North American History Notes
Part I: Encounter and Foundation Laying (to 1763)
Chapter 1: The North American Continent and the Native
World (1492 BC)
Core Theme: Geographic Diversity Shapes Diverse Civilizations
and Adapts to the Environment for Survival
1. Geographical Regions and Cultural GroupsThe
North American continent consists of six major ecological regions,
each of which has developed its own unique culture
1. Eastern Woodland Tribes
oIroquois League (present-day New York): Matrilineal clan
system with longhouse settlements
oAlgonquin Tribe (New England): Seasonal migration for
fishing and hunting
2. Great Plains Tribes
oSioux and Cheyenne: Bison culture (hunting/fur/tent)
oKey inventions: teepee tent (TIPI), bison cliff jumping
hunting
3. Settled civilization in the Southwest
oPueblo people: cascade farming, adobe architecture
(like Chaco Canyon)
oHohokan Culture: Irrigation Canal System (500 AD)
2. Social structure and spiritual beliefs
1. Diversity of political organizations
oTribal Alliance: Iroquois Council (Mohawk/Oneida, etc.)
oEmirate: Hierarchy of the Creek Union in the Southeast
2. Economic
oAgriculture: Three Sisters (Corn/Bean/Pumpkin
Symbiosis)
oTrade.com: Great Lakes Copper→ Mexican Turquoise
3. Universe
oAnimistic beliefs: the sanctification of nature (e.g. Hopi
rain dance rituals)
oShamanic Role: Heal/Channeling/Passing on Oral History
III. Academic Controversy and Evidence
1. Population size controversy
oConventional estimate: about 2 million to 5 million in
1492
oNew Archaeological Evidence: High Density of
Agricultural Areas→ or Up to 7 Million (Mann, 1491)
2. Environmental management practices
oNative California: Fire farming controls grassland
ecology
oAmazon black soil (terra preta): artificial fertile soil
Key concepts in this chapter
: Cultural Adaptation,
Oral Tradition, and
Three Sisters Agriculture
Review questions
1. Compare the differences in the social structure of the eastern
woodlands with the indigenous peoples of the Great Plains
2. Analyze how the environment influences the building
techniques of the Pueblo people of the Southwest
Chapter 2: Exploration and Early Contact in Europe (1492-
1607)
Core Themes: Differences in Colonial Patterns, The Catastrophic
Effects of Biological Exchange
I. The Spanish Conquest Model
1. Cortés conquest of the Aztecs (1519-1521)
oKey Factor: Aboriginal Allied Forces (Tlaxcala)
oTechnical Advantages: Cavalry/Steel Sword/Smallpox
Virus
2. Colonial rule
oEncomienda: Forced labor of indigenous people
oMissions: Centers for religious assimilation (e.g., St.
Augustine, 1565)
2. The trade network between France and the Netherlands
1. French fur trade
oMode of cooperation: Coureurs des Bois (Winter
Together) with the Huron Alliance
oStrongholds: Quebec (1608), Montreal (1642)
2. Dutch commercial colony
oNew Amsterdam (1624): Diverse population (18
languages)
oLand Purchase Agreement: Manhattan Island
Transaction of 1626 (60 guilder dispute)
3. The impact of the Columbian Exchange
1. Biological transmission
oAmericas→Europe: Corn/Potato/Tobacco (Change
European Diet)
oEurope → Americas: Horse/Cattle/Wheat/Smallpox
(Indigenous people have no immunity)
2. Demographic catastrophe
oHispaniola: 500,000 Taíno in 1492→ less than 500 in
1548
oEtiology: 90% mortality rate from smallpox/measles
Original documentary evidence
: Bartolomé de las Casas, A Brief Account of the Destruction of the
West Indies (1542): "The Spaniards carried out an unheard-of
massacre of the Indians with horses, swords, and spears..."
