Transcript Unit on Imperialism and WWI - History Connections

Period VI – The World Stage
A New Century
(1890-1920)
For This Unit …………..
You will understand …………
Impact of Progressivism on Foreign Policy
Pan-Americanism
Annexation of Hawaii
Splendid Little War 1898
Open Door Policy
Big Stick Policy
Yellow Journalism
Roosevelt Corollary
Gunboat Diplomacy
Wilson Moral Diplomacy
Fourteen Points
Dollar Diplomacy
World War 1
New Foreign Policy
A policy of “isolationism”
Examples?
A policy of intervention
Examples?
Why will the US change?
US Imperialism
Mercantilism
“sphere of influence”
How are these two connected?
What is the impact on foreign policy?
1. Commercial/Business
Interests
U. S. Foreign Investments: 1869-1908
1. Commercial/Business
Interests
American Foreign Trade:
1870-1914
2. Military/Strategic Interests
Alfred T. Mahan  The Influence of Sea
Power on History: 1660-1783
3. Social Darwinist Thinking
The Hierarchy
of Race
The White Man’s
Burden
4. Religious/Missionary Interests
American
Missionaries
in China, 1905
5. Closing the American Frontier
International Perspective
• Label World Map - Territories / spheres of
influence
• Briefly research imperialism and antiimperialism (use provided internet link)
• Obtain and read a copy of “White Man’s
Burden” by Rudyard Kipling
The White Man’s Burden: Motives for
Imperialism
The White Man’s Burden Questions
• Who is Kipling referring to in the first stanza with “Your
new-caught sullen peoples, Half devil and half child”?
• Who is Kipling writing this poem for?
• Kipling’s poem lists the White Man’s responsibilities, and
then the consequences of those responsibilities. List four of
those responsibilities and four of the consequences Hint:
most stanzas begin with a responsibility and ends with a
consequence!
• Do you think Kipling supports or opposes imperialism?
• How does Kipling’s poem reflect Social Darwinism?
REFLECTIVE QUESTION: What is one man’s
responsibility to another, or one nation’s
responsibility to another?
“Seward’s Folly”: 1867
$7.2 million
The Purchase of Alaska
• William Seward (New York) served as
Secretary of State (1861-1869)
• Accomplished more than any recent SoS
• A strong expansionist
• Tried to convince Congress the need to purchase
Danish West Indies and annex Hawaii
• Achieved the annexation of Midway Island in
Pacific, gained rights to build a canal in Nicaragua
The Purchase of Alaska
• Territory had been in dispute between Russia and
GB
• Russia assumed control and established a small
colony for seal hunting
• Became an economic burden under the threat of
GB
• Seward will lobby to purchase from Russia
• 1867, Congress agreed to purchase for 7.2 million
• Referred to as “Seward’s Folly” and “Seward’s
Icebox”
“Seward’s Icebox”: 1867
U. S. Missionaries in Hawaii
Imiola Church – first built in the late 1820s
U. S. View of Hawaiians
Hawaii becomes a U. S. Protectorate in 1849
by virtue of economic treaties.
U. S. Business Interests In Hawaii
1875 – Reciprocity
Treaty
1890 – McKinley Tariff
1893 – American
businessmen backed an
uprising against Queen
Liliuokalani.
Sanford Ballard Dole
proclaims the Republic
of Hawaii in 1894.
To The Victor Belongs the Spoils
Hawaiian
Annexation
Ceremony, 1898
Commodore Matthew Perry
Opens Up Japan: 1853
The Japanese View
of Commodore
Perry
Treaty of Kanagawa: 1854
Gentleman’s Agreement: 1908
A Japanese note agreeing
to deny passports to
laborers entering the U.S.
Japan recognized the U.S.
right to exclude Japanese
immigrants holding passports
issued by other countries.
The U.S. government got the
school board of San Francisco
to rescind their order to
segregate Asians in separate
schools.
