HIST 106 Exam #2

- Why are immigration and urbanization so often discussed together in textbooks on late 19th
and early 20th century American history? Uprooted and Transplanted are two
contradictory models or paradigms often used to characterized the immigrant experience in the
United States. Which do you think is more appropriate generally, and why? What insight does
the Polacheck book provide on the question?
The two different models, uprooted and transplanted, outline two different manners in which
people made their way to the United States. The first, uprooted, describes those who were forced
out of their previous homes and moved to the US. This can be most accurately applied to slaves
as they were content in their original homes but were unwillingly relocated. Those who were
transplanted, on the other hand, had a choice in the matter. They chose to leave their old homes
and take root and start a new life in America. They retained some of their previous heritage, but
sought to become a part of the bigger picture in America. The transplanted model is more
appropriate generally because most of the people coming to America in the later years did so of
their own accord. The slaves were only brought to America in the early, formative time of the
United States.
The Polacheck book provides insight to this as their family was a mixture of the two. They
would have liked to stay in their home country, but due to the discrimination against Jews and
the required military service, they sought to build a new life of freedom in America. Worlds Fair
made it seem as though America was going to be the future of the world and the best place to
live. Their father came over first and established himself in the United States. Once he had
started his business and secured a place to live, he sent for the rest of the family to come over.
-Was the drive to restrict immigration, culminating in the discriminatory quota laws of the
1920s, due more to changes in the kinds of immigration coming into the country, or to
ideological changes within America causing immigration to be regarded differently?
There were nativists who felt that newcomers threatened traditional American culture. The
Chinese were victims of every act of discrimination the European immigrants suffered and more.
They were not white; they were not Christian; many were not literate. People felt that the new
immigrants were the lazy ones who did not want to become part of the American melting pot.
This is the same that was thought about the immigrants who were new to the United States just a
couple of generations prior. South-Eastern Europeans were not wanted because they were
Catholic instead of Protestant and were a lower class of white.
The Red Scare was a moment of anti-Communist hysteria that arose in the United States in 1919
amidst the social unrest and turmoil seen in Russia. The Red Scare of 1919 helped generate a
surge of anti-immigrant hysteria called nativism. The foreign connections of so many political
radicals convinced many people that the troublemakers in the post-war era were foreign-born.
Because of the common perception that socialism, communism, and anarchism were popular in
the Southern and Eastern European countries, immigrants to the United States from those regions
were especially suspect in the eyes of many Americans concern about the foreign invasion.
Concerns about foreign radicals invading the United States generated new efforts to restrict

immigration. Congress passed the Emergency Immigration Act of 1921, which restricted
European arrivals each year to 3 percent of the total number of each nationality represented in
the 1910 census. The Immigration Act of 1924 reduced the number to 2 percent based on the
1890 census, which included fewer of the new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe.
This law set a permanent limitation which became effective in 1929. The purpose of the new
quotas was clear: to tilt the balance in favor of immigrants from northern and western Europe,
who were assigned about 86 percent of the total. The law completely excluded people from Asia
further insulting the Japanese who had agreed on gentlemans terms to stay out of the United
States on terms with Theodore Roosevelt. The Immigration Act of 1924 left the gate open to new
arrivals from countries in the Western Hemisphere, leading to a substantial increase in the
Hispanic Catholic population of the United States. However, the Mexican government put a
restriction on how many of its citizens could move to the United States. Waves of illegal
immigrants continued to flow across the border, however, in response to the southwestern
agricultures demand for stoop labor. People of Latin American descent became the fastest
growing ethnic minority in the United States.
-If bosses were so evil and reformers were so good, why were reformers so often, in the words of
Boss Plunkett, "only morning glories" which soon faded? What aspects of middle class AngloProtestant reform restricted its appeal to immigrant and working class voters?
A large majority of new immigrants were Catholic. Therefore, the ideas that they supported did
not agree with the ideas that the Protestant reformers wanted to see implemented. For instance,
the Protestants sought to establish prohibition of alcohol. However, for many immigrants, the
saloons in their area of town was the social hub of the neighborhood. There they could go and
visit with people from their home country, learn about new work opportunities, and relax after a
hard day of work. By instituting prohibition, the Protestant reformers would strip the immigrants
of a place they were reliant on for support. Also, the Protestants sought to force their particular
religious messages on the Catholic immigrants whose ideology was not congruent. The
Protestants also wanted to offer charity to the immigrants but did so in a manner that pushed
away the immigrant population. They wanted to do their best to be self-reliant and not take handouts from people who had already established themselves. The immigrants more often looked
within their community if support was needed. Also, the immigrants had the support of the
political machine. The neighborhood would have one main political boss who would make sure
that the immigrants were taken care of with food, shelter, clothing, etc. in return for their vote in
the election. Therefore, this was another reason that the Protestant reformers charity was
unwanted by the new immigrant population. Basically, there was a clash of value systems
between the immigrants and the Protestant reformers.
William Tweed, head of Tammany Hall, NYC's powerful democratic political machine in 1868.
Between 1868 and 1869 he led the Tweed Reign, a group of corrupt politicians in defrauding the
city. Example: Responsible for the construction of the NY court house; actual construction cost
$3million. Project cost tax payers $13million.