Key concepts in this chapter
: Encomienda,
Columbian Exchange,
and Cultural Broker
Review questions
1. Compare the differences in Spanish and French colonial
strategies in North America
2. To analyse the long-term impact of smallpox outbreaks on
Indigenous societies
Chapter 3: The Establishment and Development of the
British Colonies (1607-1750)
Core Theme: Regional Differences Shape Colonial Identity
1. Chesapeake Colony: Virginia
1. Jamestown Crisis (1607)
o"The Time of Hunger": Winter 1609-10, Archaeological
Evidence of Cannibalism
oTurning Point: John Rolfe Tobacco Cultivation (1612)
2. Evolution of the labour system
oIndentured servants: 4-7 years of servitude (1610-1680)
oSlavery Code: The Virginia Act of 1662 provides for
"matrilineal succession"
2. New England: Puritan Community
1. Winthrop's "City on a Hill"
oMassachusetts Bay Company Charter (1629): Basis of
Autonomy
oTheocracy: Only church members can vote
2. Social control mechanisms
oThe Expulsion of Roger Williams (1636): advocated the
separation of church and state
oSalem Witch Trial (1692): 19 executions, reflecting
social anxiety
3. The Central Colonies: A Diverse Proving Ground
1. Quakers would idealize
oWilliam Penn, Framework of Government (1682):
Religious Freedom/Elected Parliament
oIndigenous Relations: A Fair Treaty with the Lenape
Nation (1682)
2. New York's Dutch heritage
oInheritance Law: Women's Property Rights (vs English
Common Law)
oUrban Planning: Wall Street's Early Defensive Walls
Fourth, the southern plantation economy
1. Charleston Hub
oProportion of slave population: majority in 1708
oRice Cultivation: Technology Introductions from West
Africa (Irrigation and Drainage Systems)
2. Slave Code strengthened
oSouth Carolina Negro Act (1740): Prohibition of
reading/writing/assembly
Data analysis of
colonial demographics (1750):
New England: White 95% Slave 5%
Virginia: White 50% Slave 50%
South Carolina: White 25% Slaves 75%
Key concepts in this chapter
: Indentured Servitude,
Puritanism,
and Plantation Complex
Review questions
1. Explain how climate and cash crops shaped the social fabric of
the Chesapeake and New England
2. Compare the differences in Quaker and Puritaan religious
practices
Chapter 4: The Core Theme of Diversity in French North
America and Colonial Societies
: The Pluralism of Colonial Models and Their Social Implications
1. The unique model of New France
1. The structure of the economy
was centered on the fur trade: French merchants (coureurs de
bois) established reciprocal relations with the indigenous
peoples
, and agriculture was weak: in 1763 there were only 70,000
colonists (compared to 2.5 million in the British colonies).
2. Social system
: Modeled after the French feudal system, the lords collected
rents from the peasantsCatholic
rule: the Jesuits controlled education and social services
2. Spanish border strongholds
1. Fort
St. Augustine, Florida Defense Chain (1565): Europe's oldest
missionary system of continuous settlements
: forced conversion and concentration of aborigines
2. Control of
the Pueblo Revolt in the Southwest (1680): 12 years of
reoccupation by the aborigines from the Spanish colonizers
: 1692 with a policy of cultural integration
III. The Racial Hierarchy of the British Colonies
1. White society divided
into elites: 5% of the population controlled 40% of wealth
(Virginia plantation owners)
Indentured servants: About 300,000 immigrants between
1610 and 1775, half of whom died in servitude
2. Codification of Slavery Virginia Act of 1662: Matrilineal
Succession of Slavery to Slavery The Negro Act of 1705:
Prohibiting Negroes from Possessing Arms or Assemblies
Key figures compare the population composition of the
colonies in 1750:
New France: White 98.5% First Nations 1.5%
Virginia: White 50% Slave 50%
Pennsylvania: White 85% Indentured Helpers 15%
Key concepts in this chapter
: Seigneurial System,
Mission System,
Racial Codes
Review questions
1. Analyze how the fur trade shaped the social fabric of French
North America
2. Explain the solidifying effect of the Virginia Slavery Act of
1662 on the racial system
Chapter 5: The Road to Revolution (1750-1775)
Core theme: Imperial policy failures ignite the fire of
independence
I. The Turning Effects of the Seven Years' War
1. The course of the
warWilliam Pitt Strategy: Financing Prussia to contain the
French Army
Key Campaign: Battle of Quebec in 1759 (General Wolf
killed).