1908  Root-Takahira Agreement.
Lodge Corollary to the Monroe
Doctrine: 1912
Senator Henry Cabot
Lodge, Sr. (R-MA)
Non-European powers,
like Japan, would be
excluded from owning
territory in the
Western
Hemisphere.
The New Imperialism
Industrialization intensified US involvement
because it needed;
1. Worldwide markets for industrial / agricultural
surpluses
2. Needed sources of raw materials
• Conservatives will hope overseas territory and
adventure would be an outlet and safety valve for
unhappiness at home
• They were concerned with growing labor violence,
unrest of farmers
• Advocates of expansionist policy hoped to achieve
their ends by economic and diplomatic means, not by
military
International Darwinism
Imperialism – many nations in Europe were pursuing territory; focus was Africa and
Pacific Ocean; US would need to compete, or grow weak and fail; advocates will
include missionaries, politicians, naval strategists and journalists
Missionaries – Rev Josiah Strong wrote that people of Anglo-Saxon ancestry were
the :fittest to survive” and Protestant Americans had the duty to colonize other
lands to spread Christianity and W. Civilization (Our Country: Its Possible Future and
Present Crisis, 1885); benefits of “superior” civilization to the less fortunate of the
world (medicine, science, and technology) ; many travel to Asia, Africa, Pacific
Islands ; believed in racial superiority and supremacy of “whites” ;
Politicians – republican party was allied w/ business leaders; endorsed use of foreign
affairs to search for new markets; Henry Cabot Lodge (Mass.) and T. Roosevelt
(gov. of NY)were eager to build US power through global expansion
Naval Power – navy Capt. Alfred Thayer Mahan argued a strong navy was crucial to a
country’s ambitions of securing foreign markets and becoming a world power (The
Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1890); US naval strategists persuaded Congress
to finance construction of steel navy ships and acquire overseas islands as stations;
1900, 3rd largest navy
Newspapers – increase circulation by printing adventure stories ; increased public
interest and stimulated demands for a larger US role
Latin America
Blaine and the Pan-American Conference (1889) –
result of efforts to establish closer ties; met in Washington
DC; decided to create organization for cooperation on
trade, etc. ; larger goal of hemispheric cooperation on
economic and political issues; continues today as part of
Organization of American States (1948)
Cleveland, Olney, and Monroe Doctrine – boundary
dispute between British colony of Guiana and Venezuela;
Pres. Cleveland and SoS Olney push the British to arbitrate;
they argue that the MD applies and US was ready to use
military force; British will agree to demands; arbitrators will
agree British, but LA countries appreciated US efforts to
protect them
The Imperialist Taylor
Spanish Misrule in Cuba
Valeriano Weyler’s
“Reconcentration” Policy
“Yellow Journalism” & Jingoism
Joseph Pulitzer
Hearst to Frederick Remington:
You furnish the pictures,
and I’ll furnish the war!
William Randolph Hearst
The Splendid Little War!
Expansionists had long coveted Cuba as early as the 1850’s; large
sugar investments in 1890’s
Causes – public opinion was being swayed by “jingoism”;
demand for US to take its place; Cleveland and McKinley
felt military action was morally wrong
1. Cuban revolt – nationalists fought to overthrow Spanish
rule; 1895 began to lay waste to plantations
2. De Lome letter – (1898) highly critical of pres. McKinley
3. Sinking of the Maine – February 15, 1898, battleship USS
Maine exploded in Havana Harbor, killing 260
4. Yellow Press – sensationalistic newspapers calling for war;
printed false and exaggerated stories
De Lôme Letter
Dupuy de Lôme, Spanish
Ambassador to the U.S.
Criticized President
McKinley as weak and a
bidder for the admiration
of the crowd, besides
being a would-be politician
who tries to leave a door
open behind himself while
keeping on good terms
with the jingoes of his
party.
Remember the Maine
and to Hell with Spain!
