It has been a busy day for the Navy Department. The war ship Maine was destroyed in Havana
Harbor last night. Officials in Washington and Havana have been sending cables all night long.
Secretary Long was asked whether he thought this was the work of the enemy. He replied: “I
do not. I am influenced by the fact that Captain Sigsbee has not yet reported to the Navy
Department. It seems he is waiting to write a full report. So long as he has not made a decision,
I certainly cannot. I should think from the signs, however, that there was an accident – that
the magazine exploded. How that came about I do not know. For the present, at least, no
other war ship will be sent to Havana.”
Captain Schuley, who knows a great deal about war ships, did not entertain the idea that the
Maine had been destroyed on purpose. He said that fires would sometimes start in the coal
bunkers, and he told of such a fire on board another war ship that started very close to the
magazine. The fire became so hot that the heat blistered the steel wall between the fire and the
ammunition before the bunkers and magazine were flooded with water to stop the fire. He did
not believe that the Spanish or Cubans in Havana had either the information or the equipment
necessary to blow up the magazine, while the Maine was under guard.
Questions:
1. Sourcing: What kind of newspaper was this article published in? How does this influence its
trustworthiness?
2. If you had read this article in 1898, what would you believe caused the Maine explosion? What
evidence for this conclusion does the article provide?
Section Questions:
1. Which of the two articles is more believable? Cite specific examples from the text to support your
claim.
6.9 The Spanish-American War
The sinking of the U.S.S. Maine may have provided an immediate justification for war with Spain, but
other events in America and the world can be thought of as causes of the war. Considering the documents below alongside those you have already read, what caused the Spanish-American war?
Reconcentration Camps – Fitzhugh Lee
Source: Excerpt from unsigned enclosure included with telegram sent by Fitzhugh Lee, U.S. Consul-General in Cuba, November 27, 1897. Havana, Cuba.
By the late 1800s, the Spanish were losing control of their colony, Cuba. Concerned about
guerilla warfare in the countryside, they moved rural Cubans to “reconcentration” camps where
the Spanish claimed they would be better able to protect them. However, people around the world
saw newspaper reports that described horrible conditions in the camps for the Cuban people,
who were called “reconcentrados.” This account was sent to Washington, D.C., by Fitzhugh Lee,
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U.S. Consul- General in Havana, who said its author was “a man of integrity and character.”
A consul-general is a government official living in a foreign city whose job is to protect U.S.
citizens and promote trade. He would make periodic reports to his superiors in the U.S. Dept.
of State.
SIR:... [W]e will relate to you what we saw with our own eyes:
Four hundred and sixty women and children thrown on the ground, heaped pell-mell as animals,
some in a dying condition, others sick and others dead, without the slightest cleanliness, nor
the least help...
...Among the many deaths we witnessed there was one scene impossible to forget. There is still
alive the only living witness, a young girl of 18 years, whom we found seemingly lifeless on the
ground; on her right-hand side was the body of a young mother, cold and rigid, but with her
young child still alive clinging to her dead breast; on her left-hand side was also the corpse of
a dead woman holding her son in a dead embrace...
The circumstances are the following: complete accumulation of bodies dead and alive, so that
it was impossible to take one step without walking over them; the greatest want of cleanliness,
want of light, air, and water; the food lacking in quality and quantity what was necessary to
sustain life...
From all this we deduct that the number of deaths among the reconcentrados has amounted to
77 percent.
Questions:
1. Sourcing: Who was Fitzhugh Lee and why did he write this report?
2. Close Reading: Notice Lee’s graphic descriptions of living conditions. How do these details affect you as you read? Why might these descriptions be so detailed?
3. Contextualizing: If they could have seen this letter, how do you think people in the U.S. in 1897
might have reacted to this description of the reconcentration camps?
March of the Flag – Albert Beveridge
Source: Excerpt from Albert J. Beveridge’s Senate campaign speech, September 16, 1898. Beveridge gave this speech while he was campaigning to become a senator for Indiana. The speech helped him win the election and made him one of the leading advocates of American expansion.
Fellow citizens, it is a noble land that God has given us; a land that can feed and clothe the
world;... It is a mighty people that he has planted on this soil... It is a glorious history our
God has bestowed upon his chosen people;... a history of soldiers who carried the flag across
the blazing deserts and through the ranks of hostile mountains, even to the gates of sunset; a
history of a multiplying people who overran a continent in half a century... William McKinley
is continuing the policy that Jefferson began...
