New Jersey Political Machines and Efforts to End Political Corruption
“In the bad old days there used to be machines,” Herblock drawing, 1984, LC-DIG-hlb-10790
Lesson Creators: New Jersey Center for Civic Education, expanded and adapted from lessons by Michael Kenduck, Westwood Regional School District; Kaitlyn Mahaffey, Pascack Valley School District; and Karen VanderLeest, Ramsey School District
Grade Level: Secondary
Time Required: Three-four classroom periods:
- America at the turn of the 20th century and political machines
- Corruption in New York City, Atlantic City and Jersey City
- Progressive Reforms
- Today
Objectives: Students will be able to:
- Describe the structure of a political machine
- Explain the role and goals of a political boss
- Examine the importance of immigrants to political machines
- Identify how political corruption and illegal activities developed in many political machines
- Evaluate the impact that political machines and political bosses had on the growth of cities
NJ Core Content Social Studies Standards
6.1.12.GeoHE.5.a: Generate/make an evidence-based argument regarding the impact of rapid urbanization on the environment and on the quality of life in cities.
6.1.12.CivicsPR.6.a: Use a variety of sources from multiple perspectives to evaluate the effectiveness of Progressive reforms in preventing unfair business practices and political corruption and in promoting social justice.
6.1.12.CivicsPI.14.a: Draw from multiple perspectives to evaluate the effectiveness and fairness of the processes by which local, state, and national officials are elected.
Essential Questions:
- How did the electoral process affect political machines in New Jersey?
- How did political machines affect the electoral process in New Jersey?
- Do political machines help or hinder progress?
- How effective were the legislative reforms of the Progressive Era in controlling political corruption?
- How can the public eliminate or prevent political machines and bosses?
Supporting questions:
- What is a political machine?
- What is a political boss?
- How did the rapid economic growth of this period in American history (1870-1929) contribute to an environment of political corruption?
- What political machines and bosses have had an impact on New Jersey?
- What has been the impact of New Jersey political machines?
A. Anticipatory Set
To engage students, show a clip from the 2002 film, “Gangs of New York”. Possible scenes to show include the following:
- Landing Of Irish in New York - Gangs of New York - Landing of the Irish in NYC Harbour
- Machine greeting Irishman off the boat - Paddy's Lamentation - Gangs of New York (6/12) Movie CLIP (2002) HD
- Elections: GANGS NY Political machine elections
B. Vocabulary (Definitions and context are provided in italics)
- What is a “political machine?” - Students will probably focus on the idea of corruption. This is clearly a part of the meaning of a political machine because they have often been corrupt and have a reputation for corruption. But political machines may also work for the benefit of the community. A political machine is a political organization in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses (usually campaign workers), who receive rewards for their effort.
- What is the role of a “political boss”? A person or small group with authority to make decisions. That person or group controls votes and dictates appointments. Examples may include Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed in New York city, (1865-1934). Also, Tom Pendergast of Kansas City, Missouri; Richard Daley in Chicago, Illinois; Huey Long in New Orleans, Louisiana and James Curley in Boston, Massachusetts. New Jersey had its own political machines, most notably Louis Kuehnle and Nucky Johnson’s Republican “Boardwalk Empire” machine in Atlantic City (1900-1941) and Boss Hague’s urban empire in Jersey City (1917-1947).
- What is a kickback? Political machines required kickbacks from those they gave favors to—city workers and vendors. A “kickback” was a return of a part of a sum received often because of confidential agreement or coercion.
- What is “political graft”? “Graft” is defined as a shoot or twig inserted into a slit on the trunk or stem of a living plant, from which it receives sap, is a graft. A piece of living tissue transplanted surgically is also a graft. Graft is also a form of political corruption. It is the unscrupulous use of a politician's authority for personal gain. This is the kind of graft we are talking about.
- What is patronage? “Patron” derives from the Latin, patronus - one who gives benefit to his clients. Political patronage often refers to the corrupt practice of paying money to local governmental officials and politicians in return for services or favors.
C. Historical Background
The period from 1870 to 1929 (after the Civil War until the Great Depression) was a time of robust economic growth and an influx of immigrant labor. At the national level, America was building railroads, skyscrapers, bridges, and bringing electricity and public water to homes. Economic growth increased dramatically. How did the rapid economic growth of this period in American history (1870-1929) contribute to an environment of political corruption? We’re going to explore the impact of political machines in New York City, Atlantic City and Jersey City.
1. New York City
After the Civil War, real estate was booming in New York City with the influx of immigrants and the growth of industry. The population of New York City was less than one million in 1870 and grew to more than three million by the turn of the century. It was a time when public services, including drinkable water and a sewage system, were being developed in the city. Fire and police departments were also expanding. Businesses and investors were willing to pay for information about the location of subway stops, bridges, and parks.
Construction of New York City subway at Broadway and Lafayette Street, 1913, Museum of the City of New York
2. Atlantic City
It was also a time of great growth and expansion in Atlantic City. The natural beauty of the ocean and beach had made Atlantic City a resort town. The first hotel was built in 1854, attracting rich Philadelphia railroad executives as well as those coming for the “medical treatment” of the sun and air. The construction of a competing railroad in the 1870s led to fares being cut so low that even the working classes could afford a day trip to Atlantic City. After 1874, approximately 500,000 passengers were coming to Atlantic City by train every year. Local politicians understood the importance of hotels, the boardwalk (started in 1870 to keep sand out of the lobbies of the city’s many hotels), the movie industry, and ignoring restrictions on drinking, gambling, and prostitution.
Speakeasy during Prohibition (1920-1933) in Atlantic City
3. Jersey City
With a huge influx of immigrants, Jersey City expanded greatly after 1870 and became a hub for industry and transportation. Jersey City had always been a point of transport to Manhattan, beginning with ferry service in 1764 and the first steam ferry starting in 1812. The construction of several passenger train terminals (including Exchange Place and the Hudson tubes), growing industrialization and a steady supply of workers, saw the city rapidly grow from 30,000 in 1860 to 300,000 by 1920.
Pennsylvania Railroad Terminal, Jersey City, 1920
D. Background on Political Bosses
1. Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed in New York City
William Marcy “Boss” Tweed, 1870, LC-USZ62-2246
One of the most infamous political machines in the United States was Democratic-controlled Tammany Hall in New York City (1865-1934). Started in 1789 for patriotic and fraternal purposes, after the Civil War the Society of St. Tammany began to weave together social club organization with the Democratic Party and basically ran New York City for the next 70 years.
Tammany Hall’s electoral base lay predominantly with New York’s burgeoning immigrant population, which often exchanged political support for Tammany Hall’s patronage. During the Industrial Age in the late 19th Century, the extralegal services that Tammany and other urban political machines provided often served as a rudimentary public welfare system. The patronage Tammany Hall provided to immigrants, many of whom lived in extreme poverty and received little government assistance, covered three key areas: 1. providing food, coal, rent money or a job in times of emergency; 2. acting as an intermediary between immigrants and the government; and 3. familiarizing immigrants with American society and its political institutions and helping them become naturalized citizens.
Under Tweed's regime, "naturalization committees," made up primarily of Tammany politicians and employees, were established. The "committees" filled out paperwork, provided witnesses, and lent immigrants money for the fees required to become citizens. Judges and other city officials were bribed and otherwise compelled to go along with the workings of the committees. In exchange for these benefits, immigrants assured Tammany Hall that they would vote for their candidates.
Under "Boss" Tweed, New York City expanded into the Upper East and Upper West Sides of Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge was begun, land was set aside for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, orphanages and almshouses were constructed, and social services-- both directly provided by the state and indirectly funded by state appropriations to private charities--helping tens of thousands of people and bringing great wealth to Tweed and his friends. It also brought them into contact and alliance with the rich elite of the city, who either accepted the graft and corruption or else tolerated it because of Tammany's ability to influence and control the immigrant population, of whom the "uppertens" of the city were wary.
Tweed’s downfall began with Tammany's inability to control Irish laborers in the Orange riot of 1871 (See The Decline of Tammany. - The New York Times) Campaigns to topple Tweed by the New York Times and Thomas Nast of Harper's Weekly began to gain traction in the aftermath of the riot, and disgruntled insiders began to leak the details of the extent and scope of the Tweed Ring's avarice to the newspapers.
In 1872 Tweed was arrested and charged with fraud, and forced to resign as public works commissioner, state senator, and head of Tammany Hall. The first criminal trial against Tweed resulted in a hung jury, but the second ended with a conviction on misdemeanor charges. The sentence was a $12,500 fine and 13 years in jail, which an appeals court reduced to $250 and one year. He was rearrested and being unable to raise the $3 million bail, Tweed ended up in Ludlow Street jail. He was granted privileges and liberties not allowed to other inmates, such as carriage rides and visits to his home and those of his adult children. On December 4, 1875, he escaped while on such a sojourn and hid out in New Jersey.
IIn March 1876, the civil jury found Tweed guilty and liable for over $6 million. Learning of the judgment, he fled to Cuba, then Spain. In September, Spanish officials arrested and deported him, mistakenly identifying him (through a Nast cartoon) as a child abductor. Back in New York by late November, he was placed in the Ludlow Street jail again where he died.
Political reformers took over the city and state governments. Following Tweed's arrest, Tammany survived but was no longer controlled just by Protestants and was now dependent on leadership from bosses of Irish descent. There is little question that the Tweed Ring were outright thieves: an estimated $75-200 million was swindled from New York City between 1865 and 1871.
2. Louis Kuehnle and Nucky Johnson in Atlantic City
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| Louis Kuehnle | “Nucky” Johnson |
Louis Kuehnle was born in New York City on December 25, 1857, the son of German immigrants. The family moved to Egg Harbor City, New Jersey, where Kuehnle began his first hotel, The New York Hotel. The family then moved in 1875 to nearby Atlantic City to open another hotel, Kuehnle's Hotel. When he was 18 and his father died, Kuehnle took over running the hotel, which became a popular meeting place for local politicians, including Atlantic County power brokers, such as Nucky Johnson's father Sheriff Smith E. Johnson. Kuehnle, known as the “Commodore”, became the leader of the Republican organization that controlled Atlantic City from 1900 to 1911 and a mentor to Enoch (“Nucky”) Johnson. (The “Commodore” in the fictitious “Boardwalk Empire” television series is based on Kuehnle and Nucky Thomson is based on Nucky Johnson.)
In 1913, Kuehnle was convicted of a conflict of interest and related corruption and was sentenced to a year of hard labor plus a $1,000 fine. After serving a six-month sentence he took an extended vacation to Bermuda and then Bavaria, Germany. When he returned to Atlantic City, Nucky Johnson had become the unofficial boss of the city. After Kuehnle unsuccessfully challenged Johnson's leadership, Johnson agreed to support his former mentor for City Commissioner. Kuehnle was elected in 1920 and reelected to four terms as City Commissioner until his death in 1934.
From 1911 until 1941, Nucky Johnson was the undisputed "boss" of the political machine that controlled Atlantic City and Atlantic County government. His rule encompassed the Roaring Twenties when Atlantic City was at the height of its popularity as a refuge from Prohibition. In addition to bootlegging, his organization was involved in gambling and prostitution.
