community of love and respect. The perfectionist community Noyes envisioned ultimately dissolved in 1881, although the Oneida Community itself continues to this day (Figure). The most successful religious utopian community to arise in the antebellum years was begun by Joseph Smith. Smith came from a large Vermont family that had not prospered in the new market economy and moved to the town of Palmyra, in the “burned over district” of western New York. In 1823, Smith claimed to have to been visited by the angel Moroni, who told him the location of a trove of golden plates or tablets. During the late 1820s, Smith translated the writing on the golden plates, and in 1830, he published his finding as The Book of Mormon. That same year, he organized the Church of Christ, the progenitor of the Church of Latter-Day Saints popularly known as Mormons. He presented himself as a prophet and aimed to recapture what he viewed as the purity of the primitive Christian church, purity that had been lost over the centuries. To Smith, this meant restoring male leadership. Smith emphasized the importance of families being ruled by fathers. His vision of a reinvigorated patriarchy resonated with men and women who had not thrived during the market revolution, and his claims attracted those who hoped for a better future. Smith’s new church placed great stress on work and discipline. He aimed to create a New Jerusalem where the church exercised oversight of its members. Smith’s claims of translating the golden plates antagonized his neighbors in New York. Difficulties with anti-Mormons led him and his followers to move to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1831. By 1838, as the United States experienced continued economic turbulence following the Panic of 1837, Smith and his followers were facing financial collapse after a series of efforts in banking and money-making ended in disaster. They moved to Missouri, but trouble soon developed there as well, as citizens reacted against the Mormons’ beliefs. Actual fighting broke out in 1838, and the ten thousand or so Mormons removed to Nauvoo, Illinois, where they founded a new center of Mormonism. By the 1840s, Nauvoo boasted a population of thirty thousand, making it the largest utopian community in the United States. Thanks to some important conversions to Mormonism among powerful citizens in Illinois, the Mormons had virtual autonomy in Nauvoo, which they used to create the largest armed force in the state. Smith also received further revelations there, including one that allowed male church leaders to practice polygamy. He also declared that all of North and South America would be the new Zion and announced that he would run for president in the 1844 election. Smith and the Mormons’ convictions and practices generated a great deal of opposition from neighbors in surrounding towns. Smith was arrested for treason (for destroying the printing press of a newspaper that criticized Mormonism), and while he was in prison, an anti-Mormon mob stormed into his cell and killed him. Brigham Young (Figure) then assumed leadership of the group, which he led to a permanent home in what is now Salt Lake City, Utah. SECULAR UTOPIAN SOCIETIES Not all utopian communities were prompted by the religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening; some were outgrowths of the intellectual ideas of the time, such as romanticism with its emphasis on the importance of individualism over conformity. One of these, Brook Farm, took shape in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, in the 1840s. It was founded by George Ripley, a transcendentalist from Massachusetts. In the summer of 1841, this utopian community gained support from Boston-area thinkers and writers, an intellectual group that included many important transcendentalists. Brook Farm is best characterized as a community of intensely individualistic personalities who combined manual labor, such as the growing and harvesting food, with intellectual pursuits. They opened a school that specialized in the liberal arts rather than rote memorization and published a weekly journal called The Harbinger, which was “Devoted to Social and Political Progress” (Figure). Members of Brook Farm never totaled more than one hundred, but it won renown largely because of the luminaries, such as Emerson and Thoreau, whose names were attached to it. Nathaniel Hawthorne, a Massachusetts writer who took issue with some of the transcendentalists’ claims, was a founding member of Brook Farm, and he fictionalized some of his experiences in his novel The Blithedale Romance. In 1846, a fire destroyed the main building of Brook Farm, and already hampered by financial problems, the Brook Farm experiment came to an end in 1847. Robert Owen, a British industrialist, helped inspire those who dreamed of a more equitable world in the face of the changes brought about by industrialization. Owen had risen to prominence before he turned thirty by running cotton mills in New Lanark, Scotland; these were considered the most successful cotton mills in Great Britain. Owen was very uneasy about the conditions of workers, and he devoted both his life and his fortune to trying to create cooperative societies where workers would lead meaningful, fulfilled lives. Unlike the founders of many utopian communities, he did not gain inspiration from religion; his vision derived instead from his faith in human reason to make the world better. When the Rappite community in Harmony, Indiana, decided to sell its holdings and relocate to Pennsylvania, Owen seized the opportunity to put his ideas into action. In 1825, he bought the twenty-thousand-acre parcel in Indiana and renamed it New Harmony (Figure). After only a few years, however, a series of bad decisions by Owen and infighting over issues like the elimination of private property led to the dissolution of the community. But Owen’s ideas of cooperation and support inspired other “Owenite” communities in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain. A French philosopher who advocated the creation of a new type of utopian community, Charles Fourier also inspired American readers, notably Arthur Brisbane, who popularized Fourier’s ideas in the United States. Fourier emphasized collective effort by groups of people or “associations.” Members of the association would be housed in large buildings or “phalanxes,” a type of communal living arrangement. Converts to Fourier’s ideas about a new science of living published and lectured vigorously. They believed labor was a type of capital, and the more unpleasant the job, the higher the wages should be. Fourierists in the United States created some twenty-eight communities between 1841 and 1858, but by the late 1850s, the movement had run its course in the United States. Section Summary Reformers who engaged in communal experiments aimed to recast economic and social relationships by introducing innovations designed to create a more stable and equitable society. Their ideas found many expressions, from early socialist experiments (such as by the Fourierists and the Owenites) to the dreams of the New England intellectual elite (such as Brook Farm). The Second Great Awakening also prompted many religious utopias, like those of the Rappites and Shakers. By any measure, the Mormons emerged as the most successful of these. Review Questions Which religious community focused on the power of patriarchy? - Shakers - Mormons - Owenites - Rappites Hint: A Which community or movement is associated with transcendentalism? - the Oneida Community - the Ephrata Cloister - Brook Farm - Fourierism Hint: C How were the reform communities of the antebellum era treated by the general population? Hint: Many reform communities were shunned, especially those that emphasized different forms of marriage (like the Oneida Community) or a departure from mainstream Protestantism. The Mormons, in particular, were forced to move ever further westward in their attempt to find a place to practice their religion in peace.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.049479	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15463/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15464/overview	Reforms to Human Health Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the different reforms aimed at improving the health of the human body - Describe the various factions and concerns within the temperance movement Antebellum reform efforts aimed at perfecting the spiritual and social worlds of individuals, and as an outgrowth of those concerns, some reformers moved in the direction of ensuring the health of American citizens. Many Americans viewed drunkenness as a major national problem, and the battle against alcohol and the many problems associated with it led many to join the temperance movement. Other reformers offered plans to increase physical well-being, instituting plans designed to restore vigor. Still others celebrated new sciences that would unlock the mysteries of human behavior and, by doing so, advance American civilization. TEMPERANCE According to many antebellum reformers, intemperance (drunkenness) stood as the most troubling problem in the United States, one that eroded morality, Christianity, and played a starring role in corrupting American democracy. Americans consumed huge quantities of liquor in the early 1800s, including gin, whiskey, rum, and brandy. Indeed, scholars agree that the rate of consumption of these drinks during the first three decades of the 1800s reached levels that have never been equaled in American history. A variety of reformers created organizations devoted to temperance, that is, moderation or self-restraint. Each of these organizations had its own distinct orientation and target audience. The earliest ones were formed in the 1810s in New England. The Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance and the Connecticut Society for the Reformation of Morals were both formed in 1813. Protestant ministers led both organizations, which enjoyed support from New Englanders who clung to the ideals of the Federalist Party and later the Whigs. These early temperance societies called on individuals to lead pious lives and avoid sin, including the sin of overindulging in alcohol. They called not for the eradication of drinking but for a more restrained and genteel style of imbibing. The Drunkard’s Progress This 1840 temperance illustration (Figure) charts the path of destruction for those who drink. The step-by-step progression reads: Step 1. A glass with a friend. Step 2. A glass to keep the cold out. Step 3. A glass too much. Step 4. Drunk and riotous. Step 5. The summit attained. Jolly companions. A confirmed drunkard. Step 6. Poverty and disease. Step 7. Forsaken by Friends. Step 8. Desperation and crime. Step 9. Death by suicide. Who do you think was the intended audience for this engraving? How do you think different audiences (children, drinkers, nondrinkers) would react to the story it tells? Do you think it is an effective piece of propaganda? Why or why not? In the 1820s, temperance gained ground largely through the work of Presbyterian minister Lyman Beecher. In 1825, Beecher delivered six sermons on temperance that were published the follow year as Six Sermons on the Nature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and Remedy of Intemperance. He urged total abstinence from hard liquor and called for the formation of voluntary associations to bring forth a new day without spirits (whiskey, rum, gin, brandy). Lyman’s work enjoyed a wide readership and support from leading Protestant ministers as well as the emerging middle class; temperance fit well with the middle-class ethic of encouraging hard work and a sober workforce. In 1826, the American Temperance Society was formed, and by the early 1830s, thousands of similar societies had sprouted across the country. Members originally pledged to shun only hard liquor. By 1836, however, leaders of the temperance movement, including Beecher, called for a more comprehensive approach. Thereafter, most temperance societies advocated total abstinence; no longer would beer and wine be tolerated. Such total abstinence from alcohol is known as teetotalism. Teetotalism led to disagreement within the movement and a loss of momentum for reform after 1836. However, temperance enjoyed a revival in the 1840s, as a new type of reformer took up the cause against alcohol. The engine driving the new burst of enthusiastic temperance reform was the Washington Temperance Society (named in deference to George Washington), which organized in 1840. The leaders of the Washingtonians came not from the ranks of Protestant ministers but from the working class. They aimed their efforts at confirmed alcoholics, unlike the early temperance advocates who mostly targeted the middle class. Washingtonians welcomed the participation of women and children, as they cast alcohol as the destroyer of families, and those who joined the group took a public pledge of teetotalism. Americans flocked to the Washingtonians; as many as 600,000 had taken the pledge by 1844. The huge surge in membership had much to do with the style of this reform effort. The Washingtonians turned temperance into theater by dramatizing the plight of those who fell into the habit of drunkenness. Perhaps the most famous fictional drama put forward by the temperance movement was Ten Nights in a Bar-Room (1853), a novel that became the basis for popular theatrical productions. The Washingtonians also sponsored picnics and parades that drew whole families into the movement. The group’s popularity quickly waned in the late 1840s and early 1850s, when questions arose about the effectiveness of merely taking a pledge. Many who had done so soon relapsed into alcoholism. Still, by that time, temperance had risen to a major political issue. Reformers lobbied for laws limiting or prohibiting alcohol, and states began to pass the first temperance laws. The earliest, an 1838 law in Massachusetts, prohibited the sale of liquor in quantities less than fifteen gallons, a move designed to make it difficult for ordinary workmen of modest means to buy spirits. The law was repealed in 1840, but Massachusetts towns then took the initiative by passing local laws banning alcohol. In 1845, close to one hundred towns in the state went “dry.” An 1839 Mississippi law, similar to Massachusetts’ original law, outlawed the sale of less than a gallon of liquor. Mississippi’s law illustrates the national popularity of temperance; regional differences notwithstanding, citizens in northern and southern states agreed on the issue of alcohol. Nonetheless, northern states pushed hardest for outlawing alcohol. Maine enacted the first statewide prohibition law in 1851. New England, New York, and states in the Midwest passed local laws in the 1850s, prohibiting the sale and manufacture of intoxicating beverages. REFORMS FOR THE BODY AND THE MIND Beyond temperance, other reformers looked to ways to maintain and improve health in a rapidly changing world. Without professional medical organizations or standards, health reform went in many different directions; although the American Medical Association was formed in 1847, it did not have much power to oversee medical practices. Too often, quack doctors prescribed regimens and medicines that did far more harm that good. Sylvester Graham stands out as a leading light among the health reformers in the antebellum years. A Presbyterian minister, Graham began his career as a reformer, lecturing against the evils of strong drink. He combined an interest in temperance with vegetarianism and sexuality into what he called a “Science of Human Life,” calling for a regimented diet of more vegetables, fruits, and grain, and no alcohol, meat, or spices. Graham advocated baths and cleanliness in general to preserve health; hydropathy, or water cures for various ailments, became popular in the United States in the 1840s and 1850s. He also viewed masturbation and excessive sex as a cause of disease and debility. His ideas led him to create what he believed to be a perfect food that would maintain health: the Graham cracker, which he invented in 1829. Followers of Graham, known as Grahamites, established boardinghouses where lodgers followed the recommended strict diet and sexual regimen. During the early nineteenth century, reformers also interested themselves in the workings of the mind in an effort to better understand the effects of a rapidly changing world awash with religious revivals and democratic movements. Phrenology—the mapping of the cranium to specific human attributes—stands as an early type of science, related to what would become psychology and devoted to understanding how the mind worked. Phrenologists believed that the mind contained thirty-seven “faculties,” the strengths or weaknesses of which could be determined by a close examination of the size and shape of the cranium (Figure). Initially developed in Europe by Franz Joseph Gall, a German doctor, phrenology first came to the United States in the 1820s. In the 1830s and 1840s, it grew in popularity as lecturers crisscrossed the republic. It was sometimes used as an educational test, and like temperance, it also became a form of popular entertainment. Map the brain! Check out all thirty-seven of phrenology’s purported faculties of the mind. The popularity of phrenology offers us some insight into the emotional world of the antebellum United States. Its popularity speaks to the desire of those living in a rapidly changing society, where older ties to community and family were being challenged, to understand one another. It appeared to offer a way to quickly recognize an otherwise-unknown individual as a readily understood set of human faculties. Section Summary Reformers targeted vices that corrupted the human body and society: the individual and the national soul. For many, alcohol appeared to be the most destructive and widespread. Indeed, in the years before the Civil War, the United States appeared to be a republic of drunkenness to many. To combat this national substance abuse problem, reformers created a host of temperance organizations that first targeted the middle and upper classes, and then the working classes. Thanks to Sylvester Graham and other health reformers, exercise and fresh air, combined with a good diet, became fashionable. Phrenologists focused on revealing the secrets of the mind and personality. In a fast-paced world, phrenology offered the possibility of knowing different human characteristics. Review Questions The first temperance laws were enacted by ________. - state governments - local governments - the federal government - temperance organizations Hint: B Sylvester Graham’s reformers targeted ________. - the human body - nutrition - sexuality - all of the above Hint: D Whom did temperance reformers target? Hint: At first, temperance reformers, who were predominantly led by Presbyterian ministers, targeted the middle and upper classes. When the movement veered toward teetotalism instead of temperance, the movement lost momentum. However, it was reborn with a focus on the working class in the 1840s.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.075324	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15464/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15465/overview	Addressing Slavery Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Identify the different approaches to reforming the institution of slavery - Describe the abolitionist movement in the early to mid-nineteenth century The issue of slavery proved especially combustible in the reform-minded antebellum United States. Those who hoped to end slavery had different ideas about how to do it. Some could not envision a biracial society and advocated sending blacks to Africa or the Caribbean. Others promoted the use of violence as the best method to bring American slavery to an end. Abolitionists, by contrast, worked to end slavery and to create a multiracial society of equals using moral arguments—moral suasion—to highlight the immorality of slavery. In keeping with the religious fervor of the era, abolitionists hoped to bring about a mass conversion in public opinion to end slavery. “REFORMS” TO SLAVERY An early and popular “reform” to slavery was colonization, or a movement advocating the displacement of African Americans out of the country, usually to Africa. In 1816, the Society for the Colonization of Free People of Color of America (also called the American Colonization Society or ACS) was founded with this goal. Leading statesmen including Thomas Jefferson endorsed the idea of colonization. Members of the ACS did not believe that blacks and whites could live as equals, so they targeted the roughly 200,000 free blacks in the United States for relocation to Africa. For several years after the ACS’s founding, they raised money and pushed Congress for funds. In 1819, they succeeded in getting $100,000 from the federal government to further the colonization project. The ACS played a major role in the creation of the colony of Liberia, on the west coast of Africa. The country’s capital, Monrovia, was named in honor of President James Monroe. The ACS stands as an example of how white reformers, especially men of property and standing, addressed the issue of slavery. Their efforts stand in stark contrast with other reformers’ efforts to deal with slavery in the United States. Although rebellion stretches the definition of reform, another potential solution to slavery was its violent overthrow. Nat Turner’s Rebellion, one of the largest slave uprisings in American history, took place in 1831, in Southampton County, Virginia. Like many slaves, Nat Turner was inspired by the evangelical Protestant fervor sweeping the republic. He preached to fellow slaves in Southampton County, gaining a reputation among them as a prophet. He organized them for rebellion, awaiting a sign to begin, until an eclipse in August signaled that the appointed time had come. Turner and as many as seventy other slaves killed their masters and their masters’ families, murdering a total of around sixty-five people (Figure). Turner eluded capture until late October, when he was tried, hanged, and then beheaded and quartered. Virginia put to death fifty-six other slaves whom they believed to have taken part in the rebellion. White vigilantes killed two hundred more as panic swept through Virginia and the rest of the South. Nat Turner on His Battle against Slavery Thomas R. Gray was a lawyer in Southampton, Virginia, where he visited Nat Turner in jail. He published The Confessions of Nat Turner, the leader of the late insurrection in Southampton, Va., as fully and voluntarily made to Thomas R. Gray in November 1831, after Turner had been executed. For as the blood of Christ had been shed on this earth, and had ascended to heaven for the salvation of sinners, and was now returning to earth again in the form of dew . . . it was plain to me that the Saviour was about to lay down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and the great day of judgment was at hand. . . . And on the 12th of May, 1828, I heard a loud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, . . . Ques. Do you not find yourself mistaken now? Ans. Was not Christ crucified. And by signs in the heavens that it would make known to me when I should commence the great work—and on the appearance of the sign, (the eclipse of the sun last February) I should arise and prepare myself, and slay my enemies with their own weapons. How did Turner interpret his fight against slavery? What did he mean by the “serpent?” Nat Turner’s Rebellion provoked a heated discussion in Virginia over slavery. The Virginia legislature was already in the process of revising the state constitution, and some delegates advocated for an easier manumission process. The rebellion, however, rendered that reform impossible. Virginia and other slave states recommitted themselves to the institution of slavery, and defenders of slavery in the South increasingly blamed northerners for provoking their slaves to rebel. Literate, educated blacks, including David Walker, also favored rebellion. Walker was born a free black man in North Carolina in 1796. He moved to Boston in the 1820s, lectured on slavery, and promoted the first African American newspaper, Freedom’s Journal. He called for blacks to actively resist slavery and to use violence if needed. He published An Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World in 1829, denouncing the scheme of colonization and urging blacks to fight for equality in the United States, to take action against racism. Walker died months after the publication of his Appeal, and debate continues to this day over the cause of his death. Many believe he was murdered. Walker became a symbol of hope to free people in the North and a symbol of the terrors of literate, educated blacks to the slaveholders of the South. ABOLITIONISM Abolitionists took a far more radical approach to the issue of the slavery by using moral arguments to advocate its immediate elimination. They publicized the atrocities committed under slavery and aimed to create a society characterized by equality of blacks and whites. In a world of intense religious fervor, they hoped to bring about a mass awakening in the United States of the sin of slavery, confident that they could transform the national conscience against the South’s peculiar institution. William Lloyd Garrison and Antislavery Societies William Lloyd Garrison of Massachusetts distinguished himself as the leader of the abolitionist movement. Although he had once been in favor of colonization, he came to believe that such a scheme only deepened racism and perpetuated the sinful practices of his fellow Americans. In 1831, he founded the abolitionist newspaper The Liberator, whose first edition declared: I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe from the fire into which it has fallen;—but urge me not to use moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest—I will not equivocate—I will not excuse—I will not retreat a single inch—AND I WILL BE HEARD. White Virginians blamed Garrison for stirring up slaves and instigating slave rebellions like Nat Turner’s. Garrison founded the New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1831, and the American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) in 1833. By 1838, the AASS had 250,000 members, sometimes called Garrisonians. They rejected colonization as a racist scheme and opposed the use of violence to end slavery. Influenced by evangelical Protestantism, Garrison and other abolitionists believed in moral suasion, a technique of appealing to the conscience of the public, especially slaveholders. Moral suasion relied on dramatic narratives, often from former slaves, about the horrors of slavery, arguing that slavery destroyed families, as children were sold and taken away from their mothers and fathers (Figure). Moral suasion resonated with many women, who condemned the sexual violence against slave women and the victimization of southern white women by adulterous husbands. Read the full text of John Greenleaf Whittier’s antislavery poem “Our Countrymen in Chains.” What imagery and rhetoric does Whittier use to advance the cause of abolitionism? Garrison also preached immediatism: the moral demand to take immediate action to end slavery. He wrote of equal rights and demanded that blacks be treated as equal to whites. He appealed to women and men, black and white, to join the fight. The abolition press, which produced hundreds of tracts, helped to circulate moral suasion. Garrison and other abolitionists also used the power of petitions, sending hundreds of petitions to Congress in the early 1830s, demanding an end to slavery. Since most newspapers published congressional proceedings, the debate over abolition petitions reached readers throughout the nation. Although Garrison rejected the U.S. political system as a tool of slaveholders, other abolitionists believed mainstream politics could bring about their goal, and they helped create the Liberty Party in 1840. Its first candidate was James G. Birney, who ran for president that year. Birney epitomized the ideal and goals of the abolitionist movement. Born in Kentucky in 1792, Birney owned slaves and, searching for a solution to what he eventually condemned as the immorality of slavery, initially endorsed colonization. In the 1830s, however, he rejected colonization, freed his slaves, and began to advocate the immediate end of slavery. The Liberty Party did not generate much support and remained a fringe third party. Many of its supporters turned to the Free-Soil Party in the aftermath of the Mexican Cession. The vast majority of northerners rejected abolition entirely. Indeed, abolition generated a fierce backlash in the United States, especially during the Age of Jackson, when racism saturated American culture. Anti-abolitionists in the North saw Garrison and other abolitionists as the worst of the worst, a threat to the republic that might destroy all decency and order by upending time-honored distinctions between blacks and whites, and between women and men. Northern anti-abolitionists feared that if slavery ended, the North would be flooded with blacks who would take jobs from whites. Opponents made clear their resistance to Garrison and others of his ilk; Garrison nearly lost his life in 1835, when a Boston anti-abolitionist mob dragged him through the city streets. Anti-abolitionists tried to pass federal laws that made the distribution of abolitionist literature a criminal offense, fearing that such literature, with its engravings and simple language, could spark rebellious blacks to action. Their sympathizers in Congress passed a “gag rule” that forbade the consideration of the many hundreds of petitions sent to Washington by abolitionists. A mob in Illinois killed an abolitionist named Elijah Lovejoy in 1837, and the following year, ten thousand protestors destroyed the abolitionists’ newly built Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia, burning it to the ground. Frederick Douglass Many escaped slaves joined the abolitionist movement, including Frederick Douglass. Douglass was born in Maryland in 1818, escaping to New York in 1838. He later moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts, with his wife. Douglass’s commanding presence and powerful speaking skills electrified his listeners when he began to provide public lectures on slavery. He came to the attention of Garrison and others, who encouraged him to publish his story. In 1845, Douglass published Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave Written by Himself, in which he told about his life of slavery in Maryland (Figure). He identified by name the whites who had brutalized him, and for that reason, along with the mere act of publishing his story, Douglass had to flee the United States to avoid being murdered. British abolitionist friends bought his freedom from his Maryland owner, and Douglass returned to the United States. He began to publish his own abolitionist newspaper, North Star, in Rochester, New York. During the 1840s and 1850s, Douglass labored to bring about the end of slavery by telling the story of his life and highlighting how slavery destroyed families, both black and white. Frederick Douglass on Slavery Most white slaveholders frequently raped female slaves. In this excerpt, Douglass explains the consequences for the children fathered by white masters and slave women. Slaveholders have ordained, and by law established, that the children of slave women shall in all cases follow the condition of their mothers . . . this is done too obviously to administer to their own lusts, and make a gratification of their wicked desires profitable as well as pleasurable . . . the slaveholder, in cases not a few, sustains to his slaves the double relation of master and father. . . . Such slaves [born of white masters] invariably suffer greater hardships . . . They are . . . a constant offence to their mistress . . . she is never better pleased than when she sees them under the lash, . . . The master is frequently compelled to sell this class of his slaves, out of deference to the feelings of his white wife; and, cruel as the deed may strike any one to be, for a man to sell his own children to human flesh-mongers, . . . for, unless he does this, he must not only whip them himself, but must stand by and see one white son tie up his brother, of but few shades darker . . . and ply the gory lash to his naked back. —Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave Written by Himself (1845) What moral complications did slavery unleash upon white slaveholders in the South, according to Douglass? What imagery does he use? Section Summary Contrasting proposals were put forth to deal with slavery. Reformers in the antebellum United States addressed the thorny issue of slavery through contrasting proposals that offered profoundly different solutions to the dilemma of the institution. Many leading American statesmen, including slaveholders, favored colonization, relocating American blacks to Africa, which abolitionists scorned. Slave rebellions sought the end of the institution through its violent overthrow, a tactic that horrified many in the North and the South. Abolitionists, especially those who followed William Lloyd Garrison, provoked equally strong reactions by envisioning a new United States without slavery, where blacks and whites stood on equal footing. Opponents saw abolition as the worst possible reform, a threat to all order and decency. Slaveholders, in particular, saw slavery as a positive aspect of American society, one that reformed the lives of slaves by exposing them to civilization and religion. Review Questions In the context of the antebellum era, what does colonization refer to? - Great Britain’s colonization of North America - the relocation of African Americans to Africa - American colonization of the Caribbean - American colonization of Africa Hint: B Which of the following did William Lloyd Garrison not employ in his abolitionist efforts? - moral suasion - immediatism - political involvement - pamphleteering Hint: C	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.102926	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15465/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15466/overview	Women’s Rights Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the connections between abolition, reform, and antebellum feminism - Describe the ways antebellum women’s movements were both traditional and revolutionary Women took part in all the antebellum reforms, from transcendentalism to temperance to abolition. In many ways, traditional views of women as nurturers played a role in encouraging their participation. Women who joined the cause of temperance, for example, amplified their accepted role as moral guardians of the home. Some women advocated a much more expansive role for themselves and their peers by educating children and men in solid republican principles. But it was their work in antislavery efforts that served as a springboard for women to take action against gender inequality. Many, especially northern women, came to the conclusion that they, like slaves, were held in shackles in a society dominated by men. Despite the radical nature of their effort to end slavery and create a biracial society, most abolitionist men clung to traditional notions of proper gender roles. White and black women, as well as free black men, were forbidden from occupying leadership positions in the AASS. Because women were not allowed to join the men in playing leading roles in the organization, they formed separate societies, such as the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society, the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society, and similar groups. THE GRIMKÉ SISTERS Two leading abolitionist women, Sarah and Angelina Grimké, played major roles in combining the fight to end slavery with the struggle to achieve female equality. The sisters had been born into a prosperous slaveholding family in South Carolina. Both were caught up in the religious fervor of the Second Great Awakening, and they moved to the North and converted to Quakerism. In the mid-1830s, the sisters joined the abolitionist movement, and in 1837, they embarked on a public lecture tour, speaking about immediate abolition to “promiscuous assemblies,” that is, to audiences of women and men. This public action thoroughly scandalized respectable society, where it was unheard of for women to lecture to men. William Lloyd Garrison endorsed the Grimké sisters’ public lectures, but other abolitionists did not. Their lecture tour served as a turning point; the reaction against them propelled the question of women’s proper sphere in society to the forefront of public debate. THE DECLARATION OF RIGHTS AND SENTIMENTS Participation in the abolitionist movement led some women to embrace feminism, the advocacy of women’s rights. Lydia Maria Child, an abolitionist and feminist, observed, “The comparison between women and the colored race is striking . . . both have been kept in subjection by physical force.” Other women, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, and Susan B. Anthony, agreed (Figure). In 1848, about three hundred male and female feminists, many of them veterans of the abolition campaign, gathered at the Seneca Falls Convention in New York for a conference on women’s rights that was organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was the first of what became annual meetings that have continued to the present day. Attendees agreed to a “Declaration of Rights and Sentiments” based on the Declaration of Independence; it declared, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” “The history of mankind,” the document continued, “is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman, having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.” Read the entire text of the Declaration of Rights and Sentiments in the Internet Modern History Sourcebook at Fordham University. REPUBLICAN MOTHERHOOD IN THE ANTEBELLUM YEARS Some northern female reformers saw new and vital roles for their sex in the realm of education. They believed in traditional gender roles, viewing women as inherently more moral and nurturing than men. Because of these attributes, the feminists argued, women were uniquely qualified to take up the roles of educators of children. Catharine Beecher, the daughter of Lyman Beecher, pushed for women’s roles as educators. In her 1845 book, The Duty of American Women to Their Country, she argued that the United States had lost its moral compass due to democratic excess. Both “intelligence and virtue” were imperiled in an age of riots and disorder. Women, she argued, could restore the moral center by instilling in children a sense of right and wrong. Beecher represented a northern, middle-class female sensibility. The home, especially the parlor, became the site of northern female authority. Section Summary The spirit of religious awakening and reform in the antebellum era impacted women lives by allowing them to think about their lives and their society in new and empowering ways. Of all the various antebellum reforms, however, abolition played a significant role in generating the early feminist movement in the United States. Although this early phase of American feminism did not lead to political rights for women, it began the long process of overcoming gender inequalities in the republic. Review Questions Why did William Lloyd Garrison’s endorsement of the Grimké sisters divide the abolitionist movement? - They advocated equal rights for women. - They supported colonization. - They attended the Seneca Falls Convention. - They lectured to co-ed audiences. Hint: D Which female reformer focused on women’s roles as the educators of children? - Lydia Maria Child - Sarah Grimké - Catherine Beecher - Susan B. Anthony Hint: C How did the abolitionist movement impact the women’s movement? Hint: Women’s involvement in the abolitionist movement, where they were unable to take leadership roles in traditional male organizations, led them to create their own organizations, where they were thrust into the public sphere. Critical Thinking Questions In what ways did the Second Great Awakening and transcendentalism reflect and react to the changes in antebellum American thought and culture? What did the antebellum communal projects have in common? How did the ones most influenced by religion differ from those that had other influences? In what ways do temperance, health reforms, and phrenology offer reflections on the changes in the United States before the Civil War? What needs did these reforms fill in the lives of antebellum Americans? Of the various approaches to the problem of slavery, which one do you find to be the most effective and why? In what ways were antebellum feminists radical? In what ways were they traditional?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.129247	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15466/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15412/overview	Introduction Overview - Charles II and the Restoration Colonies - The Glorious Revolution and the English Empire - An Empire of Slavery and the Consumer Revolution - Great Awakening and Enlightenment - Wars for Empire The eighteenth century witnessed the birth of Great Britain (after the union of England and Scotland in 1707) and the expansion of the British Empire. By the mid-1700s, Great Britain had developed into a commercial and military powerhouse; its economic sway ranged from India, where the British East India Company had gained control over both trade and territory, to the West African coast, where British slave traders predominated, and to the British West Indies, whose lucrative sugar plantations, especially in Barbados and Jamaica, provided windfall profits for British planters. Meanwhile, the population rose dramatically in Britain’s North American colonies. In the early 1700s the population in the colonies had reached 250,000. By 1750, however, over a million British migrants and African slaves had established a near-continuous zone of settlement on the Atlantic coast from Maine to Georgia. During this period, the ties between Great Britain and the American colonies only grew stronger. Anglo-American colonists considered themselves part of the British Empire in all ways: politically, militarily, religiously (as Protestants), intellectually, and racially. The portrait of the Royall family (Figure) exemplifies the colonial American gentry of the eighteenth century. Successful and well-to-do, they display fashions, hairstyles, and furnishings that all speak to their identity as proud and loyal British subjects.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.144878	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15412/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–1763", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15413/overview	Charles II and the Restoration Colonies Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Analyze the causes and consequences of the Restoration - Identify the Restoration colonies and their role in the expansion of the Empire When Charles II ascended the throne in 1660, English subjects on both sides of the Atlantic celebrated the restoration of the English monarchy after a decade of living without a king as a result of the English Civil Wars. Charles II lost little time in strengthening England’s global power. From the 1660s to the 1680s, Charles II added more possessions to England’s North American holdings by establishing the Restoration colonies of New York and New Jersey (taking these areas from the Dutch) as well as Pennsylvania and the Carolinas. In order to reap the greatest economic benefit from England’s overseas possessions, Charles II enacted the mercantilist Navigation Acts, although many colonial merchants ignored them because enforcement remained lax. CHARLES II The chronicle of Charles II begins with his father, Charles I. Charles I ascended the English throne in 1625 and soon married a French Catholic princess, Henrietta Maria, who was not well liked by English Protestants because she openly practiced Catholicism during her husband’s reign. The most outspoken Protestants, the Puritans, had a strong voice in Parliament in the 1620s, and they strongly opposed the king’s marriage and his ties to Catholicism. When Parliament tried to contest his edicts, including the king’s efforts to impose taxes without Parliament’s consent, Charles I suspended Parliament in 1629 and ruled without one for the next eleven years. The ensuing struggle between the king and Parliament led to the outbreak of war. The English Civil War lasted from 1642 to 1649 and pitted the king and his Royalist supporters against Oliver Cromwell and his Parliamentary forces. After years of fighting, the Parliamentary forces gained the upper hand, and in 1649, they charged Charles I with treason and beheaded him. The monarchy was dissolved, and England became a republic: a state without a king. Oliver Cromwell headed the new English Commonwealth, and the period known as the English interregnum, or the time between kings, began. Though Cromwell enjoyed widespread popularity at first, over time he appeared to many in England to be taking on the powers of a military dictator. Dissatisfaction with Cromwell grew. When he died in 1658 and control passed to his son Richard, who lacked the political skills of his father, a majority of the English people feared an alternate hereditary monarchy in the making. They had had enough and asked Charles II to be king. In 1660, they welcomed the son of the executed king Charles I back to the throne to resume the English monarchy and bring the interregnum to an end (Figure). The return of Charles II is known as the Restoration. Charles II was committed to expanding England’s overseas possessions. His policies in the 1660s through the 1680s established and supported the Restoration colonies: the Carolinas, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. All the Restoration colonies started as proprietary colonies, that is, the king gave each colony to a trusted individual, family, or group. THE CAROLINAS Charles II hoped to establish English control of the area between Virginia and Spanish Florida. To that end, he issued a royal charter in 1663 to eight trusted and loyal supporters, each of whom was to be a feudal-style proprietor of a region of the province of Carolina. These proprietors did not relocate to the colonies, however. Instead, English plantation owners from the tiny Caribbean island of Barbados, already a well-established English sugar colony fueled by slave labor, migrated to the southern part of Carolina to settle there. In 1670, they established Charles Town (later Charleston), named in honor of Charles II, at the junction of the Ashley and Cooper Rivers (Figure). As the settlement around Charles Town grew, it began to produce livestock for export to the West Indies. In the northern part of Carolina, settlers turned sap from pine trees into turpentine used to waterproof wooden ships. Political disagreements between settlers in the northern and southern parts of Carolina escalated in the 1710s through the 1720s and led to the creation, in 1729, of two colonies, North and South Carolina. The southern part of Carolina had been producing rice and indigo (a plant that yields a dark blue dye used by English royalty) since the 1700s, and South Carolina continued to depend on these main crops. North Carolina continued to produce items for ships, especially turpentine and tar, and its population increased as Virginians moved there to expand their tobacco holdings. Tobacco was the primary export of both Virginia and North Carolina, which also traded in deerskins and slaves from Africa. Slavery developed quickly in the Carolinas, largely because so many of the early migrants came from Barbados, where slavery was well established. By the end of the 1600s, a very wealthy class of rice planters who relied on slaves had attained dominance in the southern part of the Carolinas, especially around Charles Town. By 1715, South Carolina had a black majority because of the number of slaves in the colony. The legal basis for slavery was established in the early 1700s as the Carolinas began to pass slave laws based on the Barbados slave codes of the late 1600s. These laws reduced Africans to the status of property to be bought and sold as other commodities. Visit the Charleston Museum’s interactive exhibit The Walled City to learn more about the history of Charleston. As in other areas of English settlement, native peoples in the Carolinas suffered tremendously from the introduction of European diseases. Despite the effects of disease, Indians in the area endured and, following the pattern elsewhere in the colonies, grew dependent on European goods. Local Yamasee and Creek tribes built up a trade deficit with the English, trading deerskins and captive slaves for European guns. English settlers exacerbated tensions with local Indian tribes, especially the Yamasee, by expanding their rice and tobacco fields into Indian lands. Worse still, English traders took native women captive as payment for debts. The outrages committed by traders, combined with the seemingly unstoppable expansion of English settlement onto native land, led to the outbreak of the Yamasee War (1715–1718), an effort by a coalition of local tribes to drive away the European invaders. This native effort to force the newcomers back across the Atlantic nearly succeeded in annihilating the Carolina colonies. Only when the Cherokee allied themselves with the English did the coalition’s goal of eliminating the English from the region falter. The Yamasee War demonstrates the key role native peoples played in shaping the outcome of colonial struggles and, perhaps most important, the disunity that existed between different native groups. NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY Charles II also set his sights on the Dutch colony of New Netherland. The English takeover of New Netherland originated in the imperial rivalry between the Dutch and the English. During the Anglo-Dutch wars of the 1650s and 1660s, the two powers attempted to gain commercial advantages in the Atlantic World. During the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1664–1667), English forces gained control of the Dutch fur trading colony of New Netherland, and in 1664, Charles II gave this colony (including present-day New Jersey) to his brother James, Duke of York (later James II). The colony and city were renamed New York in his honor. The Dutch in New York chafed under English rule. In 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–1674), the Dutch recaptured the colony. However, at the end of the conflict, the English had regained control (Figure). The Duke of York had no desire to govern locally or listen to the wishes of local colonists. It wasn’t until 1683, therefore, almost 20 years after the English took control of the colony, that colonists were able to convene a local representative legislature. The assembly’s 1683 Charter of Liberties and Privileges set out the traditional rights of Englishmen, like the right to trial by jury and the right to representative government. The English continued the Dutch patroonship system, granting large estates to a favored few families. The largest of these estates, at 160,000 acres, was given to Robert Livingston in 1686. The Livingstons and the other manorial families who controlled the Hudson River Valley formed a formidable political and economic force. Eighteenth-century New York City, meanwhile, contained a variety of people and religions—as well as Dutch and English people, it held French Protestants (Huguenots), Jews, Puritans, Quakers, Anglicans, and a large population of slaves. As they did in other zones of colonization, native peoples played a key role in shaping the history of colonial New York. After decades of war in the 1600s, the powerful Five Nations of the Iroquois, composed of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, successfully pursued a policy of neutrality with both the English and, to the north, the French in Canada during the first half of the 1700s. This native policy meant that the Iroquois continued to live in their own villages under their own government while enjoying the benefits of trade with both the French and the English. PENNSYLVANIA The Restoration colonies also included Pennsylvania, which became the geographic center of British colonial America. Pennsylvania (which means “Penn’s Woods” in Latin) was created in 1681, when Charles II bestowed the largest proprietary colony in the Americas on William Penn (Figure) to settle the large debt he owed the Penn family. William Penn’s father, Admiral William Penn, had served the English crown by helping take Jamaica from the Spanish in 1655. The king personally owed the Admiral money as well. Like early settlers of the New England colonies, Pennsylvania’s first colonists migrated mostly for religious reasons. William Penn himself was a Quaker, a member of a new Protestant denomination called the Society of Friends. George Fox had founded the Society of Friends in England in the late 1640s, having grown dissatisfied with Puritanism and the idea of predestination. Rather, Fox and his followers stressed that everyone had an “inner light” inside him or her, a spark of divinity. They gained the name Quakers because they were said to quake when the inner light moved them. Quakers rejected the idea of worldly rank, believing instead in a new and radical form of social equality. Their speech reflected this belief in that they addressed all others as equals, using “thee” and “thou” rather than terms like “your lordship” or “my lady” that were customary for privileged individuals of the hereditary elite. The English crown persecuted Quakers in England, and colonial governments were equally harsh; Massachusetts even executed several early Quakers who had gone to proselytize there. To avoid such persecution, Quakers and their families at first created a community on the sugar island of Barbados. Soon after its founding, however, Pennsylvania became the destination of choice. Quakers flocked to Pennsylvania as well as New Jersey, where they could preach and practice their religion in peace. Unlike New England, whose official religion was Puritanism, Pennsylvania did not establish an official church. Indeed, the colony allowed a degree of religious tolerance found nowhere else in English America. To help encourage immigration to his colony, Penn promised fifty acres of land to people who agreed to come to Pennsylvania and completed their term of service. Not surprisingly, those seeking a better life came in large numbers, so much so that Pennsylvania relied on indentured servants more than any other colony. One of the primary tenets of Quakerism is pacifism, leading William Penn to establish friendly relationships with local native peoples. He formed a covenant of friendship with the Lenni Lenape (Delaware) tribe, buying their land for a fair price instead of taking it by force. In 1701, he also signed a treaty with the Susquehannocks to avoid war. Unlike other colonies, Pennsylvania did not experience war on the frontier with native peoples during its early history. As an important port city, Philadelphia grew rapidly. Quaker merchants there established contacts throughout the Atlantic world and participated in the thriving African slave trade. Some Quakers, who were deeply troubled by the contradiction between their belief in the “inner light” and the practice of slavery, rejected the practice and engaged in efforts to abolish it altogether. Philadelphia also acted as a magnet for immigrants, who came not only from England, but from all over Europe by the hundreds of thousands. The city, and indeed all of Pennsylvania, appeared to be the best country for poor men and women, many of whom arrived as servants and dreamed of owning land. A very few, like the fortunate Benjamin Franklin, a runaway from Puritan Boston, did extraordinarily well. Other immigrant groups in the colony, most notably Germans and Scotch-Irish (families from Scotland and England who had first lived in Ireland before moving to British America), greatly improved their lot in Pennsylvania. Of course, Africans imported into the colony to labor for white masters fared far worse. John Wilson Offers Reward for Escaped Prisoners The American Weekly Mercury, published by William Bradford, was Philadelphia’s first newspaper. This advertisement from “John Wilson, Goaler” (jailer) offers a reward for anyone capturing several men who escaped from the jail. BROKE out of the Common Goal of Philadelphia, the 15th of this Instant February, 1721, the following Persons: John Palmer, also Plumly, alias Paine, Servant to Joseph Jones, run away and was lately taken up at New-York. He is fully described in the American Mercury, Novem. 23, 1721. He has a Cinnamon coloured Coat on, a middle sized fresh coloured Man. His Master will give a Pistole Reward to any who Shall Secure him, besides what is here offered. Daniel Oughtopay, A Dutchman, aged about 24 Years, Servant to Dr. Johnston in Amboy. He is a thin Spare man, grey Drugget Waistcoat and Breeches and a light-coloured Coat on. Ebenezor Mallary, a New-England, aged about 24 Years, is a middle-sized thin Man, having on a Snuff colour’d Coat, and ordinary Ticking Waistcoat and Breeches. He has dark brown strait Hair. Matthew Dulany, an Irish Man, down-look’d Swarthy Complexion, and has on an Olive-coloured Cloth Coat and Waistcoat with Cloth Buttons. John Flemming, an Irish Lad, aged about 18, belonging to Mr. Miranda, Merchant in this City. He has no Coat, a grey Drugget Waistcoat, and a narrow brim’d Hat on. John Corbet, a Shropshire Man, a Runaway Servant from Alexander Faulkner of Maryland, broke out on the 12th Instant. He has got a double-breasted Sailor’s Jacket on lined with red Bays, pretends to be a Sailor, and once taught School at Josephs Collings’s in the Jerseys. Whoever takes up and secures all, or any One of these Felons, shall have a Pistole Reward for each of them and reasonable Charges, paid them by John Wilson, Goaler —Advertisement from the American Weekly Mercury, 1722 What do the descriptions of the men tell you about life in colonial Philadelphia? Browse a number of issues of the American Weekly Mercury that were digitized by New Jersey’s Stockton University. Read through several to get a remarkable flavor of life in early eighteenth-century Philadelphia. THE NAVIGATION ACTS Creating wealth for the Empire remained a primary goal, and in the second half of the seventeenth century, especially during the Restoration, England attempted to gain better control of trade with the American colonies. The mercantilist policies by which it tried to achieve this control are known as the Navigation Acts. The 1651 Navigation Ordnance, a product of Cromwell’s England, required that only English ships carry goods between England and the colonies, and that the captain and three-fourths of the crew had to be English. The ordnance further listed “enumerated articles” that could be transported only to England or to English colonies, including the most lucrative commodities like sugar and tobacco as well as indigo, rice, molasses, and naval stores such as turpentine. All were valuable goods not produced in England or in demand by the British navy. After ascending the throne, Charles II approved the 1660 Navigation Act, which restated the 1651 act to ensure a monopoly on imports from the colonies. Other Navigation Acts included the 1663 Staple Act and the 1673 Plantation Duties Act. The Staple Act barred colonists from importing goods that had not been made in England, creating a profitable monopoly for English exporters and manufacturers. The Plantation Duties Act taxed enumerated articles exported from one colony to another, a measure aimed principally at New Englanders, who transported great quantities of molasses from the West Indies, including smuggled molasses from French-held islands, to make into rum. In 1675, Charles II organized the Lords of Trade and Plantation, commonly known as the Lords of Trade, an administrative body intended to create stronger ties between the colonial governments and the crown. However, the 1696 Navigation Act created the Board of Trade, replacing the Lords of Trade. This act, meant to strengthen enforcement of customs laws, also established vice-admiralty courts where the crown could prosecute customs violators without a jury. Under this act, customs officials were empowered with warrants known as “writs of assistance” to board and search vessels suspected of containing smuggled goods. Despite the Navigation Acts, however, Great Britain exercised lax control over the English colonies during most of the eighteenth century because of the policies of Prime Minister Robert Walpole. During his long term (1721–1742), Walpole governed according to his belief that commerce flourished best when it was not encumbered with restrictions. Historians have described this lack of strict enforcement of the Navigation Acts as salutary neglect. In addition, nothing prevented colonists from building their own fleet of ships to engage in trade. New England especially benefited from both salutary neglect and a vibrant maritime culture made possible by the scores of trading vessels built in the northern colonies. The case of the 1733 Molasses Act illustrates the weaknesses of British mercantilist policy. The 1733 act placed a sixpence-per-gallon duty on raw sugar, rum, and molasses from Britain’s competitors, the French and the Dutch, in order to give an advantage to British West Indian producers. Because the British did not enforce the 1733 law, however, New England mariners routinely smuggled these items from the French and Dutch West Indies more cheaply than they could buy them on English islands. Section Summary After the English Civil War and interregnum, England began to fashion a stronger and larger empire in North America. In addition to wresting control of New York and New Jersey from the Dutch, Charles II established the Carolinas and Pennsylvania as proprietary colonies. Each of these colonies added immensely to the Empire, supplying goods not produced in England, such as rice and indigo. The Restoration colonies also contributed to the rise in population in English America as many thousands of Europeans made their way to the colonies. Their numbers were further augmented by the forced migration of African slaves. Starting in 1651, England pursued mercantilist policies through a series of Navigation Acts designed to make the most of England’s overseas possessions. Nonetheless, without proper enforcement of Parliament’s acts and with nothing to prevent colonial traders from commanding their own fleets of ships, the Navigation Acts did not control trade as intended. Review Questions To what does the term “Restoration” refer? - the restoration of New York to English power - the restoration of Catholicism as the official religion of England - the restoration of Charles II to the English throne - the restoration of Parliamentary power in England Hint: C What was the predominant religion in Pennsylvania? - Quakerism - Puritanism - Catholicism - Protestantism Hint: A What sorts of labor systems were used in the Restoration colonies? Hint: Since the proprietors of the Carolina colonies were absent, English planters from Barbados moved in and gained political power, establishing slave labor as the predominant form of labor. In Pennsylvania, where prospective servants were offered a bounty of fifty acres of land for emigrating and finishing their term of labor, indentured servitude abounded.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.175783	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15413/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–1763", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15414/overview	The Glorious Revolution and the English Empire Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Identify the causes of the Glorious Revolution - Explain the outcomes of the Glorious Revolution During the brief rule of King James II, many in England feared the imposition of a Catholic absolute monarchy by the man who modeled his rule on that of his French Catholic cousin, Louis XIV. Opposition to James II, spearheaded by the English Whig party, overthrew the king in the Glorious Revolution of 1688–1689. This paved the way for the Protestant reign of William of Orange and his wife Mary (James’s Protestant daughter). JAMES II AND THE GLORIOUS REVOLUTION King James II (Figure), the second son of Charles I, ascended the English throne in 1685 on the death of his brother, Charles II. James then worked to model his rule on the reign of the French Catholic King Louis XIV, his cousin. This meant centralizing English political strength around the throne, giving the monarchy absolute power. Also like Louis XIV, James II practiced a strict and intolerant form of Roman Catholicism after he converted from Protestantism in the late 1660s. He had a Catholic wife, and when they had a son, the potential for a Catholic heir to the English throne became a threat to English Protestants. James also worked to modernize the English army and navy. The fact that the king kept a standing army in times of peace greatly alarmed the English, who believed that such a force would be used to crush their liberty. As James’s strength grew, his opponents feared their king would turn England into a Catholic monarchy with absolute power over her people. In 1686, James II applied his concept of a centralized state to the colonies by creating an enormous colony called the Dominion of New England. The Dominion included all the New England colonies (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Plymouth, Connecticut, New Haven, and Rhode Island) and in 1688 was enlarged by the addition of New York and New Jersey. James placed in charge Sir Edmund Andros, a former colonial governor of New York. Loyal to James II and his family, Andros had little sympathy for New Englanders. His regime caused great uneasiness among New England Puritans when it called into question the many land titles that did not acknowledge the king and imposed fees for their reconfirmation. Andros also committed himself to enforcing the Navigation Acts, a move that threatened to disrupt the region’s trade, which was based largely on smuggling. In England, opponents of James II’s efforts to create a centralized Catholic state were known as Whigs. The Whigs worked to depose James, and in late 1688 they succeeded, an event they celebrated as the Glorious Revolution while James fled to the court of Louis XIV in France. William III (William of Orange) and his wife Mary II ascended the throne in 1689. The Glorious Revolution spilled over into the colonies. In 1689, Bostonians overthrew the government of the Dominion of New England and jailed Sir Edmund Andros as well as other leaders of the regime (Figure). The removal of Andros from power illustrates New England’s animosity toward the English overlord who had, during his tenure, established Church of England worship in Puritan Boston and vigorously enforced the Navigation Acts, to the chagrin of those in port towns. In New York, the same year that Andros fell from power, Jacob Leisler led a group of Protestant New Yorkers against the dominion government. Acting on his own authority, Leisler assumed the role of King William’s governor and organized intercolonial military action independent of British authority. Leisler’s actions usurped the crown’s prerogative and, as a result, he was tried for treason and executed. In 1691, England restored control over the Province of New York. The Glorious Revolution provided a shared experience for those who lived through the tumult of 1688 and 1689. Subsequent generations kept the memory of the Glorious Revolution alive as a heroic defense of English liberty against a would-be tyrant. ENGLISH LIBERTY The Glorious Revolution led to the establishment of an English nation that limited the power of the king and provided protections for English subjects. In October 1689, the same year that William and Mary took the throne, the 1689 Bill of Rights established a constitutional monarchy. It stipulated Parliament’s independence from the monarchy and protected certain of Parliament’s rights, such as the right to freedom of speech, the right to regular elections, and the right to petition the king. The 1689 Bill of Rights also guaranteed certain rights to all English subjects, including trial by jury and habeas corpus (the requirement that authorities bring an imprisoned person before a court to demonstrate the cause of the imprisonment). John Locke (1632–1704), a doctor and educator who had lived in exile in Holland during the reign of James II and returned to England after the Glorious Revolution, published his Two Treatises of Government in 1690. In it, he argued that government was a form of contract between the leaders and the people, and that representative government existed to protect “life, liberty and property.” Locke rejected the divine right of kings and instead advocated for the central role of Parliament with a limited monarchy. Locke’s political philosophy had an enormous impact on future generations of colonists and established the paramount importance of representation in government. Visit the Digital Locke Project to read more of John Locke’s writings. This digital collection contains over thirty of his philosophical texts. The Glorious Revolution also led to the English Toleration Act of 1689, a law passed by Parliament that allowed for greater religious diversity in the Empire. This act granted religious tolerance to nonconformist Trinitarian Protestants (those who believed in the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost), such as Baptists (those who advocated adult baptism) and Congregationalists (those who followed the Puritans’ lead in creating independent churches). While the Church of England remained the official state religious establishment, the Toleration Act gave much greater religious freedom to nonconformists. However, this tolerance did not extend to Catholics, who were routinely excluded from political power. The 1689 Toleration Act extended to the British colonies, where several colonies—Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Delaware, and New Jersey—refused to allow the creation of an established colonial church, a major step toward greater religious diversity. Section Summary The threat of a Catholic absolute monarchy prompted not only the overthrow of James II but also the adoption of laws and policies that changed English government. The Glorious Revolution restored a Protestant monarchy and at the same time limited its power by means of the 1689 Bill of Rights. Those who lived through the events preserved the memory of the Glorious Revolution and the defense of liberty that it represented. Meanwhile, thinkers such as John Locke provided new models and inspirations for the evolving concept of government. Review Questions Which of the following represents a concern that those in England and her colonies maintained about James II? - that he would promote the spread of Protestantism - that he would reduce the size of the British army and navy, leaving England and her colonies vulnerable to attack - that he would advocate for Parliament’s independence from the monarchy - that he would institute a Catholic absolute monarchy Hint: D What was the Dominion of New England? - James II’s overthrow of the New England colonial governments - the consolidated New England colony James II created - Governor Edmund Andros’s colonial government in New York - the excise taxes New England colonists had to pay to James II Hint: B What was the outcome of the Glorious Revolution? Hint: James II was overthrown, and William III and Mary II took his place. The 1689 Bill of Rights limited the future power of the monarchy and outlined the rights of Parliament and Englishmen. In Massachusetts, Bostonians overthrew royal governor Edmund Andros.