Funeral for Maine
victims in Havana
McKinley’s War Message
Reasons for intervention –
1. Put an end to bloodshed and starvation in Cuba
2. Protect the lives and property of US citizens
3. End the injury to trade and commerce
4. End the “constant menace to our peace”
Teller Amendment – Congress passed resolution
April 20, 1898 authorizing war; added the
resolution that the US had no intention of taking
political control of Cuba
Theodore Roosevelt
Assistant Secretary
of the Navy in the
McKinley
administration.
Imperialist and
American nationalist.
Criticized President
McKinley as having
the backbone of a
chocolate éclair!
Resigns his position to
fight in Cuba.
The
“Rough
Riders”
Dewey Captures Manila!
Fighting the War
The first shots were in Manila Bay, the last shots were fired
only a few months later in August; Sec of State John hay
called it a “splendid little war”
- The Philippines: Commodore George Dewey will
defeat Spanish fleet; Manila was taken on August 13
- Invasion of Cuba: most celebrated event of the war
was the cavalry charge up “San Juan Hill; Spanish fleet in
Santiago Bay was defeated July 3; more than 5,000
Americans will die mostly due to tropical disease
(typhoid, malaria, dysentery), less than 500 die in battle
Impact of War
• The Philippine Question – Treaty of Paris was ratified on February
6, 1899; annexation of the Philippines
• Insular Case – constitutional rights of Philippine people – Did the
Constitution follow the flag?; issue was resolved in a series of SC
cases (1901-1903) ; ruling said that const. rights were not
automatically extended to territorial possessions, power belonged
to Congress
• Cuba and Platt Amendment – troops remained in Cuba until 1901,
Cuba had to accept terms: never sign a treaty that impairs w/
independence, never build up excessive debt, permit US to
intervene, allow US to maintain naval bases (Guantanamo Bay)
• Election of 1900- Republicans re-nominated McKinley and made
war hero T Roosevelt VP; Dems nominated William Bryan; growing
prosperity gave McKinley a larger victory
• Recognition of US Power
The Treaty of Paris: 1898
Cuba was freed from Spanish rule.
Spain gave up Puerto Rico and the island of
Guam.
The U. S. paid Spain
$20 mil. for the
Philippines.
The U. S. becomes
an imperial power!
The American Anti-Imperialist
League
Founded in 1899.
Mark Twain, Andrew
Carnegie, William
James, and William
Jennings Bryan among
the leaders.
Campaigned against
the annexation of the
Philippines and other
acts of imperialism.
Cuban Independence?
Teller Amendment (1898)
Platt Amendment (1903)
Senator
Orville Platt
1. Cuba was not to enter into any agreements with foreign
powers that would endanger its independence.
2. The U.S. could intervene in Cuban affairs if necessary
to maintain an efficient, independent govt.
3. Cuba must lease Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. for naval
and coaling station.
4. Cuba must not build up an excessive public debt.
Our “Sphere of Influence”
Presidential Foreign Policy
President
Roosevelt
Taft
Wilson
Policy
Description
Related Events
Open Door Policy
• China was falling under control of other powers
• To prevent losing economic access, Sec of State John
Hay proposes Open Door Policy; no one openly
opposed this and was considered a diplomatic success
• Boxer Rebellion (1900) nationalism and xenophobia
was growing in China; a secret society of Chinese
Nationalists (Boxers) attacked foreign settlements and
missionaries; US will participate in a multinational force
going into Beijing (Peking)
• 1900, Hay sends a second not to ensure: 1)preserve
China's territorial integrity , 2) safeguard equal trade
• 1930’s, this policy will influence US relations with Japan
Big Stick Policy
1901, Roosevelt will assume presidency – a young
expansionist and war hero; his motto “speak softly
and carry a big stick”
Panama Canal
• Revolution in Panama (Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty)
• Hay-Pauncefote Treaty: (1901) treaty with GB;
canceled earlier treaty that said any canal in C
America was to be under joint US-British control
• Finished in 1914
Roosevelt Corollary
Early century, many LA countries faced mounting debts – 1902, British sent ships to
Venezuela to force payment of debt, 1904, it appeared European powers were
poised to do the same in Santo Domingo (DR)
East Asia
• Russo-Japanese War: (1904-1905) imperialist rivalry; Japan was winning,
Roosevelt intervened to force a diplomatic conference ; Japan will later
