The humorist Mark Twain called the late 19th century the "The Gilded Age"—a period in U.S. history where rapid economic growth generated vast riches for some but also corporate abuses and political corruption. The term "gilded" refers to something that is covered with a thin layer of gold to give it the appearance of beauty, often in a deceptive manner. Thus, the wealth generated by successful businesses during this era was the layer of gilding that tended to mask problems underneath. As the surface began to crack and immigrant workers, farmers, and former slaves began to organize, immense social changes took shape that came to inform the nation's identity as we know it today. Read more...
Following the period of explosive economic growth and urban development that came after the Civil War, Americans by the end of the 19th century sought to address the political and social ills that emerged alongside these advancements. In the period known as the Progressive Era, from 1890 to 1920, citizens fought for the rights of everyday Americans, pushing for legislation and social reform that would benefit working-class people over large corporations. These "progressives," as they were called, stood in opposition to the power of big business, which it saw as a corrupting influence in politics and society. The Progressive movement sought to reform the state and pushed for greater popular participation in government and stricter regulation of corporations. This movement was a direct result of the rise of big business and the economic expansion that characterized the Gilded Age, which brought with it a whole host of social problems. Read more ...
In the late 19th century, the United States pursued an aggressive policy of imperialism. During this period, it gained new lands in the Pacific and Latin America and intervened in countries around the world in an effort to expand its political and economic influence. This policy benefited the United States in several ways: it allowed the nation to secure international trade routes and foreign investments, but it also bolstered its global reputation as a world power. Some 19th-century expansionists justified their convictions from a moral or religious standpoint. Using a concept known as "manifest destiny," they argued that because the United States was more advanced than other societies, it had a divine mission to expand its values to lands beyond its continental borders. Read more ...
From April 1917 to November 1918, more than two million Americans deployed to Europe to fight in World War I, an international conflict that pitted the Allied Powers (France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States) against the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire). Although the war first broke out in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson's policy of neutrality kept the United States out of the conflict for nearly three years. When the United States finally entered the war, Americans at home worked together to produce the food and supplies needed to win the conflict. In the end, the Allies were victorious and the United States emerged as a major economic, industrial, and military power. However, in the wake of World War I's cost and devastation, the nation turned its back on further involvement in international affairs and slipped back into isolationism. Read more ...
The 1920s was a decade spanning the period from the end of World War I to the stock market crash of 1929. During this time, the United States broke from its Victorian past and entered an era of modernization, which led to major social changes and cultural conflicts. The popular image of the 1920s—often called the "Roaring Twenties" or the "Jazz Age"—is that of flappers and the Charleston, Prohibition and speakeasies, and incredible prosperity and technological advancement. However, this portrait also included potent social unrest that revealed clashes between a modern, urban culture and a more traditional, rural culture. So while this decade gave rise to great economic growth and social progress, it was also a time of division over such issues as immigration and race. Read more ...
Starting in 1929 and lasting for about a decade, the Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in U.S. history. The causes of the Great Depression can be traced to the 1920s, during which soaring confidence in the U.S. economy led to such practices as excessive speculation (high-risk investing with the expectation of significant returns), the overextension of credit, and the overproduction of goods. The day of reckoning arrived on October 29, 1929, or Black Tuesday, when stock prices dropped in a frenzy of panic-induced selling that wiped out billions of dollars. In just a few short years, the unparalleled prosperity and wealth of the Roaring Twenties would give way to abject homelessness, hunger, and unemployment for millions of Americans. Read more ...
Enacted in 1933, the New Deal was a series of government programs instituted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in response to the Great Depression. Focused on the three "Rs" of relief, recovery, and reform, the New Deal sought to alleviate unemployment and poverty, restore the shattered economy, and institute changes to the financial system to prevent another economic disaster from happening. Even though the New Deal did not completely undo the effects of the Great Depression, it greatly impacted the relationship between Americans and the federal government, which took on an unprecedented role in guiding the economy and providing for citizens. Read more ...
World War II, the most devastating international conflict in history, was waged across Europe and the Pacific between the Axis powers (a coalition between Germany, Japan, and Italy) and the Allied powers (a coalition between the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France) from 1939 to 1945. However, the U.S., upholding a long-standing policy of isolationism, refrained from being involved in the conflict until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. Americans both on the battlefield and the homefront worked together to contribute to the war effort. At the end of the war, the U.S. emerged as a superpower with global influence. Read more ...
The Cold War was a struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union for ideological and military domination that took place from the late 1940s to the early 1990s. Following the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers with directly opposing ideologies—capitalism and democracy versus communism. Although the two powers never fought face-to-face in the battlefield (thus the "Cold" War), each nation aimed to curb the influence of the other by spreading its economic and military influence throughout Europe and Asia. Read more ...