TGOW AO3

• First to arrive - 1607


  British landed in Virginia, established Jamestown with the hope of creating an English society in American and making wealth for private financiers in London
• Atlantic coastline


  • Good harbours, suitable land for agriculture and numerous easily navigated rivers
• 1609-1610 - famine and disease reduced population from 500 to 60 but survival was only due to leadership of Captain John Smith
• 'The Myths That Made America' - 'Pilgrims and Puritans and the Myth of the Promised Land', Heike Paul (2014): ''[The Puritans] conceived of the American paradise as the fulfilment of scripture prophecy.''
• 'It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the exodus is one of America's central themes.' WERNER SOLLORS: ''
• Pilgrims and Puritans


  • Settled in New England in first half of 17th century
  • Arrived a bit later than first settlers in Jamestown
  • Became protagonists of foundational myth
  • Characterised by religiosity, idealism, sacrifice and a utopian vision based on theology
  • New England Puritans and Pilgrims = 'the first Americans' with the spirit I which developed into full-fledged notion of American exceptionalism
• Favourable to settlers who came for material wealth

  • Puritans and Pilgrims came for spiritual reasons and as religious refugees
  • Viewed themselves as morally superior than people of Virginia
• Pilgrims and Puritans


  • Imposed patriarchal and hierarchical ideologies
  • Descended from two groups in England who were inflicted by Reformation and Calvinism
  • Broke away from Catholic and Anglican Churches to establish new 'Holy Commonwealth' in North America
• Puritans (arrived on the Arabella, 1630) and Pilgrims (arrived on the Mayflower, 1620)


  Were going for religious reasons and though they had a divine right
• Both groups left 'a permanent mark upon American history'
• European Idealisation of America


  America had been imagined in Europe as a utopia since the Renaissance and thus seemed an obvious place to envision and found a utopian new society at the beginning of the 17th century
• Some groups 'found hell rather than their Promised Land in the United States. First and foremost among those groups were African American slaves'
• For white Europeans - regarded as a Utopian world


  • Described as 'the myth that made American studies' and 'the American myth of the Promised Land' and is still 'one of the most prevalent of America's national mythical narratives'
  • 'Remarkably soon after its discovery, in fact, America became the locus for a variety of imaginary […] utopian constructions'
  • 'European explorers and travelers did not come across any marvelous utopias in the Americas. The indigenous communities they actually encountered in their eyes did not constitute extraordinary alternative ways of life worthy of emulation; constructed by their Eurocentric gaze as radical alterity rather than viable alternatives, the indigenous cultures of North America seemed worthless and inferior in comparison to those of Europe. Native Americans were considered to be barely human – as 'heathens' not readily open to Christianization, they could be forcefully removed in order to make room for the newcomers'
  • 'Pilgrims and Puritans settled in the 'new world,' prospective English settlers no longer "thought in terms of finding an existing utopia but of founding one in the relatively 'empty' and inviting spaces of North America"
• Native Americans


  • 1600 - 1.5 million 'Indians' with 600 different languages - ruined by the white man's disease, alcohol and relentless pressure - by 1900s there were fewer than 250,000 in the USA - most left poor, demoralised and disorientated
  • Destruction of Plains Indians - 300,000 Indians west after Civil War - fierce plains Indians, weak and primitive tribesmen and high peaceful and civilised farmers and herders Southwest
  • 250,000 Indians on Great Plains - fought bc they were from different tribes, horsemen used buffaloes for everything
  • Also tensions with Whites - Minnesota 1862 massacred 500 settlers —> swift revenge: 300 Indians hanged publicly and 1864 Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado (killed natives)
  • Geronimo and people captured in 1886
  • Whites won with their superior technology x railroad building - slaughtered 4280 buffalos (William F Buffalo Bill Cody did this), 1870s buffalo hunting, used their wool for clothes and killed lots with long range rifles - 3M killed a year
  • Moral and physical disintegration of natives
• Creation of America post-settlement

  • 1754-1763 French and Indian War, ended with the Treaty of Paris where France surrendered its territories in mainland North America to Britain
  • King Georges III Royal proclamation in 1763 to claim land in North America
  • British Colonisation of America 1763 & slave trade at its peak
  • American Revolution (1775-1783) - Political and military struggle when 13 of Britain's North American colonies rejected British imperial rule —> Prohibitory Act of Dec 22 declared the 13 colonies separate from Crown rule - 30,000 loyalist helped the British, lots of guerilla warfare - Americans actually better than the once seemingly invincible British (even though Washington's army was much smaller at only 20,000 and dwindling to 2000 at one point)
  • American Independence - 1776 American revolution against British rule lead to independence and new American constitution —> Richard Henry Lee's resolution that 'these United Colonies are, and of right out to be, free and independent states' agreed on July 2 and Declaration of Independence on July 4
  • The Declaration of Independence (1776) - written by Thomas Jefferson with help from Benjamin Franklin and John Adams - accused Britain of 'tyranny' and wrote that men possessed the right to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' and that 'all men are created equal' - didn't mean it literally though, more the idea of rights to equal opportunity through the talents one possess (foundations of American Dream?)
  • 1778 France joined and 1779 Spain to fight against the British due to the French and Indian War
  • Monroe Doctrine (1823) - America warned Europe to keep out of the Northern Hemisphere as this was their sphere of influence now
  • American Civil War (1861-1865) - A war between the Northern (Union) and Southern States of America (Confederate) (11 states that left the Union 1860-1861) primarily due to the long-standing disagreement over slavery. Under Abraham Lincoln
• Causes of the Civil War


