The Critical Role of Women in History - Assignment Example

History Order No: 183969 No: of pages: 4 Premium – 6530 Question Andrew Johnson was Vice President to Abraham Lincoln during the second half of his term, but upon Lincoln’s assassination in April of 1865, he became the president. Though he came from a poor family, he had a flair for public speaking and hence quickly progressed to become the president inspite of his poor beginnings. The Reconstruction policy of the South was followed by bitter quarrels between President Johnson on one side and the Congress on the other side and this lead to his impeachment. The Radical Republicans wanted to make a sweeping change in the South by putting an end to slavery and granting them citizenship and equal voting rights. The “Black Codes” in the Mississippi allowed the Blacks to be arrested for vagrancy and used them as cheap labor. They were also prohibited from owning arms, holding large gatherings and enrolling in juries. In response to these “Black Codes” the Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in April 1866, which permitted blacks to enjoy many rights. President Johnson vetoed the Act saying it would “cause discord among races and this paved the way for his impeachment. During his trial, the Senate needed one more vote to reach the 2/3 rd majority and carry out the impeachment, but the single vote of Edmund G. Ross, a young Radical Republican, was instrumental in turning the tables in Johnson’s favor and so he remained in office. Question: 2 The Emancipation Proclamation: During the Civil War, on January 1st 1863, President Abraham Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation which set free all the slaves in the rebellious states. This proclamation captured the minds and hearts of millions of African Americans and in turn served to turn the war into a war of freedom. Though thousands of fugitives were crowded into camps, the Government organized relief societies for the families to be taken care of. They organized aid and schools to teach the men, women and children to read and write thus providing the African Americans with an education. The Government also commissioned the Blacks into the army and other jobs which were not open to them before. Question: 3 Role of women, Chinese immigrants and Mexican Americans. Women of the Civil War were held in high esteem and they were allowed to take on politically active roles. During the Californian Gold Rush between 1849 and 1882, quite a large group of Chinese immigrants immigrated to the United States. Some of them worked alone where as others worked for other miners. The majority of them settled there permanently while others went back home with the money they had saved. During the 1870’s there was an economic crisis where people of other races such as the Europeans vied for the jobs that were traditionally given to Chinese and this spread a lot of hatred and racial suspicion. In 1882 the “Chinese Exclusion Act” was passed, which almost ended the Chinese immigration. Question: 4. The Industrial Revolution: Transformation in the Industrial Revolution was speedy and dramatic. The result of this rapid and far reaching change had exceeded all expectations, but even though the Civil War was over, yet tensions persisted when the federal troops withdrew from the South. Even after their defeat, not all Southerners relished their return to the Union and hence it had a great impact on the poor rural whites. The creed of the Southerners was that “all men are created equal”. The boom in the Industrial Revolution however, brought about a kind of standardization among the people of America in every sense of the word. Question: 5 Machine Politics in Urban USA: In the post Civil war period, machine politics not only survived but also thrived because the machine politicians provided a sort of social service that formal government could not offer. The urban society was not well coordinated and to add to it poor administration made the situation not feasible. Therefore the machine politicians intervened and made up for the deficit to a certain extent. These machine politicians bought their support through bribery and corruption directly from the individual citizen. Using partisan criteria, these politicians appointed officials to administrative posts. Question: 6 Expansionist Sentiment In the 1980’s, scores of new settlers came and settled in the Midwestern States and as a result a fierce and aggressive Expansionist sentiment spread across it. An impending economic crisis was inevitable and the people were restless. While most of the politicians shifted base, the clever agitators took advantage of this situation and tried hard to work things in their favor. They gained much ground as they brought Expansion and slavery together. The risk they took was to shift the emphasis of slavery to slavery extension. The risk worked in their favor and made it possible for them to bring the first phase of the controversy of slavery to an end. Hence we could say that the prevailing conditions in the 1880’s were highly suitable for the Expansionist sentiment. Question:7 Women in the Progressive Era. During the Progressive Era, women realized that much could be done by way of progress and hence set about building a network of social and reform organizations. Their efforts paid off by way of enabling them to change a whole generation and a nation to a great extent. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the nations leading metropolis, New York City became a hub of innovative ideas and a vibrant incubator of progressive reforms. They formed reform associations, bureaus and committees and took up issues on child labor, fought for legislative changes at all levels and finally founded a political party called “The Progressive Party”. The women who worked in different posts were passionate about what they did and it is only through their dedication and persistence, they were capable of bringing about a great social change that was not to be reversed in the future. Question: 8 Changes in politics from 1865 to 1921: Though American politics was very conservative and mostly carried on indoors among the elite crowd, yet it was taken to the streets by way of demonstrations, rallies and election campaigns. In the early part of the 1800’s, most blacks and women were still not allowed to vote nor enter politics but the whites were compelled to take active roles in politics. But by the turn of the 19th century, political progress took a different turn as Americans had begun to lose their interest in politics and the turn out during demonstrations and voting dropped to about 50%. The world of popular politics has long past and is now remote because now – a – days Americans no longer have any other sense of alternative and hence have resigned themselves to accept the contemporary political world. References: Emancipation Proclamation www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h1549.html The Critical Role of women in the Civil War www.civilwarstudies.org/articles/Vol_2/bartlett.htm Chinese Immigration to the United States. www.memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/riseind/chinimms/chinimms.html The Victorian Age www.albanyinstitute.org/resources/victorianage/victorian.history.htm Read More