Fall of 2018 Part 4

The History of the United States Part 5 (1865-1918) The Second Era


Foreign Policy

There came the landslide election victory of William McKinley. He had risen to national prominence 6 years earlier with the passage of the McKinley Tariff of 1890. This was a high tariff that was passed in 1897. Some believed that a decade of rapid economic growth and prosperity existed as a product of that tariff. National self-confidence grew. McKinley brought into America a new era of governing. It would dominate the 20th century U.S. political atmosphere. Politics existed in compromising among interests groups and the national interest was promoted. McKinley wanted economic growth, prosperity for all, and pluralism for every group. He rejected programs like prohibition and immigration restriction that were designed to hurt people. He wanted parties to enact the people’s will and educate them to new ideas. One of McKinley’s greatest mistakes would be his involvement in imperialistic wars. Back during centuries ago, Spain once controlled a vast colonial empire. By the second half of the 19th century, only Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and some African possessions remained. The Cubans always rebelled against imperialism for a long them. The Cubans were in a state of rebellion since the 1870’s. American newspapers advanced yellow journalism. Also, the New York City papers of William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer had shown stories about Spanish atrocities in Cuba. These stories only reached a small amount of Americans. Some people called for an intervention.

On February 15, 1898, the battleship USS Maine exploded in Havana Harbor. Although it was unclear precisely what caused the blast, many Americans believed it to be the work of a Spanish mine, an attitude encouraged by the yellow journalism of Hearst and Pulitzer. The military was rapidly mobilized as the U.S. prepared to intervene in the Cuban revolt. It was made clear that no attempt at annexation of Cuba would be made and that the island's independence would be guaranteed. Spain considered this a wanton intervention in its internal affairs and severed diplomatic relations. War was declared on April 25, 1898. Spanish forces were quickly defeated and Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders gained fame in Cuba. Meanwhile, Commodore George Dewey's fleet crushed the Spanish in the land of the Philippines. Spain capitulated, ending the three-month-long war and recognizing Cuba's independence. Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were ceded to the United States. Many American forces occupied many areas of the Caribbean areas and enacted brutal mistreatment of Cubans, Puerto Ricans, Haitians, and other people.

Although U.S. capital investments within the Philippines and Puerto Rico were small, some politicians hoped they would be strategic outposts for expanding trade with Latin America and Asia, particularly China. That never happened and after 1903 American attention turned to the Panama Canal as the key to opening new trade routes. The Spanish–American War thus began the active, globally oriented American foreign policy that continues to the present day. The U.S. acquired the Philippines from Spain on December 10, 1898 via the Treaty of Paris. This ended the Spanish American War. Yet, Philippine revolutionaries led by Emilo Aguinaldo declared independence and in 1899, started to fight the U.S. troops. The war was brutal with massive U.S. war crimes against the people of the Philippines existing. The Philippine–American War ended in 1901 after Aguinaldo was captured and swore allegiance to the U.S. Likewise the other insurgents accepted American rule and peace prevailed, except in some remote islands under Muslim control. Roosevelt continued the McKinley policies of removing the Catholic friars (with compensation to the Pope), upgrading the infrastructure, introducing public health programs, and launching a program of economic and social modernization. The enthusiasm shown in 1898–99 for colonies cooled off, and Roosevelt saw the islands as "our heel of Achilles." He told Taft in 1907, "I should be glad to see the islands made independent, with perhaps some kind of international guarantee for the preservation of order, or with some warning on our part that if they did not keep order we would have to interfere again.” By then, the President and his foreign policy advisers turned away from Asian issues to concentrate on Latin America, and Roosevelt redirected Philippine policy to prepare the islands to become the first Western colony in Asia to achieve self-government. The Filipinos fought side by side with the Americans when the Japanese invaded in 1941, and aided the American re-conquest of the islands in 1944–45; independence came in 1946.

During that time, America demanded Spain to stop its oppressive policies in Cuba. Public opinion (which overruled McKinley) led to the short and successful Spanish-American War in 1898. The U.S. permanently took over Puerto Rico (making Puerto Ricans Americans) and temporarily held Cuba. More American involvement in the Caribbean continued. There was the growth of Pacific states like California. Some wanted a canal across to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Plans for one in Nicaragua fell through but under Roosevelt's leadership the U.S. built a canal through Panama, after finding a public health solution to the deadly disease environment. The Panama Canal opened in 1914. In 1904, Roosevelt announced his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the United States would intervene in cases where American governments prove incapable or unstable in the interest of bringing democracy and financial stability to them.