-In which states and regions of the country was the Progressive Movement strongest and
weakest? What were the principles state-level Progressives stood for, and what were some of the
political means they used to achieve their goals?
The progressive movement was strongest in the West and Midwest and was weakest in the South.
The progressive impulse arose in response to many societal changes, the most powerful of which
were the growing tensions between labor and management in the 1808s, the chronic corruption
in political life, the abusive power of big business, the hazards of the industrial workplace,
especially for women and children, and the social miseries created by the devastating depression
of the 1890s. Populism was one of the primary catalysts of progressivism. Progressives sought to
have an honest government. Another significant force in fostering the most radical wing of
progressivism was the influence of socialist doctrines. A prominent rile was played by religious
activists and women reformers.
Progressives at the state and local levels focused on cleaning up governments. The most
important reform that political progressives promoted to democratize government and encourage
greater political participation was the direct primary, whereby all party members would
participate in the election of candidates, rather than the traditional practice in which an inner
circle of party activists chose the nominee. A second major theme of progressivism was the
gospel of efficiency. Taylorism, as scientific industrial management came to be known,
promised to reduce waste and inefficiency in the workplace through the scientific analysis of
labor processes. In government, the efficiency movement demanded the reorganization of
agencies to eliminate redundancy, to establish clear lines of authority, and to assign responsibility
and accountability to specific officials. Another big push within the progressive movement was
the regulation of giant corporations. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890 was passed as there
was bipartisan concern over the concentration of economic power among a few large
corporations. However, this act turned out to be more symbolic than effective. Common efforts
were to regulate big business, many of whose executives preferred regulation over cutthroat
competition. This did not help the smaller businesses who were fighting for a market share.
Often, the regulatory agencies came under the influence or control of those they were supposed
to regulate. A fourth important feature of the Progressive movement was the effort to promote
greater social justice through the creation of nonprofit charitable service organizations. These
organizations south to clean up cities through personal hygiene, municipal sewers, and public
awareness campaigns. There were also reforms aimed at regulating child labor and the
consumption of alcohol. Labor legislation was the most significant reform to emerge from the
drive for progressive social justice.
Progressives sought to implement their ideals through secret ballots (a voting method in which a
voters choices in an election are anonymous, forestalling attempts to influence the voted by
intimidation and potential vote buying), primaries (allowed more people to operate in the
political process through the selection of their partys candidates, rather than those candidates
being selected by a small circle within the partys elite), stopped giving out free railroad passes
for politicians who used their political office and influence for personal gain, Civil Service
Reform (required that public servants be placed in jobs based on their merit and ability to do a