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.201765	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15414/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–1763", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15415/overview	An Empire of Slavery and the Consumer Revolution Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Analyze the role slavery played in the history and economy of the British Empire - Explain the effects of the 1739 Stono Rebellion and the 1741 New York Conspiracy Trials - Describe the consumer revolution and its effect on the life of the colonial gentry and other settlers Slavery formed a cornerstone of the British Empire in the eighteenth century. Every colony had slaves, from the southern rice plantations in Charles Town, South Carolina, to the northern wharves of Boston. Slavery was more than a labor system; it also influenced every aspect of colonial thought and culture. The uneven relationship it engendered gave white colonists an exaggerated sense of their own status. English liberty gained greater meaning and coherence for whites when they contrasted their status to that of the unfree class of black slaves in British America. African slavery provided whites in the colonies with a shared racial bond and identity. SLAVERY AND THE STONO REBELLION The transport of slaves to the American colonies accelerated in the second half of the seventeenth century. In 1660, Charles II created the Royal African Company (Figure) to trade in slaves and African goods. His brother, James II, led the company before ascending the throne. Under both these kings, the Royal African Company enjoyed a monopoly to transport slaves to the English colonies. Between 1672 and 1713, the company bought 125,000 captives on the African coast, losing 20 percent of them to death on the Middle Passage, the journey from the African coast to the Americas. The Royal African Company’s monopoly ended in 1689 as a result of the Glorious Revolution. After that date, many more English merchants engaged in the slave trade, greatly increasing the number of slaves being transported. Africans who survived the brutal Middle Passage usually arrived in the West Indies, often in Barbados. From there, they were transported to the mainland English colonies on company ships. While merchants in London, Bristol, and Liverpool lined their pockets, Africans trafficked by the company endured a nightmare of misery, privation, and dislocation. Slaves strove to adapt to their new lives by forming new communities among themselves, often adhering to traditional African customs and healing techniques. Indeed, the development of families and communities formed the most important response to the trauma of being enslaved. Other slaves dealt with the trauma of their situation by actively resisting their condition, whether by defying their masters or running away. Runaway slaves formed what were called “maroon” communities, groups that successfully resisted recapture and formed their own autonomous groups. The most prominent of these communities lived in the interior of Jamaica, controlling the area and keeping the British away. Slaves everywhere resisted their exploitation and attempted to gain freedom. They fully understood that rebellions would bring about massive retaliation from whites and therefore had little chance of success. Even so, rebellions occurred frequently. One notable uprising that became known as the Stono Rebellion took place in South Carolina in September 1739. A literate slave named Jemmy led a large group of slaves in an armed insurrection against white colonists, killing several before militia stopped them. The militia suppressed the rebellion after a battle in which both slaves and militiamen were killed, and the remaining slaves were executed or sold to the West Indies. Jemmy is believed to have been taken from the Kingdom of Kongo, an area where the Portuguese had introduced Catholicism. Other slaves in South Carolina may have had a similar background: Africa-born and familiar with whites. If so, this common background may have made it easier for Jemmy to communicate with the other slaves, enabling them to work together to resist their enslavement even though slaveholders labored to keep slaves from forging such communities. In the wake of the Stono Rebellion, South Carolina passed a new slave code in 1740 called An Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes and Other Slaves in the Province, also known as the Negro Act of 1740. This law imposed new limits on slaves’ behavior, prohibiting slaves from assembling, growing their own food, learning to write, and traveling freely. THE NEW YORK CONSPIRACY TRIALS OF 1741 Eighteenth-century New York City contained many different ethnic groups, and conflicts among them created strain. In addition, one in five New Yorkers was a slave, and tensions ran high between slaves and the free population, especially in the aftermath of the Stono Rebellion. These tensions burst forth in 1741. That year, thirteen fires broke out in the city, one of which reduced the colony’s Fort George to ashes. Ever fearful of an uprising among enslaved New Yorkers, the city’s whites spread rumors that the fires were part of a massive slave revolt in which slaves would murder whites, burn the city, and take over the colony. The Stono Rebellion was only a few years in the past, and throughout British America, fears of similar incidents were still fresh. Searching for solutions, and convinced slaves were the principal danger, nervous British authorities interrogated almost two hundred slaves and accused them of conspiracy. Rumors that Roman Catholics had joined the suspected conspiracy and planned to murder Protestant inhabitants of the city only added to the general hysteria. Very quickly, two hundred people were arrested, including a large number of the city’s slave population. After a quick series of trials at City Hall, known as the New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741, the government executed seventeen New Yorkers. Thirteen black men were publicly burned at the stake, while the others (including four whites) were hanged (Figure). Seventy slaves were sold to the West Indies. Little evidence exists to prove that an elaborate conspiracy, like the one white New Yorkers imagined, actually existed. The events of 1741 in New York City illustrate the racial divide in British America, where panic among whites spurred great violence against and repression of the feared slave population. In the end, the Conspiracy Trials furthered white dominance and power over enslaved New Yorkers. View the map of New York in the 1740s at the New York Public Library’s digital gallery, which allows you to zoom in and see specific events. Look closely at numbers 55 and 56 just north of the city limits to see illustrations depicting the executions. COLONIAL GENTRY AND THE CONSUMER REVOLUTION British Americans’ reliance on indentured servitude and slavery to meet the demand for colonial labor helped give rise to a wealthy colonial class—the gentry—in the Chesapeake tobacco colonies and elsewhere. To be “genteel,” that is, a member of the gentry, meant to be refined, free of all rudeness. The British American gentry modeled themselves on the English aristocracy, who embodied the ideal of refinement and gentility. They built elaborate mansions to advertise their status and power. William Byrd II of Westover, Virginia, exemplifies the colonial gentry; a wealthy planter and slaveholder, he is known for founding Richmond and for his diaries documenting the life of a gentleman planter (Figure). William Byrd’s Secret Diary The diary of William Byrd, a Virginia planter, provides a unique way to better understand colonial life on a plantation (Figure). What does it show about daily life for a gentleman planter? What does it show about slavery? August 27, 1709 I rose at 5 o’clock and read two chapters in Hebrew and some Greek in Josephus. I said my prayers and ate milk for breakfast. I danced my dance. I had like to have whipped my maid Anaka for her laziness but I forgave her. I read a little geometry. I denied my man G-r-l to go to a horse race because there was nothing but swearing and drinking there. I ate roast mutton for dinner. In the afternoon I played at piquet with my own wife and made her out of humor by cheating her. I read some Greek in Homer. Then I walked about the plantation. I lent John H-ch £7 [7 English pounds] in his distress. I said my prayers and had good health, good thoughts, and good humor, thanks be to God Almighty. September 6, 1709 About one o’clock this morning my wife was happily delivered of a son, thanks be to God Almighty. I was awake in a blink and rose and my cousin Harrison met me on the stairs and told me it was a boy. We drank some French wine and went to bed again and rose at 7 o’clock. I read a chapter in Hebrew and then drank chocolate with the women for breakfast. I returned God humble thanks for so great a blessing and recommended my young son to His divine protection. . . . September 15, 1710 I rose at 5 o’clock and read two chapters in Hebrew and some Greek in Thucydides. I said my prayers and ate milk and pears for breakfast. About 7 o’clock the negro boy [or Betty] that ran away was brought home. My wife against my will caused little Jenny to be burned with a hot iron, for which I quarreled with her. . . . One of the ways in which the gentry set themselves apart from others was through their purchase, consumption, and display of goods. An increased supply of consumer goods from England that became available in the eighteenth century led to a phenomenon called the consumer revolution. These products linked the colonies to Great Britain in real and tangible ways. Indeed, along with the colonial gentry, ordinary settlers in the colonies also participated in the frenzy of consumer spending on goods from Great Britain. Tea, for example, came to be regarded as the drink of the Empire, with or without fashionable tea sets. The consumer revolution also made printed materials more widely available. Before 1680, for instance, no newspapers had been printed in colonial America. In the eighteenth century, however, a flood of journals, books, pamphlets, and other publications became available to readers on both sides of the Atlantic. This shared trove of printed matter linked members of the Empire by creating a community of shared tastes and ideas. Cato’s Letters, by Englishmen John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, was one popular series of 144 pamphlets. These Whig circulars were published between 1720 and 1723 and emphasized the glory of England, especially its commitment to liberty. However, the pamphlets cautioned readers to be ever vigilant and on the lookout for attacks upon that liberty. Indeed, Cato’s Letters suggested that there were constant efforts to undermine and destroy it. Another very popular publication was the English gentlemen’s magazine the Spectator, published between 1711 and 1714. In each issue, “Mr. Spectator” observed and commented on the world around him. What made the Spectator so wildly popular was its style; the essays were meant to persuade, and to cultivate among readers a refined set of behaviors, rejecting deceit and intolerance and focusing instead on the polishing of genteel taste and manners. Novels, a new type of literature, made their first appearance in the eighteenth century and proved very popular in the British Atlantic. Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Samuel Richardson’s Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded found large and receptive audiences. Reading also allowed female readers the opportunity to interpret what they read without depending on a male authority to tell them what to think. Few women beyond the colonial gentry, however, had access to novels. Section Summary The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries saw the expansion of slavery in the American colonies from South Carolina to Boston. The institution of slavery created a false sense of superiority in whites, while simultaneously fueling fears of slave revolt. White response to such revolts, or even the threat of them, led to gross overreactions and further constraints on slaves’ activities. The development of the Atlantic economy also allowed colonists access to more British goods than ever before. The buying habits of both commoners and the rising colonial gentry fueled the consumer revolution, creating even stronger ties with Great Britain by means of a shared community of taste and ideas. Review Questions The Negro Act of 1740 was a reaction to ________. - fears of a slave conspiracy in the setting of thirteen fires in New York City - the Stono Rebellion - the Royal African Company’s monopoly - the growing power of maroon communities Hint: B What was the “conspiracy” of the New York Conspiracy Trials of 1741? - American patriots conspiring to overthrow the royal government - indentured servants conspiring to overthrow their masters - slaves conspiring to burn down the city and take control - Protestants conspiring to murder Catholics Hint: C	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.228203	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15415/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–1763", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15416/overview	Great Awakening and Enlightenment Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the significance of the Great Awakening - Describe the genesis, central ideas, and effects of the Enlightenment in British North America Two major cultural movements further strengthened Anglo-American colonists’ connection to Great Britain: the Great Awakening and the Enlightenment. Both movements began in Europe, but they advocated very different ideas: the Great Awakening promoted a fervent, emotional religiosity, while the Enlightenment encouraged the pursuit of reason in all things. On both sides of the Atlantic, British subjects grappled with these new ideas. THE FIRST GREAT AWAKENING During the eighteenth century, the British Atlantic experienced an outburst of Protestant revivalism known as the First Great Awakening. (A Second Great Awakening would take place in the 1800s.) During the First Great Awakening, evangelists came from the ranks of several Protestant denominations: Congregationalists, Anglicans (members of the Church of England), and Presbyterians. They rejected what appeared to be sterile, formal modes of worship in favor of a vigorous emotional religiosity. Whereas Martin Luther and John Calvin had preached a doctrine of predestination and close reading of scripture, new evangelical ministers spread a message of personal and experiential faith that rose above mere book learning. Individuals could bring about their own salvation by accepting Christ, an especially welcome message for those who had felt excluded by traditional Protestantism: women, the young, and people at the lower end of the social spectrum. The Great Awakening caused a split between those who followed the evangelical message (the “New Lights”) and those who rejected it (the “Old Lights”). The elite ministers in British America were firmly Old Lights, and they censured the new revivalism as chaos. Indeed, the revivals did sometimes lead to excess. In one notorious incident in 1743, an influential New Light minister named James Davenport urged his listeners to burn books. The next day, he told them to burn their clothes as a sign of their casting off the sinful trappings of the world. He then took off his own pants and threw them into the fire, but a woman saved them and tossed them back to Davenport, telling him he had gone too far. Another outburst of Protestant revivalism began in New Jersey, led by a minister of the Dutch Reformed Church named Theodorus Frelinghuysen. Frelinghuysen’s example inspired other ministers, including Gilbert Tennent, a Presbyterian. Tennant helped to spark a Presbyterian revival in the Middle Colonies (Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey), in part by founding a seminary to train other evangelical clergyman. New Lights also founded colleges in Rhode Island and New Hampshire that would later become Brown University and Dartmouth College. In Northampton, Massachusetts, Jonathan Edwards led still another explosion of evangelical fervor. Edwards’s best-known sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” used powerful word imagery to describe the terrors of hell and the possibilities of avoiding damnation by personal conversion (Figure). One passage reads: “The wrath of God burns against them [sinners], their damnation don’t slumber, the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them, the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened her mouth under them.” Edwards’s revival spread along the Connecticut River Valley, and news of the event spread rapidly through the frequent reprinting of his famous sermon. The foremost evangelical of the Great Awakening was an Anglican minister named George Whitefield. Like many evangelical ministers, Whitefield was itinerant, traveling the countryside instead of having his own church and congregation. Between 1739 and 1740, he electrified colonial listeners with his brilliant oratory. Two Opposing Views of George Whitefield Not everyone embraced George Whitefield and other New Lights. Many established Old Lights decried the way the new evangelical religions appealed to people’s passions, rather than to traditional religious values. The two illustrations below present two very different visions of George Whitefield (Figure). Compare the two images above. On the left is an illustration for Whitefield’s memoirs, while on the right is a cartoon satirizing the circus-like atmosphere that his preaching seemed to attract (Dr. Squintum was a nickname for Whitefield, who was cross-eyed). How do these two artists portray the same man? What emotions are the illustration for his memoirs intended to evoke? What details can you find in the cartoon that indicate the artist’s distaste for the preacher? The Great Awakening saw the rise of several Protestant denominations, including Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists (who emphasized adult baptism of converted Christians rather than infant baptism). These new churches gained converts and competed with older Protestant groups like Anglicans (members of the Church of England), Congregationalists (the heirs of Puritanism in America), and Quakers. The influence of these older Protestant groups, such as the New England Congregationalists, declined because of the Great Awakening. Nonetheless, the Great Awakening touched the lives of thousands on both sides of the Atlantic and provided a shared experience in the eighteenth-century British Empire. THE ENLIGHTENMENT The Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, was an intellectual and cultural movement in the eighteenth century that emphasized reason over superstition and science over blind faith. Using the power of the press, Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, Isaac Newton, and Voltaire questioned accepted knowledge and spread new ideas about openness, investigation, and religious tolerance throughout Europe and the Americas. Many consider the Enlightenment a major turning point in Western civilization, an age of light replacing an age of darkness. Several ideas dominated Enlightenment thought, including rationalism, empiricism, progressivism, and cosmopolitanism. Rationalism is the idea that humans are capable of using their faculty of reason to gain knowledge. This was a sharp turn away from the prevailing idea that people needed to rely on scripture or church authorities for knowledge. Empiricism promotes the idea that knowledge comes from experience and observation of the world. Progressivism is the belief that through their powers of reason and observation, humans could make unlimited, linear progress over time; this belief was especially important as a response to the carnage and upheaval of the English Civil Wars in the seventeenth century. Finally, cosmopolitanism reflected Enlightenment thinkers’ view of themselves as citizens of the world and actively engaged in it, as opposed to being provincial and close-minded. In all, Enlightenment thinkers endeavored to be ruled by reason, not prejudice. The Freemasons were a fraternal society that advocated Enlightenment principles of inquiry and tolerance. Freemasonry originated in London coffeehouses in the early eighteenth century, and Masonic lodges (local units) soon spread throughout Europe and the British colonies. One prominent Freemason, Benjamin Franklin, stands as the embodiment of the Enlightenment in British America (Figure). Born in Boston in 1706 to a large Puritan family, Franklin loved to read, although he found little beyond religious publications in his father’s house. In 1718 he was apprenticed to his brother to work in a print shop, where he learned how to be a good writer by copying the style he found in the Spectator, which his brother printed. At the age of seventeen, the independent-minded Franklin ran away, eventually ending up in Quaker Philadelphia. There he began publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette in the late 1720s, and in 1732 he started his annual publication Poor Richard: An Almanack, in which he gave readers much practical advice, such as “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” Franklin subscribed to deism, an Enlightenment-era belief in a God who created, but has no continuing involvement in, the world and the events within it. Deists also advanced the belief that personal morality—an individual’s moral compass, leading to good works and actions—is more important than strict church doctrines. Franklin’s deism guided his many philanthropic projects. In 1731, he established a reading library that became the Library Company of Philadelphia. In 1743, he founded the American Philosophical Society to encourage the spirit of inquiry. In 1749, he provided the foundation for the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1751, he helped found Pennsylvania Hospital. His career as a printer made Franklin wealthy and well-respected. When he retired in 1748, he devoted himself to politics and scientific experiments. His most famous work, on electricity, exemplified Enlightenment principles. Franklin observed that lightning strikes tended to hit metal objects and reasoned that he could therefore direct lightning through the placement of metal objects during an electrical storm. He used this knowledge to advocate the use of lightning rods: metal poles connected to wires directing lightning’s electrical charge into the ground and saving wooden homes in cities like Philadelphia from catastrophic fires. He published his findings in 1751, in Experiments and Observations on Electricity. Franklin also wrote of his “rags to riches” tale, his Memoir, in the 1770s and 1780s. This story laid the foundation for the American Dream of upward social mobility. Visit the Worldly Ways section of PBS’s Benjamin Franklin site to see an interactive map showing Franklin’s overseas travels and his influence around the world. His diplomatic, political, scientific, and business achievements had great effects in many countries. THE FOUNDING OF GEORGIA The reach of Enlightenment thought was both broad and deep. In the 1730s, it even prompted the founding of a new colony. Having witnessed the terrible conditions of debtors’ prison, as well as the results of releasing penniless debtors onto the streets of London, James Oglethorpe, a member of Parliament and advocate of social reform, petitioned King George II for a charter to start a new colony. George II, understanding the strategic advantage of a British colony standing as a buffer between South Carolina and Spanish Florida, granted the charter to Oglethorpe and twenty like-minded proprietors in 1732. Oglethorpe led the settlement of the colony, which was called Georgia in honor of the king. In 1733, he and 113 immigrants arrived on the ship Anne. Over the next decade, Parliament funded the migration of twenty-five hundred settlers, making Georgia the only government-funded colonial project. Oglethorpe’s vision for Georgia followed the ideals of the Age of Reason, seeing it as a place for England’s “worthy poor” to start anew. To encourage industry, he gave each male immigrant fifty acres of land, tools, and a year’s worth of supplies. In Savannah, the Oglethorpe Plan provided for a utopia: “an agrarian model of sustenance while sustaining egalitarian values holding all men as equal.” Oglethorpe’s vision called for alcohol and slavery to be banned. However, colonists who relocated from other colonies, especially South Carolina, disregarded these prohibitions. Despite its proprietors’ early vision of a colony guided by Enlightenment ideals and free of slavery, by the 1750s, Georgia was producing quantities of rice grown and harvested by slaves. Section Summary The eighteenth century saw a host of social, religious, and intellectual changes across the British Empire. While the Great Awakening emphasized vigorously emotional religiosity, the Enlightenment promoted the power of reason and scientific observation. Both movements had lasting impacts on the colonies. The beliefs of the New Lights of the First Great Awakening competed with the religions of the first colonists, and the religious fervor in Great Britain and her North American colonies bound the eighteenth-century British Atlantic together in a shared, common experience. The British colonist Benjamin Franklin gained fame on both sides of the Atlantic as a printer, publisher, and scientist. He embodied Enlightenment ideals in the British Atlantic with his scientific experiments and philanthropic endeavors. Enlightenment principles even guided the founding of the colony of Georgia, although those principles could not stand up to the realities of colonial life, and slavery soon took hold in the colony. Review Questions What was the First Great Awakening? - a cultural and intellectual movement that emphasized reason and science over superstition and religion - a Protestant revival that emphasized emotional, experiential faith over book learning - a cultural shift that promoted Christianity among slave communities - the birth of an American identity, promoted by Benjamin Franklin Hint: B Which of the following is not a tenet of the Enlightenment? - atheism - empiricism - progressivism - rationalism Hint: A Who were the Freemasons, and why were they significant? Hint: The Freemasons were a fraternal society that originated in London coffeehouses in the early eighteenth century. They advocated Enlightenment principles of inquiry and tolerance. Masonic lodges soon spread throughout Europe and the British colonies, creating a shared experience on both sides of the Atlantic and spreading Enlightenment intellectual currents throughout the British Empire. Benjamin Franklin was a prominent Freemason.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.255932	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15416/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–1763", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15417/overview	Wars for Empire Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Describe the wars for empire - Analyze the significance of these conflicts Wars for empire composed a final link connecting the Atlantic sides of the British Empire. Great Britain fought four separate wars against Catholic France from the late 1600s to the mid-1700s. Another war, the War of Jenkins’ Ear, pitted Britain against Spain. These conflicts for control of North America also helped colonists forge important alliances with native peoples, as different tribes aligned themselves with different European powers. GENERATIONS OF WARFARE Generations of British colonists grew up during a time when much of North America, especially the Northeast, engaged in war. Colonists knew war firsthand. In the eighteenth century, fighting was seasonal. Armies mobilized in the spring, fought in the summer, and retired to winter quarters in the fall. The British army imposed harsh discipline on its soldiers, who were drawn from the poorer classes, to ensure they did not step out of line during engagements. If they did, their officers would kill them. On the battlefield, armies dressed in bright uniforms to advertise their bravery and lack of fear. They stood in tight formation and exchanged volleys with the enemy. They often feared their officers more than the enemy. Read the diary of a provincial soldier who fought in the French and Indian War on the Captain David Perry Web Site hosted by Rootsweb. David Perry’s journal, which includes a description of the 1758 campaign, provides a glimpse of warfare in the eighteenth century. Most imperial conflicts had both American and European fronts, leaving us with two names for each war. For instance, King William’s War (1688–1697) is also known as the War of the League of Augsburg. In America, the bulk of the fighting in this conflict took place between New England and New France. The war proved inconclusive, with no clear victor (Figure). Queen Anne’s War (1702–1713) is also known as the War of Spanish Succession. England fought against both Spain and France over who would ascend the Spanish throne after the last of the Hapsburg rulers died. In North America, fighting took place in Florida, New England, and New France. In Canada, the French prevailed but lost Acadia and Newfoundland; however, the victory was again not decisive because the English failed to take Quebec, which would have given them control of Canada. This conflict is best remembered in the United States for the French and Indian raid against Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1704. A small French force, combined with a native group made up of Catholic Mohawks and Abenaki (Pocumtucs), attacked the frontier outpost of Deerfield, killing scores and taking 112 prisoners. Among the captives was the seven-year-old daughter of Deerfield’s minister John Williams, named Eunice. She was held by the Mohawks for years as her family tried to get her back, and became assimilated into the tribe. To the horror of the Puritan leaders, when she grew up Eunice married a Mohawk and refused to return to New England. In North America, possession of Georgia and trade with the interior was the focus of the War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739–1742), a conflict between Britain and Spain over contested claims to the land occupied by the fledgling colony between South Carolina and Florida. The war got its name from an incident in 1731 in which a Spanish Coast Guard captain severed the ear of British captain Robert Jenkins as punishment for raiding Spanish ships in Panama. Jenkins fueled the growing animosity between England and Spain by presenting his ear to Parliament and stirring up British public outrage. More than anything else, the War of Jenkins’ Ear disrupted the Atlantic trade, a situation that hurt both Spain and Britain and was a major reason the war came to a close in 1742. Georgia, founded six years earlier, remained British and a buffer against Spanish Florida. King George’s War (1744–1748), known in Europe as the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748), was fought in the northern colonies and New France. In 1745, the British took the massive French fortress at Louisbourg on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia (Figure). However, three years later, under the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Britain relinquished control of the fortress to the French. Once again, war resulted in an incomplete victory for both Britain and France. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR The final imperial war, the French and Indian War (1754–1763), known as the Seven Years’ War in Europe, proved to be the decisive contest between Britain and France in America. It began over rival claims along the frontier in present-day western Pennsylvania. Well-connected planters from Virginia faced stagnant tobacco prices and hoped expanding into these western lands would stabilize their wealth and status. Some of them established the Ohio Company of Virginia in 1748, and the British crown granted the company half a million acres in 1749. However, the French also claimed the lands of the Ohio Company, and to protect the region they established Fort Duquesne in 1754, where the Ohio, Monongahela, and Allegheny Rivers met. The war began in May 1754 because of these competing claims between Britain and France. Twenty-two-year-old Virginian George Washington, a surveyor whose family helped to found the Ohio Company, gave the command to fire on French soldiers near present-day Uniontown, Pennsylvania. This incident on the Pennsylvania frontier proved to be a decisive event that led to imperial war. For the next decade, fighting took place along the frontier of New France and British America from Virginia to Maine. The war also spread to Europe as France and Britain looked to gain supremacy in the Atlantic World. The British fared poorly in the first years of the war. In 1754, the French and their native allies forced Washington to surrender at Fort Necessity, a hastily built fort constructed after his attack on the French. In 1755, Britain dispatched General Edward Braddock to the colonies to take Fort Duquesne. The French, aided by the Potawotomis, Ottawas, Shawnees, and Delawares, ambushed the fifteen hundred British soldiers and Virginia militia who marched to the fort. The attack sent panic through the British force, and hundreds of British soldiers and militiamen died, including General Braddock. The campaign of 1755 proved to be a disaster for the British. In fact, the only British victory that year was the capture of Nova Scotia. In 1756 and 1757, Britain suffered further defeats with the fall of Fort Oswego and Fort William Henry (Figure). The war began to turn in favor of the British in 1758, due in large part to the efforts of William Pitt, a very popular member of Parliament. Pitt pledged huge sums of money and resources to defeating the hated Catholic French, and Great Britain spent part of the money on bounties paid to new young recruits in the colonies, helping invigorate the British forces. In 1758, the Iroquois, Delaware, and Shawnee signed the Treaty of Easton, aligning themselves with the British in return for some contested land around Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1759, the British took Quebec, and in 1760, Montreal. The French empire in North America had crumbled. The war continued until 1763, when the French signed the Treaty of Paris. This treaty signaled a dramatic reversal of fortune for France. Indeed, New France, which had been founded in the early 1600s, ceased to exist. The British Empire had now gained mastery over North America. The Empire not only gained New France under the treaty; it also acquired French sugar islands in the West Indies, French trading posts in India, and French-held posts on the west coast of Africa. Great Britain’s victory in the French and Indian War meant that it had become a truly global empire. British colonists joyously celebrated, singing the refrain of “Rule, Britannia! / Britannia, rule the waves! / Britons never, never, never shall be slaves!” In the American colonies, ties with Great Britain were closer than ever. Professional British soldiers had fought alongside Anglo-American militiamen, forging a greater sense of shared identity. With Great Britain’s victory, colonial pride ran high as colonists celebrated their identity as British subjects. This last of the wars for empire, however, also sowed the seeds of trouble. The war led Great Britain deeply into debt, and in the 1760s and 1770s, efforts to deal with the debt through imperial reforms would have the unintended consequence of causing stress and strain that threatened to tear the Empire apart. Section Summary From 1688 to 1763, Great Britain engaged in almost continuous power struggles with France and Spain. Most of these conflicts originated in Europe, but their engagements spilled over into the colonies. For almost eighty years, Great Britain and France fought for control of eastern North America. During most of that time, neither force was able to win a decisive victory, though each side saw occasional successes with the crucial help of native peoples. It was not until halfway through the French and Indian War (1754–1763), when Great Britain swelled its troops with more volunteers and native allies, that the balance of power shifted toward the British. With the 1763 Treaty of Paris, New France was eliminated, and Great Britain gained control of all the lands north of Florida and east of the Mississippi. British subjects on both sides of the Atlantic rejoiced. Review Questions What was the primary goal of Britain’s wars for empire from 1688 to 1763? - control of North America - control of American Indians - greater power in Europe and the world - defeat of Catholicism Hint: C Who were the main combatants in the French and Indian War? - France against Indians - Great Britain against Indians - Great Britain against France - Great Britain against the French and their Indian allies Hint: D What prompted the French and Indian War? Hint: Virginia planters, pinched by stagnant tobacco prices, wanted to expand westward. However, France contested Britain’s claim to that land and built Fort Duquesne to defend it. The battle over this land sparked the war that eventually ended France’s presence in North America. Critical Thinking Questions How did Pennsylvania’s Quaker beginnings distinguish it from other colonies in British America? What were the effects of the consumer revolution on the colonies? How did the ideas of the Enlightenment and the Great Awakening offer opposing outlooks to British Americans? What similarities were there between the two schools of thought? What was the impact of the wars for empire in North America, Europe, and the world? What role did Indians play in the wars for empire? What shared experiences, intellectual currents, and cultural elements drew together British subjects on both sides of the Atlantic during this period? How did these experiences, ideas, and goods serve to strengthen those bonds?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.284713	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15417/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–1763", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15439/overview	Introduction Overview - Early Industrialization in the Northeast - A Vibrant Capitalist Republic - On the Move: The Transportation Revolution - A New Social Order: Class Divisions By the 1830s, the United States had developed a thriving industrial and commercial sector in the Northeast. Farmers embraced regional and distant markets as the primary destination for their products. Artisans witnessed the methodical division of the labor process in factories. Wage labor became an increasingly common experience. These industrial and market revolutions, combined with advances in transportation, transformed the economic and social landscape. Americans could now quickly produce larger amounts of goods for a nationwide, and sometimes an international, market and rely less on foreign imports than in colonial times. As American economic life shifted rapidly and modes of production changed, new class divisions emerged and solidified, resulting in previously unknown economic and social inequalities. This image of the Five Points district in New York City captures the turbulence of the time (Figure). Five Points began as a settlement for freed slaves, but it soon became a crowded urban world of American day laborers and low-wage workers who lived a precarious existence that the economic benefits of the new economy largely bypassed. An influx of immigrant workers swelled and diversified an already crowded urban population. By the 1830s, the area had become a slum, home to widespread poverty, crime, and disease. Advances in industrialization and the market revolution came at a human price.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.300003	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15439/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800–1850", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15440/overview	Early Industrialization in the Northeast Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the role of the putting-out system in the rise of industrialization - Understand industrialization’s impact on the nature of production and work - Describe the effect of industrialization on consumption - Identify the goals of workers’ organizations like the Working Men’s Party Northern industrialization expanded rapidly following the War of 1812. Industrialized manufacturing began in New England, where wealthy merchants built water-powered textile mills (and mill towns to support them) along the rivers of the Northeast. These mills introduced new modes of production centralized within the confines of the mill itself. As never before, production relied on mechanized sources with water power, and later steam, to provide the force necessary to drive machines. In addition to the mechanization and centralization of work in the mills, specialized, repetitive tasks assigned to wage laborers replaced earlier modes of handicraft production done by artisans at home. The operations of these mills irrevocably changed the nature of work by deskilling tasks, breaking down the process of production to its most basic, elemental parts. In return for their labor, the workers, who at first were young women from rural New England farming families, received wages. From its origin in New England, manufacturing soon spread to other regions of the United States. FROM ARTISANS TO WAGE WORKERS During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, artisans—skilled, experienced craft workers—produced goods by hand. The production of shoes provides a good example. In colonial times, people bought their shoes from master shoemakers, who achieved their status by living and working as apprentices under the rule of an older master artisan. An apprenticeship would be followed by work as a journeyman (a skilled worker without his own shop). After sufficient time as a journeyman, a shoemaker could at last set up his own shop as a master artisan. People came to the shop, usually attached to the back of the master artisan’s house, and there the shoemaker measured their feet in order to cut and stitch together an individualized product for each customer. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, merchants in the Northeast and elsewhere turned their attention as never before to the benefits of using unskilled wage labor to make a greater profit by reducing labor costs. They used the putting-out system, which the British had employed at the beginning of their own Industrial Revolution, whereby they hired farming families to perform specific tasks in the production process for a set wage. In the case of shoes, for instance, American merchants hired one group of workers to cut soles into standardized sizes. A different group of families cut pieces of leather for the uppers, while still another was employed to stitch the standardized parts together. This process proved attractive because it whittled production costs. The families who participated in the putting-out system were not skilled artisans. They had not spent years learning and perfecting their craft and did not have ambitious journeymen to pay. Therefore, they could not demand—and did not receive—high wages. Most of the year they tended fields and orchards, ate the food that they produced, and sold the surplus. Putting-out work proved a welcome source of extra income for New England farm families who saw their profits dwindle from new competition from midwestern farms with higher-yield lands. Much of this part-time production was done under contract to merchants. Some farming families engaged in shoemaking (or shoe assemblage), as noted above. Many made brooms, plaited hats from straw or palm leaves (which merchants imported from Cuba and the West Indies), crafted furniture, made pottery, or wove baskets. Some, especially those who lived in Connecticut, made parts for clocks. The most common part-time occupation, however, was the manufacture of textiles. Farm women spun woolen thread and wove fabric. They also wove blankets, made rugs, and knit stockings. All this manufacturing took place on the farm, giving farmers and their wives control over the timing and pace of their labor. Their domestic productivity increased the quantity of goods available for sale in country towns and nearby cities. THE RISE OF MANUFACTURING In the late 1790s and early 1800s, Great Britain boasted the most advanced textile mills and machines in the world, and the United States continued to rely on Great Britain for finished goods. Great Britain hoped to maintain its economic advantage over its former colonies in North America. So, in an effort to prevent the knowledge of advanced manufacturing from leaving the Empire, the British banned the emigration of mechanics, skilled workers who knew how to build and repair the latest textile machines. Some skilled British mechanics, including Samuel Slater, managed to travel to the United States in the hopes of profiting from their knowledge and experience with advanced textile manufacturing. Slater (Figure) understood the workings of the latest water-powered textile mills, which British industrialist Richard Arkwright had pioneered. In the 1790s in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Slater convinced several American merchants, including the wealthy Providence industrialist Moses Brown, to finance and build a water-powered cotton mill based on the British models. Slater’s knowledge of both technology and mill organization made him the founder of the first truly successful cotton mill in the United States. The success of Slater and his partners Smith Brown and William Almy, relatives of Moses Brown, inspired others to build additional mills in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. By 1807, thirteen more mills had been established. President Jefferson’s embargo on British manufactured goods from late 1807 to early 1809 (discussed in a previous chapter) spurred more New England merchants to invest in industrial enterprises. By 1812, seventy-eight new textile mills had been built in rural New England towns. More than half turned out woolen goods, while the rest produced cotton cloth. Slater’s mills and those built in imitation of his were fairly small, employing only seventy people on average. Workers were organized the way that they had been in English factories, in family units. Under the “Rhode Island system,” families were hired. The father was placed in charge of the family unit, and he directed the labor of his wife and children. Instead of being paid in cash, the father was given “credit” equal to the extent of his family’s labor that could be redeemed in the form of rent (of company-owned housing) or goods from the company-owned store. The Embargo of 1807 and the War of 1812 played a pivotal role in spurring industrial development in the United States. Jefferson’s embargo prevented American merchants from engaging in the Atlantic trade, severely cutting into their profits. The War of 1812 further compounded the financial woes of American merchants. The acute economic problems led some New England merchants, including Francis Cabot Lowell, to cast their gaze on manufacturing. Lowell had toured English mills during a stay in Great Britain. He returned to Massachusetts having memorized the designs for the advanced textile machines he had seen in his travels, especially the power loom, which replaced individual hand weavers. Lowell convinced other wealthy merchant families to invest in the creation of new mill towns. In 1813, Lowell and these wealthy investors, known as the Boston Associates, created the Boston Manufacturing Company. Together they raised $400,000 and, in 1814, established a textile mill in Waltham and a second one in the same town shortly thereafter (Figure). At Waltham, cotton was carded and drawn into coarse strands of cotton fibers called rovings. The rovings were then spun into yarn, and the yarn woven into cotton cloth. Yarn no longer had to be put out to farm families for further processing. All the work was now performed at a central location—the factory. The work in Lowell’s mills was both mechanized and specialized. Specialization meant the work was broken down into specific tasks, and workers repeatedly did the one task assigned to them in the course of a day. As machines took over labor from humans and people increasingly found themselves confined to the same repetitive step, the process of deskilling began. The Boston Associates’ mills, which each employed hundreds of workers, were located in company towns, where the factories and worker housing were owned by a single company. This gave the owners and their agents control over their workers. The most famous of these company towns was Lowell, Massachusetts. The new town was built on land the Boston Associates purchased in 1821 from the village of East Chelmsford at the falls of the Merrimack River, north of Boston. The mill buildings themselves were constructed of red brick with large windows to let in light. Company-owned boarding houses to shelter employees were constructed near the mills. The mill owners planted flowers and trees to maintain the appearance of a rural New England town and to forestall arguments, made by many, that factory work was unnatural and unwholesome. In contrast to many smaller mills, the Boston Associates’ enterprises avoided the Rhode Island system, preferring individual workers to families. These employees were not difficult to find. The competition New England farmers faced from farmers now settling in the West, and the growing scarcity of land in population-dense New England, had important implications for farmers’ children. Realizing their chances of inheriting a large farm or receiving a substantial dowry were remote, these teenagers sought other employment opportunities, often at the urging of their parents. While young men could work at a variety of occupations, young women had more limited options. The textile mills provided suitable employment for the daughters of Yankee farm families. Needing to reassure anxious parents that their daughters’ virtue would be protected and hoping to avoid what they viewed as the problems of industrialization—filth and vice—the Boston Associates established strict rules governing the lives of these young workers. The women lived in company-owned boarding houses to which they paid a portion of their wages. They woke early at the sound of a bell and worked a twelve-hour day during which talking was forbidden. They could not swear or drink alcohol, and they were required to attend church on Sunday. Overseers at the mills and boarding-house keepers kept a close eye on the young women’s behavior; workers who associated with people of questionable reputation or acted in ways that called their virtue into question lost their jobs and were evicted. Michel Chevalier on Mill Worker Rules and Wages In the 1830s, the French government sent engineer and economist Michel Chevalier to study industrial and financial affairs in Mexico and the United States. In 1839, he published Society, Manners, and Politics in the United States, in which he recorded his impressions of the Lowell textile mills. In the excerpt below, Chevalier describes the rules and wages of the Lawrence Company in 1833. All persons employed by the Company must devote themselves assiduously to their duty during working-hours. They must be capable of doing the work which they undertake, or use all their efforts to this effect. They must on all occasions, both in their words and in their actions, show that they are penetrated by a laudable love of temperance and virtue, and animated by a sense of their moral and social obligations. The Agent of the Company shall endeavour to set to all a good example in this respect. Every individual who shall be notoriously dissolute, idle, dishonest, or intemperate, who shall be in the practice of absenting himself from divine service, or shall violate the Sabbath, or shall be addicted to gaming, shall be dismissed from the service of the Company. . . . All ardent spirits are banished from the Company’s grounds, except when prescribed by a physician. All games of hazard and cards are prohibited within their limits and in the boarding-houses. Weekly wages were as follows: For picking and carding, $2.78 to $3.10 For spinning, $3.00 For weaving, $3.10 to $3.12 For warping and sizing, $3.45 to $4.00 For measuring and folding, $3.12 What kind of world were the factory owners trying to create with these rules? How do you think those who believed all white people were born free and equal would react to them? Visit the Textile Industry History site to explore the mills of New England through its collection of history, images, and ephemera. The mechanization of formerly handcrafted goods, and the removal of production from the home to the factory, dramatically increased output of goods. For example, in one nine-month period, the numerous Rhode Island women who spun yarn into cloth on hand looms in their homes produced a total of thirty-four thousand yards of fabrics of different types. In 1855, the women working in just one of Lowell’s mechanized mills produced more than forty-three thousand yards. The Boston Associates’ cotton mills quickly gained a competitive edge over the smaller mills established by Samuel Slater and those who had imitated him. Their success prompted the Boston Associates to expand. In Massachusetts, in addition to Lowell, they built new mill towns in Chicopee, Lawrence, and Holyoke. In New Hampshire, they built them in Manchester, Dover, and Nashua. And in Maine, they built a large mill in Saco on the Saco River. Other entrepreneurs copied them. By the time of the Civil War, 878 textile factories had been built in New England. All together, these factories employed more than 100,000 people and produced more than 940 million yards of cloth. Success in New England was repeated elsewhere. Small mills, more like those in Rhode Island than those in northern Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine, were built in New York, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. By midcentury, three hundred textile mills were located in and near Philadelphia. Many produced specialty goods, such as silks and printed fabrics, and employed skilled workers, including people working in their own homes. Even in the South, the region that otherwise relied on slave labor to produce the very cotton that fed the northern factory movement, more than two hundred textile mills were built. Most textiles, however, continued to be produced in New England before the Civil War. Alongside the production of cotton and woolen cloth, which formed the backbone of the Industrial Revolution in the United States as in Britain, other crafts increasingly became mechanized and centralized in factories in the first half of the nineteenth century. Shoe making, leather tanning, papermaking, hat making, clock making, and gun making had all become mechanized to one degree or another by the time of the Civil War. Flour milling, because of the inventions of Oliver Evans (Figure), had become almost completely automated and centralized by the early decades of the nineteenth century. So efficient were Evans-style mills that two employees were able to do work that had originally required five, and mills using Evans’s system spread throughout the mid-Atlantic states. THE RISE OF CONSUMERISM At the end of the eighteenth century, most American families lived in candlelit homes with bare floors and unadorned walls, cooked and warmed themselves over fireplaces, and owned few changes of clothing. All manufactured goods were made by hand and, as a result, were usually scarce and fairly expensive. The automation of the manufacturing process changed that, making consumer goods that had once been thought of as luxury items widely available for the first time. Now all but the very poor could afford the necessities and some of the small luxuries of life. Rooms were lit by oil lamps, which gave brighter light than candles. Homes were heated by parlor stoves, which allowed for more privacy; people no longer needed to huddle together around the hearth. Iron cookstoves with multiple burners made it possible for housewives to prepare more elaborate meals. Many people could afford carpets and upholstered furniture, and even farmers could decorate their homes with curtains and wallpaper. Clocks, which had once been quite expensive, were now within the reach of most ordinary people. THE WORK EXPERIENCE TRANSFORMED As production became mechanized and relocated to factories, the experience of workers underwent significant changes. Farmers and artisans had controlled the pace of their labor and the order in which things were done. If an artisan wanted to take the afternoon off, he could. If a farmer wished to rebuild his fence on Thursday instead of on Wednesday, he could. They conversed and often drank during the workday. Indeed, journeymen were often promised alcohol as part of their wages. One member of the group might be asked to read a book or a newspaper aloud to the others. In the warm weather, doors and windows might be opened to the outside, and work stopped when it was too dark to see. Work in factories proved to be quite different. Employees were expected to report at a certain time, usually early in the morning, and to work all day. They could not leave when they were tired or take breaks other than at designated times. Those who arrived late found their pay docked; five minutes’ tardiness could result in several hours’ worth of lost pay, and repeated tardiness could result in dismissal. The monotony of repetitive tasks made days particularly long. Hours varied according to the factory, but most factory employees toiled ten to twelve hours a day, six days a week. In the winter, when the sun set early, oil lamps were used to light the factory floor, and employees strained their eyes to see their work and coughed as the rooms filled with smoke from the lamps. In the spring, as the days began to grow longer, factories held “blowing-out” celebrations to mark the extinguishing of the oil lamps. These “blow-outs” often featured processions and dancing. Freedom within factories was limited. Drinking was prohibited. Some factories did not allow employees to sit down. Doors and windows were kept closed, especially in textile factories where fibers could be easily disturbed by incoming breezes, and mills were often unbearably hot and humid in the summer. In the winter, workers often shivered in the cold. In such environments, workers’ health suffered. The workplace posed other dangers as well. The presence of cotton bales alongside the oil used to lubricate machines made fire a common problem in textile factories. Workplace injuries were also common. Workers’ hands and fingers were maimed or severed when they were caught in machines; in some cases, their limbs or entire bodies were crushed. Workers who didn’t die from such injuries almost certainly lost their jobs, and with them, their income. Corporal punishment of both children and adults was common in factories; where abuse was most extreme, children sometimes died as a result of injuries suffered at the hands of an overseer. As the decades passed, working conditions deteriorated in many mills. Workers were assigned more machines to tend, and the owners increased the speed at which the machines operated. Wages were cut in many factories, and employees who had once labored for an hourly wage now found themselves reduced to piecework, paid for the amount they produced and not for the hours they toiled. Owners also reduced compensation for piecework. Low wages combined with regular periods of unemployment to make the lives of workers difficult, especially for those with families to support. In New York City in 1850, for example, the average male worker earned $300 a year; it cost approximately $600 a year to support a family of five. WORKERS AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT Many workers undoubtedly enjoyed some of the new wage opportunities factory work presented. For many of the young New England women who ran the machines in Waltham, Lowell, and elsewhere, the experience of being away from the family was exhilarating and provided a sense of solidarity among them. Though most sent a large portion of their wages home, having even a small amount of money of their own was a liberating experience, and many used their earnings to purchase clothes, ribbons, and other consumer goods for themselves. The long hours, strict discipline, and low wages, however, soon led workers to organize to protest their working conditions and pay. In 1821, the young women employed by the Boston Manufacturing Company in Waltham went on strike for two days when their wages were cut. In 1824, workers in Pawtucket struck to protest reduced pay rates and longer hours, the latter of which had been achieved by cutting back the amount of time allowed for meals. Similar strikes occurred at Lowell and in other mill towns like Dover, New Hampshire, where the women employed by the Cocheco Manufacturing Company ceased working in December 1828 after their wages were reduced. In the 1830s, female mill operatives in Lowell formed the Lowell Factory Girls Association to organize strike activities in the face of wage cuts (Figure) and, later, established the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association to protest the twelve-hour workday. Even though strikes were rarely successful and workers usually were forced to accept reduced wages and increased hours, work stoppages as a form of labor protest represented the beginnings of the labor movement in the United States. Critics of industrialization blamed it for the increased concentration of wealth in the hands of the few: the factory owners made vast profits while the workers received only a small fraction of the revenue from what they produced. Under the labor theory of value, said critics, the value of a product should accurately reflect the labor needed to produce it. Profits from the sale of goods produced by workers should be distributed so laborers recovered in the form of wages the value their effort had added to the finished product. While factory owners, who contributed the workspace, the machinery, and the raw materials needed to create a product, should receive a share of the profits, their share should not be greater than the value of their contribution. Workers should thus receive a much larger portion of the profits than they currently did, and factory owners should receive less. In Philadelphia, New York, and Boston—all cities that experienced dizzying industrial growth during the nineteenth century—workers united to form political parties. Thomas Skidmore, from Connecticut, was the outspoken organizer of the Working Men’s Party, which lodged a radical protest against the exploitation of workers that accompanied industrialization. Skidmore took his cue from Thomas Paine and the American Revolution to challenge the growing inequity in the United States. He argued that inequality originated in the unequal distribution of property through inheritance laws. In his 1829 treatise, The Rights of Man to Property, Skidmore called for the abolition of inheritance and the redistribution of property. The Working Men’s Party also advocated the end of imprisonment for debt, a common practice whereby the debtor who could not pay was put in jail and his tools and property, if any, were confiscated. Skidmore’s vision of radical equality extended to all; women and men, no matter their race, should be allowed to vote and receive property, he believed. Skidmore died in 1832 when a cholera epidemic swept New York City, but the state of New York did away with imprisonment for debt in the same year. Worker activism became less common in the late 1840s and 1850s. As German and Irish immigrants poured into the United States in the decades preceding the Civil War, native-born laborers found themselves competing for jobs with new arrivals who were willing to work longer hours for less pay. In Lowell, Massachusetts, for example, the daughters of New England farmers encountered competition from the daughters of Irish farmers suffering the effects of the potato famine; these immigrant women were willing to work for far less and endure worse conditions than native-born women. Many of these native-born “daughters of freemen,” as they referred to themselves, left the factories and returned to their families. Not all wage workers had this luxury, however. Widows with children to support and girls from destitute families had no choice but to stay and accept the faster pace and lower pay. Male German and Irish immigrants competed with native-born men. Germans, many of whom were skilled workers, took jobs in furniture making. The Irish provided a ready source of unskilled labor needed to lay railroad track and dig canals. American men with families to support grudgingly accepted low wages in order to keep their jobs. As work became increasingly deskilled, no worker was irreplaceable, and no one’s job was safe. Section Summary Industrialization led to radical changes in American life. New industrial towns, like Waltham, Lowell, and countless others, dotted the landscape of the Northeast. The mills provided many young women an opportunity to experience a new and liberating life, and these workers relished their new freedom. Workers also gained a greater appreciation of the value of their work and, in some instances, began to question the basic fairness of the new industrial order. The world of work had been fundamentally reorganized. Review Questions How were the New England textile mills planned and built? - Experienced British builders traveled to the United States to advise American merchants. - New England merchants paid French and German mechanics to design factories for them. - New England merchants and British migrants memorized plans from British mills. - Textile mills were a purely American creation, invented by Francis Cabot Lowell in 1813. Hint: C Which is the best characterization of textile mill workers in the early nineteenth century? - male and female indentured servants from Great Britain who worked hard to win their freedom - young men who found freedom in the rowdy lifestyle of mill work - experienced artisans who shared their knowledge in exchange for part ownership in the company - young farm women whose behavior was closely monitored Hint: D What effect did industrialization have on consumers? Hint: Industrialization made manufactured goods more abundant and more widely available. All but the poorest Americans were able to equip their homes with cookstoves, parlor stoves, upholstered furniture, and decorations such as wallpaper and window curtains. Even such formerly expensive goods as clocks were now affordable for most.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.333144	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15440/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800–1850", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15441/overview	A Vibrant Capitalist Republic Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the process of selling western land - Discuss the causes of the Panic of 1819 - Identify key American innovators and inventors By the 1840s, the United States economy bore little resemblance to the import-and-export economy of colonial days. It was now a market economy, one in which the production of goods, and their prices, were unregulated by the government. Commercial centers, to which job seekers flocked, mushroomed. New York City’s population skyrocketed. In 1790, it was 33,000; by 1820, it had reached 200,000; and by 1825, it had swelled to 270,000. New opportunities for wealth appeared to be available to anyone. However, the expansion of the American economy made it prone to the boom-and-bust cycle. Market economies involve fluctuating prices for labor, raw materials, and consumer goods and depend on credit and financial instruments—any one of which can be the source of an imbalance and an economic downturn in which businesses and farmers default, wage workers lose their employment, and investors lose their assets. This happened for the first time in the United States in 1819, when waves of enthusiastic speculation (expectations of rapidly rising prices) in land and commodities gave way to drops in prices. THE LAND OFFICE BUSINESS In the early nineteenth century, people poured into the territories west of the long-settled eastern seaboard. Among them were speculators seeking to buy cheap parcels from the federal government in anticipation of a rise in prices. The Ohio Country in the Northwest Territory appeared to offer the best prospects for many in the East, especially New Englanders. The result was “Ohio fever,” as thousands traveled there to reap the benefits of settling in this newly available territory (Figure). The federal government oversaw the orderly transfer of public land to citizens at public auctions. The Land Law of 1796 applied to the territory of Ohio after it had been wrested from Indians. Under this law, the United States would sell a minimum parcel of 640 acres for $2 an acre. The Land Law of 1800 further encouraged land sales in the Northwest Territory by reducing the minimum parcel size by half and enabling sales on credit, with the goal of stimulating settlement by ordinary farmers. The government created land offices to handle these sales and established them in the West within easy reach of prospective landowners. They could thus purchase land directly from the government, at the price the government had set. Buyers were given low interest rates, with payments that could be spread over four years. Surveyors marked off the parcels in straight lines, creating a landscape of checkerboard squares. The future looked bright for those who turned their gaze on the land in the West. Surveying, settling, and farming, turning the wilderness into a profitable commodity, gave purchasers a sense of progress. A uniquely American story of settling the land developed: hardy individuals wielding an axe cleared it, built a log cabin, and turned the frontier into a farm that paved the way for mills and towns (Figure). A New Englander Heads West A native of Vermont, Gershom Flagg was one of thousands of New Englanders who caught “Ohio fever.” In this letter to his brother, Azariah Flagg, dated August 3, 1817, he describes the hustle and bustle of the emerging commercial town of Cincinnati. DEAR BROTHER, Cincinnati is an incorporated City. It contained in 1815, 1,100 buildings of different descriptions among which are above 20 of Stone 250 of brick & 800 of Wood. The population in 1815 was 6,500. There are about 60 Mercantile stores several of which are wholesale. Here are a great share of Mechanics of all kinds. Here is one Woolen Factory four Cotton factories but not now in operation. A most stupendously large building of Stone is likewise erected immediately on the bank of the River for a steam Mill. It is nine stories high at the Waters edge & is 87 by 62 feet. It drives four pair of Stones besides various other Machinery as Wool carding &c &c. There is also a valuable Steam Saw Mill driving four saws also an inclined Wheel ox Saw Mill with two saws, one Glass Factory. The town is Rapidly increasing in Wealth & population. Here is a Branch of the United States Bank and three other banks & two Printing offices. The country around is rich. . . . That you may all be prospered in the world is the anxious wish of your affectionate Brother GERSHOM FLAGG What caught Flagg’s attention? From your reading of this letter and study of the engraving below (Figure), what impression can you take away of Cincinnati in 1817? Learn more about settlement of and immigration to the Northwest Territory by exploring the National Park Service’s Historic Resource Study related to the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. According to the guide’s maps, what lands were available for purchase? THE PANIC OF 1819 The first major economic crisis in the United States after the War of 1812 was due, in large measure, to factors in the larger Atlantic economy. It was made worse, however, by land speculation and poor banking practices at home. British textile mills voraciously consumed American cotton, and the devastation of the Napoleonic Wars made Europe reliant on other American agricultural commodities such as wheat. This drove up both the price of American agricultural products and the value of the land on which staples such as cotton, wheat, corn, and tobacco were grown. Many Americans were struck with “land fever.” Farmers strove to expand their acreage, and those who lived in areas where unoccupied land was scarce sought holdings in the West. They needed money to purchase this land, however. Small merchants and factory owners, hoping to take advantage of this boom time, also sought to borrow money to expand their businesses. When existing banks refused to lend money to small farmers and others without a credit history, state legislatures chartered new banks to meet the demand. In one legislative session, Kentucky chartered forty-six. As loans increased, paper money from new state banks flooded the country, creating inflation that drove the price of land and goods still higher. This, in turn, encouraged even more people to borrow money with which to purchase land or to expand or start their own businesses. Speculators took advantage of this boom in the sale of land by purchasing property not to live on, but to buy cheaply and resell at exorbitant prices. During the War of 1812, the Bank of the United States had suspended payments in specie, “hard money” usually in the form of gold and silver coins. When the war ended, the bank continued to issue only paper banknotes and to redeem notes issued by state banks with paper only. The newly chartered banks also adopted this practice, issuing banknotes in excess of the amount of specie in their vaults. This shaky economic scheme worked only so long as people were content to conduct business with paper money and refrain from demanding that banks instead give them the gold and silver that was supposed to back it. If large numbers of people, or banks that had loaned money to other banks, began to demand specie payments, the banking system would collapse, because there was no longer enough specie to support the amount of paper money the banks had put into circulation. So terrified were bankers that customers would demand gold and silver that an irate bank employee in Ohio stabbed a customer who had the audacity to ask for specie in exchange for the banknotes he held. In an effort to bring stability to the nation’s banking system, Congress chartered the Second Bank of the United States (a revival of Alexander Hamilton’s national bank) in 1816. But this new institution only compounded the problem by making risky loans, opening branches in the South and West where land fever was highest, and issuing a steady stream of Bank of the United States notes, a move that increased inflation and speculation. The inflated economic bubble burst in 1819, resulting in a prolonged economic depression or severe downturn in the economy called the Panic of 1819. It was the first economic depression experienced by the American public, who panicked as they saw the prices of agricultural products fall and businesses fail. Prices had already begun falling in 1815, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, when Britain began to “dump” its surplus manufactured goods, the result of wartime overproduction, in American ports, where they were sold for low prices and competed with American-manufactured goods. In 1818, to make the economic situation worse, prices for American agricultural products began to fall both in the United States and in Europe; the overproduction of staples such as wheat and cotton coincided with the recovery of European agriculture, which reduced demand for American crops. Crop prices tumbled by as much 75 percent. This dramatic decrease in the value of agricultural goods left farmers unable to pay their debts. As they defaulted on their loans, banks seized their property. However, because the drastic fall in agricultural prices had greatly reduced the value of land, the banks were left with farms they were unable to sell. Land speculators lost the value of their investments. As the countryside suffered, hard-hit farmers ceased to purchase manufactured goods. Factories responded by cutting wages or firing employees. In 1818, the Second Bank of the United States needed specie to pay foreign investors who had loaned money to the United States to enable the country to purchase Louisiana. The bank began to call in the loans it had made and required that state banks pay their debts in gold and silver. State banks that could not collect loan payments from hard-pressed farmers could not, in turn, meet their obligations to the Second Bank of the United States. Severe consequences followed as banks closed their doors and businesses failed. Three-quarters of the work force in Philadelphia was unemployed, and charities were swamped by thousands of newly destitute people needing assistance. In states with imprisonment for debt, the prison population swelled. As a result, many states drafted laws to provide relief for debtors. Even those at the top of the social ladder were affected by the Panic of 1819. Thomas Jefferson, who had cosigned a loan for a friend, nearly lost Monticello when his acquaintance defaulted, leaving Jefferson responsible for the debt. In an effort to stimulate the economy in the midst of the economic depression, Congress passed several acts modifying land sales. The Land Law of 1820 lowered the price of land to $1.25 per acre and allowed small parcels of eighty acres to be sold. The Relief Act of 1821 allowed Ohioans to return land to the government if they could not afford to keep it. The money they received in return was credited toward their debt. The act also extended the credit period to eight years. States, too, attempted to aid those faced with economic hard times by passing laws to prevent mortgage foreclosures so buyers could keep their homes. Americans made the best of the opportunities presented in business, in farming, or on the frontier, and by 1823 the Panic of 1819 had ended. The recovery provided ample evidence of the vibrant and resilient nature of the American people. ENTREPRENEURS AND INVENTORS The volatility of the U.S. economy did nothing to dampen the creative energies of its citizens in the years before the Civil War. In the 1800s, a frenzy of entrepreneurship and invention yielded many new products and machines. The republic seemed to be a laboratory of innovation, and technological advances appeared unlimited. One of the most influential advancements of the early nineteenth century was the cotton engine or gin, invented by Eli Whitney and patented in 1794. Whitney, who was born in Massachusetts, had spent time in the South and knew that a device to speed up the production of cotton was desperately needed so cotton farmers could meet the growing demand for their crop. He hoped the cotton gin would render slavery obsolete. Whitney’s seemingly simple invention cleaned the seeds from the raw cotton far more quickly and efficiently than could slaves working by hand (Figure). The raw cotton with seeds was placed in the cotton gin, and with the use of a hand crank, the seeds were extracted through a carding device that aligned the cotton fibers in strands for spinning. Whitney also worked on machine tools, devices that cut and shaped metal to make standardized, interchangeable parts for other mechanical devices like clocks and guns. Whitney’s machine tools to manufacture parts for muskets enabled guns to be manufactured and repaired by people other than skilled gunsmiths. His creative genius served as a source of inspiration for many other American inventors. Another influential new technology of the early 1800s was the steamship engine, invented by Robert Fulton in 1807. Fulton’s first steamship, the Clermont, used paddle wheels to travel the 150 miles from New York City to Albany in a record time of only thirty-two hours (Figure). Soon, a fleet of steamboats was traversing the Hudson River and New York Harbor, later expanding to travel every major American river including the mighty Mississippi. By the 1830s there were over one thousand of these vessels, radically changing water transportation by ending its dependence on the wind. Steamboats could travel faster and more cheaply than sailing vessels or keelboats, which floated downriver and had to be poled or towed upriver on the return voyage. Steamboats also arrived with much greater dependability. The steamboat facilitated the rapid economic development of the massive Mississippi River Valley and the settlement of the West. Virginia-born Cyrus McCormick wanted to replace the laborious process of using a scythe to cut and gather wheat for harvest. In 1831, he and the slaves on his family’s plantation tested a horse-drawn mechanical reaper, and over the next several decades, he made constant improvements to it (Figure). More farmers began using it in the 1840s, and greater demand for the McCormick reaper led McCormick and his brother to establish the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company in Chicago, where labor was more readily available. By the 1850s, McCormick’s mechanical reaper had enabled farmers to vastly increase their output. McCormick—and also John Deere, who improved on the design of plows—opened the prairies to agriculture. McCormick’s bigger machine could harvest grain faster, and Deere’s plow could cut through the thick prairie sod. Agriculture north of the Ohio River became the pantry that would lower food prices and feed the major cities in the East. In short order, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois all become major agricultural states. Samuel Morse added the telegraph to the list of American innovations introduced in the years before the Civil War. Born in Massachusetts in 1791, Morse first gained renown as a painter before turning his attention to the development of a method of rapid communication in the 1830s. In 1838, he gave the first public demonstration of his method of conveying electric pulses over a wire, using the basis of what became known as Morse code. In 1843, Congress agreed to help fund the new technology by allocating $30,000 for a telegraph line to connect Washington, DC, and Baltimore along the route of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. In 1844, Morse sent the first telegraph message on the new link. Improved communication systems fostered the development of business, economics, and politics by allowing for dissemination of news at a speed previously unknown. Section Summary The selling of the public domain was one of the key features of the early nineteenth century in the United States. Thousands rushed west to take part in the bounty. In the wild frenzy of land purchases and speculation in land, state banks advanced risky loans and created unstable paper money not backed by gold or silver, ultimately leading to the Panic of 1819. The ensuing economic depression was the first in U.S. history. Recovery came in the 1820s, followed by a period of robust growth. In this age of entrepreneurship, in which those who invested their money wisely in land, business ventures, or technological improvements reaped vast profits, inventors produced new wonders that transformed American life. Review Questions Most people who migrated within the United States in the early nineteenth century went ________. - north toward Canada - west toward Ohio - south toward Georgia - east across the Mississippi River Hint: B Which of the following was not a cause of the Panic of 1819? - The Second Bank of the United States made risky loans. - States chartered too many banks. - Prices for American commodities dropped. - Banks hoarded gold and silver. Hint: D Robert Fulton is known for inventing ________. - the cotton gin - the mechanical reaper - the steamship engine - machine tools Hint: C What did federal and state governments do to help people who were hurt in the Panic of 1819? Hint: The federal government passed laws allowing people to sell back land they could not pay for and use the money to pay their debt. States made it more difficult to foreclose on mortgages and tried to make it easier for people to declare bankruptcy.