Civil War and Reconstruction
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A sense of Christian mission motivated people like Jane Addams to help immigrants in the US. The progressive movement attracted people who were motivated by this desire to do good to their neighbors, to those less fortunate than themselves. Addams and Hull House were a prime example of this: She wished to do things with, not just for, Chicagos Poor (Roark). Overall, the movement consisted of urban reformers, and an alignment between the middle class and activists and social workers.
To advance the progressive agenda, Theodore Roosevelt promoted regulating business to prevent businesses from taking advantage of the poor and the immigrants and children who worked in factories for long hours. Consumer protections were another way he did this, especially after The Jungle was published, which triggered a social response among readers (Filler).
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A big portion of the American public and leaders and politicians believed in staying out of European conflicts. This sentiment was rooted in the U.S.'s historical tendency to avoid "entangling alliances" and foreign wars. Progressives like those in the Womens Movement were anti-war. However, in order to get the right to vote, the Womens Movement pledged to support the war effort (Marsden).
Reasons for involvement in the war were found in various places. Germany's policy of sinking any ship around the British Isles, including civilian and neutral ships, angered some Americans. The sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 that killed several dozen Americans was also majorly influential in reversing Americans minds on the matter. President Wilson also framed the war as a struggle for democracy and wanted to have a part on the global stage to push his League of Nations, which he could not do if the US stayed out of the war. He believed that the world "must be made safe for democracy" and that a world with more democratic...
…Blacks began to push back with a newfound sense of pride and voice. The Black Power movement began. The agenda also grew to address multiple social and economic issues. This was a result of frustration with the slow process of equal rights, as well as urban riotsand of course the assassination of prominent black leaders like Malcolm X in 1965 and King in 1968.6
The Vietnam War polarized the nation with its large-scale protests, especially among young people and college students, and the patriotism that others felt with regard to going off to fight Communism. Conscientious objectors burned draft cards. The government itself seemed divided. Some Americans could not explain why we were over there fighting. People like Muhammad Ali gave up boxing rather than go fight in the war, and he had a lot of support for that decision. Others called him names and criticized him. Trust in the government after Watergate was also…
References
Filler, Louis. "Progress and Progressivism." The American Journal of Economics andSociology 20.3 (1961): 291-303.
Marsden, Claire. "“The Woman’s Hour Has Struck”: How the National American WomanSuffrage Association Secured the Nineteenth Amendment Through War Activism in World War I." Historical Perspectives: Santa Clara University Undergraduate Journal of History, Series II 26.1 (2021): 8.
Roark, James, L. et al. The American Promise, Combined Edition. Available from: Macmillan,(9th Edition). Macmillan Higher Education, 2022.
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