Facts about the Civil War
- from 1861 to 1865, the American North and south fought a civil war.
- these two areas of the country had become very different, the North was more industrial and the South was based mainly on agriculture also depended on slave labor.
- it was physical violence against African Americans.
- Separate facilities blacks and whites were not really equal
- After the Civil War the laws didn't bring equality for southern blacks.
Vocabulary
- Jim Crow Law: A practice of segregation or discrimination against blacks in public places.
- Literacy Test: Were a professional test to evaluate education of the voter specially of black people
- A voting Tax: A payment to be allow to vote
- Grandfather Laws: Were the laws that permit young people vote, if their ancestor were voter.
- A Lynching: Assassination of people based on their race.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- He was born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park New York
- Roosevelt married with Eleanor on March 17, 1905 whom he had six children
- In 1921 when FDR was 39 years old he was diagnosed with poliomyelitis
- He was known as a persistent and optimism person
- He was 32nd President of the United States. A democrat, he won a record four elections and severed form March 1933 to his death on April 12, 1945
- he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in his home at warm springs.
Eleanor Roosevelt
- She was born on October 11, 1884, in New York City.
- She was the longest-serving First Lady of The United States
- Eleanor had an unhappy childhood, suffering the deaths of both parents and one of her brothers at a young age.
- She studied in London then returning to the U.S., she married her fifth cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in 1905.
- The Roosevelt's marriage was complicated from the beginning by Franklin's controlling mother, Sara, and after discovering Franklin's affair with Lucy Mercer in 1918.
- She Changed the role of the first lady through her active participation in American politics.
- President Harry S. Truman later called her the "First Lady of the World" in tribute to her human rights achievements.
Great Depression
- was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place during the 1930s.
- The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations; however, in most countries it started in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s. It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century.
World War II
- September 1939 – September 1945
- It involved the vast majority of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries.
- Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust in which approximately 11 million people were killed.
American Studies
Laws of the land
The foundations of Government
- The first Settlers of the United States came from Great Britain and other Countries in Europe, and they wanted a better life.
- On July 4, 1776, a group of leaders from the colonies wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence because they wanted to break away from Great Britain.
- They wanted a republic, that is a government with an elected leader instead of a king
- They divided power among three branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial
- The bill of Rights, in the form of 10 amendments guarantee the rights, freedoms and protect citizens against the government's power.
- Freedom of speech includes other forms of expression such as write or do
- Some countries prohibit the hate speech, but the United States is somewhat unusual
- Freedom of religion, so government may not interfere with people's private religious beliefs
- The government should not interfere with the people's right to keep and carry guns.
A Diverse Nation
The Origins of Diversity
- European settlers arrived in North America at the end of the fifteenth century, there were approximately 10 million native people who spoke over 300 different languages.
- Indians gave up their rights to their territory in exchange for food, money, and, perhaps most importantly, the government promise to leave them in peace
- The federal government's goal for Indian education was the assimilation of native children into white American culture
- Africans crossed the Atlantic Ocean in dreadful condition, and they were sold as slaves
- The slaves received their freedom at the end of the American Civil War (1861 - 1865)
- From 1820 to 1875, about 7 million newcomers entered the United States
- Some Americans believed that the large number of immigrants was a burden for the rest of the population because they needed government services
- The 2010 census shows that the United States is more racially and ethnically diverse than any time in its history
- Mexico and China are the countries with the higher number of immigrants
- English is the dominant language in the United States, but 55 million people speak other language at home
- Some Americans support the deportation of all unauthorized immigrants
The Struggle for Equality
The Struggle Begins
- Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence
- Natural rights are the rights that we have because we are human beings such as the right to live and to be free
- Abraham Lincoln was the president during the civil War
- The Gettysburg Address was the most famous speech that president Lincoln made, and he said that "all men are created equal"
- The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees equal protection of the law to everyone in the United States
- After the Civil War ended in 1865 with victory for the North, congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, freeing all slaves
- During the 1950s and 1960s African Americans continued their struggle for equality
- African Americans brought legal cases to court, and they also protested in the street. Their efforts became known as the civil rights movement
- American society have some perspectives about equality such as we are different, but none of these differences matters; everyone should have an equal chance to succeed. Other view about equality is that there should be equal outcomes for minorities such as women, African Americans etc.
- Since 1960s, women have achieved some degree of equality
- Today, significantly more women than men attend college
- Women and men don't earn equal salary for the same job
- The 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects people with disabilities against discrimination several areas
- Federal law prohibits discrimination against people who are 40 years old or older from employers
- According to the text 35% of Latinos lived in poverty
- The Article show us that whites household income above $150.000 is 8.4% higher than African Americans
- According to the article 19% of African Americans graduated from college