That doctrine is nothing more than U.S. imperialism as sovereignty has the right to govern their own affairs without American authoritarian involvement in those affairs. America made many interventions in Latin America. They wanted to stabilize shaky governments and permit nations to develop their own economies under U.S. influence. This intervention policy ended in the 1930’s to be replaced by the Good Neighbor Policy. In 1909, Nicaraguan President Jose Santos Zelaya resigned after the triumph of U.S.-backed rebels. This followed up with the 1912-1933 U.S. occupation of Nicaragua. The military U.S. occupation of Haiti took place in 1915. This came after the mob execution on of the Haitian leader. Some feared a possible German takeover over the island.  Germans controlled 80% of the Haitian economy by 1914 and they were bankrolling revolutions that kept the country in political turmoil. The conquest resulted in a 19-year-long United States occupation of Haiti. Haiti was a location that promoted black racial themes to numerous American writers including Eugene O'Neill, James Weldon Johnson, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston and Orson Welles. The U.S. occupation of Haiti involved U.S. violence against Haitian people regularly. Limited American intervention occurred in Mexico as that country fell into a long period of anarchy and civil war starting in 1910. In April 1914, U.S. troops occupied the Mexican port of Veracruz following the Tampico Incident; the reason for the intervention was Woodrow Wilson's desire to overthrow the Mexican dictator Victoriano Huerta. In March 1916, Pancho Villa led 1,500 Mexican raiders in a cross-border attack against Columbus, New Mexico, attacked a U.S. Cavalry detachment, seized 100 horses and mules, burned the town, and killed 17 of its residents. President Woodrow Wilson responded by sending 12,000 troops, under Gen. John J. Pershing, into Mexico to pursue Villa. The Pancho Villa Expedition to capture Villa failed in its objectives and was withdrawn in January 1917. In 1916, the U.S. occupied the Dominican Republic. This was a new era of more overt American imperialism, which was disgraceful and evil.

The Progressive Era



Many people described the Progressive Era in many different ways. This era of American history lasted from 1890 to 1920. It was the time when many reformers sought to eliminate government corruption, some were in favor of temperance, and others wanted a better environment. Many fought for the rights of workers. They or the progressive back then were diverse. Some believed in the evil of eugenics and others did not. In essence, the progressives wanted change in society. To start, the existence of industrialization, urbanization, and immigration grew America. Social problems still existed like poverty, child labor, corporate corruption, and other evils. Progressives believed that new ideas and making government efficient and not filled with corruption would cause social justice. The middle class, the poor, the old, the young, diverse political parties, diverse ethnic groups, and many people of many religions were part of the Progressive Movement. They wanted to combat the problems that came with industrialization and urbanization. That is why they put pressure on the federal and state governments (plus local ones) to help the poor and workers. They were unified in desiring social justice. Both the Progressives and the Populists attacked bad business abuses and corruption. The populists were mostly workers and farmers while the progressives were mostly middle class Americans. The Progressives also focused on a diversity of issues. Some of them wanted women to have the right to vote and others targeted city officials who were bounded under corrupt political machines. Many party bosses took public money for themselves (bribery was commonplace) while local residents suffered. The reformers wanted safe drinking water, decent housing, and municipal services being adequate. Some reformers wanted to bust trust and give more economic opportunities to small businesses. Progressives didn’t view the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 as not going far enough. Some religious progressives wanted to end the gap between the rich and the poor even by progressive taxation. They also wanted to help workers, children, and suffering families. One of the most important people of this era were the muckrakers.


They were writers who exposed the bad conditions of many urban areas from corrupt meatpacking practices to bribery. They used investigative journalism in order to inspire change. One famous journalist was Lincoln Steffens. He was the managing editor of McClure’s, which was a magazine that discussed social issues. He published groups of articles entitled, “The Shame of the Cities” in 1903. It exposed the government of Philadelphia using bribery, and forcing customers to pay high frees to utility companies. Jacob Riis was a photographer who showed pictures of people suffering poverty in urban areas. He published his worked in the work of How the Other Half Lives. Ida Tarbell said that John D. Rockefeller used corrupt methods, high prices, and other means to get huge profits at the expense of ruining competition. John Spargo exposed the brutality of child labor. Many authors defended the downtrodden like in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, Frank Norris’s The Octopus, and other forms of literary. African American author Frances Ellen Watkins has shown the world the many of the struggles of black Americans in her 1892 novel called Iola Leroy.  Many Reformers believed in the Social Gospel which believed that people should follow Bible teachings, help to the poor, and following workers’ rights in order to make society to be filed with justice and herald the “Kingdom of God.”


German American and a son of German Immigrants Walter Rauschenbusch promoted the social gospel and he became a Baptist minister. So, the Reformers fought child labor, economic corruption, etc. in order for corporations and trusts to be limited in its power. Settlement houses grew which housed the poor in urban areas. They helped immigrants to speak English. Jane Addams was a woman who promoted the house settlement movement. She was inspired by the Toynbee Hall settlement house in London. Adams opened Hall House or a settlement house in Chicago. YMCA and the YWCA helped the poor during the Progressive era too. Back then and now, the YMCA has classes, sports programs, fitness programs, etc. One lawyer named Florence Kelley fought child labor. In 1916, Congress passed the law Keating-Owens Act which banned child labor. Educator John Dewey wanted to educate children creativity.

By the early 1900’s, industrial accidents were highly common. People had long hours, fumes poisoned folks, and unsafe machinery killed many on their jobs. There was the March 1911 fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City helped to cause change. The fire killed 146 workers. Many of them were young Jewish women. Progressives called for reforms. Some states reduced the workday to 10 hours a day. The Supreme Court later ruled in Lochner v. New York that these laws were unconditional. Reformers moved to reform city government, especially after the Hurricane in Galveston, Texas. Some reformers want to contain the power of political bosses and powerful business interests. After the 1900 Galveston hurricane disaster, the city government had a commission to repair the city and raise low lying neighborhoods above sea level. The Galveston plan was duplicated in almost 500 cities. Robert M. La Follette promoted a direct primary in Wisconsin. A direct primary is an election in which citizens vote to select nominees for upcoming elections. By 1916, all but four states had direct primaries.