resent the US
• Gentleman’s Agreement – major conflict between US and Japan was
California law; required Japanese students to attend segregated schools;
Roosevelt got Japan to restrict emigrants and Roosevelt would persuade a
change in laws
• Great White Fleet – demonstration of US naval power (1907-1909); great
white ships were impressive and Japan will warmly welcome them in Tokyo
Bay
• Root-Takahira Agreement (1908) agreement between US and Japan;
pledeged mutual respect for each Pacific possessions, and support for
Open Door policy in China
Roosevelt’s Efforts
• Maintain peace between rival nations
• Consistently promoted peaceful solutions
• Awarded Nobel Peace Prize (1906) for efforts in
Russo-Japanese War
• Help to settle conflict between Germany and
France over claims to Morocco (Algeciras
Conference)
• Also participated in Second International peace
Conference at the Hague in 1907 discussing rules
for limiting warfare
Taft and Dollars
Taft will adopt a policy that was expansionist but depended
more on investors than battleships
• RR in China – first test of new policy; wanted to
include w/ European bankers investing in rail roads in
China; gain US involvement in 1911; excluded from
Manchuria
• Intervention in Nicaragua – to protect US interests,
intervened in financial affairs(1911); sent in Marines
when war broke out in 1912 and stay until 1933
• The Lodge Corollary – (1912) addition to MD; nonEuropean powers would be excluded from owning
territory in the W Hemisphere ;Taft opposed
Wilson and a Higher Ground
In 1912 campaign called for a “New Freedom” in government and promised
a moral approach to foreign affairs: he opposed imperialism and “big
stick”
Righting Wrongs:
1. Philippines – won passage of Jones Act of 1916; granted full
territorial status; bill of rights, promised independence
2. Puerto Rico – 1917, Congress granted citizenship and self
government
3. Panama Canal – 1914, repealed an exemption ships to pay a toll
4. Conciliation Treaties – ideas of peace shared by Sec of State
William Jennings Bryan; negotiate treaties in which nations
pledged to submit disputes to an international commission,
observe a one year cooling off period before military action
(reached a total of 30 agreements
Military Intervention
• Latin America – went beyond predecessors intervention on
financial and political matters; kept Marines in Nicaragua
and sent them into Haiti in 1915, and DR in 1916
• Mexico – refused to recognize military dictator of General
Victoriano Huerta, seized power in 1913; Wilson asked for
an arms embargo to Mexico and blocked port of Vera Cruz;
1914 several seaman went ashore in Tampico and were
arrested; Wilson orders navy to seize control of Vera Cruz;
SA ABC powers mediated
• Pancho Villa – Huerta fell from power in 1914 and replaced
by Venustiano Carranza ; got was challenged by
revolutionaries led by Pancho Villa ; led raids across US
border and murdered people in Texas and new Mexico;
1916 Wilson orderd General pershing across the border
and pursue Villa
Historical Perspective
In interpreting this era of foreign policy …
• William Appleman Williams, and Walter La Feber focused on US desires for
oversea markets, raw materials, and investments
• The economic explanation has been questioned on two levels: 1)historians
note that business interests at first opposed to intervention in Cuba; most
supported the war only after it had started; 2) stress the importance of
noneconomic motives, they point out there both humanitarian and
nationalistic reasons for sending troops to Cuba in 1895, influenced by
yellow journalism, Americans had no economic reasons for demanding the
US go to war
• Others studying Lodge or Roosevelt say their main interest was
establishing US power on the world stage, Roosevelt was often motivated
by strategic means, not economic
• Other historians believe a new generation of foreign policy makers rose to
power after 1900 and were critical of mediocre leadership post civil war
and were eager to take bold new directions; Roosevelt seen as a realist
and Wilson an idealist
• Historian Richard Hofstadter interpreted Spanish American War from
social psychology , he argues that the popular movement for war resulted
from a psychic crisis , he said people were expressing aggression built up
by economic depressions, closing of the frontier rise of big business and
rise of labor radicalism
The Most
Famous
Recruitment
Poster
Don’t Mess with
the U. S.