good job rather than just as a favor in return for contributing to the campaign of an elected
official).
-What are the most important characteristics shared by Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow
Wilson in the style and substance of their presidencies? How does President Taft fit into this
group, if at all? Did he more resemble the presidents immediately before and after him, or his
fellow Republicans in the late 19th century?
Some of the similarities between Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson are that they were
both upper-class, went to ivy league schools, authors, sympathetic to organized labor, established
regulatory agencies, used the presidential pulpit to forward their personal ideals, enacted antitrust policies, ran personal campaigns, and traveled around the country and overseas.
Taft had characteristics as well as the style and substance of his presidency that more closely
resembled that of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson rather than his fellow Republicans
in the late 19th century. Although Roosevelt is touted as the leader in trust busting, Taft actually
broke up more trusts than either Roosevelt or Wilson. He was brought up as an upper class
person and went to an Ivy League school. He had similar thoughts as them on policy and was in
support of womens rights. Taft fits into the progressive category of presidents because he
actually accomplished things during his presidency, unlike the Republican presidents of the late
19th century who seemed to act as mere place holders.
-What were the similarities and differences between Americans and Europeans in their approach
to colonialism in the late 19th and early 20th century? What were the main objectives the
Americans pursued in their foreign policy?
The Europeans were more concerned with conquest and expanding the territory they owned,
whereas the Americans saw colonialism as a way to share their Christianity and democratic
ideals with the conquered people, ultimately making their lives better. Furthermore, the
European continent has old history with established countries, so when they sought to expand
their empire, they had to go overseas to do so. The Americans, on the other hand, were more
focused on continental expansion by expanding out west and taking over the land that the Indians
once inhabited.
-Evaluate Woodrow Wilson's conduct of foreign policy between 1914 and 1919. What were the
ideals he professed to pursue? To what extent were they realistic; to what extent did they
contradict one another? To what extent were his failures due to the inherent difficulty of the task,
to what extent was Wilson's personality and tactics responsible?
His main ideal was to remain neutral during World War I. President Wilson repeatedly urged
Americans to remain neutral in thought as well as in action. However, this was a difficult task
for the American people as many of them still had close ties with their home country that was
involved in the war. At first, the war in Europe brought a slump in American exports and the
threat of depression. By 1915, the Allies demand for food and war supplies generated an
incredible economic boom for American businesses, bankers, and farmers. These countries,
however, needed loans to make purchases. Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, a pacifist,

opposed the supplying of these loans as he felt that they contradicted with the true spirit of
neutrality. Yet, Wilson began quietly approving short-term loans to sustain trade with the Allies.
By the fall of 1915, Wilson had removed all restrictions on loans. Before the US entered the war,
investors supplied over $2 billion to the Allies and $27 million to Germany. The US still held its
official stance of neutrality. The US insisted on the freedom of the seas which called for the
warring nations to respect the rights of neutral nations to continue its commerce by shipping its
goods across the Atlantic. There had been a long-established procedure of stopping an enemy
vessel and providing safety for the passengers and crew before sinking it. However, with the
advent of the German U-boat, the element of surprise it provided gave no warning to its intention
to destroy. The US pronounced the new German submarine policy an indefensible violation of
neutral rights. Wilson warned that Germany would be held to strict accountability for any
destruction of American lives and property. On May 7, 1915, a German submarine sank a huge
ocean liner called the Lusitania. It had been warned to not enter the war zone, but ignored the
warnings. As a result, 128 Americans were among the 1,198 people lost. Roosevelt declared the
German sinking of the Lusitania as an act of piracy, but Wilson urged patience. However, this
meek response and his previous call for strict accountability now forced him to make a
stronger response. He demanded that the Germans abandon unrestricted submarine warfare and
pay reparations. The Germans claimed they were not at fault as the Lusitania was armed (it was
not) and was secretly carrying a cargo of rifles and ammunition (which it did). William Jennings
Bryan ultimately resigned as he did not want to contribute to the chance that America would
enter the war. The German government then agreed to not conduct submarine warfare. Despite
this, two more American lives were lost in the sinking of another ship. Multiple other pledges
were made after attacks by the Germans. After the Lusitania sinking, Wilson asked the War and
Navy Departments to develop plans for military expansion. Another cause for American
interaction in the war was that Wilson learned that the British had intercepted an important
message from the German foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann, to the Mexican government
urging the Mexicans to invade the United States. In exchange, Germany guaranteed that Mexico
would recover its lost territory in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Later in 1917, a revolution
overthrew Russias czarist government and established the provisional government of a Russian
republic. The fall of the czarist autocracy gave Americans the illusion that all the major Allied
powers were now fighting for constitutional democracy. Because of the American desire to
spread our ideas across the world, the American public saw this new development as a reason to
join the war. German submarines sunk five US merchant ships, which was the final act that led
President Wilson to declare war. Americas effort to maintain a principled neutrality had become
in Wilsons mind a great crusade to end wars forever. He insisted that the world must be made
safe for democracy. The most prominent causes for Americas entrance into the war were the
effects of British propaganda in the United States and Americas deep involvement in trade with
the Allies. Some proponents of war thought an Allied defeat and German domination of Europe
would threaten US security.
Now that America was at war, Wilsons administration did not invite Americans to support the
war effort; it instead ordered them to do so. Power became increasingly centralized in
Washington. As the conflict in Europe was ending, neither the Allies nor the Central Powers,
despite Wilsons prodding, had stated openly what they hoped to gain from fighting. Wilson
repeated that Americans had no selfish war aims: We desire no conquest, no dominion, he
stressed in his war message of 1917. We are but one of the champions of the rights of