From that time onward, initiatives, referendums, and recall became common place in America. Senators could be voted by voters not state legislators by the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1913. Progressive era governors like Robert La Follette of Wisconsin, Theodore Roosevelt of New York, and Woodrow Wilson of New Jersey existed. They promoted taxes or corporations, improvements to education, safer factories, and direct democracy.  During this time, more women had opportunities, but not equality. Colleges for women grew like Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and the School of Social Work in New York State. Florence Kelley found the National Consumers League or NCL to promote fair prices of goods. Muller v. Oregon regulated work hours. The controversial Margaret Sanger ran her birth control group called the American Birth Control League. Birth control is not a problem. The problem is that many people exploited birth control as a means to promote white supremacy and overly anti-human eugenics. Ida B. Wells helped to form the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) to help families and educate black women. One weakness of the Progressive movement was that any of them were racist, indifferent to minorities, and wanted benefits to deal with mostly white, middle class interests. Many Progressives falsely believed in an extreme form of Americanization that immigrants must learn English and follow a Eurocentric culture in order to be real “Americans.”

Many in the temperance movement were prejudice against immigrants since many immigrants drank alcohol. Many progressive movements were racist against black people, believed in eugenics, and agreed with segregation. That is why Woodrow Wilson believed in segregating D.C. and he was a Progressive. So, African Americans responded by fighting for human rights. People as diverse as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois wanted black people to have freedom albeit in different methods. William Monroe Trotter and DuBois worked in the Niagara Movement that called for an immediate end to racism and immediate justice for black Americans. They wanted education and bold ideals. The anti-black riots in Springfield, Illinois caused the NAACP to form. Many black people and white reformers formed the NAACP in 1909. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People had members like Jane Addams, Ray Stananrd, Florence Kelley, Ida B. Wells, and others. By the early 1900’s, Theodore Roosevelt became President. He was 43 years old. His represented the ideals of the Progressives fully. He worked in politics and was a Rough Rider. He wanted a Square Deal and desired the wealthy and powerful to not take advantage of small businesses and the poor. He promoted busting and regulating industry. He met with Booker T. Washington for dinner in the White House which angered segregationists. He used threats to end a mining strike. He used the federal government end a labor dispute. He regulated railroads with the Hepburn Act that gave the Interstate Commerce Commission new powers to deal with the railroad industry. He enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act to stop illegal trusts. He regulated food and drug industries with the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act. The FDA monitored companies to this day. The FDA monitored foods too. He also was influenced by the environmentalist John Muir. Yosemite National Park was created in 1890. Roosevelt wanted to conserve and use the forests while Muir wanted all wild areas to be left untouched. He regulated how water systems were regulated by the National Reclamation Act. Theodore Roosevelt served 2 terms and was very popular.

William Howard Taft won the Presidency in 1908. Taft didn’t lower tariffs as low as Roosevelt wanted. Taft relaxed the Sherman Antitrust Act. Theodore Roosevelt promoted New Nationalism and was in the Progressive Party out from the Republicans to oppose Taft. Reformer Jane Addams supported Roosevelt. The bitter election of 1912 had Roosevelt battling Taft and Wilson (who was a Democrat). The Progressive Party wanted a more active governmental role in reform. Wilson won since the Republican Party in part was split apart back then. Woodrow Wilson wanted the New Freedom which involved strict governmental controls on corporations and new opportunities for small businesses. Wilson lowered tariffs and raised taxes with the Sixteenth Amendment (which promoted a graduated income tax. This means that the richer Americans paid more tax as a percentage than poorer or middle class Americans). The revenue from the income tax would make up by lowering tariffs on imports. Congress passed the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 to allow the Federal Reserve to promote regional banks to deal with economic power, interest rates, etc. The Federal Reserve Act was one of the most important piece of economic legislation in human history. Wilson promoted labor rights at times with the Clayton Antitrust Act. Wilson also used troops to stop strikers in Ludlow Colorado after the Ludlow Massacre. The Progressive era was filled with an expansion of the federal government and many reforms that has helped the lives of millions of Americans to this very day. The American economy has grown. Federal actions on dams, national resources, and working rights were great. The problem is that many Progressives didn’t care about the concerns of black Americans plus other people of color when freedom is meant for humanity in general not for some.