2. Consequences of the Treaty of Paris (1763)
France ceded Canada and
doubled the British national debt: £140 million to be shared by
the colonies
Second, the UK's tax policy is wrong
1. The effective tax rate of the Sugar Tax Act (1764)
was lower than that of the Molasses Act of 1733,
but the harsh enforcement of customs caused discontent
among smugglers
2. Stamp Act (1765)
First Direct Tax: Legal Documents/Newspapers/Playing Cards
Needed to Be StampedColonial
Reaction: Nine Colonial Representatives Attend Anti-Stamp
Congress
3. The escalation of the resistance
1. Ideological
WeaponJames Otis's "The Rights of Justice": "No
Representation, No Tax"
John Dickinson, "Pennsylvania Farmer's Letter": Distinguishing
between the legislative power and the taxing power
2. Violent confrontation Boston
Massacre (1770): 5 civilians killed (including black sailor Chris
Atax)
Boston Tea Party (1773): 342 crates of tea into the sea (worth
£90,000).
Key Literature Analysis
Thomas Paine "Common Sense" (1776): "European Royalty Is Not
Worth a Drop of Blood in North America" – 120,000 copies sold in
three months
Key concepts in this chapter
: No Taxation Without Representation,
Sons of Liberty,
Constitutional Crisis
Review questions
1. Explain how the Seven Years' War changed British North
American colonial status
2. Evaluate the catalytic effect of Common Sense on the
independence movement
Chapter 6: The American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
Core Theme: Strategic Victory at Military Disadvantage
1. The situation in the early days of the war
1. The military strength of the two sides is superior to
that of the British army: 56,000 regular troops + 30,000
mercenaries + 180 warships The
disadvantage of the Continental Army: the maximum strength
is 20,000 (1778), and there is often a shortage of food and
wages
2. Key Battle
: Battle of Bunker Hill (1775): Militia consumes 40% of the
British
armyTrenton Raid (1776): Crosses the river on Christmas Eve
and captures 900 Hessian mercenaries
2. The turning point of the war
1. The surrender of General Bergoyne
in Saratoga (1777) led
directly to the Franco-American alliance (1778).
2. Southern guerrilla warfare
Francis Marion "Swamp Fox": Battle of King's Hill, cutting off
British supply lines
(1780): Frontier militia annihilates Tory forces
3. International Intervention and Victory
1. France decisively aided
Count Rochambeau, 6,000 French troops entered the battle,
and
the fleet of Count Grasse blockaded the Chesapeake Bay
2. Siege of Yorktown (1781)
17,000 French and American troops surround British
Cornwallis surrender ceremony: military band plays "The
World Overturned".
The cost of the war
counts U.S. casualties: about 25,000 killed (1% of white males)
British spending: £250 million (equivalent to $300 billion today).
Key concepts in this chapter
: Continental Army,
Militia,
Total War
Review questions
1. Analyze the key role of the French Navy in the Battle of
Yorktown
2. Discuss the impact of guerrilla warfare on the outcome of the
war
Chapter 7: The Establishment and Challenge of the
Confederation (1783-1800)
Central Theme: From the Failure of the Confederation to the
Constitutional Compromise
1. The fatal flaw of the Articles of Confederation
1. Fiscal paralysis Congress
has no taxing power: 1781-1786 only 25% of the assessed
contributions
Currency crisis: Continental bills depreciate to 1000:1
2. The Shees Revolt (1786–87) was
an armed resistance of Massachusetts peasants against taxes,
and the inability of the state government to suppress it
exposed military shortcomings
II. The Constitutional Convention of Philadelphia (1787)
1. Key Compromises
: Big State Package vs. Small State Package: Bicameral
Congress (House of Representatives/Two Seats per Senate)
Slavery Issue: Three-Fifths Clause/Slave Trade Extended to
1808
2. Checks and balances
: design: presidential veto/congressional impeachment/judicial
review,
division of federal and state powers
3. Ratify the struggle
1. Federalist Strategy
: The Federalist Papers (Hamilton/Madison/Jay): 85 Essays
Interpreting the Constitution
Promising to Amend the Bill of Rights
2. Anti-Federalists Fear
Patrick Henry: President Will Be "Chosen Sovereign"
Ended up narrowly passing: New York State ratified votes
30:27
Signatories
of the original document of the Constitution data: 39 (16 refused to
sign)
First Ten Amendments passed: 1791 (Bill of Rights).