mankind. But Wilson also believed that the United States had a special mission in the world.
People everywhere, he assumed, are looking to us for direction and leadership. Unfortunately
for Wilsons idealistic purposes, Americas European allies had different objectives, so Wilson
began formulating his own plans to restructure postwar Europe and remake the world in the
American image. During 1917 a group of American experts, called the Inquiry, began drafting a
peace plan. With advice from these experts, Wilson himself developed what would come to be
called the Fourteen Points, which he insisted was the only possible plan for peace. The first five
points called for diplomacy tor be conducted openly rather than hidden in secret treaties, the
recognition of neutral nations to continue oceangoing commerce in the time of war (freedom of
the seas), removal of international trade barriers, reduction of armaments, and an impartial
reconfiguration of the victors colonial empress based upon the desires of the populations
involved. Most of the remaining points dealt with territorial claims: they called on the Central
Powers to evacuate occupied lands and to allow the various overlapping nationalities and ethnic
groups to develop their own new nation-states (the difficult principle of self-determination), a
crucial principle for Wilson. Point 13 called for the creation of an independent nation for the
Poles, a people long dominated by the Russians on the east and the Germans on the west. Point
14, the capstone of Wilsons postwar scheme, called for the creation of a league of nations to
protect global peace. On October 3, 1918, a new German chancellor asked for an end to the
fighting on the basis of the Fourteen Points. The Allies accepted the Fourteen Points as a basis of
negotiations, but with two significant reservations: the British insisted on the right to discuss
limiting freedom of the seas, and the French demanded reparations from Germany and Austria
for war damages.
Woodrow Wilson had promised a great crusade that would make the world safe for
democracy. For a glorious moment, the American president was humanitys self-appointed
prophet of peace. He felt guided by the hand of God. His messianic vision of creating a
universal community of power, a peacekeeping league of nations to replace the old warbreeding politics of Europe promised a bright future for the world. If the diplomats failed to
follow his plans, he warned, there will be another world war within a generation.
Wilson made several fateful decisions at the wars end that would come back to haunt him. First,
he decided to attend the peace conference that convened in Paris on January 18, 1919. Never
before had an American president left the nation for such a prolonged period. Wilsons decision
dramatized all the more his crusading vision for a lasting peace. His prestige and determination
made a difference at the Paris peace talks. But during his prolonged trip abroad (six months) he
lost touch with political developments at home. When Wilson reached Paris in December 1918,
he was greeted as a hero, even a savior. The cheering millions saw in the American idealist a
prophet of peace and a spokesman for humanity who had promised that the crusade in Europe
would be the war to end wars. Their heartfelt support no doubt strengthened his hand at the
conference, but Wilson had to deal with some tough-minded statesmen who did not share his
utopian ideal. They would force him to abandon many of his principles and ideals.
Peace without victory. Negotiator. Unrealistic. Preachy. Rigid. Personality brought out
contradictions. Secret treaties were made. The Fourteen Points did not include Russia or
Germany. Allies had big demands and were really dictatorial. Germans felt that the treaty of
Versailles was unfair. He was out of touch with Congress and the American people because he
spent so much time in Europe.