World War I

World War One involving America was complex. Almost four million American soldiers came into Europe to help the Allies win the war in defeating the Central Powers. World War I existed as a product of many factors. The whole world experienceg imperialism, militarism, nationalism, and entangling alliances. European nations existed in massive competition with each other for world resources continuously one century after the rise of Napoleon. Many in Europe wanted nations to reflect one ethnic group. National rivalries existed. France wanted revenge after Germany regained Alsace-Lorraine during 1871. Many minority groups in various nations experienced oppression. Social Darwinism was spread in the world. Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire were multinational empires who faced new challenged from religious and ethnic minorities like the Serbians and the Armenians. Germany, Italy, America, Great Britain, France, etc. lusted after new resources in Africa, Asia, the Americas, etc. Militarism increased in Germany when Germany grew its army massively. Britain subsequently grew its navy. By 1914, Germany had the strongest Army on Earth with Great Britain having the strongest Navy on Earth.  By 1914, the Triple Alliance was created among Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. The other Triple Entente was made up of France, Russia, and Great Britain. They were formed to protect each other especially if war would exist in Europe. One June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand (or the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary) was assassinated. His wife also died who was named Sophie. Ferdinand was the heir to throne. The conspiracy was made of Gavrilo Princip and others from the Black Hand Secret Society. This group represented Serbs who believed that Bosnia belonging to Serbia and that Francis Ferdinand was a tyrant. Princip took out his pistol to shoot at Ferdinand and his wife 2 times. The world was shocked and no expected a world war would exist afterwards. Alliances soon caused the war. The German Kaiser William II told Austria-Hungary that Germany would support them. Austria-Hungary sent an ultimatum to Serbia to demand a total cooperation tin the investigation. Serbia didn’t agree with the demands totally. So, Austria-Hungary declared war on July 28, 1914 against Serbia.

Later, Russia allied with Serbia to defend it against Austria-Hungary as Serbia has a high percentage of Slavic peoples just like Russia. France declared war against Germany as France was an ally of Russia. Germany declared war on neutral Belgium. They did this in order for Germany to easily cross into France. Great Britain declared war against Germany as being an ally of France. The Central Powers were fighting the Allied powers. The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers later on. German soldiers came into Belgium and then into France. They were close to Paris by September, but the French and British counterattack stopped the Germans near the Marne River. New technology caused a stalemate involving WWI. After the Battle of Marne, the Germans created trenches came into certain locations, and a stalemate persisted. The British and French soon also dug trenches after they tried to cross battle lines and were mercilessly killed by German forces. Trenches stretched 450 miles along the Western European coast. This was the Western front of the war. The war also took place in North Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. The stalemate revolved around futile efforts among both sides charging and soon repealed by the army troops. Trench warfare was harsh. People experienced poisonings, starvation, disease, and trauma. The casualties of the war would grow into the millions. Machine guns, artillery field guns, poison gas, submarines, tanks, armored cars, and airplanes were parts of the deadly technology of World War I. No man’s land was an area of the trench warfare region where it was between enemy lines that gunfire was common place, so troops rarely ventured into no man’s land during the stalemate. President Woodrow Wilson back then promoted neutrality. Most Americans agreed as seeing the war as a dispute among Europeans.



European nations wanted American imports during the war too. Many Americans had divided loyalties. In 1914, one third of Americans were foreign born. When the war came about, many immigrants supported the fighting nation of their homelands like the German Americans, Irish Americans, and Polish Americans supported various nations in the war. Some German Americans in the Midwest and some Irish Americans in the East Coast supported the Central Powers. The Irish in many cases hated the Great British empire because of the obvious reason (i.e. Britain has a long history of a brutal occupation of Ireland for years and centuries). Most Americans supported England and France as a cultural representation. France aided Americans during the Revolutionary war too. Many Irish wanted Ireland to be independent. Many Jewish Americans back then wanted Russia to be defeated since they suffered pogroms from the Czars’ murderous regimes.



The German killing of civilians and destroying towns in Europe caused Americans to be divided on the war. Some were isolationists or wanted no involvement in WWI. Some were interventionists who wanted America to fund the Allied powers. Others were internationalists. They wanted to be involved in international affairs, but not be involved in the war (but to only find a way to have peace in ending the war). President Wilson was an internationalist. Soon, U.S. neutrality would end. From 1914, to 1917, Wilson tried to work to end the war among both sides. He failed. Britain used a naval blockade of Germany. International forces allowed contraband items of guns and weapons to be confiscated during war, but allow food, medicine, and other nonmilitary items were allowed to enter Germany. England soon banned both contraband and no contraband items from entering Germany. German U-Boats violated the blockade by attacking British ships. They also destroyed the Lusitania near Ireland. Germany said that it has weapons on it, but Americans said that it must be asked first and its passengers must be safe. Wilson still fought for peace. Germany promised Wilson that it wasn’t going to sink anymore ships. Germany lied. In 1916, Germany sank an unarmed French passenger ship Sussex. America protested and Germany pledged to no sink another ship again via the Sussex Pledge. It wasn’t long lasting. Wilson prepared the nation for war in 1915. Congress passed the National Defense Act in 1916 to build up the U.S. Army, and Navy. Wilson won the 1916 election under the slogan of “he kept us out of the war.” Wilson defeated the Republican Charles Evans Hughes.

In 1917 during January, the Zimmerman note existed. This note proposed Germany to unite with Mexico if America declared war against Germany. Germany promised Mexico southwestern states lost from the Mexican-American war if Mexico attacked America. The telegram was intercepted by the British. The British gave it to U.S. authorities and angered many Americans. Germany continued unrestricted U-Boat attacks against British. By April 2, 1917, Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany. He had his declaration by April 6, 1917. War was soon declared by America. Many people opposed the war like the pacifist Jeannette Rankin. Rankin would live a long time on Earth from 1880 to 1973 in supporting equality for women, civil rights, and being against the Vietnam War. She was a woman of heroic conviction.

