United States, 1865-1920

Adam Burns is a senior lecturer in History at the University of Wolverhampton. He is the author of American Imperialism (2017) and William Howard Taft and the Philippines: A Blueprint for Empire (2020).

"In this short but sharp overview of the United States between the Civil War and the end of the First World War, Adam Burns has delineated a crisp and clear chronological map of the major political and social changes of the era. Without deviating from the trajectory of disunion and reunification that drives the narrative, one largely shaped by the political and racial ramifications of Reconstruction and beyond, Burns guides us through what was by any standards a complex and often convoluted period in America’s history. In a market saturated by textbook treatments of America's history, Burns's study stands out for the clarity both of its style and its approach, but mostly for its coverage of a period that, located between two major conflicts too often finds itself lost between them. Supported by a range of primary documents clearly linked to the book's driving arguments, this is a work that will be of immense value to students at A-level and those undertaking undergraduate programmes in American History."Susan-Mary Grant, Professor of American History at Newcastle University. Among numerous books and articles, she is the author of The War for a Nation: The American Civil War (Routledge, 2006), A Concise History of the United States of America (Cambridge University Press, 2012) and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (Routledge, 2016)."A timely volume in the "Seminar Studies" series, this compact narrative weaves familiar content around important and relevant themes, notably how racism and ethnicity shaped the terrain of Reconstruction, national politics, economic transformation, immigration, and international relations after the Civil War when the US emerged as a global power. White cultural predilections and interests bounded the clashes over incorporation, industrialization, and the fierce electoral battles that characterized the 55 years after Appomattox. The postbellum US that Burns (Univ. of Wolverhampton, UK) details evolved into a nation almost as divided as it was during the Civil War [...] This engaging text is clearly linked to primary and secondary sources, and the inclusion of a glossary, chronology, documentary collection, and current bibliographic essay make it especially useful in college classroom settings. Burns’s narrative will engage general readers as well."--E. R. Crowther, emeritus, Adams State UniversitySumming Up: Recommended. General readers through faculty.

• List of illustrationsAcknowledgementsChronologyWho’s whoPART I ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT1 INTRODUCTION2 RECONSTRUCTING A NATION Reconstruction from Lincoln to JohnsonCongressional ReconstructionGrant’s Reconstruction3 THE ROAD TO REDEMPTIONAfrican American rights secured?White resistanceRebuilding a white SouthA New South?4 THE COURSE OF WESTWARD EXPANSION Connecting the WestNative AmericansLife in the West5 PARTY POLITICS IN THE GILDED AGEReestablishing Republican governanceRepublican factionalism growsThe Cleveland era6 ROBBER BARONS AND KNIGHTS OF LABORTechnologyThe robber baronsAgrarian reactionUrban reaction7 THE UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD Relations with the European empiresRelations with Latin American nationsRelations with the Asia-Pacific region8 IMMIGRATION, ETHNICITY, AND THE CHANGING FACE OF THE NATIONScientific racismImmigration and new minorities The growth of black activism9 BRYAN, ROOSEVELT, AND THE EVOLUTION OF PARTY POLITICSPopulism and the rise of William Jennings BryanThe progressive movementTheodore Roosevelt: the accidental presidentTaft and the Republican split of 191210 WILSON AND THE GREAT WARThe New Freedom: domestic affairs before the warWilson, Latin America, and neutralityThe end of neutrality and peace without victoryThe home front11 CONCLUSION: THE ELECTION OF 1920 AND THE END OF AN ERAPART II DOCUMENTS1 Abraham Lincoln – "The Gettysburg Address" (1863)2 Frederick Douglass – "What the Black Man Wants" (1865)3 Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (1868)4 Andrew Johnson – Veto Message Regarding Rebel State Governments (1867)5 "Civil Rights of Freedmen in Mississippi" (1865)6 Tom Watson – "The Negro Question in the South" (1892)7 Booker T. Washington – "Atlanta Compromise" Speech (1895)8 Sitting Bull – Testimony before a U.S. Senate Committee (1883)9 Frederick Jackson Turner – "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" (1893)10 Rutherford B. Hayes – Presidential Inaugural Address (1877)11 "To Republicans and Independent Voters" (1884)12 Populist Party Platform (1892)13 Andrew Carnegie – "Wealth" (1889)14 Samuel Gompers – Testimony before the Senate Committee on Education and Labor (1883)15 Theodore Roosevelt – Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine (1904)16 John Hay – The First "Open Door" Note (1899)17 Philippine Declaration of Independence (1898)18 Thomas Dixon – The Leopard’s Spots (1902)19 Reports of the Dillingham Immigration Committee (1910)20 W. E. B. Du Bois – "The Talented Tenth" (1903)21 William Jennings Bryan – "Cross of Gold" Speech (1896)22 Theodore Roosevelt – "The Man with the Muck-rake" (1906)23 Woodrow Wilson – Address to Congress Leading to a War against Germany (1917)24 Carrie Chapman Catt – Woman Suffrage by Federal Constitutional Amendment (1917)GlossaryGuide to further reading ReferencesIndex