-Among the factors that contributed to the onset of the Great Depression, what were the main
weaknesses in the stock market, the banking system, patterns of international trade, and the tax
system and distribution of wealth? To what extent did Herbert Hoover and his party contribute
to the economic disaster?
The large, growing middle class of Americans who had formed an important segment of the
progressive political coalition were now absorbed instead into the prosperous New Era created
by advances in communications, transportation, business organization, and the spread of mass
consumerism. The nations total wealth almost doubled between 1920 and 1930, while workers
enjoyed a 26 percent increase in income, the sharpest increase in history to that point. Consumer
goods industries fueled much of the economic boom from 1922 to 1929. It was more common
for homes to have electricity, the common person to have a vehicle, and appliances were taking
advantage of the widespread accessibility of electricity.
Aviation was born during this era due to Charles Lindbergh. By far the most significant
economic and social development of the early twentieth century was the automobile. Ford Motor
Company revolutionized the automobile market because they made the car cheap and reliable so
that everyone could own one. The automobile revolution gave rise to a gigantic market for oil
products. It quickened the movement for good roads, financed in large part from the gasoline tax;
speeded transportation; encourage urban sprawl; and sparked real estate booms in California and
Florida. The automobile industry also became the leading example of modern mass-production
techniques and efficiency. Fords plant was designed to increase output dramatically by creating
a moving assembly line with conveyors pulling the parts along feeder lines and the chassis down
an assembly line rather than making each car in place. Each worker performed a particular track.
Just as the railroad helped transform the pace and scale of American life in the second half of the
nineteenth century, the mass production of automobiles changed social life during the twentieth
century. Cars enabled people to live further away from their workplaces, thus fostering the
suburban revolution. They also helped fuel the economic boom of the 1920s. Producing cars
created tens of thousands of new jobs and generated a huge demand for steel, rubber, leather, oil,
and gasoline which bolstered other industries. Also, there was the need for road construction,
gasoline stations, traffic lights, billboards, and hotels.
President Calvin Coolidge announced that he would not be running for the presidency in 1928.
Hoover who had been running the Food Administration was then able to secure the Republican
nomination. Hoover declared himself to be a Republican who promoted a progressive
conservatism. He prescribed an ideal of service that went beyond rugged invdividualism to
promote the greater good. He weanted government officials to encourage business leaders to
forego cvutthroat competition by engaging in voluntary cooporation through the formation of
tradfer associations that would share informationand promote standardization and efficiency.
Thus, during the 1929 elections, the Republican platfgorm took credit for the nations rampant
prosperity, cost curtring, debt and taxz reduction, and the protextuve tariff which was as vitral to
American agriculture as it is to manufacturing. Hoover was a child of a rural Qyakjer family, a
successful engineer and businessman, architect of Repuiblican prosperity. Hoover won in the
third consecutive Republican landslide and more people had voted than ever before. At his
inaguraiton, Hoover told the American people that the future was bright. However, the farm
sector was devestataed by low prices and a prolonged Congressional debate over raising tariffs

on import before a farm program could be implemented to save the industry. The Tariff of 1930
was a disastrous hike in tariff duties on imported manufactured items as well as farm goodfs. It
was intended to help the farm sector by reducing imports of farm products into the US. But the
coroporate lobbyists convinced Congress to raise futies on hundreds of imported items to an alltime high. The result was global disaster. Over 1,000 economists petitioned Hoover to veto the
short-sighted bill because the logic was flawed: by trying to protect American farmers fgrom
foreign competition, the bill would actually raise prices on most raw materials and consumer
produces., It prompted other countries to retaliate, often by hsipping their goods awat from the
US and by passing tariffs of their own, thereby making it more difficult for American farms and
businesses to ship their products abroad. US exports plummeted after the Hawley-Smoot Tariff.
After WWI, public perception of the US economy was that it was in a state opf perpetual growth.
Until 1927, stock values had gone up with corporate profits, but then they bvegan to soar on
wings of pure speculation. Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellons tax reductions had given affluent
people more money to spend, much of which found its way into the stock market. A common
practice was to buy stock on margin. This meant that a small down payment, or margin, was
made and the rest of the money would be borrowed from a broker who held the stock as security
in case the stock price plummeted. If the stock declined and the buyer fgailed to meet a margin
call for more funds, the broker could sell the stock to cover his loan. Stock market investors
ignored warning signs. President Hoover also voicded concern about the orgty of mad
speculation. The collapse of the stock market in 1929 revealed that the economic prosperity of
the 1920s had been built on weak foundations. The stock market crash did not cause the Great
Depression, buyt it did shake public vonfidence in the nations financial system and it revealed
major styructural flaws in the economy and in government policies. Too many businesses had
maintained high retail proices and taken large profits while holding down wage increases. As a
result, about a third of personal income went to only the top 5 percent of the popilautino. By
putting most profits back into expansion rather than wage increases, the business sector brought
on a growing imbalance between rising industrial productivity and declining consumer
purchasing piower. Government policies also contributed to the financial debacle. Mellons tax
reductions lef to oversaving bt the general public, which helped diminish the demand for
consumer goods. Hostility toward labor unions impeded efforts to ensure that wage levels kept
pace with corporate profits. High tariffs discouraged foreign trade. Lax enfourcement of antitrust laws also encouraged high retail prices. Another reason was the gold standard, whereby
nations pegged the values of their paper currency to the size of their gold reserves so as to acoud
hyperinflation. When economic output, prices, and savings began dropping in 1929, policy
makers certain that they had to keeop their currencies tioed to the gold supply at all costs
tightened access to money at the very moment that economies needed an expanding money
supply to keep growing. The nations money supply shrank by a third. Such a contraction of the
money supply drove prices and production down. The deflationary spiral would lead more than
two dozen nations, including the US, to abandon the gold standard, thereby enabling the
expansion of the money supply which in turn led to economic growth. Hoover thought all that
was necessary to correct the economic situation was a slight correction in the market. Wages,
stock prices, and property values were allowed to keep falling on the assumption that eventually
trheu would reach a point where people would start buying again but it did not work. Hoover
accel;erated the start of government construction projects in order to provide jobs,m but cutbacks
by state and local governments in their prokjects more than offset the new federal spending. Due

