In the field of business enterprise, progress was most marked.  The industrial system, which had risen and flourished before the Civil War, grew into immense proportions and the industrial area was extended from the Northeast into all parts of the country.  Small business concerns were transformed into huge corporations.  Individual plants were merged under the management of gigantic trusts.  Short railway lines were consolidated into national systems.  The industrial population of wage-earners rose into the tens of millions.  The immigration of aliens increased by leaps and bounds.  The cities overshadowed the country.  The nation that had once depended upon Europe for most of its manufactured goods became a competitor of Europe in the markets of the earth.

In the sphere of politics, the period witnessed the recovery of white supremacy in the South; the continued discussion of the old questions, such as the currency, the tariff, and national banking; and the injection of new issues like the trusts and labor problems.  As of old, foreign affairs were kept well at the front.  Alaska was purchased from Russia; attempts were made to extend American influence in the Caribbean region; a Samoan island was brought under the flag; and the Hawaiian islands were annexed.  The Monroe Doctrine was applied with vigor in the dispute between Venezuela and Great Britain.

Assistance was given to the Cubans in their revolutionary struggle against Spain and thus there was precipitated a war which ended in the annexation of Porto Rico and the Philippines.  American influence in the Pacific and the Orient was so enlarged as to be a factor of great weight in world affairs.  Thus questions connected with foreign and “imperial” policies were united with domestic issues to make up the warp and woof of politics.  In the direction of affairs, the Republicans took the leadership, for they held the presidency during all the years, except eight, between 1865 and 1900.

=References=

J.W.  Foster, A Century of American Diplomacy; American Diplomacy in the Orient.

W.F.  Reddaway, The Monroe Doctrine.

J.H.  Latane, The United States and Spanish America.

A.C.  Coolidge, United States as a World Power.

A.T.  Mahan, Interest of the United States in the Sea Power.

F.E.  Chadwick, Spanish-American War.

D.C.  Worcester, The Philippine Islands and Their People.

M.M.  Kalaw, Self-Government in the Philippines.

L.S.  Rowe, The United States and Porto Rico.

F.E.  Chadwick, The Relations of the United States and Spain.

W.R.  Shepherd, Latin America; Central and South America.

=Questions=

1.  Tell the story of the international crisis that developed soon after the Civil War with regard to Mexico.

2.  Give the essential facts relating to the purchase of Alaska.