Key concepts in this chapter
: Articles of Confederation,
Constitutional Convention, Bill
of Rights
Review questions
1. Analyze how the Sheess Revolt led to the creation of the
Constitution
2. Explain the political calculations and moral contradictions of
the three-fifths clause
Chapter 8: The Jeffersonian Era and Territorial Expansion
(1800-1824)
Core Theme: The Conflict between Republican Ideals and
Expansionist Realities
1. The Jefferson Revolution
1. The Peaceful Transfer of Power 1801 Inaugural Address: "We
Are All Republicans, We Are All Federalists"
Practical Policy: Cut the Army/Abolish the Whiskey Tax
2. Judicial Struggles
Marbury v. Madison (1803): Establishing the Power of Judicial
Review
Chief Justice Marshall's Logic in Judgment:
oMarbury is entitled to a power of attorney
oHowever, the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction in the
first instance
oArticle 13 of the Judiciary Act is unconstitutional
2. Louisiana Purchase
1. Geopolitical Game:
Napoleon abandoned the Americas Project due to the failure
of the Haitian Revolution, and bought 2.14 million square
kilometers for $15 million in 1803
2. Constitutional dilemma:
Jefferson insisted on a strict interpretation of the Constitution,
and finally flexibly used his treaty-making power to complete
the transaction
III. The War of 1812
1. Pre-war crisis
: Britain forcibly recruited American sailors: 1807-1812 over
6,000 Jefferson's
embargo failed: exports fell from $108M to $22M
2. Key Battle
: Battle of New Orleans (1815): Jackson Leads the Militia to
Destroy 2,000 Enemies (Only 71 U.S. Killed)
Irony: The battle took place two weeks after the Treaty of
Ghent was signed
Chapter 9: Jackson's Democracy and the Market Revolution
(1824-1840)
Core Theme: The Rise of Civilian Politics and Economic and Social
Transformation
1. The birth of mass politics
1. After the election of John Quincy Adams in 1824,
John Quincy Adams was elected Secretary of State and
Jackson supporters launched a grassroots protest movement
2. Electoral revolution in 1828
saw turnout soar from 27 percent to 56
percent New campaign strategy: plebeian rally/caricature
attacks (accusing Adams of gifting a Tsar prostitute).
2. Jackson's power politics
1. The Bank War (1832-36)
Veto the Second United States Bank Extension
CharterJustification: Banks Are "Monsters of
Privilege"Endangering CiviliansConsequences
: State Banks Issuing Paper Money Indiscriminately→ Panic of
1837
2. The Indian Removal Act (1830)
authorized the forced relocation of the Mississippi River east
of the Mississippi River
to the Locherokean sue won the Supreme Court (Worcester v.
Georgia) and
Jackson still carried out the relocation: "Marshall made a
judgment and let him carry it out himself."
3. The social impact of the market revolution
1. Revolution in the transportation network1825Erie Canal
opened: freight dropped from $100/ton to $10/ton, and the
first railroad (Baltimore-Ohio) opened in 1830
2. The Beginning of Industrialization
Lowell Textile Mill (1814): Women make up 90% of the
workforce First factory strike in 1834: Women workers protest
a 25% wage cut
3. Social stratification exacerbates
wealth concentration: 10% of the population controls 70% of
the population in the NortheastUrban
slums: New York's five-cent apartment has a mortality rate of
more than 30%.