The federal government and other governments played a huge role in American involvement in WWI. There was a draft. America mobilized for war with an Army development program. Congress passed the 1917 Selective Service Act that drafted young men to have military service in Europe. More than 9.6 million Americans registered for the draft by June 5, 1917 and were given a number. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker used a lottery system in drafting human beings. A total of 24 million Americans registered for the war. Many government agencies used industry to fund the war. The War Industries Board or the WIB was headed by Bernard Baruch (a famous bank who reported to the President). Increased farm production and food rationing were commonplace during the war. The CIP or the Committee on Public Information wanted to shape public opinion in favor of the war. George Creel was director of the CPI who used the media to advance that aim. Millions of posters were printed by the CPI to advance war rhetoric. Many German and Irish Americans suffered unjust prejudice and violation to their rights because of the German involvement in World War I. Many anti-war activists were violated of their civil liberties because of their opposition to war. Some men were imprisoned for opposing the draft. Conscientious objectors were those who had moral or religious grounds to not fight in the war. The Selective Service Act allowed conscientious objectors to do so, but in practice many people were forced to fight even if they had conscientious objections. Many women opposed the war like Women’s Peace Party and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. During the war, almost 500,000 women joined the workforce when soldiers left for Europe.

One mistake during this time was the Espionage Act of 1917 which banned anti-war material in mail, etc. under the guise of it being classified as “seditious.” The CPI abhorred debate when people have the right to debate. The 1918 Sedition Act criminalized free speech even more. The law virtually made any free speech against the war illegal. Eugene V. Debs or the leader of the Socialist Party was arrested and jailed for opposing the war under the act. He gave a moderate anti-war speech in Canton, Ohio, but he wasn’t a moderate man. He was one of the greatest socialist leaders in history. Schenck vs. United States in the Supreme Court upheld the Sedition Act in 1919. German Americans suffered discrimination in America during this time. Some were beaten and murdered for having German heritage. Some bigots replaced the name of hamburgers with liberty steaks and liberty pups instead of dachshunds.

WWI changed America in many ways. Opportunities were opened for women, African Americans, Mexican Americans, and other people. Many women had jobs in the factories, railroads, and telegraph operators. Some people of color and women were doctors, nurses, etc. Many were in the Army Corps of Nurses from 1918. This caused Wilson to advance suffrage because of the sacrifice of millions of women during World War I.  During this time, African Americans had the first Great Migration. This was when 1.2 million African Americans from 1910 to 1920 migrated North for many reasons. Some wanted to gain jobs. Some wanted to escape sharecropping and lynching. Some wanted to not experience Jim Crow segregation. Southerners who were racists wanted black people to be in the South via violence and intimidation while African Americans in the North encouraged black people to go into the North from the South. In the North, many black people had jobs, but many in the North had de facto segregation where discrimination was also very common. Some black people were forced to live in crowded, poor housing.

About 367,000 African Americans served in the military with hundreds of black people dying in the battlefields. They were segregated in units headed by white officers. W.E.B. DuBois surprisingly supported the war as a means to push America to embrace real democracy. Other black people opposed the war which included black socialists like A. Philip Randolph and Chandler Owen. Their magazine of the Messenger also opposed imperialism legitimately. The Chicago Defender, or an African American owned newspaper, wanted the encouragement the Great Migration for the sake of promoting equality and freedom for black people back then. Many black people came into Chicago to work in meatpacking plants. Many came into Detroit to work at auto factories. Others came into the Northeast too. Many Mexicans came into America during this time to escape war, poverty, and harsh conditions. Many came into the Southwest and the Pacific West like in California. They were in neighborhoods called barrios and experienced racism plus discrimination too. They formed great cultures in America as well. When America came into Europe to fight WWI, many questioned how effective these troops would be.

America is more diverse culturally than Europe. Also, the Americans would be the edge in causing an Allied victory of World War One. The U.S. used ships in convoys to protect shipping. Germany U-boat attacks radically declined. By 1917, the Allies had misfortunes. The Central Powers grew in strength. The Russian Revolution existed in 1917 which meant that Russia was out of the war. At first, a moderate democratic Revolution ended the reign of the Czars in Russia. Later, Lenin and the Bolsheviks overthrew the modern government to form a Communist government in Russia. March 3, 1918 was when the Brest-Litovsk treaty came about which ended war between Russia and the Central Powers. This made Germany to send more troops to the Western front. By the Spring of 1918, Germany executed a total all-out assault in West Europe. They came into France. French General Ferdinand Foch helped the Allied forces.

General John J. Pershing came into Europe in France in June 1917. He had a small American force. Americans came in larger numbers by early 1918. The German offensive was stalled. Allied counterattacks in March of 1918 caused the end of the German counteroffensive. Americans increased their burden on the battlefield. Germany launched many more offensives. Yet, the Allied forces weren’t defeated. By the spring and summer of 1918, Americans had more experiences. They were called doughboys. Americans fought on the defensive along with the French at the Second Battle of the Marne and on the offensive at the Battle of Cantigny. Alvin York from Tennessee was a war hero who fought in the Meuse-Argonne region of northeastern France. He was trapped in enemy lines. He dodges many bullets to attack Germans and he had only a pistol. York and the surviving Americans took the German position and York won the Congressional Medal of Honor. African Americans included other heroes too. Many faced discrimination in the U.S. Army, but an entire African American unit being the 369th Infantry Regiment received the Croix de Guerre. That was the French award for bravery involving the Meuse-Argonne campaign. 1.3 million American soldiers served on the front. More than 50,000 Americans died on the battlefield with about 230,000 being wounded. The Allied forces won with the combined France, Britain, and American forces. German front regions were ended. Some men from the German and Austro-Hungary side deserted. Many refused to fight. The leaders of the Central Powers surrendered on November 11, 1918. At a railway car in Compiegne, France, the Germans surrendered to the Allies.