The Opposition tells us that we ought not to govern a people without their consent. I an-
swer: The rule of liberty that all just government derives its authority from the consent of the
governed, applies only to those who are capable of self-government. I answer, We govern the
Indians without their consent, we govern our territories without their consent, we govern our
children without their consent.
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They ask us how we will govern these new possessions. I answer: If England can govern foreign
lands, so can America. If Germany can govern foreign lands, so can America. If they can
supervise protectorates, so can America....
What does all this mean for every one of us? It means opportunity for all the glorious young
manhood of the republic, the most virile, ambitious, impatient, militant manhood the world
has ever seen. It means that the resources and the commerce of these immensely rich dominions
will be increased...
In Cuba, alone, there are 15, 000, 000 acres of forest unacquainted with the axe. There are
exhaustless mines of iron.... There are millions of acres yet unexplored.... It means new em-
ployment and better wages for every laboring man in the Union....
Ah! as our commerce spreads, the flag of liberty will circle the globe... And, as their thunders
salute the flag, benighted peoples will know that the voice of Liberty is speaking, at last, for
them; that civilization is dawning, at last, for them Liberty and Civilization, those children of
Christ’s gospel... Fellow Americans, we are God’s chosen people....
Questions:
1. Sourcing: For what purpose was this speech written? How does that influence what you can expect of it?
2. Close Reading: What do the following phrases suggest about Beveridge’s view of Americans as
compared with people of other nations?
(a) “noble land that God has given us”
(b) “applies only to those who are capable of self-government”
(c) “civilization is dawning, at last, for them”
3. Contextualizing: According to Beveridge, what else was going on in the U.S. and the rest of the world that made expansion a good idea?
Image Sources
(1) “Street Arabs in Sleeping Quarters.” . Public Domain.
(2) Governor Russell. http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/1898/sources/russellproc.html. Public Domain.
(3) http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/1898/sources/tillman.html. Public Domain.
(4) Henry Grimm. The Chinese Must Go. Public Domain.
(5) 1892 Electoral College Vote. Public Domain.
(6) 1896 Electoral College Vote. Public Domain.
(7) http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/1898/sources/cartoon.html. Public Domain.
(8) “Growler Gang in Session (Robbing a Lush).” . Public Domain.
(9) http:
//www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Month=February&Date=18.
Public Domain.
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Chapter 7
The Progressive Era
7.1 Japanese Segregation
By 1906, Chinese people had been immigrating to San Francisco for decades, but Japanese immigrants
were few and had arrived only recently. In 1906 the San Francisco Board of Education ordered Japanese
students to attend Chinese schools. President Theodore Roosevelt opposed this decision and attempted to have the decision reversed. It was unusual for the president to intervene in such a local issue.
Public Speech – Theodore Roosevelt
Source: Public speech by Roosevelt, December 1905.
It is unwise to depart from the old American tradition and to discriminate for or against any
man who desired to come here as a citizen. We cannot afford to consider whether he is Catholic
or Protestant, Jew or Gentile; whether he is Englishman or Irishman, Frenchman or German,
Japanese, Italian, Scandinavian, Slav, or Magyar.
The class of Chinese laborers are undesirable immigrants to this country, because of their
numbers, the low wages for which they work, and their low standard of living.
Questions:
1. Sourcing: What kind of document is this?
2. Sourcing: What do you think the intended audience was?
3. Do you trust what Roosevelt says in this document?
Letter to Friend – Theodore Roosevelt
Source: Letter from Roosevelt to a friend on May 6, 1905, in which he criticizes the California Legislature’s recent move to restrict immigration from Japan.
The California Legislature has the right to protest against the immigration of Japanese laborers.
Their cheapness and clannishness make them a challenge to our laboring class, and you may not
know that they have begun to present a serious problem in Hawaii—all the more serious because
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they keep entirely to themselves. Furthermore, I understand that the Japanese themselves do
not permit any foreigners to own land in Japan.
I would not have objected at all to the California Legislature passing a resolution, courteous
and proper in its terms, which would really have achieved their goal. But I do object to, and
feel humiliated by, the foolish offensiveness of the resolution they passed.
Questions:
1. Sourcing: What kind of document is this?
2. Sourcing: What do you think the intended audience was?
3. Do you trust what Roosevelt says in this document?
Message to Congress – Theodore Roosevelt
Source: Roosevelt’s annual message to Congress, December 4, 1906.