Key data slave
price increase (1800-1860):
Virginia: $200 → $1,500 (increase in value primarily from
fertility)
Chapter 10: The Westward Movement and the Manifest
Destiny (1830-1850)
The Central Theme: The Racist Logic of Territorial Expansion
1. The Road of Blood and Tears of Aborigines
1. Forced Migration Process
Cherokee Migration (1838-39): 4,000 out of 16,000 people
died on the way
, government expenditure: $30.76 per 1 person relocated
2. Reserve SystemIndian Affairs Act of 1851: Demarcating Fixed
Areas to "Protect" Aboriginal Actual
Purpose: To Free Up Land for White Settlement
II. The Mexican-American War (1846-48)
1. Territorial Dispute Fuse for
Texas Independence (1836): The Battle of the Alamo Becomes
an American Mythical
Border Dispute: Nuesis River vs Rio Grande
2. The course of the war
: Zakary TaylorInvasion on the Northern Front: Battle of Palo
AltoWinfield
Scott landed in Veracruz: straight to Mexico City
3. Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty: The United States received
$15 million in compensation to Mexico
from California/New Mexico (1.35 million square kilometers).
3. The ideology of the Mandate of Heaven
1. John O'Sullivan on (1845) "God has given us a mission to rule
over the entire continent"
2. Racial superiority theory underpins
scientific racism: Morton's skull measurement "proves" Native
American inferior
destiny doctrine: Protestant conquest of "degenerate"
Catholics
Native Population Change 1800 East of the Mississippi River:
600,000 → 1850: less than 100,000
Chapter 11: Restlessness in the Age of Reformation (1820-
1860)
Core theme: The Social Reform Movement and Utopian
Experiments
1. Religious revival movements
1. The Second Great AwakeningCharles
Finney Revival Gathering: Emotional Conversion Rituals
Impact: Inspiring a Sense of Mission for Social Reform
2. The rise of Mormonism
: Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon (1830),
Brigham Young led his followers west to Utah (1847).
2. The abolitionist movement was divided
1. Progressive
American Colonization Society: Advocating the repatriation of
blacks to Liberia (1822)
Actual effect: Only 11,000 people were repatriated in 30
years
2. The radical
William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator (founded in 1831)
had the slogan: "No union, no compromise".
3. Underground Railroad Network
Harriet Tubman infiltrated the South 19 times to save 300
people
Secret signal: hanging a sheet with code words to indicate the
safe house
3. The germination of the feminist movement
1. Seneca Falls Conference (1848)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted the core requirements of the
Manifesto of Feelings
: the right to vote/the right to property/the right to education
2. Career Breakthrough Elizabeth Blackwell became the first
female doctor in 1849Educational
Change: In 1837, Oberlin College recruited the first female
student
Utopia Community Experiment
Tremors (1774): Community of property/celibacy
Brooke Farm (1841): Intellectual Labor Commune
Oneida Community (1848): Experiments with group marriage
Chapter 12: Slavery, Regionalism, and the Road to
Fragmentation (1840-1860)
Central theme: irreconcilable institutional conflicts
1. The slave economic system
1. Cotton Kingdom Expansion 1860 Production: 4 Million Bales
Accounts for 75% of Global Supply "Black Ivory" Valuation: $3
Billion More Than the Nation's Railroad Combined
2. Internal Slave
TradeVirginia became a "slave-breeding state": 25,000 people
were exported annually
in the New Orleans slave market: $1,800 (1859 valence) for
middle-aged males
2. Escalation of legal conflicts
1. The 1850 Compromise California
Free State Status
Strengthens the Fugitive Slave Pursuit Act: Federal Officials
Assist in the Arrest
2. Kansas Bloody Clash (1854-58)
Pro-slavery "Frontier Thugs" sack Lawrence City
John Brown in retaliation: the Portwettermi Massacre
3. The Supreme Court has intensified contradictions
1. Key Points of the Dred Scott (1857)
Decision:
oBlack non-citizens have no right to sue
oCongress had no authority to prohibit quasi-state
slavery
substance: making the Missouri Compromise of 1820
unconstitutional
Timeline of the Split: Lincoln was elected in November 1860,
→ South Carolina withdrew from the Union in December, → was
established in February 1861, and the Confederation of the United
States of America was formed
Chapter 13: The American Civil War (1861-1865)
Core Theme: The Beginnings of Modern Total Warfare
I. Military Innovations and Casualties
1. Technological
ChangeRifled rifle range: 400 yards (vs smoothbore gun 100
yards)
First battle of the ironclad ship: 1862 USS Monit vs USS
Merrimack
2. Casualties
: Battle of Gettysburg (1863): 51,000 casualties in 3
daysSherman's march to Georgia: 30% of Atlanta's buildings
were burned
Second, the key strategic turning point
1. Federal Blockade System 1864 Blockade Efficiency:
Breakthrough Ships Reduced to 1/3
Southern Cotton Exports: $190 million in 1860 → $1 million in
1864
2. Emancipation Proclamation (1863)
Legal Technique: Invoking the Power of the Commander-in-
Chief in Wartime
Practical Effect: 180,000 blacks joined the army (10% of the
Northern Army).