to the economic woes, Democrats hgained a majority in the House and a near majority in the
Senate. Hoover refused to see the elections as a warning signal. Instead, he chose to become
more resistant to calls for dramatic measures and held onto his belief that the economy would
correct itself. Hoover negotiated a one-year moratorium ot the repayment of reparations and war
debts from European naitons to give time for the global economy to recover. Howeverm most
European countries defaulted on their debt at the end of this period. Congress passed the Johnson
Debt Default Act of 1934 which prohibited even private loans to any government that had
defaulted on its debts to the US. Foreign withdrawals of money from US banks helped spread a
sense of panic. The Federal Reserve sought to protect the value of the nations gold reserves by
raising interest rates, but what the American banks needed most was not tighter access to money,
but easier access to money. The government quit buying crop surplus and helplessly watched
prices for commodities slide.
The stock market crash revealed the structural flaws in the economiy, but it did not cause the
Great Depression. Government policies throughout the twenties high tariffs, lax enforcement of
anti-trust laws, an absence of checks on speculation in the real estate and stock markets, and
adherence to the gold standard contributed to the onset of the Depression. Hoovers attempts to
remedy the problems were too few and too late. Banks failed, businesses closed, and homes were
lost.
-Various historians have described the New Deal as being either radical, moderately reformist,
or even conservative. What evidence can you offer for each of these viewpoints? Which do you
think best characterizes the New Deal? Why? Give specific examples to support your case, and
be sure to distinguish between ends and means, goals and results. What perspectives do
international comparisons give you on this issue?
The First New Deal was enacted amongst a flurry of legislation during the one-hundred days
following FDRs inauguration. Congressman from both parties knew that there was a crisis and
that something must be done to correct the problem. His plan for the New Deal would take place
in three steps:
1. They sought to remedy the immediate banking crisis and to provide short-term relief
for the jobless.
2. The New Dealers tried to jiump start the ecdonomy by increasing dfeferal spending
and by facilitating cooperative agreements between management and organized labor.
3. They attempted to raise depressed commodity prices by paying farmers to rediuce the
size of their crops and herds.
The Second New Deal (1935-1936) occurred as a result of FDR trying to rescue his legislative
program from judicial and political challenges. Focused more on social justice as the crisis of the
economy had began to show signs of improvement.

Radical:

Whereas Hoover refused to provide direct federal assistance to the unemployed and homeless,
FDR was more flexible.
- Created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to hire men ages 18 to 25 that were
unmarried and unemployed. They built bridges, roads, etc.
- The first large-scale experiment with federal work relief, which put people directly on
the government payroll at competitive wages, came with the formation of the Civil
Works Administration (CWA).
- Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 created a new federal agency, the Agricultural
Adjustment Agency which sought to raise prioces for crops and herds by paying
farmers to reduce production. Propped up the farming industry.
- National Recovery Administration (NRA) sought to stabilize the economy by
reducing chaotic competition through the implementation of industry wire codes that
set wages and prices and also to generate more purchasing power for consumers by
providing jobs, defining workplace standards, and raising wages.
- Roosevelt proposed the Social Security Act of 1935 which he claimed was the Second
New Deals cornerstone and supreme achievement.
1. Self-financed pension fund fgor retired people over the age of 65 and their
survivors. Designed to supplement other sources of income and protect the elderly
from some of the hardships of life.
2. It initially excluded farm laborers, domestic workers, and the self-employed, a
large amount of whom were bnlack.
3. Set up a shared federal-state unemployment insurance program, financed by a
payroll tax on employers. Federal assistance to able-bodied unemployed people.
Gave ghrants to state-run assistance programs for old-age, dependent children,
and blind people, as well as aid for maternal, child-welfare, and public health
services.
*When compared with similar programs in Europe, the new Social Security
system was conservative. It was the only government pension program in their
world financed by taxes on the earnings of workers: most other countries funded
such programs out of general revenues. It was also a regressive tax, meaning it
was a fixed rate for everyone and therefore affected the poor more than the rich. It
took money out of workers pockets and placed into a retirement trust fund,
furthering the shrinking money supply that was a main cause of the Depression.*
- The Revenue Act of 1935 (soak-the-rich tax) raised tax rates on the rich, along with
estate, gift, and corporate taxes.
Moderately Reformist:
- The Wagner Act was one of the most important pieces opf labor legislation in history,
guaranteeing workers the right tio organize unions and bargain with management. It
also prohibited employers from interfereing with union activity.

