A summary of Time Period #7 [1890–1945]

An increasingly pluralistic United States faced profound domestic and global challenges, debated the proper degree of government activism, and sought to define its international role.

By the end of the nineteenth century, the United States had become one of the world's leading industrial powers and began playing a larger role in international affairs. Economic interests, strategic concerns, competition with European powers, missionary activity, and ideas about racial and cultural superiority contributed to growing support for overseas expansion. The Spanish-American War of 1898 marked an important turning point. Victory over Spain resulted in American control of Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines, strengthened U.S. influence in Cuba, and intensified debates over whether the United States should acquire an overseas empire.

American expansion generated significant opposition as well as support. Imperialists argued that overseas possessions would provide strategic advantages, commercial opportunities, and evidence of national strength. Anti-imperialists challenged expansion on constitutional, racial, economic, and moral grounds and argued that ruling other peoples without their consent contradicted American principles of self-government. The Philippine-American War demonstrated the difficulties of maintaining an overseas empire and exposed contradictions between American expansion and claims of promoting liberty.

During the early twentieth century, the United States expanded its influence in Latin America and Asia. The Open Door Policy sought to preserve American commercial access to China, while Theodore Roosevelt's Roosevelt Corollary asserted a broader American role in the Caribbean and Latin America. Construction of the Panama Canal strengthened U.S. commercial and naval power. These policies reflected the emergence of the United States as an increasingly important international power.

Progressivism

At home, rapid industrialization, urbanization, immigration, political corruption, and economic inequality generated demands for reform. Building on concerns raised by Populists and earlier reformers, Progressives sought to address problems associated with industrial capitalism and make government more responsive to the public.

Progressivism was not a single unified movement. Reformers pursued different goals and sometimes disagreed about both problems and solutions. Journalists known as muckrakers investigated political corruption, unsafe working conditions, corporate abuses, and urban poverty. Settlement-house workers addressed problems facing immigrants and the urban poor. Other reformers promoted conservation, public health, consumer protection, women's suffrage, labor legislation, and political reforms intended to make government more democratic and efficient.

Progressive reform occurred at the local, state, and federal levels. At the national level, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and Woodrow Wilson supported different combinations of business regulation and economic reform. The federal government strengthened regulation of railroads, acted against some corporate monopolies, established protections for consumers, and expanded conservation efforts.

Constitutional amendments reflected the era's reform impulse. The 16th Amendment authorized a federal income tax, the 17th Amendment established the direct election of senators, the 18th Amendment instituted national Prohibition, and the 19th Amendment prohibited denying the right to vote on the basis of sex.

Progressivism nevertheless had significant limitations. Many reformers shared contemporary assumptions about race and immigration, and Progressive governments did little to dismantle racial segregation or protect African Americans from disfranchisement and racial violence. Some reformers also supported immigration restriction, segregation, and other policies that reflected racial and ethnic prejudice. Progressive reform therefore expanded government responsibility while leaving many existing inequalities intact.

World War I

When war erupted in Europe in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson initially declared American neutrality. Economic ties increasingly connected the United States to the Allied powers, however, while German submarine warfare created repeated conflicts over neutral shipping. Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, combined with developments such as the Zimmermann Telegram, contributed to the American decision to enter the war in April 1917.

The United States mobilized millions of soldiers and dramatically expanded federal involvement in the economy. Government agencies coordinated industrial production, transportation, food, and fuel, while propaganda campaigns encouraged public support for the war. Wartime legislation such as the Espionage and Sedition Acts restricted dissent and generated debates over the balance between national security and civil liberties.

American troops helped strengthen the Allied war effort during the final stages of the conflict. Wilson attempted to shape the peace through his Fourteen Points, which emphasized principles including national self-determination and the creation of a League of Nations. The Treaty of Versailles, however, differed substantially from Wilson's original vision. A major political debate followed over American membership in the League, and the Senate ultimately rejected the treaty.

World War I also accelerated social change at home. Wartime labor demands created new economic opportunities for women and African Americans. The Great Migration brought large numbers of African Americans from the rural South to northern and midwestern cities, where they sought industrial employment and greater political and social opportunities. Migration strengthened Black communities and contributed to cultural developments that would culminate in the Harlem Renaissance.

The postwar period also produced considerable social tension. Labor strikes, racial violence, fear of radicalism, and wartime nationalism contributed to the First Red Scare. The Red Summer of 1919 witnessed severe racial violence in numerous American communities. These developments revealed conflicts generated by rapid economic, demographic, and cultural change.

The 1920s

The 1920s combined economic expansion and technological innovation with significant cultural conflict. Mass production, automobiles, electrical appliances, advertising, installment buying, radio, and motion pictures contributed to the development of a modern consumer culture. New forms of entertainment and communication helped create an increasingly national popular culture.

The decade also witnessed changing social expectations. The Harlem Renaissance produced an extraordinary flowering of African American literature, music, art, and intellectual life. Women's experiences changed as the 19th Amendment expanded formal political participation and new employment and cultural opportunities challenged some traditional gender expectations.

