Contextualizing 1890-1945

New frontiers

In 1893, historian Frederick Jackson Turner presented his frontier thesis, possibly the most famous historical argument in American history, to the American Historical Association at the Chicago World’s Fair. Turner, using the 1890 census as a basis for his thesis, argued that the closing of the frontier meant that the first long chapter in American history had ended and that Americans needed new frontiers to maintain the vibrancy of their democracy. The Klondike gold rush in Alaska and greater American involvement in global politics and economics would quickly provide Americans with new frontiers, particularly after the Spanish-American War at the end of the 19th century. Within a decade of the end of World War II, Americans would turn their attention to space as the final frontier.

Economic powerhouse

The American economy continued to grow, albeit with the severe disruption of the Great Depression, throughout the later 19th and early 20th centuries. The United States would emerge as the world’s largest economy measured in gross domestic product (GDP); American companies would become powerful global leaders and competitors in many industries, including automobiles, aviation, entertainment, finance, and telecommunications. Stemming from the US’s enormous productivity as well as the devastation experienced by many countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union, as well as the fact that many areas of the world were still being governed as colonies, US GDP accounted for nearly half of global GDP at the end of World War II.

Military powerhouse

By the end of the 19th century, the United States had emerged as a global military power after quickly defeating Spain in the Spanish-American War and demonstrating the power of the strengthened American navy. During the first half of the 20th century, the United States would send large numbers of soldiers, sailors, marines and eventually pilots to fight in both world wars. After World War II, American military might would be maintained during peacetime representing a fundamental shift from previous American patterns of rapid demobilization after concluding major military operations.

More engaged internationally

While many Americans may cite instances of seeming isolationism by the United States during the final decade of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, it is also true that the United States became more deeply engaged in international relations than before. Millions of Americans fought in both world wars, American presidents and diplomats engaged directly with their foreign counterparts during and after both world wars, including through the establishment of both the League of Nations and the United Nations, although the United States never formally joined the League of Nations. American involvement in hemispheric affairs also expanded dramatically during this period with the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, the opening of the Panama Canal and the Good Neighbor Policy.

A more equal union

The expansion of civil and political rights to more people often appears as a gradual process interrupted by periods of more intense change. During Reconstruction, 3 constitutional amendments were ratified outlawing slavery, establishing birthright citizenship, and banning racial, but not gender, discrimination in voting. In the summer of 1920, in time for the first congressional and presidential elections after the end of World War I, the 19th amendment was ratified, recognizing women’s rights to vote in all local, state and national elections. In 1924, Congress passed the Indian Citizenship Law, recognizing Native Americans born within the United States as natural-born citizens. Congress also passed the Jones-Shafroth Act in 1917 that ensured that Puerto Ricans born in 1941 or later would be/are natural-born US citizens and retroactively granting citizenship status to Puerto Ricans born between the US annexation of Puerto Rico in April 1899 and early January 1941 once the Jones-Shafroth Act went into effect in January 1941. Congress quickly granted native Hawaiians citizenship status after the annexation of Hawaii in 1898 and Alaskans quickly had their citizenship rights officially recognized as the 14th amendment was ratified the year after the United States purchased Alaska from Russia.

A more powerful government

The US federal government expanded its responsibilities and powers throughout this time period as it authorized new programs intended to ensure improved food and drug safety, greater conservation of natural resources and public lands, and benefits to farmers and older Americans through subsidies, price supports and Social Security. During the First Red Scare and Prohibition, the government expanded its powers of surveillance against perceived threats and moral and health hazards. Ratification of the 16th Amendment permitted federal income taxes outside of wartime emergencies and the government established the Federal Reserve System (FED) to function similarly to a central bank.

A continuing struggle for equality

While the developments detailed in the previous paragraph significantly expanded citizenship rights to millions of people, gender and racial discrimination remained pressing concerns for millions of Americans. Workplace protections against harassment and ensuring equal pay for equal work would remain elusive hopes for women, racial minorities and persons with disabilities. The Jim Crow era of legally protected racial segregation continued in the American south. The inequalities and indignities daily visited upon African Americans were tragically intensified by the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan in 1915. Newly arrived immigrants faced renewed calls to limit their numbers through the Gentlemen’s Agreement in 1907 regarding Japanese immigration to the United States and the Emergency Quota Act of 1921 and the Immigration Act of 1924. After the Japanese military attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the relocation and internment, often referred to as incarceration today, of tens of thousands of Japanese-Americans, including many who had been born in the United States.