Conservative:

Congress passed an Economy Act granting the executive branch the power to cut government
workers salaries, reduce payments to military veterans for non-service-connected disabilities,
and reorganize federal agencies in the interest of reducing expenses.
Roosevelt claimed that conservative judgements would ruin the whole New Deal.
Business leaders echoed conservative judges with attacks on the New Deal as a threat to
individual liberty, while critics on the radical left and right contradicted those charges by
rejecting the New Deal as too closely tied to the prevailing capitalist system to enact necessary
reforms.
- The Court killed the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) because it stated that
Congress had delegated too much power to the executive branch when it granted the
code-making authoiry to the NRA.
Initially, most of the New Deal programs were conceived as temporary relief and recovery
efforts. They eased hardships but did not restore prosperity. It was during the Second New Deal
that major reform measures such as Social Security and the Wagner Act, reshaped the nations
social structure.
-Three important voting blocs of the New Deal coalition were blue collar organized labor,
blacks, and farmers. What new government programs and policies of FDR's administration
appealed to each of these groups? How much of a political shift was there with each of these
groups in response to the New Deal; which had been part of the Democratic constituency all
along?
Blue collar people had been part of the Democratic constituency all along.
Blacks
Blue Collar Organized Labor:
The Wagner Act was one of the most important pieces opf labor legislation in history,
guaranteeing workers the right tio organize unions and bargain with management. It also
prohibited employers from interfereing with union activity. However, many business continued
to twart union activities in defiance of the Wagner Act.
Blacks: (Blacks and farmers go together. Lots of blacks were farmers.)
General work programs hired a lot of black people. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC),
Works Progress Administration (WPA). Public Works Adminstration (PWA) had to hire black
laborers based on the census and therefore many black laborers obtained skilled employment on
these projects. FDR had advisors who cared deeply about racial equality.
Farmers:
There were many farm programs. Loans were extended to farmers. The Agricultural Adjustment
Act of 1933 created the Agricultural Adjustmnet Administration which sought to raise prices for
crops and herds by paying farmers to reduce production. This achieved success in boosting the
overall farm economy.

Study Questions on Hilda Satt Polacheck, I Came a Stranger: The Story of a Hull-House Girl
[also in syllabus]
Reasons for immigration usually include a mixture of "push" and "pull" factors. What were the
most important factors pushing the Satt family out of Poland and pulling them to America?
Compared to the bulk of Polish Jews and of late 19th century immigrants in general, how typical
was Hilda Satts family?
The family's relative comfort in Poland was unusual for Polish Jews, many of whom suffered
dire poverty. Hilda frequently said that her mother had not wanted to leave Poland, where she
was part of a large extended family and had always lived in comfort.
Russia forced people to serve in the military. The Jews were discriminated against and a
minority. Violence was directed at them. Louis Satt was probably more aware than his family
was of the changing conditions for Jews in the Russian Empire and their probable impact on the
Jews of Poland. The May Laws of 1882, which had caused wholesale expulsions of Jews in
Russia from areas where they had been permitted to live for years had not yet been applied to
Poland, but their impact was anticipated. The "Report of the United States Commissioners of
Immigration upon the Causes which Incite Immigration to the United States" left little doubt of
that fact. The report of their tour of inspection in Europe in September, 1891, stated from
Warsaw: "The Jews of Poland have thus far been spared from the rigorous orders which forced
their race from Inner Russia to the Pale ... but the more intelligent look upon their advantages as
only of a temporary character." A "Prominent Polish gentleman, a member of the Orthodox
Greek Church" was quoted: "It is ... the belief of well-informed persons that it is but a question
of a short time when the same pressure will be brought to bear on the Jewish population in
Poland that now crushes them elsewhere. In consequence of this unsettled feeling commercial
transactions are all made with reference to the crisis believed to be approaching. Jews will not
purchase property even at one quarter of its value, and this illustrates the financial uneasiness
now felt."
What were the main sources of tension between immigrant children and parents, especially
mothers (cf. "The Old Woman and the New World," pp. 203-4)? How did Hull House attempt to
ease them?
The main sources of tension between immigrant children and parents were that the parents held
onto the old world thinking and did not embrace the new world thinking as readily as the
children. The children wanted to be children, but the women knew that the children needed to
work in order for them to survive. It would be nice for them to have a childhood and go to
school, but for many immigrant families this was not an option. It allowed the children a place to
escape and interact with other people their age. It also gave them access to some educational and
vocational classes.

