The Us 1900-1909 The United States: 1900-1909 The early 1900s was a great time for Americans. The early 1900s brought many reforms, changes, and inventions to the country. Many people, around the world, began to recognize the US as a world power.
With the nations growing economic and naval power, it was obvious that the US was a major contender for world domination. Throughout the early 1900s the United States was dramatically changed from a little nation to a nation of great wealth and prosperity. The United States entered the Twentieth Century as a world power along with older world powers of Europe (Angel, vol. 1) such as France, England, and Germany. The United States achieved this power by stepping up its navy.
The navy won national support and began its expansion to supremacy, by sending the great-white fleet around the world on December 16, 1907 (Angel, vol. 1). This was done to show the world the maturity of American engineering as well as the substance for the big stick policy (Dictionary of American History, vol. V). The United States wanted to show and warn the other countries of the world that the US was here and they meant business. Mark Twain said: We have pacified some thousands of islanders and buried themburned their villages, and turned their widows and orphans out-of-doorssubjugated the remaining ten millions by benevolent assimilation, which if the pious new name of the musket; we have acquired property in the three hundred concubines and other slaves of our business partner, the sultan of Sulu, and hoisted our protecting flag over that swag.
And so, by the Providences of God and the phrase is the governments, not mine we are a world power. (Angel, vol. 1) From 1900 to 1920 there was a staggering increase in iron ore and crude petroleum production in the United States. For example, in 1900, there were 27,300 tons of iron ore and 63,621 barrels of petroleum produced in the US. In 1910, there were 57,015 tons of iron ore and 209,557 barrels of petroleum produced. In 1920, there were 67,604 tons of iron ore and 442,929 barrels of petroleum produced (Angel, vol.
1). As the production of iron ore and petroleum grew, so did the population. At the beginning of the century the United States population was 75,995,000. The cities around the Great Lakes, Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit, expanded a lot faster than the average cities because coal was available locally for fuel in the factories and because there was good rail and water transportation (Angel, vol.
1) From 1900 to 1920, many cities expanded greatly in numbers of people. New York went from 3,437 to 5,620. Chicago went from 1,699 to 2,701. Cleveland went from 382 to 797. Detroit went from 285 to 994 (Angel, vol.
1). Overall, urban population grew a lot faster than rural population. In 1900, the rural population in the country was approximately 45 million people and the urban population was only 30 million people. By 1920, rural population was only at 52 million while urban population had passed that at 53 million (Angel vol. 1).
Even though changes were made, many things did not change until later on in the century. By 1900, only a few states had outlawed factory employment of children under ten or twelve years of age (Angel, vol. 1). Children were disadvantaged until the second decade.
In 1903, Mary Mother Jones lead an army of kids from Philidelphia to Long Island to protest the employment and exploitation of children. The black communities, despite the Ku Klux Klan, succeed, in a way, because the lynching numbers went down significantly from 1900 to 1915. In 1900, there were 110 lynching. In 1905, there were only 60 lynching, and in 1910 there were 58.
But in 1915 there were only 55 lynching. From 1900 to 1915, the lynching number was cut in half (Angel, vol. 1). The KKK did all it could, in the south, to prevent the blacks from getting the vote. On April 27, 1903, the United States Supreme Court sustained a clause in the Alabama constitution that denied African Americans the right to vote (Angel, vol. 1) 1900 was a very exciting year in America.
Dr. Walter Reed and Major William Crawford Gorgas discovered the cause of yellow fever, in Cuba. On January second, the first electric bus took its maiden run in New York City. On November third, the first auto show was held in Madison Square Garden, also in New York City.
And on November 7, 1900, McKinley was reelected as president of the United States of America (Angel, vol. 1) As the year ended, 1901 began. In this year, oil was discovered in Spindletop Texas, gold was discovered in California and Alaska, and Guglielmo Marconi sent the first radio signals across the Atlantic Ocean. On February 25, Elbert H. Gary founded United States Steel Corporation.
On March 2, the Platt Amendment was established which placed the United States as a protectorate over Cuba. This idea was accepted by Cuba in June. Three weeks later on the twenty seventh of March, The United States regained its control over the Philippines after a three-year struggle. But on September sixth, the country was devastated.
On September 6, McLeon Czolgosz, an anarchist, shot President McKinley in the chest and the abdomen at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York (Angel, vol.1). The president struggled to live for eight days until his death on September 14,1901. Vice President, Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, was nowhere to be found. Finally, he was located on a hiking trip in the middle of the Adirondack Mountains. At 2:30pm, on September 14,1901, Teddy Roosevelt took the oath of office to become the 26th President of the United States of America.
He also became the youngest and one of the most popular presidents in American history. Roosevelt promised to continue McKinleys path and keep his appointments for the peace, the prosperity, and the honor of our beloved country (Angel, vol.1). Theodore Roosevelts main policy was to speak softly and carry a big stick (Angel, vol.1). Teddy supported the old guard, which was the conservative political and big business leaders who had been responsible for helping him achieve political success (Angel, vol.1).
He thought that there had to be some type of regulation on the trusts and monopolies. He was not against big business, he just attacked bad business and their bosses, owners who were out to control the government. It was said that: Roosevelt turned his attention to trusts just 3 months after his 1901 speech to Congress. Trusts were combinations of big businesses that controlled all or most of an industry. Some trusts were formed to increase efficiency through standardizing products or to gain other advantages not usually associated with competition.
But other trusts had more sinister aims. By cornering the market for their product or service, they could eliminate price competition, allowing then to charge higher prices to their customers (Angel, vol.1). In the 1900s the trusts had a tight control over the government. During 1900s, many trusts had an arran …