The war was over. Almost 5 million Allied forces and about 8 million Central Power troops died. Almost 6.5 million civilians died. The world would never be the same. Vladimir Lenin thought of the war as imperialist and formed a communist revolution in Russia. President Woodrow Wilson wanted peace to come after the war. By January 1917, Wilson wanted peace and victory. Wilson also promoted the Fourteen Points. He spoke of this in his January 1918 address to Congress. The Fourteen Points promoted independence, openness, and freedom for some nations. It followed national self-determination. He called for a League of Nations to maintain the independence of newly developed nations. The problems were that this proposal didn’t address imperialism and lacked sympathy for independence movements of color found in Africa and Asia. The Versailles Peace Conference took place in France. President Woodrow Wilson was there. Versailles was a suburb of Paris being the former palace of Louis XIV. Republicans won the 1918 election, but Wilson refused to allow any Republican to go with him to France for political reasons. This angered the Republicans. Many Allied powers wanted revenge on Germany at that Paris Peace Conference. The Allied Powers made Germany to pay reparations for the war. British Prime Minister David Lloyd-George and French premier George Clemenceau rejected peace and victory ideas from Wilson. Lloyd-George wanted to maintain colonialism. The League of Nations was created. The problem was that the League of Nations was not powerful enough to handle the complex realities of new nations. The Ottoman Empire ended in the Middle East to cause new nations. The Middle East, Africa, and Asia didn’t have true self-determination. The Versailles Treaty was rejected by the Senate. German Americans viewed the reparations as too harsh. Irish Americans wanted an independent nation of Ireland.

Isolationist senators didn’t want any treaty as being entangled in world politics or world organizations. They didn’t want Article 10 that called for mutual defense of the signers of the nation. Henry Cabot Lodge opposed the treaty too. He was a reservationist and wanted the treaty to be less vague, but was willing to vote for the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty failed as Wilson wouldn’t compromise. The end of War World I caused new nations to form and a new reality in America. Lenin’s Soviet Russia funded other communist movements worldwide. Also, from 1918 to 1919, the influenza flu killed millions worldwide. It mutated from bird flu to spreading into humans. Between 50 to 100 million people died as a product of the influenza epidemic.

African Americans and women experienced new job opportunities. A completive job market grew during the postwar recession of 1920. Many northern cities had industries that black people worked at. By the summer of 1919, anti-black race riots occurred nationwide. The worst was in Chicago after whites drowned a young black man. Violence happened for 13 days. In 1921, white racists murdered one black neighborhood burning 35 city blocks to the grounds. African American men were armed to protect a young black man from lynching. Many of these men were veterans. The Tulsa riot existed as a result of racists being jealous of the Black Wall Street community. More inflation also led to labor strikes. Many Americans got consumer goods not war bonds. Consumer goods were scare. Prices of corn, wheat, etc. risen and then fell. Farmers didn’t have enough to pay for mortgages. Strikers fought for higher wages in Boston and other places. The Red Scare was expression paranoia about Communists. It violated civil liberties too. Communist revolts were in Central and Eastern Europe. The Red Scare was about authorities suppressing anarchist and communists in America. There were the Palmer Raids that arrested thousands of people who were both radicals and just immigrants from southern or Eastern Europe. Many of them were deported without a trial. This was so wrong that the ACLU or the American Civil Liberties Union was created in 1920 to protect civil liberties. To this day, the ACLU fights for civil rights. Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were educated. They were Italian immigrants. They were anarchists. They were accused of shooting and killing 2 men in a robbery attempt. There was little evidence to convict them. Yet, they were convicted and executed.

The ACLU supported both men in counsel. Many liberal politicians and legal scholars said that they were convicted based on their ethnicity not on evidence. They were put to death on the electric chair on August 23, 1927. The Red Scare also involved violence against radicals, immigrants, and others. The Red Scare ended by the end of 1920. Woodrow Wilson supported Democratic candidate James M. Cox of Ohio to support the League of Nations. Cox was defeated by Republican leader Warren G. Hardin of Ohio. Harding rejected the league and was elected President in 1920. Harding wanted normalcy and rejected progressive reforms. By 1920, Harding witness America to be the most powerful industrialized nation on Earth. Britain and France demanded American goods. America became the largest creditor nation in the world during that time. Economic power shifted from London to New York City.  World War I ended many monarchies worldwide from Austro-Hungary to other places. The Ottoman Empire ended. Britain and France grew economically. One old age ended after five centuries and new era existed. America had to wrestle with the internationalism vs. isolationism debate for years to come. Nothing will be the same again in America and the world.