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.365134	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15441/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800–1850", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15442/overview	On the Move: The Transportation Revolution Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Describe the development of improved methods of nineteenth-century domestic transportation - Identify the ways in which roads, canals, and railroads impacted Americans’ lives in the nineteenth century Americans in the early 1800s were a people on the move, as thousands left the eastern coastal states for opportunities in the West. Unlike their predecessors, who traveled by foot or wagon train, these settlers had new transport options. Their trek was made possible by the construction of roads, canals, and railroads, projects that required the funding of the federal government and the states. New technologies, like the steamship and railroad lines, had brought about what historians call the transportation revolution. States competed for the honor of having the most advanced transport systems. People celebrated the transformation of the wilderness into an orderly world of improvement demonstrating the steady march of progress and the greatness of the republic. In 1817, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina looked to a future of rapid internal improvements, declaring, “Let us . . . bind the Republic together with a perfect system of roads and canals.” Americans agreed that internal transportation routes would promote progress. By the eve of the Civil War, the United States had moved beyond roads and canals to a well-established and extensive system of railroads. ROADS AND CANALS One key part of the transportation revolution was the widespread building of roads and turnpikes. In 1811, construction began on the Cumberland Road, a national highway that provided thousands with a route from Maryland to Illinois. The federal government funded this important artery to the West, beginning the creation of a transportation infrastructure for the benefit of settlers and farmers. Other entities built turnpikes, which (as today) charged fees for use. New York State, for instance, chartered turnpike companies that dramatically increased the miles of state roads from one thousand in 1810 to four thousand by 1820. New York led the way in building turnpikes. Canal mania swept the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. Promoters knew these artificial rivers could save travelers immense amounts of time and money. Even short waterways, such as the two-and-a-half-mile canal going around the rapids of the Ohio River near Louisville, Kentucky, proved a huge leap forward, in this case by opening a water route from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. The preeminent example was the Erie Canal (Figure), which linked the Hudson River, and thus New York City and the Atlantic seaboard, to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Valley. With its central location, large harbor, and access to the hinterland via the Hudson River, New York City already commanded the lion’s share of commerce. Still, the city’s merchants worried about losing ground to their competitors in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Their search for commercial advantage led to the dream of creating a water highway connecting the city’s Hudson River to Lake Erie and markets in the West. The result was the Erie Canal. Chartered in 1817 by the state of New York, the canal took seven years to complete. When it opened in 1825, it dramatically decreased the cost of shipping while reducing the time to travel to the West. Soon $15 million worth of goods (more than $200 million in today’s money) was being transported on the 363-mile waterway every year. Explore the Erie Canal on ErieCanal.org via an interactive map. Click throughout the map for images of and artifacts from this historic waterway. The success of the Erie Canal led to other, similar projects. The Wabash and Erie Canal, which opened in the early 1840s, stretched over 450 miles, making it the longest canal in North America (Figure). Canals added immensely to the country’s sense of progress. Indeed, they appeared to be the logical next step in the process of transforming wilderness into civilization. Visit Southern Indiana Trails to see historic photographs of the Wabash and Erie Canal: As with highway projects such as the Cumberland Road, many canals were federally sponsored, especially during the presidency of John Quincy Adams in the late 1820s. Adams, along with Secretary of State Henry Clay, championed what was known as the American System, part of which included plans for a broad range of internal transportation improvements. Adams endorsed the creation of roads and canals to facilitate commerce and develop markets for agriculture as well as to advance settlement in the West. RAILROADS Starting in the late 1820s, steam locomotives began to compete with horse-drawn locomotives. The railroads with steam locomotives offered a new mode of transportation that fascinated citizens, buoying their optimistic view of the possibilities of technological progress. The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad was the first to begin service with a steam locomotive. Its inaugural train ran in 1831 on a track outside Albany and covered twelve miles in twenty-five minutes. Soon it was traveling regularly between Albany and Schenectady. Toward the middle of the century, railroad construction kicked into high gear, and eager investors quickly formed a number of railroad companies. As a railroad grid began to take shape, it stimulated a greater demand for coal, iron, and steel. Soon, both railroads and canals crisscrossed the states (Figure), providing a transportation infrastructure that fueled the growth of American commerce. Indeed, the transportation revolution led to development in the coal, iron, and steel industries, providing many Americans with new job opportunities. AMERICANS ON THE MOVE The expansion of roads, canals, and railroads changed people’s lives. In 1786, it had taken a minimum of four days to travel from Boston, Massachusetts, to Providence, Rhode Island. By 1840, the trip took half a day on a train. In the twenty-first century, this may seem intolerably slow, but people at the time were amazed by the railroad’s speed. Its average of twenty miles per hour was twice as fast as other available modes of transportation. By 1840, more than three thousand miles of canals had been dug in the United States, and thirty thousand miles of railroad track had been laid by the beginning of the Civil War. Together with the hundreds of steamboats that plied American rivers, these advances in transportation made it easier and less expensive to ship agricultural products from the West to feed people in eastern cities, and to send manufactured goods from the East to people in the West. Without this ability to transport goods, the market revolution would not have been possible. Rural families also became less isolated as a result of the transportation revolution. Traveling circuses, menageries, peddlers, and itinerant painters could now more easily make their way into rural districts, and people in search of work found cities and mill towns within their reach. Section Summary A transportation infrastructure rapidly took shape in the 1800s as American investors and the government began building roads, turnpikes, canals, and railroads. The time required to travel shrank vastly, and people marveled at their ability to conquer great distances, enhancing their sense of the steady advance of progress. The transportation revolution also made it possible to ship agricultural and manufactured goods throughout the country and enabled rural people to travel to towns and cities for employment opportunities. Review Questions Which of the following was not a factor in the transportation revolution? - the steam-powered locomotive - the canal system - the combustion engine - the government-funded road system Hint: C What was the significance of the Cumberland Road? - It gave settlers a quicker way to move west. - It reduced the time it took to move goods from New York Harbor to Lake Erie. - It improved trade from the Port of New Orleans. - It was the first paved road. Hint: A What were the benefits of the transportation revolution? Hint: The Cumberland Road made transportation to the West easier for new settlers. The Erie Canal facilitated trade with the West by connecting the Hudson River to Lake Erie. Railroads shortened transportation times throughout the country, making it easier and less expensive to move people and goods.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.390916	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15442/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800–1850", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15443/overview	A New Social Order: Class Divisions Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Identify the shared perceptions and ideals of each social class - Assess different social classes’ views of slavery The profound economic changes sweeping the United States led to equally important social and cultural transformations. The formation of distinct classes, especially in the rapidly industrializing North, was one of the most striking developments. The unequal distribution of newly created wealth spurred new divisions along class lines. Each class had its own specific culture and views on the issue of slavery. THE ECONOMIC ELITE Economic elites gained further social and political ascendance in the United States due to a fast-growing economy that enhanced their wealth and allowed distinctive social and cultural characteristics to develop among different economic groups. In the major northern cities of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, leading merchants formed an industrial capitalist elite. Many came from families that had been deeply engaged in colonial trade in tea, sugar, pepper, slaves, and other commodities and that were familiar with trade networks connecting the United States with Europe, the West Indies, and the Far East. These colonial merchants had passed their wealth to their children. After the War of 1812, the new generation of merchants expanded their economic activities. They began to specialize in specific types of industry, spearheading the development of industrial capitalism based on factories they owned and on specific commercial services such as banking, insurance, and shipping. Junius Spencer Morgan (Figure), for example, rose to prominence as a banker. His success began in Boston, where he worked in the import business in the 1830s. He then formed a partnership with a London banker, George Peabody, and created Peabody, Morgan & Co. In 1864, he renamed the enterprise J. S. Morgan & Co. His son, J. P. Morgan, became a noted financier in the later nineteenth and early twentieth century. Visit the Internet Archive to see scanned pages from Hunt’s Merchant’s Magazine and Commercial Review. This monthly business review provided the business elite with important information about issues pertaining to trade and finance: commodity prices, new laws affecting business, statistics regarding imports and exports, and similar content. Choose three articles and decide how they might have been important to the northern business elite. Members of the northern business elite forged close ties with each other to protect and expand their economic interests. Marriages between leading families formed a crucial strategy to advance economic advantage, and the homes of the northern elite became important venues for solidifying social bonds. Exclusive neighborhoods started to develop as the wealthy distanced themselves from the poorer urban residents, and cities soon became segregated by class. Industrial elites created chambers of commerce to advance their interests; by 1858 there were ten in the United States. These networking organizations allowed top bankers and merchants to stay current on the economic activities of their peers and further strengthen the bonds among themselves. The elite also established social clubs to forge and maintain ties. The first of these, the Philadelphia Club, came into being in 1834. Similar clubs soon formed in other cities and hosted a range of social activities designed to further bind together the leading economic families. Many northern elites worked hard to ensure the transmission of their inherited wealth from one generation to the next. Politically, they exercised considerable power in local and state elections. Most also had ties to the cotton trade, so they were strong supporters of slavery. The Industrial Revolution led some former artisans to reinvent themselves as manufacturers. These enterprising leaders of manufacturing differed from the established commercial elite in the North and South because they did not inherit wealth. Instead, many came from very humble working-class origins and embodied the dream of achieving upward social mobility through hard work and discipline. As the beneficiaries of the economic transformations sweeping the republic, these newly established manufacturers formed a new economic elite that thrived in the cities and cultivated its own distinct sensibilities. They created a culture that celebrated hard work, a position that put them at odds with southern planter elites who prized leisure and with other elite northerners who had largely inherited their wealth and status. Peter Cooper provides one example of the new northern manufacturing class. Ever inventive, Cooper dabbled in many different moneymaking enterprises before gaining success in the glue business. He opened his Manhattan glue factory in the 1820s and was soon using his profits to expand into a host of other activities, including iron production. One of his innovations was the steam locomotive, which he invented in 1827 (Figure). Despite becoming one of the wealthiest men in New York City, Cooper lived simply. Rather than buying an ornate bed, for example, he built his own. He believed respectability came through hard work, not family pedigree. Those who had inherited their wealth derided self-made men like Cooper, and he and others like him were excluded from the social clubs established by the merchant and financial elite of New York City. Self-made northern manufacturers, however, created their own organizations that aimed to promote upward mobility. The Providence Association of Mechanics and Manufacturers was formed in 1789 and promoted both industrial arts and education as a pathway to economic success. In 1859, Peter Cooper established the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, a school in New York City dedicated to providing education in technology. Merit, not wealth, mattered most according to Cooper, and admission to the school was based solely on ability; race, sex, and family connections had no place. The best and brightest could attend Cooper Union tuition-free, a policy that remained in place until 2014. THE MIDDLE CLASS Not all enterprising artisans were so successful that they could rise to the level of the elite. However, many artisans and small merchants, who owned small factories and stores, did manage to achieve and maintain respectability in an emerging middle class. Lacking the protection of great wealth, members of the middle class agonized over the fear that they might slip into the ranks of wage laborers; thus they strove to maintain or improve their middle-class status and that of their children. To this end, the middle class valued cleanliness, discipline, morality, hard work, education, and good manners. Hard work and education enabled them to rise in life. Middle-class children, therefore, did not work in factories. Instead they attended school and in their free time engaged in “self-improving” activities, such as reading or playing the piano, or they played with toys and games that would teach them the skills and values they needed to succeed in life. In the early nineteenth century, members of the middle class began to limit the number of children they had. Children no longer contributed economically to the household, and raising them “correctly” required money and attention. It therefore made sense to have fewer of them. Middle-class women did not work for wages. Their job was to care for the children and to keep the house in a state of order and cleanliness, often with the help of a servant. They also performed the important tasks of cultivating good manners among their children and their husbands and of purchasing consumer goods; both activities proclaimed to neighbors and prospective business partners that their families were educated, cultured, and financially successful. Northern business elites, many of whom owned or had invested in businesses like cotton mills that profited from slave labor, often viewed the institution of slavery with ambivalence. Most members of the middle class took a dim view of it, however, since it promoted a culture of leisure. Slavery stood as the antithesis of the middle-class view that dignity and respectability were achieved through work, and many members of this class became active in efforts to end it. This class of upwardly mobile citizens promoted temperance, or abstinence from alcohol. They also gave their support to Protestant ministers like George Grandison Finney, who preached that all people possessed free moral agency, meaning they could change their lives and bring about their own salvation, a message that resonated with members of the middle class, who already believed their worldly efforts had led to their economic success. THE WORKING CLASS The Industrial Revolution in the United States created a new class of wage workers, and this working class also developed its own culture. They formed their own neighborhoods, living away from the oversight of bosses and managers. While industrialization and the market revolution brought some improvements to the lives of the working class, these sweeping changes did not benefit laborers as much as they did the middle class and the elites. The working class continued to live an often precarious existence. They suffered greatly during economic slumps, such as the Panic of 1819. Although most working-class men sought to emulate the middle class by keeping their wives and children out of the work force, their economic situation often necessitated that others besides the male head of the family contribute to its support. Thus, working-class children might attend school for a few years or learn to read and write at Sunday school, but education was sacrificed when income was needed, and many working-class children went to work in factories. While the wives of wage laborers usually did not work for wages outside the home, many took in laundry or did piecework at home to supplement the family’s income. Although the urban working class could not afford the consumer goods that the middle class could, its members did exercise a great deal of influence over popular culture. Theirs was a festive public culture of release and escape from the drudgery of factory work, catered to by the likes of Phineas Taylor Barnum, the celebrated circus promoter and showman. Taverns also served an important function as places to forget the long hours and uncertain wages of the factories. Alcohol consumption was high among the working class, although many workers did take part in the temperance movement. It is little wonder that middle-class manufacturers attempted to abolish alcohol. P. T. Barnum and the Feejee Mermaid The Connecticut native P. T. Barnum catered to the demand for escape and cheap amusements among the working class. His American Museum in New York City opened in 1841 and achieved great success. Millions flocked to see Barnum’s exhibits, which included a number of fantastic human and animal oddities, almost all of which were hoaxes. One exhibit in the 1840s featured the “Feejee Mermaid,” which Barnum presented as proof of the existence of the mythical mermaids of the deep (Figure). In truth, the mermaid was a half-monkey, half-fish stitched together. Visit The Lost Museum to take a virtual tour of P. T. Barnum’s incredible museum. Wage workers in the North were largely hostile to the abolition of slavery, fearing it would unleash more competition for jobs from free blacks. Many were also hostile to immigration. The pace of immigration to the United States accelerated in the 1840s and 1850s as Europeans were drawn to the promise of employment and land in the United States. Many new members of the working class came from the ranks of these immigrants, who brought new foods, customs, and religions. The Roman Catholic population of the United States, fairly small before this period, began to swell with the arrival of the Irish and the Germans. Section Summary The creation of distinctive classes in the North drove striking new cultural developments. Even among the wealthy elites, northern business families, who had mainly inherited their money, distanced themselves from the newly wealthy manufacturing leaders. Regardless of how they had earned their money, however, the elite lived and socialized apart from members of the growing middle class. The middle class valued work, consumption, and education and dedicated their energies to maintaining or advancing their social status. Wage workers formed their own society in industrial cities and mill villages, though lack of money and long working hours effectively prevented the working class from consuming the fruits of their labor, educating their children, or advancing up the economic ladder. Review Questions Which of the following groups supported the abolition of slavery? - northern business elites - southern planter elites - wage workers - middle-class northerners Hint: D Which social class was most drawn to amusements like P. T. Barnum’s museum? - wage workers - middle-class northerners - southern planter elites - northern business elites Hint: A What did Peter Cooper envision for the United States, and how did he work to bring his vision to life? Hint: A successful northern manufacturer and inventor, Cooper valued hard work, thrift, and simplicity. He lived according to these values, choosing utilitarian, self-made furnishings rather than luxurious goods. Cooper’s vision of hard work leading to respectability led him to found the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art; admission to this college, which was dedicated to the pursuit of technology, was based solely on merit. Critical Thinking Questions Industrialization in the Northeast produced great benefits and also major problems. What were they? Who benefited and who suffered? Did the benefits outweigh the problems, or vice versa? What factors led to the Panic of 1819? What government regulations might have prevented it? Would the Industrial Revolution have been possible without the use of slave labor? Why or why not? What might have been the advantages and disadvantages of railroads for the people who lived along the routes or near the stations? What were the values of the middle class? How did they differ from the values of those above and below them on the socioeconomic ladder? In what ways are these values similar to or different from those held by the middle class today?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.420213	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15443/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800–1850", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15482/overview	Introduction Overview - The Westward Spirit - Homesteading: Dreams and Realities - Making a Living in Gold and Cattle - The Loss of American Indian Life and Culture - The Impact of Expansion on Chinese Immigrants and Hispanic Citizens In the middle of the nineteenth century, farmers in the “Old West”—the land across the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania—began to hear about the opportunities to be found in the “New West.” They had long believed that the land west of the Mississippi was a great desert, unfit for human habitation. But now, the federal government was encouraging them to join the migratory stream westward to this unknown land. For a variety of reasons, Americans increasingly felt compelled to fulfill their “Manifest Destiny,” a phrase that came to mean that they were expected to spread across the land given to them by God and, most importantly, spread predominantly American values to the frontier (Figure). With great trepidation, hundreds, and then hundreds of thousands, of settlers packed their lives into wagons and set out, following the Oregon, California, and Santa Fe Trails, to seek a new life in the West. Some sought open lands and greater freedom to fulfill the democratic vision originally promoted by Thomas Jefferson and experienced by their ancestors. Others saw economic opportunity. Still others believed it was their job to spread the word of God to the “heathens” on the frontier. Whatever their motivation, the great migration was underway. The American pioneer spirit was born.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.437034	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15482/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15483/overview	The Westward Spirit Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the evolution of American views about westward migration in the mid-nineteenth century - Analyze the ways in which the federal government facilitated Americans’ westward migration in the mid-nineteenth century While a small number of settlers had pushed westward before the mid-nineteenth century, the land west of the Mississippi was largely unexplored. Most Americans, if they thought of it at all, viewed this territory as an arid wasteland suitable only for Indians whom the federal government had displaced from eastern lands in previous generations. The reflections of early explorers who conducted scientific treks throughout the West tended to confirm this belief. Major Stephen Harriman Long, who commanded an expedition through Missouri and into the Yellowstone region in 1819–1820, frequently described the Great Plains as a arid and useless region, suitable as nothing more than a “great American desert.” But, beginning in the 1840s, a combination of economic opportunity and ideological encouragement changed the way Americans thought of the West. The federal government offered a number of incentives, making it viable for Americans to take on the challenge of seizing these rough lands from others and subsequently taming them. Still, most Americans who went west needed some financial security at the outset of their journey; even with government aid, the truly poor could not make the trip. The cost of moving an entire family westward, combined with the risks as well as the questionable chances of success, made the move prohibitive for most. While the economic Panic of 1837 led many to question the promise of urban America, and thus turn their focus to the promise of commercial farming in the West, the Panic also resulted in many lacking the financial resources to make such a commitment. For most, the dream to “Go west, young man” remained unfulfilled. While much of the basis for westward expansion was economic, there was also a more philosophical reason, which was bound up in the American belief that the country—and the “heathens” who populated it—was destined to come under the civilizing rule of Euro-American settlers and their superior technology, most notably railroads and the telegraph. While the extent to which that belief was a heartfelt motivation held by most Americans, or simply a rationalization of the conquests that followed, remains debatable, the clashes—both physical and cultural—that followed this western migration left scars on the country that are still felt today. MANIFEST DESTINY The concept of Manifest Destiny found its roots in the long-standing traditions of territorial expansion upon which the nation itself was founded. This phrase, which implies divine encouragement for territorial expansion, was coined by magazine editor John O’Sullivan in 1845, when he wrote in the United States Magazine and Democratic Review that “it was our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our multiplying millions.” Although the context of O’Sullivan’s original article was to encourage expansion into the newly acquired Texas territory, the spirit it invoked would subsequently be used to encourage westward settlement throughout the rest of the nineteenth century. Land developers, railroad magnates, and other investors capitalized on the notion to encourage westward settlement for their own financial benefit. Soon thereafter, the federal government encouraged this inclination as a means to further develop the West during the Civil War, especially at its outset, when concerns over the possible expansion of slavery deeper into western territories was a legitimate fear. The idea was simple: Americans were destined—and indeed divinely ordained—to expand democratic institutions throughout the continent. As they spread their culture, thoughts, and customs, they would, in the process, “improve” the lives of the native inhabitants who might otherwise resist Protestant institutions and, more importantly, economic development of the land. O’Sullivan may have coined the phrase, but the concept had preceded him: Throughout the 1800s, politicians and writers had stated the belief that the United States was destined to rule the continent. O’Sullivan’s words, which resonated in the popular press, matched the economic and political goals of a federal government increasingly committed to expansion. Manifest Destiny justified in Americans’ minds their right and duty to govern any other groups they encountered during their expansion, as well as absolved them of any questionable tactics they employed in the process. While the commonly held view of the day was of a relatively empty frontier, waiting for the arrival of the settlers who could properly exploit the vast resources for economic gain, the reality was quite different. Hispanic communities in the Southwest, diverse Indian tribes throughout the western states, as well as other settlers from Asia and Western Europe already lived in many parts of the country. American expansion would necessitate a far more complex and involved exchange than simply filling empty space. Still, in part as a result of the spark lit by O’Sullivan and others, waves of Americans and recently arrived immigrants began to move west in wagon trains. They travelled along several identifiable trails: first the Oregon Trail, then later the Santa Fe and California Trails, among others. The Oregon Trail is the most famous of these western routes. Two thousand miles long and barely passable on foot in the early nineteenth century, by the 1840s, wagon trains were a common sight. Between 1845 and 1870, considered to be the height of migration along the trail, over 400,000 settlers followed this path west from Missouri (Figure). Who Will Set Limits to Our Onward March? America is destined for better deeds. It is our unparalleled glory that we have no reminiscences of battle fields, but in defense [sic] of humanity, of the oppressed of all nations, of the rights of conscience, the rights of personal enfranchisement. Our annals describe no scenes of horrid carnage, where men were led on by hundreds of thousands to slay one another, dupes and victims to emperors, kings, nobles, demons in the human form called heroes. We have had patriots to defend our homes, our liberties, but no aspirants to crowns or thrones; nor have the American people ever suffered themselves to be led on by wicked ambition to depopulate the land, to spread desolation far and wide, that a human being might be placed on a seat of supremacy. . . . The expansive future is our arena, and for our history. We are entering on its untrodden space, with the truths of God in our minds, beneficent objects in our hearts, and with a clear conscience unsullied by the past. We are the nation of human progress, and who will, what can, set limits to our onward march? Providence is with us, and no earthly power can. —John O’Sullivan, 1839 Think about how this quotation resonated with different groups of Americans at the time. When looked at through today’s lens, the actions of the westward-moving settlers were fraught with brutality and racism. At the time, however, many settlers felt they were at the pinnacle of democracy, and that with no aristocracy or ancient history, America was a new world where anyone could succeed. Even then, consider how the phrase “anyone” was restricted by race, gender, and nationality. Visit Across the Plains in ‘64 to follow one family making their way westward from Iowa to Oregon. Click on a few of the entries and see how the author describes their journey, from the expected to the surprising. FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE To assist the settlers in their move westward and transform the migration from a trickle into a steady flow, Congress passed two significant pieces of legislation in 1862: the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Act. Born largely out of President Abraham Lincoln’s growing concern that a potential Union defeat in the early stages of the Civil War might result in the expansion of slavery westward, Lincoln hoped that such laws would encourage the expansion of a “free soil” mentality across the West. The Homestead Act allowed any head of household, or individual over the age of twenty-one—including unmarried women—to receive a parcel of 160 acres for only a nominal filing fee. All that recipients were required to do in exchange was to “improve the land” within a period of five years of taking possession. The standards for improvement were minimal: Owners could clear a few acres, build small houses or barns, or maintain livestock. Under this act, the government transferred over 270 million acres of public domain land to private citizens. The Pacific Railway Act was pivotal in helping settlers move west more quickly, as well as move their farm products, and later cattle and mining deposits, back east. The first of many railway initiatives, this act commissioned the Union Pacific Railroad to build new track west from Omaha, Nebraska, while the Central Pacific Railroad moved east from Sacramento, California. The law provided each company with ownership of all public lands within two hundred feet on either side of the track laid, as well as additional land grants and payment through load bonds, prorated on the difficulty of the terrain it crossed. Because of these provisions, both companies made a significant profit, whether they were crossing hundreds of miles of open plains, or working their way through the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California. As a result, the nation’s first transcontinental railroad was completed when the two companies connected their tracks at Promontory Point, Utah, in the spring of 1869. Other tracks, including lines radiating from this original one, subsequently created a network that linked all corners of the nation (Figure). In addition to legislation designed to facilitate western settlement, the U.S. government assumed an active role on the ground, building numerous forts throughout the West to protect and assist settlers during their migration. Forts such as Fort Laramie in Wyoming (built in 1834) and Fort Apache in Arizona (1870) served as protection from nearby Indians as well as maintained peace between potential warring tribes. Others located throughout Colorado and Wyoming became important trading posts for miners and fur trappers. Those built in Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas served primarily to provide relief for farmers during times of drought or related hardships. Forts constructed along the California coastline provided protection in the wake of the Mexican-American War as well as during the American Civil War. These locations subsequently serviced the U.S. Navy and provided important support for growing Pacific trade routes. Whether as army posts constructed for the protection of white settlers and to maintain peace among Indian tribes, or as trading posts to further facilitate the development of the region, such forts proved to be vital contributions to westward migration. WHO WERE THE SETTLERS? In the nineteenth century, as today, it took money to relocate and start a new life. Due to the initial cost of relocation, land, and supplies, as well as months of preparing the soil, planting, and subsequent harvesting before any produce was ready for market, the original wave of western settlers along the Oregon Trail in the 1840s and 1850s consisted of moderately prosperous, white, native-born farming families of the East. But the passage of the Homestead Act and completion of the first transcontinental railroad meant that, by 1870, the possibility of western migration was opened to Americans of more modest means. What started as a trickle became a steady flow of migration that would last until the end of the century. Nearly 400,000 settlers had made the trek westward by the height of the movement in 1870. The vast majority were men, although families also migrated, despite incredible hardships for women with young children. More recent immigrants also migrated west, with the largest numbers coming from Northern Europe and Canada. Germans, Scandinavians, and Irish were among the most common. These ethnic groups tended to settle close together, creating strong rural communities that mirrored the way of life they had left behind. According to U.S. Census Bureau records, the number of Scandinavians living in the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century exploded, from barely 18,000 in 1850 to over 1.1 million in 1900. During that same time period, the German-born population in the United States grew from 584,000 to nearly 2.7 million and the Irish-born population grew from 961,000 to 1.6 million. As they moved westward, several thousand immigrants established homesteads in the Midwest, primarily in Minnesota and Wisconsin, where, as of 1900, over one-third of the population was foreign-born, and in North Dakota, whose immigrant population stood at 45 percent at the turn of the century. Compared to European immigrants, those from China were much less numerous, but still significant. More than 200,000 Chinese arrived in California between 1876 and 1890, albeit for entirely different reasons related to the Gold Rush. In addition to a significant European migration westward, several thousand African Americans migrated west following the Civil War, as much to escape the racism and violence of the Old South as to find new economic opportunities. They were known as exodusters, referencing the biblical flight from Egypt, because they fled the racism of the South, with most of them headed to Kansas from Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Over twenty-five thousand exodusters arrived in Kansas in 1879–1880 alone. By 1890, over 500,000 blacks lived west of the Mississippi River. Although the majority of black migrants became farmers, approximately twelve thousand worked as cowboys during the Texas cattle drives. Some also became “Buffalo Soldiers” in the wars against Indians. “Buffalo Soldiers” were African Americans allegedly so-named by various Indian tribes who equated their black, curly hair with that of the buffalo. Many had served in the Union army in the Civil War and were now organized into six, all-black cavalry and infantry units whose primary duties were to protect settlers from Indian attacks during the westward migration, as well as to assist in building the infrastructure required to support western settlement (Figure). The Oxford African American Studies Center features photographs and stories about black homesteaders. From exodusters to all-black settlements, the essay describes the largely hidden role that African Americans played in western expansion. While white easterners, immigrants, and African Americans were moving west, several hundred thousand Hispanics had already settled in the American Southwest prior to the U.S. government seizing the land during its war with Mexico (1846–1848). The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the war in 1848, granted American citizenship to those who chose to stay in the United States, as the land switched from Mexican to U.S. ownership. Under the conditions of the treaty, Mexicans retained the right to their language, religion, and culture, as well as the property they held. As for citizenship, they could choose one of three options: 1) declare their intent to live in the United States but retain Mexican citizenship; 2) become U.S. citizens with all rights under the constitution; or 3) leave for Mexico. Despite such guarantees, within one generation, these new Hispanic American citizens found their culture under attack, and legal protection of their property all but non-existent. Section Summary While a few bold settlers had moved westward before the middle of the nineteenth century, they were the exception, not the rule. The “great American desert,” as it was called, was considered a vast and empty place, unfit for civilized people. In the 1840s, however, this idea started to change, as potential settlers began to learn more from promoters and land developers of the economic opportunities that awaited them in the West, and Americans extolled the belief that it was their Manifest Destiny—their divine right—to explore and settle the western territories in the name of the United States. Most settlers in this first wave were white Americans of means. Whether they sought riches in gold, cattle, or farming, or believed it their duty to spread Protestant ideals to native inhabitants, they headed west in wagon trains along paths such as the Oregon Trail. European immigrants, particularly those from Northern Europe, also made the trip, settling in close-knit ethnic enclaves out of comfort, necessity, and familiarity. African Americans escaping the racism of the South also went west. In all, the newly settled areas were neither a fast track to riches nor a simple expansion into an empty land, but rather a clash of cultures, races, and traditions that defined the emerging new America. Review Questions Which of the following does not represent a group that participated significantly in westward migration after 1870? - African American “exodusters” escaping racism and seeking economic opportunities - former Southern slaveholders seeking land and new financial opportunities - recent immigrants from Northern Europe and Canada - recent Chinese immigrants seeking gold in California Hint: B Which of the following represents an action that the U.S. government took to help Americans fulfill the goal of western expansion? - the passage of the Homestead Act - the official creation of the philosophy of Manifest Destiny - the development of stricter immigration policies - the introduction of new irrigation techniques Hint: A Why and how did the U.S. government promote western migration in the midst of fighting the Civil War? Hint: During the first two years of the Civil War—when it appeared that the Confederacy was a formidable opponent—President Lincoln grew concerned that a Union defeat could result in the westward expansion of slavery. Thus, he hoped to facilitate the westward movement of white settlers who promoted the concept of free soil, which would populate the region with allies who opposed slavery. To encourage this process, Congress passed the Homestead Act and the Pacific Railway Act in 1862. The government also constructed and maintained forts that assisted in the process of westward expansion.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.464453	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15483/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15484/overview	Homesteading: Dreams and Realities Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Identify the challenges that farmers faced as they settled west of the Mississippi River - Describe the unique experiences of women who participated in westward migration As settlers and homesteaders moved westward to improve the land given to them through the Homestead Act, they faced a difficult and often insurmountable challenge. The land was difficult to farm, there were few building materials, and harsh weather, insects, and inexperience led to frequent setbacks. The prohibitive prices charged by the first railroad lines made it expensive to ship crops to market or have goods sent out. Although many farms failed, some survived and grew into large “bonanza” farms that hired additional labor and were able to benefit enough from economies of scale to grow profitable. Still, small family farms, and the settlers who worked them, were hard-pressed to do more than scrape out a living in an unforgiving environment that comprised arid land, violent weather shifts, and other challenges (Figure). THE DIFFICULT LIFE OF THE PIONEER FARMER Of the hundreds of thousands of settlers who moved west, the vast majority were homesteaders. These pioneers, like the Ingalls family of Little House on the Prairie book and television fame (see inset below), were seeking land and opportunity. Popularly known as “sodbusters,” these men and women in the Midwest faced a difficult life on the frontier. They settled throughout the land that now makes up the Midwestern states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. The weather and environment were bleak, and settlers struggled to eke out a living. A few unseasonably rainy years had led would-be settlers to believe that the “great desert” was no more, but the region’s typically low rainfall and harsh temperatures made crop cultivation hard. Irrigation was a requirement, but finding water and building adequate systems proved too difficult and expensive for many farmers. It was not until 1902 and the passage of the Newlands Reclamation Act that a system finally existed to set aside funds from the sale of public lands to build dams for subsequent irrigation efforts. Prior to that, farmers across the Great Plains relied primarily on dry-farming techniques to grow corn, wheat, and sorghum, a practice that many continued in later years. A few also began to employ windmill technology to draw water, although both the drilling and construction of windmills became an added expense that few farmers could afford. The Enduring Appeal of Little House on the Prairie The story of western migration and survival has remained a touchstone of American culture, even today. The television show Frontier Life on PBS is one example, as are countless other modern-day evocations of the settlers. Consider the enormous popularity of the Little House series. The books, originally published in the 1930s and 1940s, have been in print continuously. The television show, Little House on the Prairie, ran for over a decade and was hugely successful (and was said to be President Ronald Reagan’s favorite show). The books, although fictional, were based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s own childhood, as she travelled west with her family via covered wagon, stopping in Kansas, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and beyond (Figure). Wilder wrote of her stories, “As you read my stories of long ago I hope you will remember that the things that are truly worthwhile and that will give you happiness are the same now as they were then. Courage and kindness, loyalty, truth, and helpfulness are always the same and always needed.” While Ingalls makes the point that her stories underscore traditional values that remain the same over time, this is not necessarily the only thing that made these books so popular. Perhaps part of their appeal is that they are adventure stories, with wild weather, wild animals, and wild Indians all playing a role. Does this explain their ongoing popularity? What other factors might make these stories appealing so long after they were originally written? The first houses built by western settlers were typically made of mud and sod with thatch roofs, as there was little timber for building. Rain, when it arrived, presented constant problems for these sod houses, with mud falling into food, and vermin, most notably lice, scampering across bedding (Figure). Weather patterns not only left the fields dry, they also brought tornadoes, droughts, blizzards, and insect swarms. Tales of swarms of locusts were commonplace, and the crop-eating insects would at times cover the ground six to twelve inches deep. One frequently quoted Kansas newspaper reported a locust swarm in 1878 during which the insects devoured “everything green, stripping the foliage off the bark and from the tender twigs of the fruit trees, destroying every plant that is good for food or pleasant to the eye, that man has planted.” Farmers also faced the ever-present threat of debt and farm foreclosure by the banks. While land was essentially free under the Homestead Act, all other farm necessities cost money and were initially difficult to obtain in the newly settled parts of the country where market economies did not yet fully reach. Horses, livestock, wagons, wells, fencing, seed, and fertilizer were all critical to survival, but often hard to come by as the population initially remained sparsely settled across vast tracts of land. Railroads charged notoriously high rates for farm equipment and livestock, making it difficult to procure goods or make a profit on anything sent back east. Banks also charged high interest rates, and, in a cycle that replayed itself year after year, farmers would borrow from the bank with the intention of repaying their debt after the harvest. As the number of farmers moving westward increased, the market price of their produce steadily declined, even as the value of the actual land increased. Each year, hard-working farmers produced ever-larger crops, flooding the markets and subsequently driving prices down even further. Although some understood the economics of supply and demand, none could overtly control such forces. Eventually, the arrival of a more extensive railroad network aided farmers, mostly by bringing much-needed supplies such as lumber for construction and new farm machinery. While John Deere sold a steel-faced plow as early as 1838, it was James Oliver’s improvements to the device in the late 1860s that transformed life for homesteaders. His new, less expensive “chilled plow” was better equipped to cut through the shallow grass roots of the Midwestern terrain, as well as withstand damage from rocks just below the surface. Similar advancements in hay mowers, manure spreaders, and threshing machines greatly improved farm production for those who could afford them. Where capital expense became a significant factor, larger commercial farms—known as “bonanza farms”—began to develop. Farmers in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota hired migrant farmers to grow wheat on farms in excess of twenty thousand acres each. These large farms were succeeding by the end of the century, but small family farms continued to suffer. Although the land was nearly free, it cost close to $1000 for the necessary supplies to start up a farm, and many would-be landowners lured westward by the promise of cheap land became migrant farmers instead, working other peoples’ land for a wage. The frustration of small farmers grew, ultimately leading to a revolt of sorts, discussed in a later chapter. Frontier House includes information on the logistics of moving across the country as a homesteader. Take a look at the list of supplies and gear. It is easy to understand why, even when the government gave the land away for free, it still took significant resources to make such a journey. AN EVEN MORE CHALLENGING LIFE: A PIONEER WIFE Although the West was numerically a male-dominated society, homesteading in particular encouraged the presence of women, families, and a domestic lifestyle, even if such a life was not an easy one. Women faced all the physical hardships that men encountered in terms of weather, illness, and danger, with the added complication of childbirth. Often, there was no doctor or midwife providing assistance, and many women died from treatable complications, as did their newborns. While some women could find employment in the newly settled towns as teachers, cooks, or seamstresses, they originally did not enjoy many rights. They could not sell property, sue for divorce, serve on juries, or vote. And for the vast majority of women, their work was not in towns for money, but on the farm. As late as 1900, a typical farm wife could expect to devote nine hours per day to chores such as cleaning, sewing, laundering, and preparing food. Two additional hours per day were spent cleaning the barn and chicken coop, milking the cows, caring for the chickens, and tending the family garden. One wife commented in 1879, “[We are] not much better than slaves. It is a weary, monotonous round of cooking and washing and mending and as a result the insane asylum is a third filled with wives of farmers.” Despite this grim image, the challenges of farm life eventually empowered women to break through some legal and social barriers. Many lived more equitably as partners with their husbands than did their eastern counterparts, helping each other through both hard times and good. If widowed, a wife typically took over responsibility for the farm, a level of management that was very rare back east, where the farm would fall to a son or other male relation. Pioneer women made important decisions and were considered by their husbands to be more equal partners in the success of the homestead, due to the necessity that all members had to work hard and contribute to the farming enterprise for it to succeed. Therefore, it is not surprising that the first states to grant women’s rights, including the right to vote, were those in the Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest, where women pioneers worked the land side by side with men. Some women seemed to be well suited to the challenges that frontier life presented them. Writing to her Aunt Martha from their homestead in Minnesota in 1873, Mary Carpenter refused to complain about the hardships of farm life: “I try to trust in God’s promises, but we can’t expect him to work miracles nowadays. Nevertheless, all that is expected of us is to do the best we can, and that we shall certainly endeavor to do. Even if we do freeze and starve in the way of duty, it will not be a dishonorable death.” Section Summary The concept of Manifest Destiny and the strong incentives to relocate sent hundreds of thousands of people west across the Mississippi. The rigors of this new way of life presented many challenges and difficulties to homesteaders. The land was dry and barren, and homesteaders lost crops to hail, droughts, insect swarms, and more. There were few materials with which to build, and early homes were made of mud, which did not stand up to the elements. Money was a constant concern, as the cost of railroad freight was exorbitant, and banks were unforgiving of bad harvests. For women, life was difficult in the extreme. Farm wives worked at least eleven hours per day on chores and had limited access to doctors or midwives. Still, they were more independent than their eastern counterparts and worked in partnership with their husbands. As the railroad expanded and better farm equipment became available, by the 1870s, large farms began to succeed through economies of scale. Small farms still struggled to stay afloat, however, leading to a rising discontent among the farmers, who worked so hard for so little success. Review Questions What specific types of hardships did an average American farmer not face as he built his homestead in the Midwest? - droughts - insect swarms - hostile Indian attacks - limited building supplies Hint: C What accounts for the success of large, commercial “bonanza farms?” What benefits did they enjoy over their smaller family-run counterparts? Hint: Farmers who were able to invest a significant amount of capital in starting up large farms could acquire necessary supplies with ease. They also had access to new, technologically advanced farm machinery, which greatly improved efficiency and output. Such farmers hired migrant farmers to work their huge amounts of land. These “bonanza farms” were often quite successful, whereas family farms—unable to afford the supplies they needed for success, let alone take advantage of the technological innovations that would make their farms competitive—often failed. How did everyday life in the American West hasten equality for women who settled the land? Hint: Women who settled the West were considered by their husbands to be more equitable partners in the success or failure of the homestead. Because resources were so limited and the area so sparsely settled, women participated in work that was typically done only by men. Due in part to these efforts, women were able to inherit and run farms if they became widowed, rather than passing the farms along to male relations as they would in the East. The first states to begin granting rights to women, including the right to vote, were in the Pacific Northwest and Upper Midwest, where women homesteaders worked side by side with men to tame the land.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.490034	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15484/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15485/overview	Making a Living in Gold and Cattle Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Identify the major discoveries and developments in western gold, silver, and copper mining in the mid-nineteenth century - Explain why the cattle industry was paramount to the development of the West and how it became the catalyst for violent range wars Although homestead farming was the primary goal of most western settlers in the latter half of the nineteenth century, a small minority sought to make their fortunes quickly through other means. Specifically, gold (and, subsequently, silver and copper) prospecting attracted thousands of miners looking to “get rich quick” before returning east. In addition, ranchers capitalized on newly available railroad lines to move longhorn steers that populated southern and western Texas. This meat was highly sought after in eastern markets, and the demand created not only wealthy ranchers but an era of cowboys and cattle drives that in many ways defines how we think of the West today. Although neither miners nor ranchers intended to remain permanently in the West, many individuals from both groups ultimately stayed and settled there, sometimes due to the success of their gamble, and other times due to their abject failure. THE CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH AND BEYOND The allure of gold has long sent people on wild chases; in the American West, the possibility of quick riches was no different. The search for gold represented an opportunity far different from the slow plod that homesteading farmers faced. The discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma, California, set a pattern for such strikes that was repeated again and again for the next decade, in what collectively became known as the California Gold Rush. In what became typical, a sudden disorderly rush of prospectors descended upon a new discovery site, followed by the arrival of those who hoped to benefit from the strike by preying off the newly rich. This latter group of camp followers included saloonkeepers, prostitutes, store owners, and criminals, who all arrived in droves. If the strike was significant in size, a town of some magnitude might establish itself, and some semblance of law and order might replace the vigilante justice that typically grew in the small and short-lived mining outposts. The original Forty-Niners were individual prospectors who sifted gold out of the dirt and gravel through “panning” or by diverting a stream through a sluice box (Figure). To varying degrees, the original California Gold Rush repeated itself throughout Colorado and Nevada for the next two decades. In 1859, Henry T. P. Comstock, a Canadian-born fur trapper, began gold mining in Nevada with other prospectors but then quickly found a blue-colored vein that proved to be the first significant silver discovery in the United States. Within twenty years, the Comstock Lode, as it was called, yielded more than $300 million in shafts that reached hundreds of feet into the mountain. Subsequent mining in Arizona and Montana yielded copper, and, while it lacked the glamour of gold, these deposits created huge wealth for those who exploited them, particularly with the advent of copper wiring for the delivery of electricity and telegraph communication. By the 1860s and 1870s, however, individual efforts to locate precious metals were less successful. The lowest-hanging fruit had been picked, and now it required investment capital and machinery to dig mine shafts that could reach remaining ore. With a much larger investment, miners needed a larger strike to be successful. This shift led to larger businesses underwriting mining operations, which eventually led to the development of greater urban stability and infrastructure. Denver, Colorado, was one of several cities that became permanent settlements, as businesses sought a stable environment to use as a base for their mining ventures. For miners who had not yet struck it rich, this development was not a good one. They were now paid a daily or weekly wage to work underground in very dangerous conditions. They worked in shafts where the temperature could rise to above one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and where poor ventilation might lead to long-term lung disease. They coped with shaft fires, dynamite explosions, and frequent cave-ins. By some historical accounts, close to eight thousand miners died on the frontier during this period, with over three times that number suffering crippling injuries. Some miners organized into unions and led strikes for better conditions, but these efforts were usually crushed by state militias. Eventually, as the ore dried up, most mining towns turned into ghost towns. Even today, a visit through the American West shows old saloons and storefronts, abandoned as the residents moved on to their next shot at riches. The true lasting impact of the early mining efforts was the resulting desire of the U.S. government to bring law and order to the “Wild West” in order to more efficiently extract natural resources and encourage stable growth in the region. As more Americans moved to the region to seek permanent settlement, as opposed to brief speculative ventures, they also sought the safety and support that government order could bring. Nevada was admitted to the Union as a state in 1864, with Colorado following in 1876, then North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington in 1889; and Idaho and Wyoming in 1890. THE CATTLE KINGDOM While the cattle industry lacked the romance of the Gold Rush, the role it played in western expansion should not be underestimated. For centuries, wild cattle roamed the Spanish borderlands. At the end of the Civil War, as many as five million longhorn steers could be found along the Texas frontier, yet few settlers had capitalized on the opportunity to claim them, due to the difficulty of transporting them to eastern markets. The completion of the first transcontinental railroad and subsequent railroad lines changed the game dramatically. Cattle ranchers and eastern businessmen realized that it was profitable to round up the wild steers and transport them by rail to be sold in the East for as much as thirty to fifty dollars per head. These ranchers and businessmen began the rampant speculation in the cattle industry that made, and lost, many fortunes. So began the impressive cattle drives of the 1860s and 1870s. The famous Chisholm Trail provided a quick path from Texas to railroad terminals in Abilene, Wichita, and Dodge City, Kansas, where cowboys would receive their pay. These “cowtowns,” as they became known, quickly grew to accommodate the needs of cowboys and the cattle industry. Cattlemen like Joseph G. McCoy, born in Illinois, quickly realized that the railroad offered a perfect way to get highly sought beef from Texas to the East. McCoy chose Abilene as a locale that would offer cowboys a convenient place to drive the cattle, and went about building stockyards, hotels, banks, and more to support the business. He promoted his services and encouraged cowboys to bring their cattle through Abilene for good money; soon, the city had grown into a bustling western city, complete with ways for the cowboys to spend their hard-earned pay (Figure). Between 1865 and 1885, as many as forty thousand cowboys roamed the Great Plains, hoping to work for local ranchers. They were all men, typically in their twenties, and close to one-third of them were Hispanic or African American. It is worth noting that the stereotype of the American cowboy—and indeed the cowboys themselves—borrowed much from the Mexicans who had long ago settled those lands. The saddles, lassos, chaps, and lariats that define cowboy culture all arose from the Mexican ranchers who had used them to great effect before the cowboys arrived. Life as a cowboy was dirty and decidedly unglamorous. The terrain was difficult; conflicts with Native Americans, especially in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), were notoriously deadly. But the longhorn cattle were hardy stock, and could survive and thrive while grazing along the long trail, so cowboys braved the trip for the promise of steady employment and satisfying wages. Eventually, however, the era of the free range ended. Ranchers developed the land, limiting grazing opportunities along the trail, and in 1873, the new technology of barbed wire allowed ranchers to fence off their lands and cattle claims. With the end of the free range, the cattle industry, like the mining industry before it, grew increasingly dominated by eastern businessmen. Capital investors from the East expanded rail lines and invested in ranches, ending the reign of the cattle drives. Barbed Wire and a Way of Life Gone Called the “devil’s rope” by Indians, barbed wire had a profound impact on the American West. Before its invention, settlers and ranchers alike were stymied by a lack of building materials to fence off land. Communal grazing and long cattle drives were the norm. But with the invention of barbed wire, large cattle ranchers and their investors were able to cheaply and easily parcel off the land they wanted—whether or not it was legally theirs to contain. As with many other inventions, several people “invented” barbed wire around the same time. In 1873, it was Joseph Glidden, however, who claimed the winning design and patented it. Not only did it spell the end of the free range for settlers and cowboys, it kept more land away from Indian tribes, who had never envisioned a culture that would claim to own land (Figure). In the early twentieth century, songwriter Cole Porter would take a poem by a Montana poet named Bob Fletcher and convert it into a cowboy song called, “Don’t Fence Me In.” As the lyrics below show, the song gave voice to the feeling that, as the fences multiplied, the ethos of the West was forever changed: Oh, give me land, lots of land, under starry skies above Don't fence me in Let me ride thru the wide-open country that I love Don't fence me in . . . Just turn me loose Let me straddle my old saddle underneath the western skies On my cayuse Let me wander over yonder till I see the mountains rise I want to ride to the ridge where the west commences Gaze at the moon until I lose my senses I can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences Don't fence me in. VIOLENCE IN THE WILD WEST: MYTH AND REALITY The popular image of the Wild West portrayed in books, television, and film has been one of violence and mayhem. The lure of quick riches through mining or driving cattle meant that much of the West did indeed consist of rough men living a rough life, although the violence was exaggerated and even glorified in the dime store novels of the day. The exploits of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, and others made for good stories, but the reality was that western violence was more isolated than the stories might suggest. These clashes often occurred as people struggled for the scarce resources that could make or break their chance at riches, or as they dealt with the sudden wealth or poverty that prospecting provided. Where sporadic violence did erupt, it was concentrated largely in mining towns or during range wars among large and small cattle ranchers. Some mining towns were indeed as rough as the popular stereotype. Men, money, liquor, and disappointment were a recipe for violence. Fights were frequent, deaths were commonplace, and frontier justice reigned. The notorious mining town of Bodie, California, had twenty-nine murders between 1877 and 1883, which translated to a murder rate higher than any other city at that time, and only one person was ever convicted of a crime. The most prolific gunman of the day was John Wesley Hardin, who allegedly killed over twenty men in Texas in various gunfights, including one victim he killed in a hotel for snoring too loudly (Figure). Ranching brought with it its own dangers and violence. In the Texas cattle lands, owners of large ranches took advantage of their wealth and the new invention of barbed wire to claim the prime grazing lands and few significant watering holes for their herds. Those seeking only to move their few head of cattle to market grew increasingly frustrated at their inability to find even a blade of grass for their meager herds. Eventually, frustration turned to violence, as several ranchers resorted to vandalizing the barbed wire fences to gain access to grass and water for their steers. Such vandalism quickly led to cattle rustling, as these cowboys were not averse to leading a few of the rancher’s steers into their own herds as they left. One example of the violence that bubbled up was the infamous Fence Cutting War in Clay County, Texas (1883–1884). There, cowboys began destroying fences that several ranchers erected along public lands: land they had no right to enclose. Confrontations between the cowboys and armed guards hired by the ranchers resulted in three deaths—hardly a “war,” but enough of a problem to get the governor’s attention. Eventually, a special session of the Texas legislature addressed the problem by passing laws to outlaw fence cutting, but also forced ranchers to remove fences illegally erected along public lands, as well as to place gates for passage where public areas adjoined private lands. An even more violent confrontation occurred between large ranchers and small farmers in Johnson County, Wyoming, where cattle ranchers organized a “lynching bee” in 1891–1892 to make examples of cattle rustlers. Hiring twenty-two “invaders” from Texas to serve as hired guns, the ranch owners and their foremen hunted and subsequently killed the two rustlers best known for organizing the owners of the smaller Wyoming farms. Only the intervention of federal troops, who arrested and then later released the invaders, allowing them to return to Texas, prevented a greater massacre. While there is much talk—both real and mythical—of the rough men who lived this life, relatively few women experienced it. While homesteaders were often families, gold speculators and cowboys tended to be single men in pursuit of fortune. The few women who went to these wild outposts were typically prostitutes, and even their numbers were limited. In 1860, in the Comstock Lode region of Nevada, for example, there were reportedly only thirty women total in a town of twenty-five hundred men. Some of the “painted ladies” who began as prostitutes eventually owned brothels and emerged as businesswomen in their own right; however, life for these young women remained a challenging one as western settlement progressed. A handful of women, numbering no more than six hundred, braved both the elements and male-dominated culture to become teachers in several of the more established cities in the West. Even fewer arrived to support husbands or operate stores in these mining towns. As wealthy men brought their families west, the lawless landscape began to change slowly. Abilene, Kansas, is one example of a lawless town, replete with prostitutes, gambling, and other vices, transformed when middle-class women arrived in the 1880s with their cattle baron husbands. These women began to organize churches, school, civic clubs, and other community programs to promote family values. They fought to remove opportunities for prostitution and all the other vices that they felt threatened the values that they held dear. Protestant missionaries eventually joined the women in their efforts, and, while they were not widely successful, they did bring greater attention to the problems. As a response, the U.S. Congress passed both the Comstock Law (named after its chief proponent, anti-obscenity crusader Anthony Comstock) in 1873 to ban the spread of “lewd and lascivious literature” through the mail and the subsequent Page Act of 1875 to prohibit the transportation of women into the United States for employment as prostitutes. However, the “houses of ill repute” continued to operate and remained popular throughout the West despite the efforts of reformers. Take a look at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum to determine whether this site’s portrayal of cowboy culture matches or contradicts the history shared in this chapter. Section Summary While homesteading was the backbone of western expansion, mining and cattle also played significant roles in shaping the West. Much rougher in character and riskier in outcomes than farming, these two opportunities brought forward a different breed of settler than the homesteaders. Many of the long-trail cattle riders were Mexican American or African American, and most of the men involved in both pursuits were individuals willing to risk what little they had in order to strike it rich. In both the mining and cattle industries, however, individual opportunities slowly died out, as resources—both land for grazing and easily accessed precious metals—disappeared. In their place came big business, with the infrastructure and investments to make a profit. These businesses built up small towns into thriving cities, and the influx of middle-class families sought to drive out some of the violence and vice that characterized the western towns. Slowly but inexorably, the “American” way of life, as envisioned by the eastern establishment who initiated and promoted the concept of Manifest Destiny, was spreading west. Review Questions Which of the following groups was not impacted by the invention of barbed wire? - ranchers - cowboys - farmers - illegal prostitutes Hint: D The American cowboy owes much of its model to what other culture? - Mexicans - Indians - Northern European immigrants - Chinese immigrants Hint: A How did mining and cattle ranching transform individual “get rich quick” efforts into “big business” efforts when the nineteenth century came to a close? Hint: In the cases of both mining and cattle ranching, diminishing resources played a key role. In mining, the first prospectors were able to pan for gold with crude and inexpensive materials, and therefore, almost anyone could head west and try his luck. Similarly, the quantity of cattle and the amount of grazing land meant that cowboys and would-be cattle barons had ample room to spread out. But as the easiest minerals were stripped away and large-scale ranchers purchased, developed, and fenced off grazing land, opportunities diminished. It took significantly more resources to tunnel down into a mine than it did to pan for gold; instead of individual prospectors, companies would assess a site’s potential and then seek investment to hire workers and drill deep into the earth. Likewise, as the cattle trails were over-grazed, ranchers needed to purchase and privatize large swaths of land to prepare their cattle for market.