World War I
American
“Anthem”
Johnnie get your gun, get your gun,
get your gun,
Take it on the run, on the run, on
the run,
Hear them calling you and me,
Every son of liberty.
Hurry right away, no delay, go
today,
Make your daddy glad to have had
such a lad,
Tell your sweetheart not to pine,
To be proud her boy's in line.
Over there, over there
Send the word, send the word over
there
That the Yanks are coming, the
Yanks are coming,
The drums rum-tumming everywhere
So prepare, say a prayer
Send the word, send the word to
beware
We'll be over, we're coming over,
And we won't come back till it's
over, over there!
Johnnie get your gun, get your gun,
get your gun,
Johnnie show the Hun you're a son
of a gun,
Hoist the flag and let her fly,
Yankee Doodle do or die.
Pack your little kit, show your grit,
do your bit,
Yankees to the ranks from the towns
and the tanks,
Make your momma proud of you
And the old Red White and Blue.
A Move Towards War
The sequence of events leading from peace in Europe to
the outbreak of a general war occurred with stunning
rapidity:
• Sarajevo, June 28, 1914: Serbian terrorist assassinates
Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife
• Vienna, July 23: Austrian govt. Issues an ultimatum
threatening war against Serbia and invades 4 days later
• Berlin, August 1: Austria’s ally, German govt. under
Kaiser Wilhelm I declares war against Russia
• Berlin, August 3: Germany declares war against France,
and begins invasion of neutral Belgium
• London, August 4: Great Britain declares war against
Germany
Beginnings
• Nationalism
• Ethnic groups
• Adopted “militarism”
• Unintended “arms race”
• Creation of alliances
Alliances
Triple Entente
Central Powers
Great Britain
Germany
France
Austria-Hungary
Russia
Ottoman Empire
Neutrality
• President Wilson’s first response was to issue a
declaration of neutrality
• Called upon American people to not take sides
• It was near impossible while protecting US
trading rights
• US found themselves in several roles: 1) a
contented neutral country, 2) a country waging
war for peace, 3) a victorious world power, and
then 4) an alienated isolationist nation
Neutrality?
WWI, the trouble for the US came from the
efforts of belligerent powers to stop supplies
from reaching their enemies (War of 1812)
• GB was the first to declare a blockade against
Germany; including American ships trying to
run the blockade
• Wilson will protest as the right of a neutral
nation’s right to freedom of the seas
Submarine Warfare
Germany's hope in winning against British naval power lay w/ a new
weapon: the submarine
• Feb. 1915, Germany answered the British blockade by announcing a
blockade of its own and warned that any ships attempting to enter “the
war zone” risked being sunk on sight
• Lusitania Crisis – challenged US neutrality; the sinking of a British
passenger ship May 7, 1915, most passengers died, including 128
Americans; Wilson responded w/ a message warning Germany would be
held to strict accountability if continuing; SoS William Jennings Bryan
resigned
• August 1915, the Arabic was attacked, killing 2 Americans;
• Wilson was able to get Germany to pledge to give a warning
• Germany will keep its word until March 1916, when they fired upon the
Sussex; Wilson threatened to break diplomatic and Germany backed
down
• Sussex Pledge: Germany promised not to sink merchant or passenger
ships w/o due warning; Germany will remain faithful for the remainder
of 1916
Economic Links to Europe
• The US economy had become closely tied to that of the
Allied powers
• War helped the US economy rebound from a recession
• Orders for war supplies from France and Great Britain
• The blockade prevented them from shipping to Germany
• Wilson tolerated the British blockade while resisting the
German blockade
• Between 1914 – 1917; US trade w/ France and Britain
quadrupled while trade w/ Germany all but vanished