Nucky Johnson was mentioned frequently in a series of articles by the New York Evening Journal about vice in Atlantic City and came under increased scrutiny by the federal government. The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 ended a major selling point for Atlantic City, as well as a major source of income for Johnson and his political machine. In 1939 Johnson was indicted for evading taxes, convicted and sentenced to ten years in federal prison and fined $20,000. He entered Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in 1941, was paroled in 1945, and took a pauper's oath to avoid paying the fine. Following Johnson's 1941 conviction, Frank S. Farley succeeded him as the leader of Atlantic City's political machine. (See https://www.atlanticcityexperience.org/exhibits/exhibit-nucky-johnson-prohibition/boss-nucky-johnson.html))
3. “Boss” Frank Hague in Jersey City
Frank Hague, 1920 LC-USZ62-119504
Frank Hague was mayor of Jersey City from May 15, 1917 until his retirement on June 17, 1947. By the time he left office, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. His wealth was estimated at more than $10 million at the time of his death, although his Jersey City salary never exceeded $8,500 per year and he had no other legitimate sources of income. His desk had a special drawer that opened in the front, allowing visitors to deposit bribes that then disappeared inside the desk. (See https://www.city-journal.org/html/how-steal-election-12824.html).
Hague rose through the Democratic machinery of Hudson County, which drew much of its strength by providing newly arrived immigrants with basic social services. As a reward for his efforts in turning out votes in the 1905 election, Hague was made the party leader for the Second Ward and appointed as Sergeant at Arms for the New Jersey State Assembly.
In the spring of 1913, having assured himself a place on the commission, Hague supported the renewed effort to change the Jersey City government to a commission model that would place all executive and legislative powers in a five-man commission, each of whom would head a city department, and together choose one of their colleagues to be mayor. The vote to change the form of government passed and Hague was elected to the first City Commission of Jersey City in 1913, and named public safety commissioner, with control over the police and fire departments. In the same year, Hague cemented his control of the Hudson County political machine by securing for himself the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Committee.
In 1917, Hague ran on a five-man ticket on the Democratic Party slate using the campaign slogan "The Unbossed". The voter tally placed A. Harry Moore, a future governor, ahead of Hague, 19,883 to 18,648, in a crowded field of candidates. Even though he lost by almost 3000 votes, Hague became the mayor in 1917. (See Foster, Mark. The Early Career of Mayor Frank Hague and Frank Hague era in Jersey City redefined what it meant to be a 'boss' - nj.com.)
Some suggest that Hague helped to get President Roosevelt elected. When Roosevelt won the Democratic Party nomination for president, Hague offered to organize the biggest political rally anyone had ever seen if Roosevelt would launch his presidential campaign in New Jersey. When Roosevelt formally began his campaign with an event at the Jersey Shore town of Sea Girt, Hague's machine made sure there were several thousand Hudson County voters looking on and cheering. Hague’s support was rewarded with funding for a massive medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague. During the 1936 campaign Hague provided 150,000 adults and children to cheer Roosevelt during a visit.
Although Hague was accommodating to labor unions during the first half of his mayoral career (1917-29), with Jersey City police turning back strikebreakers, he became an opponent of organized labor in the 1930s when efforts to organize the work crews constructing the Pulaski Skyway turned into an intense labor war. When Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas came to speak on behalf of the CIO during a May Day rally in Journal Square, Hague's police swept Thomas and his wife into a car, took them to the Pavonia ferry and sent them back to New York. Hague spent much of the decade inveighing against Communists and labor unions, and his attempts to suppress the CIO's activities in Jersey City led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization, 307 U.S. 496 (1939), that is a cornerstone of law concerning public expression of political views on public property.
The beginning of the end for Hague came in 1943, when former governor Walter Edge was returned to office. Edge's attorney general, Walter Van Riper, initiated several prosecutions of Hague cronies. Hague retaliated by having his handpicked U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey bring federal indictments against Van Riper, but Van Riper was acquitted. Edge also initiated reforms in the civil service, freeing it from Hague's control. Edge's successor, fellow Republican Governor Alfred Driscoll, succeeded in further curbing Hague's power. Governor Driscoll led the effort to implement a new constitution, which streamlined state government and made it less vulnerable to control by locally based bosses like Hague. For example, county prosecutors were now directly accountable to the state attorney general. It also set up a new state Supreme Court, which was given supervision over the state's judges. As the first Chief Justice, Driscoll appointed an old Hague foe, Arthur T. Vanderbilt. Driscoll also installed voting machines throughout the state, which made it harder for corrupt politicians to steal elections.
Creating a Timeline
Use Handout 1: Timeline: Connect political machines with historical trends by coloring the years to place Tammany Hall, Kuehnle, Johnson and Boss Hague within the context of historical trends:
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1. Height of immigration 1890-1920 2. Boss Tweed/Tammany Hall, 1870-1915 3. Louis Kuehnle 1900-1911 4. Nucky Johnson, 1911-1933 5. World War I, 1915-1918 |
6. Frank Hague, 1917-1947 7. Prohibition 1920-33 8. Women’s Suffrage, 1920- 9. New Deal 1933-1941 10. World War II 1941-45 |
See the completed chart below:
Compare and Contrast Jigsaw
Divide the class into three groups and distribute one of the following to each group:
1. Handout 2: Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed in New York City
2. Handout 3: Louis Kuehnle and Nucky Johnson in Atlantic City
3. Handout 4: “Boss” Frank Hague and Jersey City
Each group will review one of the sets of cards about machines and bosses. The groups will then jigsaw and explain the background of their machine and boss to the members of the other two groups. Students can use Handout 5 Compare and contrast the Political “Bosses” to take notes.
E. Do Political Machines help or hinder progress?
Lord James Bryce was a Presbyterian Scot born in Belfast, Ireland in 1838. In 1867 he was called to the bar, and from 1870 to 1893 he served as professor of civil law at Oxford, where, with Lord Acton, he founded the English Historical Review (1885). From 1880 to 1907 Bryce was a Liberal member of the House of Commons, serving as Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1886).
Bryce made the first of several visits to the United State in 1870, then again in 1881, 1883 and twice more. Before serving as the British ambassador to the United States (1907-13), Bryce examined "the institutions and the people of America as they are" and presented his findings in The American Commonwealth, first published in London in three volumes in 1888 and revised many times. In 1914, Bryce became a viscount and a member of the International Court of Justice, The Hague. Later, during World War I, he headed a committee that judged Germany guilty of atrocities in Belgium and France. Subsequently, he advocated the establishment of the League of Nations. Lord Bryce died in 1922. In The American Commonwealth, Bryce sought to describe the United States as it existed, including how the political parties sometimes worked through political machines, rings and political bosses.
Lord James Bryce, Library of Congress
Activity 3: Document Analysis: Divide students into three groups and assign reading as homework:
- Group 1 reads Handout 6: Excerpt from Chapter 62, “How the Machine Works,” in The American Commonwealth, by Lord James Bryce.
- Group 2 reads Handout 7: Excerpt from Chapter 62, “How the Machine Works,” in The American Commonwealth by Lord James Bryce.
- Group 3: Read Handout 8: Excerpt from Chapter 63, “Rings and Bosses,” in The American Commonwealth by Lord James Bryce.
All excerpts are also available at https://muse.jhu.edu/book/46466. Scroll down to chapters 62)
In class, provide groups 5-10 minutes to summarize. Then jigsaw the groups and have one person from each original group summarize the excerpt to the other groups. Then have all of the students participate in a class discussion regarding the questions below (Suggested answers in italics):
- Why did political machines develop in large cities? (“A vast population of ignorant immigrants. The leading men were all intensely occupied with business. Communities so large that people know little of one another and that the interest of each individual in good government in comparatively small.”)
- How do “professional politicians" take over control? (Either through the party machinery of the great cities which command the surrounding county or they get on good terms with the state party managers)
- How did the machines control elections? (Through local leaders or “workers”)
- Conclude by drawing independent conclusions.
Inquiry: Do political machines help or hinder progress?
There is more to the story than a confrontation of the machine form of city government and the ideology of reformer exhortations. Political machines offered basic necessities, such as housing, food, and jobs in return for votes. Political machines and the bosses who controlled them also played a large role in the economic development of many American cities during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During the period 1890-1920, the three cities we are looking at expanded and grew dramatically. Unskilled immigrants who teamed in from Southern and Eastern Europe found productive jobs in all three cities.
While New York City was controlled by Tammany hall, Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital was opened in 1869. Land was set aside for the newly founded Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1870. The Brooklyn Bridge was constructed and opened in 1883. The five boroughs were consolidated in 1898 and the New York City subway was built and opened in 1904.
In Atlantic City, “Commodore” Kuehnle was responsible for numerous improvements. Concerned with high rates for telephone and gas, he created his own telephone and gas companies, resulting in lower prices. His telephone company, Atlantic Coast Telephone Company, would later be bought by Bell Telephone. Kuehnle also helped lower electric prices by supporting a competing utility in the area. He helped expand the boardwalk and even increased the amount of fresh water in town by building a water main from the mainland to Absecon Island. He also helped to modernize the trolley system. Like other summer resorts, Atlantic City had a seasonal economy. By offering alcohol during Prohibition, Nucky Johnson was able to attract tourists during the winter, making Atlantic City the nation's premier location for conventions. In an effort to promote a year-round convention-supported economy, Johnson directed the construction of Atlantic City Convention Hall, which opened in 1929.
In Jersey City, Boss Hague founded the Bureau of Special Services for troubled youth in the city. He raised tens of thousands of dollars for the city from taxes on the railroads, the Standard Oil Company and the Public Service Corporation. Three high schools--Snyder, Ferris and Lincoln--and five elementary schools were built to increase educational opportunities available to Jersey City's youth. Hague chose Mary T. Norton, a community volunteer he had met during World War I, and convinced her to run as the first woman on the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 1921 and then as New Jersey’s first female member of Congress. Norton served 13 consecutive terms )1923-49) in the House of Representatives and its seniority in the House of Representative and her seniority by the time of the Depression afforded her the ability to secure funds for Hague's jobs creation program in Jersey City under the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The federally funded program resulted in grants and loans for the construction of the A. Harry Moore School, Roosevelt Stadium and the completion of the Medical Center Complex begun by Hague.
Considering the readings in The American Commonwealth as well as the above facts, have a class discussion regarding the extent to which:
- there is a direct or indirect relationship between domestic events in the United States and corruption in New Jersey
- machine bosses were able to help their constituents and their cities
- political machines helped or hindered progress in the city?
F. The Press and the Progressives Demand Reform
Political Cartoons
As American cities and industry were growing with increasing immigrants and political bosses were expanding their influence, so was the press. Harper's Weekly, which began in 1857 as a “journal of civilization,” was the leading weekly newspaper in the United States during this industrial period. Primarily due to the political cartoons of Thomas Nast (1840-1902), Harper’s Weekly played an important role in the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1864, and Ulysses S. Grant in 1868 and 1872. In 1868, Nast and Harper’s Weekly began to focus on political corruption with a series of political cartoons and articles seeking to bring the corruption of Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall in New York City to the public’s attention. See Handout 9: Who stole the Money; Handout 10: The Ballot; and Handout 11: The Brains.
Muckrakers
Due to the rise of advertising, magazine subscriptions were cheap and ubiquitous by the turn of the 20th century, influencing the way people received the news, and the way people wrote about it. A group of writers, journalists, and critics nicknamed “muckrakers” by President Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt (1901-1908)(he borrowed the term from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, in which a rake was used to dig up filth and muck), exposed corporate malfeasance and political corruption to the American public (1890-1915)and sought to inspire moral outrage and social change. Muckrakers targeted many turn-of-the-century injustices brought on by the large increase of immigrants, the rapid growth of the cities, unregulated big business and the influence of political machines, as well as many other social problems.