3. Revolution in war logistics
1. Militarization of the Railways
Union Railroad Trunk Line: 1862 Unified Dispatch of Troops
Transporting Troops to the
Sheridan Valley Campaign: Destruction of the Southern
Railway Junction
2. Battlefield Medical
Jonathan Letterman System: Battlefield Triage/Ambulance
Network
Amputee Mortality: From 50 to 28 Percent
Costs of War Statistics
: 360,000 Northern casualties (10% of white males) Southern
casualties: 260,000 dead (30% of white males).
Chapter XIV: Reconstruction and Its Legacy (1865-1877)
Core Theme: The Unfinished Racial Revolution
I. Evolution of reconstruction policies
1. Presidential Reconstruction (1865-67)
Johnson pardons Southern leaders: 7,000 people are
reinstatedBlack
Code: Restrictions on freeman movement and employment
2. Congressional Reconstruction (1867–77)
Army partition of the Southern 5th Military Region
asked the Southern States to ratify the 14th Amendment
2. The Freeman Social Experiment
1. Educational breakthrough In 1865 the Free Folk Bureau
established 3,000 schools
and the first black university: Howard University in 1867
2. Land Allocation Failure
Sherman's Order No. 15: Promised "40 acres and mules" with
an actual return rate of more than 90% (Johnson Executive
Order).
III. Reconstruction of the End and Legacy
1. In 1877,
Hayes was compromised on the terms of his presidential
election: the withdrawal of the Federal Army stationed in
Yugoslavia
2. The Rise of the Jim Crow Law1883 Supreme Court Repeals the
Civil Rights Act1896 Plessey v. Ferguson: Establishing
"Segregation but Equality"
Free People's Economic Hardship
Split System Exploitation Rate: 50-70% of the Harvest to the
Landlord
Actual Debt Ratio: 90% of the cotton peasants in 1870 were in debt
Chapter 15: The Gilded Age (1877-1900)
The core theme: monopoly capital and social revolt
1. The rise of industrial empires
1.
Carnegie Mills, the kingdom of steel: 70% of U.S. steel
production in 1880Cost
control: open-hearth technology reduced steel prices from
$100/ton to $12/ton
2. Petroleum Trust
Rockefeller Standard Oil: 1882 Control 90% of the refining
industry
monopoly modus operandi: railroad kickbacks/spy networks
2. The upsurge of the labor movement
1. General Strike (1877)
Railroad workers protest pay cuts: 100,000 people in 10 states
participate in
federal army crackdown: 100 workers die
2. Holmstead Conflict (1892)
Carnegie Mill Armed Standoff: Pinkerton Detectives Killed 7
State
Militia Intervene to Protect Strike Breakers
Key dataIndustrial
accident rate (1890): 1 casualty per 11 railroad
workersJPMorgan Capital (1900): 33% of U.S. bank assets
Chapter 16: Reform in the Progressive Era (1900-1920)
The central theme: the transformation of capitalism by the
middle class
1. Municipal reform
1. Anti-Corruption Campaign
Journalist Lincoln Stephens, The Shame of the City (1904)
Commission Government: First Pioneered in Galveston, Texas,
in 1900
2. Nationalization of Public Utilities New York State's First Public
Utilities Regulatory Commission in 1907
Second, a breakthrough in federal legislation
1. Food Safety, promoter of the Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906
: Upton Sinclair, "The Slaughterhouse" exposes cannery filth
2. Antitrust: 1911 Standard Oil Spin-off into 34 Companies,
Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914
3. Constitutional Amendments