• US banks, like JP Morgan, began to make loans; extended as
much as 3 billion in loans
• The loans maintained US prosperity and sustain the Allied
effort
Public Opinion
• The attitudes of America mirrored Wilson’s
policies
• Americans will perceive Germans as “bullies”;
strong dislike of Kaiser Wilhelm
• Ethnic influences: 1914, 30% of US population
was 1st or 2nd generation immigrants; their
sympathy often remained w/ their homeland
• Americans tended to favor Britain and France
• British war propaganda
The War Debate
Preparedness: Eastern Republicans (T. Roosevelt) called for
preparedness; leading the way was the “National Security
League” organized by a group of business leaders ; Wilson
resists at first, but changed his policy in 1915 and provoked
a political storm, esp. among Dems; after a nationwide
speaking tour, Wilson convinced Congress to pass the
National Defense Act inJune 1916 to increase the size of
the army, and amonth later 50 warships were authorized
Opposition to War: many Americans in the Midwest and West
were opposed; the anti war activists included Progressives,
Populists, and Socialists; leaders were William Jennings
Bryan, Jane Addams, and Jeanette Rankin; women suffragists
were openly opposed
The Election of 1916
• Wilson knew he had won 1912 because of a split
in the Republican party
• Charles Hughes became the Rep. nominee
• “He kept us out of war” ; adopted as a campaign
slogan; peace sentiment in the country , and
Wilson’s record of progressivism gave Wilson a
narrow victory
• Democratic strength in the west and south
overcame Republican dominance of the east
Decision For War
• April 1917 Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of
war
• Unrestricted submarine warfare began in January 1917
• Zimmerman Telegram – March 1, 1917; newspaper
carried the shocking headline of a secret offer made to
Mexico by Germany; aroused nationalism in US
• Russian Revolution – Wilson wanted war to be fought
with a moral purpose, the triumph of democracy;
Wilson was bothered that one of the allies was ruled
by a Czar; March 15, 1917, he was removed from
power
Declaration for War
• April 2, 1917; Wilson stood before a special
session of Congress
• He asked them to recognize that a state of war
existed with Germany
• He condemned Germany for their submarine
policy as “warfare against mankind”
• He declared “the world must be made safe for
democracy”
• April 6 congress voted for war
Mobilization
Mobilization for war was a race against time; Germany was preparing
for a knockout blow to end the war: on land Germany planned a
major offensive against the Allied lines on the western front; at sea,
they unleashed the full power of German submarines
• Industry and Labor – first contribution was the shipping of supplies;
Wilson will create a number of war agencies: War Industries Board,
led by Bernard Baruch, set production priorities and established
control over raw materials; Herbert Hoover took charge of the
Food Administration; Henry Garfield, will lead the Fuel
Administration, and directed efforts at conserving coal, and Daylight
Savings was put into practice; former Pres. Taft will arbitrate
between labor and business, labor will win several concessions
• Finance – Wilson will mange to raise 33 billion in 2 years with a
combination of loans and taxes; four massive drives were conducted
to encourage Americans to buy Liberty Bonds; Congress also will
increase income taxes
U. S. Food Administration
National War Garden Commission
U. S. Shipping Board
U. S. Fuel Administration
Results of This New Organization of
the Economy?
1. Unemployment virtually
disappeared.
2. Expansion of “big government.”
3. Excessive govt. regulations in eco.
4. Some gross mismanagement 
overlapping jurisdictions.
5. Close cooperation between public
and private sectors.
6. Unprecedented opportunities for
disadvantaged groups.