Here and there a most unworthy feeling has manifested itself toward the Japanese [such as]
shutting them out of the common schools of San Francisco [and] mutterings against them in
one or two other places, because of their efficiency as workers. To shut them out from the
public schools is a wicked absurdity.
It’s absurd that the mob of a single city may at any time perform acts of lawless violence that
would plunge us into war. A city should not be allowed to commit a crime against a friendly
nation.
Questions:
1. Sourcing: What kind of document is this?
2. Sourcing: What do you think the intended audience was?
3. Do you trust what Roosevelt says in this document?
Roosevelt Letter to Secretary Metcalf
Source: Letter from Roosevelt to the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, Victor Metcalf, who went to San Francisco to investigate the Japanese segregation crisis, November 27, 1906.
The White House
Washington, Nov 27, 1906
My Dear Secretary Metcalf:
....I had a talk with the Japanese Ambassador and told him that in my judgment the only way
to prevent constant friction between the United States and Japan was to keep the movement
of the citizens of each country into the other as restricted as possible to students, travelers,
business men and the like. It was necessary that no Japanese laboring men—that is, of the
coolie class—come into the United States.... The Ambassador agreed with this view and said
that he had always been against Japanese coolies going to America or Hawaii. Of course, San
Francisco’s action will make it difficult for most Japanese to agree with this view. But I hope
my message will smooth over their feelings....
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Sincerely yours,
THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Questions:
1. Sourcing: What kind of document is this?
2. Sourcing: What do you think the intended audience was?
3. Do you trust what Roosevelt says in this document?
Do Not Embarrass the Administration - Political Cartoon
Source: This cartoon was published in Harper’s Weekly, a New York-based magazine, in November 1906.
It shows Secretary of Commerce and Labor Metcalf speaking to a young schoolboy, who represents San Francisco. (Figure7.1).
Figure 7.1
Questions:
1. Sourcing: What kind of document is this?
2. Sourcing: What do you think the intended audience was?
3. How does this source information influence your interpretation of the document?
Section Question:
1. Based on the documents provided, why did President Roosevelt intervene in Japanese segregation?
Support your answer with specific evidence from the documents.
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7.2 Progressive Social Reformers
Beginning around 1870, a Christian movement called the Social Gospel sought to apply the teachings
of Jesus in the urban condition, helping immigrants and the poor and fighting vices such as alcoholism.
Organizations such as the Salvation Army and the YMCA were formed as a part of this movement. One
offshoot of the Social Gospel was the settlement house movement, in which well-educated white Christian women established houses in poor urban areas, from which they worked to educate the poor and help them out of poverty. The most famous such effort, Hull House, was established on the south side of Chicago
by Jane Addams. As you read the documents about Hull House below, think about the attitude that
advocates of the Social Gospel held toward the people they tried to help.
The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets
Source: Excerpt from Jane Addams, The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets, 1909. As more and more young immigrants moved from farms in the country to urban areas, dance halls became a popular form of recreation. Many progressive reformers found these dance halls to be inappropriate and pushed to create alternative forms of entertainment for youth, like amusement parks.
One Sunday night at twelve o’clock I walked past a large public dance hall. As I was standing
by the rail, a young man approached me and quite simply asked me to introduce him to some
‘nice girl,’ saying that he did not know anyone there. I replied that a public dance hall was not
the best place in which to look for a nice girl, and he said: ‘But I’m awfully lonesome since I
came to Chicago.’ And then he added rather defiantly: ‘Some nice girls do come here. It’s one
of the best halls in town.’. . .
The public dance halls are filled with frivolous and irresponsible young people in a feverish
search for pleasure. They are not a substitute for the old dances on the village green in which
all of the older people in the village participated. Chaperonage then was not a social duty but
natural and inevitable....
Let us fix modern city so that it shall be free from the wickedness and weakness which tempt
the young people who are living in its tenement houses and working in its factories.
Vocabulary
Defiantly boldly opposing
Frivolous Not having serious purpose or value
Chaperonage adult supervision
Tenement run-down and overcrowded apartment
“Dance Halls” – Louise de Koven Bowen
Source: Excerpts from an article by a Progressive social reformer, Louise de Koven Bowen, called “Dance Halls,” published in June 1911.
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The dances are short—four to five minutes; the intermissions are long—fifteen to twenty min-
utes; thus ample opportunity is given for drinking.
In these same halls obscene language is permitted, and even the girls carry on indecent conver-
sation, cursing a lot, while the less sophisticated girls stand around listening, scandalized but
fascinated....