At the same time, modernization generated intense resistance. The decade witnessed the revival of the Ku Klux Klan, religious fundamentalism, immigration restriction, and nativism. The Scopes Trial symbolized conflict between religious fundamentalism and modern science, while Prohibition revealed tensions over immigration, religion, urbanization, and changing social behavior.

Congress sharply restricted immigration through the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924, which particularly limited immigration from southern and eastern Europe and excluded most Asian immigration. Immigration from Mexico and elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere remained less restricted, reflecting the continuing demand for agricultural and industrial labor.

Although the United States rejected membership in the League of Nations, it did not completely withdraw from world affairs. American businesses expanded international investments, while the government participated in arms-control agreements, international financial arrangements, peace initiatives, and selective intervention abroad. American foreign policy during the 1920s was therefore better characterized as unilateral international engagement than complete isolationism.

The Great Depression and New Deal

The prosperity of the 1920s ended dramatically with the stock market crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression. Bank failures, declining industrial production, falling agricultural prices, unemployment, weak consumer demand, and problems within the international financial system contributed to the deepest economic crisis in American history.

President Herbert Hoover initially responded with voluntary cooperation, public works, and increasingly direct federal measures, but the continuing economic collapse generated demands for a more aggressive response. Franklin D. Roosevelt's election in 1932 brought a significant expansion of federal action through the New Deal.

New Deal programs pursued three broad objectives commonly described as relief, recovery, and reform. Federal programs provided employment and assistance to millions of Americans, attempted to stabilize agriculture and industry, strengthened regulation of banks and financial markets, and established new protections for workers. Programs such as Social Security created a more permanent federal role in providing economic security.

The New Deal generated substantial debate. Critics on the political left argued that Roosevelt had not done enough to redistribute wealth or address economic inequality, while critics on the right argued that the federal government had acquired too much power and interfered excessively in the economy. The Supreme Court initially invalidated several New Deal programs, producing further debate about the constitutional limits of federal authority.

The New Deal did not end the Great Depression, but it reshaped the relationship between Americans and the federal government. It strengthened expectations that the national government had responsibility for economic stability and social welfare and contributed to a political realignment in which many workers, immigrants, urban voters, and African Americans became important components of the New Deal coalition.

World War II

The rise of fascist and militarist governments in Germany, Italy, and Japan during the 1930s created another debate over America's role in the world. Memories of World War I and the Great Depression contributed to strong support for avoiding another European conflict. Congress enacted Neutrality Acts, while Roosevelt gradually sought ways to assist nations resisting Axis expansion.

As the war expanded, the United States moved incrementally away from neutrality. Programs such as Lend-Lease provided assistance to the Allies while stopping short of direct military participation. Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, brought the United States directly into World War II.

World War II required an unprecedented mobilization of American society. The federal government directed industrial production, rationed consumer goods, financed the war through taxation and bonds, and mobilized millions of men and women for military and civilian service. America's enormous industrial capacity enabled the United States to supply both its own armed forces and its allies and played a crucial role in Allied victory. The CED specifically identifies mass mobilization and America's industrial base as central to both ending the Depression and winning the war.

Mobilization transformed American society. Women entered industrial employment in unprecedented numbers, symbolized by "Rosie the Riveter." African Americans pursued new employment opportunities while the Double V campaign connected victory over fascism abroad with demands for racial equality at home. Migration accelerated as Americans moved to defense-industry centers, particularly in the West and South. Mexican labor expanded through the Bracero Program.

Wartime mobilization also exposed contradictions in American ideals. More than 100,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated following Executive Order 9066, raising enduring questions about civil liberties during wartime. African American troops served in segregated armed forces, while racial discrimination continued on the home front. The CED explicitly treats both expanded opportunities and Japanese American incarceration as important consequences of wartime mobilization.

The Allies defeated Germany in May 1945 and Japan surrendered in August after the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan. The use of atomic weapons introduced a new dimension to warfare and became the subject of continuing historical debate.

By 1945, the United States had undergone a profound transformation. The nation had moved from the emerging international power of the 1890s to one of the world's dominant military and economic powers. At home, Progressive reform, the New Deal, and wartime mobilization greatly expanded the responsibilities and capabilities of the federal government. Industrialization, migration, technological change, and two world wars had also transformed American society.

At the same time, unresolved tensions involving race, civil liberties, economic security, immigration, and America's international responsibilities remained. The end of World War II therefore represented both the culmination of Period 7 and the beginning of a new era in which the United States would confront the responsibilities of global leadership.

APUSH Historical Thinking Focus

Period 7 is especially important for causation, comparison, and continuity and change over time. Students should be able to explain why the United States became increasingly involved in international affairs; compare Populist, Progressive, and New Deal approaches to economic and social problems; explain the causes and effects of American participation in both world wars; and trace changes in the role of the federal government from the Gilded Age through World War II.

Students should also be able to compare American responses to World War I and World War II and explain how migration, immigration, race, gender, and economic change reshaped American society between 1890 and 1945.

One particularly useful continuity runs through the entire period: Americans repeatedly debated how much responsibility the federal government should assume at home and how large a role the United States should play abroad. Progressivism, World War I, the Great Depression, the New Deal, and World War II produced different answers to those questions and steadily expanded both federal power and American influence in world affairs.