Contextualizing US History 1865-1898

Reuniting the country, recovering from the civil war

Even though the United States was officially reunited with the surrender of the Confederacy in 1865, the physical and psychological wounds of the Civil War profoundly impacted the American people for succeeding generations. The violence and divisions that emerged during, and ultimately undercut, Reconstruction persisted but were also partially supplanted by new developments and divisions, including increased settlement of the American west, the rise of industrial and financial capitalism as well as new labor movements, and the emergence of the United States as a global power by the end of the 19th century. Americans also confronted profound questions about citizenship, including voting rights, and how the country would integrate 4 million previously enslaved persons, tens of thousands of Native Americans, and millions of newly arrived immigrants.

Settling the west

During the Civil War, and particularly in its aftermath, thousands of new settlers and recently arrived immigrants flocked to the west, seeking fortunes in gold and silver and/or vast tracts of new land for farming. Railroad companies hired thousands of workers, including the freedmen who fled the south, Union and Confederate veterans, and Chinese and Irish immigrants. The United States added 9 new states, all in the west, as well as the territories of Alaska and Hawaii between 1867 and 1896. Fighting between these newly arrived settlers and the United States military on one side and thousands of Native Americans on the other resulted in the vast majority of the remaining Native Americans being forcibly removed from their ancestral lands and resettled on reservations.

The rise of industrial and financial capitalism

After the Civil War, the American economy grew rapidly, but unevenly, with new industries and technologies providing millions of Americans with new employment and consumption possibilities, but also replacing previous methods of production and concentrating enormous wealth in the hands of a few industrial titans. These rising industrialists confronted an increasingly assertive labor movement demanding higher pay, better working conditions, and shorter working hours. Throughout the last third of the 19th century, labor and management engaged in a series of confrontations and strikes, some of which became violent. By the dawn of the 20th century, the American economy equaled or exceeded the total gross domestic product(GDP) of the United Kingdom, placing the United States amongst the largest economies in the world. With this increased wealth came increased expectations for more equitable distributions of wealth and resources, including calls for government regulation and/or ownership of railroads and banking as well as for income taxes. While some of these demands would be met during this time period, these issues would continue into the early 20th century.

A continental giant becomes a world power

In the early 1890s, many Americans worried that the country had become too complacent and was losing the vibrancy that many traditionally associated with the frontier. At the same time, European countries and Japan were actively seeking to acquire greater overseas territories and resources, openly celebrating the “golden age of imperialism.” Prominent Americans advocated for territorial expansion and the opening of new markets to American goods, although only a few openly called for an American overseas empire. By the end of the 1890s, the United States fought its first overseas war with a European power, in this case Spain, with the US emerging victorious and with new territories, including Puerto Rico. The American “sleeping giant” had finally awoken, ushering in a new chapter in American and world history.