1. 16th Amendment (1913): Collected income tax from the
Federation
2. 17th Amendment (1913): Direct Senate Election
3. 19th Amendment (1920): Women's Suffrage
Reform LimitationsSouthern
Progressives Support Apartheid
Immigration Restriction Laws are in the works
Chapter 17: The Road to Empire (1890-1914)
Core theme: From continental expansion to global intervention
I. Spanish-American War (1898)
1. Public opinion manipulation
of the Hearst newspaper was incitement: the slogan
"Remember the 'Maine'" was published with a photo of a
Cuban concentration camp (actually a pose
). To hell with Spain! ”
2. The fruits of colonization
were obtained by the Philippines/Guam/Puerto RicoCuba
as a protectorate: the Platt Amendment retained the right to
garrison U.S. troops
2. Asian expansion
1. Open Door Policy (1899)
John Hymers's Note: Asking the Great Powers to Share the
Essence of Trade Rights in China
: A Diplomatic Statement Without Military Backing
2. Annexation of the Pacific Base Chain
to Hawaii (1898): Sugar oligarchs orchestrated a coup d'état
in
the Panama Canal Zone (1903): Signed a contract for control
after supporting the rebels after independence
Key figures from the 1903 Canal Treaty:
The U.S. pays $10 million
Annual rent of $250,000 (only 0.4% of land price)
Chapter 18: World War I and America (1914-1920)
Core theme: From neutrality to world leadership
1. The transformation of the war economy
1. Committee for Industrial Mobilization
in Wartime: Coordinated the production of DuPont gunpowder
by 300,000 enterprises,
accounting for 40% of the total production of the Entente
2. Agricultural boom
wheat price: $0.98/bushel in 1914 → $2.16 in 1919
2. Social control experiments
1. Propaganda Machine
Public Information Committee: 75 million copies of the
brochure "Free Public Bonds" poster: Equating the purchase of
bonds with patriotism
2. Suppression of dissent
by the Espionage Act (1917): Arrest of 1,500 anti-war activists
Eugene Debs case: 10 years in prison for speech against war
3. Reconstruction of the international order
1. The core contradiction of Wilson's Fourteen Points
: national self-determination vs. colonial interests (to preserve
the Philippines).
2. The Senate rejected the League of Nations
Henry Cabot Lodge "Reservation Clause" controversy
final vote: 49 in favor vs 35 against (less than 2/3).
The wartime flow of immigrants was interrupted, and from
1915 to 1920 immigration fell sharply: from 1 million to
110,000 per year
Chapter 19: The Tumultuous Twenties (1920-1929)
Core theme: Cultural rebellion and economic bubbles
1. The Consumerist Revolution
1. Installment Popularization 60% Automobile/Furniture Credit
Household Indebtedness Ratio 1920-1929 300%.
2. Mass Entertainment Hollywood
Box Office: $400 million in 1922 → $700 million in 1929Charlie
Chaplin's "Gold Rush" had more than 300 million viewers
Second, the intensification of cultural conflicts
1. Prohibition Evil Fruit
Moonshine Profits: 1926 Gangs Earn $2 Billion a Year
Law Enforcement Dilemma: Only 5% of Smuggled Liquor Was
Detected
2. The Fundamentalist Revival
of the Evolutionary Trial of Scopes (1925):
oBrian asked, "What kind of ape did man come from?" ”
oDefendant fined $100 (later revoked)
3. The Harlem Renaissance
1. Literary explosions
: Langston Hughes, "The Withering Blues" (1926), Zola
Neil Heston, "Their Eyes on the Sky" (1937).