Many of the halls are poorly lighted. There is very little protection in case of fire...
A city law should be passed covering the following points:....
2. All dance halls should be made to comply with the regulations of the Building and Fire
Departments so as to insure proper sanitation and adequate fire protection....
3. The sale of liquor in dance halls or in buildings connected with them should be prohibited....
7. No immoral dancing or familiarity should be tolerated.
8. People under the influence of liquor or known prostitutes should not be permitted in dance
halls....
11. There should be an inspector of dance halls who should have in his department a corps
of assistants who would regularly inspect the halls and make reports concerning them to him
weekly.
Vocabulary
familiarity inappropriate or offensive language or behavior
Passage from Twenty Years at Hull-house
Source: Excerpt from Jane Addams’ book, Twenty Years at Hull-House, (1910). This passage comes from a chapter called “Immigrants and Their Children.”
An Italian girl who has had lessons in cooking will help her mother to connect the entire family
with American food and household habits. That the mother has never baked bread in Italy–only
mixed it in her own house and then taken it out to the village oven–makes all the more valuable
her daughter’s understanding of the complicated cooking stove. The same thing is true of the
girl who learns to sew, and more than anything else, perhaps, of the girl who receives the first
simple instruction in the care of little children–that skillful care which every tenement-house
baby requires if he is to live through his second summer.
Through civic instruction in the public schools, the Italian woman slowly becomes urbanized,
and the habits of her entire family change. The public schools in the immigrant neighborhoods
deserve all the praise as Americanizing forces.
I Came a Stranger: The Story of a Hull-House Girl
Source: The document below was written by Hilda Satt Polacheck in the 1950s, in her book I Came a
Stranger: The Story of a Hull-House Girl. She tells about her memories of Hull House from 1896.
Several days before Christmas 1896 one of my Irish playmates suggested that I go with her to
a Christmas party at Hull-House....
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I asked her if there would be any Jewish children at the party. She said that there were Jewish
children at the parties every year....
I then began to understand that things might be different in America. In Poland it had not
been safe for Jewish children to be on the streets on Christmas.
At the party, the children of the Hull-House Music School sang some songs, that I later found
out were called “Christmas carols.” I shall never forget the sweetness of those voices. I could
not connect this beautiful party with any hatred or superstition that existed among the people
of Poland.
As I look back, I know that I became an American at this party. I was with children who had
been brought here from all over the world, with their fathers and mothers, 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.
Section Questions:
1. How do you think immigrants viewed progressive reformers like Jane Addams? As genuinely helpful?
As overly judgmental? Provide three pieces of evidence from the documents in support of your
argument.
7.3 The Progressives and Corruption
In addition to poverty and social vices, the progressives worked against corruption. In the late 19th century and beyond, many cities were run by political ‘machines,’ which traded political favors and government contracts for votes and money. The heads of these machines were called ‘bosses.’ The machine in New York City was called Tammany Hall, and the most famous boss was Boss Tweed.
The Shame of Cities - Lincoln Steffens
Source: Excerpt from a book by muckraker Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of Cities, published in 1904.
New advances in printing technology during the 1890’s made magazines and other publications
inexpensive to print. Magazines became available to a broader middle-class audience. Lincoln
Steffens was well known for writing magazine articles about child labor, prisons, religion and
political machines.
Lincoln Steffens, The Shame of the Cities (New York: McClure, Philips & Co., 1904), 1–18.
The typical American citizen is a business man…. The spirit of business is profit, not patriotism;
individual gain, not national prosperity. “My business is sacred,” says the business man in his
heart. “Whatever helps my business, is good; it must be. Whatever hurts it, is wrong; it must
be. A bribe is bad, that is, it is a bad thing to take; but it is not so bad to give one, not if it
is necessary to my business.”
And it’s all a moral weakness. Oh, we are good—on Sunday, and we are “fearfully patriotic”
on the Fourth of July. But the bribe we pay to the janitor is the little brother of the bribe
passed to the councilman to sell a city street, and the father of the deal made by the president
of the railroad, who agrees to use air-brakes only if he is given stock in the air-brake company.
We are responsible, not our leaders, since we follow them. We let them divert our loyalty from
the United States to some “party”; we let them boss the party and turn our democracies into
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autocracies. We cheat our government and we let our leaders loot it, and we let them bribe our
sovereignty from us. We are content to let them pass bad laws, giving away public property in
exchange for money.
Vocabulary
Divert redirect, change
Autocracy rule by one person