  • Economic differences in North (well established manufacturing and industry) and South (large scale farming dependent on slave labour)
  • Growing abolitionists after 1830s into Western territories led Southerners to fear slavery, endangering their economy
  • Differences in Northern and Southern states led to Civil war
• Effects of Civil War

  • Resulted in a political stagnation and desire for change
  • US Congress passed the 13th Amendment to the constitution which abolished slavery
  • More powerful and centralised federal government
  • Laid foundation for America's emergence as a world power in the 20th century due to single political entity
• Westward Expansion


  • Manifest Destiny - territorial expansion at peak in 1840s - term coined by New Yorker in 1845 - God had intended US to control all of North American continent and the right to rule over the 'lesser breeds' (Indians and Mexicans)
  • 1840s - frontier stretched across half the continent (1830 - 20,000 migrated to Texas, some merchants went to to California - 700 settlers by 1842)
  • Homestead Act (1862) gave people free 160 acres of land as long as they cultivated it over next five years - failed because people couldn't afford farming materials needed to cultivate the land also found 160 acres wasn't enough land to make a living on the Great Plains. Also encouraged fraud - lots of people claiming land (600,000 people) turned out to be cattlemen or representatives of mining or lumber companies
  • Mythologising the West - seen as special by Americans, believed to possess mythic and symbolic qualities and viewed as 'the real genuine America' (Walt Whitman) - avoided European influence, strong America influences of democracy and equality. Romanticised by artists - possessed qualities Americans admired most - manliness, individualism, self reliance
  • The Mining Frontier - gold and silver strikes in the 1860s and 1870s - led to scramble and many spent a lifetime in an obsessive search for gold - Washoe district in Nevada had the greatest deposit of precious metals ever found in the US in the Comstock Lode (1859) - led to migration here
  • 1874 massive gold rushes after gov expedition and announcement that gold was found in Black Hills of Dakota Territory - 15,000 arrived in a few months
  • copper mining also became important esp after invention of electricity and need for wires
  • Industrialisation - railroads built to make everything more accessible and better connected - 1862 Pacific Railway Act to built railway across the continent - Union Pacific Railroad to build west from Omaha and Central Pacific Railroad of California to build eastwards from Sacramento
  • Cost around $58,000
  • Railway mileage in the West increased from 3000 miles im 1865 to 87,000 by 1899
  • Desert Land Act (1877) - 640 acres of land for $1.25 provided land was irrigated after two years
  • Timber and Stone Act (1878) - buy 160 acres of land 'unfit for cultivation' for $2.50 and use land for timber and stone which was valuable
  • However, West was difficult to cultivate and physical resources of the West were finally realised to be limited
  • West was also predominantly male - 1880 Colorado - twice as many men than women and nearly three times as many men than women in Wyoming - led to wild and crud behaviour from men and society as a whole in the West
• Progressive America (1897)

  • Under President Theodore Roosevelt
  • Aimed to increase democracy in America by reducing the power of corporation
  • Fought to end corruption in government and business
  • Worked to bring rights for women and other groups left behind in the industrial revolution
• The Gilded Age (1877-1896)


  • Economic boom propelled by railways and industrialisation
  • People made money at a fast pace
  • Increase in New Money people - clashed with Old Money
  • Reputation = very important at this time
  • Characterterised by materialism and vulgarity
  • Term coined by Twain
  • 'The Age of Innocence' is set during this period
• The New South and White Supremacy

  • 'Peculiar institution' (slavery) gone after Civil War as well as plantation systems but Planter class survived
  • Less fluid society, more stratified - greater racial inequality
  • Religious subculture - 'Bible Belt'
  • Black Americans - 90% of Americans Black Americans lived in the South - made up ⅓ of Southern population - persecuted - 'lynch mob'
  • Southern Racism can be seen through KKK - founded 1862 in Tennessee - white supremacist terrorist group who persecuted African Americans, Jews and other non-white American/ non-Americans
  • Black American generally couldn't afford their own farms so reneged through crop sharing systems (tilled the land in return for a house, mule, seeds and share of the crop) but most whites used share renting (had their own house and equipment but paid rent through crops - usually a quarter to a third)
  • Extreme poverty in the South - 'un-American level of poverty'
  • Agriculture - cotton production did not recover until 1879 but began expanding after 1894 - fetilisers for cotton, tobacco, sugar and rise on the rise - fruit farming in Louisiana and Florida - more land under cultivation
  • Black Americans used bargaining power to try and grow wealth but whites tried to limit their power terrorism, hiring terms, vagrancy and antienticement laws —> very few African Americans had enough money to purchase land - instead rented and enjoyed a share of the crop
  • SOUTHERN INDUSTRY: railroad systems expanded so coal and iron production increased in Appalachian mountain region and 1901 - oil in Texas and lots of cotton production - more than New England by 1904 even though that was the traditional cotton production centre, tobacco in Virginia and North Carolina - 1890 James Buchanan Duke's American Tobacco Company founded
  • ECONOMY: Laissez Faire approach - cut tax and public spending too, however, poverty meant education was very minimal and a lot worse than in the North
• American Society (1860-1900)