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.519988	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15485/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15486/overview	The Loss of American Indian Life and Culture Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Describe the methods that the U.S. government used to address the “Indian threat” during the settlement of the West - Explain the process of “Americanization” as it applied to Indians in the nineteenth century As American settlers pushed westward, they inevitably came into conflict with Indian tribes that had long been living on the land. Although the threat of Indian attacks was quite slim and nowhere proportionate to the number of U.S. Army actions directed against them, the occasional attack—often one of retaliation—was enough to fuel the popular fear of the “savage” Indians. The clashes, when they happened, were indeed brutal, although most of the brutality occurred at the hands of the settlers. Ultimately, the settlers, with the support of local militias and, later, with the federal government behind them, sought to eliminate the tribes from the lands they desired. The result was devastating for the Indian tribes, which lacked the weapons and group cohesion to fight back against such well-armed forces. The Manifest Destiny of the settlers spelled the end of the Indian way of life. CLAIMING LAND, RELOCATING LANDOWNERS Back east, the popular vision of the West was of a vast and empty land. But of course this was an exaggerated depiction. On the eve of westward expansion, as many as 250,000 Indians, representing a variety of tribes, populated the Great Plains. Previous wars against these tribes in the early nineteenth century, as well as the failure of earlier treaties, had led to a general policy of the forcible removal of many tribes in the eastern United States. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 resulted in the infamous “Trail of Tears,” which saw nearly fifty thousand Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek Indians relocated west of the Mississippi River to what is now Oklahoma between 1831 and 1838. Building upon such a history, the U.S. government was prepared, during the era of western settlement, to deal with tribes that settlers viewed as obstacles to expansion. As settlers sought more land for farming, mining, and cattle ranching, the first strategy employed to deal with the perceived Indian threat was to negotiate settlements to move tribes out of the path of white settlers. In 1851, the chiefs of most of the Great Plains tribes agreed to the First Treaty of Fort Laramie. This agreement established distinct tribal borders, essentially codifying the reservation system. In return for annual payments of $50,000 to the tribes (originally guaranteed for fifty years, but later revised to last for only ten) as well as the hollow promise of noninterference from westward settlers, Indians agreed to stay clear of the path of settlement. Due to government corruption, many annuity payments never reached the tribes, and some reservations were left destitute and near starving. In addition, within a decade, as the pace and number of western settlers increased, even designated reservations became prime locations for farms and mining. Rather than negotiating new treaties, settlers—oftentimes backed by local or state militia units—simply attacked the tribes out of fear or to force them from the land. Some Indians resisted, only to then face massacres. In 1862, frustrated and angered by the lack of annuity payments and the continuous encroachment on their reservation lands, Dakota Sioux Indians in Minnesota rebelled in what became known as the Dakota War, killing the white settlers who moved onto their tribal lands. Over one thousand white settlers were captured or killed in the attack, before an armed militia regained control. Of the four hundred Sioux captured by U.S. troops, 303 were sentenced to death, but President Lincoln intervened, releasing all but thirty-eight of the men. The thirty-eight who were found guilty were hanged in the largest mass execution in the country’s history, and the rest of the tribe was banished. Settlers in other regions responded to news of this raid with fear and aggression. In Colorado, Arapahoe and Cheyenne tribes fought back against land encroachment; white militias then formed, decimating even some of the tribes that were willing to cooperate. One of the more vicious examples was near Sand Creek, Colorado, where Colonel John Chivington led a militia raid upon a camp in which the leader had already negotiated a peaceful settlement. The camp was flying both the American flag and the white flag of surrender when Chivington’s troops murdered close to one hundred people, the majority of them women and children, in what became known as the Sand Creek Massacre. For the rest of his life, Chivington would proudly display his collection of nearly one hundred Indian scalps from that day. Subsequent investigations by the U.S. Army condemned Chivington’s tactics and their results; however, the raid served as a model for some settlers who sought any means by which to eradicate the perceived Indian threat. Hoping to forestall similar uprisings and all-out Indian wars, the U.S. Congress commissioned a committee to investigate the causes of such incidents. The subsequent report of their findings led to the passage of two additional treaties: the Second Treaty of Fort Laramie and the Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek, both designed to move the remaining tribes to even more remote reservations. The Second Treaty of Fort Laramie moved the remaining Sioux to the Black Hills in the Dakota Territory and the Treaty of Medicine Lodge Creek moved the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Kiowa, and Comanche to “Indian Territory,” later to become the State of Oklahoma. The agreements were short-lived, however. With the subsequent discovery of gold in the Black Hills, settlers seeking their fortune began to move upon the newly granted Sioux lands with support from U.S. cavalry troops. By the middle of 1875, thousands of white prospectors were illegally digging and panning in the area. The Sioux protested the invasion of their territory and the violation of sacred ground. The government offered to lease the Black Hills or to pay $6 million if the Indians were willing to sell the land. When the tribes refused, the government imposed what it considered a fair price for the land, ordered the Indians to move, and in the spring of 1876, made ready to force them onto the reservation. In the Battle of Little Bighorn, perhaps the most famous battle of the American West, a Sioux chieftain, Sitting Bull, urged Indians from all neighboring tribes to join his men in defense of their lands (Figure). At the Little Bighorn River, the U.S. Army’s Seventh Cavalry, led by Colonel George Custer, sought a showdown. Driven by his own personal ambition, on June 25, 1876, Custer foolishly attacked what he thought was a minor Indian encampment. Instead, it turned out to be the main Sioux force. The Sioux warriors—nearly three thousand in strength—surrounded and killed Custer and 262 of his men and support units, in the single greatest loss of U.S. troops to an Indian attack in the era of westward expansion. Eyewitness reports of the attack indicated that the victorious Sioux bathed and wrapped Custer’s body in the tradition of a chieftain burial; however, they dismembered many other soldiers’ corpses in order for a few distant observers from Major Marcus Reno’s wounded troops and Captain Frederick Benteen’s company to report back to government officials about the ferocity of the Sioux enemy. AMERICAN INDIAN SUBMISSION Despite their success at Little Bighorn, neither the Sioux nor any other Plains tribe followed this battle with any other armed encounter. Rather, they either returned to tribal life or fled out of fear of remaining troops, until the U.S. Army arrived in greater numbers and began to exterminate Indian encampments and force others to accept payment for forcible removal from their lands. Sitting Bull himself fled to Canada, although he later returned in 1881 and subsequently worked in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. In Montana, the Blackfoot and Crow were forced to leave their tribal lands. In Colorado, the Utes gave up their lands after a brief period of resistance. In Idaho, most of the Nez Perce gave up their lands peacefully, although in an incredible episode, a band of some eight hundred Indians sought to evade U.S. troops and escape into Canada. I Will Fight No More: Chief Joseph’s Capitulation Chief Joseph, known to his people as “Thunder Traveling to the Loftier Mountain Heights,” was the chief of the Nez Perce tribe, and he had realized that they could not win against the whites. In order to avoid a war that would undoubtedly lead to the extermination of his people, he hoped to lead his tribe to Canada, where they could live freely. He led a full retreat of his people over fifteen hundred miles of mountains and harsh terrain, only to be caught within fifty miles of the Canadian border in late 1877. His speech has remained a poignant and vivid reminder of what the tribe had lost. Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever. —Chief Joseph, 1877 The final episode in the so-called Indian Wars occurred in 1890, at the Battle of Wounded Knee in South Dakota. On their reservation, the Sioux had begun to perform the “Ghost Dance,” which told of an Indian Messiah who would deliver the tribe from its hardship, with such frequency that white settlers began to worry that another uprising would occur. The militia prepared to round up the Sioux. The tribe, after the death of Sitting Bull, who had been arrested, shot, and killed in 1890, prepared to surrender at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on December 29, 1890. Although the accounts are unclear, an apparent accidental rifle discharge by a young male Indian preparing to lay down his weapon led the U.S. soldiers to begin firing indiscriminately upon the Indians. What little resistance the Indians mounted with a handful of concealed rifles at the outset of the fight diminished quickly, with the troops eventually massacring between 150 and 300 men, women, and children. The U.S. troops suffered twenty-five fatalities, some of which were the result of their own crossfire. Captain Edward Godfrey of the Seventh Cavalry later commented, “I know the men did not aim deliberately and they were greatly excited. I don’t believe they saw their sights. They fired rapidly but it seemed to me only a few seconds till there was not a living thing before us; warriors, squaws, children, ponies, and dogs . . . went down before that unaimed fire.” With this last show of brutality, the Indian Wars came to a close. U.S. government officials had already begun the process of seeking an alternative to the meaningless treaties and costly battles. A more effective means with which to address the public perception of the “Indian threat” was needed. Americanization provided the answer. AMERICANIZATION Through the years of the Indian Wars of the 1870s and early 1880s, opinion back east was mixed. There were many who felt, as General Philip Sheridan (appointed in 1867 to pacify the Plains Indians) allegedly said, that the only good Indian was a dead Indian. But increasingly, several American reformers who would later form the backbone of the Progressive Era had begun to criticize the violence, arguing that the Indians should be helped through “Americanization” to become assimilated into American society. Individual land ownership, Christian worship, and education for children became the cornerstones of this new, and final, assault on Indian life and culture. Beginning in the 1880s, clergymen, government officials, and social workers all worked to assimilate Indians into American life. The government permitted reformers to remove Indian children from their homes and place them in boarding schools, such as the Carlisle Indian School or the Hampton Institute, where they were taught to abandon their tribal traditions and embrace the tools of American productivity, modesty, and sanctity through total immersion. Such schools not only acculturated Indian boys and girls, but also provided vocational training for males and domestic science classes for females. Adults were also targeted by religious reformers, specifically evangelical Protestants as well as a number of Catholics, who sought to convince Indians to abandon their language, clothing, and social customs for a more Euro-American lifestyle (Figure). A vital part of the assimilation effort was land reform. During earlier negotiations, the government had respected that the Indian tribes used their land communally. Most Indian belief structures did not allow for the concept of individual land ownership; rather, land was available for all to use, and required responsibility from all to protect it. As a part of their plan to Americanize the tribes, reformers sought legislation to replace this concept with the popular Euro-American notion of real estate ownership and self-reliance. One such law was the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887, named after a reformer and senator from Massachusetts, which struck a deadly blow to the Indian way of life. In what was essentially an Indian version of the original Homestead Act, the Dawes Act permitted the federal government to divide the lands of any tribe and grant 160 acres of farmland or 320 acres of grazing land to each head of family, with lesser amounts to others. In a nod towards the paternal relationship with which whites viewed Indians—similar to the justification of the previous treatment of African American slaves—the Dawes Act permitted the federal government to hold an individual Indian’s newly acquired land in trust for twenty-five years. Only then would he obtain full title and be granted the citizenship rights that land ownership entailed. It would not be until 1924 that formal citizenship was granted to all Native Americans. Under the Dawes Act, Indians were given the most arid, useless land. Further, inefficiencies and corruption in the government meant that much of the land due to be allotted to Indians was simply deemed “surplus” and claimed by settlers. Once all allotments were determined, the remaining tribal lands—as much as eighty million acres—were sold to white American settlers. The final element of “Americanization” was the symbolic “last arrow” pageant, which often coincided with the formal redistribution of tribal lands under the Dawes Act. At these events, Indians were forced to assemble in their tribal garb, carrying a bow and arrow. They would then symbolically fire their “last arrow” into the air, enter a tent where they would strip away their Indian clothing, dress in a white farmer’s coveralls, and emerge to take a plow and an American flag to show that they had converted to a new way of life. It was a seismic shift for the Indians, and one that left them bereft of their culture and history. Take a look at the Carlisle Industrial Indian School where Indian students were “civilized” from 1879 to 1918. It is worth looking through the photographs and records of the school to see how this well-intended program obliterated Indian culture. Section Summary The interaction of the American Indians with white settlers during the western expansion movement was a painful and difficult one. For settlers raised on the notion of Manifest Destiny and empty lands, the Indians added a terrifying element to what was already a difficult and dangerous new world. For the Indians, the arrival of the settlers meant nothing less than the end of their way of life. Rather than cultural exchange, contact led to the virtual destruction of Indian life and culture. While violent acts broke out on both sides, the greatest atrocities were perpetrated by whites, who had superior weapons and often superior numbers, as well as the support of the U.S. government. The death of the Indian way of life happened as much at the hands of well-intentioned reformers as those who wished to see the Indians exterminated. Individual land ownership, boarding schools, and pleas to renounce Indian gods and culture were all elements of the reformers’ efforts. With so much of their life stripped away, it was ever more difficult for the Indians to maintain their tribal integrity. Review Questions Which of the following was not a primary method by which the American government dealt with American Indians during the period of western settlement? - relocation - appeasement - extermination - assimilation Hint: B What did the Last Arrow pageant symbolize? - the continuing fight of the Indians - the total extermination of the Indians from the West - the final step in the Americanization process - the rebellion at Little Bighorn Hint: C	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.547811	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15486/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15487/overview	The Impact of Expansion on Chinese Immigrants and Hispanic Citizens Overview By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Describe the treatment of Chinese immigrants and Hispanic citizens during the westward expansion of the nineteenth century As white Americans pushed west, they not only collided with Indian tribes but also with Hispanic Americans and Chinese immigrants. Hispanics in the Southwest had the opportunity to become American citizens at the end of the Mexican-American war, but their status was markedly second-class. Chinese immigrants arrived en masse during the California Gold Rush and numbered in the hundreds of thousands by the late 1800s, with the majority living in California, working menial jobs. These distinct cultural and ethnic groups strove to maintain their rights and way of life in the face of persistent racism and entitlement. But the large number of white settlers and government-sanctioned land acquisitions left them at a profound disadvantage. Ultimately, both groups withdrew into homogenous communities in which their language and culture could survive. CHINESE IMMIGRANTS IN THE AMERICAN WEST The initial arrival of Chinese immigrants to the United States began as a slow trickle in the 1820s, with barely 650 living in the U.S. by the end of 1849. However, as gold rush fever swept the country, Chinese immigrants, too, were attracted to the notion of quick fortunes. By 1852, over 25,000 Chinese immigrants had arrived, and by 1880, over 300,000 Chinese lived in the United States, most in California. While they had dreams of finding gold, many instead found employment building the first transcontinental railroad (Figure). Some even traveled as far east as the former cotton plantations of the Old South, which they helped to farm after the Civil War. Several thousand of these immigrants booked their passage to the United States using a “credit-ticket,” in which their passage was paid in advance by American businessmen to whom the immigrants were then indebted for a period of work. Most arrivals were men: Few wives or children ever traveled to the United States. As late as 1890, less than 5 percent of the Chinese population in the U.S. was female. Regardless of gender, few Chinese immigrants intended to stay permanently in the United States, although many were reluctantly forced to do so, as they lacked the financial resources to return home. Prohibited by law since 1790 from obtaining U.S. citizenship through naturalization, Chinese immigrants faced harsh discrimination and violence from American settlers in the West. Despite hardships like the special tax that Chinese miners had to pay to take part in the Gold Rush, or their subsequent forced relocation into Chinese districts, these immigrants continued to arrive in the United States seeking a better life for the families they left behind. Only when the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 forbade further immigration from China for a ten-year period did the flow stop. The Chinese community banded together in an effort to create social and cultural centers in cities such as San Francisco. In a haphazard fashion, they sought to provide services ranging from social aid to education, places of worship, health facilities, and more to their fellow Chinese immigrants. But only American Indians suffered greater discrimination and racial violence, legally sanctioned by the federal government, than did Chinese immigrants at this juncture in American history. As Chinese workers began competing with white Americans for jobs in California cities, the latter began a system of built-in discrimination. In the 1870s, white Americans formed “anti-coolie clubs” (“coolie” being a racial slur directed towards people of any Asian descent), through which they organized boycotts of Chinese-produced products and lobbied for anti-Chinese laws. Some protests turned violent, as in 1885 in Rock Springs, Wyoming, where tensions between white and Chinese immigrant miners erupted in a riot, resulting in over two dozen Chinese immigrants being murdered and many more injured. Slowly, racism and discrimination became law. The new California constitution of 1879 denied naturalized Chinese citizens the right to vote or hold state employment. Additionally, in 1882, the U.S. Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which forbade further Chinese immigration into the United States for ten years. The ban was later extended on multiple occasions until its repeal in 1943. Eventually, some Chinese immigrants returned to China. Those who remained were stuck in the lowest-paying, most menial jobs. Several found assistance through the creation of benevolent associations designed to both support Chinese communities and defend them against political and legal discrimination; however, the history of Chinese immigrants to the United States remained largely one of deprivation and hardship well into the twentieth century. The Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum provides a context for the role of the Chinese who helped build the railroads. What does the site celebrate, and what, if anything, does it condemn? The Backs that Built the Railroad Below is a description of the construction of the railroad in 1867. Note the way it describes the scene, the laborers, and the effort. The cars now (1867) run nearly to the summit of the Sierras. . . . four thousand laborers were at work—one-tenth Irish, the rest Chinese. They were a great army laying siege to Nature in her strongest citadel. The rugged mountains looked like stupendous ant-hills. They swarmed with Celestials, shoveling, wheeling, carting, drilling and blasting rocks and earth, while their dull, moony eyes stared out from under immense basket-hats, like umbrellas. At several dining camps we saw hundreds sitting on the ground, eating soft boiled rice with chopsticks as fast as terrestrials could with soup-ladles. Irish laborers received thirty dollars per month (gold) and board; Chinese, thirty-one dollars, boarding themselves. After a little experience the latter were quite as efficient and far less troublesome. —Albert D. Richardson, Beyond the Mississippi Several great American advancements of the nineteenth century were built with the hands of many other nations. It is interesting to ponder how much these immigrant communities felt they were building their own fortunes and futures, versus the fortunes of others. Is it likely that the Chinese laborers, many of whom died due to the harsh conditions, considered themselves part of “a great army”? Certainly, this account reveals the unwitting racism of the day, where workers were grouped together by their ethnicity, and each ethnic group was labeled monolithically as “good workers” or “troublesome,” with no regard for individual differences among the hundreds of Chinese or Irish workers. HISPANIC AMERICANS IN THE AMERICAN WEST The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican-American War in 1848, promised U.S. citizenship to the nearly seventy-five thousand Hispanics now living in the American Southwest; approximately 90 percent accepted the offer and chose to stay in the United States despite their immediate relegation to second-class citizenship status. Relative to the rest of Mexico, these lands were sparsely populated and had been so ever since the country achieved its freedom from Spain in 1821. In fact, New Mexico—not Texas or California—was the center of settlement in the region in the years immediately preceding the war with the United States, containing nearly fifty thousand Mexicans. However, those who did settle the area were proud of their heritage and ability to develop rancheros of great size and success. Despite promises made in the treaty, these Californios—as they came to be known—quickly lost their land to white settlers who simply displaced the rightful landowners, by force if necessary. Repeated efforts at legal redress mostly fell upon deaf ears. In some instances, judges and lawyers would permit the legal cases to proceed through an expensive legal process only to the point where Hispanic landowners who insisted on holding their ground were rendered penniless for their efforts. Much like Chinese immigrants, Hispanic citizens were relegated to the worst-paying jobs under the most terrible working conditions. They worked as peóns (manual laborers similar to slaves), vaqueros (cattle herders), and cartmen (transporting food and supplies) on the cattle ranches that white landowners possessed, or undertook the most hazardous mining tasks (Figure). In a few instances, frustrated Hispanic citizens fought back against the white settlers who dispossessed them of their belongings. In 1889–1890 in New Mexico, several hundred Mexican Americans formed las Gorras Blancas (the White Caps) to try and reclaim their land and intimidate white Americans, preventing further land seizures. White Caps conducted raids of white farms, burning homes, barns, and crops to express their growing anger and frustration. However, their actions never resulted in any fundamental changes. Several White Caps were captured, beaten, and imprisoned, whereas others eventually gave up, fearing harsh reprisals against their families. Some White Caps adopted a more political strategy, gaining election to local offices throughout New Mexico in the early 1890s, but growing concerns over the potential impact upon the territory’s quest for statehood led several citizens to heighten their repression of the movement. Other laws passed in the United States intended to deprive Mexican Americans of their heritage as much as their lands. “Sunday Laws” prohibited “noisy amusements” such as bullfights, cockfights, and other cultural gatherings common to Hispanic communities at the time. “Greaser Laws” permitted the imprisonment of any unemployed Mexican American on charges of vagrancy. Although Hispanic Americans held tightly to their cultural heritage as their remaining form of self-identity, such laws did take a toll. In California and throughout the Southwest, the massive influx of Anglo-American settlers simply overran the Hispanic populations that had been living and thriving there, sometimes for generations. Despite being U.S. citizens with full rights, Hispanics quickly found themselves outnumbered, outvoted, and, ultimately, outcast. Corrupt state and local governments favored whites in land disputes, and mining companies and cattle barons discriminated against them, as with the Chinese workers, in terms of pay and working conditions. In growing urban areas such as Los Angeles, barrios, or clusters of working-class homes, grew more isolated from the white American centers. Hispanic Americans, like the Native Americans and Chinese, suffered the fallout of the white settlers’ relentless push west. Section Summary In the nineteenth century, the Hispanic, Chinese, and white populations of the country collided. Whites moved further west in search of land and riches, bolstered by government subsidies and an inherent and unshakable belief that the land and its benefits existed for their use. In some ways, it was a race to the prize: White Americans believed that they deserved the best lands and economic opportunities the country afforded, and did not consider prior claims to be valid. Neither Chinese immigrants nor Hispanic Americans could withstand the assault on their rights by the tide of white settlers. Sheer numbers, matched with political backing, gave the whites the power they needed to overcome any resistance. Ultimately, both ethnic groups retreated into urban enclaves, where their language and traditions could survive. Review Questions What brought the majority of Chinese immigrants to the U.S.? - gold - work opportunities on the railroads - the Homestead Act - Chinese benevolent associations Hint: A How were Hispanic citizens deprived of their wealth and land in the course of western settlement? - Indian raids - land seizures - prisoner of war status - infighting Hint: B Compare and contrast the treatment of Chinese immigrants and Hispanic citizens to that of Indians during the period of western settlement. Hint: In all three cases, white settlers felt that they were superior to these ethnic groups and morally correct in their exploitation of the groups’ land and labor. Whether mining sacred Sioux reservation lands for gold or forcing Chinese immigrants to pay a special fine to mine for gold, white settlers were confident that their goal of Manifest Destiny gave them the right to do as they wished. Hispanic Americans, unlike Chinese immigrants and Indians, were allowed citizenship rights, although racist laws and corrupt judges severely curtailed these rights. Chinese immigrants were ultimately denied entry to the United States through the Chinese Exclusion Act. Critical Thinking Questions Describe the philosophy of Manifest Destiny. What effect did it have on Americans’ westward migration? How might the different groups that migrated have sought to apply this philosophy to their individual circumstances? Compare the myth of the “Wild West” with its reality. What elements of truth would these stories have contained, and what was fabricated or left out? What was life actually like for cowboys, ranchers, and the few women present in mining towns or along the cattle range? What were the primary methods that the U.S. government, as well as individual reformers, used to deal with the perceived Indian threat to westward settlement? In what ways were these methods successful and unsuccessful? What were their short-term and long-term effects on Native Americans? Describe the ways in which the U.S. government, local governments, and/or individuals attempted to interfere with the specific cultural traditions and customs of Indians, Hispanics, and Chinese immigrants. What did these efforts have in common? How did each group respond? In what ways did westward expansion provide new opportunities for women and African Americans? In what ways did it limit these opportunities?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.576580	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15487/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15569/overview	Presidents of the United States of America \| Order \| Election Year \| President \| \|---\|---\|---\| \| 1 \| 1788–1789 \| George Washington \| \| 2 \| 1792 \| George Washington \| \| 3 \| 1796 \| John Adams \| \| 4 \| 1800 \| Thomas Jefferson \| \| 5 \| 1804 \| Thomas Jefferson \| \| 6 \| 1808 \| James Madison \| \| 7 \| 1812 \| James Madison \| \| 8 \| 1816 \| James Monroe \| \| 9 \| 1820 \| James Monroe \| \| 10 \| 1824 \| John Quincy Adams \| \| 11 \| 1828 \| Andrew Jackson \| \| 12 \| 1832 \| Andrew Jackson \| \| 13 \| 1836 \| Martin Van Buren \| \| 14 \| 1840 \| William Henry Harrison \| \| 15 \| 1844 \| James K. Polk \| \| 16 \| 1848 \| Zachary Taylor \| \| 17 \| 1852 \| Franklin Pierce \| \| 18 \| 1856 \| James Buchanan \| \| 19 \| 1860 \| Abraham Lincoln \| \| 20 \| 1864 \| Abraham Lincoln \| \| 21 \| 1868 \| Ulysses S. Grant \| \| 22 \| 1872 \| Ulysses S. Grant \| \| 23 \| 1876 \| Rutherford B. Hayes \| \| 24 \| 1880 \| James A. Garfield \| \| 25 \| 1884 \| Grover Cleveland \| \| 26 \| 1888 \| Benjamin Harrison \| \| 27 \| 1892 \| Grover Cleveland \| \| 28 \| 1896 \| William McKinley \| \| 29 \| 1900 \| William McKinley \| \| 30 \| 1904 \| Theodore Roosevelt \| \| 31 \| 1908 \| William Howard Taft \| \| 32 \| 1912 \| Woodrow Wilson \| \| 33 \| 1916 \| Woodrow Wilson \| \| 34 \| 1920 \| Warren G. Harding \| \| 35 \| 1924 \| Calvin Coolidge \| \| 36 \| 1928 \| Herbert Hoover \| \| 37 \| 1932 \| Franklin D. Roosevelt \| \| 38 \| 1936 \| Franklin D. Roosevelt \| \| 39 \| 1940 \| Franklin D. Roosevelt \| \| 40 \| 1944 \| Franklin D. Roosevelt \| \| 41 \| 1948 \| Harry S. Truman \| \| 42 \| 1952 \| Dwight D. Eisenhower \| \| 43 \| 1956 \| Dwight D. Eisenhower \| \| 44 \| 1960 \| John F. Kennedy \| \| 45 \| 1964 \| Lyndon B. Johnson \| \| 46 \| 1968 \| Richard Nixon \| \| 47 \| 1972 \| Richard Nixon \| \| 48 \| 1976 \| Jimmy Carter \| \| 49 \| 1980 \| Ronald Reagan \| \| 50 \| 1984 \| Ronald Reagan \| \| 51 \| 1988 \| George H. W. Bush \| \| 52 \| 1992 \| Bill Clinton \| \| 53 \| 1996 \| Bill Clinton \| \| 54 \| 2000 \| George W. Bush \| \| 55 \| 2004 \| George W. Bush \| \| 56 \| 2008 \| Barack Obama \| \| 57 \| 2012 \| Barack Obama \|	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.600313	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15569/overview", "title": "U.S. History, Presidents of the United States of America", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15231/overview	Introduction Democratic primary candidate Bernie Sanders arrived in Seattle on August 8, 2015, to give a speech at a rally to promote his presidential campaign. Instead, the rally was interrupted—and eventually co-opted—by activists for Black Lives Matter (Figure).Dan Merica, “Black Lives Matter Protesters Shut Down Sanders Event in Seattle,” CNN, 10 August 2015. Why did the group risk alienating Democratic voters by preventing Sanders from speaking? Because Black Lives Matter had been trying to raise awareness of the treatment of black citizens in the United States, and the media has the power to elevate such issues.http://blacklivesmatter.com/about/ (August 29, 2015). While some questioned its tactics, the organization’s move underscores how important the media are to gaining recognition, and the lengths to which organizations are willing to go to get media attention.Conor Friedersdorf, “A Conversation about Black Lives Matter and Bernie Sanders,” The Atlantic, 21 August 2015. Freedom of the press and an independent media are important dimensions of a liberal society and a necessary part of a healthy democracy. “No government ought to be without censors,” said Thomas Jefferson, “and where the press is free, no one ever will.”Anthony R. Fellow. 2013. American Media History. Boston: Cengage, page 67. What does it mean to have a free news media? What regulations limit what media can do? How do the media contribute to informing citizens and monitoring politicians and the government, and how do we measure their impact? This chapter explores these and other questions about the role of the media in the United States.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.614278	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15231/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15232/overview	What Is the Media? Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain what the media are and how they are organized - Describe the main functions of the media in a free society - Compare different media formats and their respective audiences Ours is an exploding media system. What started as print journalism was subsequently supplemented by radio coverage, then network television, followed by cable television. Now, with the addition of the Internet, blogs and social media—a set of applications or web platforms that allow users to immediately communicate with one another—give citizens a wide variety of sources for instant news of all kinds. The Internet also allows citizens to initiate public discussion by uploading images and video for viewing, such as videos documenting interactions between citizens and the police, for example. Provided we are connected digitally, we have a bewildering amount of choices for finding information about the world. In fact, some might say that compared to the tranquil days of the 1970s, when we might read the morning newspaper over breakfast and take in the network news at night, there are now too many choices in today’s increasingly complex world of information. This reality may make the news media all the more important to structuring and shaping narratives about U.S. politics. Or the proliferation of competing information sources like blogs and social media may actually weaken the power of the news media relative to the days when news media monopolized our attention. MEDIA BASICS The term media defines a number of different communication formats from television media, which share information through broadcast airwaves, to print media, which rely on printed documents. The collection of all forms of media that communicate information to the general public is called mass media, including television, print, radio, and Internet. One of the primary reasons citizens turn to the media is for news. We expect the media to cover important political and social events and information in a concise and neutral manner. To accomplish its work, the media employs a number of people in varied positions. Journalists and reporters are responsible for uncovering news stories by keeping an eye on areas of public interest, like politics, business, and sports. Once a journalist has a lead or a possible idea for a story, he or she researches background information and interviews people to create a complete and balanced account. Editors work in the background of the newsroom, assigning stories, approving articles or packages, and editing content for accuracy and clarity. Publishers are people or companies that own and produce print or digital media. They oversee both the content and finances of the publication, ensuring the organization turns a profit and creates a high-quality product to distribute to consumers. Producers oversee the production and finances of visual media, like television, radio, and film. The work of the news media differs from public relations, which is communication carried out to improve the image of companies, organizations, or candidates for office. Public relations is not a neutral information form. While journalists write stories to inform the public, a public relations spokesperson is paid to help an individual or organization get positive press. Public relations materials normally appear as press releases or paid advertisements in newspapers and other media outlets. Some less reputable publications, however, publish paid articles under the news banner, blurring the line between journalism and public relations. MEDIA TYPES Each form of media has its own complexities and is used by different demographics. Millennials (currently aged 18–33) are more likely to get news and information from social media, such as YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, while baby boomers (currently aged 50–68) are most likely to get their news from television, either national broadcasts or local news (Figure). Television alone offers viewers a variety of formats. Programming may be scripted, like dramas or comedies. It may be unscripted, like game shows or reality programs, or informative, such as news programming. Although most programs are created by a television production company, national networks—like CBS or NBC—purchase the rights to programs they distribute to local stations across the United States. Most local stations are affiliated with a national network corporation, and they broadcast national network programming to their local viewers. Before the existence of cable and fiber optics, networks needed to own local affiliates to have access to the local station’s transmission towers. Towers have a limited radius, so each network needed an affiliate in each major city to reach viewers. While cable technology has lessened networks’ dependence on aerial signals, some viewers still use antennas and receivers to view programming broadcast from local towers. Affiliates, by agreement with the networks, give priority to network news and other programming chosen by the affiliate’s national media corporation. Local affiliate stations are told when to air programs or commercials, and they diverge only to inform the public about a local or national emergency. For example, ABC affiliates broadcast the popular television show Once Upon a Time at a specific time on a specific day. Should a fire threaten homes and businesses in a local area, the affiliate might preempt it to update citizens on the fire’s dangers and return to regularly scheduled programming after the danger has ended. Most affiliate stations will show local news before and after network programming to inform local viewers of events and issues. Network news has a national focus on politics, international events, the economy, and more. Local news, on the other hand, is likely to focus on matters close to home, such as regional business, crime, sports, and weather.Jeremy Lipschultz and Michael Hilt. 2003. “Race and Local Television News Crime Coverage,” Studies in Media & Information Literacy Education 3, No. 4: 1–10. The NBC Nightly News, for example, covers presidential campaigns and the White House or skirmishes between North Korea and South Korea, while the NBC affiliate in Los Angeles (KNBC-TV) and the NBC affiliate in Dallas (KXAS-TV) report on the governor’s activities or weekend festivals in the region. Cable programming offers national networks a second method to directly reach local viewers. As the name implies, cable stations transmit programming directly to a local cable company hub, which then sends the signals to homes through coaxial or fiber optic cables. Because cable does not broadcast programming through the airwaves, cable networks can operate across the nation directly without local affiliates. Instead they purchase broadcasting rights for the cable stations they believe their viewers want. For this reason, cable networks often specialize in different types of programming. The Cable News Network (CNN) was the first news station to take advantage of this specialized format, creating a 24-hour news station with live coverage and interview programs. Other news stations quickly followed, such as MSNBC and FOX News. A viewer might tune in to Nickelodeon and catch family programs and movies or watch ESPN to catch up with the latest baseball or basketball scores. The Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, known better as C-SPAN, now has three channels covering Congress, the president, the courts, and matters of public interest. Cable and satellite providers also offer on-demand programming for most stations. Citizens can purchase cable, satellite, and Internet subscription services (like Netflix) to find programs to watch instantly, without being tied to a schedule. Initially, on-demand programming was limited to rebroadcasting old content and was commercial-free. Yet many networks and programs now allow their new programming to be aired within a day or two of its initial broadcast. In return they often add commercials the user cannot fast-forward or avoid. Thus networks expect advertising revenues to increase.Lucas Shaw, “TV Networks Offering More On Demand to Reduce Ad-Skipping,” Bloomberg Technology, 24 September 2014. The on-demand nature of the Internet has created many opportunities for news outlets. While early media providers were those who could pay the high cost of printing or broadcasting, modern media require just a URL and ample server space. The ease of online publication has made it possible for more niche media outlets to form. The websites of the New York Times and other newspapers often focus on matters affecting the United States, while channels like BBC America present world news. FOX News presents political commentary and news in a conservative vein, while the Internet site Daily Kos offers a liberal perspective on the news. Politico.com is perhaps the leader in niche journalism. Unfortunately, the proliferation of online news has also increased the amount of poorly written material with little editorial oversight, and readers must be cautious when reading Internet news sources. Sites like Buzzfeed allow members to post articles without review by an editorial board, leading to articles of varied quality and accuracy. The Internet has also made publication speed a consideration for professional journalists. No news outlet wants to be the last to break a story, and the rush to publication often leads to typographical and factual errors. Even large news outlets, like the Associated Press, have published articles with errors in their haste to get a story out. The Internet also facilitates the flow of information through social media, which allows users to instantly communicate with one another and share with audiences that can grow exponentially. Facebook and Twitter have millions of daily users. Social media changes more rapidly than the other media formats. While people in many different age groups use sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, other sites like Snapchat and Yik Yak appeal mostly to younger users. The platforms also serve different functions. Tumblr and Reddit facilitate discussion that is topic-based and controversial, while Instagram is mostly social. A growing number of these sites also allow users to comment anonymously, leading to increases in threats and abuse. The site 4chan, for example, was linked to the 2015 shooting at an Oregon community college.Daniel Marans, “Did the Oregon Shooter Warn of His Plans on 4chan?” Huffington Post, 1 October 2015. Regardless of where we get our information, the various media avenues available today, versus years ago, make it much easier for everyone to be engaged. The question is: Who controls the media we rely on? Most media are controlled by a limited number of conglomerates. A conglomerate is a corporation made up of a number of companies, organizations, and media networks. In the 1980s, more than fifty companies owned the majority of television and radio stations and networks. Now, only six conglomerates control most of the broadcast media in the United States: CBS Corporation, Comcast, Time Warner, 21st Century Fox (formerly News Corporation), Viacom, and The Walt Disney Company (Figure).Vanna Le, “Global 2000: The World’s Largest Media Companies of 2014,” Forbes, 7 May 2014. The Walt Disney Company, for example, owns the ABC Television Network, ESPN, A&E, and Lifetime, in addition to the Disney Channel. Viacom owns BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and VH1. Time Warner owns Cartoon Network, CNN, HBO, and TNT, among others. While each of these networks has its own programming, in the end, the conglomerate can make a policy that affects all stations and programming under its control. Conglomerates can create a monopoly on information by controlling a sector of a market. When a media conglomerate has policies or restrictions, they will apply to all stations or outlets under its ownership, potentially limiting the information citizens receive. Conglomerate ownership also creates circumstances in which censorship may occur. iHeartMedia (formerly Clear Channel Media) owns music, radio, and billboards throughout the United States, and in 2010, the company refused to run several billboard ads for the St. Pete Pride Festival and Promenade in St. Petersburg, Florida. The festival organizers said the content of two ads, a picture of same-sex couples in close contact with one another, was the reason the ads were not run. Because iHeartMedia owns most of the billboards in the area, this limitation was problematic for the festival and decreased awareness of the event. Those in charge of the festival viewed the refusal as censorship.Stephanie Hayes, “Clear Channel Rejects St. Pete Pride Billboards, Organizers Say,” Tampa Bay Times, 11 June 2010. Newspapers too have experienced the pattern of concentrated ownership. Gannett Company, while also owning television media, holds a large number of newspapers and news magazines in its control. Many of these were acquired quietly, without public notice or discussion. Gannett’s 2013 acquisition of publishing giant A.H. Belo Corporation caused some concern and news coverage, however. The sale would have allowed Gannett to own both an NBC and a CBS affiliate in St. Louis, Missouri, giving it control over programming and advertising rates for two competing stations. The U.S. Department of Justice required Gannett to sell the station owned by Belo to ensure market competition and multi-ownership in St. Louis.Meg James, “DOJ Clears Gannett-Belo Deal but Demands Sale of St. Louis TV Station,” Los Angeles Times, 16 December 2013. If you are concerned about the lack of variety in the media and the market dominance of media conglomerates, the non-profit organization, Free Press, tracks and promotes open communication. These changes in the format and ownership of media raise the question whether the media still operate as an independent source of information. Is it possible that corporations and CEOs now control the information flow, making profit more important than the impartial delivery of information? The reality is that media outlets, whether newspaper, television, radio, or Internet, are businesses. They have expenses and must raise revenues. Yet at the same time, we expect the media to entertain, inform, and alert us without bias. They must provide some public services, while following laws and regulations. Reconciling these goals may not always be possible. FUNCTIONS OF THE MEDIA The media exist to fill a number of functions. Whether the medium is a newspaper, a radio, or a television newscast, a corporation behind the scenes must bring in revenue and pay for the cost of the product. Revenue comes from advertising and sponsors, like McDonald’s, Ford Motor Company, and other large corporations. But corporations will not pay for advertising if there are no viewers or readers. So all programs and publications need to entertain, inform, or interest the public and maintain a steady stream of consumers. In the end, what attracts viewers and advertisers is what survives. The media are also watchdogs of society and of public officials. Some refer to the media as the fourth estate, with the branches of government being the first three estates and the media equally participating as the fourth. This role helps maintain democracy and keeps the government accountable for its actions, even if a branch of the government is reluctant to open itself to public scrutiny. As much as social scientists would like citizens to be informed and involved in politics and events, the reality is that we are not. So the media, especially journalists, keep an eye on what is happening and sounds an alarm when the public needs to pay attention.John Zaller. 2003. “A New Standard of News Quality: Burglar Alarms for the Monitorial Citizen,” Political Communication 20, No. 2: 109–130. The media also engages in agenda setting, which is the act of choosing which issues or topics deserve public discussion. For example, in the early 1980s, famine in Ethiopia drew worldwide attention, which resulted in increased charitable giving to the country. Yet the famine had been going on for a long time before it was discovered by western media. Even after the discovery, it took video footage to gain the attention of the British and U.S. populations and start the aid flowing.Suzanne Ranks, “Ethiopian Famine: How Landmark BBC Report Influenced Modern Coverage,” Guardian, 22 October 2014. Today, numerous examples of agenda setting show how important the media are when trying to prevent further emergencies or humanitarian crises. In the spring of 2015, when the Dominican Republic was preparing to exile Haitians and undocumented (or under documented) residents, major U.S. news outlets remained silent. However, once the story had been covered several times by Al Jazeera, a state-funded broadcast company based in Qatar, ABC, the New York Times, and other network outlets followed.Hisham Aidi, “Haitians in the Dominican Republic in Legal Limbo,” Al Jazeera, 10 April 2015. With major network coverage came public pressure for the U.S. government to act on behalf of the Haitians.“Pressure the Government of the Dominican Republic to Stop its Planned ‘Cleaning’ of 250,000 Black Dominicans,” https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pressure-government-dominican-republic-stop-its-planned-cleaning-250000-black-dominicans (November 26, 2015); Led Black, “Prevent Humanitarian Tragedy in Dominican Republic,” CNN, 23 June 2015. Christiane Amanpour on “What Should Be News?” The media are our connection to the world. Some events are too big to ignore, yet other events, such as the destruction of Middle Eastern monuments or the plight of foreign refugees, are far enough from our shores that they often go unnoticed. What we see is carefully selected, but who decides what should be news? As the chief international correspondent for CNN, Christiane Amanpour is one media decision maker (Figure). Over the years, Amanpour has covered events around the world from war to genocide. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Amanpour explains that her duty, and that of other journalists, is to make a difference in the world. To do that, “we have to educate people and use the media responsibly.”“Oprah Talks to Christiane Amanpour,” O, Oprah Magazine, September 2005. Unless otherwise noted, all quotations in this feature box are from this article. Journalists cannot passively sit by and wait for stories to find them. “Words have consequences: the stories we decide to do, the stories we decide not to do . . . it all matters.”“How Christiane Amanpour Stumbled Into a Career in TV News,” TVNewser, 10 February 2016. As Amanpour points out, journalists are often “on the cutting edge of reform,” so if they fail to shed light on events, the results can be tragic. One of her biggest regrets was not covering the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, which cost nearly a million lives. She said the media ignored the event in favor of covering democratic elections in South Africa and a war in Bosnia, and ultimately she believes the media failed the people. “If we don’t respect our profession and we see it frittering away into the realm of triviality and sensationalism, we’ll lose our standing,” she said. “That won’t be good for democracy. A thriving society must have a thriving press.” This feeling of responsibility extends to covering moral topics, like genocide. Amanpour feels there shouldn’t be equal time given to all sides. “I’m not just a stenographer or someone with a megaphone; when I report, I have to do it in context, to be aware of the moral conundrum. . . . I have to be able to draw a line between victim and aggressor.” Amanpour also believes the media should cover more. When given the full background and details of events, society pays attention to the news. “Individual Americans had an incredible reaction to the [2004 Indian Ocean] tsunami—much faster than their government’s reaction,” she said. “Americans are a very moral and compassionate people who believe in extending a helping hand, especially when they get the full facts instead of one-minute clips.” If the news fulfills its responsibility, as she sees it, the world can show its compassion and help promote freedom. Why does Amanpour believe the press has a responsibility to report all that they see? Are there situations in which it is acceptable to display partiality in reporting the news? Why or why not? Before the Internet, traditional media determined whether citizen photographs or video footage would become “news.” In 1991, a private citizen’s camcorder footage showed four police officers beating an African American motorist named Rodney King in Los Angeles. After appearing on local independent television station, KTLA-TV, and then the national news, the event began a national discussion on police brutality and ignited riots in Los Angeles.Erik Ortiz, “George Holliday, Who Taped Rodney King Beating, Urges Others to Share Videos,” NBC, 9 June 2015. The agenda-setting power of traditional media has begun to be appropriated by social media and smartphones, however. Tumbler, Facebook, YouTube, and other Internet sites allow witnesses to instantly upload images and accounts of events and forward the link to friends. Some uploads go viral and attract the attention of the mainstream media, but large network newscasts and major newspapers are still more powerful at initiating or changing a discussion. The media also promote the public good by offering a platform for public debate and improving citizen awareness. Network news informs the electorate about national issues, elections, and international news. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, NBC Nightly News, and other outlets make sure voters can easily find out what issues affect the nation. Is terrorism on the rise? Is the dollar weakening? The network news hosts national debates during presidential elections, broadcasts major presidential addresses, and interviews political leaders during times of crisis. Cable news networks now provide coverage of all these topics as well. Local news has a larger job, despite small budgets and fewer resources (Figure). Local government and local economic policy have a strong and immediate effect on citizens. Is the city government planning on changing property tax rates? Will the school district change the way Common Core tests are administered? When and where is the next town hall meeting or public forum to be held? Local and social media provide a forum for protest and discussion of issues that matter to the community. Want a snapshot of local and state political and policy news? The magazine Governing keeps an eye on what is happening in each state, offering articles and analysis on events that occur across the country. While journalists reporting the news try to present information in an unbiased fashion, sometimes the public seeks opinion and analysis of complicated issues that affect various populations differently, like healthcare reform and the Affordable Care Act. This type of coverage may come in the form of editorials, commentaries, Op-Ed columns, and blogs. These forums allow the editorial staff and informed columnists to express a personal belief and attempt to persuade. If opinion writers are trusted by the public, they have influence. Walter Cronkite, reporting from Vietnam, had a loyal following. In a broadcast following the Tet Offensive in 1968, Cronkite expressed concern that the United States was mired in a conflict that would end in a stalemate.“Walter Cronkite’s ‘We Are Mired in Stalemate’ Broadcast, February 27, 1968” Digital History, http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/active_learning/explorations/vietnam/cronkite.cfm (November 29, 2015). His coverage was based on opinion after viewing the war from the ground.Joel Achenbach, “Cronkite and Vietnam,” Washington Post, 18 May 2012. Although the number of people supporting the war had dwindled by this time, Cronkite’s commentary bolstered opposition. Like editorials, commentaries contain opinion and are often written by specialists in a field. Larry Sabato, a prominent political science professor at the University of Virginia, occasionally writes his thoughts for the New York Times. These pieces are based on his expertise in politics and elections.Larry Sabato, “Our Leaders, Surprise, Have Strong Views,” New York Times, 23 February 2009. Blogs offer more personalized coverage, addressing specific concerns and perspectives for a limited group of readers. Nate Silver’s blog, FiveThirtyEight, focuses on elections and politics. Summary The media encompass all communications that transmit facts or information to citizens and includes the mass media in print and on the radio, television, and Internet. Television takes many forms, such as local, network, cable, or satellite. Historically, programming was transmitted from networks to local stations and broadcast via the airwaves, while fiber-optic cables now allow for national programming to transmit directly. Technological advances allow on-demand and streaming access for programming, leading to changes in advertising and scheduling practices. Conglomerates are large media corporations that own many stations and other companies; therefore, they can create a monopoly and decrease the flow of information to the public. The media serves to entertain the public, watch for corruption, set the national agenda, and promote the public good. In each of these roles, the media informs the public about what is happening and signals when citizens should act. A local station that broadcasts national network programming is called a(an) ________ station. - affiliate - cable - digital - network Hint: A Cable programming is often ________. - local - national - network - sports A conglomerate is a corporation that ________. - owns all television news stations in a state - owns many businesses and media networks - owns only radio stations - owns only televisions and newspapers Hint: B When acting as an agenda setter, the media ________. - decides which issues deserve public attention - covers presidential campaigns equally - reports on corruption in government - brings in advertising revenue for the media corporation How can conglomerates censor information? Hint: Conglomerates set policies that affect all organizations and networks within the corporation. If Disney refuses to air programming with a certain actor, all stations in the Disney conglomerate might be required to forgo programming with that actor. In what ways is media responsible for promoting the public good? Why is social media an effective way to spread news and information? Hint: Social media allow citizens and businesses to quickly forward information and news to large groups of friends and followers.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.648316	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15232/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15233/overview	The Evolution of the Media Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Discuss the history of major media formats - Compare important changes in media types over time - Explain how citizens learn political information from the media The evolution of the media has been fraught with concerns and problems. Accusations of mind control, bias, and poor quality have been thrown at the media on a regular basis. Yet the growth of communications technology allows people today to find more information more easily than any previous generation. Mass media can be print, radio, television, or Internet news. They can be local, national, or international. They can be broad or limited in their focus. The choices are tremendous. PRINT MEDIA Early news was presented to local populations through the print press. While several colonies had printers and occasional newspapers, high literacy rates combined with the desire for self-government made Boston a perfect location for the creation of a newspaper, and the first continuous press was started there in 1704.Fellow. American Media History. Newspapers spread information about local events and activities. The Stamp Tax of 1765 raised costs for publishers, however, leading several newspapers to fold under the increased cost of paper. The repeal of the Stamp Tax in 1766 quieted concerns for a short while, but editors and writers soon began questioning the right of the British to rule over the colonies. Newspapers took part in the effort to inform citizens of British misdeeds and incite attempts to revolt. Readership across the colonies increased to nearly forty thousand homes (among a total population of two million), and daily papers sprang up in large cities.“Population in the Colonial and Continental Periods,” http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/00165897ch01.pdf (November 18, 2015); Fellow. American Media History. Although newspapers united for a common cause during the Revolutionary War, the divisions that occurred during the Constitutional Convention and the United States’ early history created a change. The publication of the Federalist Papers, as well as the Anti-Federalist Papers, in the 1780s, moved the nation into the party press era, in which partisanship and political party loyalty dominated the choice of editorial content. One reason was cost. Subscriptions and advertisements did not fully cover printing costs, and political parties stepped in to support presses that aided the parties and their policies. Papers began printing party propaganda and messages, even publicly attacking political leaders like George Washington. Despite the antagonism of the press, Washington and several other founders felt that freedom of the press was important for creating an informed electorate. Indeed, freedom of the press is enshrined in the Bill of Rights in the first amendment. Between 1830 and 1860, machines and manufacturing made the production of newspapers faster and less expensive. Benjamin Day’s paper, the New York Sun, used technology like the linotype machine to mass-produce papers (Figure). Roads and waterways were expanded, decreasing the costs of distributing printed materials to subscribers. New newspapers popped up. The popular penny press papers and magazines contained more gossip than news, but they were affordable at a penny per issue. Over time, papers expanded their coverage to include racing, weather, and educational materials. By 1841, some news reporters considered themselves responsible for upholding high journalistic standards, and under the editor (and politician) Horace Greeley, the New-York Tribune became a nationally respected newspaper. By the end of the Civil War, more journalists and newspapers were aiming to meet professional standards of accuracy and impartiality.Fellow. American Media History. Yet readers still wanted to be entertained. Joseph Pulitzer and the New York World gave them what they wanted. The tabloid-style paper included editorial pages, cartoons, and pictures, while the front-page news was sensational and scandalous. This style of coverage became known as yellow journalism. Ads sold quickly thanks to the paper’s popularity, and the Sunday edition became a regular feature of the newspaper. As the New York World’s circulation increased, other papers copied Pulitzer’s style in an effort to sell papers. Competition between newspapers led to increasingly sensationalized covers and crude issues. In 1896, Adolph Ochs purchased the New York Times with the goal of creating a dignified newspaper that would provide readers with important news about the economy, politics, and the world rather than gossip and comics. The New York Times brought back the informational model, which exhibits impartiality and accuracy and promotes transparency in government and politics. With the arrival of the Progressive Era, the media began muckraking: the writing and publishing of news coverage that exposed corrupt business and government practices. Investigative work like Upton Sinclair’s serialized novel The Jungle led to changes in the way industrial workers were treated and local political machines were run. The Pure Food and Drug Act and other laws were passed to protect consumers and employees from unsafe food processing practices. Local and state government officials who participated in bribery and corruption became the centerpieces of exposés. Some muckraking journalism still appears today, and the quicker movement of information through the system would seem to suggest an environment for yet more investigative work and the punch of exposés than in the past. However, at the same time there are fewer journalists being hired than there used to be. The scarcity of journalists and the lack of time to dig for details in a 24-hour, profit-oriented news model make investigative stories rare.Lars Willnat and David H. Weaver. 2014. The American Journalist in the Digital Age: Key Findings. Bloomington, IN: School of Journalism, Indiana University. There are two potential concerns about the decline of investigative journalism in the digital age. First, one potential shortcoming is that the quality of news content will become uneven in depth and quality, which could lead to a less informed citizenry. Second, if investigative journalism in its systematic form declines, then the cases of wrongdoing that are the objects of such investigations would have a greater chance of going on undetected. In the twenty-first century, newspapers have struggled to stay financially stable. Print media earned $44.9 billion from ads in 2003, but only $16.4 billion from ads in 2014.Michael Barthel. 