Road to War, The: Internal Tensions within U.S.
American society on the eve of the country's involvement in World War I is profoundly divided ethnically and economically. Fear that overt opposition will interfere with the war effort results in repressive measures to s..
Road to War, The: Organizing the Economy for War
The American Government and Politicsencourages the industrial economy to support the "Great War". With the supply demands high and more men being drafted into war, African Americans soon migrate to the northern states fo..
Road to War, The: Road to War, The
Europe in 1914 is a complex system of competing alliances led by two opposing forces: Great Britain on one side and Germany on the other. When the heir to the Austria-Hungarian Empire Archduke Franz Ferdinand is gunned d..
Road to War, The: United States Enters War and Initiates Draft, The
President Wilson asks Congress for declaration of war on April 2, 1917. The United States transforms itself into a society capable of waging total war in 18 months. Wilson and Congress agree to institute a national draft..
Road to War, The: Wilson's Neutrality
Across the Atlantic, Americans look with horror at the carnage in Europe. Wilson believes that it was the system of secret alliances that led to the war, and that all of the participants are equally responsible. As the w..
Role of the Plantation, The
Historian and author Ira Berlin explains that it was cotton and sugar, in the nineteenth century, which, "...transformed the United States from a minor player in the plantation game to the largest slave society in the wo..
Saints and Strangers: Difficulties of Establishing a Godly Community
The Puritans find it difficult to establish the godly community they had envisioned for several reasons. In order to have a viable colony, they admit craftsmen and artisans who are not necessarily godly but have the skil..
Saints and Strangers: Hivings Challenge Community Solidarity and Indian Culture
New England colonists, in contrast with Chesapeake settlers, are more interested in staying put than spreading out. But as rapid population growth overtakes them, people inevitably begin to move beyond town boundaries. S..
Saints and Strangers: Holy Watchfulness or Sheer Nosiness?
The communities created in New England are more tightly clustered than the English villages they had left. Generally families have two plots of land, one in the center for their home and one on the outskirts of the commu..
Saints and Strangers: Mayflower Compact: Structure for a Colony, The
Over the course of the first ten years, the Puritans convert the charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company into a functioning constitution for their colony The town meeting becomes the cornerstone of community life as loc..