Public Opinion and Civil Liberites
The US govt. will use techniques of patriotic persuasion and legal intimidation
to ensure public support
• Progressive journalist, George Creel will lead the Committee on Public
Information – enlisted voluntary services of artists, writers, vaudeville
performers and movie stars to depict the heroism of the “boys” and the
villainy of Kaiser Wilhelm; propaganda consisted of films, posters,
pamphlets and speakers; all Americans were encouraged to “do your bit”
for the war; war hysteria and patriotism often served as an excuse for
nativism ; American Protective League attacked all things German
• Espionage and Sedition Acts – went after Socialists and pacifists who
openly opposed the war; Espionage act provided a sentence of 20 yrs for
anyone inciting rebellion in the armed forces or obstruct operation of the
draft; the Sedition Act prohibited anyone from making disloyal statements
or abusive remarks about the government; about 2,00 people overall were
prosecuted, half were convicted and jailed, among them was Eugene Debs
• Case of Schenck vs. US – SC upheld constitutionality of Espionage act in a
case involving a man passing out anti-draft pamphlets; 1919, Justice Oliver
Wendell Holmes concluded that the right to free speech could be limited
when it represented a “clear and present danger” to public safety
Government Excess & Threats to the
Civil Liberties of Americans
Espionage Act – 1917
- forbade actions that
obstructed recruitment or
efforts to promote
insubordination in the military.
- ordered the Postmaster General
to remove Leftist materials
from the mail.
- fines of up to $10,000 and/or
up to 20 years in prison.
Government Excess & Threats
to the Civil Liberties of Americans
Sedition Act – 1918
- it was a crime to speak against the
purchase of war bonds or willfully
utter, print, write or publish any
disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or
abusive language about this form of US
Govt., the US Constitution, or the US
armed forces or to willfully urge, incite,
or advocate any curtailment of
production of things necessary or
essential to the prosecution of the
war…with intent of such curtailment to
cripple or hinder, the US in the
prosecution of the war.
Government Excess & Threats
to the Civil Liberties of Americans
Schenck v. US – 1919
- in ordinary times the mailing of the
leaflets would have been protected by the
1st Amendment.
- BUT, every act of speech must be judged
acc. to the circumstances in which it was
spoken.
-The most stringent protection of free
speech would not protect a man in falsely
shouting fire in a theater and causing a
panic. [Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes]
- If an act of speech posed a clear and
present danger, then Congress had
the power to restrain such speech.
Government Excess & Threats
to the Civil Liberties of Americans
Abrams v. US – 1919
- majority ruling --> cited Holmes’
“Clear and present danger” doctrine.
- Holmes & Brandeis dissented:
The best test of truth is the
power of the thought to get
itself accepted in the competition
of the market, denying that a
“silly leaflet” published by an
“unknown man” constituted such a
danger.
Armed Forces
• Thousands of young men volunteered ; largest number
were conscripted into the army by requiring all men
between 21-30 (18-45) to register with the govt.
• Selective Service Act, 1917 – devised by Sec of War
Newton Baker as a democratic method for ensuring
that all groups in the population would be called into
service; about 2.8 million men would be called by a
lottery
• African Americans – racial segregation applied to the
army; almost 400,000 served in the army and only a
few were allowed to serve as officers; all were banned
from the Marines; W.E.B Dubois believed that the
record of service would earn them equal rights at
home
1917 – Selective Service Act
24,000,000 men registered for
the draft by the end of 1918.
4,800,000 men served in WW1
(2,000,000 saw active combat).
400,000 African-Americans
served in segregated units.
15,000 Native-Americans served
as scouts, messengers, and
snipers in non-segregated units.
Effects on American Society
• Women – took jobs vacated by men; their
efforts convince the passge of 19th amendment
• Migrations – thousands of Mexicans crossed
the border to work in agriculture and mining;
African Americans also took advantage pf job
opportunities and headed north (The Great
Migration)
The Girls They Left Behind
Do Their Bit!
Women Used In Recruitment
Hello, Big
Boy!
Even
Grandma
Buys Liberty
Bonds
The Red Cross - Greatest
Mother in the World
Opportunities for
African-Americans in WW1
“Great Migration.”
1916 – 1919  70,000
War industries work.
Enlistment in segregated
units.
True Sons of Freedom
African-Americans on a Troop Ship
Headed for France
The Committee of Public
Information (George Creel)
America’s “Propaganda
Minister?”