29 April 2015. “Newspapers: Factsheet,” http://www.journalism.org/2015/04/29/newspapers-fact-sheet/. Given the countless alternate forms of news, many of which are free, newspaper subscriptions have fallen. Advertising and especially classified ad revenue dipped. Many newspapers now maintain both a print and an Internet presence in order to compete for readers. The rise of free news blogs, such as the Huffington Post, have made it difficult for newspapers to force readers to purchase online subscriptions to access material they place behind a digital paywall. Some local newspapers, in an effort to stay visible and profitable, have turned to social media, like Facebook and Twitter. Stories can be posted and retweeted, allowing readers to comment and forward material.“Facebook and Twitter—New but Limited Parts of the Local News System,” Pew Research Center, 5 March 2015. Yet, overall, newspapers have adapted, becoming leaner—though less thorough and investigative—versions of their earlier selves. RADIO Radio news made its appearance in the 1920s. The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) began running sponsored news programs and radio dramas. Comedy programs, such as Amos ’n’ Andy, The Adventures of Gracie, and Easy Aces, also became popular during the 1930s, as listeners were trying to find humor during the Depression (Figure). Talk shows, religious shows, and educational programs followed, and by the late 1930s, game shows and quiz shows were added to the airwaves. Almost 83 percent of households had a radio by 1940, and most tuned in regularly.“1940 Census,” http://www.census.gov/1940census (September 6, 2015). Not just something to be enjoyed by those in the city, the proliferation of the radio brought communications to rural America as well. News and entertainment programs were also targeted to rural communities. WLS in Chicago provided the National Farm and Home Hour and the WLS Barn Dance. WSM in Nashville began to broadcast the live music show called the Grand Ole Opry, which is still broadcast every week and is the longest live broadcast radio show in U.S. history.Steve Craig. 2009. Out of the Dark: A History of Radio and Rural America. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press. As radio listenership grew, politicians realized that the medium offered a way to reach the public in a personal manner. Warren Harding was the first president to regularly give speeches over the radio. President Herbert Hoover used radio as well, mainly to announce government programs on aid and unemployment relief.“Herbert Hoover: Radio Address to the Nation on Unemployment Relief,” The American Presidency Project, 18 October 1931, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=22855. Yet it was Franklin D. Roosevelt who became famous for harnessing the political power of radio. On entering office in March 1933, President Roosevelt needed to quiet public fears about the economy and prevent people from removing their money from the banks. He delivered his first radio speech eight days after assuming the presidency: “My friends: I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking—to talk with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking, but more particularly with the overwhelming majority of you who use banks for the making of deposits and the drawing of checks. I want to tell you what has been done in the last few days, and why it was done, and what the next steps are going to be.”“Franklin Delano Roosevelt: First Fireside Chat,” http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/fdrfirstfiresidechat.html (August 20, 2015). Roosevelt spoke directly to the people and addressed them as equals. One listener described the chats as soothing, with the president acting like a father, sitting in the room with the family, cutting through the political nonsense and describing what help he needed from each family member.“The Fireside Chats,” https://www.history.com/topics/fireside-chats (November 20, 2015); Fellow. American Media History, 256. Roosevelt would sit down and explain his ideas and actions directly to the people on a regular basis, confident that he could convince voters of their value.“FDR: A Voice of Hope,” http://www.history.com/topics/fireside-chats (September 10, 2015). His speeches became known as “fireside chats” and formed an important way for him to promote his New Deal agenda (Figure). Roosevelt’s combination of persuasive rhetoric and the media allowed him to expand both the government and the presidency beyond their traditional roles.Mary E. Stuckey. 2012. “FDR, the Rhetoric of Vision, and the Creation of a National Synoptic State.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 98, No. 3: 297–319. During this time, print news still controlled much of the information flowing to the public. Radio news programs were limited in scope and number. But in the 1940s the German annexation of Austria, conflict in Europe, and World War II changed radio news forever. The need and desire for frequent news updates about the constantly evolving war made newspapers, with their once-a-day printing, too slow. People wanted to know what was happening, and they wanted to know immediately. Although initially reluctant to be on the air, reporter Edward R. Murrow of CBS began reporting live about Germany’s actions from his posts in Europe. His reporting contained news and some commentary, and even live coverage during Germany’s aerial bombing of London. To protect covert military operations during the war, the White House had placed guidelines on the reporting of classified information, making a legal exception to the First Amendment’s protection against government involvement in the press. Newscasters voluntarily agreed to suppress information, such as about the development of the atomic bomb and movements of the military, until after the events had occurred.Fellow. American Media History. The number of professional and amateur radio stations grew quickly. Initially, the government exerted little legislative control over the industry. Stations chose their own broadcasting locations, signal strengths, and frequencies, which sometimes overlapped with one another or with the military, leading to tuning problems for listeners. The Radio Act (1927) created the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), which made the first effort to set standards, frequencies, and license stations. The Commission was under heavy pressure from Congress, however, and had little authority. The Communications Act of 1934 ended the FRC and created the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which continued to work with radio stations to assign frequencies and set national standards, as well as oversee other forms of broadcasting and telephones. The FCC regulates interstate communications to this day. For example, it prohibits the use of certain profane words during certain hours on public airwaves. Prior to WWII, radio frequencies were broadcast using amplitude modulation (AM). After WWII, frequency modulation (FM) broadcasting, with its wider signal bandwidth, provided clear sound with less static and became popular with stations wanting to broadcast speeches or music with high-quality sound. While radio’s importance for distributing news waned with the increase in television usage, it remained popular for listening to music, educational talk shows, and sports broadcasting. Talk stations began to gain ground in the 1980s on both AM and FM frequencies, restoring radio’s importance in politics. By the 1990s, talk shows had gone national, showcasing broadcasters like Rush Limbaugh and Don Imus. In 1990, Sirius Satellite Radio began a campaign for FCC approval of satellite radio. The idea was to broadcast digital programming from satellites in orbit, eliminating the need for local towers. By 2001, two satellite stations had been approved for broadcasting. Satellite radio has greatly increased programming with many specialized offerings, such as channels dedicated to particular artists. It is generally subscription-based and offers a larger area of coverage, even to remote areas such as deserts and oceans. Satellite programming is also exempt from many of the FCC regulations that govern regular radio stations. Howard Stern, for example, was fined more than $2 million while on public airwaves, mainly for his sexually explicit discussions.Sheila Marikar, “Howard Stern’s Five Most Outrageous Offenses,” ABC News, 14 May 2012. Stern moved to Sirius Satellite in 2006 and has since been free of oversight and fines. TELEVISION Television combined the best attributes of radio and pictures and changed media forever. The first official broadcast in the United States was President Franklin Roosevelt’s speech at the opening of the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. The public did not immediately begin buying televisions, but coverage of World War II changed their minds. CBS reported on war events and included pictures and maps that enhanced the news for viewers. By the 1950s, the price of television sets had dropped, more televisions stations were being created, and advertisers were buying up spots. As on the radio, quiz shows and games dominated the television airwaves. But when Edward R. Murrow made the move to television in 1951 with his news show See It Now, television journalism gained its foothold (Figure). As television programming expanded, more channels were added. Networks such as ABC, CBS, and NBC began nightly newscasts, and local stations and affiliates followed suit. Even more than radio, television allows politicians to reach out and connect with citizens and voters in deeper ways. Before television, few voters were able to see a president or candidate speak or answer questions in an interview. Now everyone can decode body language and tone to decide whether candidates or politicians are sincere. Presidents can directly convey their anger, sorrow, or optimism during addresses. The first television advertisements, run by presidential candidates Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson in the early 1950s, were mainly radio jingles with animation or short question-and-answer sessions. In 1960, John F. Kennedy’s campaign used a Hollywood-style approach to promote his image as young and vibrant. The Kennedy campaign ran interesting and engaging ads, featuring Kennedy, his wife Jacqueline, and everyday citizens who supported him. Television was also useful to combat scandals and accusations of impropriety. Republican vice presidential candidate Richard Nixon used a televised speech in 1952 to address accusations that he had taken money from a political campaign fund illegally. Nixon laid out his finances, investments, and debts and ended by saying that the only election gift the family had received was a cocker spaniel the children named Checkers.Lee Huebner, “The Checkers Speech after 60 Years,” The Atlantic, 22 September 2012. The “Checkers speech” was remembered more for humanizing Nixon than for proving he had not taken money from the campaign account. Yet it was enough to quiet accusations. Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro similarly used television to answer accusations in 1984, holding a televised press conference to answer questions for over two hours about her husband’s business dealings and tax returns.Joel K. Goldstein, “Mondale-Ferraro: Changing History,” Huffington Post, 27 March 2011. In addition to television ads, the 1960 election also featured the first televised presidential debate. By that time most households had a television. Kennedy’s careful grooming and practiced body language allowed viewers to focus on his presidential demeanor. His opponent, Richard Nixon, was still recovering from a severe case of the flu. While Nixon’s substantive answers and debate skills made a favorable impression on radio listeners, viewers’ reaction to his sweaty appearance and obvious discomfort demonstrated that live television had the potential to make or break a candidate.Shanto Iyengar. 2016. Media Politics: A Citizen’s Guide, 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton. In 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson was ahead in the polls, and he let Barry Goldwater’s campaign know he did not want to debate.Bob Greene, “When Candidates said ‘No’ to Debates,” CNN, 1 October 2012. Nixon, who ran for president again in 1968 and 1972, declined to debate. Then in 1976, President Gerald Ford, who was behind in the polls, invited Jimmy Carter to debate, and televised debates became a regular part of future presidential campaigns.“The Ford/Carter Debates,” http://www.pbs.org/newshour/spc/debatingourdestiny/doc1976.html (November 21, 2015); Kayla Webley, “How the Nixon-Kennedy Debate Changed the World,” Time, 23 September 2010. Visit American Rhetoric for free access to speeches, video, and audio of famous presidential and political speeches. Between the 1960s and the 1990s, presidents often used television to reach citizens and gain support for policies. When they made speeches, the networks and their local affiliates carried them. With few independent local stations available, a viewer had little alternative but to watch. During this “Golden Age of Presidential Television,” presidents had a strong command of the media.Matthew A. Baum and Samuel Kernell. 1999. “Has Cable Ended the Golden Age of Presidential Television?” The American Political Science Review 93, No. 1: 99–114. Some of the best examples of this power occurred when presidents used television to inspire and comfort the population during a national emergency. These speeches aided in the “rally ’round the flag” phenomenon, which occurs when a population feels threatened and unites around the president.Alan J. Lambert1, J. P. Schott1, and Laura Scherer. 2011. “Threat, Politics, and Attitudes toward a Greater Understanding of Rally-’Round-the-Flag Effects,” Current Directions in Psychological Science 20, No. 6: 343–348. During these periods, presidents may receive heightened approval ratings, in part due to the media’s decision about what to cover.Tim Groeling and Matthew A. Baum. 2008. “Crossing the Water’s Edge: Elite Rhetoric, Media Coverage, and the Rally-Round-the-Flag Phenomenon,” Journal of Politics 70, No. 4: 1065–1085. In 1995, President Bill Clinton comforted and encouraged the families of the employees and children killed at the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building. Clinton reminded the nation that children learn through action, and so we must speak up against violence and face evil acts with good acts.“William Jefferson Clinton: Oklahoma Bombing Memorial Prayer Service Address,” 23 April 1995, http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/wjcoklahomabombingspeech.htm. Following the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush’s bullhorn speech from the rubble of Ground Zero in New York similarly became a rally. Bush spoke to the workers and first responders and encouraged them, but his short speech became a viral clip demonstrating the resilience of New Yorkers and the anger of a nation.Ian Christopher McCaleb, “Bush tours ground zero in lower Manhattan,” CNN, 14 September 2001. He told New Yorkers, the country, and the world that Americans could hear the frustration and anguish of New York, and that the terrorists would soon hear the United States (Figure). Following their speeches, both presidents also received a bump in popularity. Clinton’s approval rating rose from 46 to 51 percent, and Bush’s from 51 to 90 percent.“Presidential Job Approval Center,” http://www.gallup.com/poll/124922/presidential-job-approval-center.aspx (August 28, 2015). NEW MEDIA TRENDS The invention of cable in the 1980s and the expansion of the Internet in the 2000s opened up more options for media consumers than ever before. Viewers can watch nearly anything at the click of a button, bypass commercials, and record programs of interest. The resulting saturation, or inundation of information, may lead viewers to abandon the news entirely or become more suspicious and fatigued about politics.Alison Dagnes. 2010. Politics on Demand: The Effects of 24-hour News on American Politics. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger. This effect, in turn, also changes the president’s ability to reach out to citizens. For example, viewership of the president’s annual State of the Union address has decreased over the years, from sixty-seven million viewers in 1993 to thirty-two million in 2015.“Number of Viewers of the State of the Union Addresses from 1993 to 2015 (in millions),” http://www.statista.com/statistics/252425/state-of-the-union-address-viewer-numbers (August 28, 2015). Citizens who want to watch reality television and movies can easily avoid the news, leaving presidents with no sure way to communicate with the public.Baum and Kernell, “Has Cable Ended the Golden Age of Presidential Television?” Other voices, such as those of talk show hosts and political pundits, now fill the gap. Electoral candidates have also lost some media ground. In horse-race coverage, modern journalists analyze campaigns and blunders or the overall race, rather than interviewing the candidates or discussing their issue positions. Some argue that this shallow coverage is a result of candidates’ trying to control the journalists by limiting interviews and quotes. In an effort to regain control of the story, journalists begin analyzing campaigns without input from the candidates.Shanto Iyengar. 2011. “The Media Game: New Moves, Old Strategies,” The Forum: Press Politics and Political Science 9, No. 1, http://pcl.stanford.edu/research/2011/iyengar-mediagame.pdf. The use of social media by candidates provides a countervailing trend. President Trump’s hundreds of election tweets are the stuff of legend. These tweets kept his press coverage up, although they also were problematic for him at times. The final days of the contest saw no new tweets from Trump as he attempted to stay on message. The First Social Media Candidate When president-elect Barack Obama admitted an addiction to his Blackberry, the signs were clear: A new generation was assuming the presidency.Jeff Zeleny, “Lose the BlackBerry? Yes He Can, Maybe,” New York Times, 15 November 2008. Obama’s use of technology was a part of life, not a campaign pretense. Perhaps for this reason, he was the first candidate to fully embrace social media. While John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, focused on traditional media to run his campaign, Obama did not. One of Obama’s campaign advisors was Chris Hughes, a cofounder of Facebook. The campaign allowed Hughes to create a powerful online presence for Obama, with sites on YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and more. Podcasts and videos were available for anyone looking for information about the candidate. These efforts made it possible for information to be forwarded easily between friends and colleagues. It also allowed Obama to connect with a younger generation that was often left out of politics. By Election Day, Obama’s skill with the web was clear: he had over two million Facebook supporters, while McCain had 600,000. Obama had 112,000 followers on Twitter, and McCain had only 4,600.Matthew Fraser and Soumitra Dutta, “Obama’s win means future elections must be fought online,” Guardian, 7 November 2008. Are there any disadvantages to a presidential candidate’s use of social media and the Internet for campaign purposes? Why or why not? The availability of the Internet and social media has moved some control of the message back into the presidents’ and candidates’ hands. Politicians can now connect to the people directly, bypassing journalists. When Barack Obama’s minister, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, was accused of making inflammatory racial sermons in 2008, Obama used YouTube to respond to charges that he shared Wright’s beliefs. The video drew more than seven million views.Iyengar, “The Media Game.” To reach out to supporters and voters, the White House maintains a YouTube channel and a Facebook site, as did the recent Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner. Social media, like Facebook, also placed journalism in the hands of citizens: citizen journalism occurs when citizens use their personal recording devices and cell phones to capture events and post them on the Internet. In 2012, citizen journalists caught both presidential candidates by surprise. Mitt Romney was taped by a bartender’s personal camera saying that 47 percent of Americans would vote for President Obama because they were dependent on the government.David Corn. 29 July 2013. “Mitt Romeny’s Incredible 47-Percent Denial,” http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/07/mitt-romney-47-percent-denial. Obama was recorded by a Huffington Post volunteer saying that some Midwesterners “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them” due to their frustration with the economy.Ed Pilkington, “Obama Angers Midwest Voters with Guns and Religion Remark,” Guardian, 14 April 2008. More recently, as Donald Trump was trying to close out the fall 2016 campaign, his musings about having his way with women were revealed on the infamous Billy Bush Access Hollywood tape. These statements became nightmares for the campaigns. As journalism continues to scale back and hire fewer professional writers in an effort to control costs, citizen journalism may become the new normal.Amy Mitchell, “State of the News Media 2015,” Pew Research Center, 29 April 2015. Another shift in the new media is a change in viewers’ preferred programming. Younger viewers, especially members of generation X and millennials, like their newscasts to be humorous. The popularity of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report demonstrate that news, even political news, can win young viewers if delivered well.Tom Huddleston, Jr., “Jon Stewart Just Punched a $250 Million Hole in Viacom’s Value,” Fortune, 11 February 2015. Such soft news presents news in an entertaining and approachable manner, painlessly introducing a variety of topics. While the depth or quality of reporting may be less than ideal, these shows can sound an alarm as needed to raise citizen awareness (Figure).John Zaller. 2003. “A New Standard of News Quality: Burglar Alarms for the Monitorial Citizen,” Political Communication 20, No. 2: 109–130. Viewers who watch or listen to programs like John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight are more likely to be aware and observant of political events and foreign policy crises than they would otherwise be.Matthew A. Baum. 2002. “Sex, Lies and War: How Soft News Brings Foreign Policy to the Inattentive Public,” American Political Science Review 96, no. 1: 91–109. They may view opposing party candidates more favorably because the low-partisan, friendly interview styles allow politicians to relax and be conversational rather than defensive.Matthew Baum. 2003. “Soft News and Political Knowledge: Evidence of Absence or Absence of Evidence?” Political Communication 20, No. 2: 173–190. Because viewers of political comedy shows watch the news frequently, they may, in fact, be more politically knowledgeable than citizens viewing national news. In two studies researchers interviewed respondents and asked knowledge questions about current events and situations. Viewers of The Daily Show scored more correct answers than viewers of news programming and news stations.“Public Knowledge of Current Affairs Little Changed by News and Information Revolutions,” Pew Research Center, 15 April 2007; “What You Know Depends on What You Watch: Current Events Knowledge across Popular News Sources,” Fairleigh Dickinson University, 3 May 2012, http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2012/confirmed/. That being said, it is not clear whether the number of viewers is large enough to make a big impact on politics, nor do we know whether the learning is long term or short term.Markus Prior. 2003. “Any Good News in Soft News? The Impact of Soft News Preference on Political Knowledge,” Political Communication 20, No. 2: 149–171. Becoming a Citizen Journalist Local government and politics need visibility. College students need a voice. Why not become a citizen journalist? City and county governments hold meetings on a regular basis and students rarely attend. Yet issues relevant to students are often discussed at these meetings, like increases in street parking fines, zoning for off-campus housing, and tax incentives for new businesses that employ part-time student labor. Attend some meetings, ask questions, and write about the experience on your Facebook page. Create a blog to organize your reports or use Storify to curate a social media debate. If you prefer videography, create a YouTube channel to document your reports on current events, or Tweet your live video using Periscope or Meerkat. Not interested in government? Other areas of governance that affect students are the university or college’s Board of Regents meetings. These cover topics like tuition increases, class cuts, and changes to student conduct policies. If your state requires state institutions to open their meetings to the public, consider attending. You might be the one to notify your peers of changes that affect them. What local meetings could you cover? What issues are important to you and your peers? Summary Newspapers were vital during the Revolutionary War. Later, in the party press era, party loyalty governed coverage. At the turn of the twentieth century, investigative journalism and muckraking appeared, and newspapers began presenting more professional, unbiased information. The modern print media have fought to stay relevant and cost-efficient, moving online to do so. Most families had radios by the 1930s, making it an effective way for politicians, especially presidents, to reach out to citizens. While the increased use of television decreased the popularity of radio, talk radio still provides political information. Modern presidents also use television to rally people in times of crisis, although social media and the Internet now offer a more direct way for them to communicate. While serious newscasts still exist, younger viewers prefer soft news as a way to become informed. Newspapers during the Revolutionary War period tended to ________. - give fake news and sensationalize stories - unite the colonists and provide information about the British - print party propaganda - attack colonial politicians Muckraking occurs when newspapers ________. - investigate problems in government and business - investigate actions of celebrities - print sensational news on the front page to sell papers - print more editorials and opinion pieces to sell papers Hint: A Radio quiz shows and comedy shows were most popular in the ________. - 1900s - 1930s - 1970s - 1990s Television news became a regular feature during ________ due to the public’s demand for ________ to explain current events. - WWI; images and maps - Great Depression; charts and tables - WWII; images and maps - Vietnam War; charts and tables Hint: C Why did Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats help the president enact his policies? How have modern presidents used television to reach out to citizens? Hint: The State of the Union address and “rally ’round the flag” speeches help explain policies and offer comfort after crises. Why is soft news good at reaching out and educating viewers?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.687253	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15233/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15234/overview	Regulating the Media Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Identify circumstances in which the freedom of the press is not absolute - Compare the ways in which the government oversees and influences media programming The Constitution gives Congress responsibility for promoting the general welfare. While it is difficult to define what this broad dictate means, Congress has used it to protect citizens from media content it deems inappropriate. Although the media are independent participants in the U.S. political system, their liberties are not absolute and there are rules they must follow. MEDIA AND THE FIRST AMENDMENT The U.S. Constitution was written in secrecy. Journalists were neither invited to watch the drafting, nor did the framers talk to the press about their disagreements and decisions. Once it was finished, however, the Constitution was released to the public and almost all newspapers printed it. Newspaper editors also published commentary and opinion about the new document and the form of government it proposed. Early support for the Constitution was strong, and Anti-Federalists (who opposed it) argued that their concerns were not properly covered by the press. The eventual printing of The Federalist Papers, and the lesser-known Anti-Federalist Papers, fueled the argument that the press was vital to American democracy. It was also clear the press had the ability to affect public opinion and therefore public policy.Fellow. American Media History. The approval of the First Amendment, as a part of the Bill of Rights, demonstrated the framers’ belief that a free and vital press was important enough to protect. It said: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” This amendment serves as the basis for the political freedoms of the United States, and freedom of the press plays a strong role in keeping democracy healthy. Without it, the press would not be free to alert citizens to government abuses and corruption. In fact, one of New York’s first newspapers, the New York Weekly Journal, began under John Peter Zenger in 1733 with the goal of routing corruption in the colonial government. After the colonial governor, William Cosby, had Zenger arrested and charged with seditious libel in 1835, his lawyers successfully defended his case and Zenger was found not guilty, affirming the importance of a free press in the colonies (Figure). The media act as informants and messengers, providing the means for citizens to become informed and serving as a venue for citizens to announce plans to assemble and protest actions by their government. Yet the government must ensure the media are acting in good faith and not abusing their power. Like the other First Amendment liberties, freedom of the press is not absolute. The media have limitations on their freedom to publish and broadcast. Slander and Libel First, the media do not have the right to commit slander, speak false information with an intent to harm a person or entity, or libel, print false information with an intent to harm a person or entity. These acts constitute defamation of character that can cause a loss of reputation and income. The media do not have the right to free speech in cases of libel and slander because the information is known to be false. Yet on a weekly basis, newspapers and magazines print stories that are negative and harmful. How can they do this and not be sued? First, libel and slander occur only in cases where false information is presented as fact. When editors or columnists write opinions, they are protected from many of the libel and slander provisions because they are not claiming their statements are facts. Second, it is up to the defamed individual or company to bring a lawsuit against the media outlet, and the courts have different standards depending on whether the claimant is a private or public figure. A public figure must show that the publisher or broadcaster acted in “reckless disregard” when submitting information as truth or that the author’s intent was malicious. This test goes back to the New York Times v. Sullivan (1964) case, in which a police commissioner in Alabama sued over inaccurate statements in a newspaper advertisement.New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964). Because the commissioner was a public figure, the U.S. Supreme Court applied a stringent test of malice to determine whether the advertisement was libel; the court deemed it was not. A private individual must make one of the above arguments or argue that the author was negligent in not making sure the information was accurate before publishing it. For this reason, newspapers and magazines are less likely to stray from hard facts when covering private individuals, yet they can be willing to stretch the facts when writing about politicians, celebrities, or public figures. But even stretching the truth can be costly for a publisher. In 2010, Star magazine published a headline, “Addiction Nightmare: Katie Drug Shocker,” leading readers to believe actress Katie Holmes was taking drugs. While the article in the magazine focuses on the addictive quality of Scientology sessions rather than drugs, the implication and the headline were different. Because drugs cause people to act erratically, directors might be less inclined to hire Holmes if she were addicted to drugs. Thus Holmes could argue that she had lost opportunity and income from the headline. While the publisher initially declined to correct the story, Holmes filed a $50 million lawsuit, and Star’s parent company American Media, Inc. eventually settled. Star printed an apology and made a donation to a charity on Holmes’ behalf.Jill Serjeant, “Katie Holmes Settles Libel Suit on Drugs Claim,” Reuters, 28 April 2011, http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/28/us-katieholmes-idUSTRE73Q7K620110428. Classified Material The media have only a limited right to publish material the government says is classified. If a newspaper or media outlet obtains classified material, or if a journalist is witness to information that is classified, the government may request certain material be redacted or removed from the article. In many instances, government officials and former employees give journalists classified paperwork in an effort to bring public awareness to a problem. If the journalist calls the White House or Pentagon for quotations on a classified topic, the president may order the newspaper to stop publication in the interest of national security. The courts are then asked to rule on what is censored and what can be printed. The line between the people’s right to know and national security is not always clear. In 1971, the Supreme Court heard the Pentagon Papers case, in which the U.S. government sued the New York Times and the Washington Post to stop the release of information from a classified study of the Vietnam War. The Supreme Court ruled that while the government can impose prior restraint on the media, meaning the government can prevent the publication of information, that right is very limited. The court gave the newspapers the right to publish much of the study, but revelation of troop movements and the names of undercover operatives are some of the few approved reasons for which the government can stop publication or reporting. During the second Persian Gulf War, FOX News reporter Geraldo Rivera convinced the military to embed him with a U.S. Army unit in Iraq to provide live coverage of its day-to-day activities. During one of the reports he filed while traveling with the 101st Airborne Division, Rivera had his camera operator record him drawing a map in the sand, showing where his unit was and using Baghdad as a reference point. Rivera then discussed where the unit would go next. Rivera was immediately removed from the unit and escorted from Iraq.Christ Plante, “Military Kicks Geraldo Out of Iraq,” CNN, 31 March 2003. The military exercised its right to maintain secrecy over troop movements, stating that Rivera’s reporting had given away troop locations and compromised the safety of the unit. Rivera’s future transmissions and reporting were censored until he was away from the unit. MEDIA AND FCC REGULATIONS The liberties enjoyed by newspapers are overseen by the U.S. court system, while television and radio broadcasters are monitored by both the courts and a government regulatory commission. The Radio Act of 1927 was the first attempt by Congress to regulate broadcast materials. The act was written to organize the rapidly expanding number of radio stations and the overuse of frequencies. But politicians feared that broadcast material would be obscene or biased. The Radio Act thus contained language that gave the government control over the quality of programming sent over public airwaves, and the power to ensure that stations maintained the public’s best interest.Chapter 4—Radio Act of 1927, http://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title47/chapter4&edition=prelim (May 19, 2016). The Communications Act of 1934 replaced the Radio Act and created a more powerful entity to monitor the airwaves—a seven-member Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to oversee both radio and telephone communication. The FCC, which now has only five members (Figure), requires radio stations to apply for licenses, granted only if stations follow rules about limiting advertising, providing a public forum for discussion, and serving local and minority communities. With the advent of television, the FCC was given the same authority to license and monitor television stations. The FCC now also enforces ownership limits to avoid monopolies and censors materials deemed inappropriate. It has no jurisdiction over print media, mainly because print media are purchased and not broadcast. Concerned about something you heard or viewed? Would you like to file a complaint about an obscene radio program or place your phone number on the Do Not Call list? The FCC oversees each of these. To maintain a license, stations are required to meet a number of criteria. The equal-time rule, for instance, states that registered candidates running for office must be given equal opportunities for airtime and advertisements at non-cable television and radio stations beginning forty-five days before a primary election and sixty days before a general election. Should WBNS in Columbus, Ohio, agree to sell Senator Marco Rubio thirty seconds of airtime for a presidential campaign commercial, the station must also sell all other candidates in that race thirty seconds of airtime at the same price. This rate cannot be more than the station charges favored commercial advertisers that run ads of the same class and during the same time period.“Statutes and Rules on Candidate Appearances & Advertising,” https://transition.fcc.gov/mb/policy/political/candrule.htm. Section 73.1942 [47 CFR §73.1942] Candidate rates. (November 21, 2015). More importantly, should Fox5 in Atlanta give Bernie Sanders five minutes of free airtime for an infomercial, the station must honor requests from all other candidates in the race for five minutes of free equal air time or a complaint may be filed with the FCC.“Statutes and Rules,” Section 73.1941 [47 CFR §73.1941] Equal Opportunities. In 2015, Donald Trump, when he was running for the Republican presidential nomination, appeared on Saturday Night Live. Other Republican candidates made equal time requests, and NBC agreed to give each candidate twelve minutes and five seconds of air time on a Friday and Saturday night, as well as during a later episode of Saturday Night Live.Eric Deggans, “It’s Not Hosting SNL, But NBC Will Give ‘Equal Time’ To 4 GOP Candidates,” National Public Radio, 24 November 2015. The FCC does waive the equal-time rule if the coverage is purely news. If a newscaster is covering a political rally and is able to secure a short interview with a candidate, equal time does not apply. Likewise, if a news programs creates a short documentary on the problem of immigration reform and chooses to include clips from only one or two candidates, the rule does not apply.“47 U.S. Code § 315 - Candidates for public office,” Legal Information Institute, https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/315. But the rule may include shows that are not news. For this reason, some stations will not show a movie or television program if a candidate appears in it. In 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gary Coleman, both actors, became candidates in California’s gubernatorial recall election. Television stations did not run Coleman’s sitcom Diff’rent Strokes or Schwarzenegger’s movies, because they would have been subject to the equal time provision. With 135 candidates on the official ballot, stations would have been hard-pressed to offer thirty-minute and two-hour time slots to all.Joel Roberts, “Arnold’s Movies Face TV Blackout,” CBS News, 13 August 2003; Gary Susman, “Arnold’s Movies Go off the Air until Election,” Entertainment Weekly, 13 August 2003. Even the broadcasting of the president’s State of the Union speech can trigger the equal-time provisions. Opposing parties in Congress now use their time immediately following the State of the Union to offer an official rebuttal to the president’s proposals.David Schultz and John R. Vile. 2015. The Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties in America. While the idea behind the equal-time rule is fairness, it may not apply beyond candidates to supporters of that candidate or of a cause. Hence, there potentially may be a loophole in which broadcasters can give free time to just one candidate’s supporters. In the 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election, Scott Walker’s supporters were allegedly given free air time to raise funds and ask for volunteers while opponent Tom Barrett’s supporters were not.Sue Wilson, “FCC: No More Equal Time Requirements for Political Campaign Supporters over Our Public Airwaves,” Huffington Post, 15 May 2014. According to someone involved in the case, the FCC declined to intervene after a complaint was filed on the matter, saying the equal-time rule applied only to the actual candidates, and that the case was an instance of the now-dead fairness doctrine.William Lake, Letter from the FCC Regarding Capstar Texas LLX, 8 May 2014, http://bradblog.com/Docs/FCC_ZappleDoctrineRuling_050814.pdf. The fairness doctrine was instituted in 1949 and required licensed stations to cover controversial issues in a balanced manner by providing listeners with information about all perspectives on any controversial issue. If one candidate, cause, or supporter was given an opportunity to reach the viewers or listeners, the other side was to be given a chance to present its side as well. The fairness doctrine ended in the 1980s, after a succession of court cases led to its repeal by the FCC in 1987, with stations and critics arguing the doctrine limited debate of controversial topics and placed the government in the role of editor.Syracuse Peace Council vs. FCC, 867 F.2d 654 (1989); Katy Steinmetz, “The Death of the Fairness Doctrine,” Time, 23 August 2011. The FCC also maintains indecency regulations over television, radio, and other broadcasters, which limit indecent material and keep the public airwaves free of obscene material.“Obscenity, Indecency, and Profanity,” FCC, https://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/obscenity-indecency-and-profanity (September 10, 2015). While the Supreme Court has declined to define obscenity, it is identified using a test outlined in Miller v. California (1973).Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973). Under the Miller test, obscenity is something that appeals to deviants, breaks local or state laws, and lacks value.“Obscenity,” Legal Information Institute at Cornell University, https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/obscenity (November 29, 2015). The Supreme Court determined that the presence of children in the audience trumped the right of broadcasters to air obscene and profane programming. However, broadcasters can show indecent programming or air profane language between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.“Consumer Help Center: Obscene, Indecent, and Profane Broadcasts,” FCC, https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/articles/202731600-Obscene-Indecent-and-Profane-Broadcasts (September 10, 2015). The Supreme Court has also affirmed that the FCC has the authority to regulate content. When a George Carlin skit was aired on the radio with a warning that material might be offensive, the FCC still censored it. The station appealed the decision and lost.FCC vs. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726 (1978). Fines can range from tens of thousands to millions of dollars, and many are levied for sexual jokes on radio talk shows and nudity on television. In 2004, Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction during the Super Bowl’s half-time show cost the CBS network $550,000. While some FCC violations are witnessed directly by commission members, like Jackson’s exposure at the Super Bowl, the FCC mainly relies on citizens and consumers to file complaints about violations of equal time and indecency rules. Approximately 2 percent of complaints to the FCC are about radio programming and 10 percent about television programming, compared to 71 percent about telephone complaints and 15 percent about Internet complaints.“Obscenity, Indecency and Profanity,” Federal Communications Commission, https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us/articles/204009760-Consumer-Complaint-Charts-and-Data-Overview. Yet what constitutes a violation is not always clear for citizens wishing to complain, nor is it clear what will lead to a fine or license revocation. In October 2014, parent advocacy groups and consumers filed complaints and called for the FCC to fine ABC for running a sexually charged opening scene in the drama Scandal immediately after It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown—without an ad or the cartoon’s credits to act as a buffer between the very different types of programming.Jason Molinet, “TV Watchdog Slams ABC for Sex-filled ‘Scandal’ Opening Immediately After ‘Charlie Brown’ Special,” Daily News, 4 November 2104. The FCC did not fine ABC. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 brought significant changes to the radio and television industries. It dropped the limit on the number of radio stations (forty) and television stations (twelve) a single company could own. It also allowed networks to purchase large numbers of cable stations. In essence, it reduced competition and increased the number of conglomerates. Some critics, such as Common Cause, argue that the act also raised cable prices and made it easier for companies to neglect their public interest obligations.“The Fallout from the Telecommunications Act of 1996: Unintended Consequences and Lessons Learned,” Common Cause, 9 May 2005; Mark Baumgartner, “Average Cable Rates on the Rise,” ABC News, February 15, http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=88614&page=1. The act also changed the role of the FCC from regulator to monitor. The Commission oversees the purchase of stations to avoid media monopolies and adjudicates consumer complaints against radio, television, and telephone companies. Watch Dog or Paparazzi? We expect the media to keep a close eye on the government. But at what point does the media coverage cross from informational to sensational? In 2012, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton was questioned about her department’s decisions regarding the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The consulate had been bombed by militants, leading to the death of an ambassador and a senior service officer. It was clear the United States had some knowledge that there was a threat to the consulate, and officials wondered whether requests to increase security at the consulate had been ignored. Clinton was asked to appear before a House Select Committee to answer questions, and the media began its coverage. While some journalists limited their reporting to Benghazi, others did not. Clinton was hounded about everything from her illness (dubbed the “Benghazi-flu”) to her clothing to her facial expressions to her choice of eyeglasses.Dana Hughes and Dan Childs, “Hillary Clinton’s Glasses are for Concussion, Not Fashion,” ABC News, 25 January 2013. Even her hospital stay was questioned.Mary Bruce, “Hillary Clinton Took 6 Months to ‘Get Over’ Concussion, Bill Says of Timeline,” ABC News, 14 May 2014. Some argued the expanded coverage was due to political attacks on Clinton, who at that time was widely perceived to be the top contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.Dan Merica, “Clinton Campaign, Republicans Clash Over Benghazi Testimony,” CNN, 25 July 2015. Republican majority leader Kevin McCarthy later implied that the hearings were an attempt to make Clinton look untrustworthy.Alex Seitz-Wald, “Kevin McCarthy Credits Benghazi Committee for Clinton Damage,” MSNBC, 30 September 2015. Yet Clinton was again brought before the House Select Committee on Benghazi as late as October 2015 (Figure). This coverage should lead us to question whether the media gives us the information we need, or the information we want. Were people concerned about an attack on U.S. state officials working abroad, or did they just want to read rumors and attacks on Clinton? Did Republicans use the media’s tendency to pursue a target as a way to hurt Clinton in the polls? If the media gives us what we want, the answer seems to be that we wanted the media to act as both watchdog and paparazzi. How should the press have acted in this case if it were behaving only as the watchdog of democracy? MEDIA AND TRANSPARENCY The press has had some assistance in performing its muckraking duty. Laws that mandate federal and many state government proceedings and meeting documents be made available to the public are called sunshine laws. Proponents believe that open disagreements allow democracy to flourish and darkness allows corruption to occur. Opponents argue that some documents and policies are sensitive, and that the sunshine laws can inhibit policymaking. While some documents may be classified due to national or state security, governments are encouraged to limit the over-classification of documents. The primary legal example for sunshine laws is the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), passed in 1966 and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The act requires the executive branch of the U.S. government to provide information requested by citizens and was intended to increase openness in the executive branch, which had been criticized for hiding information. Citizens wishing to obtain information may request documents from the appropriate agencies, and agencies may charge fees if the collection and copying of the requested documentation requires time and labor.“The Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C.”, The United States Department of Justice, http://www.justice.gov/oip/blog/foia-update-freedom-information-act-5-usc-sect-552-amended-public-law-no-104-231-110-stat (September 7, 2015). FOIA also identifies data that does not need to be disclosed, such as human resource and medical records, national defense records, and material provided by confidential sources, to name a few.Ibid. Not all presidents have embraced this openness, however. President Ronald Reagan, in 1981, exempted the CIA and FBI from FOIA requests.Fellow. American Media History. Information requests have increased significantly in recent years, with U.S. agencies receiving over 700,000 requests in 2014, many directed to the Departments of State and Defense, thus creating a backlog.“What is FOIA?” The Department of Justice, http://www.foia.gov/index.html (September 8, 2015). Want to request a government document but unsure where to start? If the agency is a part of the U.S. government, the Freedom of Information Act portal will help you out. Few people file requests for information because most assume the media will find and report on important problems. And many people, including the press, assume the government, including the White House, sufficiently answers questions and provides information about government actions and policies. This expectation is not new. During the Civil War, journalists expected to have access to those representing the government, including the military. But William Tecumseh Sherman, a Union general, maintained distance between the press and his military. Following the publication of material Sherman believed to be protected by government censorship, a journalist was arrested and nearly put to death. The event spurred the creation of accreditation for journalists, which meant a journalist must be approved to cover the White House and the military before entering a controlled area. All accredited journalists also need approval by military field commanders before coming near a military zone.Fellow. American Media History. To cover war up close, more journalists are asking to travel with troops during armed conflict. In 2003, George W. Bush’s administration decided to allow more journalists in the field, hoping the concession would reduce friction between the military and the press. The U.S. Department of Defense placed fifty-eight journalists in a media boot camp to prepare them to be embedded with military regiments in Iraq. Although the increase in embedded journalists resulted in substantial in-depth coverage, many journalists felt their colleagues performed poorly, acting as celebrities rather than reporters.Ibid. The line between journalists’ expectation of openness and the government’s willingness to be open has continued to be a point of contention. Some administrations use the media to increase public support during times of war, as Woodrow Wilson did in World War I. Other presidents limit the media in order to limit dissent. In 1990, during the first Persian Gulf War, journalists received all publication material from the military in a prepackaged and staged manner. Access to Dover, the air force base that receives coffins of U.S. soldiers who die overseas, was closed. Journalists accused George H. W. Bush’s administration of limiting access and forcing them to produce bad pieces. The White House believed it controlled the message.Ibid. The ban was later lifted. In his 2008 presidential run, Barack Obama promised to run a transparent White House.Christopher Beam, “The TMI President,” Slate, 12 November 2008. Yet once in office, he found that transparency makes it difficult to get work done, and so he limited access and questions. In his first year in office, George W. Bush, who was criticized by Obama as having a closed government, gave 147 question-and-answer sessions with journalists, while Obama gave only 46. Even Helen Thomas, a long-time liberal White House press correspondent, said the Obama administration tried to control both information and journalists (Figure).Fellow. American Media History, 388. Because White House limitations on the press are not unusual, many journalists rely on confidential sources. In 1972, under the cloak of anonymity, the associate director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mark Felt, became a news source for Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, political reporters at the Washington Post. Felt provided information about a number of potential stories and was Woodward’s main source for information about President Richard Nixon’s involvement in a series of illegal activities, including the break-in at Democratic Party headquarters in Washington’s Watergate office complex. The information eventually led to Nixon’s resignation and the indictment of sixty-nine people in his administration. Felt was nicknamed “Deep Throat,” and the journalists kept his identity secret until 2005.Bob Woodward, “How Mark Felt Became ‘Deep Throat,’” The Washington Post, 20 June 2005. The practice of granting anonymity to sources is sometimes referred to as reporter’s privilege. Fueled by the First Amendment’s protection of the press, journalists have long offered to keep sources confidential to protect them from government prosecution. To illustrate, as part of the investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame as a CIA officer, New York Times reporter Judith Miller was jailed for refusing to reveal “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, as her confidential government source.Don Van Natta Jr., Adam Liptak, and Clifford J. Levy, “The Miller Case: A Notebook, a Cause, a Jail Cell and a Deal,” The New York Times, 16 October 2005. Reporter’s privilege has increased the number of instances in which whistleblowers and government employees have given journalists tips or documents to prompt investigation into questionable government practices. Edward Snowden’s 2013 leak to the press regarding the U.S. government’s massive internal surveillance and tapping program was one such case. In 1972, however, the Supreme Court determined that journalists are not exempt from subpoenas and that courts could force testimony to name a confidential source. Journalists who conceal a source and thereby protect him or her from being properly tried for a crime may spend time in jail for contempt of court. In the case of Branzburg v. Hayes (1972), three journalists were placed in contempt of court for refusing to divulge sources.Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665 (1972). The journalists appealed to the Supreme Court. In a 5–4 decision, the justices determined that freedom of the press did not extend to the confidentiality of sources. A concurring opinion did state that the case should be seen as a limited ruling, however. If the government needed to know a source due to a criminal trial, it could pursue the name of that source.Adam Liptak, “A Justice’s Scribbles on Journalists Rights,” New York Times, 7 October 2007. More recently, the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from New York Times journalist James Risen, who was subpoenaed and ordered to name a confidential source who had provided details about a U.S. government mission designed to harm Iran’s nuclear arms program. Risen was finally released from the subpoena, but the battle took seven years and the government eventually collected enough other evidence to make his testimony less crucial to the case.Matt Apuzzo, “Times Reporter Will Not Be Called to Testify in Leak,” New York Times, 12 January 2015. Overall, the transparency of the government is affected more by the executive currently holding office than by the First Amendment. Summary While freedom of the press is an important aspect of the Bill of Rights, this freedom is not absolute and may be regulated by the U.S. government. The press cannot libel or slander individuals or publish information about troop movements or undercover operatives. The Federal Communications Commission can enforce limits on television and radio programming by fining or revoking licenses. Broadcast material cannot be obscene, and indecent programs can be broadcast only between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. Stations must also give political candidates equal time for advertising and interviews. The media help governments maintain transparency. Sunshine laws require some governments and government agencies to make meeting documents public. Some presidents have encouraged journalists and allowed questioning while others have avoided the press. Lack of openness by government officials leads journalists to use confidential sources for important or classified information. The Supreme Court does not give the press complete freedom to keep sources confidential, though the government can choose whom it prosecutes for hiding sources. In which circumstance would the courts find libel? - A reporter uses a source that incorrectly states a celebrity is using drugs. - A columnist writes his opinion about whether an actor is hiding a drug problem. - A television reporter delivers a story about increased drug use at the local college. - A reporter writes that local college students are drug dealers but has no sources. Hint: A The Supreme Court determined that the right of the press to print classified material ________. - is obsolete, and the press may never print classified material - is partial, and the press may print classified material only if it does not compromise troops or covert operatives - is complete, and the press may print anything it likes - has not yet been defined The Federal Communications Commission oversees the programming of which entities? - television - television and radio - television, radio, and satellite - television, radio, satellite, and cable Hint: D Which of the following is a reasonable exception to the Freedom of Information Act? - medical records for government employees - budget for the Department of Labor - minutes from a president’s cabinet meeting - transcript of meetings between Department of State negotiators and Russian trade negotiators Why is it a potential problem that the equal-time rule does not apply to candidates’ supporters? Hint: Supporters can act as advertisements, raise donations, and ask for volunteers to help a campaign. Under what circumstances might a journalist be compelled to give up a source?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.726259	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15234/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15235/overview	The Impact of the Media Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Identify forms of bias that exist in news coverage and ways the media can present biased coverage - Explain how the media cover politics and issues - Evaluate the impact of the media on politics and policymaking In what ways can the media affect society and government? The media’s primary duty is to present us with information and alert us when important events occur. This information may affect what we think and the actions we take. The media can also place pressure on government to act by signaling a need for intervention or showing that citizens want change. For these reasons, the quality of the media’s coverage matters. MEDIA EFFECTS AND BIAS Concerns about the effects of media on consumers and the existence and extent of media bias go back to the 1920s. Reporter and commentator Walter Lippmann noted that citizens have limited personal experience with government and the world and posited that the media, through their stories, place ideas in citizens’ minds. These ideas become part of the citizens’ frame of reference and affect their decisions. Lippmann’s statements led to the hypodermic theory, which argues that information is “shot” into the receiver’s mind and readily accepted.Walter Lippmann. 1922. Public Opinion. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/Lippman/contents.html (August 29, 2015). Yet studies in the 1930s and 1940s found that information was transmitted in two steps, with one person reading the news and then sharing the information with friends. People listened to their friends, but not to those with whom they disagreed. The newspaper’s effect was thus diminished through conversation. This discovery led to the minimal effects theory, which argues the media have little effect on citizens and voters.Bernard Berelson, Paul Lazarsfeld, and William McPhee. 1954. Voting. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. By the 1970s, a new idea, the cultivation theory, hypothesized that media develop a person’s view of the world by presenting a perceived reality.George Gerbner, Larry Gross, Michael Morgan, Nancy Signorielli, and Marilyn Jackson-Beeck. 1979. “The Demonstration of Power: Violence Profile,” Journal of Communication 29, No.10: 177–196. What we see on a regular basis is our reality. Media can then set norms for readers and viewers by choosing what is covered or discussed. In the end, the consensus among observers is that media have some effect, even if the effect is subtle. This raises the question of how the media, even general newscasts, can affect citizens. One of the ways is through framing: the creation of a narrative, or context, for a news story. The news often uses frames to place a story in a context so the reader understands its importance or relevance. Yet, at the same time, framing affects the way the reader or viewer processes the story. Episodic framing occurs when a story focuses on isolated details or specifics rather than looking broadly at a whole issue. Thematic framing takes a broad look at an issue and skips numbers or details. It looks at how the issue has changed over a long period of time and what has led to it. For example, a large, urban city is dealing with the problem of an increasing homeless population, and the city has suggested ways to improve the situation. If journalists focus on the immediate statistics, report the current percentage of homeless people, interview a few, and look at the city’s current investment in a homeless shelter, the coverage is episodic. If they look at homelessness as a problem increasing everywhere, examine the reasons people become homeless, and discuss the trends in cities’ attempts to solve the problem, the coverage is thematic. Episodic frames may create more sympathy, while a thematic frame may leave the reader or viewer emotionally disconnected and less sympathetic (Figure). For a closer look at framing and how it influences voters, read “How the Media Frames Political Issues”, a review essay by Scott London. Framing can also affect the way we see race, socioeconomics, or other generalizations. For this reason, it is linked to priming: when media coverage predisposes the viewer or reader to a particular perspective on a subject or issue. If a newspaper article focuses on unemployment, struggling industries, and jobs moving overseas, the reader will have a negative opinion about the economy. If then asked whether he or she approves of the president’s job performance, the reader is primed to say no. Readers and viewers are able to fight priming effects if they are aware of them or have prior information about the subject. COVERAGE EFFECTS ON GOVERNANCE AND CAMPAIGNS When it is spotty, the media’s coverage of campaigns and government can sometimes affect the way government operates and the success of candidates. In 1972, for instance, the McGovern-Fraser reforms created a voter-controlled primary system, so party leaders no longer pick the presidential candidates. Now the media are seen as kingmakers and play a strong role in influencing who will become the Democratic and Republican nominees in presidential elections. They can discuss the candidates’ messages, vet their credentials, carry sound bites of their speeches, and conduct interviews. The candidates with the most media coverage build momentum and do well in the first few primaries and caucuses. This, in turn, leads to more media coverage, more momentum, and eventually a winning candidate. Thus, candidates need the media. In the 1980s, campaigns learned that tight control on candidate information created more favorable media coverage. In the presidential election of 1984, candidates Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush began using an issue-of-the-day strategy, providing quotes and material on only one topic each day. This strategy limited what journalists could cover because they had only limited quotes and sound bites to use in their reports. In 1992, both Bush’s and Bill Clinton’s campaigns maintained their carefully drawn candidate images by also limiting photographers and television journalists to photo opportunities at rallies and campaign venues. The constant control of the media became known as the “bubble,” and journalists were less effective when they were in the campaign’s bubble. Reporters complained this coverage was campaign advertising rather than journalism, and a new model emerged with the 1996 election.Elizabeth A. Skewes. 2007. Message Control: How News Is Made on the Presidential Campaign Trail. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 79. Campaign coverage now focuses on the spectacle of the season, rather than providing information about the candidates. Colorful personalities, strange comments, lapse of memories, and embarrassing revelations are more likely to get air time than the candidates’ issue positions. Donald Trump may be the best example of shallower press coverage of a presidential election. Some argue that newspapers and news programs are limiting the space they allot to discussion of the campaigns.Stephen Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter. 2012. “Authors’ Response: Improving News Coverage in the 2012 Presidential Campaign and Beyond,” Politics & Policy 40, No. 4: 547–556. Others argue that citizens want to see updates on the race and electoral drama, not boring issue positions or substantive reporting.“Early Media Coverage Focuses on Horse Race,” PBS News Hour, 12 June 2007. It may also be that journalists have tired of the information games played by politicians and have taken back control of the news cycles.Stephen Ansolabehere, Roy Behr, and Shanto Iyengar. 1992. The Media Game: American Politics in the Television Age. New York: Macmillan. All these factors have likely led to the shallow press coverage we see today, sometimes dubbed pack journalism because journalists follow one another rather than digging for their own stories. Television news discusses the strategies and blunders of the election, with colorful examples. Newspapers focus on polls. In an analysis of the 2012 election, Pew Research found that 64 percent of stories and coverage focused on campaign strategy. Only 9 percent covered domestic issue positions; 6 percent covered the candidates’ public records; and, 1 percent covered their foreign policy positions.“Frames of Campaign Coverage,” Pew Research Center, 23 April 2012, http://www.journalism.org/2012/04/23/frames-campaign-coverage. For better or worse, coverage of the candidates’ statements get less air time on radio and television, and sound bites, or clips, of their speeches have become even shorter. In 1968, the average sound bite from Richard Nixon was 42.3 seconds, while a recent study of television coverage found that sound bites had decreased to only eight seconds in the 2004 election.Kiku Adatto. May 28, 1990. “The Incredible Shrinking Sound Bite,” New Republic 202, No. 22: 20–23. The clips chosen to air were attacks on opponents 40 percent of the time. Only 30 percent contained information about the candidate’s issues or events. The study also found the news showed images of the candidates, but for an average of only twenty-five seconds while the newscaster discussed the stories.Erik Bucy and Maria Elizabeth Grabe. 2007. “Taking Television Seriously: A Sound and Image Bite Analysis of Presidential Campaign Coverage, 1992–2004,” Journal of Communication 57, No. 4: 652–675. This study supports the argument that shrinking sound bites are a way for journalists to control the story and add their own analysis rather than just report on it.Craig Fehrman, “The Incredible Shrinking Sound Bite,” Boston Globe, 2 January 2011, http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/01/02/the_incredible_shrinking_sound_bite/. Candidates are given a few minutes to try to argue their side of an issue, but some say television focuses on the argument rather than on information. In 2004, Jon Stewart of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show began attacking the CNN program Crossfire for being theater, saying the hosts engaged in reactionary and partisan arguing rather than true debating.“Crossfire: Jon Stewart’s America,” CNN, 15 October 2004, http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/15/cf.01.html. Some of Stewart’s criticisms resonated, even with host Paul Begala, and Crossfire was later pulled from the air.Paul Begala, “Begala: The day Jon Stewart blew up my show,” CNN, 12 February 2015. The media’s discussion of campaigns has also grown negative. Although biased campaign coverage dates back to the period of the partisan press, the increase in the number of cable news stations has made the problem more visible. Stations like FOX News and MSNBC are overt in their use of bias in framing stories. During the 2012 campaign, seventy-one of seventy-four MSNBC stories about Mitt Romney were highly negative, while FOX News’ coverage of Obama had forty-six out of fifty-two stories with negative information (Figure). The major networks—ABC, CBS, and NBC—were somewhat more balanced, yet the overall coverage of both candidates tended to be negative.Pew Research Center: Journalism & Media Staff, “Coverage of the Candidates by Media Sector and Cable Outlet,” 1 November 2012. Due in part to the lack of substantive media coverage, campaigns increasingly use social media to relay their message. Candidates can create their own sites and pages and try to spread news through supporters to the undecided. In 2012, both Romney and Obama maintained Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts to provide information to voters. Yet, on social media, candidates still need to combat negativity, from both the opposition and supporters. Stories about Romney that appeared in the mainstream media were negative 38 percent of the time, while his coverage in Facebook news was negative 62 percent of the time and 58 percent of the time on Twitter.“Winning the Media Campaign 2012,” Pew Research Center, 2 November 2012. In the 2016 election cycle, both party nominees heavily used social media. Donald Trump’s scores of tweets became very prominent as he tweeted during Clinton’s convention acceptance speech and sometimes at all hours of the night. Clinton also used Twitter, but less so than Trump, though arguably staying better on message. Trump tended to rail on about topics and at one point was even drawn into a Twitter battle with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Hillary Clinton also used Facebook for longer messages and imaging. Once candidates are in office, the chore of governing begins, with the added weight of media attention. Historically, if presidents were unhappy with their press coverage, they used personal and professional means to change its tone. Franklin D. Roosevelt, for example, was able to keep journalists from printing stories through gentleman’s agreements, loyalty, and the provision of additional information, sometimes off the record. The journalists then wrote positive stories, hoping to keep the president as a source. John F. Kennedy hosted press conferences twice a month and opened the floor for questions from journalists, in an effort to keep press coverage positive.Fred Greenstein. 2009. The Presidential Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. When presidents and other members of the White House are not forthcoming with information, journalists must press for answers. Dan Rather, a journalist for CBS, regularly sparred with presidents in an effort to get information. When Rather interviewed Richard Nixon about Vietnam and Watergate, Nixon was hostile and uncomfortable.“Dan Rather versus Richard Nixon, 1974,” YouTube video, :46, from the National Association of Broadcasters annual convention in Houston on March 19,1974, posted by “thecelebratedmisterk,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGBLAKq8xwc (November 30, 2015); “‘A Conversation With the President,’ Interview With Dan Rather of the Columbia Broadcasting System,” The American Presidency Project, 2 January 1972, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3351. In a 1988 interview with then-vice president George H. W. Bush, Bush accused Rather of being argumentative about the possible cover-up of a secret arms sale with Iran: Rather: I don’t want to be argumentative, Mr. Vice President. Bush: You do, Dan. Rather: No—no, sir, I don’t. Bush: This is not a great night, because I want to talk about why I want to be president, why those 41 percent of the people are supporting me. And I don’t think it’s fair to judge my whole career by a rehash of Iran. How would you like it if I judged your career by those seven minutes when you walked off the set in New York? Wolf Blitzer, “Dan Rather’s Stand,” CNN, 10 September 2004. Cabinet secretaries and other appointees also talk with the press, sometimes making for conflicting messages. The creation of the position of press secretary and the White House Office of Communications both stemmed from the need to send a cohesive message from the executive branch. Currently, the White House controls the information coming from the executive branch through the Office of Communications and decides who will meet with the press and what information will be given. But stories about the president often examine personality, or the president’s ability to lead the country, deal with Congress, or respond to national and international events. They are less likely to cover the president’s policies or agendas without a lot of effort on the president’s behalf.Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha and Jeffrey Peake. 2011. Breaking Through the Noise: Presidential Leadership, Public Opinion, and the News Media. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. When Obama first entered office in 2009, journalists focused on his battles with Congress, critiquing his leadership style and inability to work with Representative Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the House. To gain attention for his policies, specifically the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), Obama began traveling the United States to draw the media away from Congress and encourage discussion of his economic stimulus package. Once the ARRA had been passed, Obama began travelling again, speaking locally about why the country needed the Affordable Care Act and guiding media coverage to promote support for the act.Ibid. Congressional representatives have a harder time attracting media attention for their policies. House and Senate members who use the media well, either to help their party or to show expertise in an area, may increase their power within Congress, which helps them bargain for fellow legislators’ votes. Senators and high-ranking House members may also be invited to appear on cable news programs as guests, where they may gain some media support for their policies. Yet, overall, because there are so many members of Congress, and therefore so many agendas, it is harder for individual representatives to draw media coverage.Gary Lee Malecha and Daniel J. Reagan. 2011. The Public Congress: Congressional Deliberation in a New Media Age. New York: Routledge. It is less clear, however, whether media coverage of an issue leads Congress to make policy, or whether congressional policymaking leads the media to cover policy. In the 1970s, Congress investigated ways to stem the number of drug-induced deaths and crimes. As congressional meetings dramatically increased, the press was slow to cover the topic. The number of hearings was at its highest from 1970 to 1982, yet media coverage did not rise to the same level until 1984.Frank R. Baumgartner, Bryan D. Jones, and Beth L. Leech. 1997. “Media Attention and Congressional Agendas,” In Do The Media Govern? Politicians, Voters, and Reporters in America, eds. Shanto Iyengar and Richard Reeves. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Subsequent hearings and coverage led to national policies like DARE and First Lady Nancy Reagan’s “Just Say No” campaign (Figure). Later studies of the media’s effect on both the president and Congress report that the media has a stronger agenda-setting effect on the president than on Congress. What the media choose to cover affects what the president thinks is important to voters, and these issues were often of national importance. The media’s effect on Congress was limited, however, and mostly extended to local issues like education or child and elder abuse.George Edwards and Dan Wood. 1999. “Who Influences Whom? The President, Congress, and the Media,” American Political Science Review 93, No 2: 327–344; Yue Tan and David Weaver. 2007. “Agenda-Setting Effects Among the Media, the Public, and Congress, 1946–2004,” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 84, No. 4: 729–745. If the media are discussing a topic, chances are a member of Congress has already submitted a relevant bill, and it is waiting in committee. COVERAGE EFFECTS ON SOCIETY The media choose what they want to discuss. This agenda setting creates a reality for voters and politicians that affects the way people think, act, and vote. Even if the crime rate is going down, for instance, citizens accustomed to reading stories about assault and other offenses still perceive crime to be an issue.Ally Fogg, “Crime Is Falling. Now Let’s Reduce Fear of Crime,” Guardian, 24 April 24 2013. Studies have also found that the media’s portrayal of race is flawed, especially in coverage of crime and poverty. One study revealed that local news shows were more likely to show pictures of criminals when they were African American, so they overrepresented blacks as perpetrators and whites as victims.Travis L. Dixon. 2008. “Crime News and Racialized Beliefs: Understanding the Relationship between Local News Viewing and Perceptions of African Americans and Crime,” Journal of Communication 58, No. 1: 106–125. A second study found a similar pattern in which Latinos were underrepresented as victims of crime and as police officers, while whites were overrepresented as both.Travis Dixon. 2015. “Good Guys Are Still Always in White? Positive Change and Continued Misrepresentation of Race and Crime on Local Television News,” Communication Research, doi:10.1177/0093650215579223. Voters were thus more likely to assume that most criminals are black and most victims and police officers are white, even though the numbers do not support those assumptions. Network news similarly misrepresents the victims of poverty by using more images of blacks than whites in its segments. Viewers in a study were left believing African Americans were the majority of the unemployed and poor, rather than seeing the problem as one faced by many races.Travis L. Dixon. 2008. “Network News and Racial Beliefs: Exploring the Connection between National Television News Exposure and Stereotypical Perceptions of African Americans,” Journal of Communication 58, No. 2: 321–337. The misrepresentation of race is not limited to news coverage, however. A study of images printed in national magazines, like Time and Newsweek, found they also misrepresented race and poverty. The magazines were more likely to show images of young African Americans when discussing poverty and excluded the elderly and the young, as well as whites and Latinos, which is the true picture of poverty.Martin Gilens. 1996. “Race and Poverty in America: Public Misperceptions and the American News Media,” Public Opinion Quarterly 60, No. 4: 515–541. Racial framing, even if unintentional, affects perceptions and policies. If viewers are continually presented with images of African Americans as criminals, there is an increased chance they will perceive members of this group as violent or aggressive.Dixon. “Crime News and Racialized Beliefs.” The perception that most recipients of welfare are working-age African Americans may have led some citizens to vote for candidates who promised to reduce welfare benefits.Gilens. “Race and Poverty in America.” When survey respondents were shown a story of a white unemployed individual, 71 percent listed unemployment as one of the top three problems facing the United States, while only 53 percent did so if the story was about an unemployed African American.Shanto Iyengar and Donald R. Kinder. 1987. News That Matters. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Word choice may also have a priming effect. News organizations like the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press no longer use the phrase “illegal immigrant” to describe undocumented residents. This may be due to the desire to create a “sympathetic” frame for the immigration situation rather than a “threat” frame.Daniel C. Hallin. 2015. “The Dynamics of Immigration Coverage in Comparative Perspective,” American Behavioral Scientist 59, No. 7: 876–885. Media coverage of women has been similarly biased. Most journalists in the early 1900s were male, and women’s issues were not part of the newsroom discussion. As journalist Kay Mills put it, the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s was about raising awareness of the problems of equality, but writing about rallies “was like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall.”Kay Mills. 1996. “What Difference Do Women Journalists Make?” In Women, the Media and Politics, ed. Pippa Norris. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 43. Most politicians, business leaders, and other authority figures were male, and editors’ reactions to the stories were lukewarm. The lack of women in the newsroom, politics, and corporate leadership encouraged silence.Kim Fridkin Kahn and Edie N. Goldenberg. 1997. “The Media: Obstacle or Ally of Feminists?” In Do the Media Govern? eds. Shanto Iyengar and Richard Reeves. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. In 1976, journalist Barbara Walters became the first female coanchor on a network news show, The ABC Evening News. She was met with great hostility from her coanchor Harry Reasoner and received critical coverage from the press.Barbara Walters, “Ms. Walters Reflects,” Vanity Fair, 31 May 2008, On newspaper staffs, women reported having to fight for assignments to well-published beats, or to be assigned areas or topics, such as the economy or politics, that were normally reserved for male journalists. Once female journalists held these assignments, they feared writing about women’s issues. Would it make them appear weak? Would they be taken from their coveted beats?Mills. “What Difference Do Women Journalists Make?” This apprehension allowed poor coverage of women and the women’s movement to continue until women were better represented as journalists and as editors. Strength of numbers allowed them to be confident when covering issues like health care, childcare, and education.Mills. “What Difference Do Women Journalists Make?” The Center for American Women in Politics researches the treatment women receive from both government and the media, and they share the data with the public. The media’s historically uneven coverage of women continues in its treatment of female candidates. Early coverage was sparse. The stories that did appear often discussed the candidate’s viability, or ability to win, rather than her stand on the issues.Kahn and Goldenberg, “The Media: Obstacle or Ally of Feminists?” Women were seen as a novelty rather than as serious contenders who needed to be vetted and discussed. Modern media coverage has changed slightly. One study found that female candidates receive more favorable coverage than in prior generations, especially if they are incumbents.Kim Fridkin Kahn. 1994. “Does Gender Make a Difference? An Experimental Examination of Sex Stereotypes and Press Patterns in Statewide Campaigns,” American Journal of Political Science 38, No. 1: 162–195. Yet a different study found that while there was increased coverage for female candidates, it was often negative.John David Rausch, Mark Rozell, and Harry L. Wilson. 1999. “When Women Lose: A Study of Media Coverage of Two Gubernatorial Campaigns,” Women & Politics 20, No. 4: 1–22. And it did not include Latina candidates.Sarah Allen Gershon. 2013. “Media Coverage of Minority Congresswomen and Voter Evaluations: Evidence from an Online Experimental Study,” Political Research Quarterly 66, No. 3: 702–714. Without coverage, they are less likely to win. The historically negative media coverage of female candidates has had another concrete effect: Women are less likely than men to run for office. One common reason is the effect negative media coverage has on families.Jennifer Lawless and Richard Logan Fox. 2005. It Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Many women do not wish to expose their children or spouses to criticism.Brittany L. Stalsburg, “Running with Strollers: The Impact of Family Life on Political Ambition,” Eagleton Institute of Politics, Spring 2012, Unpublished Paper, http://www.eagleton.rutgers.edu/research/documents/Stalsburg-FamilyLife-Political-Ambition.pdf (August 28, 2015). In 2008, the nomination of Sarah Palin as Republican candidate John McCain’s running mate validated this concern (Figure). Some articles focused on her qualifications to be a potential future president or her record on the issues. But others questioned whether she had the right to run for office, given she had young children, one of whom has developmental disabilities.Christina Walker, “Is Sarah Palin Being Held to an Unfair Standard?” CNN, 8 September 2008. Her daughter, Bristol, was criticized for becoming pregnant while unmarried.Dana Bash, “Palin’s Teen Daughter is Pregnant,” CNN, 1 September 2008. Her husband was called cheap for failing to buy her a high-priced wedding ring.Jimmy Orr, “Palin Wardrobe Controversy Heightens - Todd is a Cheapo!” Christian Science Monitor, 26 October 2008. Even when candidates ask that children and families be off-limits, the press rarely honors the requests. So women with young children may wait until their children are grown before running for office, if they choose to run at all. Summary Writers began to formally study media bias in the 1920s. Initially, the press was seen as being able to place information in our minds, but later research found that the media have a minimal effect on recipients. A more recent theory is that the media cultivates our reality by presenting information that creates our perceptions of the world. The media does have the ability to frame what it presents, and it can also prime citizens to think a particular way, which changes how they react to new information. The media’s coverage of electoral candidates has increasingly become analysis rather than reporting. Sound bites from candidates are shorter. The press now provides horse-race coverage on the campaigns rather than in-depth coverage on candidates and their positions, forcing voters to look for other sources, like social media, for information. Current coverage of the government focuses more on what the president does than on presidential policies. Congress, on the other hand, is rarely affected by the media. Most topics discussed by the media are already being discussed by members of Congress or its committees. The media frame discussions and choose pictures, information, and video to support stories, which may affect the way people vote on social policy and in elections. Which of the following is an example of episodic framing? - a story on drug abuse that interviews addicts and discusses reasons for addiction and government responses to help addicts - a story on how drug abuse policy has changed since 1984 - a story on candidates’ answers to a drug question in a debate - a story detailing arguments against needle exchange programs Hint: A According to research, why might a woman decide not to run for office? - She feels the work is too hard. - She fears her positions will be covered too closely by the press. - She fears the media will criticize her family. - She fears the campaign will be too expensive. Media coverage of a race tends to ________. - accurately portray all races equally - accurately portray whites and blacks as victims - overrepresent whites and the elderly as poor - overrepresent African Americans as poor Hint: D How might framing or priming affect the way a reader or viewer thinks about an issue? Why would inaccurate coverage of race and gender affect policy or elections? Hint: If we are presented with a reality, it affects the way we vote and the policies we support. In what ways can the media change the way a citizen thinks about government? In what ways do the media protect people from a tyrannical government? Should all activities of the government be open to media coverage? Why or why not? In what circumstances do you think it would be appropriate for the government to operate without transparency? Have changes in media formats created a more accurate, less biased media? Why or why not? How does citizen journalism use social media to increase coverage of world events? Baum, Matthew A. 2003. Soft News Goes to War: Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy in the New Media Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Baum, Matthew A., and Philip B. K. Potter. 2015. War and Democratic Constraint: How the Public Influences Foreign Policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Cohen, Jeffrey. 2008. The Presidency in the Era of 24-Hour News. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Eshbaugh-Soha, Matthew, and Jeffrey Peake. 2011. Breaking through the Noise: Presidential Leadership, Public Opinion, and the News. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Fellow, Anthony R. 2013. American Media History. Boston: Cengage. Graber, Doris A., and Johanna L. Dunaway. 2014. Mass Media and American Politics. Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press. PIyengar, Shanto. 2016. Media Politics: A Citizen’s Guide, 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton. Iyengar, Shanto, and Donald R. Kinder. 2010. News That Matters: Television and American Opinion. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press. Lawless, Jennifer L., and Richard L. Fox. 2010. It Still Takes A Candidate: Why Women Don’t Run for Office. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Malecha, Gary, and Daniel J. Reagan. 2011. The Public Congress: Congressional Deliberation in a New Media Age. New York: Routledge. Media Matters (http://mediamatters.org/). Media Research Center (http://www.mrc.org/). Patterson, Thomas. 2013. Informing the News: The Need for Knowledge-Based Journalism. New York: Vintage. Politifact (http://www.politifact.com/). Rozell, Mark, and Jeremy Mayer. 2008. Media Power, Media Politics. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. West, Darrell M. 2013. Air Wars. Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.768192	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15235/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15236/overview	Introduction In 2012, Barack Obama accepted his second nomination to lead the Democratic Party into the presidential election (Figure). During his first term, he had been attacked by pundits for his failure to convince congressional Republicans to work with him. Despite that, he was wildly popular in his own party, and voters reelected him by a comfortable margin. His second term seemed to go no better, however, with disagreements between the parties resulting in government shutdowns and the threat of credit defaults. Yet just a few decades ago, then-president Dwight D. Eisenhower was criticized for failing to create a clear vision for his Republican Party, and Congress was lampooned for what was deemed a lack of real conflict over important issues. Political parties, it seems, can never get it right—they are either too polarizing or too noncommittal. While people love to criticize political parties, the reality is that the modern political system could not exist without them. This chapter will explore why the party system may be the most important component of any true democracy. What are political parties? Why do they form, and why has the United States typically had only two? Why have political parties become so highly structured? Finally, why does it seem that parties today are more polarized than they have been in the past?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.784896	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15236/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15237/overview	What Are Parties and How Did They Form? Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Describe political parties and what they do - Differentiate political parties from interest groups - Explain how U.S. political parties formed At some point, most of us have found ourselves part of a group trying to solve a problem, like picking a restaurant or movie to attend, or completing a big project at school or work. Members of the group probably had various opinions about what should be done. Some may have even refused to help make the decision or to follow it once it had been made. Still others may have been willing to follow along but were less interested in contributing to a workable solution. Because of this disagreement, at some point, someone in the group had to find a way to make a decision, negotiate a compromise, and ultimately do the work needed for the group to accomplish its goals. This kind of collective action problem is very common in societies, as groups and entire societies try to solve problems or distribute scarce resources. In modern U.S. politics, such problems are usually solved by two important types of organizations: interest groups and political parties. There are many interest groups, all with opinions about what should be done and a desire to influence policy. Because they are usually not officially affiliated with any political party, they generally have no trouble working with either of the major parties. But at some point, a society must find a way of taking all these opinions and turning them into solutions to real problems. That is where political parties come in. Essentially, political parties are groups of people with similar interests who work together to create and implement policies. They do this by gaining control over the government by winning elections. Party platforms guide members of Congress in drafting legislation. Parties guide proposed laws through Congress and inform party members how they should vote on important issues. Political parties also nominate candidates to run for state government, Congress, and the presidency. Finally, they coordinate political campaigns and mobilize voters. POLITICAL PARTIES AS UNIQUE ORGANIZATIONS In Federalist No. 10, written in the late eighteenth century, James Madison noted that the formation of self-interested groups, which he called factions, was inevitable in any society, as individuals started to work together to protect themselves from the government. Interest groups and political parties are two of the most easily identified forms of factions in the United States. These groups are similar in that they are both mediating institutions responsible for communicating public preferences to the government. They are not themselves government institutions in a formal sense. Neither is directly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution nor do they have any real, legal authority to influence policy. But whereas interest groups often work indirectly to influence our leaders, political parties are organizations that try to directly influence public policy through its members who seek to win and hold public office. Parties accomplish this by identifying and aligning sets of issues that are important to voters in the hopes of gaining support during elections; their positions on these critical issues are often presented in documents known as a party platform (Figure), which is adopted at each party’s presidential nominating convention every four years. If successful, a party can create a large enough electoral coalition to gain control of the government. Once in power, the party is then able to deliver, to its voters and elites, the policy preferences they choose by electing its partisans to the government. In this respect, parties provide choices to the electorate, something they are doing that is in such sharp contrast to their opposition. You can read the full platform of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party at their respective websites. Winning elections and implementing policy would be hard enough in simple political systems, but in a country as complex as the United States, political parties must take on great responsibilities to win elections and coordinate behavior across the many local, state, and national governing bodies. Indeed, political differences between states and local areas can contribute much complexity. If a party stakes out issue positions on which few people agree and therefore builds too narrow a coalition of voter support, that party may find itself marginalized. But if the party takes too broad a position on issues, it might find itself in a situation where the members of the party disagree with one another, making it difficult to pass legislation, even if the party can secure victory. It should come as no surprise that the story of U.S. political parties largely mirrors the story of the United States itself. The United States has seen sweeping changes to its size, its relative power, and its social and demographic composition. These changes have been mirrored by the political parties as they have sought to shift their coalitions to establish and maintain power across the nation and as party leadership has changed. As you will learn later, this also means that the structure and behavior of modern parties largely parallel the social, demographic, and geographic divisions within the United States today. To understand how this has happened, we look at the origins of the U.S. party system. HOW POLITICAL PARTIES FORMED National political parties as we understand them today did not really exist in the United States during the early years of the republic. Most politics during the time of the nation’s founding were local in nature and based on elite politics, limited suffrage (or the ability to vote in elections), and property ownership. Residents of the various colonies, and later of the various states, were far more interested in events in their state legislatures than in those occurring at the national level or later in the nation’s capital. To the extent that national issues did exist, they were largely limited to collective security efforts to deal with external rivals, such as the British or the French, and with perceived internal threats, such as conflicts with Native Americans. Soon after the United States emerged from the Revolutionary War, however, a rift began to emerge between two groups that had very different views about the future direction of U.S. politics. Thus, from the very beginning of its history, the United States has had a system of government dominated by two different philosophies. Federalists, who were largely responsible for drafting and ratifying the U.S. Constitution, generally favored the idea of a stronger, more centralized republic that had greater control over regulating the economy.Larry Sabato and Howard R. Ernst. 2007. Encyclopedia of American Political Parties and Elections. New York: Checkmark Books, 151. Anti-Federalists preferred a more confederate system built on state equality and autonomy.Saul Cornell. 2016. The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America. Chapel Hill, NC: UNC Press, 11. The Federalist faction, led by Alexander Hamilton, largely dominated the government in the years immediately after the Constitution was ratified. Included in the Federalists was President George Washington, who was initially against the existence of parties in the United States. When Washington decided to exit politics and leave office, he warned of the potential negative effects of parties in his farewell address to the nation, including their potentially divisive nature and the fact that they might not always focus on the common good but rather on partisan ends. However, members of each faction quickly realized that they had a vested interest not only in nominating and electing a president who shared their views, but also in winning other elections. Two loosely affiliated party coalitions, known as the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans, soon emerged. The Federalists succeeded in electing their first leader, John Adams, to the presidency in 1796, only to see the Democratic-Republicans gain victory under Thomas Jefferson four years later in 1800. The “Revolution of 1800”: Uniting the Executive Branch under One Party When the U.S. Constitution was drafted, its authors were certainly aware that political parties existed in other countries (like Great Britain), but they hoped to avoid them in the United States. They felt the importance of states in the U.S. federal structure would make it difficult for national parties to form. They also hoped that having a college of electors vote for the executive branch, with the top two vote-getters becoming president and vice president, would discourage the formation of parties. Their system worked for the first two presidential elections, when essentially all the electors voted for George Washington to serve as president. But by 1796, the Federalist and Anti-Federalist camps had organized into electoral coalitions. The Anti-Federalists joined with many others active in the process to become known as the Democratic-Republicans. The Federalist John Adams won the Electoral College vote, but his authority was undermined when the vice presidency went to Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson, who finished second. Four years later, the Democratic-Republicans managed to avoid this outcome by coordinating the electors to vote for their top two candidates. But when the vote ended in a tie, it was ultimately left to Congress to decide who would be the third president of the United States (Figure). In an effort to prevent a similar outcome in the future, Congress and the states voted to ratify the Twelfth Amendment, which went into effect in 1804. This amendment changed the rules so that the president and vice president would be selected through separate elections within the Electoral College, and it altered the method that Congress used to fill the offices in the event that no candidate won a majority. The amendment essentially endorsed the new party system and helped prevent future controversies. It also served as an early effort by the two parties to collude to make it harder for an outsider to win the presidency. Does the process of selecting the executive branch need to be reformed so that the people elect the president and vice president directly, rather than through the Electoral College? Should the people vote separately on each office rather than voting for both at the same time? Explain your reasoning. Growing regional tensions eroded the Federalist Party’s ability to coordinate elites, and it eventually collapsed following its opposition to the War of 1812.James H. Ellis. 2009. A Ruinous and Unhappy War: New England and the War of 1812. New York: Algora Publishing, 80. The Democratic-Republican Party, on the other hand, eventually divided over whether national resources should be focused on economic and mercantile development, such as tariffs on imported goods and government funding of internal improvements like roads and canals, or on promoting populist issues that would help the “common man,” such as reducing or eliminating state property requirements that had prevented many men from voting.Alexander Keyssar. 2009. The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States. New York: Basic Books. In the election of 1824, numerous candidates contended for the presidency, all members of the Democratic-Republican Party. Andrew Jackson won more popular votes and more votes in the Electoral College than any other candidate. However, because he did not win the majority (more than half) of the available electoral votes, the election was decided by the House of Representatives, as required by the Twelfth Amendment. The Twelfth Amendment limited the House’s choice to the three candidates with the greatest number of electoral votes. Thus, Andrew Jackson, with 99 electoral votes, found himself in competition with only John Quincy Adams, the second place finisher with 84 electoral votes, and William H. Crawford, who had come in third with 41. The fourth-place finisher, Henry Clay, who was no longer in contention, had won 37 electoral votes. Clay strongly disliked Jackson, and his ideas on government support for tariffs and internal improvements were similar to those of Adams. Clay thus gave his support to Adams, who was chosen on the first ballot. Jackson considered the actions of Clay and Adams, the son of the Federalist president John Adams, to be an unjust triumph of supporters of the elite and referred to it as “the corrupt bargain.”R. R. Stenberg, “Jackson, Buchanan, and the “Corrupt Bargain” Calumny,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 58, no. 1 (1934): 61–85. This marked the beginning of what historians call the Second Party System (the first parties had been the Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans), with the splitting of the Democratic-Republicans and the formation of two new political parties. One half, called simply the Democratic Party, was the party of Jackson; it continued to advocate for the common people by championing westward expansion and opposing a national bank. The branch of the Democratic-Republicans that believed that the national government should encourage economic (primarily industrial) development was briefly known as the National Republicans and later became the Whig Party2009. “Democratic-Republican Party,” In UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History, eds. Sonia Benson, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. Detroit: UXL, 435–436; “Jacksonian Democracy and Modern America,” http://www.ushistory.org/us/23f.asp (March 6, 2016).. In the election of 1828, Democrat Andrew Jackson was triumphant. Three times as many people voted in 1828 as had in 1824, and most cast their ballots for him.Virginia Historical Society. “Elections from 1789–1828.” http://www.vahistorical.org/collections-and-resources/virginia-history-explorer/getting-message-out-presidential-campaign-0 (March 11, 2016). The formation of the Democratic Party marked an important shift in U.S. politics. Rather than being built largely to coordinate elite behavior, the Democratic Party worked to organize the electorate by taking advantage of state-level laws that had extended suffrage from male property owners to nearly all white men.William G. Shade. 1983. “The Second Party System.” In Evolution of American Electoral Systems, eds. Paul Kleppner, et al. Westport, CT: Greenwood Pres, 77–111. This change marked the birth of what is often considered the first modern political party in any democracy in the world.Jules Witcover. 2003. Party of the People: A History of the Democrats. New York: Random House, 3. It also dramatically changed the way party politics was, and still is, conducted. For one thing, this new party organization was built to include structures that focused on organizing and mobilizing voters for elections at all levels of government. The party also perfected an existing spoils system, in which support for the party during elections was rewarded with jobs in the government bureaucracy after victory.Daniel Walker Howe. 2007. What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815–1848. New York: Oxford University Press, 330-34. Many of these positions were given to party bosses and their friends. These men were the leaders of political machines, organizations that secured votes for the party’s candidates or supported the party in other ways. Perhaps more importantly, this election-focused organization also sought to maintain power by creating a broader coalition and thereby expanding the range of issues upon which the party was constructed.Sean Wilentz. 2006. The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. New York: Norton. Each of the two main U.S. political parties today—the Democrats and the Republicans—maintains an extensive website with links to its affiliated statewide organizations, which in turn often maintain links to the party’s country organizations. By comparison, here are websites for the Green Party and the Libertarian Party that are two other parties in the United States today. The Democratic Party emphasized personal politics, which focused on building direct relationships with voters rather than on promoting specific issues. This party dominated national politics from Andrew Jackson’s presidential victory in 1828 until the mid-1850s, when regional tensions began to threaten the nation’s very existence. The growing power of industrialists, who preferred greater national authority, combined with increasing tensions between the northern and southern states over slavery, led to the rise of the Republican Party and its leader Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1860, while the Democratic Party dominated in the South. Like the Democrats, the Republicans also began to utilize a mass approach to party design and organization. Their opposition to the expansion of slavery, and their role in helping to stabilize the Union during Reconstruction, made them the dominant player in national politics for the next several decades.Calvin Jillson. 1994. “Patterns and Periodicity.” In The Dynamics of American Politics: Approaches and Interpretations, eds. Lawrence C. Dodd and Calvin C. Jillson. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 38–41. The Democratic and Republican parties have remained the two dominant players in the U.S. party system since the Civil War (1861–1865). That does not mean, however, that the system has been stagnant. Every political actor and every citizen has the ability to determine for him- or herself whether one of the two parties meets his or her needs and provides an appealing set of policy options, or whether another option is preferable. At various points in the past 170 years, elites and voters have sought to create alternatives to the existing party system. Political parties that are formed as alternatives to the Republican and Democratic parties are known as third parties, or minor parties (Figure). In 1892, a third party known as the Populist Party formed in reaction to what its constituents perceived as the domination of U.S. society by big business and a decline in the power of farmers and rural communities. The Populist Party called for the regulation of railroads, an income tax, and the popular election of U.S. senators, who at this time were chosen by state legislatures and not by ordinary voters.Norman Pollack. 1976. The Populist Response to Industrial America: Midwestern Populist Thought. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 11–12. The party’s candidate in the 1892 elections, James B. Weaver, did not perform as well as the two main party candidates, and, in the presidential election of 1896, the Populists supported the Democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan. Bryan lost, and the Populists once again nominated their own presidential candidates in 1900, 1904, and 1908. The party disappeared from the national scene after 1908, but its ideas were similar to those of the Progressive Party, a new political party created in 1912. In 1912, former Republican president Theodore Roosevelt attempted to form a third party, known as the Progressive Party, as an alternative to the more business-minded Republicans. The Progressives sought to correct the many problems that had arisen as the United States transformed itself from a rural, agricultural nation into an increasingly urbanized, industrialized country dominated by big business interests. Among the reforms that the Progressive Party called for in its 1912 platform were women’s suffrage, an eight-hour workday, and workers’ compensation. The party also favored some of the same reforms as the Populist Party, such as the direct election of U.S. senators and an income tax, although Populists tended to be farmers while the Progressives were from the middle class. In general, Progressives sought to make government more responsive to the will of the people and to end political corruption in government. They wished to break the power of party bosses and political machines, and called upon states to pass laws allowing voters to vote directly on proposed legislation, propose new laws, and recall from office incompetent or corrupt elected officials. The Progressive Party largely disappeared after 1916, and most members returned to the Republican Party.1985. Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc., 75–78, 387–388. The party enjoyed a brief resurgence in 1924, when Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette ran unsuccessfully for president under the Progressive banner. In 1948, two new third parties appeared on the political scene. Henry A. Wallace, a vice president under Franklin Roosevelt, formed a new Progressive Party, which had little in common with the earlier Progressive Party. Wallace favored racial desegregation and believed that the United States should have closer ties to the Soviet Union. Wallace’s campaign was a failure, largely because most people believed his policies, including national healthcare, were too much like those of communism, and this party also vanished. The other third party, the States’ Rights Democrats, also known as the Dixiecrats, were white, southern Democrats who split from the Democratic Party when Harry Truman, who favored civil rights for African Americans, became the party’s nominee for president. The Dixiecrats opposed all attempts by the federal government to end segregation, extend voting rights, prohibit discrimination in employment, or otherwise promote social equality among races.“Platform of the States Rights Democratic Party,” http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=25851 (March 12, 2016). They remained a significant party that threatened Democratic unity throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Other examples of third parties in the United States include the American Independent Party, the Libertarian Party, United We Stand America, the Reform Party, and the Green Party. None of these alternatives to the two major political parties had much success at the national level, and most are no longer viable parties. All faced the same fate. Formed by charismatic leaders, each championed a relatively narrow set of causes and failed to gain broad support among the electorate. Once their leaders had been defeated or discredited, the party structures that were built to contest elections collapsed. And within a few years, most of their supporters were eventually pulled back into one of the existing parties. To be sure, some of these parties had an electoral impact. For example, the Progressive Party pulled enough votes away from the Republicans to hand the 1912 election to the Democrats. Thus, the third-party rival’s principal accomplishment was helping its least-preferred major party win, usually at the short-term expense of the very issue it championed. In the long run, however, many third parties have brought important issues to the attention of the major parties, which then incorporated these issues into their platforms. Understanding why this is the case is an important next step in learning about the issues and strategies of the modern Republican and Democratic parties. In the next section, we look at why the United States has historically been dominated by only two political parties. Summary Political parties are vital to the operation of any democracy. Early U.S. political parties were formed by national elites who disagreed over how to divide power between the national and state governments. The system we have today, divided between Republicans and Democrats, had consolidated by 1860. A number of minor parties have attempted to challenge the status quo, but they have largely failed to gain traction despite having an occasional impact on the national political scene. Which supporter of federalism warned people about the dangers of political parties? - John Adams - Alexander Hamilton - James Madison - George Washington Hint: D Which of the following was not a third-party challenger? - Whig Party - Progressive Party - Dixiecrats - Green Party Why were the early U.S. political parties formed? Hint: Early parties were electoral coalitions of elites, mostly in the U.S. Congress. They were mostly designed to help win House elections and the presidency, but they quickly expanded activities to the state level. What techniques led the Democratic Party to national prominence in the 1830s through 1850s?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.814549	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15237/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15238/overview	The Two-Party System Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Describe the effects of winner-take-all elections - Compare plurality and proportional representation - Describe the institutional, legal, and social forces that limit the number of parties - Discuss the concepts of party alignment and realignment One of the cornerstones of a vibrant democracy is citizens’ ability to influence government through voting. In order for that influence to be meaningful, citizens must send clear signals to their leaders about what they wish the government to do. It only makes sense, then, that a democracy will benefit if voters have several clearly differentiated options available to them at the polls on Election Day. Having these options means voters can select a candidate who more closely represents their own preferences on the important issues of the day. It also gives individuals who are considering voting a reason to participate. After all, you are more likely to vote if you care about who wins and who loses. The existence of two major parties, especially in our present era of strong parties, leads to sharp distinctions between the candidates and between the party organizations. Why do we have two parties? The two-party system came into being because the structure of U.S. elections, with one seat tied to a geographic district, tends to lead to dominance by two major political parties. Even when there are other options on the ballot, most voters understand that minor parties have no real chance of winning even a single office. Hence, they vote for candidates of the two major parties in order to support a potential winner. Of the 535 members of the House and Senate, only a handful identify as something other than Republican or Democrat. Third parties have fared no better in presidential elections. No third-party candidate has ever won the presidency. Some historians or political scientists might consider Abraham Lincoln to have been such a candidate, but in 1860, the Republicans were a major party that had subsumed members of earlier parties, such as the Whig Party, and they were the only major party other than the Democratic Party. ELECTION RULES AND THE TWO-PARTY SYSTEM A number of reasons have been suggested to explain why the structure of U.S. elections has resulted in a two-party system. Most of the blame has been placed on the process used to select its representatives. First, most elections at the state and national levels are winner-take-all: The candidate who receives the greatest overall number of votes wins. Winner-take-all elections with one representative elected for one geographic district allow voters to develop a personal relationship with “their” representative to the government. They know exactly whom to blame, or thank, for the actions of that government. But these elections also tend to limit the number of people who run for office. Otherwise-qualified candidates might not stand for election if they feel the incumbent or another candidate has an early advantage in the race. And since voters do not like to waste votes, third parties must convince voters they have a real chance of winning races before voters will take them seriously. This is a tall order given the vast resources and mobilization tools available to the existing parties, especially if an incumbent is one of the competitors. In turn, the likelihood that third-party challengers will lose an election bid makes it more difficult to raise funds to support later attempts.Robert Richie and Steven Hill, “The Case for Proportional Representation,” Boston Review, February–March 1998, https://bostonreview.net/archives/BR23.1/richie.html (March 15, 2016). Winner-take-all systems of electing candidates to office, which exist in several countries other than the United States, require that the winner receive either the majority of votes or a plurality of the votes. U.S. elections are based on plurality voting. Plurality voting, commonly referred to as first-past-the-post, is based on the principle that the individual candidate with the most votes wins, whether or not he or she gains a majority (51 percent or greater) of the total votes cast. For instance, Abraham Lincoln won the presidency in 1860 even though he clearly lacked majority support given the number of candidates in the race. In 1860, four candidates competed for the presidency: Lincoln, a Republican; two Democrats, one from the northern wing of the party and one from the southern wing; and a member of the newly formed Constitutional Union Party, a southern party that wished to prevent the nation from dividing over the issue of slavery. Votes were split among all four parties, and Lincoln became president with only 40 percent of the vote, not a majority of votes cast but more than any of the other three candidates had received, and enough to give him a majority in the Electoral College, the body that ultimately decides presidential elections. Plurality voting has been justified as the simplest and most cost-effective method for identifying a victor in a democracy. A single election can be held on a single day, and the victor of the competition is easily selected. On the other hand, systems in which people vote for a single candidate in an individual district often cost more money because drawing district lines and registering voters according to district is often expensive and cumbersome.International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. 2005. Electoral Design System: The New IDEA Handbook. Stockholm: International IDEA, 153–156, http://www.idea.int/publications/esd/upload/esd_chapter5.pdf (March 15, 2016). In a system in which individual candidates compete for individual seats representing unique geographic districts, a candidate must receive a fairly large number of votes in order to win. A political party that appeals to only a small percentage of voters will always lose to a party that is more popular.Duverger, Maurice. 1972 “Factors in a Two-Party and Multiparty System.” In Party Politics and Pressure Groups. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 23–32. Because second-place (or lower) finishers will receive no reward for their efforts, those parties that do not attract enough supporters to finish first at least some of the time will eventually disappear because their supporters realize they have no hope of achieving success at the polls.Jeffrey Sachs. 2011. The Price of Civilization. New York: Random House, 107. The failure of third parties to win and the possibility that they will draw votes away from the party the voter had favored before—resulting in a win for the party the voter liked least—makes people hesitant to vote for the third party’s candidates a second time. This has been the fate of all U.S. third parties—the Populist Party, the Progressives, the Dixiecrats, the Reform Party, and others. In a proportional electoral system, however, parties advertise who is on their candidate list and voters pick a party. Then, legislative seats are doled out to the parties based on the proportion of support each party receives. While the Green Party in the United States might not win a single congressional seat in some years thanks to plurality voting, in a proportional system, it stands a chance to get a few seats in the legislature regardless. For example, assume the Green Party gets 7 percent of the vote. In the United States, 7 percent will never be enough to win a single seat, shutting the Green candidates out of Congress entirely, whereas in a proportional system, the Green Party will get 7 percent of the total number of legislative seats available. Hence, it could get a foothold for its issues and perhaps increase its support over time. But with plurality voting, it doesn’t stand a chance. Third parties, often born of frustration with the current system, attract supporters from one or both of the existing parties during an election but fail to attract enough votes to win. After the election is over, supporters experience remorse when their least-favorite candidate wins instead. For example, in the 2000 election, Ralph Nader ran for president as the candidate of the Green Party. Nader, a longtime consumer activist concerned with environmental issues and social justice, attracted many votes from people who usually voted for Democratic candidates. This has caused some to claim that Democratic nominee Al Gore lost the 2000 election to Republican George W. Bush, because Nader won Democratic votes in Florida that might otherwise have gone to Gore (Figure).James Dao, “The 2000 Elections: The Green Party; Angry Democrats, Fearing Nader Cost Them Presidential Race, Threaten to Retaliate,” The New York Times, 9 November 2000. Abandoning plurality voting, even if the winner-take-all election were kept, would almost certainly increase the number of parties from which voters could choose. The easiest switch would be to a majoritarian voting scheme, in which a candidate wins only if he or she enjoys the support of a majority of voters. If no candidate wins a majority in the first round of voting, a run-off election is held among the top contenders. Some states conduct their primary elections within the two major political parties in this way. A second way to increase the number of parties in the U.S. system is to abandon the winner-take-all approach. Rather than allowing voters to pick their representatives directly, many democracies have chosen to have voters pick their preferred party and allow the party to select the individuals who serve in government. The argument for this method is that it is ultimately the party and not the individual who will influence policy. Under this model of proportional representation, legislative seats are allocated to competing parties based on the total share of votes they receive in the election. As a result, any given election can have multiple winners, and voters who might prefer a smaller party over a major one have a chance to be represented in government (Figure). One possible way to implement proportional representation in the United States is to allocate legislative seats based on the national level of support for each party’s presidential candidate, rather than on the results of individual races. If this method had been used in the 1996 elections, 8 percent of the seats in Congress would have gone to Ross Perot’s Reform Party because he won 8 percent of the votes cast. Even though Perot himself lost, his supporters would have been rewarded for their efforts with representatives who had a real voice in government. And Perot’s party’s chances of survival would have greatly increased. Electoral rules are probably not the only reason the United States has a two-party system. We need only look at the number of parties in the British or Canadian systems, both of which are winner-take-all plurality systems like that in the United States, to see that it is possible to have more than two parties while still directly electing representatives. The two-party system is also rooted in U.S. history. The first parties, the Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans, disagreed about how much power should be given to the federal government, and differences over other important issues further strengthened this divide. Over time, these parties evolved into others by inheriting, for the most part, the general ideological positions and constituents of their predecessors, but no more than two major parties ever formed. Instead of parties arising based on region or ethnicity, various regions and ethnic groups sought a place in one of the two major parties. Scholars of voting behavior have also suggested at least three other characteristics of the U.S. system that are likely to influence party outcomes: the Electoral College, demobilized ethnicity, and campaign and election laws. First, the United States has a presidential system in which the winner is selected not directly by the popular vote but indirectly by a group of electors known collectively as the Electoral College. The winner-take-all system also applies in the Electoral College. In all but two states (Maine and Nebraska), the total of the state’s electoral votes go to the candidate who wins the plurality of the popular vote in that state. Even if a new, third party is able to win the support of a lot of voters, it must be able to do so in several states in order to win enough electoral votes to have a chance of winning the presidency.Bruce Bartlett, “Why Third Parties Can’t Compete,” Forbes, 14 May 2010. Besides the existence of the Electoral College, political scientist Gary W. Cox has also suggested that the relative prosperity of the United States and the relative unity of its citizens have prevented the formation of “large dissenting groups” that might give support to third parties.George C. Edwards III. 2011. Why the Electoral College is Bad for America, 2nd. ed. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 176–177. This is similar to the argument that the United States does not have viable third parties, because none of its regions is dominated by mobilized ethnic minorities that have created political parties in order to defend and to address concerns solely of interest to that ethnic group. Such parties are common in other countries. Finally, party success is strongly influenced by local election laws. Someone has to write the rules that govern elections, and those rules help to determine outcomes. In the United States, such rules have been written to make it easy for existing parties to secure a spot for their candidates in future elections. But some states create significant burdens for candidates who wish to run as independents or who choose to represent new parties. For example, one common practice is to require a candidate who does not have the support of a major party to ask registered voters to sign a petition. Sometimes, thousands of signatures are required before a candidate’s name can be placed on the ballot (Figure), but a small third party that does have large numbers of supporters in some states may not be able to secure enough signatures for this to happen.Kevin Liptak, “’Fatal Flaw:’ Why Third Parties Still Fail Despite Voter Anger,” http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/21/politics/third-party-fail/index.html (March 13, 2016). Visit Fair Vote for a discussion of ballot access laws across the country. Given the obstacles to the formation of third parties, it is unlikely that serious challenges to the U.S. two-party system will emerge. But this does not mean that we should view it as entirely stable either. The U.S. party system is technically a loose organization of fifty different state parties and has undergone several considerable changes since its initial consolidation after the Civil War. Third-party movements may have played a role in some of these changes, but all resulted in a shifting of party loyalties among the U.S. electorate. CRITICAL ELECTIONS AND REALIGNMENT Political parties exist for the purpose of winning elections in order to influence public policy. This requires them to build coalitions across a wide range of voters who share similar preferences. Since most U.S. voters identify as moderates,Morris P. Fiorina, “America’s Missing Moderates: Hiding in Plain Sight,” 2 February 2013, http://www.the-american-interest.com/2013/02/12/americas-missing-moderates-hiding-in-plain-sight/ (March 1, 2016). the historical tendency has been for the two parties to compete for “the middle” while also trying to mobilize their more loyal bases. If voters’ preferences remained stable for long periods of time, and if both parties did a good job of competing for their votes, we could expect Republicans and Democrats to be reasonably competitive in any given election. Election outcomes would probably be based on the way voters compared the parties on the most important events of the day rather than on electoral strategy. There are many reasons we would be wrong in these expectations, however. First, the electorate isn’t entirely stable. Each generation of voters has been a bit different from the last. Over time, the United States has become more socially liberal, especially on topics related to race and gender, and millennials—those aged 18–34—are more liberal than members of older generations.Jocelyn Kiley and Michael Dimock, “The GOP’s Millennial Problem Runs Deep,” 28 September 2014, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/09/25/the-gops-millennial-problem-runs-deep/ (March 15, 2016). The electorate’s economic preferences have changed, and different social groups are likely to become more engaged in politics now than they did in the past. Surveys conducted in 2016, for example, revealed that candidates’ religion is less important to voters than it once was. Also, as young Latinos reach voting age, they seem more inclined to vote than do their parents, which may raise the traditionally low voting rates among this ethnic group.Gabrielle Levy, “’Trump Effect’ Driving Push for Latino Voter Registration,” U.S. News & World Report, 27 January 2016, http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-01-27/trump-effect-driving-push-for-latino-voter-registration (March 15, 2016). Internal population shifts and displacements have also occurred, as various regions have taken their turn experiencing economic growth or stagnation, and as new waves of immigrants have come to U.S. shores. Additionally, the major parties have not always been unified in their approach to contesting elections. While we think of both Congress and the presidency as national offices, the reality is that congressional elections are sometimes more like local elections. Voters may reflect on their preferences for national policy when deciding whom to send to the Senate or the House of Representatives, but they are very likely to view national policy in the context of its effects on their area, their family, or themselves, not based on what is happening to the country as a whole. For example, while many voters want to reduce the federal budget, those over sixty-five are particularly concerned that no cuts to the Medicare program be made.“Heading into 2016 Election Season, U.S. Voters Overwhelmingly Concerned About Issues Affecting Seniors, New National Poll Reveals,” 26 February 2016, http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/heading-into-2016-election-season-us-voters-overwhelmingly-concerned-about-issues-affecting-seniors-new-national-poll-reveals-300226953.html (March 15, 2016). One-third of those polled reported that “senior’s issues” were most important to them when voting for national officeholders.“Morning Consult,” 25 February 2016, http://www.bringthevotehome.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/160209-BTVH-Memo.pdf (March 15, 2016). If they hope to keep their jobs, elected officials must thus be sensitive to preferences in their home constituencies as well as the preferences of their national party. Finally, it sometimes happens that over a series of elections, parties may be unable or unwilling to adapt their positions to broader socio-demographic or economic forces. Parties need to be aware when society changes. If leaders refuse to recognize that public opinion has changed, the party is unlikely to win in the next election. For example, people who describe themselves as evangelical Christians are an important Republican constituency; they are also strongly opposed to abortion.Aaron Blake, “The Ten Most Loyal Demographic Groups for Republicans and Democrats,” The Washington Post, 8 April 2015. Thus, even though the majority of U.S. adults believe abortion should be legal in at least some instances, such as when a pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, or threatens the life of the mother, the position of many Republican presidential candidates in 2016 was to oppose abortion in all cases.Irin Carmon, “GOP Candidates: Ban Abortion, No Exceptions,” 7 August 2015, http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/gop-candidates-ban-abortion-no-exceptions (March 14, 2016). As a result, many women view the Republican Party as unsympathetic to their interests and are more likely to support Democratic candidates.Aaron Blake, “The Ten Most Loyal Demographic Groups for Republicans and Democrats.” Similarly (or simultaneously), groups that have felt that the party has served their causes in the past may decide to look elsewhere if they feel their needs are no longer being met. Either way, the party system will be upended as a result of a party realignment, or a shifting of party allegiances within the electorate (Table).V.O. Key. 1964. Politics, Parties, and Pressure Groups. New York: Crowell. \| Periods of Party Dominance and Realignment \| \| \|---\|---\| \| Era \| Party Systems and Realignments \| \| 1796–1824 \| First Party System: Federalists (urban elites, southern planters, New England) oppose Democratic-Republicans (rural, small farmers and artisans, the South and the West). \| \| 1828–1856 \| Second Party System: Democrats (the South, cities, farmers and artisans, immigrants) oppose Whigs (former Federalists, the North, middle class, native-born Americans). \| \| 1860–1892 \| Third Party System: Republicans (former Whigs plus African Americans) control the presidency. Only one Democrat, Grover Cleveland, is elected president (1884, 1892). \| \| 1896–1932 \| Fourth Party System: Republicans control the presidency. Only one Democrat, Woodrow Wilson, is elected president (1912, 1916). Challenges to major parties are raised by Populists and Progressives. \| \| 1932–1964 \| Fifth Party System. Democrats control the presidency. Only one Republican, Dwight Eisenhower, is elected president (1952, 1956). Major party realignment as African Americans become part of the Democratic coalition. \| \| 1964–present \| Sixth Party System. No one party controls the presidency. Ongoing realignment as southern whites and many northern members of the working class begin to vote for Republicans. Latinos and Asians immigrate, most of whom vote for Democrats. \| One of the best-known party realignments occurred when Democrats moved to include African Americans and other minorities into their national coalition during the Great Depression. After the Civil War, Republicans, the party of Lincoln, were viewed as the party that had freed the slaves. Their efforts to provide blacks with greater legal rights earned them the support of African Americans in both the South, where they were newly enfranchised, and the Northeast. When the Democrats, the party of the Confederacy, lost control of the South after the Civil War, Republicans ruled the region. However, the Democrats regained control of the South after the removal of the Union army in 1877. Democrats had largely supported slavery before the Civil War, and they opposed postwar efforts to integrate African Americans into society after they were liberated. In addition, Democrats in the North and Midwest drew their greatest support from labor union members and immigrants who viewed African Americans as competitors for jobs and government resources, and who thus tended to oppose the extension of rights to African Americans as much as their southern counterparts did.Thomas Streissguth. 2003. Hate Crimes. New York: Facts on File, 8. While the Democrats’ opposition to civil rights may have provided regional advantages in southern or urban elections, it was largely disastrous for national politics. From 1868 to 1931, Democratic candidates won just four of sixteen presidential elections. Two of these victories can be explained as a result of the spoiler effect of the Progressive Party in 1912 and then Woodrow Wilson’s reelection during World War I in 1916. This rather-dismal success rate suggested that a change in the governing coalition would be needed if the party were to have a chance at once again becoming a player on the national level. That change began with the 1932 presidential campaign of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR determined that his best path toward victory was to create a new coalition based not on region or ethnicity, but on the suffering of those hurt the most during the Great Depression. This alignment sought to bring African American voters in as a means of shoring up support in major urban areas and the Midwest, where many southern blacks had migrated in the decades after the Civil War in search of jobs and better education for their children, as well as to avoid many of the legal restrictions placed on them in the South. Roosevelt accomplished this realignment by promising assistance to those hurt most by the Depression, including African Americans. The strategy worked. Roosevelt won the election with almost 58 percent of the popular vote and 472 Electoral College votes, compared to incumbent Herbert Hoover’s 59. The 1932 election is considered an example of a critical election, one that represents a sudden, clear, and long-term shift in voter allegiances. After this election, the political parties were largely identified as being divided by differences in their members’ socio-economic status. Those who favor stability of the current political and economic system tend to vote Republican, whereas those who would most benefit from changing the system usually favor Democratic candidates. Based on this alignment, the Democratic Party won the next five consecutive presidential elections and was able to build a political machine that dominated Congress into the 1990s, including holding an uninterrupted majority in the House of Representatives from 1954 until 1994. The realignment of the parties did have consequences for Democrats. African Americans became an increasingly important part of the Democratic coalition in the 1940s through the 1960s, as the party took steps to support civil rights.Philip Bump, “When Did Black Americans Start Voting So Heavily Democratic?” The Washington Post, 7 July 2015. Most changes were limited to the state level at first, but as civil rights reform moved to the national stage, rifts between northern and southern Democrats began to emerge.Edward Carmines and James Stimson. 1989. Issue Evolution: Race and the Transformation of American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Southern Democrats became increasingly convinced that national efforts to provide social welfare and encourage racial integration were violating state sovereignty and social norms. By the 1970s, many had begun to shift their allegiance to the Republican Party, whose pro-business wing shared their opposition to the growing encroachment of the national government into what they viewed as state and local matters.Ian Haney-Lopez, “How the GOP Became the ‘White Man’s Party,’” 22 December 2013, https://www.salon.com/2013/12/22/how_the_gop_became_the_white_mans_party/ (March 16, 2016). Almost fifty years after it had begun, the realignment of the two political parties resulted in the flipping of post-Civil War allegiances, with urban areas and the Northeast now solidly Democratic, and the South and rural areas overwhelmingly voting Republican. The result today is a political system that provides Republicans with considerable advantages in rural areas and most parts of the Deep South.Nate Cohn, “Demise of the Southern Democrat is Now Nearly Complete,” The New York Times, 4 December 2014. Democrats dominate urban politics and those parts of the South, known as the Black Belt, where the majority of residents are African American. Summary Electoral rules, such as the use of plurality voting, have helped turn the United States into a two-party system dominated by the Republicans and the Democrats. Several minor parties have attempted to challenge the status quo, but usually they have only been spoilers that served to divide party coalitions. But this doesn’t mean the party system has always been stable; party coalitions have shifted several times in the past two hundred years. In which type of electoral system do voters select the party of their choice rather than an individual candidate? - proportional representation - first-past-the-post - plurality voting - majoritarian voting Hint: A Which of the following does not represent a major contributing factor in party realignment? - demographic shifts - changes in key issues - changes in party strategies - third parties What impact, if any, do third parties typically have on U.S. elections? Hint: Third parties bring important issues to the attention of the major parties. They also often serve as spoilers in the elections they enter. In what ways do political parties collude with state and local government to prevent the rise of new parties?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.847894	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15238/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15239/overview	The Shape of Modern Political Parties Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Differentiate between the party in the electorate and the party organization - Discuss the importance of voting in a political party organization - Describe party organization at the county, state, and national levels - Compare the perspectives of the party in government and the party in the electorate We have discussed the two major political parties in the United States, how they formed, and some of the smaller parties that have challenged their dominance over time. However, what exactly do political parties do? If the purpose of political parties is to work together to create and implement policies by winning elections, how do they accomplish this task, and who actually participates in the process? The answer was fairly straightforward in the early days of the republic when parties were little more than electoral coalitions of like-minded, elite politicians. But improvements in strategy and changes in the electorate forced the parties to become far more complex organizations that operate on several levels in the U.S. political arena. Modern political parties consist of three components identified by political scientist V. O. Key: the party in the electorate (the voters); the party organization (which helps to coordinate everything the party does in its quest for office); and the party in office (the office holders). To understand how these various elements work together, we begin by thinking about a key first step in influencing policy in any democracy: winning elections. THE PARTY-IN-THE-ELECTORATE A key fact about the U.S. political party system is that it’s all about the votes. If voters do not show up to vote for a party’s candidates on Election Day, the party has no chance of gaining office and implementing its preferred policies. As we have seen, for much of their history, the two parties have been adapting to changes in the size, composition, and preferences of the U.S. electorate. It only makes sense, then, that parties have found it in their interest to build a permanent and stable presence among the voters. By fostering a sense of loyalty, a party can insulate itself from changes in the system and improve its odds of winning elections. The party-in-the-electorate are those members of the voting public who consider themselves to be part of a political party and/or who consistently prefer the candidates of one party over the other. What it means to be part of a party depends on where a voter lives and how much he or she chooses to participate in politics. At its most basic level, being a member of the party-in-the-electorate simply means a voter is more likely to voice support for a party. These voters are often called party identifiers, since they usually represent themselves in public as being members of a party, and they may attend some party events or functions. Party identifiers are also more likely to provide financial support for the candidates of their party during election season. This does not mean self-identified Democrats will support all the party’s positions or candidates, but it does mean that, on the whole, they feel their wants or needs are more likely to be met if the Democratic Party is successful. Party identifiers make up the majority of the voting public. Gallup, the polling agency, has been collecting data on voter preferences for the past several decades. Its research suggests that historically, over half of American adults have called themselves “Republican” or “Democrat” when asked how they identify themselves politically (Figure). Even among self-proclaimed independents, the overwhelming majority claim to lean in the direction of one party or the other, suggesting they behave as if they identified with a party during elections even if they preferred not to publicly pick a side. Partisan support is so strong that, in a poll conducted from August 5 to August 9, 2015, about 88 percent of respondents said they either identified with or, if they were independents, at least leaned toward one of the major political parties.