Mr. Benson's APUSH Blog

The Growth of Populism The Grange borrowed heavily from the Freemasons, employing complex rituals and regalia. Organization was inevitable. Like the oppressed laboring classes of the East, it was only a matter of time before Western farmers would attempt to use their numbers to effect positive change. Farmers Organize In 1867, the first such national organization was formed. Led by  OLIVER KELLEY , the PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY , also known as the GRANGE , organized to address the social isolation of farm life. Like other  SECRET SOCIETIES , such as the  MASONS , GRANGERS  had local chapters with secret passwords and rituals. The local Grange sponsored dances and gatherings to attack the doldrums of daily life. It was only natural that politics and economics were discussed in these settings, and the Grangers soon realized that their individual problems were common. Identifying the railroads as the chief villains, Grangers lobbied state legislatures for...

Imperialism By the middle of the 1890's the American western frontier was viewed by many as being "closed". This was seen as the fulfillment of the westward expansions started under the banner of "manifest destiny". The public perception of the "closing of the west", along with the philosophy of Social Darwinism, contributed to a desire for continued expansion of American lands and the spreading of American culture. The result was a shift in US foreign policy at the end of the 19th century from a reserved, homeland concerned republic to an active imperial power. The Spanish-American War The "USS Maine" pictured here in Havana Harbor, Cuba The Spanish-American war heralded the start of the era of American Imperialism. In the shadow of the expanding empires of Europe, an America that now stretched from sea to shining sea was desiring to still grow. Causes of the Spanish-American War: Cuban Revolution  -  The Spanish suppres...

Were the founders of American industry "robber barons" or "captains of industry?" The wave of industrialism that we have been studying was often driven by a few great men known as industrialists. There can be no mistaking their motives: wealth. There is some debate, however, on the how history should portray these industrialists. Some feel that the powerful industrialists of the gilded age should be referred to as "r obber barons. " This view accentuates the negative. It portrays men like Vanderbilt and Rockefeller and Ford and cruel and ruthless businessmen who would stop at nothing to achieve great wealth. These "robber barons" were accused of exploiting workers and forcing horrible working conditions and unfair labor practices upon the laborer. Another view of the industrialist is that of  "captain of industry. " The term captain views these men as viewed ingenious and industrious leaders who transformed the America...

The Union victory in the Civil War in 1865 may have given some 4 million slaves their freedom, but the process of rebuilding the South during the Reconstruction period (1865-1877) introduced a new set of significant challenges. Under the administration of President Andrew Johnson in 1865 and 1866, new southern state legislatures passed restrictive “black codes” to control the labor and behavior of former slaves and other African Americans. Outrage in the North over these codes eroded support for the approach known as Presidential Reconstruction and led to the triumph of the more radical wing of the Republican Party. During Radical Reconstruction, which began in 1867, newly enfranchised blacks gained a voice in government for the first time in American history, winning election to southern state legislatures and even to the U.S. Congress. In less than a decade, however, reactionary forces–including the Ku Klux Klan–would reverse the changes wrought by Radical Reconstruction in a vio...