McClure’s Magazine (1893–1929) was an illustrated monthly periodical that was highly popular at the turn of the 20th century, credited with having started the tradition of investigative “muckraking” journalism. The magazine featured both political and literary content, publishing serialized novels-in-progress, a chapter at a time, including writers such as Willa Cather, Arthur Conan Doyle, Herminie T. Kavanagh, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, Lincoln Steffens, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Mark Twain. At the beginning of the 20th century, its major competitors included Collier's and the Saturday Evening Post. McClure’s was sold and restyled as a women’s magazine 1921-29.
While muckraking is often associated with sensationalistic reporting, in many cases these journalists-- including Upton Sinclair, Nelly Bly, Ida Tarbell, Jacob Riis, Ray Stannard Baker and Lincoln Steffens--demonstrated the enormous power of the press, and the democratic value of fact-based investigative journalism.
Political Cartoons and Investigative Journalism
- Have students look at the three political cartoons by Thomas Nast from Harper’s Weekly attached as Handout 9 - Who stole the Money; Handout 10 - The Ballot; and Handout 11 - The Brains. What are the political cartoons saying to the public?
- Have students read Handout 12: Excerpt from George Plunkitt Chapter 23: Strenuous Life of the Tammany District Leader, 23, by William L. Riordon (1905) Plunkitt of Tammany Hall by William L. Riordon 1963
- Have students read Handout 13, Excerpt from “The Shame of the Cities” by Lincoln Steffens in McClure’s Magazine, originally published in series 1902-03(New York: McClure, Philips & Co., 1904)
Discuss: What do the cartoons (handouts 9, 10 and 11) and the excerpts (Handouts 12 and 13) have in common? Have your students identify additional political cartoons about political bosses and political machines in New Jersey.
The “Progressive” Reformers
The “Progressive Era” (1890-1920) was a time when a broad consensus was developing about the need for the government to address the problems created by rapid industrialization and mass immigration. It was led by “progressives”, activists in the late 1800s and early 1900s who fought to make the economic and political systems in the U.S. fairer, and was given a push by Presidents Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), William Taft (1909-1913) and Woodrow Wilson (1913-1921)
The politics of the Gilded Age that Bryce first chronicled had passed into the Progressive Era with the passage of a plethora of social reform legislation. Between the publication of the first edition of The American Commonwealth in 1888 and Bryce’s death in 1922 there had been four constitutional amendments. In addition to the ill-fated 18th Amendment prohibiting intoxicating liquors (repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933), the fundamental structure of the Constitution was altered by allowing for an income tax (16th Amendment in 1913), providing for the direct election of Senators (17th Amendment, also in 1913), and giving women the right to vote (19th Amendment in 1920). The creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887 was a foreshadowing of the coming age of national regulation: the Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890); the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906); and the Child Labor Act (laws restricting child labor were passed in 1916 and 1918 but struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court as unconstitutional).
How effective were the legislative reforms of the Progressive Era in controlling political corruption?
By utilizing the initiative process, citizens can propose and vote on proposals directly, without need of legislative referral. Most states that permit the process require a 2/3 majority vote. Not all amendments proposed will receive sufficient support to be placed on the ballot. There is no statewide process in New Jersey or New York for citizens to initiate a state issue, no recall of state officials and the only referendum process is for bonds, constitutional and other issues placed on the ballot by the legislature. Only 165 New Jersey municipalities and 6 counties have initiative and referendums for local ballot measures.
Use Handout 14 to explain the goal of the following legislative reforms and assess how effective they have been in eliminating political machines:
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Purpose |
Effectiveness |
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State—Recall |
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State--Referendum |
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State—Initiative |
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Federal Food and Drug Administration, 1906 |
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16th Amendment Income Tax, 1913 |
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17th Amendment Direct Election of Senators, 1913 |
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Federal Reserve System, 1913 |
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Clayton Act, 1914 |
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Federal Trade Commission, 1914 |
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8-hour day for railroad workers, 1916 |
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18th Amendment-Prohibition, 1920 |
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19th Amendment-Women’s Suffrage, 1920 |
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Federal Campaign Finance laws (Tillman Act), 1907 |
G. Today: State efforts to eliminate political corruption
New Jersey (and many other states) has enacted several laws to try to eliminate political corruption, including Campaign Finance laws, Open Public Meetings and “Pay to Play”.
The Open Public Meetings Act (the “Sunshine Law”)(N.J.S.A. 10:4-6), enacted in 1973, provides the public with a right of access to the meetings of a large number of government bodies at the state and local level in New Jersey. It is designed to ensure that decision-making governmental bodies conduct their meetings in public.
The “Pay to Play” Act (N.J.S.A. 19:44A-20.4 et. seq.), enacted in 2005, prohibits contractors from entering most state contracts above $17,500 if the firm or its management-level employees or their spouses made contributions of more than $300 during the 18 months preceding the award of the contract. These pay-to-play restrictions apply to contracts at the state, legislative, county, and municipal levels of government.
Research politics in your town today and Discuss
Research and consider who has the ability to influence/manipulate decisions in your town. Would any individual or group (i.e., a large corporation, a club, a mayor) constitute a political boss or machine or have powerful influence?
What criteria would you consider to determine if there is a political machine or boss or a powerful influence? What if one political party wins election year after year with little contest?
Who might be today’s muckrakers?
Newspapers like the Washington Post and the New York Times do periodic investigative journalism, as well as online publications, such as NJ Spotlight and NJ.com in New Jersey and online journalism. Others?
What are some issues that need reform and might be the subject of investigative reporting today?
Possibly climate change, pollution, police brutality, double dipping, hostile workplace environments, discrimination. Others?
Assessment: Have students write an essay explaining whether:
- political corruption is the result of:
- complacent citizens?
- ability of elected officials to circumvent laws?
- absence of checks and balances in local and state government?
- failure of the media to expose corruption?
- economic and/or special interests?
- reforms are needed to reduce or prevent political corruption and what can citizens do to help get such reforms enacted?
Handout 1: Timeline: Connect political machines with historical trends by coloring the years
- Height of immigration 1890-1920
- World War I, 1915-18
- Prohibition 1920-33
- Women’s Suffrage, 1920-
- New Deal 1933-1941
- World War II 1941-45
Handout 2: Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed in New York City
One of the most infamous political machines in the United States was Democratic-controlled Tammany Hall in New York City (1865-1934). Started in 1789 for patriotic and fraternal purposes, after the Civil War the Society of St. Tammany began to weave together a social club organization with the Democratic Party and basically ran New York City for the next 70 years.
Tammany Hall’s electoral base lay predominantly with New York’s burgeoning immigrant population, which often exchanged political support for Tammany Hall’s patronage. During the Industrial Age in the late 19th Century, the extralegal services that Tammany and other urban political machines provided often served as a rudimentary public welfare system. The patronage Tammany Hall provided to immigrants, many of whom lived in extreme poverty and received little government assistance, covered three key areas: 1. food, coal, rent money or a job in times of emergency; 2. acting as an intermediary between immigrants and the government; and 3. familiarizing immigrants with American society and its political institutions and helping them become naturalized citizens.
Under Tweed's regime, "naturalization committees," made up primarily of Tammany politicians and employees, were established. The “committees” filled out paperwork, provided witnesses, and lent immigrants money for the fees required to become citizens. Judges and other city officials were bribed and otherwise compelled to go along with the workings of these committees. In exchange for all these benefits, immigrants assured Tammany Hall they would vote for their candidates.
William Marcy “Boss” Tweed, 1870
LC-USZ62-22467
Under "Boss" Tweed, New York City expanded into the Upper East and Upper West Sides of Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge was begun, land was set aside for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, orphanages and almshouses were constructed, and social services-- both directly provided by the state and indirectly funded by state appropriations to private charities--helping tens of thousands of people and bringing great wealth to Tweed and his friends. It also brought them into contact and alliance with the rich elite of the city, who either accepted the graft and corruption or else tolerated it because of Tammany's ability to influence and control the immigrant population, of whom the "uppertens" of the city were wary.
Tweed’s downfall began with Tammany's inability to control Irish laborers in the Orange riot of 1871 (See 'Boss Tweed' - The New York Times) Campaigns to topple Boss Tweed continued. According to the New York Times and Thomas Nast of Harper's Weekly, Tweed began to gain traction in the aftermath of the riot, and disgruntled insiders began to leak the details of the extent and scope of the Tweed Ring's avarice to the newspapers.
In 1872 Tweed was arrested and charged with fraud, and forced to resign as public works commissioner, state senator, and head of Tammany Hall. The first criminal trial against Tweed resulted in a hung jury, but the second ended with a conviction on misdemeanor charges. The sentence was a $12,500 fine and 13 years in jail, which an appeals court reduced to $250 and one year. He was rearrested and being unable to raise the $3 million bail, Tweed ended up in Ludlow Street jail. He was granted privileges and liberties not allowed to other inmates, such as carriage rides and visits to his home and those of his adult children. On December 4, 1875, he escaped while on such a sojourn and hid out in New Jersey.
In March 1876, the civil jury found Tweed guilty and liable for over $6 million. Learning of the judgment, he fled to Cuba, then Spain. In September, Spanish officials arrested and deported him, mistakenly identifying him (through a Nast cartoon) as a child abductor. Back in New York by late November, he was placed in the Ludlow Street jail again where he died.
Political reformers took over the city and state governments. Following Tweed's arrest, Tammany survived but was no longer controlled just by Protestants and was now dependent on leadership from bosses of Irish descent. There is little question that the Tweed Ring were outright thieves: an estimated $75-200 million was swindled from New York City between 1865 and 1871.
Handout 3: Louis Kuehnle and Nucky Johnson in Atlantic City
Louis Kuehnle was born in New York City on December 25, 1857, the son of German immigrants. The family moved to Egg Harbor City, New Jersey, where Kuehnle began his first hotel, The New York Hotel. The family then moved in 1875 to nearby Atlantic City to open another hotel, Kuehnle's Hotel. When he was 18 and his father died, Kuehnle took over running the hotel, which became a popular meeting place for local politicians, including Atlantic County power brokers, such as Nucky Johnson's father Sheriff Smith E. Johnson. Kuehnle, known as the “Commodore”, became the leader of the Republican organization that controlled Atlantic City from 1900 to 1911 and a mentor to Enoch (“Nucky”) Johnson.
In 1913, Kuehnle was convicted of a conflict of interest and related corruption and was sentenced to a year of hard labor plus a $1,000 fine. After a six-month sentence he took an extended vacation to Bermuda and then Bavaria, Germany. When he returned to Atlantic City, Nucky Johnson had become the unofficial boss of the city. After Kuehnle unsuccessfully challenged Johnson's leadership, Johnson agreed to support his former mentor for City Commissioner. Kuehnle was elected in 1920 and reelected to four terms as City Commissioner until his death in 1934.