Economics (Solutions)

Fundamentally, in order for freedom to occur, we have to fight poverty and build more of our institutions. In other words, if you can't defend the rights of the poor, how can you call yourself a revolutionary or a freedom lover? You can't unless you show the same compassion and respect to the poor as to anyone else regardless of income. You fight poverty by promoting living wages, organizing strikes, working with labor rights groups, investing in charities, and promoting economic justice as the late Dr. King has advocated more than 50 years ago in Memphis, Tennessee. We are in this together. We don't want authoritarianism. We want men and women working side by side in establishing the solutions and the justice that we all seek.

Also, another solution deals with growing our infrastructure. Hospitals, schools, religious locations, businesses, media institutions, land, food, and other resources are key to developing justice. That is why many black heroes for years and decades have advocated more people in our community to grow our own infrastructure that we own and control. You can't be free without controlling your own housing, food, and other resources. Also, we should never scapegoat single families since I know tons of single families (including some of my relatives) raising powerful families. Whether a family is single, extended, or nuclear, those families have equal value and must be respected. Another point is that we should allow both men and women to be leaders. Leadership is not limited by sex.

People, regardless of sex, can be strong leaders. Great leadership deals with transparency, accountability, standing on real principles, and telling the truth in season and out of season. This means that we should call out those who bash women and we should always respect the contributions of both men and women who are developing solutions, raising their families, and are doing great work. Individual achievement is great, but individual achievement alone can't save us completely. Collective solutions always build up the black community collectively. One example is the Montgomery Bus Boycott was headed mostly by black people and collectively it ended bus segregation in that Southern city. Therefore, collective power makes a great difference within the confines of our society.

Here many Solutions in dealing with Solutions that can Help Humanity.

1. Expand Financial Literacy

Regardless of which economic philosophy that you embrace, the people in general should have the opportunity to learn about finances. Young people in schools whether in secondary education and college should definitely learn about money, debt, stocks, bonds, equity, and other important facets of the economy. With that understanding and knowledge, people can be better prepared to deal with their own life situations. Learning is a lifelong process. Expert financial experts and economists including Ph.Ds. are here to assist us, give advice, and give strategies. We have every right to talk with economic experts in gaining the necessary wisdom to improve our own lives. Not to mention that economic studies are abundant to outline what works and what doesn’t work in terms of economic development.

2. Help the Poor and Fight for Economic Justice

Compassion to the poor is a prerequisite in any society. For years, centuries, and thousands, you have always had nefarious people demonizing the poor. They slander the poor as lazy when most of the poor work hard every single day. They try to shame the poor in many cases to try to falsely blame themselves for poverty. That day is over. Poverty existed because of corrupt economic structures stripping resources, promoting economic inequalities, and getting the wealth from the majority of the people to benefit the super wealthy. Therefore, anti-poverty measures are key in establishing economic justice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others attempted to end poverty with the Poor People’s Campaign back in 1968. Rev. Barber is trying to do the same with a new Poor People’s Campaign. We know what works too. This isn’t rocket science. That is why we should demand living wages federally and in all levels of government. We desire equal pay for equal work. Investments in welfare for the poor must existed. Equity in education like universal pre-K and tuition free colleges and universities must exist. Equitable funding for historically black colleges and universities is a priority. Expansion of Medicaid nationwide is needed as part of the ultimately goal of universal health care. Relief from household, student, and consumer debt must exist. Investments in our infrastructure, education, health care, housing, and assistance to the poor, disabled, elderly, etc. must transpire. Also, we have the right to advocate for the elimination of unfair tax loopholes that the super wealthy benefit from. Strengthening the social safety net, regular the financial sector more, and investing in farmers plus the poor are real policies to pursue. Some people want a Wall Street tax and I have no problem with that goal. We desire real economic justice.

3. Grassroots Organizing

An individual alone can’t solve every problem on Earth. That is why working together in a cooperative fashion is needed in order for economic solutions to transpire. We should ally with and join strong, progressive organizations who desire real results in the lives of humanity. Working on the grassroots level causes immediate change since it’s tangible and it’s readily transparent. Transparency, organization, leadership, and accountability all should exist in any grassroots organizing.

4. Support Businesses and Enterprises (that help communities)

It is not enough to help businesses. It must be a priority to help businesses that are active in helping the poor, black people, and the diversity found in the human family. If a business disrespects black people inappropriate, then they should be boycotted. We don’t need to fund any enterprise that disrespects us as a people. Businesses or enterprises who are helping communities, who are giving living wages, and who are honorable plus trustworthy ought to be acknowledged and respected.

5. Support Labor Rights

Workers are one major part of the world economy. Without workers, societies will never reach its highest potential. Therefore, labor unions and workers’ rights in general must be protected and enhanced. We know of the Supreme Court recently executing decisions to limit the rights of labor unions, but we must continue to fight for our freedom. Labor unions should be promoted and not only that. Workers in those unions must have their concerns respected and collective bargaining should always be a permanent part of our society.

 6. Get Young People Involved

Young people are a part of our future literally. They should be respected as tons of young people have that great intellectual curiosity and are personally involved in social activist movements (from fighting gun violence, fighting climate change, and opposing police brutality). Therefore, young people must always be involved in the solution making process. Young people have the right to learn about economic terms, business arrangements, bonds, stocks, annuities, and other facets of the diverse subjects of microeconomics including macroeconomics. Young people in public and private schools must be taught explicitly about economics, retirements, investments, stocks, bonds, housing, banking accounts, and other financially important subjects. 