  • Population tripled between 1860-1910 but rate of growth in decline - only 21% by 1901-1910 (half of 1800-1810) - contraception and birth control movement led by Margaret Sanger in 1915
  • Urbanisation - 1860: ⅙ of Americans lived in cities and by 1900, ⅓ were - 40 cities which had over 100,000 people - cities also began attracting migrants from Europe
  • New Immigration - after Civil War, immigration reached over 26M - 5x than previous fifty years - by 1914, 85% of immigrants were from Southern and Eastern Europe - Poles, Czecks, Portuguese, Italians, Greeks, Turks, Syrians, Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos and more, Russian Jews and other Jews due to religious persecution - lured with promises of well paid jobs but found this to be untrue
  • By 1910, ⅓ of the population of the 12 largest cities were foreigners
  • New York had more Italians than Naples, more Germans than Hamburg, twice as many Irish than Dublin and more Jews than all of Europe together
  • Immigrant occupations: Poles, Slovaks and Hungarians in mining and heavy industry, Russians and Polish Jews in garment trade, Italians in construction work, Portuguese and French Candanians in textiles too - children and women also toiled in sweatshops with little pay and many immigrants lived in sl
• After the Civil War, immigration reached over 26M - 5x than previous fifty years - by 1914, 85% of immigrants were from Southern and Eastern Europe - Poles, Czecks, Portuguese, Italians, Greeks, Turks, Syrians, Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos and more, Russian Jews and other Jews due to religious persecution - lured with promises of well paid jobs but found this to be untrue
• By 1910, ⅓ of the population of the 12 largest cities were foreigners
• New York had more Italians than Naples, more Germans than Hamburg, twice as many Irish than Dublin and more Jews than all of Europe together
• Immigrant occupations

  • Poles, Slovaks and Hungarians in mining and heavy industry
  • Russians and Polish Jews in garment trade
  • Italians in construction work
  • Portuguese and French Canadians in textiles
• Children and women also toiled in sweatshops with little pay and many immigrants lived in slums
• Led to fear that US was losing its original Protestant character due to new immigration of less skilled and less democratic Europeans compared to old immigration - led to restriction laws and groups like the Immigration Restriction League (founded 1894) - feared Anglo Saxons would be swamped by 'lesser breeds'
• Urbanisation

  • Bricks and asphalt roads
  • Brooklyn Bridge (1883)
  • Williamsburg Bridge (1903) - journey out of Manhattan became easier and travel in general
• Development of dynamos

  • Electric arc lamps made in 1879 by Charles F. Brush - better street lighting, people could stay out longer more safely, restaurants, shops and entertainment open for longer, more theatres
• Retail and Advertisement

  • Department stores succeeded through imaginative advertising, attracting women especially - new 'Army of women shoppers'
• 1892: 9% of American families owned 71% of country's wealth - e.g. mansion of New York's Fifht Avenue like William K. Vanderbilt's Marble House (inspired by Versailles, contained Italian Renaissance paintings and Greek statues - sounds a lot like Gatsby's house)
• Rich people attended unis like Harvard, Yale and Princeton which exacerbated the rich poor divide as the wealthy dressed and spoke in a certain way
• A lot less social mobility than people thought and even this was only for white people, immigrants next and black Americans suffered the most - e.g. Native Son
• 1870 2M working women, 1910 8M working women
• Number of divorces also increased (1860: ~7000, 1910: ~83,000)
• Technology

  • Simplified life - communication, travel, chores - preserving food = more nutritious diet, refrigerator car invented by Chicago meat packers means more transportation of food and fresh meat availability throughout the year
• Entertainment, Sport and Leisure

  • 1883 Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, realism = absent - more melodrama and farce - escape for people and also more entertaining. First American film with a plot = Great Train Robbery (1903)
  • New York = centre of film industry —> 3M going to movies everyday
  • Baseball = very popular, esp after the Civil War - became more popular after the establishment of the World Series, horse racing also became popular - people watched and betted
• 1860-1910 Church membership doubled, religious books had large sales. Clash between science and religion though but liberal churches found ways of accommodating Darwinism with Christianity but orthodox religion entrenched in rural areas still - but in urban area,s churchmen were slow to social ethics needed in industrialised communities
• Protestantism became increasingly exclusive to middle class with some arguing poverty was the wages of sinners - in NY and Chicago Church attendence diminished as 'humbled classes' were viewed as 'practically heathen'