Chapter 1: Introduction

• The north won the civil war, but Abraham Lincoln was assassinated 2 months prior

• The north occupied the south and entered a period called reconstruction

• Reconstruction refers to the actual reconstruction and reform of the south

• Three big things happened during reconstruction:

  • The north suspended democracy in the south and installed its own politicians

  • The United States passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments

  • The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in 1865

Chapter 2: The United States

• The Emancipation Proclamation

  • Abraham Lincoln's executive order

  • Official law in 1865

• The 14th Amendment

  • Made every person born in the United States a citizen

  • Included free slaves

  • Introduced due process

• The 15th Amendment

  • Gave all free men the right to vote

  • No non-free men

  • Women still did not have the right to vote

• Former slaves brought on equal standing by law, but not in practice

Chapter 3: Called Jim Crow

• The reconstruction period ends in 1877

• Republicans were in power in the North, Democrats in the South

• Democracy was contested and elections were heavily contested

Jim Crow Laws

• Jim Crow laws were passed in the South

• Named after a parody character from the early 1800s

• Blacks and whites were segregated

• Conditions for blacks were far inferior

• Blacks had to use separate drinking fountains

Chapter 4: The United States

• Segregation and discrimination

  • Separate bathroom rooms

  • Segregation in theaters and buses

  • Lasted until the civil rights movement in the 1960s

• Economic boom and innovation

  • Post-war and post-civil war period

  • Massive building of railroads and steam engines

  • Various ages of mass innovation

  • 1873: Governments shift from gold and silver standard to gold standard

• Panic of 1873

Chapter 5: The United States

• The United States experiences a decline in the price of silver

  • This negatively affects silver miners and related industries

• The decline in silver prices restricts the money supply

  • Restricting the money supply leads to an increase in interest rates

  • This causes a bubble in the economy, fueled by the railroad industry, to burst

• The United States enters a depression from 1873 to 1879

• After recovering from the depression, the United States experiences rapid economic growth

  • Immigration plays a significant role in this growth, with millions of immigrants arriving from Europe

• By 1890, the United States becomes the richest country in the world on a per capita basis

  • This is remarkable considering its previous status as a British colony

• In 1898, a significant event occurs (details not provided in the transcript)

Chapter 6: The United States

• The United States starts to become an empire

• In 1898, Cuba was a Spanish colony

• Cubans revolted against the Spanish

• The United States sympathized with the Cubans

• The United States sent ships to Havana Harbor to protect American interests

• The US battleship called the Maine exploded and sank in Havana Harbor

• Pictures start to become relevant in this period of history

Chapter 7: War On Spain

• The sinking of the main

  • People speculate on the cause

  • Some believe Spain did it, others think it was a random explosion

  • Conspiracy theorists suggest the US did it intentionally

• Declaration of war on Spain

  • American public and government angered

  • Short-lived war, US emerges victorious

• US becomes an empire

  • Temporary control of Cuba

  • Control of Guam

  • Control of the Philippines until World War 2

  • Puerto Rico becomes US territory

War Breaks Out in Europe

• 1914: Start of World War 1

Chapter 8: Blockade Of British

• The United States trying to stay neutral

• American people had sympathies for the British empire

• The British had a blockade of the Germans

• The Germans wanted to blockade the British

• Germany did not have a strong navy

• Germany starts sending submarines into the Atlantic

• Germany aims to harass and blow up ships trading with Great Britain

Chapter 9: World War

• Germany becomes more desperate as the war goes on

• Germany starts attacking civilian ships, causing American deaths

• US enters the war in 1917

• Germany didn't take the United States seriously until then

• United States turns the tides in 1918

• War ends in 1918

• Austrian Hungary and the Ottoman Empire cease to exist as nations

• Reparations on Germany may have led to World War 2

1920: Amendments and Prohibition

• 18th and 19th amendments passed

• 18th amendment enacts prohibition, making alcohol illegal in the US

• Irony of prohibition

Chapter 10: Conclusion

• Movies about bootleggers and the crime scene around illegal alcohol

• 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote

  • Before the amendment, the argument against women's suffrage was that only men fought for the country and had the right to vote

  • During World War 1, women had to take up domestic responsibilities due to men fighting

  • Women's contribution to the war effort led to the global recognition of women's right to vote

• Post-war economic boom in the 1920s

  • Developed into an economic bubble until 1929

  • Stock market crash in 1929 led to the Great Depression

• The Great Depression continued until the US entry into World War 2