Anti-Germanism.
Selling American Culture.
The “Mad Brute”
The “Menace of the Seas”
Fighting the War
By late 1917, millions of Europeans had been killed in battle by
murderous artillery barrages, machine gun fire, and poisonous gas; a
second revolution in Russia took them out of the war; Germany
was now able to focus on the west
• Naval Operations – merchant ships headed for Britain were being
sunk at a staggering rate ; the US undertook a record setting ship
construction project ; US navy also employed a convoy system as
escorts for ships
• American Expeditionary Force – US troops were eager for action;
idealism was reflected in George Cohan’s song:
Over there, over there
Send the word, send the word over there
That the Yanks are coming
The Yanks are coming
The drums rum-tumming ev’ry where
• The AEF was led by Gen. Pershing
Fighting the War
• The last German offensive in spring of 1918 along the
Marne R. at Chateau-Thierry; Americans stopped the
advance in June 1918 and struck back with a successful
attack at Belleau Wood
• Aug – Oct 1918; Americans were able lead an offensive
along the Meuse R. and thru the Argonne Forest and
drove tried Germans back toward Germany
• Nov. 11, 1918 the Germans signed a cease fire
agreement
• After only a few months of fighting combat deaths
totaled 49,000; many more died from diseases bringing
the total deaths to 112,432
Making Peace
• Pres. Wilson said the US would insist on a “peace
without victory”
• In Jan 1918, he presented Congress with a list of
war aims, known as Fourteen Points
• The Fourteen Points: several related to territorial
claims (return of Alsace and Lorraine to the
French and German evacuation of Belgium;
others were to secure peace: recognition of
freedom of the seas, an end to making secret
treaties, reduction in arms, self-determination for
nationalities in Austria-Hungary, and a general
association of nations
Treaty of Versailles
• The Big Four: Pres Wilson(US), David Lloyd George
(GB), Georges Clemenceau (Fr), and Vittorio Orlando
(It)
• Peace Terms Germany was disarmed and stripped of
colonies and forced to admit guilt, accept French
occupation of Rhineland for 15 yrs, pay reparations;
applying self-determination , territories once controlled
by Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia were taken by
Allied powers and granted independence (Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland, Czechoslovakia and
Yugoslavia were created; signers would join an
international peace keeping organization, League of
Nations (Article X called for memebrs to be ready to
stand by and protect independence and territorial
rights of other nations)
Battle for Ratification
• Increased partisanship after the war; he faced the
determined hostility of Henry Cabot Lodge
• Senators opposed were divided into two groups the
irreconcilables who could not accept membership into the
League; the reservationist faction (led by Lodge) said the
could accept if certain reservations were added; Wilson had
the option to accept or fight, he chose to fight
• Wilson went on a western tour to rally public support;
Sept. 25, 1919, Wilson collapsed after a speech in Colorado
and returned to DC where he suffered a massive stroke
• Rejection – the Senate voted twice and was defeated (Nov
1919)
Postwar
• Demobilization – suddenly, 4 million soldiers were back home; many could
not find jobs right away; many will take jobs back from the women and
African Americans; the war boom went flat, farmers suffer from falling
prices, early 1902’s a recession came w/ 10% unemployment
• The Red Scare – 1919, growing fears about socialism and communism; antiGerman fever turned into anti-Communism; a series of unexplained
bombings led AG Mitchell Palmer to establish a special office under J Edgar
Hoover to gather info on radicals, he also order the arrests of anarchists,
Socialists (Palmer Raids)
• Labor Conflict – despite war gains for unions, following the war public
distrust grew with a series of strikes in 1919; the first major strike was in
Seattle , in Boston police went on strike, Gov Calvin Coolidge sent in
National Guard to break the strike
• Race Riots – the migration of African Americans north increased racial
tensions, increased competition for jobs and housing; the largest occurred
in East St Louis, Illinois in 1917; in 1919, the worst was in Chicago were 40
were killed and 500 injured