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| Louis Kuehnle | “Nucky” Johnson |
From 1911 until 1941, Nucky Johnson was the undisputed "boss" of the political machine that controlled Atlantic City and Atlantic County government. His rule encompassed the Roaring Twenties when Atlantic City was at the height of its popularity as a refuge from Prohibition. In addition to bootlegging, his organization was involved in gambling and prostitution. Nucky Johnson was mentioned frequently in a series of articles by the New York Evening Journal about vice in Atlantic City and came under increased scrutiny by the federal government. The repeal of Prohibition in 1933 ended a major selling point for Atlantic City, as well as a major source of income for Johnson and his political machine. In 1939 Johnson was indicted for evading taxes, convicted and sentenced to ten years in federal prison and fined $20,000. He entered Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary in 1941, was paroled in 1945, and took a pauper's oath to avoid paying the fine. Following Johnson's 1941 conviction, Frank S. Farley succeeded him as the leader of Atlantic City's political machine. (See Boss Nucky Johnson)
Handout 4: “Boss” Frank Hague and Jersey City
Frank Hague, 1920 LC-USZ62-119504
Frank Hague was Mayor of Jersey City from May 15, 1917 until his retirement on June 17, 1947. By the time he left office, he enjoyed palatial homes, European vacations, and a private suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. His wealth was estimated at more than $10 million at the time of his death, although his Jersey City salary never exceeded $8,500 per year and he had no other legitimate sources of income. His desk had a special drawer that opened in the front, allowing visitors to deposit bribes that then disappeared inside the desk. (See How to Steal an Election | Election Fraud is Expanding | Voting System)
Hague rose through the Democratic machinery of Hudson County, which drew much of its strength by providing newly arrived immigrants with basic social services. As a reward for his efforts in turning out votes in the 1905 election, Hague was made the party leader for the Second Ward and appointed as Sergeant at Arms for the New Jersey State Assembly.
In the spring of 1913, having assured himself a place on the commission, Hague supported the renewed effort to change the Jersey City government to a commission model that would place all executive and legislative powers in a five-man commission, each of whom would head a city department, and together choose one of their colleagues to be mayor. The vote to change the form of government passed and Hague was elected to the first City Commission of Jersey City in 1913, and named public safety commissioner, with control over the police and fire departments. In the same year, Hague cemented his control of the Hudson County political machine by securing for himself the leadership of the Hudson County Democratic Organization Executive Committee.
In 1917, Hague ran on a five-man ticket on the Democratic Party slate using the campaign slogan "The Unbossed". The voter tally placed A. Harry Moore, a future governor, ahead of Hague, 19,883 to 18,648, in a crowded field of candidates. Even though he lost by almost 1000 votes, Hague became the mayor in 1917. (See Foster, Mark. The Early Career of Mayor Frank Hague and https://www.nj.com/jerseyjournal150/2017/04/frank_hague_era_in_jersey_city_redefined_what_it_m.html.
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Some suggest that Hague helped to get President Roosevelt elected. When Roosevelt won the Democratic Party nomination for president, Hague offered to organize the biggest political rally anyone had ever seen if Roosevelt would launch his presidential campaign in New Jersey. When Roosevelt formally began his campaign with an event at the Jersey Shore town of Sea Girt, Hague's machine made sure there were several thousand Hudson County voters looking on and cheering. Hague’s support was rewarded with funding for a massive medical center complex complete with a maternity hospital named after his mother, Margaret Hague. During the 1936 campaign Hague provided 150,000 adults and children to cheer Roosevelt during a visit. |
Although Hague was accommodating to labor unions during the first half of his mayoral career (1917-29), with Jersey City police turning back strike breakers, he became an opponent of organized labor in the 1930s when efforts to organize the work crews constructing the Pulaski Skyway turned into an intense labor war. When Socialist presidential candidate Norman Thomas came to speak on behalf of the CIO during a May Day rally in Journal Square, Hague's police swept Thomas and his wife into a car, took them to the Pavonia ferry and sent them back to New York. Hague spent much of the decade inveighing against Communists and labor unions, and his attempts to suppress the CIO's activities in Jersey City led to a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Hague v. Committee for Industrial Organization, 307 U.S. 496 (1939), that is a cornerstone of law concerning public expression of political views on public property.
The beginning of the end for Hague came in 1943, when former governor Walter Edge was returned to office. Edge's attorney general, Walter Van Riper, initiated several prosecutions of Hague cronies. Hague retaliated by having his handpicked U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey bring federal indictments against Van Riper, but Van Riper was acquitted. Edge also initiated reforms in the civil service, freeing it from Hague's control. Edge's successor, fellow Republican Governor Alfred Driscoll, succeeded in further curbing Hague's power. Governor Driscoll led the effort to implement a new constitution, which streamlined state government and made it less vulnerable to control by locally based bosses like Hague. For example, county prosecutors were now directly accountable to the state attorney general. It also set up a new state Supreme Court, which was given supervision over the state's judges. As the first Chief Justice, Driscoll appointed an old Hague foe, Arthur T. Vanderbilt. Driscoll also installed voting machines throughout the state, which made it harder for corrupt politicians to steal elections.
Handout 5 - Compare and contrast the Political “Bosses”
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Tammany Hall and Boss Tweed |
Nucky Johnson and Atlantic City |
Frank Hague and Jersey City |
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When did they rule? |
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How did they get started? |
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Who were their constituents? |
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What did they accomplish? |
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What was the nature of their corruption? |
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How and why did their rule come to an end? |
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What legacy did they leave? |
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Conclusions about political bosses |
Handout 6: Excerpt from Chapter 62 "How the Machine Works," in The American Commonwealth by Lord James Bryce
The tests by which one may try the results of the system of selecting candidates are two. Is the choice of the candidates for office really free – i.e. does it represent the unbiased wish and mind of the voters generally? Are the offices filled by men of probity and capacity sufficient for the duties?
In the country generally, i.e. in the rural districts and small cities, both these tests are tolerably well satisfied. It is true that many of the voters do not attend the primaries.
In these primaries and conventions the business is always prearranged - that is to say the local party committee comes prepared with their list of delegates or candidates. This list is usually, but not invariably, accepted; or if serious opposition appears, alterations may be made to disarm it, and preserve the unity of the party. The delegates and candidates chosen are generally the members of the local committee, their friends or creatures. Except in very small places, they are rarely the best men. But neither are they the worst. In moderately-sized communities men’s characters are known and the presence of a bad man in office brings on his fellow-citizens evils which they are not too numerous to feel individually.
In large cities the results are different because the circumstances are different. We find here, besides the conditions previously enumerated, viz numerous offices, frequent elections, universal suffrage, an absence of stimulating issues, three others of great moment.
A vast population of ignorant immigrants.
The leading men were all intensely occupied with business.
Communities so large that people know little of one another and that the interest of each individual in good government is comparatively small.
Anyone can see how these conditions affect the problem. The immigrants vote, that is, they obtain votes after three or four years’ residence at most (often less), but they are not fit for the suffrage. They know nothing of the institutions of the country, of its statesmen, of its political issues. Neither from Central Europe nor from Ireland do they bring much knowledge of the methods of free government and from Ireland they bring a suspicion of all governments. Incompetent to give an intelligent vote, but soon finding that their vote has a value, they fall into the hands of the party organizations, whose officers enroll them in their lists, and undertake to fetch them to the polls. I was taken to watch the process of citizen-making in New York. Droves of squalid men, who looked as if they had just emerged from an emigrant ship, and had perhaps done so only a few weeks before, for the law prescribing a certain term of residence is frequently violated, were brought up to a magistrate by the ward agent of the party which had captured them, declared their allegiance to the United States, and were forthwith placed on the roll. Such a sacrifice of common sense to abstract principles has seldom been made by any country. Nobody pretends that such persons are fit for civic duty, or will be dangerous if kept for a time in pupilage, but neither party will incur the odium of proposing to exclude them. The real reason for admitting them, besides democratic theory, was that the party which ruled New York expected to gain their votes. It is an afterthought to argue that they will sooner become good citizens by being immediately made full citizens. A stranger must not presume to say that the Americans have been imprudent but he may doubt whether the possible ultimate gain compensates the direct and unquestionable mischief.
Handout 7: Excerpt: from Chapter 62 "How the Machine Works" in The American Commonwealth by Lord James Bryce
In these great transatlantic cities, the population is far less settled and permanent than in the cities of Europe. In New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, a very small part of the inhabitants are natives of the city, or have resided in it for twenty years. Hence, they know but little of one another, or even of those who would in Europe be called the leading men. There are scarcely any old families, families associated with the city, whose name recommends one of their scions to the confidence of his fellow-citizens. There are few persons who have had any chance of becoming generally known, except through their wealth; and the wealthy have neither time nor taste for political work. Political work is a bigger and heavier affair than in small communities; hence ordinary citizens cannot attend to it in addition to their regular business. Moreover, the population is so large that an individual citizen feels himself drop in the ocean. His power of affecting public affairs by his own intervention seems insignificant. His pecuniary loss through over-taxation, or jobbery, or malversation, is trivial in comparison with the trouble of trying to prevent such evils.
As party machinery is in great cities most easily perverted, so the temptation to pervert it is there strongest because the prizes are great. The offices are well paid, the patronage is large, the opportunities for jobs, commissions on contracts, pickings, and even stealings, are enormous. Hence it is well worth the while of unscrupulous men to gain control of the machinery by which these prizes may be won.
Such men, the professional politicians of the great cities, have two objects in view. One is to seize the local city and county offices. A great city, of course, controls the county in which it is situated. The other is so to command the local party vote as to make good terms with the party managers of the State, and get them from them a share in the State offices, together with such legislation as is desired from the State legislature, and similarly to make good terms with the Federal party managers, thus securing a share in Federal offices, and the means of influencing legislation in Congress.
Handout 8: Excerpt from Chapter 63 "Rings and Bosses" The American Commonwealth by Lord James Bryce (originally published in 1888, revised through 1941)
How is the Machine run? What are the inner springs that move it? What is the source of the power the committees wield? What force of cohesion keeps leaders and followers together? What kind of government prevails among this army of professional politicians?
Those who in great titles form the committees and work the Machine are persons whose chief aim in life is to make their living by office. Such a man generally begins by acquiring influence among a knot of voters who live in his neighborhood or work under the same employer, or frequent the same grog-shop or beer saloon, which perhaps he keeps himself. He becomes a member of his primary, attends regularly, attaches himself to some leader of the body, and is forward to render service by voting as his leaders wishes, and by doing duty at elections. He has entered the large and active class called, technically, "workers," or more affectionately, "the Boys." Soon he becomes conspicuous in the primary, being recognized as controlling the votes of others - "owning them" is the technical term - and is chosen delegate to a convention. Loyalty to the party there and continued service at elections mark him out for further promotion. He is appointed to some petty office in one in the city departments, and presently is himself nominated for an elective office. By this time he has also found its way on to the ward committee, whence by degrees he rises to sit on the central committee, having carefully nursed his local connection and surrounded himself with a band of adherents, who are called his "heelers," and whose loyalty to him in the primary, secured by the hope of’ something good," gives weight to his words. Once a member of the central committee he discovers what everybody who comes to the front discovers sooner or later, by how few people the world is governed by. He is one of a small knot of persons who pull wires for the whole city, controlling the primaries, selecting the candidates, "running" conventions, organizing elections, treating on behalf of the party in the city with the leaders of the party in the State. Each of this knot, which is probably smaller than the committee, because every committee includes some ciphers put on to support a leader, and which may include one or two strong men not on the committee, has acquired in his upward course a knowledge of men and their weaknesses, a familiarity with the wheels, shafts and bands of the party machine, together with a skill in working it. Each can command some primaries, each has attached to himself a group of dependents who owe some place to him, or hope for some place from him. The aim of the knot is not only to get good posts for themselves, but to rivet their yoke upon the city by garrisoning the departments with their own creatures, and so controlling elections to the State legislature that they can procure such statues as they desire, and prevent the passing of statues likely to expose or injure them. They cement their dominion by combination, each placing his influence at the disposal of the others and settle all important matters in secret conclave.