2. Jazz conquered
Louis Armstrong's record sales: over 500,000 copies in 1929
Chapter 20: The Great Depression and the New Deal
(1929-1941)
The core theme: the experiment of the rescue of the capitalist
system
First, the depth of economic collapse
1. Key metrics
oGDP: 1929$104 billion → 1933$56 billion
oUnemployment rate: 1929 3.2% → 1933 24.9%
2. Social Catastrophe 1934 Dust Storm Zone: 2.5 Million People
Flee Midwest
Child Labor Recovery: 1.2 Million Children Drop Out of School
in 1933 to Work
2. The three phases of Roosevelt's New Deal
stag
eCore Bill target limitations
For
the
first
time
AAA
(Agricultural
Adjustment
Act)
Reduce excess
capacity
It was
unconstitutionally
repealed in 1936
(1933
-35)
NRA (National
Industrial
Rehabilitation
Act)
Regulate wage and
working hours
It was
unconstitutionally
repealed in 1935
secon
d
WPA (Public
Utilities
Administration
8 million jobs
created
Salaries are below
market level
stag
eCore Bill target limitations
)
(1935
-38)
Social Security
Act
Pension/
unemployment
insurance
Exclude
agricultural/domestic
workers
The
third
time
Fair Labor
Standards Act
Minimum
wage/prohibition of
child labor
Southern
parliamentarians
exempt the
agriculture sector
(1938
-41)
3. Political legacy
1. Voters' coalition reorganizes
black voters to switch to Democratic: 76% support in 1936
Unions politicized: Industrial federation donations to help the
election
2. Expansion of state power
: 1933 600,000 → 1940 1,400,000
Chapter 21: World War II (1939-1945)
The core theme: the arsenal of democracy and global hegemony
1. The miracle of war mobilization
1. Industrial capacity exploded in 1944 Aircraft production:
96,000 (263 per day)
Freedom ship construction: from 244 days to 42 days
2. Labor Revolution
Female Workers: 1940 27% → 1945 37% "Riveter Rossi"
image covers 6,000 factories
2. The Paradox of Civil Rights
1. Japanese internment
by presidential order 9066: 110,000 people in concentration
camps,
property damage: $400 million ($20,000 per person in 1988).
2. Black Double V Movement
James Farmer Founds Congress for Racial Equity (1942)
Defense Industry Anti-Discrimination: Executive Order 8802 of
1941
3. Military scientific and technological revolution
1. Codebreaking
Navy OP-20-G: Deciphering the Japanese Navy JN-25 Code
Impact: Battle of Midway Deployed in advance
2. Manhattan
Project: $2 billion ($30 billion in 2020)
Hiroshima atomic bomb yield: 15,000 tons of TNT
Chapter 22: The Origins of the Cold War (1945-1960)
Core theme: the institutionalization of ideological confrontation
First, the containment strategy has taken shape
1. The foundation of the theory
, George Kennan's long telegram (1946) "The expansion of the
Soviet Union is like flowing water, and when it encounters
obstacles, it turns".
2. Policy Instruments
The Truman Doctrine (1947): $400 Million in Aid to Greece
Marshall Plan (1948): $13 Billion for Western Europe
Second, the hot war proxy conflict
1. Korean War (1950-53)
MacArthur overstepped: Threat to use nuclear weapons
against ChinaFinal
casualties: 36,000 U.S. troops killed vs 1.5 million Chinese and
North Korean troops
2. Proportion of defense budget of the military-industrial
complex
: 1948 30% → 1960 60%
Eisenhower warned: "The catastrophic rise of improper
power".
3. Domestic red scare
1. McCarthyism
accuses the State Department of having "205 Communists"
actually censored: 12,000 unemployed
2. Cultural Control
Hollywood Blacklist: Charlie Chaplin and 500 others banned
Final Chapter: Contemporary Challenges (1991-2025)
The core theme: the passing of the unipolar moment
1. The paradox of the war on terror
1. Cost assessment
Afghanistan war expenditure: $2.3 trillion (2,500 killed)
Drone strikes: Yemen/Somalia civilian mortality rate 22%.
2. Democracy Spread Failed
Arab Spring: The Only Surviving Democracy Outside of Tunisia
Second, the economic structural crisis
1. Hollowing out of the manufacturing
industry: 1.3 million in 2000 → 790,000 in 2020
2. Wealth polarization
top 1% asset ratio: 1989 30% → 2022 32%.
3. Identity politics intensifies
1. Percentage
of ethnic minorities in demographic change: 20% in 1990 →
40% in 2020
2. Culture Wars Topic Anti-LGBTQ bills proposed by states in
2023: 510