7. End the Prison Industrial Complex & the War on Drugs

There is absolutely no solution without ending the prison industrial complex and the War on Drugs. Both evils have ruined individual lives, ruined families, and caused emotional trauma to so many in our communities. That is why progressives and overs of freedom have worked day and night to endorse banning mandatory minimum sentences, legalize at the bare minimum medicinal marijuana, invest in treatment for those with drug addiction, and stop jailing nonviolent drug offenders. The prison industrial complex has not only a record amount of abuse and rape, but corporate exploitation, and total mayhem as explained by the documentary called 13th. The documentary exposed the fact that the 13th Amendment was exploited to promote horrendous conditions in the prison system. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which freed the slaves and prohibited slavery, with the exception of slavery as punishment for a crime. The prison industry contributes to the harm done to black lives, it contributes to denial of voting rights, and the massive corporate profits (via groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council), as a product of the growth of the prison system. That documentary was directed by the great black director Sister Ava DuVernay.  That is why prisoners who paid their debt to society need resources, voting rights, and compassion. It is crucially important to fight police brutality too. Voting is important as we get to choose judges, governors, mayors, and other political leaders. We should vote, but voting alone isn’t a total answer. We also need to learn the tactics of racism, we should study, we have to be strategic with our economic plus political power, and we need to advance more self-determination (as other ethnic groups have done like Asian Americans, Irish Americans, etc.). Not to mention that it is economically beneficial to end the War on Drugs and the prison industrial complex with more compassionate policies that can enrich human lives too.

Conclusion

In conclusion, studying economics is very important. We know that trickled down economics doesn’t work to help the economy in a wide ranging scale. Back in 1993, Bill Clinton wanted to increase the taxes on the earners who made $250K+ a year from 31% to 39.6%. Many conservatives thought this would cause an economic disaster. They were wrong. In fact, from 1992 to 2000, 23 million jobs were created among 8 budget years. The deficit was turned into federal surplus. When Bush came into office back in 2001, he lowered the tax rate on earners who made $250K+ a year from 39.6% to 35%. George W. Bush also cut the top rates on capital gains and dividends. He passed his large tax cut again with the same policies in 2003. From 2001 to 2003, the economy barely grew. The housing market crash contributed to the Great Recession. George W. Bush was desperate and claimed to promote tax cuts and low spending, but passed a large bailout to large financial institutions not to the American people directly who experienced home foreclosures or the poor in general. When Barack Obama came into office, he inherited the problems of the Great Recession. At the end of 2012, Barack Obama raised the taxes on the super wealthy to about 39.6%. He also increased tax rates in capital gains and dividends. Later, the economy grew. By the end of Obama’s second term in 2017, the unemployment rate declined to less than 5 percent, the median income increased, and the GDP has grown. Even when conservatives and supply siders cite Reagan, they omit that Reagan's tax cuts of 1981 didn't end the recession in 1982. It prolonged it until 1984. The economic growth by Reagan was facilitated (via Volcker of the Federal Reserve) by the low interest rates and the expansion of government spending from the mid to late 1980's. Even Ronald Reagan raised taxes at times. I don't support Reagan's ideological agenda (as he promoted imperial adventures, used austerity, and did many things that I don't agree with like him vetoing an anti-apartheid bill), but Reagan did in fact raised taxes multiple times.

Today, we have Trump. Trump believes in tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts to environmental regulations, and he promotes a trade wars (which long term doesn’t work since we have a very interconnected economy). Trump’s trade war deals with tax on foreign goods. Now, many nations have retaliated against that policy by placing tariffs on what we sell to them. This trade war is folly, because of many reasons. One reason is that numerous American companies sell goods worldwide and foreign companies hire Americans. American companies readily sell items overseas. Massive tariffs harm workers and place more of a burden on workers and families who own massive goods and services in the States. For example, tariffs drive up prices on inputs used by American workers to create products. Workers need steel to make cars and other products while tariffs on steel hurt U.S. workers. Tariffs increase the prices of goods that U.S. consumers buy. The Smooth Harley tariff worsen the Great Depression back during the 1930's. We don’t need any tariffs. We need early childhood education, technological skills, research technology, etc. We need investments in health care too. History teaches us that collaboration, investments in infrastructure (like ports, the Internet, high speed transit, bridges, hospitals, etc.), the strengthening of the social safety net, regulating financial entities (as any Wall Street banker who has done criminal actions should be punished), and other progressive policies grow economic development.

Addressing poverty and economic inequality must be done as well. Justice for black people and immigration rights are paramount causes to advance. A record high of 75 percent of Americans believe that immigration is good for America, new immigrants can deal with an aging population, immigration spending helps the economy in general, and immigration exists while crime rates are at all time historic lows in 2018. The concentration of economic power into fewer hands during the current generation is wrong. Big money dominating politics unfairly must end. America is made up of many different backgrounds and cultures, so power should be equitable distributed to the human race. That is why health care, housing, education, and other necessities must be promoted to the poor, the working class, and all people.

By Timothy