Such a combination is called a ring. In a Ring there is usually some one person who holds more strings in his hand than do the others. Like them he has worked himself up to power from small beginnings, gradually extending the range of his influence over the mass of workers, and knitting close bond with influential men outside as well as inside politics, perhaps with great financiers or railway magnates, whom he can oblige, and who can furnish him with funds. At length his superior skill, courage and force of will make him, as such gifts always do make their possessor, dominant among his fellows. An army led by a council seldom conquers: it must have a commander-in-chief, who settles disputes, decides in emergencies, inspires fear or attachment. The head of the Ring is such a commander. He dispenses places, rewards the loyal, punishes the mutinous, concocts schemes, negotiates treaties. He generally avoids publicity, preferring the substance to the pomp of power, and is all the more dangerous because he sits, like a spider, hidden in the midst of his web.
He is a boss.
Handout 9: Who Stole the Money?
Thomas Nast depicts the Tweed Ring: "Who stole the people's money?" / "'Twas him."
On the left holding his hat is Tweed. To the left of Tweed in the background are city contractors involved with much of the city construction.
Harper’s Weekly, August 19, 1871
Handout 10: The Ballot
Thomas Nast cartoon in Harper’s Weekly, October 7, 1871
shows Tweed's source of power: control of the ballot box.
"As long as I count the Votes, what are you going to do about it?"
Handout 11: The Brains
Thomas Nast depicts Boss Tweed as The “Brains” that achieved
the Tammany Victory at the Rochester Democratic Convention
Harper’s Weekly, October 21, 1871
Handout 12: The Shame of the Cities
Excerpt from The Shame of the Cities by Lincoln Steffens, first published in McClure’ s magazine in 1902 and 1903 and then collected in The Shame of the Cities, published in 1904.
Front cover of McClure’s Magazine, 1902
Now, the typical American citizen is the business man. The typical business man is a bad citizen; he is busy. If he is a "big business man" and very busy, he does not neglect, he is busy with politics, oh, very busy and very businesslike. I found him buying boodlers (sic) in St. Louis, defending grafters in Minneapolis, originating corruption in Pittsburgh, sharing with bosses in Philadelphia, deploring reform in Chicago, and beating good government with corruption funds in New York. He is a self-righteous fraud, this big business man. He is the chief source of corruption, and it were a boon if he would neglect politics. But he is not the business man that neglects politics; that worthy is the good citizen, the typical business man. He too is busy, he is the one that has no use and therefore no time for politics. When his neglect has permitted bad government to go so far that he can be stirred to action, he is unhappy, and he looks around for a cure that shall be quick, so that he may hurry back to the shop.
Naturally, too, when he talks politics, he talks shop. His patent remedy is quack; it is business. "Give us a business man," he says ("like me," he means). "Let him introduce business methods into politics and government; then I shall be left alone to attend to my business." There is hardly an office from United States Senator down to Alderman in any part of the country to which the business man has not been elected; yet politics remains corrupt, government pretty bad, and the selfish citizen has to hold himself in readiness like the old volunteer firemen to rush forth at any hour, in any weather, to prevent the fire; and he goes out sometimes and he puts out the fire (after the damage is done) and he goes back to the shop sighing for the business man in politics. The business man has failed in politics as he has in citizenship. Why? Because politics is business.
That’s what’s the matter with it. That’s what’s the matter with everything,--art, literature, religion, journalism, law, medicine,--they’re all business, and all--as you see them. Make politics a sport, as they do in England, or a profession, as they do in Germany, and we’ll have-well, something else than we have now,--if we want it, which is another question. But don’t try to reform politics with the banker, the lawyer, and the dry-goods merchant, for these are businessmen and there are two great hindrances to their achievement of reform: one is that they are different from, but no better than, the politicians; the other is that politics is not "their line" .... The commercial spirit is the spirit of profit, not patriotism; of credit, not honor; of individual gain, not national prosperity; of trade and dickering, not principle. "My business is sacred " says the businessman in his heart. "Whatever prospers my business, is good; it must be. Whatever hinders it is wrong; it must be. A bribe is bad, that is, it is a bad thing to take; but it is not so bad to give one, not if it is necessary to my business." "Business is business" is not a political sentiment, but our politician has caught it. He takes essentially the same view of the bribe, only he saves his self-respect by piling all his contempt upon the bribe-giver and he has the great advantage of candor. "It is wrong, maybe," he says, ’but if a rich merchant can afford to do business with me for the sake of convenience or to increase his already great wealth, I can afford, for the sake of living, to meet him half way. I make no pretensions to virtue, not even on Sunday."
And as for giving bad government or good, how about the merchant who gives bad goods or good goods, according to the demand? But there is hope, not alone despair, in the commercialism of our politics. If our political leaders are to always be a lot of political merchants, they will supply any demand we may create. All we have to do is to establish a steady demand for good government. The boss has us split up into parties. To him parties are nothing but means to his corrupt ends. He ’bolts' his party, but we must not; the bribe-giver changes his party, from one election to another, from one county to another, from one city to another, but the honest voter must not. Why? Because if the honest voter cared no more for his party than the politician and the grafter, there the honest vote would govern, and that would be bad--for grail. It is idiotic, this devotion to a machine that is used to take our sovereignty from us.
If we would leave parties to the politicians, and would vote not for the party, not even for men, but for the city, and the State, and the nation, we should rule parties, and cities, and States, and nation. If we would vote in mass on the more promising ticket, or, if the two are equally bad, would throw out the party that is in, and wait till the next election and then throw out the other party that is in--then, I say, the commercial politician would feel a demand for good government and he would supply it. That process would take a generation or more to complete, for the politicians now really do not know what good government is. But it has taken as long to develop bad government, and the politicians know what that is. If it would not "go," they would offer something else, and, if the demand were steady, they, being so commercial, would "deliver the goods.”
Handout 13: Plunkitt of Tammany Hall
Excerpt from Plunkitt of Tammany Hall by William L. Riordon, (originally published in 1905, revised 1963)
Chapter 23. Strenuous Life of the Tammany District Leader Note: This chapter is based on extracts from Plunkitt’s Diary and on my daily observation of the work of the district leader. - W.L.R.
THE life of the Tammany district leader is strenuous. To his work is due the wonderful recuperative power of the organization.
One year it goes down in defeat and the prediction is made that it will never again raise its head. The district leader, undaunted by defeat, collects his scattered forces, organizes them as only Tammany knows how to organize, and in a little while the organization is as strong as ever.
No other politician in New York or elsewhere is exactly like the Tammany district leader or works as he does. As a rule, he has no business or occupation other than politics. He plays politics every day and night in the year, and his headquarters bears the inscription, "Never closed."
Everybody in the district knows him. Everybody knows where to find him, and nearly everybody goes to him for assistance of one sort or another, especially the poor of the tenements. He is always obliging. He will go to the police courts to put in a good word for the "drunks and disorderlies" or pay their fines, if a good word is not effective. He will attend christenings, weddings, and funerals. He will feed the hungry and help bury the dead.
A philanthropist? Not at all. He is playing politics all the time.
Brought up in Tammany Hall, he has learned how to reach the hearts of the great mass of voters. He does not bother about reaching their heads. It is his belief that arguments and campaign literature have never gained votes.
He seeks direct contact with the people, does them good turns when he can, and relies on their not forgetting him on election day. His heart is always in his work, too, for his subsistence depends on its results.
If he holds his district and Tammany is in power, he is amply rewarded by a good office and the opportunities that go with it. What these opportunities are has been shown by the quick rise to wealth of so many Tammany district leaders. With the examples before him of Richard Croker, once leader of the Twentieth District; John F. Carroll, formerly leader of the Twenty-ninth; Timothy ("Dry Dollar") Sullivan, late leader of the Sixth, and many others, he can always look forward to riches and ease while he is going through the drudgery of his daily routine.
This is a record of a day’s work by Plunkitt:
2 A.M.: Aroused from sleep by the ringing of his doorbell; went to the door and found a bartender, who asked him to go to the police station and bail out a saloon-keeper who had been arrested for violating the excise law. Furnished bail and returned to bed at three o’clock.
6 A.M.: Awakened by fire engines passing his house. Hastened to the scene of the fire, according to the custom of the Tammany district leaders, to give assistance to the fire sufferers, if needed. Met several of his election district captains who are always under orders to look out for fires, which are considered great vote-getters. Found several tenants who had been burned out, took them to a hotel, supplied them with clothes, fed them, and arranged temporary quarters for them until they could rent and furnish new apartments.
8:30 A.M.: Went to the police court to look after his constituents. Found six "drunks." Secured the discharge of four by a timely word with the judge, and paid the fines of two.
9 A.M.: Appeared in the Municipal District Court. Directed one of his district captains to act as counsel for a widow against whom dispossessed proceedings had been instituted and obtained an extension of time. Paid the rent of a poor family about to be dispossessed and gave them a dollar for food.
11 A.M.: At home again. Found four men waiting for him. One had been discharged by the Metropolitan Railway Company for neglect of duty, and wanted the district leader to fix things. Another wanted a job on the road. The third sought a place on the Subway and the fourth, a plumber, was looking for work with the Consolidated Gas Company. The district leader spent nearly three hours fixing things for the four men, and succeeded in each case.
3 P.M.: Attended the funeral of an Italian as far as the ferry. Hurried back to make his appearance at the funeral of a Hebrew constituent. Went conspicuously to the front both in the Catholic church and the synagogue, and later attended the Hebrew confirmation ceremonies in the synagogue.
7 P.M.: Went to district headquarters and presided over a meeting of election district captains. Each captain submitted a list of all the voters in his district, reported on their attitude toward Tammany, suggested who might be won over and how they could be won, told who were in need, and who were in trouble of any kind and the best way to reach them. The district leader took notes and gave orders.
8 P.M.: Went to a church fair. Took chances on everything, bought ice cream for the young girls and the children. Kissed the little ones, flattered their mothers and took their fathers out for something down at the comer.
9 P.M.: At the clubhouse again. Spent $10 on tickets for a church excursion and promised a subscription for a new church bell. Bought tickets for a baseball game to be played by two nines from his district. Listened to the complaints of a dozen pushcart peddlers who said they were persecuted by the police and assured them he would go to Police Headquarter: in the morning and see about it.
10:30 P.M.: Attended a Hebrew wedding reception and dance. Had previously sent a handsome wedding present to the bride.
12 P.M.: In bed.
That is the actual record of one day in the life of Plunkitt. He does some of the same things every day, but his life is not so monotonous as to be wearisome. Sometimes the work of a district leader is exciting, especially if he happens to have a rival who intends to make a contest for the leadership at the primaries. In that case, he is even more alert, tries to reach the fires before his rival, sends out runners to look for "drunks and disorderlies" at the police stations, and keeps a very heavy watch on the obituary columns of the newspapers. A few years ago there was a bitter contest for the Tammany leadership of the Ninth District between John C. Sheehan and Frank J. Goodwin. Both had had long experience in Tammany politics and both understood every move of the game.
William L. Riordon was a reporter from the New York Evening Post. His book Plunkitt of Tammany Hall includes “plain talks” with George Washington Plunkitt who was born in a shantytown on Manhattan’s upper west side in 1842 and became a ward boss in New York City’s Tammany Hall at the turn of the century, dying a very rich man in 1924. The book was originally published by Riordon in 1905.