What do Hilda Satt's experiences in the garment industry illustrate about the difficulties of

immigrant workers, and organized labor in general?

There my name was taken and I presented my working permit. I had become an adult and a
worker at the age of fourteen.
I was assigned to a knitting machine and a girl was stationed at my side to teach me the
complicated rudiments of knitting. There were about four hundred machines in the room, which
covered an entire floor of the building. In front of each machine sat a girl or woman on a high
stool. I had no difficulty learning the trade and I was soon able to earn four dollars a week. The
work was piece work, and the harder one worked, the more one made. But the pay was so
regulated that even the fastest worker could not make over five dollars a week. At that time,
however, five dollars would buy food for a family of six. So that between my sisters and my
pay, the family could exist.
We worked from seven thirty in the morning till six in the evening, six days a week. We had a
half hour for lunch, which we ate sitting in front of the machine.
At that time there was no law stipulating that machines had to be equipped with safety devices.
Very often the machine would break down, and we had to wait till the repair man came to fix it.
Sometimes that would take an hour or more, and that time was lost by the worker. That meant
less money in the weekly pay envelope. Each machine had about eighty needles, and while
running at full speed, a needle would jump out of place and break. This was no fault of the
worker, but in addition to losing time to change the needle, we had to pay a penny for it.
The next morning when I came to work, I was called into the foreladys office and given
whatever pay I had coming, and was told that I was a troublemaker and that I was to get out and
never come back. The bookkeeper had been sent to the meeting and she had reported the part I
had played in helping to organize the union. And so ended my four year career as a knitter.
How did the special opportunities which Hilda Satt received through her association with Jane
Addams and the Hull House differentiate her life from that of other immigrant girls?
She had an opportunity to meet people from all over the world. She had an opportunity to take
college courses. She had the opportunity to become educated.
After a span of fifty years, I look back and realize how much of my leisure time was spent at
Hull-House and how my life was molded by the influence of Jane Addams. I was not only
hungry for books, music, and all the arts and crafts offered at Hull-House, but I was starved for
the social stimulus of people my own age. All this was to be found at the fabulous house on
Halsted and Polk Streets.
She taught English.
What was the nature of the ethnic communities that Hilda Satt Polacheck experienced in
Chicago and Milwaukee?

How did Hilda Satt come to consider herself an American? What did becoming an American

mean to her?
As I look back, I know that I became a staunch American at this party. I was with children who
had been brought here from all over the world. The fathers and mothers, like my father and
mother, had come in search of a free and happy life. And we were all having a good time at a
party, as the guests of an American, Jane Addams.
When the marriage certificate was given to me, I suddenly realized that this precious document,
in addition to making me Bills wife, also made me a citizen of the United States. It is curious
that I should have thought of this at such an auspicious moment, but I did.
An urban history text in an earlier edition, criticizes many urban reformers for a failure to
accept the pluralism of modern urban society, and for manifesting condescension and
paternalism. As a later edition of the same text puts it, What was service to some was
meddling to others. According to another text, urban reformers merged idealism with naivet
and insensitivity. To what degree do these criticisms apply to Jane Addams and Hull House?
On the occasion of Jane Addams death, Hilda Polacheck wrote, "There was no church that
embodied the tolerance of Jane Addams. She belonged to all races, to all creeds, to all
humanity?" Based on her experiences with Jane Addams and Hull House, what did Polacheck
mean by that statement?
And particularly its website:
http://www.uic.edu/jaddams/hull/hull_house.htm