“Party Affiliation,” http://www.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx (March 1, 2016). Thus, in a poll conducted in January 2016, even though about 42 percent of respondents said they were independent, this does not mean that they are not, in fact, more likely to favor one party over the other.Jeffrey L. Jones, “Democratic, Republican Identification Near Historical Lows,” http://www.gallup.com/poll/188096/democratic-republican-identification-near-historical-lows.aspx (March 14, 2016). Strictly speaking, party identification is not quite the same thing as party membership. People may call themselves Republicans or Democrats without being registered as a member of the party, and the Republican and Democratic parties do not require individuals to join their formal organization in the same way that parties in some other countries do. Many states require voters to declare a party affiliation before participating in primaries, but primary participation is irregular and infrequent, and a voter may change his or her identity long before changing party registration. For most voters, party identification is informal at best and often matters only in the weeks before an election. It does matter, however, because party identification guides some voters, who may know little about a particular issue or candidate, in casting their ballots. If, for example, someone thinks of him- or herself as a Republican and always votes Republican, he or she will not be confused when faced with a candidate, perhaps in a local or county election, whose name is unfamiliar. If the candidate is a Republican, the voter will likely cast a ballot for him or her. Party ties can manifest in other ways as well. The actual act of registering to vote and selecting a party reinforces party loyalty. Moreover, while pundits and scholars often deride voters who blindly vote their party, the selection of a party in the first place can be based on issue positions and ideology. In that regard, voting your party on Election Day is not a blind act—it is a shortcut based on issue positions. THE PARTY ORGANIZATION A significant subset of American voters views their party identification as something far beyond simply a shortcut to voting. These individuals get more energized by the political process and have chosen to become more active in the life of political parties. They are part of what is known as the party organization. The party organization is the formal structure of the political party, and its active members are responsible for coordinating party behavior and supporting party candidates. It is a vital component of any successful party because it bears most of the responsibility for building and maintaining the party “brand.” It also plays a key role in helping select, and elect, candidates for public office. Local Organizations Since winning elections is the first goal of the political party, it makes sense that the formal party organization mirrors the local-state-federal structure of the U.S. political system. While the lowest level of party organization is technically the precinct, many of the operational responsibilities for local elections fall upon the county-level organization. The county-level organization is in many ways the workhorse of the party system, especially around election time. This level of organization frequently takes on many of the most basic responsibilities of a democratic system, including identifying and mobilizing potential voters and donors, identifying and training potential candidates for public office, and recruiting new members for the party. County organizations are also often responsible for finding rank and file members to serve as volunteers on Election Day, either as officials responsible for operating the polls or as monitors responsible for ensuring that elections are conducted honestly and fairly. They may also hold regular meetings to provide members the opportunity to meet potential candidates and coordinate strategy (Figure). Of course, all this is voluntary and relies on dedicated party members being willing to pitch in to run the party. State Organizations Most of the county organizations’ formal efforts are devoted to supporting party candidates running for county and city offices. But a fair amount of political power is held by individuals in statewide office or in state-level legislative or judicial bodies. While the county-level offices may be active in these local competitions, most of the coordination for them will take place in the state-level organizations. Like their more local counterparts, state-level organizations are responsible for key party functions, such as statewide candidate recruitment and campaign mobilization. Most of their efforts focus on electing high-ranking officials such as the governor or occupants of other statewide offices (e.g., the state’s treasurer or attorney general) as well as candidates to represent the state and its residents in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. The greater value of state- and national-level offices requires state organizations to take on several key responsibilities in the life of the party. Visit the following Republican and Democratic sites to see what party organizations look like on the local level. Although these sites are for different parties in different parts of the country, they both inform visitors of local party events, help people volunteer to work for the party, and provide a convenient means of contributing to the party. First, state-level organizations usually accept greater fundraising responsibilities than do their local counterparts. Statewide races and races for national office have become increasingly expensive in recent years. The average cost of a successful House campaign was $1.2 million in 2014; for Senate races, it was $8.6 million.Russ Choma, “Money Won on Tuesday, But Rules of the Game Changed,” 5 November 2014, http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/11/money-won-on-tuesday-but-rules-of-the-game-changed/ (March 1, 2016). While individual candidates are responsible for funding and running their own races, it is typically up to the state-level organization to coordinate giving across multiple races and to develop the staffing expertise that these candidates will draw upon at election time. State organizations are also responsible for creating a sense of unity among members of the state party. Building unity can be very important as the party transitions from sometimes-contentious nomination battles to the all-important general election. The state organization uses several key tools to get its members working together towards a common goal. First, it helps the party’s candidates prepare for state primary elections or caucuses that allow voters to choose a nominee to run for public office at either the state or national level. Caucuses are a form of town hall meeting at which voters in a precinct get together to voice their preferences, rather than voting individually throughout the day (Figure). Second, the state organization is also responsible for drafting a state platform that serves as a policy guide for partisans who are eventually selected to public office. These platforms are usually the result of a negotiation between the various coalitions within the party and are designed to ensure that everyone in the party will receive some benefits if their candidates win the election. Finally, state organizations hold a statewide convention at which delegates from the various county organizations come together to discuss the needs of their areas. The state conventions are also responsible for selecting delegates to the national convention. National Party Organization The local and state-level party organizations are the workhorses of the political process. They take on most of the responsibility for party activities and are easily the most active participants in the party formation and electoral processes. They are also largely invisible to most voters. The average citizen knows very little of the local party’s behavior unless there is a phone call or a knock on the door in the days or weeks before an election. The same is largely true of the activities of the state-level party. Typically, the only people who notice are those who are already actively engaged in politics or are being targeted for donations. But most people are aware of the presence and activity of the national party organizations for several reasons. First, many Americans, especially young people, are more interested in the topics discussed at the national level than at the state or local level. According to John Green of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics, “Local elections tend to be about things like sewers, and roads and police protection—which are not as dramatic an issue as same-sex marriage or global warming or international affairs.”Elizabeth Lehman, “Trend Shows Generation Focuses Mostly on Social, National Issues,” http://www.thenewsoutlet.org/survey-local-millennials-more-interested-in-big-issues/ (March 15, 2016). Presidential elections and the behavior of the U.S. Congress are also far more likely to make the news broadcasts than the activities of county commissioners, and the national-level party organization is mostly responsible for coordinating the activities of participants at this level. The national party is a fundraising army for presidential candidates and also serves a key role in trying to coordinate and direct the efforts of the House and Senate. For this reason, its leadership is far more likely to become visible to media consumers, whether they intend to vote or not. A second reason for the prominence of the national organization is that it usually coordinates the grandest spectacles in the life of a political party. Most voters are never aware of the numerous county-level meetings or coordinating activities. Primary elections, one of the most important events to take place at the state level, have a much lower turnout than the nationwide general election. In 2012, for example, only one-third of the eligible voters in New Hampshire voted in the state’s primary, one of the earliest and thus most important in the nation; however, 70 percent of eligible voters in the state voted in the general election in November 2012.“Voter Turnout,” http://www.electproject.org/home/voter-turnout/voter-turnout-data (March 14, 2016). People may see or read an occasional story about the meetings of the state committees or convention but pay little attention. But the national conventions, organized and sponsored by the national-level party, can dominate the national discussion for several weeks in late summer, a time when the major media outlets are often searching for news. These conventions are the definition of a media circus at which high-ranking politicians, party elites, and sometimes celebrities, such as actor/director Clint Eastwood (Figure), along with individuals many consider to be the future leaders of the party are brought before the public so the party can make its best case for being the one to direct the future of the country.Abdullah Halimah, “Eastwood, the Empty Chair, and the Speech Everyone’s Talking About,” 31 August 2012, http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/31/politics/eastwood-speech/ (March 14, 2016). National party conventions culminate in the formal nomination of the party nominees for the offices of president and vice president, and they mark the official beginning of the presidential competition between the two parties. In the past, national conventions were often the sites of high drama and political intrigue. As late as 1968, the identities of the presidential and/or vice-presidential nominees were still unknown to the general public when the convention opened. It was also common for groups protesting key events and issues of the day to try to raise their profile by using the conventions to gain the media spotlight. National media outlets would provide “gavel to gavel” coverage of the conventions, and the relatively limited number of national broadcast channels meant most viewers were essentially forced to choose between following the conventions or checking out of the media altogether. Much has changed since the 1960s, however, and between 1960 and 2004, viewership of both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention had declined by half.“Influence of Democratic and Republican Conventions on Opinions of the Presidential Candidates,” http://journalistsresource.org/studies/politics/elections/personal-individual-effects-presidential-conventions-candidate-evaluations (March 14, 2016). National conventions are not the spectacles they once were, and this fact is almost certainly having an impact on the profile of the national party organization. Both parties have come to recognize the value of the convention as a medium through which they can communicate to the average viewer. To ensure that they are viewed in the best possible light, the parties have worked hard to turn the public face of the convention into a highly sanitized, highly orchestrated media event. Speakers are often required to have their speeches prescreened to ensure that they do not deviate from the party line or run the risk of embarrassing the eventual nominee—whose name has often been known by all for several months. And while protests still happen, party organizations have becoming increasingly adept at keeping protesters away from the convention sites, arguing that safety and security are more important than First Amendment rights to speech and peaceable assembly. For example, protestors were kept behind concrete barriers and fences at the Democratic National Convention in 2004.Timothy Zick, “Speech and Spatial Tactics,” Texas Law Review February (2006): 581. With the advent of cable TV news and the growth of internet blogging, the major news outlets have found it unnecessary to provide the same level of coverage they once did. Between 1976 and 1996, ABC and CBS cut their coverage of the nominating conventions from more than fifty hours to only five. NBC cut its coverage to fewer than five hours.Thomas E. Patterson, “Is There a Future for On-the-Air Televised Conventions?” http://journalistsresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/vv_conv_paper1.pdf (March 14, 2016). One reason may be that the outcome of nominating conventions are also typically known in advance, meaning there is no drama. Today, the nominee’s acceptance speech is expected to be no longer than an hour, so it will not take up more than one block of prime-time TV programming. This is not to say the national conventions are no longer important, or that the national party organizations are becoming less relevant. The conventions, and the organizations that run them, still contribute heavily to a wide range of key decisions in the life of both parties. The national party platform is formally adopted at the convention, as are the key elements of the strategy for contesting the national campaign. And even though the media is paying less attention, key insiders and major donors often use the convention as a way of gauging the strength of the party and its ability to effectively organize and coordinate its members. They are also paying close attention to the rising stars who are given time at the convention’s podium, to see which are able to connect with the party faithful. Most observers credit Barack Obama’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention with bringing him to national prominence.Todd Leopold, “The Day America Met Barack Obama,” http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/05/obama.meeting/index.html?iref=werecommend (March 14, 2016). Conventions and Trial Balloons While both political parties use conventions to help win the current elections, they also use them as a way of elevating local politicians to the national spotlight. This has been particularly true for the Democratic Party. In 1988, the Democrats tapped Arkansas governor Bill Clinton to introduce their nominee Michael Dukakis at the convention. Clinton’s speech was lampooned for its length and lack of focus, but it served to get his name in front of Democratic voters. Four years later, Clinton was able to leverage this national exposure to help his own presidential campaign. The pattern was repeated when Illinois state senator Barack Obama gave the keynote address at the 2004 convention (Figure). Although he was only a candidate for the U.S. Senate at the time, his address caught the attention of the Democratic establishment and ultimately led to his emergence as a viable presidential candidate just four years later. Should the media devote more attention to national conventions? Would this help voters choose the candidate they want to vote for? Bill Clinton’s lengthy nomination speech in 1988 was much derided, but served the purpose of providing national exposure to a state governor. Barack Obama’s inspirational speech at the 2004 national convention resulted in immediate speculation as to his wider political aspirations. THE PARTY-IN-GOVERNMENT One of the first challenges facing the party-in-government, or the party identifiers who have been elected or appointed to hold public office, is to achieve their policy goals. The means to do this is chosen in meetings of the two major parties; Republican meetings are called party conferences and Democrat meetings are called party caucuses. Members of each party meet in these closed sessions and discuss what items to place on the legislative agenda and make decisions about which party members should serve on the committees that draft proposed laws. Party members also elect the leaders of their respective parties in the House and the Senate, and their party whips. Leaders serve as party managers and are the highest-ranking members of the party in each chamber of Congress. The party whip ensures that members are present when a piece of legislation is to be voted on and directs them how to vote. The whip is the second-highest ranking member of the party in each chamber. Thus, both the Republicans and the Democrats have a leader and a whip in the House, and a leader and a whip in the Senate. The leader and whip of the party that holds the majority of seats in each house are known as the majority leader and the majority whip. The leader and whip of the party with fewer seats are called the minority leader and the minority whip. The party that controls the majority of seats in the House of Representatives also elects someone to serve as Speaker of the House. People elected to Congress as independents (that is, not members of either the Republican or Democratic parties) must choose a party to conference or caucus with. For example, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who originally ran for Senate as an independent candidate, caucuses with the Democrats and ran for the presidency as a Democrat. He returned to the Senate in 2017 as an independent.Peter Nicholas. 26 July 2016. “Bernie Sanders to Return to Senate as an Independent,” http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2016/07/26/bernie-sanders-to-return-to-senate-as-an-independent/ (November 9, 2016). The political parties in government must represent their parties and the entire country at the same time. One way they do this is by creating separate governing and party structures in the legislature, even though these are run by the same people. Check out some of the more important leadership organizations and their partisan counterparts in the House of Representatives and the Senate leadership. Party Organization from the Inside Interested in a cool summer job? Want to actually make a difference in your community? Consider an internship at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) or Republican National Committee (RNC). Both organizations offer internship programs for college students who want hands-on experience working in community outreach and grassroots organizing. While many internship opportunities are based at the national headquarters in Washington, DC, openings may exist within state party organizations. Internship positions can be very competitive; most applicants are juniors or seniors with high grade-point averages and strong recommendations from their faculty. Successful applicants get an inside view of government, build a great professional network, and have the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of their friends and families. Visit the DNC or RNC website and find out what it takes to be an intern. While there, also check out the state party organization. Is there a local leader you feel you could work for? Are any upcoming events scheduled in your state? One problem facing the party-in-government relates to the design of the country’s political system. The U.S. government is based on a complex principle of separation of powers, with power divided among the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches. The system is further complicated by federalism, which relegates some powers to the states, which also have separation of powers. This complexity creates a number of problems for maintaining party unity. The biggest is that each level and unit of government has different constituencies that the office holder must satisfy. The person elected to the White House is more beholden to the national party organization than are members of the House or Senate, because members of Congress must be reelected by voters in very different states, each with its own state-level and county-level parties. Some of this complexity is eased for the party that holds the executive branch of government. Executive offices are typically more visible to the voters than the legislature, in no small part because a single person holds the office. Voters are more likely to show up at the polls and vote if they feel strongly about the candidate running for president or governor, but they are also more likely to hold that person accountable for the government’s failures.Sidney R. Waldman. 2007. America and the Limits of the Politics of Selfishness. New York: Lexington Books, 27. Members of the legislature from the executive’s party are under a great deal of pressure to make the executive look good, because a popular president or governor may be able to help other party members win office. Even so, partisans in the legislature cannot be expected to simply obey the executive’s orders. First, legislators may serve a constituency that disagrees with the executive on key matters of policy. If the issue is important enough to voters, as in the case of gun control or abortion rights, an office holder may feel his or her job will be in jeopardy if he or she too closely follows the party line, even if that means disagreeing with the executive. A good example occurred when the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which desegregated public accommodations and prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of race, was introduced in Congress. The bill was supported by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, both of whom were Democrats. Nevertheless, many Republicans, such as William McCulloch, a conservative representative from Ohio, voted in its favor while many southern Democrats opposed it.Alicia W. Stewart and Tricia Escobedo, “What You Might Not Know About the 1964 Civil Rights Act,” 10 April 2014, http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/10/politics/civil-rights-act-interesting-facts/ (March 16, 2016). A second challenge is that each house of the legislature has its own leadership and committee structure, and those leaders may not be in total harmony with the president. Key benefits like committee appointments, leadership positions, and money for important projects in their home district may hinge on legislators following the lead of the party. These pressures are particularly acute for the majority party, so named because it controls more than half the seats in one of the two chambers. The Speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader, the majority party’s congressional leaders, have significant tools at their disposal to punish party members who defect on a particular vote. Finally, a member of the minority party must occasionally work with the opposition on some issues in order to accomplish any of his or her constituency’s goals. This is especially the case in the Senate, which is a super-majority institution. Sixty votes (of the 100 possible) are required to get anything accomplished, because Senate rules allow individual members to block legislation via holds and filibusters. The only way to block the blocking is to invoke cloture, a procedure calling for a vote on an issue, which takes 60 votes. Summary Political parties exist primarily as a means to help candidates get elected. The United States thus has a relatively loose system of party identification and a bottom-up approach to party organization structure built around elections. Lower levels, such as the precinct or county, take on the primary responsibility for voter registration and mobilization, whereas the higher state and national levels are responsible for electing major candidates and shaping party ideology. The party in government is responsible for implementing the policies on which its candidates run, but elected officials also worry about winning reelection. Which level of party organization is most responsible for helping the party’s nominee win the presidency? - precinct - county - state - national Hint: D How do members of the party organization differ from party identifiers? What role does each play in the party as a whole? Why is winning votes so important to political parties? How does the need to win elections affect party structures? Hint: Parties can’t influence and enact policy without winning. They must organize at each level at which elections take place in order to contest elections and develop candidates.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.881453	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15239/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15240/overview	Divided Government and Partisan Polarization Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Discuss the problems and benefits of divided government - Define party polarization - List the main explanations for partisan polarization - Explain the implications of partisan polarization In 1950, the American Political Science Association’s Committee on Political Parties (APSA) published an article offering a criticism of the current party system. The parties, it argued, were too similar. Distinct, cohesive political parties were critical for any well-functioning democracy. First, distinct parties offer voters clear policy choices at election time. Second, cohesive parties could deliver on their agenda, even under conditions of lower bipartisanship. The party that lost the election was also important to democracy because it served as the “loyal opposition” that could keep a check on the excesses of the party in power. Finally, the paper suggested that voters could signal whether they preferred the vision of the current leadership or of the opposition. This signaling would keep both parties accountable to the people and lead to a more effective government, better capable of meeting the country’s needs. But, the APSA article continued, U.S. political parties of the day were lacking in this regard. Rarely did they offer clear and distinct visions of the country’s future, and, on the rare occasions they did, they were typically unable to enact major reforms once elected. Indeed, there was so much overlap between the parties when in office that it was difficult for voters to know whom they should hold accountable for bad results. The article concluded by advocating a set of reforms that, if implemented, would lead to more distinct parties and better government. While this description of the major parties as being too similar may have been accurate in the 1950s; that is no longer the case.Nolan McCarty, Keith T. Poole and Howard Rosenthal. 2006. Polarized America. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. THE PROBLEM OF DIVIDED GOVERNMENT The problem of majority versus minority politics is particularly acute under conditions of divided government. Divided government occurs when one or more houses of the legislature are controlled by the party in opposition to the executive. Unified government occurs when the same party controls the executive and the legislature entirely. Divided government can pose considerable difficulties for both the operations of the party and the government as a whole. It makes fulfilling campaign promises extremely difficult, for instance, since the cooperation (or at least the agreement) of both Congress and the president is typically needed to pass legislation. Furthermore, one party can hardly claim credit for success when the other side has been a credible partner, or when nothing can be accomplished. Party loyalty may be challenged too, because individual politicians might be forced to oppose their own party agenda if it will help their personal reelection bids. Divided government can also be a threat to government operations, although its full impact remains unclear.David R. Mayhew. 1991. Divided We Govern. New Haven: Yale University Press; George C. Edwards, Andrew Barrett and Jeffrey S. Peake, “The Legislative Impact of Divided Government,” American Journal of Political Science 41, no. 2 (1997): 545–563. For example, when the divide between the parties is too great, government may shut down. A 1976 dispute between Republican president Gerald Ford and a Democrat-controlled Congress over the issue of funding for certain cabinet departments led to a ten-day shutdown of the government (although the federal government did not cease to function entirely). But beginning in the 1980s, the interpretation that Republican president Ronald Reagan’s attorney general gave to a nineteenth-century law required a complete shutdown of federal government operations until a funding issue was resolved (Figure).Dylan Matthews, “Here is Every Previous Government Shutdown, Why They Happened and How They Ended,” The Washington Post, 25 September 2013. Clearly, the parties’ willingness to work together and compromise can be a very good thing. However, the past several decades have brought an increased prevalence of divided government. Since 1969, the U.S. electorate has sent the president a Congress of his own party in only seven of twenty-three congressional elections, and during George W. Bush’s first administration, the Republican majority was so narrow that a combination of resignations and defections gave the Democrats control before the next election could be held. Over the short term, however, divided government can make for very contentious politics. A well-functioning government usually requires a certain level of responsiveness on the part of both the executive and the legislative branches. This responsiveness is hard enough if government is unified under one party. During the presidency of Democrat Jimmy Carter (1977–1980), despite the fact that both houses of Congress were controlled by Democratic majorities, the government was shut down on five occasions because of conflict between the executive and legislative branches.Matthews, “Here is Every Previous Government Shutdown, Why They Happened and How They Ended.” Shutdowns are even more likely when the president and at least one house of Congress are of opposite parties. During the presidency of Ronald Reagan, for example, the federal government shut down eight times; on seven of those occasions, the shutdown was caused by disagreements between Reagan and the Republican-controlled Senate on the one hand and the Democrats in the House on the other, over such issues as spending cuts, abortion rights, and civil rights.Matthews, “Here is Every Previous Government Shutdown, Why They Happened and How They Ended.” More such disputes and government shutdowns took place during the administrations of George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, when different parties controlled Congress and the presidency. For the first few decades of the current pattern of divided government, the threat it posed to the government appears to have been muted by a high degree of bipartisanship, or cooperation through compromise. Many pieces of legislation were passed in the 1960s and 1970s with reasonably high levels of support from both parties. Most members of Congress had relatively moderate voting records, with regional differences within parties that made bipartisanship on many issues more likely. For example, until the 1980s, northern and midwestern Republicans were often fairly progressive, supporting racial equality, workers’ rights, and farm subsidies. Southern Democrats were frequently quite socially and racially conservative and were strong supporters of states’ rights. Cross-party cooperation on these issues was fairly frequent. But in the past few decades, the number of moderates in both houses of Congress has declined. This has made it more difficult for party leadership to work together on a range of important issues, and for members of the minority party in Congress to find policy agreement with an opposing party president. THE IMPLICATIONS OF POLARIZATION The past thirty years have brought a dramatic change in the relationship between the two parties as fewer conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans have been elected to office. As political moderates, or individuals with ideologies in the middle of the ideological spectrum, leave the political parties at all levels, the parties have grown farther apart ideologically, a result called party polarization. In other words, at least organizationally and in government, Republicans and Democrats have become increasingly dissimilar from one another (Figure). In the party-in-government, this means fewer members of Congress have mixed voting records; instead they vote far more consistently on issues and are far more likely to side with their party leadership.Drew Desilver, “The Polarized Congress of Today Has Its Roots in the 1970s,” 12 June 2014, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/06/12/polarized-politics-in-congress-began-in-the-1970s-and-has-been-getting-worse-ever-since/ (March 16, 2016). It also means a growing number of moderate voters aren’t participating in party politics. Either they are becoming independents, or they are participating only in the general election and are therefore not helping select party candidates in primaries. What is most interesting about this shift to increasingly polarized parties is that it does not appear to have happened as a result of the structural reforms recommended by APSA. Rather, it has happened because moderate politicians have simply found it harder and harder to win elections. There are many conflicting theories about the causes of polarization, some of which we discuss below. But whatever its origin, party polarization in the United States does not appear to have had the net positive effects that the APSA committee was hoping for. With the exception of providing voters with more distinct choices, positives of polarization are hard to find. The negative impacts are many. For one thing, rather than reducing interparty conflict, polarization appears to have only amplified it. For example, the Republican Party (or the GOP, standing for Grand Old Party) has historically been a coalition of two key and overlapping factions: pro-business rightists and social conservatives. The GOP has held the coalition of these two groups together by opposing programs designed to redistribute wealth (and advocating small government) while at the same time arguing for laws preferred by conservative Christians. But it was also willing to compromise with pro-business Democrats, often at the expense of social issues, if it meant protecting long-term business interests. Recently, however, a new voice has emerged that has allied itself with the Republican Party. Born in part from an older third-party movement known as the Libertarian Party, the Tea Party is more hostile to government and views government intervention in all forms, and especially taxation and the regulation of business, as a threat to capitalism and democracy. It is less willing to tolerate interventions in the market place, even when they are designed to protect the markets themselves. Although an anti-tax faction within the Republican Party has existed for some time, some factions of the Tea Party movement are also active at the intersection of religious liberty and social issues, especially in opposing such initiatives as same-sex marriage and abortion rights.“The Tea Party and Religion,” 23 February 2011, http://www.pewforum.org/2011/02/23/tea-party-and-religion/ (March 16, 2016). The Tea Party has argued that government, both directly and by neglect, is threatening the ability of evangelicals to observe their moral obligations, including practices some perceive as endorsing social exclusion. Although the Tea Party is a movement and not a political party, 86 percent of Tea Party members who voted in 2012 cast their votes for Republicans.“The Tea Party and Religion.” Some members of the Republican Party are closely affiliated with the movement, and before the 2012 elections, Tea Party activist Grover Norquist exacted promises from many Republicans in Congress that they would oppose any bill that sought to raise taxes.Paul Waldman, “Nearly All the GOP Candidates Bow Down to Grover Norquist, The Washington Post, 13 August 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/08/13/nearly-all-the-gop-candidates-bow-down-to-grover-norquist/ (March 1, 2016). The inflexibility of Tea Party members has led to tense floor debates and was ultimately responsible for the 2014 primary defeat of Republican majority leader Eric Cantor and the 2015 resignation of the sitting Speaker of the House John Boehner. In 2015, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz, all of whom were Republican presidential candidates, signed Norquist’s pledge as well (Figure). Movements on the left have also arisen. The Occupy Wall Street movement was born of the government’s response to the Great Recession of 2008 and its assistance to endangered financial institutions, provided through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, TARP (Figure). The Occupy Movement believed the recession was caused by a failure of the government to properly regulate the banking industry. The Occupiers further maintained that the government moved swiftly to protect the banking industry from the worst of the recession but largely failed to protect the average person, thereby worsening the growing economic inequality in the United States. While the Occupy Movement itself has largely fizzled, the anti-business sentiment to which it gave voice continues within the Democratic Party, and many Democrats have proclaimed their support for the movement and its ideals, if not for its tactics.Beth Fouhy, “Occupy Wall Street and Democrats Remain Wary of Each Other,” Huffington Post, 17 November 2011. Champions of the left wing of the Democratic Party, however, such as former presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, have ensured that the Occupy Movement’s calls for more social spending and higher taxes on the wealthy remain a prominent part of the national debate. Their popularity, and the growing visibility of race issues in the United States, have helped sustain the left wing of the Democratic Party. Bernie Sanders’ presidential run made these topics and causes even more salient, especially among younger voters. This reality led Hillary Clinton to move left during the primaries and attempt to win people over. However, the left never warmed up to Clinton after Sanders exited the race. After Clinton lost to Trump, many on the left blamed Clinton for not going far enough left, and they further claimed that Sanders would have had a better chance at beating Trump.Andrew Buncombe. 9 November 2016. “Donald Trump would have lost US election if Bernie Sanders had been the candidate,” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/presidential-election-donald-trump-would-have-lost-if-bernie-sanders-had-been-the-candidate-a7406346.html (November 9, 2016). Unfortunately, party factions haven’t been the only result of party polarization. By most measures, the U.S. government in general and Congress in particular have become less effective in recent years. Congress has passed fewer pieces of legislation, confirmed fewer appointees, and been less effective at handling the national purse than in recent memory. If we define effectiveness as legislative productivity, the 106th Congress (1999–2000) passed 463 pieces of substantive legislation (not including commemorative legislation, such as bills proclaiming an official doughnut of the United States). The 107th Congress (2000–2001) passed 294 such pieces of legislation. By 2013–2014, the total had fallen to 212.Drew Desilver, “In Late Spurt of Activity, Congress Avoids ‘Least Productive’ Title,” 29 December 2014, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/12/29/in-late-spurt-of-activity-congress-avoids-least-productive-title/ (March 16, 2016). Perhaps the clearest sign of Congress’ ineffectiveness is that the threat of government shutdown has become a constant. Shutdowns occur when Congress and the president are unable to authorize and appropriate funds before the current budget runs out. This is now an annual problem. Relations between the two parties became so bad that financial markets were sent into turmoil in 2014 when Congress failed to increase the government’s line of credit before a key deadline, thus threatening a U.S. government default on its loans. While any particular trend can be the result of multiple factors, the decline of key measures of institutional confidence and trust suggest the negative impact of polarization. Public approval ratings for Congress have been near single digits for several years, and a poll taken in February 2016 revealed that only 11 percent of respondents thought Congress was doing a “good or excellent job.”“Congressional Performance,” http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/congressional_performance (March 16, 2016). In the wake of the Great Recession, President Obama’s average approval rating remained low for several years, despite an overall trend in economic growth since the end of 2008, before he enjoyed an uptick in support during his final year in office.“Presidential Approval Ratings – Barack Obama,” http://www.gallup.com/poll/116479/barack-obama-presidential-job-approval.aspx (March 16, 2016). Typically, economic conditions are a significant driver of presidential approval, suggesting the negative effect of partisanship on presidential approval. THE CAUSES OF POLARIZATION Scholars agree that some degree of polarization is occurring in the United States, even if some contend it is only at the elite level. But they are less certain about exactly why, or how, polarization has become such a mainstay of American politics. Several conflicting theories have been offered. The first and perhaps best argument is that polarization is a party-in-government phenomenon driven by a decades-long sorting of the voting public, or a change in party allegiance in response to shifts in party position.Morris Fiorina, “Americans Have Not Become More Politically Polarized,” The Washington Post, 23 June 2014. According to the sorting thesis, before the 1950s, voters were mostly concerned with state-level party positions rather than national party concerns. Since parties are bottom-up institutions, this meant local issues dominated elections; it also meant national-level politicians typically paid more attention to local problems than to national party politics. But over the past several decades, voters have started identifying more with national-level party politics, and they began to demand their elected representatives become more attentive to national party positions. As a result, they have become more likely to pick parties that consistently represent national ideals, are more consistent in their candidate selection, and are more willing to elect office-holders likely to follow their party’s national agenda. One example of the way social change led to party sorting revolves around race. The Democratic Party returned to national power in the 1930s largely as the result of a coalition among low socio-economic status voters in northern and midwestern cities. These new Democratic voters were religiously and ethnically more diverse than the mostly white, mostly Protestant voters who supported Republicans. But the southern United States (often called the “Solid South”) had been largely dominated by Democratic politicians since the Civil War. These politicians agreed with other Democrats on most issues, but they were more evangelical in their religious beliefs and less tolerant on racial matters. The federal nature of the United States meant that Democrats in other parts of the country were free to seek alliances with minorities in their states. But in the South, African Americans were still largely disenfranchised well after Franklin Roosevelt had brought other groups into the Democratic tent. The Democratic alliance worked relatively well through the 1930s and 1940s when post-Depression politics revolved around supporting farmers and helping the unemployed. But in the late 1950s and early 1960s, social issues became increasingly prominent in national politics. Southern Democrats, who had supported giving the federal government authority for economic redistribution, began to resist calls for those powers to be used to restructure society. Many of these Democrats broke away from the party only to find a home among Republicans, who were willing to help promote smaller national government and greater states’ rights.Ian Haney-Lopez, “How the GOP Became the ‘White Man’s Party,’” 22 December 2013, https://www.salon.com/2013/12/22/how_the_gop_became_the_white_mans_party/ (March 16, 2016). This shift was largely completed with the rise of the evangelical movement in politics, when it shepherded its supporters away from Jimmy Carter, an evangelical Christian, to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election. At the same time social issues were turning the Solid South towards the Republican Party, they were having the opposite effect in the North and West. Moderate Republicans, who had been champions of racial equality since the time of Lincoln, worked with Democrats to achieve social reform. These Republicans found it increasing difficult to remain in their party as it began to adjust to the growing power of the small government–states’ rights movement. A good example was Senator Arlen Specter, a moderate Republican who represented Pennsylvania and ultimately switched to become a Democrat before the end of his political career. A second possible culprit in increased polarization is the impact of technology on the public square. Before the 1950s, most people got their news from regional newspapers and local radio stations. While some national programming did exist, most editorial control was in the hands of local publishers and editorial boards. These groups served as a filter of sorts as they tried to meet the demands of local markets. As described in detail in the media chapter, the advent of television changed that. Television was a powerful tool, with national news and editorial content that provided the same message across the country. All viewers saw the same images of the women’s rights movement and the war in Vietnam. The expansion of news coverage to cable, and the consolidation of local news providers into big corporate conglomerates, amplified this nationalization. Average citizens were just as likely to learn what it meant to be a Republican from a politician in another state as from one in their own, and national news coverage made it much more difficult for politicians to run away from their votes. The information explosion that followed the heyday of network TV by way of cable, the Internet, and blogs has furthered this nationalization trend. A final possible cause for polarization is the increasing sophistication of gerrymandering, or the manipulation of legislative districts in an attempt to favor a particular candidate (Figure). According to the gerrymandering thesis, the more moderate or heterogeneous a voting district, the more moderate the politician’s behavior once in office. Taking extreme or one-sided positions on a large number of issues would be hazardous for a member who needs to build a diverse electoral coalition. But if the district has been drawn to favor a particular group, it now is necessary for the elected official to serve only the portion of the constituency that dominates. Gerrymandering is a centuries-old practice. There has always been an incentive for legislative bodies to draw districts in such a way that sitting legislators have the best chance of keeping their jobs. But changes in law and technology have transformed gerrymandering from a crude art into a science. The first advance came with the introduction of the “one-person-one-vote” principle by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1962. Before then, it was common for many states to practice redistricting, or redrawing of their electoral maps, only if they gained or lost seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. This can happen once every ten years as a result of a constitutionally mandated reapportionment process, in which the number of House seats given to each state is adjusted to account for population changes. But if there was no change in the number of seats, there was little incentive to shift district boundaries. After all, if a legislator had won election based on the current map, any change to the map could make losing seats more likely. Even when reapportionment led to new maps, most legislators were more concerned with protecting their own seats than with increasing the number of seats held by their party. As a result, some districts had gone decades without significant adjustment, even as the U.S. population changed from largely rural to largely urban. By the early 1960s, some electoral districts had populations several times greater than those of their more rural neighbors. However, in its one-person-one-vote decision in Reynolds v. Simms (1964), the Supreme Court argued that everyone’s vote should count roughly the same regardless of where they lived.Reynolds v. Simms, 379 U.S. 870 (1964). Districts had to be adjusted so they would have roughly equal populations. Several states therefore had to make dramatic changes to their electoral maps during the next two redistricting cycles (1970–1972 and 1980–1982). Map designers, no longer certain how to protect individual party members, changed tactics to try and create safe seats so members of their party could be assured of winning by a comfortable margin. The basic rule of thumb was that designers sought to draw districts in which their preferred party had a 55 percent or better chance of winning a given district, regardless of which candidate the party nominated. Of course, many early efforts at post-Reynolds gerrymandering were crude since map designers had no good way of knowing exactly where partisans lived. At best, designers might have a rough idea of voting patterns between precincts, but they lacked the ability to know voting patterns in individual blocks or neighborhoods. They also had to contend with the inherent mobility of the U.S. population, which meant the most carefully drawn maps could be obsolete just a few years later. Designers were often forced to use crude proxies for party, such as race or the socio-economic status of a neighborhood (Figure). Some maps were so crude they were ruled unconstitutionally discriminatory by the courts. Proponents of the gerrymandering thesis point out that the decline in the number of moderate voters began during this period of increased redistricting. But it wasn’t until later, they argue, that the real effects could be seen. A second advance in redistricting, via computer-aided map making, truly transformed gerrymandering into a science. Refined computing technology, the ability to collect data about potential voters, and the use of advanced algorithms have given map makers a good deal of certainty about where to place district boundaries to best predetermine the outcomes. These factors also provided better predictions about future population shifts, making the effects of gerrymandering more stable over time. Proponents argue that this increased efficiency in map drawing has led to the disappearance of moderates in Congress. According to political scientist Nolan McCarty, there is little evidence to support the redistricting hypothesis alone. First, he argues, the Senate has become polarized just as the House of Representatives has, but people vote for Senators on a statewide basis. There are no gerrymandered voting districts in elections for senators. Research showing that more partisan candidates first win election to the House before then running successfully for the Senate, however, helps us understand how the Senate can also become partisan.Sean Theriault. 2013. The Gingrich Senators: The Roots of Partisan Warfare in Congress. New York: Oxford University Press. Furthermore, states like Wyoming and Vermont, which have only one Representative and thus elect House members on a statewide basis as well, have consistently elected people at the far ends of the ideological spectrum.Nolan McCarty, “Hate Our Polarized Politics? Why You Can’t Blame Gerrymandering,” The Washington Post, 26 October 2012. Redistricting did contribute to polarization in the House of Representatives, but it took place largely in districts that had undergone significant change.Jamie L. Carson et al., “Redistricting and Party Polarization in the U.S. House of Representatives,” American Politics Research 35, no. 6 (2007): 878–904. Furthermore, polarization has been occurring throughout the country, but the use of increasingly polarized district design has not. While some states have seen an increase in these practices, many states were already largely dominated by a single party (such as in the Solid South) but still elected moderate representatives. Some parts of the country have remained closely divided between the two parties, making overt attempts at gerrymandering difficult. But when coupled with the sorting phenomenon discussed above, redistricting probably is contributing to polarization, if only at the margins. The Politics of Redistricting Voters in a number of states have become so worried about the problem of gerrymandering that they have tried to deny their legislatures the ability to draw district boundaries. The hope is that by taking this power away from whichever party controls the state legislature, voters can ensure more competitive districts and fairer electoral outcomes. In 2000, voters in Arizona approved a referendum that created an independent state commission responsible for drafting legislative districts. But the Arizona legislature fought back against the creation of the commission, filing a lawsuit that claimed only the legislature had the constitutional right to draw districts. Legislators asked the courts to overturn the popular referendum and end the operation of the redistricting commission. However, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the authority of the independent commission in a 5–4 decision titled Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (2015).Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, 135 S. Ct. 2652 (2015). Currently, only five states use fully independent commissions—ones that do not include legislators or other elected officials—to draw the lines for both state legislative and congressional districts. These states are Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, and Washington. In Florida, the League of Women Voters and Common Cause challenged a new voting districts map supported by state Republicans, because they did not believe it fulfilled the requirements of amendments made to the state constitution in 2010 requiring that voting districts not favor any political party or incumbent.“Editorial: Republicans Should Accept Redistricting Defeat and Drop Talk of Appeals,” 10 January 2016, http://www.fairdistrictsnow.org/news/661/ (March 16, 2016). Do you think redistricting is a partisan issue? Should commissions draw districts instead of legislators? If commissions are given this task, who should serve on them? Think you have what it takes to gerrymander a district? Play the redistricting game and see whether you can find new ways to help out old politicians. Summary A divided government makes it difficult for elected officials to achieve their policy goals. This problem has gotten worse as U.S. political parties have become increasingly polarized over the past several decades. They are both more likely to fight with each other and more internally divided than just a few decades ago. Some possible causes include sorting and improved gerrymandering, although neither alone offers a completely satisfactory explanation. But whatever the cause, polarization is having negative short-term consequences on American politics. What are the positives and negatives of partisan polarization? What is the sorting thesis, and what does it suggest as the cause of party polarization? Hint: The sorting thesis says that voters change party allegiances in response to shifts in party position. It suggests that polarization is a function of voters’ paying more attention to national politics and voting more consistently. Does gerrymandering lead to increased polarization? How have the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street Movement affected partisan politics? Hint: They have pulled their respective parties further to the ideological poles and have changed the issues parties consider. They may also have made compromise more difficult. Is it possible for a serious third party to emerge in the United States, positioned ideologically between the Democrats on the left and the Republicans on the right? Why or why not? In what ways are political parties of the people and in what ways might they be more responsive to elites? If you were required to become active in some aspect of a political party, what activity and level of party organization would you choose and why? Is it preferable for the U.S. government to have unified party control or divided government? Why? In general, do parties make the business of government easier or harder to accomplish? Aldrich, John. 1995. Why Parties? Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Brewer, Mark D., and L. Sandy Maisel. 2013. The Parties Respond: Changes in American Parties and Campaigns, 5th ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. Brunell, Thomas L. 2008. Redistricting and Representation: Why Competitive Elections are Bad for America. New York: Routledge Press. Cox, Gary W., and Jonathan Katz. 2002. Elbridge Gerry’s Salamander: The Electoral Consequences of the Reapportionment Revolution. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Fiorina, Morris P. 2006. Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America. 2nd ed. New York: Pearson Longman. Hershey, Marjorie Randon. 2014. Party Politics in America, 16th ed. New York: Pearson Longman. Hibbing, John R., and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse. 1995. Congress as Public Enemy: Public Attitudes towards American Political Institutions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Keith, Bruce E., et al. 1992. The Myth of the Independent Voter. Berkeley, CA. Berkeley University Press. McCarthy, Nolan, Keith T. Poole and Howard Rosenthal. 2008. Polarized America: The Dance of Ideology and Unequal Riches. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Noel, Hans. 2014. Political Ideologies and Political Parties in America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sinclair, Barbara. 2005. Party Wars. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.920929	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15240/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15241/overview	Introduction The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, represented a substantial overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system.Lawrence R. Jacobs and Theda Skocpol 2010. Health Care Reform and American Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know Oxford: Oxford University Press. Given its potential impact, interest group representatives (lobbyists) from the insurance industry, hospitals, medical device manufacturers, and organizations representing doctors, patients, and employers all tried to influence what the law would look like and the way it would operate. Ordinary people took to the streets to voice their opinion (Figure). Some state governors sued to prevent a requirement in the law that their states expand Medicaid coverage. A number of interest groups challenged the law in court, where two Supreme Court decisions have left it largely intact. Interest groups like those for and against the ACA play a fundamental role in representing individuals, corporate interests, and the public before the government. They help inform the public and lawmakers about issues, monitor government actions, and promote policies that benefit their interests, using all three branches of government at the federal, state, and local levels. In this chapter, we answer several key questions about interest groups. What are they, and why and how do they form? How do they provide avenues for political participation? Why are some groups advantaged by the lobbying of government representatives, while others are disadvantaged? Finally, how do interest groups try to achieve their objectives, and how are they regulated?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.937718	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15241/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15242/overview	Interest Groups Defined Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain how interest groups differ from political parties - Evaluate the different types of interests and what they do - Compare public and private interest groups While the term interest group is not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, the framers were aware that individuals would band together in an attempt to use government in their favor. In Federalist No. 10, James Madison warned of the dangers of “factions,” minorities who would organize around issues they felt strongly about, possibly to the detriment of the majority. But Madison believed limiting these factions was worse than facing the evils they might produce, because such limitations would violate individual freedoms. Instead, the natural way to control factions was to let them flourish and compete against each other. The sheer number of interests in the United States suggests that many have, indeed, flourished. They compete with similar groups for membership, and with opponents for access to decision-makers. Some people suggest there may be too many interests in the United States. Others argue that some have gained a disproportionate amount of influence over public policy, whereas many others are underrepresented. Madison’s definition of factions can apply to both interest groups and political parties. But unlike political parties, interest groups do not function primarily to elect candidates under a certain party label or to directly control the operation of the government. Political parties in the United States are generally much broader coalitions that represent a significant proportion of citizens. In the American two-party system, the Democratic and Republican Parties spread relatively wide nets to try to encompass large segments of the population. In contrast, while interest groups may support or oppose political candidates, their goals are usually more issue-specific and narrowly focused on areas like taxes, the environment, and gun rights or gun control, or their membership is limited to specific professions. They may represent interests ranging from well-known organizations, such as the Sierra Club, IBM, or the American Lung Association, to obscure ones, such as the North Carolina Gamefowl Breeders Association. Thus, with some notable exceptions, specific interest groups have much more limited membership than do political parties. Political parties and interest groups both work together and compete for influence, although in different ways. While interest group activity often transcends party lines, many interests are perceived as being more supportive of one party than the other. The American Conservative Union, Citizens United, the National Rifle Association, and National Right to Life are more likely to have relationships with Republican lawmakers than with Democratic ones. Americans for Democratic Action, Moveon.org, and the Democratic Governors Association all have stronger relationships with the Democratic Party. Parties and interest groups do compete with each other, however, often for influence. At the state level, we typically observe an inverse relationship between them in terms of power. Interest groups tend to have greater influence in states where political parties are comparatively weaker. WHAT ARE INTEREST GROUPS AND WHAT DO THEY WANT? Definitions abound when it comes to interest groups, which are sometimes referred to as special interests, interest organizations, pressure groups, or just interests. Most definitions specify that interest group indicates any formal association of individuals or organizations that attempt to influence government decision-making and/or the making of public policy. Often, this influence is exercised by a lobbyist or a lobbying firm. Formally, a lobbyist is someone who represents the interest organization before government, is usually compensated for doing so, and is required to register with the government in which he or she lobbies, whether state or federal. The lobbyist’s primary goal is usually to influence policy. Most interest organizations engage in lobbying activity to achieve their objectives. As you might expect, the interest hires a lobbyist, employs one internally, or has a member volunteer to lobby on its behalf. For present purposes, we might restrict our definition to the relatively broad one in the Lobbying Disclosure Act.Anthony J. Nownes. 2013. Interest Groups in American Politics. Routledge: New York. This act requires the registration of lobbyists representing any interest group and devoting more than 20 percent of their time to it.Nownes, Interest Groups in American Politics. Clients and lobbying firms must also register with the federal government based on similar requirements. Moreover, campaign finance laws require disclosure of campaign contributions given to political candidates by organizations. Visit this site to research donations and campaign contributions given to political candidates by organizations. Lobbying is not limited to Washington, DC, however, and many interests lobby there as well as in one or more states. Each state has its own laws describing which individuals and entities must register, so the definitions of lobbyists and interests, and of what lobbying is and who must register to do it, also vary from state to state. Therefore, while a citizen contacting a lawmaker to discuss an issue is generally not viewed as lobbying, an organization that devotes a certain amount of time and resources to contacting lawmakers may be classified as lobbying, depending on local, state, or federal law. Largely for this reason, there is no comprehensive list of all interest groups to tell us how many there are in the United States. Estimates of the number vary widely, suggesting that if we use a broad definition and include all interests at all levels of government, there may be more than 200,000.Nownes, Interest Groups in American Politics. Following the passage of the Lobbying Disclosure Act in 1995, we had a much better understanding of the number of interests registered in Washington, DC; however, it was not until several years later that we had a complete count and categorization of the interests registered in each of the fifty states.Jennifer Wolak, Adam J. Newmark, Todd McNoldy, David Lowery, and Virginia Gray, “Much of Politics is Still Local: Multistate Representation in State Interest Communities,” Legislative Studies Quarterly 27 (2002): 527–555. Political scientists have categorized interest groups in a number of ways.Anthony J. Nownes and Adam J. Newmark. 2013. “Interest Groups in the States.” In Politics in the American States. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 105–131. First, interest groups may take the form of membership organizations, which individuals join voluntarily and to which they usually pay dues. Membership groups often consist of people who have common issues or concerns, or who want to be with others who share their views. The National Rifle Association (NRA) is a membership group consisting of members who promote gun rights (Figure). For those who advocate greater regulation of access to firearms, such as background checks prior to gun purchases, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence is a membership organization that weighs in on the other side of the issue.The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence was founded by James and Sarah Brady, after James Brady was permanently disabled by a gunshot following an assassination attempt on then-president Ronald Reagan. At the time of the shooting, Brady was Reagan’s press secretary. http://www.bradycampaign.org/jim-and-sarah-brady (March 1, 2016). Interest groups may also form to represent companies, corporate organizations, and governments. These groups do not have individual members but rather are offshoots of corporate or governmental entities with a compelling interest to be represented in front of one or more branches of government. Verizon and Coca-Cola will register to lobby in order to influence policy in a way that benefits them. These corporations will either have one or more in-house lobbyists, who work for one interest group or firm and represent their organization in a lobbying capacity, and/or will hire a contract lobbyist, individuals who work for firms that represent a multitude of clients and are often hired because of their resources and their ability to contact and lobby lawmakers, to represent them before the legislature. Governments such as municipalities and executive departments such as the Department of Education register to lobby in an effort to maximize their share of budgets or increase their level of autonomy. These government institutions are represented by a legislative liaison, whose job is to present issues to decision-makers. For example, a state university usually employs a lobbyist, legislative liaison, or government affairs person to represent its interests before the legislature. This includes lobbying for a given university’s share of the budget or for its continued autonomy from lawmakers and other state-level officials who may attempt to play a greater oversight role. In 2015, thirteen states had their higher education budgets cut from the previous year, and nearly all states have seen some cuts to higher education funding since the recession began in 2008.Michael Mitchell and Michael Leachman, “Years of Cuts Threaten to Put College Out of Reach for More Students,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 13 May 2015, http://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/years-of-cuts-threaten-to-put-college-out-of-reach-for-more-students. In 2015, as in many states, universities and community colleges in Mississippi lobbied the legislature over pending budget cuts.Robert Davidson, “Higher Ed Lobbies for More Funds,” http://www.wcbi.com/local-news/higher-ed-lobbies-for-more-funds/ (November 3, 2015). These examples highlight the need for universities and state university systems to have representation before the legislature. On the federal level, universities may lobby for research funds from government departments. For example, the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security may be willing to fund scientific research that might better enable them to defend the nation. Interest groups also include associations, which are typically groups of institutions that join with others, often within the same trade or industry (trade associations), and have similar concerns. The American Beverage Associationhttp://www.ameribev.org/ (March 1, 2016). includes Coca-Cola, Red Bull North America, ROCKSTAR, and Kraft Foods. Despite the fact that these companies are competitors, they have common interests related to the manufacturing, bottling, and distribution of beverages, as well as the regulation of their business activities. The logic is that there is strength in numbers, and if members can lobby for tax breaks or eased regulations for an entire industry, they may all benefit. These common goals do not, however, prevent individual association members from employing in-house lobbyists or contract lobbying firms to represent their own business or organization as well. Indeed, many members of associations are competitors who also seek representation individually before the legislature. Visit the website of an association like the American Beverage Association or the American Bankers Association and look over the key issues it addresses. Do any of the issues it cares about surprise you? What areas do you think members can agree about? Are there issues on which the membership might disagree? Why would competitors join together when they normally compete for business? Finally, sometimes individuals volunteer to represent an organization. They are called amateur or volunteer lobbyists, and are typically not compensated for their lobbying efforts. In some cases, citizens may lobby for pet projects because they care about some issue or cause. They may or may not be members of an interest group, but if they register to lobby, they are sometimes nicknamed “hobbyists.” Lobbyists representing a variety of organizations employ different techniques to achieve their objectives. One method is inside lobbying or direct lobbying, which takes the interest group’s message directly to a government official such as a lawmaker.Nownes and Newmark, “Interest Groups in the States.” Inside lobbying tactics include testifying in legislative hearings and helping to draft legislation. Numerous surveys of lobbyists have confirmed that the vast majority rely on these inside strategies. For example, nearly all report that they contact lawmakers, testify before the legislature, help draft legislation, and contact executive agencies. Trying to influence government appointments or providing favors to members of government are somewhat less common insider tactics. Many lobbyists also use outside lobbying or indirect lobbying tactics, whereby the interest attempts to get its message out to the public.Ken Kollman. 