American History: A Timeline of the Most Important Events

Question 1 

There are various changes in relations to race that resulted from Reconstruction. The passage of the 13th amendment is one of the profound steps in the reconstruction. The 13th amendment framed the civil war to end slavery in the nation. Apart from the 13th amendment, the 14th amendment was also vital because it guaranteed every individual born in the US citizenship and also barred states from taking property and lives of people without due process of the law. The 14th amendment also provided the southern states free pass on the reparations of war and punished confederate leaders by not allowing them to occupy their office. 

In addition to the development of various amendments, reconstruction also made former slaves reunite with their families they had been separated during the slave trade. Both husbands and wives united again and decided to raise their children together. The freed slaves also had a choice to either work or not work with their masters and examined their employers with caution and if they decided to work with their former owners, it was under their terms (Norton et al., 2015). The other freed slaves turned to education and a dramatic increase in African Americans enrollment in primary school were noted. By 1877, numerous African Americans were enrolled in elementary school. An explosion of churches and universities was also noted in the south. Due to a lack of credit, former slaves turned to sharecropping. The sharecropping system of farming allowed the owner to keep half of the harvest while the rest belonged to the farmer. 

Question 2 

As the Industrial Revolution began, the relationship between workers and employers dramatically changed. Workers were no longer artisans but were a piece in the industry that could be supervised or replaced to heighten productivity. As mechanization started to increase production, owners of large plantations invested in machines and reduced the number of workers. As the revolution continued to take center stage, more emphasis was placed on productivity. One of the notable figures during this time was Fredrick Taylor. Fredrick Taylor described categorically in his book, Principals of scientific management the time work should take to be completed. The book caused companies to operate efficiently with few workers. However, accidents became the norm and there was no compensation for workers that were injured at work. 

The quest for high profits made companies to employ both women and children to cut labor costs. According to Norton et al. (2015), the number of employed women and children increased from 2.6 million to 8.6 million between 1800 and 1900. Women mostly worked as clerical or salespeople but were paid minimal amount as compared to men. Industrialization also made different cities to start concentrating on various businesses. For instance, meat was processed in Chicago, steel in Birmingham while clothes were made in New York. Cities became transportation, labor, consumption, and communication hubs and supplied everything that factories required. As cities continued to develop, they changed their distribution ways because of the emergence of downtown, commercial streets, suburbs, and neighborhoods. This made it possible for mass transit development. Rural dwellers also fled to cities to look for better lives. Most young people were driven to cities because of lifestyle and African Americans moved into the city because of discrimination. In the city, numerous communities came together to access water, schools, and fire protection. 

Question three 

The development of industrialization in the US came with several changes to society. The emerging middle-class people wanted to make changes in society and changed how it related to workers and the lives of most people. As a result of the various changes, religion took the lead to foster progressive reforms to assist the middle as well as the working class of America. Most progressive reforms were formed by different religions. A movement referred to as the Social Gospel led by Washington Gladden, Charles Sheldon, and Walter Rauschenbusch dealt with cutthroat capitalism by interjecting Christian Churches with matters of the world. The established Christian Churches played a fundamental role in pushing the progressive agenda that aimed to assist the poor using the Christian message of “what would Jesus do?” 

The progressive agenda created by the established Christian churches found numerous champions who reformed governments and stamped out corruption by politicians. The change was immediately noted when urban politicians were replaced by merits rather than political connections. The passage of the 17th amendment that allowed senators to be chosen directly instead of their bosses was one of the significant changes that happened (Norton et al., 2015). Apart from allowing senators to be chosen directly, the progressive agenda brought labor laws changes, pushed for safe factory inspections, and pushed for compensation for injured workers. The passing of the 18th amendment was the greatest impact of the progressive agenda. The amendment outlawed the sale, manufacture as well as transportation of intoxicating liquors. The 18th amendment represented the progressive movement goal of safeguarding family and workplace conditions through legislation. 

Question four 

The Hawaii annexation was the first incidence that the US relaxed its imperial power. Hawaii Island played a significant part in the production of sugar in the US. As much as Americans were a small minority, less than three percent, they owned about three-quarters of the wealth of Hawaii. The elimination of McKinley in the 1890s subjected sugar to tariffs which increased the price of sugar substantially. The companies of America that owned most wealth in the Island had to push the Hawaii government to accept the statehood and eliminate the stringent tariff (Norton et al., 2015). Hawaii's annexation was controversial because of the way it was conducted by the past administration. During the Spanish-American War, Hawaii was an invaluable location, and annexation was completed in 1990. 

During World War I outbreak, the exports of America to Britain increased and brought America out of recession. During this time, America saw itself as a freedom beacon and only ushered Europe in the new world where democratic policy, free-market capitalism, and open diplomacy could save the world. The US neutrality it was hoping to achieve was not viable because their ethnic ties with England and their democratic belief was the only way the world needed to move forward. In 1917, the president stepped before Congress and spoke out the grievances of the US, the violations of German of sea freedom, Mexico interference, commerce disruption as well as human rights breach by killing innocent Americans. As a result of these arguments, Congress declared war against Germany. 

Reference 

Norton, M. B., Kamensky, J., Sheriff, C., Blight, D. W., & Chudacoff, H. (2015).  A people and a nation: A history of the United States . Nelson Education.