.. gement whereby stockholders, often begrudgingly, transferred their voting power to a single group of trustees. Frequently, these trustees used their positions to line their own pockets (Angel, vol.1).Because of all the unfair business practices, Tammany Hall which was run by William M.
Tweed, Roosevelt asked his congress for the establishment of a Department of Commerce and Labor to investigate corporate earnings and protect workers rights. Since the Civil War, business influences had dominated government to such an extent that big business practically ran the government (Angel, vol.1). In 1902, the first skyscraper was constructed. The Flatiron Building in New York City. It was the first of its kind standing at an impressive 180 feet tall.
Also, late in 1902, the Alaskan boundary dispute with Canada was settled in Favor of the United States. Roosevelt had an idea to take the section in Panama so that the nations fleet could travel between two oceans. He took Panama with force rather than paying Colombia $40 million for the land. On November 3,1903, a revolution broke out between Panama and Colombia that was provoked by the Americans. On November 5, Colombia backed out and Panama took control.
On November 6, Roosevelt publicly recognized the New Republic of Panama. A canal agreement was signed on November 19,1903. The Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty: guaranteed Panama independence in exchange for a perpetual lease to a ten mile-wide zone on which the US could build a canal (Angel, vol.1). Construction for the canal began in 1904 by chief engineer John F. Stevens. He was very slow and in 1907 he was replaced with Lieutenant Colonel George Goethals.
The canal was opened for business on August 15, 1914 (Angel, vol.1). In 1903, Henry Ford founds the Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford develops the assembly line where he makes cars by the masses and makes them available and affordable for all, starting with the Model T in 1908. 1903 was also the year where the first transcontinental auto trip was made.
But the most amazing thing that happened in this year was the first airplane flight on December 17 in Kitty Hawk North Carolina. The Wright brothers made the first flight. Ida Tarbell, a foe of John D. Rockefeller, promoted her book heavily in 1904.
It was called The History of Standard Oil. It showed what went on behind the scenes at Standard Oil. On February 8th, the Russo-Japanese war broke out when Japan surprised the Russians at Port Arthur. On October 27, the New York City subway opened. And on December 6th, The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine was announced.
In 1905, Immigration into the United States reached an all-time high at 3,400,000(Angel, vol.2). In June the IWW was formed. The Industrial Workers of the World, known as Wobblies, called for emancipation of labor. They were lead by Big Bill Haywood who attacked the AFof L. He called for the abolition of the wage system and used violence to do it. The Wobblies drew their memberships from unskilled laborers, migrants, and forgotten red-blooded working stuff (Angel, vol.1).
Later, on September 5, a peace treaty, mediated by Roosevelt at Portsmouth New Hampshire, ends the Russo-Japanese War. In 1906, Upton Sinclairs, The Jungle, was printed. It was known for exploiting the meat industry of Chicago. In December of the same year, the United States president, Theodore Roosevelt, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the Russo-Japanese War (Angel, vol.1). In 1907, the Panic of 1907 occurred, a mild stock market crash. In 1908, The National Conservation Commission was established (Angel, vol.1).
In 1909, the NAACP was formed and the Wright brothers form the Wright Co. to produce the airplane commercially. By the end of the decade the United States population was 91,972,266. In the first decade on the 1900s, the art forms of Impressionism and expressionism formed. Along with social reforms came labor reforms. Workers looked to socialism to free them from industrial bondage.
Eugene V. Debs ran for the socialist party in order to push labor reforms. William G. Summer had this to say about Social Darwinism: If we do not like the survival of the fittest, we have only one possible alternative, and that is survival of the unfittest (Angel, vol.1). Science had some breakthroughs in the early1900s. Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung unraveled the mysteries of the human mind.
Discoveries of the dimensions of time and space were made. The also discovered that Radioactive materials had medical benefits. Females benefited greatly in the early 1900s. During this time period, the Victorian era ended and women began wearing looser clothes, shorter skirts, and they threw away their corsets. On December 16, 1903, the Majestic Theater in New York hired the first female usher.
In 1904, the Rainy Day Club organized together to give moral support to women who wore rainy day skirts, one that reached the shoe tops. The short skirt is the symbol of the emancipation of women(Charles R. Lomb) (Angel, vol.1). As the 1900s unfolded, leisure time expanded.
Coney Island was a very popular place along with Palisades Park. Baseball, picnics, long Sunday drives in horse and buggies or the new family car, were all popular things to do on a regular basis. Families got together and sang or talked and began having barbeques. Film became popular. In 1902, George Melies accidentally found trick photography. This furthered cinematography, which went along with radio (Angel, vol.1).
Many world records were set in the early 1900s. On July 1, 1908, Count Zeppelin stayed in the air in a dirigible for 12 hours across Switzerland at an average speed of 34 miles per hour. On December 5, 1909 the Penn. Rail Road set the world record for speed when one of the big steam locomotives was clocked at close to 100 miles per hour (Angel, vol.1).
The first decade of the 1900s brought lots of change, reform, and leisure to the country. But there was still unfinished business. As the century moved on the nation grew on all levels. As we entered WWI, we were a power; we came out a world dominating power. With the stock market going crazy and the citizens inventing new things. The United States of America is what it is today, because of them.
Works Cited Angel, Ann. America in the 20th Century 1900-1909. 12 vols. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1995. —. America in the 20th Century 1910-1919.
12 vols. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1995. Cayton, Andrew, Elisabeth Iraels Perry, and Allan M. Winkler. America: Pathways to the Present: Civil War to the Present.
Massachusetts: Prentice Hall, 1995. Chant, Christopher. The Military History of U.S. WWI . 10 vols. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1995.
Ferrara, Robert. Class Notes. New Jersey: Pauls Publishing, 2000. McDonnell, Janet. America in the 20th Century 1920-1929. 12 vols.
New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1995. National Urban League-Quasi-Judicail Agencies. Dictionary of American History. VIII vols. New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1976.
History Reports.