1998. Outside Lobbying: Public Opinion and Interest Groups Strategies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. These tactics include issuing press releases, placing stories and articles in the media, entering coalitions with other groups, and contacting interest group members, hoping that they will individually pressure lawmakers to support or oppose legislation. An environmental interest group like the Sierra Club, for example, might issue a press release or encourage its members to contact their representatives in Congress about legislation of concern to the group. It might also use outside tactics if there is a potential threat to the environment and the group wants to raise awareness among its members and the public (Figure). Members of Congress are likely to pay attention when many constituents contact them about an issue or proposed bill. Many interest groups, including the Sierra Club, will use a combination of inside and outside tactics in their lobbying efforts, choosing whatever strategy is most likely to help them achieve their goals. The primary goal of most interests, no matter their lobbying approach, is to influence decision-makers and public policies. For example, National Right to Life, an anti-abortion interest group, lobbies to encourage government to enact laws that restrict abortion access, while NARAL Pro-Choice America lobbies to promote the right of women to have safe choices about abortion. Environmental interests like the Sierra Club lobby for laws designed to protect natural resources and minimize the use of pollutants. On the other hand, some interests lobby to reduce regulations that an organization might view as burdensome. Air and water quality regulations designed to improve or protect the environment may be viewed as onerous by industries that pollute as a byproduct of their production or manufacturing process. Other interests lobby for budgetary allocations; the farm lobby, for example, pressures Congress to secure new farm subsidies or maintain existing ones. Farm subsidies are given to some farmers because they grow certain crops and to other farmers so they will not grow certain crops.“Milking Taxpayers,” The Economist, 14 February 2015, http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21643191-crop-prices-fall-farmers-grow-subsidies-instead-milking-taxpayers. As expected, any bill that might attempt to alter these subsidies raises the antennae of many agricultural interests. INTEREST GROUP FUNCTIONS While influencing policy is the primary goal, interest groups also monitor government activity, serve as a means of political participation for members, and provide information to the public and to lawmakers. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, by November 2015, thirty-six states had laws requiring that voters provide identification at the polls.http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/voter-id.aspx (November 78, 2015). A civil rights group like the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) will keep track of proposed voter-identification bills in state legislatures that might have an effect on voting rights. This organization will contact lawmakers to voice approval or disapproval of proposed legislation (inside lobbying) and encourage group members to take action by either donating money to it or contacting lawmakers about the proposed bill (outside lobbying). Thus, a member of the organization or a citizen concerned about voting rights need not be an expert on the legislative process or the technical or legal details of a proposed bill to be informed about potential threats to voting rights. Other interest groups function in similar ways. For example, the NRA monitors attempts by state legislatures to tighten gun control laws. Interest groups facilitate political participation in a number of ways. Some members become active within a group, working on behalf of the organization to promote its agenda. Some interests work to increase membership, inform the public about issues the group deems important, or organize rallies and promote get-out-the-vote efforts. Sometimes groups will utilize events to mobilize existing members or encourage new members to join. For example, following Barack Obama’s presidential victory in 2008, the NRA used the election as a rallying cry for its supporters, and it continues to attack the president on the issue of guns, despite the fact that gun rights have in some ways expanded over the course of the Obama presidency. Interest groups also organize letter-writing campaigns, stage protests, and sometimes hold fundraisers for their cause or even for political campaigns. Some interests are more broadly focused than others. AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons) has approximately thirty-seven million members and advocates for individuals fifty and over on a variety of issues including health care, insurance, employment, financial security, and consumer protection (Figure).http://www.aarp.org/about-aarp/ (October 3, 2015). This organization represents both liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, and many who do not identify with these categorizations. On the other hand, the Association of Black Cardiologists is a much smaller and far-narrower organization. Over the last several decades, some interest groups have sought greater specialization and have even fragmented. As you may imagine, the Association of Black Cardiologists is more specialized than the American Medical Association, which tries to represent all physicians regardless of race or specialty. PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE INTEREST GROUPS Interest groups and organizations represent both private and public interests in the United States. Private interests usually seek particularized benefits from government that favor either a single interest or a narrow set of interests. For example, corporations and political institutions may lobby government for tax exemptions, fewer regulations, or favorable laws that benefit individual companies or an industry more generally. Their goal is to promote private goods. Private goods are items individuals can own, including corporate profits. An automobile is a private good; when you purchase it, you receive ownership. Wealthy individuals are more likely to accumulate private goods, and they can sometimes obtain private goods from governments, such as tax benefits, government subsidies, or government contracts. On the other hand, public interest groups attempt to promote public, or collective, goods. Such collective goods are benefits—tangible or intangible—that help most or all citizens. These goods are often produced collectively, and because they may not be profitable and everyone may not agree on what public goods are best for society, they are often underfunded and thus will be underproduced unless there is government involvement. The Tennessee Valley Authority, a government corporation, provides electricity in some places where it is not profitable for private firms to do so. Other examples of collective goods are public safety, highway safety, public education, and environmental protection. With some exceptions, if an environmental interest promotes clean air or water, most or all citizens are able to enjoy the result. So if the Sierra Club encourages Congress to pass legislation that improves national air quality, citizens receive the benefit regardless of whether they are members of the organization or even support the legislation. Many environmental groups are public interest groups that lobby for and raise awareness of issues that affect large segments of the population.Jeffrey M. Berry and Clyde Wilcox. 2009. The Interest Group Society. New York: Pearson. As the clean air example above suggests, collective goods are generally nonexcludable, meaning all or most people are entitled to the public good and cannot be prevented from enjoying it. Furthermore, collective goods are generally not subject to crowding, so that even as the population increases, people still have access to the entire public good. Thus, the military does not protect citizens only in Texas and Maryland while neglecting those in New York and Idaho, but instead it provides the collective good of national defense equally to citizens in all states. As another example, even as more cars use a public roadway, under most circumstances, additional drivers still have the option of using the same road. (High-occupancy vehicle lanes may restrict some lanes of a highway for drivers who do not car pool.) Summary Some interest groups represent a broad set of interests, while others focus on only a single issue. Some interests are organizations, like businesses, corporations, or governments, which register to lobby, typically to obtain some benefit from the legislature. Other interest groups consist of dues-paying members who join a group, usually voluntarily. Some organizations band together, often joining trade associations that represent their industry or field. Interest groups represent either the public interest or private interests. Private interests often lobby government for particularized benefits, which are narrowly distributed. These benefits usually accrue to wealthier members of society. Public interests, on the other hand, try to represent a broad segment of society or even all persons. Someone who lobbies on behalf of a company that he or she works for as part of his or her job is ________. - an in-house lobbyist - a volunteer lobbyist - a contract lobbyist - a legislative liaison Hint: A How are collective goods different from private goods? - Collective goods offer particularized benefits, while private goods are broadly distributed. - Collective goods and private goods both offer particularized benefits. - Collective goods and private goods both offer broadly distributed benefits. - Collective goods offer broadly distributed benefits, while private goods offer particularized benefits. Why might several competing corporations join together in an association? - because there is often strength in numbers - because they often have common issues that may affect an entire industry - because they can all benefit from governmental policies - all the above Hint: D What benefits do private and public interests bring to society? What are some disadvantages of private and public interests?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.967224	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15242/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15243/overview	Collective Action and Interest Group Formation Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Explain the concept of collective action and its effect on interest group formation - Describe free riding and the reasons it occurs - Discuss ways to overcome collective action problems In any group project in which you have participated, you may have noticed that a small number of students did the bulk of the work while others did very little. Yet everyone received the same grade. Why do some do all the work, while others do little or none? How is it possible to get people to work when there is a disincentive to do so? This situation is an example of a collective action problem, and it exists in government as well as in public and private organizations. Whether it is Congress trying to pass a budget or an interest group trying to motivate members to contact lawmakers, organizations must overcome collective action problems to be productive. This is especially true of interest groups, whose formation and survival depend on members doing the necessary work to keep the group funded and operating. COLLECTIVE ACTION AND FREE RIDING Collective action problems exist when people have a disincentive to take action.Mancur Olson, Jr. 1965. The Logic of Collective Action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; Frank R. Baumgartner and Beth L. Leech. Basic Interests: The Importance of Groups in Political Science. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. In his classic work, The Logic of Collective Action, economist Mancur Olson discussed the conditions under which collective actions problems would exist, and he noted that they were prevalent among organized interests. People tend not to act when the perceived benefit is insufficient to justify the costs associated with engaging in the action. Many citizens may have concerns about the appropriate level of taxation, gun control, or environmental protection, but these concerns are not necessarily strong enough for them to become politically active. In fact, most people take no action on most issues, either because they do not feel strongly enough or because their action will likely have little bearing on whether a given policy is adopted. Thus, there is a disincentive to call your member of Congress, because rarely will a single phone call sway a politician on an issue. Why do some students elect to do little on a group project? The answer is that they likely prefer to do something else and realize they can receive the same grade as the rest of the group without contributing to the effort. This result is often termed the free rider problem, because some individuals can receive benefits (get a free ride) without helping to bear the cost. When National Public Radio (NPR) engages in a fund-raising effort to help maintain the station, many listeners will not contribute. Since it is unlikely that any one listener’s donation will be decisive in whether NPR has adequate funding to continue to operate, most listeners will not contribute to the costs but instead will free ride and continue to receive the benefits of listening. Collective action problems and free riding occur in many other situations as well. If union membership is optional and all workers will receive a salary increase regardless of whether they make the time and money commitment to join, some workers may free ride. The benefits sought by unions, such as higher wages, collective bargaining rights, and safer working conditions, are often enjoyed by all workers regardless of whether they are members. Therefore, free riders can receive the benefit of the pay increase without helping defray the cost by paying dues, attending meetings or rallies, or joining protests, like that shown in Figure. If free riding is so prevalent, why are there so many interest groups and why is interest group membership so high in the United States? One reason is that free riding can be overcome in a variety of ways. Olson argued, for instance, that some groups are better able than others to surmount collective action problems.Olson, Jr., The Logic of Collective Action. They can sometimes maintain themselves by obtaining financial support from patrons outside the group.Jack Walker, “The Origin and Maintenance of Interest Groups in America,” American Political Science Review 77 (1983): 390–406. Groups with financial resources have an advantage in mobilizing in that they can offer incentives or hire a lobbyist. Smaller, well-organized groups also have an advantage. For one thing, opinions within smaller groups may be more similar, making it easier to reach consensus. It is also more difficult for members to free ride in a smaller group. In comparison, larger groups have a greater number of individuals and therefore more viewpoints to consider, making consensus more difficult. It may also be easier to free ride because it is less obvious in a large group when any single person does not contribute. However, if people do not lobby for their own interests, they may find that they are ignored, especially if smaller but more active groups with interests opposed to theirs lobby on behalf of themselves. Even though the United States is a democracy, policy is often made to suit the interests of the few instead of the needs of the many. Group leaders also play an important role in overcoming collective action problems. For instance, political scientist Robert Salisbury suggests that group leaders will offer incentives to induce activity among individuals.Robert Salisbury, “An Exchange Theory of Interest Groups,” Midwest Journal of Political Science 13 (1969): 1–32; Peter B. Clark and James Q. Wilson, “Incentive Systems: A Theory of Organizations,” Administration Science Quarterly 6 (1961): 129–166. Some offer material incentives, which are tangible benefits of joining a group. AARP, for example, offers discounts on hotel accommodations and insurance rates for its members, while dues are very low, so they can actually save money by joining. Group leaders may also offer solidary incentives, which provide the benefit of joining with others who have the same concerns or are similar in other ways. Some scholars suggest that people are naturally drawn to others with similar concerns. The NAACP is a civil rights groups concerned with promoting equality and eliminating discrimination based on race, and members may join to associate with others who have dealt with issues of inequality.https://www.naacp.org/ (March 1, 2016). Similarly, purposive incentives focus on the issues or causes promoted by the group. Someone concerned about protecting individual rights might join a group like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) because it supports the liberties guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, even the free expression of unpopular views.https://www.aclu.org/ (March 1, 2016). Members of the ACLU sometimes find the messages of those they defend (including Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan) deplorable, but they argue that the principle of protecting civil liberties is critical to U.S. democracy. In many ways, the organization’s stance is analogous to James Madison’s defense of factions mentioned earlier in this chapter. A commitment to protecting rights and liberties can serve as an incentive in overcoming collective action problems, because members or potential members care enough about the issues to join or participate. Thus, interest groups and their leadership will use whatever incentives they have at their disposal to overcome collective action problems and mobilize their members. Finally, sometimes collective action problems are overcome because there is little choice about whether to join an organization. For example, some organizations may require membership in order to participate in a profession. To practice law, individuals may be required to join the American Bar Association or a state bar association. In the past, union membership could be required of workers, particularly in urban areas controlled by political machines consisting of a combination of parties, elected representatives, and interest groups. Visit the Free Rider Problem for a closer look at free riding as a philosophical problem. Think of a situation you have been in where a collective action problem existed or someone engaged in free riding behavior. Why did the collective action problem or free riding occur? What could have been done to overcome the problem? How will knowledge of these problems affect the way you act in future group settings? DISTURBANCE THEORY AND COLLECTIVE ACTION In addition to the factors discussed above that can help overcome collective action problems, external events can sometimes help mobilize groups and potential members. Some scholars argue that disturbance theory can explain why groups mobilize due to an event in the political, economic, or social environment.David Truman. 1951. The Governmental Process. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. For example, in 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, a book exposing the dangers posed by pesticides such as DDT.Rachel Caron. 1962. A Silent Spring. New York: Mariner Books. The book served as a catalyst for individuals worried about the environment and the potential dangers of pesticides. The result was an increase in both the number of environmental interest groups, such as Greenpeace and American Rivers, and the number of members within them. More recently, several shooting deaths of unarmed young African American men have raised awareness of racial issues in the United States and potential problems in policing practices. In 2014, Ferguson, Missouri, erupted in protests and riots following a decision not to indict Darren Wilson, a white police officer, in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, who had allegedly been involved in a theft at a local convenience store and ended up in a dispute with the officer.“Hundreds of Ferguson Protesters March in Downtown D.C.,” http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Ferguson-Protests-Planned-for-DC-Baltimore-Tuesday-283807831.html (March 1, 2016). The incident mobilized groups representing civil rights, such as the protestors in Figure, as well as others supporting the interests of police officers. Both the Silent Spring and Ferguson examples demonstrate the idea that people will naturally join groups in response to disturbances. Some mobilization efforts develop more slowly and may require the efforts of group leaders. Sometimes political candidates can push issues to the forefront, which may result in interest group mobilization. The recent focus on immigration, for example, has resulted in the mobilization of those in support of restrictive policies as well as those opposed to them (Figure). Rather than being a single disturbance, debate about immigration policy has ebbed and flowed in recent years, creating what might best be described as a series of minor disturbances. When, during his presidential candidacy, Donald Trump made controversial statements about immigrants, many rallied both for and against him.Jenna Johnson, “Immigration continues to be Donald Trump’s rallying issue,” Washington Post, 22 October 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/10/22/immigration-continues-to-be-donald-trumps-rallying-issue/. Student Activism and Apathy Student behavior is somewhat paradoxical when it comes to political participation. On one hand, students have been very active on college campuses at various times over the past half-century. Many became politically active in the 1960s as part of the civil rights movement, with some joining campus groups that promoted civil rights, while others supported groups that opposed these rights. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, college campuses were very active in opposition to the Vietnam War. More recently, in 2015, students at the University of Missouri protested against the university system president, who was accused of not taking racial issues at the university seriously. The student protests were supported by civil rights groups like the NAACP, and their efforts culminated in the president’s resignation.http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/2015/11/09/springfield-naacp-responds-mu-president-resignation/75473312/ (March 1, 2016). Yet at the same time, students participate by voting and joining groups at lower rates than members of other age cohorts. Why is it the case that students can play such an important role in facilitating political change in some cases, while at the same time they are typically less active than other demographic groups? Are there groups on campus that represent issues important to you? If not, find out what you could do to start such a group. Summary Interest groups often have to contend with disincentives to participate, particularly when individuals realize their participation is not critical to a group’s success. People often free ride when they can obtain benefits without contributing to the costs of obtaining these benefits. To overcome these challenges, group leaders may offer incentives to members or potential members to help them mobilize. Groups that are small, wealthy, and/or better organized are sometimes better able to overcome collective action problems. Sometimes external political, social, or economic disturbances result in interest group mobilization. What type of incentives appeal to someone’s concern about a cause? - solidary incentives - purposive incentives - material incentives - negative incentives Hint: B Which of the following is the best example of a solidary benefit? - joining a group to be with others like you - joining a group to obtain a monetary benefit - joining a group because you care about a cause - joining a group because it is a requirement of your job What are some ways to overcome collective action problems? Hint: Incentives that help overcome collective action problems include material, solidary, and purposive benefits. These are often offered by group leaders. Sometimes, political, economic, or social disturbances help overcome collective action problems by mobilizing groups. Why do some groups have an easier time overcoming collective action problems?	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:51.994102	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15243/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15244/overview	Interest Groups as Political Participation Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Analyze how interest groups provide a means for political participation - Discuss recent changes to interest groups and the way they operate in the United States - Explain why lower socioeconomic status citizens are not well represented by interest groups - Identify the barriers to interest group participation in the United States Interest groups offer individuals an important avenue for political participation. Tea Party protests, for instance, gave individuals all over the country the opportunity to voice their opposition to government actions and control. Likewise, the Occupy Wall Street movement also gave a voice to those individuals frustrated with economic inequality and the influence of large corporations on the public sector. Individually, the protestors would likely have received little notice, but by joining with others, they drew substantial attention in the media and from lawmakers (Figure). While the Tea Party movement might not meet the definition of interest groups presented earlier, its aims have been promoted by established interest groups. Other opportunities for participation that interest groups offer or encourage include voting, campaigning, contacting lawmakers, and informing the public about causes. GROUP PARTICIPATION AS CIVIC ENGAGEMENT Joining interest groups can help facilitate civic engagement, which allows people to feel more connected to the political and social community. Some interest groups develop as grassroots movements, which often begin from the bottom up among a small number of people at the local level. Interest groups can amplify the voices of such individuals through proper organization and allow them to participate in ways that would be less effective or even impossible alone or in small numbers. The Tea Party is an example of a so-called astroturf movement, because it is not, strictly speaking, a grassroots movement. Many trace the party’s origins to groups that champion the interests of the wealthy such as Americans for Prosperity and Citizens for a Sound Economy. Although many ordinary citizens support the Tea Party because of its opposition to tax increases, it attracts a great deal of support from elite and wealthy sponsors, some of whom are active in lobbying. The FreedomWorks political action committee (PAC), for example, is a conservative advocacy group that has supported the Tea Party movement. FreedomWorks is an offshoot of the interest group Citizens for a Sound Economy, which was founded by billionaire industrialists David H. and Charles G. Koch in 1984. According to political scientists Jeffrey Berry and Clyde Wilcox, interest groups provide a means of representing people and serve as a link between them and government.See in general Jeffrey M. Berry and Clyde Wilcox. 2008. The Interest Group Society. 5th ed. New York: Routledge. Interest groups also allow people to actively work on an issue in an effort to influence public policy. Another function of interest groups is to help educate the public. Someone concerned about the environment may not need to know what an acceptable level of sulfur dioxide is in the air, but by joining an environmental interest group, he or she can remain informed when air quality is poor or threatened by legislative action. A number of education-related interests have been very active following cuts to education spending in many states, including North Carolina, Mississippi, and Wisconsin, to name a few. Interest groups also help frame issues, usually in a way that best benefits their cause. Abortion rights advocates often use the term “pro-choice” to frame abortion as an individual’s private choice to be made free of government interference, while an anti-abortion group might use the term “pro-life” to frame its position as protecting the life of the unborn. “Pro-life” groups often label their opponents as “pro-abortion,” rather than “pro-choice,” a distinction that can affect the way the public perceives the issue. Similarly, scientists and others who believe that human activity has had a negative effect on the earth’s temperature and weather patterns attribute such phenomena as the increasing frequency and severity of storms to “climate change.” Industrialists and their supporters refer to alterations in the earth’s climate as “global warming.” Those who dispute that such a change is taking place can thus point to blizzards and low temperatures as evidence that the earth is not becoming warmer. Interest groups also try to get issues on the government agenda and to monitor a variety of government programs. Following the passage of the ACA, numerous interest groups have been monitoring the implementation of the law, hoping to use successes and failures to justify their positions for and against the legislation. Those opposed have utilized the court system to try to alter or eliminate the law, or have lobbied executive agencies or departments that have a role in the law’s implementation. Similarly, teachers’ unions, parent-teacher organizations, and other education-related interests have monitored implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act promoted and signed into law by President George W. Bush. Interest Groups as a Response to Riots The LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) movement owes a great deal to the gay rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s, and in particular to the 1969 riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York’s Greenwich Village. These were a series of violent responses to a police raid on the bar, a popular gathering place for members of the LGBT community. The riots culminated in a number of arrests but also raised awareness of the struggles faced by members of the gay and lesbian community.David Carter. 2010. Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin. The Stonewall Inn has recently been granted landmark status by New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (Figure). The Castro district in San Francisco, California, was also home to a significant LGBT community during the same time period. In 1978, the community was shocked when Harvey Milk, a gay local activist and sitting member of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors, was assassinated by a former city supervisor due to political differences.http://milkfoundation.org/about/harvey-milk-biography/ (November 8, 2015). This resulted in protests in San Francisco and other cities across the country and the mobilization of interests concerned about gay and lesbian rights. Today, advocacy interest organizations like Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Council are at the forefront in supporting members of the LGBT community and popularizing a number of relevant issues. They played an active role in the effort to legalize same-sex marriage in individual states and later nationwide. Now that same-sex marriage is legal, these organizations and others are dealing with issues related to continuing discrimination against members of this community. One current debate centers around whether an individual’s religious freedom allows him or her to deny services to members of the LGBT community. What do you feel are lingering issues for the LGBT community? What approaches could you take to help increase attention and support for gay and lesbian rights? Do you think someone’s religious beliefs should allow them the freedom to discriminate against members of the LGBT community? Why or why not? TRENDS IN PUBLIC INTEREST GROUP FORMATION AND ACTIVITY A number of changes in interest groups have taken place over the last three or four decades in the United States. The most significant change is the tremendous increase in both the number and type of groups.Clive S. Thomas and Ronald J. Hrebenar. 1990. “Interest Groups in the States.” In Politics in the American States: A Comparative Analysis, 5th ed., eds. Virginia Gray, Herbert Jacob, and Robert B. Albritton. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman, 123–158; Clive S. Thomas and Ronald J. Hrebenar. 1991. “Nationalization of Interest Groups and Lobbying in the States.” In Interest Group Politics, 3d ed., eds. Allan J. Cigler and Burdett A. Loomis. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 63–80; Clive S. Thomas and Ronald J. Hrebenar. 1996. “Interest Groups in the States.” In Politics in the American States: A Comparative Analysis, 6th ed., eds. Virginia Gray, and Herbert Jacob. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 122–158; Clive S. Thomas and Ronald J. Hrebenar. 1999. “Interest Groups in the States.” In Politics in the American States: A Comparative Analysis, 7th ed., eds. Virginia Gray, Russell L. Hanson, and Herbert Jacob. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 113–143; Clive S. Thomas and Ronald J. Hrebenar. 2004. “Interest Groups in the States.” In Politics in the American States: A Comparative Analysis, 8th ed., eds. Virginia Gray and Russell L. Hanson. Washington, DC: CQ Press, 100–128. Political scientists often examine the diversity of registered groups, in part to determine how well they reflect the variety of interests in society. Some areas may be dominated by certain industries, while others may reflect a multitude of interests. Some interests appear to have increased at greater rates than others. For example, the number of institutions and corporate interests has increased both in Washington and in the states. Telecommunication companies like Verizon and AT&T will lobby Congress for laws beneficial to their businesses, but they also target the states because state legislatures make laws that can benefit or harm their activities. There has also been an increase in the number of public interest groups that represent the public as opposed to economic interests. U.S. PIRG is a public interest group that represents the public on issues including public health, the environment, and consumer protection.http://www.uspirg.org/ (November 1, 2015). Public Interest Research Groups Public interest research groups (PIRGs) have increased in recent years, and many now exist nationally and at the state level. PIRGs represent the public in a multitude of issue areas, ranging from consumer protection to the environment, and like other interests, they provide opportunities for people to make a difference in the political process. PIRGs try to promote the common or public good, and most issues they favor affect many or even all citizens. Student PIRGs focus on issues that are important to students, including tuition costs, textbook costs, new voter registration, sustainable universities, and homelessness. Consider the cost of a college education. You may want to research how education costs have increased over time. Are cost increases similar across universities and colleges? Are they similar across states? What might explain similarities and differences in tuition costs? What solutions might help address the rising costs of higher education? How can you get involved in the drive for affordable college education? Consider why students might become engaged in it and why they might not do so. A number of countries have made tuition free or nearly free.Rick Noack, “7 countries where Americans can study at universities, in English, for free (or almost free),” Washington Post, 29 October 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/10/29/7-countries-where-americans-can-study-at-universities-in-english-for-free-or-almost-free/. Is this feasible or desirable in the United States? Why or why not? Take a look at the website for Student PIRGs. What issues does this interest group address? Are these issues important to you? How can you get involved? Visit this section of their site to learn more about their position on financing higher education. What are the reasons for the increase in the number of interest groups? In some cases, it simply reflects new interests in society. Forty years ago, stem cell research was not an issue on the government agenda, but as science and technology advanced, its techniques and possibilities became known to the media and the public, and a number of interests began lobbying for and against this type of research. Medical research firms and medical associations will lobby in favor of greater spending and increased research on stem cell research, while some religious organizations and anti-abortion groups will oppose it. As societal attitudes change and new issues develop, and as the public becomes aware of them, we can expect to see the rise of interests addressing them. The devolution of power also explains some of the increase in the number and type of interests, at least at the state level. As power and responsibility shifted to state governments in the 1980s, the states began to handle responsibilities that had been under the jurisdiction of the federal government. A number of federal welfare programs, for example, are generally administered at the state level. This means interests might be better served targeting their lobbying efforts in Albany, Raleigh, Austin, or Sacramento, rather than only in Washington, DC. As the states have become more active in more policy areas, they have become prime targets for interests wanting to influence policy in their favor.Thomas and Hrebenar, “Nationalization of Interest Groups and Lobbying in the States;” Nownes and Newmark, “Interest Groups in the States.” We have also seen increased specialization by some interests and even fragmentation of existing interests. While the American Medical Association may take a stand on stem cell research, the issue is not critical to the everyday activities of many of its members. On the other hand, stem cell research is highly salient to members of the American Neurological Association, an interest organization that represents academic neurologists and neuroscientists. Accordingly, different interests represent the more specialized needs of different specialties within the medical community, but fragmentation can occur when a large interest like this has diverging needs. Such was also the case when several unions split from the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations), the nation’s largest federation of unions, in 2005.Thomas and Hrebenar, “Interest Groups in the States,” 1991, 1996, 1999, 2004; Thomas and Hrebenar, “Nationalization of Interest Groups and Lobbying in the States.” Improved technology and the development of social media have made it easier for smaller groups to form and to attract and communicate with members. The use of the Internet to raise money has also made it possible for even small groups to receive funding. None of this suggests that an unlimited number of interests can exist in society. The size of the economy has a bearing on the number of interests, but only up to a certain point, after which the number increases at a declining rate. As we will see below, the limit on the number of interests depends on the available resources and levels of competition. Over the last few decades, we have also witnessed an increase in professionalization in lobbying and in the sophistication of lobbying techniques. This was not always the case, because lobbying was not considered a serious profession in the mid-twentieth century. Over the past three decades, there has been an increase in the number of contract lobbying firms. These firms are often effective because they bring significant resources to the table, their lobbyists are knowledgeable about the issues on which they lobby, and they may have existing relationships with lawmakers. In fact, relationships between lobbyists and legislators are often ongoing, and these are critical if lobbyists want access to lawmakers. However, not every interest can afford to hire high-priced contract lobbyists to represent it. As Table suggests, a great deal of money is spent on lobbying activities. \| Top Lobbying Firms in 2014 \| \| \|---\|---\| \| Lobbying Firm \| Total Lobbying Annual Income \| \| Akin, Gump et al. \| $35,550,000 \| \| Squire Patton Boggs \| $31,540,000 \| \| Podesta Group \| $25,070,000 \| \| Brownstein, Hyatt et al. \| $23,400,000 \| \| Van Scoyoc Assoc. \| $21,420,000 \| \| Holland & Knight \| $19,250,000 \| \| Capitol Counsel \| $17,930,000 \| \| K&L Gates \| $17,420,000 \| \| Williams & Jensen \| $16,430,000 \| \| BGR Group \| $15,470,000 \| \| Peck Madigan Jones \| $13,395,000 \| \| Cornerstone Government Affairs \| $13,380,000 \| \| Ernst & Young \| $12,440,000 \| \| Hogan Lovells \| $12,410,000 \| \| Capitol Tax Partners \| $12,390,000 \| \| Cassidy & Assoc. \| $12,090,000 \| \| Fierce, Isakowitz & Blalock \| $11,970,000 \| \| Covington & Burling \| $11,537,000 \| \| Mehlman, Castagnetti et al. \| $11,180,000 \| \| Alpine Group \| $10,950,00 \| We have also seen greater limits on inside lobbying activities. In the past, many lobbyists were described as “good ol’ boys” who often provided gifts or other favors in exchange for political access or other considerations. Today, restrictions limit the types of gifts and benefits lobbyists can bestow on lawmakers. There are certainly fewer “good ol’ boy” lobbyists, and many lobbyists are now full-time professionals. The regulation of lobbying is addressed in greater detail below. HOW REPRESENTATIVE IS THE INTEREST GROUP SYSTEM? Participation in the United States has never been equal; wealth and education, components of socioeconomic status, are strong predictors of political engagement.Sidney Verba, Kay Lehmnn Schlozman, and Henry Brady. 1995. Voice and Equality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. We already discussed how wealth can help overcome collective action problems, but lack of wealth also serves as a barrier to participation more generally. These types of barriers pose challenges, making it less likely for some groups than others to participate.Steven J. Rosenstone and John Mark Hansen. 2003. Mobilization, Participation, and Democracy in America. New York: Longman. Some institutions, including large corporations, are more likely to participate in the political process than others, simply because they have tremendous resources. And with these resources, they can write a check to a political campaign or hire a lobbyist to represent their organization. Writing a check and hiring a lobbyist are unlikely options for a disadvantaged group (Figure). Individually, the poor may not have the same opportunities to join groups.Verba et al., Voice and Equality; Mark J. Rozell, Clyde Wilcox, and Michael M. Franz. 2012. Interest Groups in American Campaigns: The New Face of Electioneering. Oxford University Press: New York. They may work two jobs to make ends meet and lack the free time necessary to participate in politics. Further, there are often financial barriers to participation. For someone who punches a time-clock, spending time with political groups may be costly and paying dues may be a hardship. Certainly, the poor are unable to hire expensive lobbying firms to represent them. Structural barriers like voter identification laws may also disproportionately affect people with low socioeconomic status, although the effects of these laws may not be fully understood for some time. The poor may also have low levels of efficacy, which refers to the conviction that you can make a difference or that government cares about you and your views. People with low levels of efficacy are less likely to participate in politics, including voting and joining interest groups. Therefore, they are often underrepresented in the political arena. Minorities may also participate less often than the majority population, although when we control for wealth and education levels, we see fewer differences in participation rates. Still, there is a bias in participation and representation, and this bias extends to interest groups as well. For example, when fast food workers across the United States went on strike to demand an increase in their wages, they could do little more than take to the streets bearing signs, like the protestors shown in Figure. Their opponents, the owners of restaurant chains and others who pay their employees minimum wage, could hire groups such as the Employment Policies Institute, which paid for billboard ads in Times Square in New York City. The billboards implied that raising the minimum wage was an insult to people who worked hard and discouraged people from getting an education to better their lives.Aaron Smith, “Conservative Group’s Times Square Billboard Attacks a $15 Minimum Wage,” 31 August 2015, http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/31/news/economy/times-square-minimum-wage/. Finally, people do not often participate because they lack the political skill to do so or believe that it is impossible to influence government actions.Robert Putnam. 2000. Bowling Alone. New York: Simon and Shuster; Rosenstone and Hansen, Mobilization, Participation and Democracy in America. They might also lack interest or could be apathetic. Participation usually requires some knowledge of the political system, the candidates, or the issues. Younger people in particular are often cynical about government’s response to the needs of non-elites. How do these observations translate into the way different interests are represented in the political system? Some pluralist scholars like David Truman suggest that people naturally join groups and that there will be a great deal of competition for access to decision-makers.David B. Truman 1951. The Governmental Process: Political Interests and Public Opinion. New York: Knopf. Scholars who subscribe to this pluralist view assume this competition among diverse interests is good for democracy. Political theorist Robert Dahl argued that “all active and legitimate groups had the potential to make themselves heard.”Dahl, Robert A. 1956. A Preface to Democratic Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; Dahl, Robert A. 1961. Who Governs? Democracy and Power in an American City. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. In many ways, this is an optimistic assessment of representation in the United States. However, not all scholars accept the premise that mobilization is natural and that all groups have the potential for access to decision-makers. The elite critique suggests that certain interests, typically businesses and the wealthy, are advantaged and that policies more often reflect their wishes than anyone else’s. Political scientist E. E. Schattschneider noted that “the flaw in the pluralist heaven is that the heavenly chorus sings with a strong upperclass accent.”E. E. Schattschneider. 1960. The Semisovereign People: A Realist’s View of Democracy in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 35. A number of scholars have suggested that businesses and other wealthy interests are often overrepresented before government, and that poorer interests are at a comparative disadvantage.W. G. Domhoff. 2009. Who rules America? Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall; K. L. Schlozman, “What Accent the Heavenly choir? Political Equality and the American Pressure System,” Journal of Politics 46, No. 2 (1984) 1006–1032; K. L. Schlozman, S. Verba, and H. E. Brady. 2012. The Unheavenly Chorus: Unequal Political Voice and the Broken Promise of American Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. For example, as we’ve seen, wealthy corporate interests have the means to hire in-house lobbyists or high-priced contract lobbyists to represent them. They can also afford to make financial contributions to politicians, which at least may grant them access. The ability to overcome collective action problems is not equally distributed across groups; as Mancur Olson noted, small groups and those with economic advantages were better off in this regard.Olson, Jr., The Logic of Collective Action. Disadvantaged interests face many challenges including shortages of resources, time, and skills. A study of almost eighteen hundred policy decisions made over a twenty-year period revealed that the interests of the wealthy have much greater influence on the government than those of average citizens. The approval or disapproval of proposed policy changes by average voters had relatively little effect on whether the changes took place. When wealthy voters disapproved of a particular policy, it almost never was enacted. When wealthy voters favored a particular policy, the odds of the policy proposal’s passing increased to more than 50 percent.Kevin Drum, “Nobody Cares What You Think Unless You’re Rich,” Mother Jones, 8 April 2014, http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/04/nobody-cares-what-you-think-unless-youre-rich. Indeed, the preferences of those in the top 10 percent of the population in terms of income had an impact fifteen times greater than those of average income. In terms of the effect of interest groups on policy, Gilens and Page found that business interest groups had twice the influence of public interest groups.Larry Bartels, “Rich People Rule!” Washington Post, 8 April 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/04/08/rich-people-rule. Figure shows contributions by interests from a variety of different sectors. We can draw a few notable observations from the table. First, large sums of money are spent by different interests. Second, many of these interests are business sectors, including the real estate sector, the insurance industry, businesses, and law firms. Interest group politics are often characterized by whether the groups have access to decision-makers and can participate in the policy-making process. The iron triangle is a hypothetical arrangement among three elements (the corners of the triangle): an interest group, a congressional committee member or chair, and an agency within the bureaucracy.Frank R. Baumgartner and Beth L. Leech. 1998. Basic Interests: The Importance of Groups in Political Science. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Each element has a symbiotic relationship with the other two, and it is difficult for those outside the triangle to break into it. The congressional committee members, including the chair, rely on the interest group for campaign contributions and policy information, while the interest group needs the committee to consider laws favorable to its view. The interest group and the committee need the agency to implement the law, while the agency needs the interest group for information and the committee for funding and autonomy in implementing the law.Francis E. Rourke. 1984. Bureaucracy, Politics, and Public Policy, 3rd ed. NY: Harper Collins. An alternate explanation of the arrangement of duties carried out in a given policy area by interest groups, legislators, and agency bureaucrats is that these actors are the experts in that given policy area. Hence, perhaps they are the ones most qualified to process policy in the given area. Some view the iron triangle idea as outdated. Hugh Heclo of George Mason University has sketched a more open pattern he calls an issue network that includes a number of different interests and political actors that work together in support of a single issue or policy.Hugh Heclo. 1984. “Issue Networks and the Executive Establishment.” In The New American Political System, ed. Anthony King. Washington DC: The American Enterprise Institute, 87–124. Some interest group scholars have studied the relationship among a multitude of interest groups and political actors, including former elected officials, the way some interests form coalitions with other interests, and the way they compete for access to decision-makers.V. Gray and D. Lowery, “To Lobby Alone or in a Flock: Foraging Behavior among Organized Interests,” American Politics Research 26, No. 1 (1998): 5–34; M. Hojnacki, “Interest Groups’ Decisions to Join Alliances or Work Alone,” American Journal of Political Science 41, No. 1 (1997): 61–87; Kevin W. Hula. 1999. Lobbying Together: Interest Group Coalitions in Legislative Politics. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press. Some coalitions are long-standing, while others are temporary. Joining coalitions does come with a cost, because it can dilute preferences and split potential benefits that the groups attempt to accrue. Some interest groups will even align themselves with opposing interests if the alliance will achieve their goals. For example, left-leaning groups might oppose a state lottery system because it disproportionately hurts the poor (who participate in this form of gambling at higher rates), while right-leaning groups might oppose it because they view gambling as a sinful activity. These opposing groups might actually join forces in an attempt to defeat the lottery. While most scholars agree that some interests do have advantages, others have questioned the overwhelming dominance of certain interests. Additionally, neopluralist scholars argue that certainly some interests are in a privileged position, but these interests do not always get what they want.Virginia Gray and David Lowery. 1996. The Population Ecology of Interest Representation: Lobbying Communities in the American States. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; Andrew S. McFarland. 2004. Neopluralism. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. Instead, their influence depends on a number of factors in the political environment such as public opinion, political culture, competition for access, and the relevance of the issue. Even wealthy interests do not always win if their position is at odds with the wish of an attentive public. And if the public cares about the issue, politicians may be reluctant to defy their constituents. If a prominent manufacturing firm wants fewer regulations on environmental pollutants, and environmental protection is a salient issue to the public, the manufacturing firm may not win in every exchange, despite its resource advantage. We also know that when interests mobilize, opposing interests often counter-mobilize, which can reduce advantages of some interests. Thus, the conclusion that businesses, the wealthy, and elites win in every situation is overstated.Mark A. Smith. 2000. American Business and Political Power: Public Opinion, Elections, and Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; F. R. Baumgartner, J. M. Berry, M. Hojnacki, D. C. Kimball, and B. L. Leech. 2009, Lobbying and Policy Change. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. A good example is the recent dispute between fast food chains and their employees. During the spring of 2015, workers at McDonald’s restaurants across the country went on strike and marched in protest of the low wages the fast food giant paid its employees. Despite the opposition of restaurant chains and claims by the National Restaurant Association that increasing the minimum wage would result in the loss of jobs, in September 2015, the state of New York raised the minimum wage for fast food employees to $15 per hour, an amount to be phased in over time. Buoyed by this success, fast food workers in other cities continued to campaign for a pay increase, and many low-paid workers have promised to vote for politicians who plan to boost the federal minimum wage.Patrick McGeehan, “New York Plans $15-an-Hour Minimum Wage for Fast Food Workers,” New York Times, 22 July 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/23/nyregion/new-york-minimum-wage-fast-food-workers.html; Paul Davidson, “Fast-Food Workers Strike, Seeing $15 Wage, Political Muscle,” USA Today, 10 November 2015 http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/11/10/fast-food-strikes-begin/75482782/. Visit the websites for the California or Michigan secretary of state, state boards of elections, or relevant governmental entity and ethics websites where lobbyists and interest groups must register. Several examples are provided but feel free to examine the comparable web page in your own state. Spend some time looking over the lists of interest groups registered in these states. Do the registered interests appear to reflect the important interests within the states? Are there patterns in the types of interests registered? Are certain interests over- or underrepresented? Summary Interest groups afford people the opportunity to become more civically engaged. Socioeconomic status is an important predictor of who will likely join groups. The number and types of groups actively lobbying to get what they want from government have been increasing rapidly. Many business and public interest groups have arisen, and many new interests have developed due to technological advances, increased specialization of industry, and fragmentation of interests. Lobbying has also become more sophisticated in recent years, and many interests now hire lobbying firms to represent them. Some scholars assume that groups will compete for access to decision-makers and that most groups have the potential to be heard. Critics suggest that some groups are advantaged by their access to economic resources. Yet others acknowledge these resource advantages but suggest that the political environment is equally important in determining who gets heard. What changes have occurred in the lobbying environment over the past three or four decades? - There is more professional lobbying. - Many interests lobby both the national government and the states. - A fragmentation of interests has taken place. - all the above Hint: D Which of the following is an aspect of iron triangles? - fluid participation among interests - a great deal of competition for access to decision-makers - a symbiotic relationship among Congressional committees, executive agencies, and interest groups - three interest groups that have formed a coalition What does group participation provide to citizens? Hint: By joining interest groups, individuals can participate in ways that go beyond simple voting. They can interact with others with similar views. They can become civically engaged by becoming more connected to their communities, they can participate in protests and letter-writing campaigns, and they can inform others about the issues. Why don’t lower-income groups participate more in the interest group system? What are some barriers to participation? Hint: Numerous barriers prevent people from participating in politics. Some people lack time or other resources to participate. Lower-income individuals and groups may lack the necessary civic skills to participate effectively. Institutional barriers like voter identification laws may disproportionately affect some people more than others.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:52.034538	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15244/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }
https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15245/overview	Pathways of Interest Group Influence Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: - Describe how interest groups influence the government through elections - Explain how interest groups influence the government through the governance processes Many people criticize the huge amounts of money spent in politics. Some argue that interest groups have too much influence on who wins elections, while others suggest influence is also problematic when interests try to sway politicians in office. There is little doubt that interest groups often try to achieve their objectives by influencing elections and politicians, but discovering whether they have succeeded in changing minds is actually challenging because they tend to support those who already agree with them. INFLUENCE IN ELECTIONS Interest groups support candidates who are sympathetic to their views in hopes of gaining access to them once they are in office.John R. Wright. 1996. Interest Groups and Congress: Lobbying, Contributions, and Influence. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon; Mark J. Rozell, Clyde Wilcox, and Michael M. Franz. 2012. Interest Groups in American Campaigns: The New Face of Electioneering. New York: Oxford University Press. For example, an organization like the NRA will back candidates who support Second Amendment rights. Both the NRA and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (an interest group that favors background checks for firearm purchases) have grading systems that evaluate candidates and states based on their records of supporting these organizations.https://www.nrapvf.org/grades/; http://www.bradycampaign.org/2013-state-scorecard (March 1, 2016). To garner the support of the NRA, candidates must receive an A+ rating for the group. In much the same way, Americans for Democratic Action, a liberal interest group, and the American Conservative Union, a conservative interest group, both rate politicians based on their voting records on issues these organizations view as important.http://www.adaction.org/pages/publications/voting-records.php; http://acuratings.conservative.org/ (March 1, 2016). These ratings, and those of many other groups, are useful for interests and the public in deciding which candidates to support and which to oppose. Incumbents have electoral advantages in terms of name recognition, experience, and fundraising abilities, and they often receive support because interest groups want access to the candidate who is likely to win. Some interest groups will offer support to the challenger, particularly if the challenger better aligns with the interest’s views or the incumbent is vulnerable. Sometimes, interest groups even hedge their bets and give to both major party candidates for a particular office in the hopes of having access regardless of who wins. Some interests groups form political action committees (PACs), groups that collect funds from donors and distribute them to candidates who support their issues. As Figure makes apparent, many large corporations like Honeywell International, AT&T, and Lockheed Martin form PACs to distribute money to candidates.https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/ (March 1, 2016). Other PACs are either politically or ideologically oriented. For example, the MoveOn.org PAC is a progressive group that formed following the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton, whereas GOPAC is a Republican PAC that promotes state and local candidates of that party. PACs are limited in the amount of money that they can contribute to individual candidates or to national party organizations; they can contribute no more than $5,000 per candidate per election and no more than $15,000 a year to a national political party. Individual contributions to PACs are also limited to $5,000 a year. PACs through which corporations and unions can spend virtually unlimited amounts of money on behalf of political candidates are called super PACs.Conor M. Dowling and Michael G. Miller. 2014. Super PAC! Money, Elections, and Voters after Citizens United. New York: Routledge. As a result of a 2010 Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, there is no limit to how much money unions or corporations can donate to super PACs. Unlike PACs, however, super PACs cannot contribute money directly to individual candidates. If the 2014 elections were any indication, super PACs will continue to spend large sums of money in an attempt to influence future election results. INFLUENCING GOVERNMENTAL POLICY Interest groups support candidates in order to have access to lawmakers once they are in office. Lawmakers, for their part, lack the time and resources to pursue every issue; they are policy generalists. Therefore, they (and their staff members) rely on interest groups and lobbyists to provide them with information about the technical details of policy proposals, as well as about fellow lawmakers’ stands and constituents’ perceptions. These voting cues give lawmakers an indication of how to vote on issues, particularly those with which they are unfamiliar. But lawmakers also rely on lobbyists for information about ideas they can champion and that will benefit them when they run for reelection.Wright, Interest Groups and Congress: Lobbying, Contributions, and Influence. Interest groups likely cannot target all 535 lawmakers in both the House and the Senate, nor would they wish to do so. There is little reason for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence to lobby members of Congress who vehemently oppose any restrictions on gun access. Instead, the organization will often contact lawmakers who are amenable to some restrictions on access to firearms. Thus, interest groups first target lawmakers they think will consider introducing or sponsoring legislation. Second, they target members of relevant committees.Richard L. Hall and Frank W. Wayman, “Buying Time: Moneyed Interests and the Mobilization of Bias in Congressional Committees,” American Political Science Review 84.3 (1990): 797-820. If a company that makes weapons systems wants to influence a defense bill, it will lobby members of the Armed Services Committees in the House and the Senate or the House and Senate appropriations committees if the bill requires new funding. Many members of these committees represent congressional districts with military bases, so they often sponsor or champion bills that allow them to promote policies popular with their districts or state. Interest groups attempt to use this to their advantage. But they also conduct strategic targeting because legislatures function by respectfully considering fellow lawmakers’ positions. Since lawmakers cannot possess expertise on every issue, they defer to their trusted colleagues on issues with which they are unfamiliar. So targeting committee members also allows the lobbyist to inform other lawmakers indirectly. Third, interest groups target lawmakers when legislation is on the floor of the House and/or Senate, but again, they rely on the fact that many members will defer to their colleagues who are more familiar with a given issue. Finally, since legislation must past both chambers in identical form, interest groups may target members of the conference committees whose job it is to iron out differences across the chambers. At this negotiation stage, a 1 percent difference in, say, the corporate income tax rate could mean millions of dollars in increased or decreased revenue or taxation for various interests. Interest groups also target the budgetary process in order to maximize benefits to their group. In some cases, their aim is to influence the portion of the budget allocated to a given policy, program, or policy area. For example, interests for groups that represent the poor may lobby for additional appropriations for various welfare programs; those interests opposed to government assistance to the poor may lobby for reduced funding to certain programs. It is likely that the legislative liaison for your university or college spends time trying to advocate for budgetary allocations in your state. Interest groups also try to defeat legislation that may be detrimental to their views. For example, when Congress considers legislation to improve air quality, it is not unusual for some industries to oppose it if it requires additional regulations on factory emissions. In some cases, proposed legislation may serve as a disturbance, resulting in group formation or mobilization to help defeat the bill. For example, a proposed tax increase may result in the formation or mobilization of anti-tax groups that will lobby the legislature and try to encourage the public to oppose the proposed legislation. Prior to the election in 2012, political activist Grover Norquist, the founder of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), asked all Republican members of Congress to sign a “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” that they would fight efforts to raise taxes or to eliminate any deductions that were not accompanied by tax cuts. Ninety-five percent of the Republicans in Congress signed the pledge.Sean Lengell, “Boehner: Grover Norquist Just a ‘Random’ Guy,” Washington Times, 3 November 2011, http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2011/nov/3/boehner-grover-norquist-just-random-guy/. Some interests arise solely to defeat legislation and go dormant after they achieve their immediate objectives. Once legislation has been passed, interest groups may target the executive branch of government, whose job is to implement the law. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has some leeway in providing care for military veterans, and interests representing veterans’ needs may pressure this department to address their concerns or issues. Other entities within the executive branch, like the Securities and Exchange Commission, which maintains and regulates financial markets, are not designed to be responsive to the interests they regulate, because to make such a response would be a conflict of interest. Interest groups may lobby the executive branch on executive, judicial, and other appointments that require Senate confirmation. As a result, interest group members may be appointed to positions in which they can influence proposed regulation of the industry of which they are a part. In addition to lobbying the legislative and executive branches of government, many interest groups also lobby the judicial branch. Lobbying the judiciary takes two forms, the first of which was mentioned above. This is lobbying the executive branch about judicial appointments the president makes and lobbying the Senate to confirm these appointments. The second form of lobbying consists of filing amicus briefs, which are also known as “friend of the court” briefs. These documents present legal arguments stating why a given court should take a case and/or why a court should rule a certain way. In Obergefell v. Hodges (2015), the Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, numerous interest groups filed amicus briefs.Obergefell v. Hodges, 576 U.S. ___ (2015). For example, the Human Rights Campaign, shown demonstrating in Figure, filed a brief arguing that the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process and equal protection clauses required that same-sex couples be afforded the same rights to marry as opposite-sex couples. In a 5–4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed. The briefs submitted in Obergefell v. Hodges are available on the website of the U.S. Supreme Court. What arguments did the authors of these briefs make, other than those mentioned in this chapter, in favor of Obergefell’s position? Measuring the effect of interest groups’ influence is somewhat difficult because lobbyists support lawmakers who would likely have supported them in the first place. Thus, National Right to Life, an anti-abortion interest group, does not generally lobby lawmakers who favor abortion rights; instead, it supports lawmakers and candidates who have professed “pro-life” positions. While some scholars note that lobbyists sometimes try to influence those on the fence or even their enemies, most of the time, they support like-minded individuals. Thus, contributions are unlikely to sway lawmakers to change their views; what they do buy is access, including time with lawmakers. The problem for those trying to assess whether interest groups influence lawmakers, then, is that we are uncertain what would happen in the absence of interest group contributions. For example, we can only speculate what the ACA might have looked like had lobbyists from a host of interests not lobbied on the issue. Examine websites for the American Conservative Union and Americans for Democratic Action that compile legislative ratings and voting records. On what issues do these organizations choose to take positions? Where do your representatives and senators rank according to these groups? Are these rankings surprising? Summary Interest groups support candidates sympathetic to their views in hopes of gaining access to them once they are in office. PACs and super PACs collect money from donors and distribute it to political groups that they support. Lawmakers rely on interest groups and lobbyists to provide them with information about the technical details of policy proposals, as well as about fellow lawmakers’ stands and constituents’ perceptions, for cues about how to vote on issues, particularly those with which they are unfamiliar. Lobbyists also target the executive and judiciary branches. Which of the following is true of spending in politics? - The Supreme Court has yet to address the issue of money in politics. - The Supreme Court has restricted spending on politics. - The Supreme Court has opposed restrictions on spending on politics. - The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations may spend unlimited amounts of money but unions may not. What is a difference between a PAC and a super PAC? - PACs can contribute directly to candidates, but super PACs cannot. - Conservative interests favor PACs over super PACs. - Contributions to PACs are unlimited, but restrictions have been placed on how much money can be contributed to super PACs. - Super PACS are much more likely to support incumbent candidates than are PACs. Hint: B How do interest groups lobby the judicial branch? How do interest groups and their lobbyists decide which lawmakers to lobby? And where do they do so? Hint: Interest groups and lobbyists often attempt to gain access by first supporting candidates when they run for office. Since incumbents have an advantage, lobbyists often contribute to them. Second, once legislative members are in office, interest groups and their lobbyists try to encourage them to sponsor legislation the groups wants. They may target sympathetic lawmakers, legislative leaders, and members of important committees.	oercommons	2025-03-18T00:38:52.062768	null	{ "license": "Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "url": "https://oercommons.org/courseware/lesson/15245/overview", "title": "American Government, Toward Collective Action: Mediating Institutions", "author": null }

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