Handout 14: Effectiveness of Legislative Reform
Explain the goal of the following legislative reforms and assess how effective they were in eliminating political machines:
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Purpose |
Effectiveness |
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State--Recall |
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State--Referendum |
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State--Initiative |
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Federal Food and Drug Administration, 1906 |
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16th Amendment Income Tax, 1913 |
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17th Amendment Direct Election of Senators, 1913 |
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Federal Reserve System, 1913 |
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Clayton Act, 1914 |
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Federal Trade Commission, 1914 |
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8-hour day for railroad workers, 1916 |
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18th Amendment/ Prohibition, 1920 |
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19th Amendment-Women’s Suffrage, 1920 |
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Federal Campaign Finance laws (Tillman Act, 1907) |
New Jersey in the 1930s: The Great Depression and the Media
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Author: Kaitlyn Mahaffey, Pascack Valley
Grade Level: Secondary
Subject: US History II
Lesson Overview: This lesson can be incorporated into any unit about the Great Depression. Several events took place in New Jersey during the 1930s that consumed the American public’s attention: the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the Hindenburg disaster, and The War of the Worlds radio broadcast. For this lesson, students will use their historical thinking skills to examine a wide array of primary and secondary resources to draw conclusions about the events that took place in Depression era New Jersey. Students will ultimately analyze the overall impact of the media concurrently with the harsh economic conditions of the 1930s.
Historical Skills:
- Analysis of historical evidence from diverse sources.
- Interpretation and synthesis of primary source documents.
- Contextualization of events.
Lesson Objectives:
- Students will be able to identify and explain critical events that took place in New Jersey during the 1930s.
- Students will be able to explain the national impact of each of the events—the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the Hindenburg disaster, and the radio broadcast of Orson Welles' adaptation of The War of the Worlds.
New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards:
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6.1.12.HistoryUP.9.a 6.1.12.CivicsPD.16.a |
Analyze the impact of the Great Depression on the American family and ethnic and racial minorities. Construct a claim to describe how media and technology has impacted civic participation and deliberation. |
Common Core ELA Standards:
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RH: 9-10.1 |
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information. |
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RH: 11-12.1 |
Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole. |
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RH: 11-12.7 |
Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media in order to address a question or solve a problem. |
Resources: See handouts attached
Essential Question: How does the media shape public opinion?
Background Information:
- How did the Great Depression develop?
- What was the human impact of the Great Depression?
- How did people in New Jersey experience the Great Depression?
Watch the Video: “It Happened Here: New Jersey—The 1936 State House Occupation, at 1936 State House Occupation
In 1936, during the height of the Great Depression, a group of people calling themselves the Workers’ Alliance banded together and stormed the state house in Trenton. The short video offers a glimpse of what life was like in New Jersey during the Great Depression. Guided questions for the video are listed below:
- What was the New Jersey Relief Administration?
- Identify the Workers’ Alliance and briefly explain what it did and why?
- How did the state legislature respond to the Workers’ Alliance?
- Identify some of the demands of the Workers’ Alliance?
For additional see the primary source article at 2,000 NEEDY STORM JERSEY ASSEMBLY; Legislators Calm Crowd by Allowing a Spokesman to Address the Chamber. STATE TROOPERS ON GUARD Young Bill to 'Freeze' Road Funds for Relief Defeated After Attack on Hoffman. 2,000 NEEDY STORM JERSEY ASSEMBLY - The New York Times.
Procedure and Activities: Contemporary Context
Background: On October 15, 2009, a father and son were hanging out in their backyard. Dad was a storm chaser and was in the process of building a large helium balloon that he would eventually use to track storm patterns. All of a sudden, the balloon detached from its holding base and took off. Dad looked around and discovered that his six-year son was missing and concluded that his little boy must be in the balloon. Dad quickly alerted authorities and a media frenzy started that eventually attracted worldwide attention.
Watch "Balloon Boy", "Falcon" Missing Colorado 6 year old Boy in Balloon - Flying Saucer. The video is nine minutes long—you do not have to show the entire video. Get students' reactions to the video and talk about how the American public was consumed by this story when it happened and the days following. Have students consider the guided questions listed below:
- What do you think of the video?
- Why do you think the American people were consumed by this story?
- What else was going on in the U.S. at this time? (Checkout the news ticker that scrolls across the bottom of the screen).
- What happened to the “Balloon-Boy”?
Use the discussion about "Balloon Boy” as context for consideration of the
- Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping
- Introduce the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping by watching The Lindbergh Kidnapping
- Distribute Handout 2: The Ransom Note. Have students analyze the ransom note from the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and answer the following questions.
- What stands out to you in the note?
- Who do you think this note is for and why?
- Identify the overall message of the note.
- What can you infer about the author of this note?
- Is the note signed? Why is that significant?
- After a discussion about the ransom note, provide students with content information about the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. A short introductory reading is provided as Handout 3: “The Lindbergh Kidnapping”, but the teacher should also provide additional content information by telling the story of the actual kidnapping.
- Where did the kidnapping occur?
- Hopewell, New Jersey
- Identify important people and groups involved:
- Charles Lindbergh, father and famed aviator
- Betty Gow, Charlie’s nurse
- Violet Sharpe, servant in the home of Mrs. Lindbergh’s mother (Mrs. Dwight Morrow), she committed suicide by swallowing poison before she was re-questioned about the kidnapping
- New Jersey State Police headed by Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf
- The Federal Bureau of Investigation headed by J. Edgar Hoover
- John F. Condon aka “Jafsie”, retired Bronx principal that offered additional money for the safe return of Baby Charlie that also received ransom notes
- What happened to Baby Charlie?
- Where did the kidnapping occur?
On May 12, 1932, approximately two months after the kidnapping, a trucker found a partly buried and badly decomposed body 45 feet from the highway. “The head was crushed, there was a hole in the skull and some of the body members were missing” ("The Lindbergh Kidnapping"). The family and nurse identified the body based on the clothes that Baby Charlie had been wearing the night he was kidnapped. The Coroner’s examination revealed that he believed Baby Charlie had been dead for two months and most likely died from a blow to the head.
- What was the outcome of the investigation?
Bruno Hauptmann, a German immigrant living in New York City was arrested and tried for the kidnapping and murder of Baby Charlie. His trial was held at the Hunterdon County Courthouse in Flemington, New Jersey and began in January of 1935. Evidence against Hauptmann consisted of handwriting samples—his handwriting matched the handwriting on the ransom notes—and the ladder at the crime scene was constructed from the same type of wood that was in Hauptmann’s attic. Hauptmann was found guilty of murder in the first degree and was sentenced to death. He was executed by the electric chair and died on April 3, 1936.
- What was the national impact of the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping?
During the early stages of the Great Depression the American public became consumed by this event—maybe it was a way for the public to keep their minds off of the economy. President Hoover, who believed that the “government should not support the people” in times of economic crisis, insisted that he would “move heaven and earth” to recover the missing child. Ultimately as a result of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping the Federal Kidnapping Act was enacted; this law permits federal authorities to step in and pursue kidnappers once it is believed that they have crossed state lines with their victim. This law was enacted because local law enforcement could not effectively pursue kidnappers across state lines because they were limited by their jurisdiction.
- The Hindenburg Disaster
- Show YouTube video: “Hindenburg disaster” Hindenburg disaster (1:14) and get students' initial (The video shows an aerial disaster in graphic detail but it is not too graphic for high school students.)
- Go over the content information in Handout 4: “The Hindenburg Disaster”.
- Explore possible theories associated with the Hindenburg Disaster
- Static Electricity Theory
- Flammable Skin Theory – The Hindenburg burned in less than a minute because of the highly flammable paint that was used to cover the zeppelin.
- Sabotage Theory – A crew member or passenger did this intentionally because they did not support the Nazi Party in Germany.
- If you have time check out the MythBusters episode in which they debunk some theories associated with the Hindenburg disaster. View at What Really Brought Down The Hindenburg? | MythBusters
- Picture analysis: “Hindenburg”: over Olympic stadium in Berlin, Germany, 1936
- What did the Hindenburg symbolize to the German people?
- Primary source analysis: Examine Handout 5, The New York Times article, “Roosevelt Sends Hitler Message of Sympathy,” and explore reasons why Roosevelt would send Hitler a sympathy message.
- Other questions to consider:
- Why do you think this was a big deal?
- What did you think of how the broadcaster reported the incident?
- What are other disasters that have been captured on film? How have they been reported?
- War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast
- Listen to the audio clip (you can start at 9:30 minutes into the clip)—Handout 6
- YouTube Link to audio: Orson Welles – War of The Worlds – Radio Broadcast 1938 – Complete Broadcast, Orson Welles - War Of The Worlds - Radio Broadcast 1938 - Complete Broadcast.
- The YouTube video includes images, but does not show any images; the experience is more authentic when you are just listening to the broadcast.
- The first Martian attack begins around 17 minutes; play at least the first ten minutes of the audio clip and then get student reactions.
- At 24 minutes is where they start talking about the army of Martians that has invaded the United States.
- Questions to consider after listening to the broadcast:
- Where is the reporter?
- What is he describing?
- Does the radio broadcast sound authentic?
- YouTube Link to audio: Orson Welles – War of The Worlds – Radio Broadcast 1938 – Complete Broadcast, Orson Welles - War Of The Worlds - Radio Broadcast 1938 - Complete Broadcast.
- Listen to the audio clip (you can start at 9:30 minutes into the clip)—Handout 6
- Primary source analysis: New York Times, Radio Listeners Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact (Handouts 7 and 8)
- Explain how some people responded to the broadcast.
- How would you have responded if you heard the broadcast?
- Is Orson Welles an entertainer or a menace?
- Identify some of the dangers associated with the media.
- How do you think you would feel if you found out it was a hoax?
- Content information about the broadcast is provided in the “New Jersey in the 1930s” packet.
- Wrap-Up Activity: 3-2-1
Students should write down three things they learned, two things they have questions about and one comment. Responses can be discussed using the pair and share strategy or the teacher can also collect the responses to formally assess student understanding.
Assessments:
- There is a worksheet attached (Handout 9) which can be used as an assessment. Teachers can use this assessment to see how well students took notes or it can be used as an additional tool to help special education students with the note taking process.
- Essay question: Though these three events—the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the Hindenburg Disaster, and The War of the Worlds Radio broadcast—caused some form of panic during the 1930s, how may they have also provided relief for the American people during the Great Depression? Consider the additional questions listed below to help you organize your response. Please remember that you must use content information and supporting evidence to back up your claim.
- Identify some of the effects of the Great Depression.
- What was the national impact of each of the events?
- Why was America consumed by these three events during the 1930s?
- What role did the media play in terms of shaping public opinion of these events?
Handout 1 - 2,000 Storm New Jersey Assembly, New York Times, Feb. 25, 1936
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Handout 2 - The Ransom Note
"The Lindbergh Kidnapping." Famous Cases and Criminals. FBI, 28 July 2010. Web. 4 March June 2012.
Dear Sir,
Have 50,000$ redy 25000$ in 20$ bills 15000$ in 10$ bills and 10000$ in 5$ bills. After 2-4 days will inform you were to deliver the mony.
We warn you for making anyding public or for notify the Polise the child is in gut care.
Indication for all letters are singnature and 3 holds.
Questions:
- What stands out to you in the note?
- Who do you think this note is to and why?
- Identify the overall message of the note.
- What can you infer about the author of this note?
- Is the note signed? Why is that significant?
Handout 3
The Lindbergh Kidnapping
Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. was born on June 22, 1930. The son of Charles Lindbergh, the famed aviator, and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the daughter of a diplomat, Baby Charlie was destined for fame. But his parents could not have imagined just how famous their baby would become, nor could they have imagined the tragedy that would put him and themselves on the front pages of America's newspapers.
Baby Charlie was suffering from a cold during the last weekend in February, 1932. On Tuesday, March 1, Charles and Anne were spending a quiet evening at home in Hopewell, New Jersey. Betty Gow, Charlie's nurse, rubbed medication on the baby's chest to relieve congestion. At about 7:30, Betty and Anne put Charlie Jr. to bed. Betty and the Lindberghs went on about their separate chores that night. At 10 p.m., Betty Gow made a horrible discovery -- baby Charlie was gone.
Charles Lindbergh later recounted his initial reactions: "...I went upstairs to the child's nursery, opened the door, and immediately noticed a lifted window. A strange-looking envelope lay on the sill. I looked at the crib. It was empty. I ran downstairs, grabbed my rifle, and went out into the night..."
By 10:30 that night, radio news bulletins were announcing the story to the nation. Nearly every newspaper in the country gave the story prominent placement in their March 2 editions. Soon, sightings of the Lindbergh baby were coming from all quarters: California, Michigan, Mexico. None turned out to be genuine.
Colonel H. Norman Schwarzkopf of the New Jersey State Police was officially in charge of the investigation, but Schwarzkopf, the father of 1991 Gulf War leader U.S. General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, willingly ceded major responsibility for the investigation to Charles Lindbergh. But running a kidnapping investigation was no job for an amateur. Lindbergh's inexperience allowed for major errors -- footprints near the house were trampled and pieces of evidence were handled by a variety of people assembled at the compound. Other blunders would follow.
"The Kidnapping." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 18 March. 2013. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/lindbergh/sfeature/crime.html.
Questions to Consider:
- What happened to Baby Charlie?
- Who was accused of the kidnapping and what evidence was provided?
- How did this case alter how kidnappings are handled?
- How did the Lindbergh baby kidnapping affect America?
Handout 4 - The Hindeberg Disaster
Hindenburg, German dirigible, the largest rigid airship ever constructed. In 1937 it caught fire and was destroyed; 36 people died in the disaster.
The Hindenburg was a 245-metre- (804-foot-) long airship of conventional zeppelin design that was launched at Friedrichshafen, Germany in March 1936. It had a maximum speed of 135 km (84 miles) per hour and a cruising speed of 126 km (78 miles) per hour. Though it was designed to be filled with helium gas, the airship was filled with highly flammable hydrogen gas. In 1936 the Hindenburg inaugurated commercial air service across the North Atlantic by carrying 1,002 passengers on 10 scheduled round trips between Germany and the United States.
On May 6, 1937, while landing at Lakehurst, New Jersey, on the first of its scheduled 1937 trans-Atlantic crossings, the Hindenburg burst into flames and was completely destroyed. Of the 97 persons aboard, 36 were killed. The fire was officially attributed to a discharge of atmospheric electricity in the vicinity of a hydrogen gas leak from the airship, though it was speculated that the dirigible had been the victim of an anti-Nazi act of sabotage. The Hindenburg disaster, which was recorded on film and on phonograph disc, marked the end of the use of rigid airships in commercial air transportation.
"Hindenburg." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 02 Apr. 2013. Hindenburg | Zeppelin, Nazi Germany, Disaster | Britannica
You Tube: Hindenburg disaster
Reaction Question:
- What were your initial reactions to hearing the audio and seeing the video?
Handout 5 - Roosevelt’s Message
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Questions:
- What happened to the Hindenburg?
- What caused the explosion?
- Why would FDR send Hitler a sympathy letter?
Handout 6 - War of the Worlds
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Listen to the Audio Clip
YouTube: Orson Welles - War Of The Worlds - Radio Broadcast 1938 - Complete Broadcast.
Questions:
- Where is the reporter?
- What is he describing?
- Does the radio broadcast sound authentic?
Handout 7 - Radio Listers in Panic, New York Times
Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact
Many Flee Homes to Escape `Gas Raid From Mars'--Phone Calls Swamp Police at Broadcast of Wells Fantasy
A wave of mass hysteria seized thousands of radio listeners between 8:15 and 9:30 o'clock last night when a broadcast of a dramatization of H. G. Wells' fantasy, "The War of the Worlds," led thousands to believe that an interplanetary conflict had started with invading Martians spreading wide death and destruction in New Jersey and New York.
In Newark, in a single block at Heddon Terrace and Hawthorne Avenue, more than twenty families rushed out of their houses with wet handkerchiefs and towels over their faces to flee from what they believed was to be a gas raid. Some began moving household furniture.
News bulletins and scene broadcasts followed, reporting, with the technique in which the radio had reported actual events, the landing of a "meteor" near Princeton N. J., "killing" 1,500 persons, the discovery that the "meteor" was a "metal cylinder" containing strange creatures from Mars armed with "death rays" to open hostilities against the inhabitants of the earth.
Harlem was shaken by the "news." Thirty men and women rushed into the West 123d Street police station and twelve into the West 135th Street station saying they had their household goods packed and were all ready to leave Harlem if the police would tell them where to go to be "evacuated." One man insisted he had heard "the President's voice" over the radio advising all citizens to leave the cities.
Thousands of calls came in to Newark Police Headquarters. These were not only from the terror stricken. Hundreds of physicians and nurses, believing the reports to be true, called to volunteer their services to aid the "injured." City officials also called in to make "emergency" arrangements for the population.
One of the radio reports, the statement about the mobilization of 7,000 national guardsmen in New Jersey, caused the armories of the Sussex and Essex troops to be swamped with calls from officers and men seeking information about the mobilization place.
In San Francisco the general impression of listeners seemed to be that an overwhelming force had invaded the United States from the air, was in the process of destroying New York and threatening to move westward. "My God," roared one inquirer into a telephone, "where can I volunteer my services? We've got to stop this awful thing."
A message from Providence, R. I., said: "Weeping and hysterical women swamped the switchboard of The Providence Journal for details of the massacre and destruction at New York, and officials of the electric company received scores of calls urging them to turn off all lights so that the city would be safe from the enemy."
A man in Pittsburgh said he returned home in the midst of the broadcast and found his wife in the bathroom, a bottle of poison in her hand, and screaming: "I'd rather die this way than like that.
"The New York Times." Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact. Oct. 1938. Web. 18 https://www.nytimes.com/1938/10/31/archives/radio-lishttps://www.nytimes.com/1938/10/31/archives/radio-listeners-in-panic-taking-war-drama-as-fact-many-flee-homes.htmlteners-in-panic-taking-war-drama-as-fact-many-flee-homes.html
Handout 8 - Halloween Eve and the Martian Invasion
Of the various events that generated waves of mass hysteria in the United States during the 20th century, one of the most remarkable was Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds radio broadcast of 1938. Although the broadcast was a fictional account of Martians invading the country, millions of listeners who happened upon the program late were convinced that an alien invasion was actually happening.
The broadcast aired on Halloween, October 31, 1938. It was based on H. G. Wells' well-known science fiction novel War of the Worlds, in which Martians invade the United States. In Welles's version, however, actors played the roles of newscasters, politicians, and bystanders as fictional Martians landed in Grover’s Mill, New Jersey and burned people to death with ray guns. The radio station played several announcements that the broadcast was a fictional drama, but much of the audience missed these explanations and assumed that since the media was announcing an alien invasion, the information must be correct.
Millions of listeners panicked as Welles' actors delivered terrifying news updates on, and descriptions of, the Martians. Across the nation, the program's audience packed their belongings, sought shelter in cellars, or prepared to wage war on the invaders. In an extreme example of public hysteria, some people wrapped their heads in towels to prevent the inhalation of poisonous Martian chemicals. Ironically, the listeners' frenzied reactions perfectly complemented the fictional drama taking place on the air waves across the country.
Legitimate newscasts soon ended the confusion by explaining that no Martian invasion had taken place, replacing Americans' fear with anger that such pandemonium could have been allowed to occur. Although there was a public outcry for preventative controls over the media following the incident, no such restrictions were ever imposed in the United States; instead, Americans simply became increasingly wary of news received through commercial sources.
Source: War of the Worlds Radio Broadcast (1938) | KÜRE Encyclopedia
To hear the full radio broadcast, listen at Orson Welles - War Of The Worlds - Radio Broadcast 1938 - Complete Broadcast.
Handout 9: WORKSHEET
NAME _________________________________________________ DATE ________________
New Jersey in the Thirties
The Lindbergh Kidnapping
- The Lindbergh Kidnapping occurred on (month, date, year): _____________________________
- The child was kidnapped from his home in (city, state): __________________________________
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3. TRUE |
FALSE |
As a result of the ransom note, authorities assumed that the kidnapper was an immigrant. |
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4. TRUE |
FALSE |
Charles Lindbergh reached out to organized crime members, like Al Capone, in an attempt to get his child back. |
- Identify the person charged with the kidnapping: _______________________________________
- The trial was held in (city, state): ___________________________________
- What legislation was ultimately passed as a result of the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping?
The Hindenburg Disaster
- The Hindenburg Disaster occurred on (month, day, year)
________________________________ in (city, state)
____________________________________. Of the 97
passengers aboard the ship (#) __________died.
- A picture of the Hindenburg disaster is an album cover for
this band: _________________________
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10. TRUE |
FALSE |
The Hindenburg was filled with the highly flammable gas, helium. |
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11. TRUE |
FALSE |
The Hindenburg was destroyed almost instantly and crashed to the ground in less than a minute. |
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12. TRUE |
FALSE |
The news reporter was praised for how calm and collected he remained during the broadcast. |
- What caused the Hindenburg Disaster?
Halloween Eve and the Martian Invasion
- Who was the man responsible for the “Martian Invasion”? _______________________________
- The ________________________ broadcast of the “Martian Invasion” was an adaptation of _________________________________________________ (book title); the book was written by ____________________________________.
- The Martians first landed in (city, state):
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17. TRUE |
FALSE |
The director got in trouble for the broadcast because he did not include any disclaimers to inform people that it was a fake broadcast. |
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18. TRUE |
FALSE |
No one listening to the radio actually believed that Martians landed in the United States. |
- The researcher/scientist interviewed about the “Martian Invasion” was from what college in New Jersey? ____________________________________
New Jersey and World War II: the Front and the Home Front
Welder trainee on her lunch break, Eastern Aircraft Plan, Linden, 1943
LC-USE6- D-010146
Lesson Creator: Michael Kassan, Demarest Public Schools
Grade level: Secondary
Timeframe: 2-4 Days
Objectives: Students will be able to:
- identify major sites in New Jersey related to military and industrial war efforts and explain their role in the war.
- analyze primary source documents showing women’s roles in New Jersey in the 1940s in order to evaluate social and economic opportunities before and after the war.
- analyze primary source documents showing African-Americans’ roles in New Jersey in the 1940s in order to evaluate social and economic opportunities before and after the war.
- compare and contrast the types of opportunities women and African-Americans received before, during, and after World War II.
- compare these social and economic opportunities in New Jersey with other states/regions.
NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards
6.1.12.CivicsDP.11.a: Use a variety of sources to determine if American policies towards the Japanese during WWII were a denial of civil rights
6.1.12.EconET.11.a: Evaluate the shift in economic resources from the production of domestic to military goods during World War II in terms of opportunity costs and trade-offs and analyze the impact of the post-war shift back to domestic production.
6.1.12.HistoryCA.11.a: Evaluate the role of New Jersey (i.e., defense industries, Seabrook Farms, military installations, and Battleship New Jersey) and prominent New Jersey citizen (i.e., Albert Einstein) in World War II.
6.1.12.HistoryCC.11.c: Explain why women, African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and other minority groups often expressed a strong sense of nationalism despite the discrimination they experienced in the military and workforce.
Common Core ELA: History/Social Studies
RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
RH.9-10.3 Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.
RH.9-10.8 Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author's claims.
RH.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
RH.11-12.3 Evaluate various explanations for actions or events and determine which explanation best accords with textual evidence, acknowledging where the text leaves matters uncertain.
RH.11-12.8 Evaluate an author's premises, claims, and evidence by corroborating or challenging them with other information.
Essential Questions
- How did World War II provide opportunities for various marginalized groups in society?
- How did these opportunities lead to great social change in the period after World War II?
- Did civilian efforts (particularly those of African-American men and women) during World War II lead to the Civil Rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s?
- Should the government and/or private business hold jobs for servicemen until they return to their from combat?
- How did women’s social and economic roles and perceptions change as a result of their contributions during the war?
- How did military installations and civilian support facilities (ex. Bell Labs, Seabrook Farms, Eastern Airlines Plant Linden) contribute to American victory in Europe and the Pacific?
Supporting Questions
- What role did the government have in addressing challenges/opportunities?
- Who were some specific individuals that challenged this group’s progress?
- Who were some specific individuals that supported the group's progress?
Key Terms/Places
- Farm Security Administration
- Seabrook Farms
- Fort Dix
- “total war”
- Fair Employment Practices Act (1945 NJ law)
Historical Background:
World War II began in Europe on September 1, 1939 following Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland. Around the same time, the Japanese Empire was conquering territory in East and Southeast Asia. Despite the gains of the Axis Powers across the globe, the United States remained neutral, unwilling to get involved in a conflict many Americans believed did not affect them. This attitude changed, however, following the surprise attack by the Japanese on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
In the days that followed, the United States got drawn into a global conflict, and rapidly went from neutrality to total mobilization. These efforts required the involvement of most Americans; able-bodied men were needed for combat, creating opportunities for other groups that had previously been marginalized. During this time, from the end of 1941 to the summer of 1945, following the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan and that country’s subsequent surrender, life in the United States changed dramatically.
Although many sought to return to life as it had been before the war, many of these changes could not be undone. In the years and decades following World War II, American society would change dramatically, as groups and individuals that had been at the margins would seek a greater role and recognition in society.
New Jersey has always contributed to American military history and World War II was no different. While it was not as prominently involved as the key staging point as it was in World War I (ex. Camp Merritt and “Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken”), the state nevertheless played a pivotal role. Naval operations in New York (which included Hoboken, Bayonne, and Jersey City) were transit points for personnel and materiel destined for Europe. Additionally, four airbases were located in the state, most notably Fort Dix Army Airbase and nearby Lakehurst Naval Air station. Present-day Linden airport was the site of a sprawling General Motors aircraft plant and Newark International Airport was also the site of an air base during this period as well.
A large population, especially in the denser, more urbanized part of the state, industrial complexes and supporting infrastructure, like railways, and proximity to New York, Philadelphia, and the Atlantic coast made New Jersey once again a key contributor to American and Allied War efforts. In fact, New Jersey hosted both interned Japanese-Americans as well as German prisoners of war, aside from military industry and service members.
Due to the surprise of the Pearl Harbor attack and the ensuing outpouring of patriotism (in contrast to the isolationism advocated by former New Jersey governor Woodrow Wilson during his presidency at the outbreak of World War I), New Jerseyans of all backgrounds were compelled to join the war effort. While combat opportunities were initially limited to white men, many got involved in various capacities, offering convincing rationales in doing so. However, once the war was won and veterans returning home (to a state that would soon begin increasingly rapid suburbanization) the strong feelings that propelled many into the war effort were not to be extinguished.
1. What role did New Jersey and New Jerseyans (ex. Women like Elizabeth Hawes, African-American and men like John Knox, Albert Einstein) play in supporting the World War II effort?
Anticipatory Activity: students will locate and identify major sites related to military and industrial war efforts by completing Handout 1. Students may access an electronic version (including expanded details for each site here: Create Maps. (Note: Scribblemaps features additional tools to change map overlay and track distance in miles/kilometers and these may be incorporated into the lesson/activity.)
This activity is meant to introduce students to the important military and support facilities pivotal to New Jersey’s war effort. Most of the sites – especially those related to industrial production – are clustered in Northern New Jersey, near Newark (and adjacent to New York City). Of these, the New York Port of Embarkation sites (in both New York and New Jersey) was the most prominent. Hudson County (the site of Hoboken and Jersey City) also hosted major shipbuilding operations at Kearny (across Newark Bay from Newark) and Bayonne. Both of these sites employed large numbers of African-Americans during the war (Handout 6).
To help guard against enemy invasions (especially ones orchestrated by Germany), New Jersey’s extensive coasts were integral to the state (and nation’s) civil defense. These included Naval Station Earle, Fort Monmouth, and Lakehurst Naval Air Base. To underscore the importance of civil defense, especially potential vulnerabilities, consider using a map to identify New Jersey’s geographic advantages (close to major cities, extensive road & rail infrastructure, relative proximity to Europe) and compare that to possible vulnerabilities that state experienced.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared America in "a state of unlimited emergency," and each city was responsible for recruiting and organizing its own Civil Defense organization to assure that it would be able to protect civilians and their property from enemy attack and handle any emergency which arose. The U.S. civil defense system included bomb shelters, air raid warning systems, patrols along the nation's borders, and distribution of information on emergency survival. Consider a primary source at What to do in the event of an air raid? | New Jersey Digital Highway ; and and a secondary source at Protecting the Home Front | Rosie the Riveter. Explain what you were supposed to do in the event of an air raid during World War II.
Fortunately, the bomb shelters and emergency plans were never called into service. Few actual enemy attacks occurred on the U.S. mainland. The ones that did occur happened primarily on the West Coast. Unlike most other nations involved in World War II, the United States was spared the destructive forces of war on its home soil.
Possible Extension Activities: Since Electronic Map Version has detailed descriptions of each site, consider assigning students individually, in pairs, or groups, to research some of the key sites during the war. They may research and present on the purpose of the site, the role it played in the war effort, opportunities it offered civilians (especially African-Americans and women), and what happened to it after the war.
- Women at Camp Kilmer - Camp Kilmer U.S.O. Hostesses of WWII | New Jersey Digital Highway
- African-Americans at Camp Kilmer - African Americans Staged at Camp Kilmer | New Jersey Digital Highway
- Japanese Americans at Seabrook Farms
2. How did World War II affect women in New Jersey?
Prior to World War II, only 28% of women were working. Of those, the majority were in lower paying fields like domestic servants, textile machine workers (ex. In facilities like the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory), or domestic service. While the war gave women far greater opportunities in the military (combat nurses, airplane test pilots) and industrial roles, it is also important to note that the majority of women still remained primarily at home. However, the war nevertheless gave these women opportunities to contribute in their own communities to civilian organizations like Civil Defense or the Red Cross
- Additional Background Resources:
- “We Need Women” We Need Women! | New Jersey Digital Highway
- “Women and Post War Wages” https://www.nber.org/digest/nov02/women-and-post-wwii-wages?page=1&perPage=50
- Interviews and Stories https://njdigitalhighway.org/lesson/ww_ii_and_nj/interviews_and_stories
- “Rosie the Riveter: Helping to Win World War II” Rosie the Riveter: Helping to Win WWII
- Possible Extension/Closure Activity:
- After analyzing Handout 2 (and possibly additional resources), have students evaluate whether “Rosie the Riveter” is an accurate representation of women’s participation in the war. Have them assess the purpose of this image and how it might influence society’s perception of women.
Document A (Handout 2) is a photograph of women at a vocational school in Middlesex County after the start of hostilities in Europe, but before US entrance into the war. The subject of the photo is the two women to the left of the photo. The students will likely think the subject is the children in the foreground (and if this is the case, going over the title and date with them explicitly would help them be more mindful of subtle and important details going forward). The women are likely observing the children to prepare for their own careers as future care-givers, demonstrative of the limited opportunities for most women in the work force. This is contrasted by Document B on the bottom of the page, which also serves as context for several of the images on the next handout.
Distribute Graphic Organizer (Handout 8). Document A (Handout 2) may be projected, photocopied and distributed to students, or made available as an electronic document (to use on a Chromebook for example). If necessary, review with students definition of a primary source, discuss how valid sources are, how to identify bias/inaccuracy. The graphic organizer is meant to be used for students to “read” the images and find details that correspond to the guiding questions. Students should be able to identify the context (when and where the document is from), the subject matter (describe what they are seeing), identify/speculate what the author’s purpose is (why was this created? What perspective is it trying to show? What is it supposed to make the audience think/feel about the subject?).
It is suggested the teacher describe the purpose of the graphic organizer and how it is used (described above). The teacher should then model how to “read” the image and fill out the graphic organizer through direct instruction. Ask the students: when was this created and where? (Middlesex County Vocational School, 1940). Follow up by asking what is significant about the location (it is a school where people learn jobs or career training) and the date (it was after the invasion of Poland in 1939, but before the attack on Pearl Harbor). Either through guiding questions or stated directly, explain that this shows New Jersey prior to the start of the war. Ask them who they think the subject is (the women, not the children) and what jobs they might be training for (teacher, nanny, mother, other domestic caregiver).
Because Handout 2 has guiding questions these may be answered prior to completing the graphic organizer. The questions on this (and all the Document handouts) are meant to be more guiding than just using the graphic organizer alone. Depending on the class composition (grade level, track, etc.) one or both the guiding questions and graphic organizer may be used at the teacher’s discretion.
After modeling Document A, the students may complete the guiding questions and/or graphic organizer for Document B. Depending on the time remaining in class or other instructional needs, it is recommended students work with at least one other student (or at least after working individually complete a short “think, pair, share”). Teachers should circulate while the students are working to answer questions on Document B.
Depending on the time remaining in the period, Document C (Handout 3) may be assigned as homework or an additional classwork activity. Students will complete the guiding questions and/or graphic organizer.
These four images all take place during the war and while 3 are from locations in Northern New Jersey/Hudson County, the one on the bottom right is from a Farm Security Administration camp near Bridgeton. The image on the upper left shows men and women working side by side in a printing factory (for ration books, a topic that may or may not have been covered in previous lessons). On the upper right, is a welder trainee in an aircraft plant. These top images show women in more “traditionally male-oriented” fields either work with or in place of men who are enlisted. On the bottom left, is a female cook in the same aircraft plant. While this document demonstrates women in more untraditional roles, this image, and the one alongside that offer a counter-narrative; namely, that while women may be working outside of the house/family, traditional gender and labor norms are nevertheless pervasive. Of note, the subject is an African-American nurse. While African-American women are not specifically addressed in this activity, they do bear the distinction of being doubly discriminated against, on account of both race and gender.
Document D (Handout 4), “Women Workers in Ten War Production Areas and the Postwar Employment Plans,” 1946 is a vehicle for students to synthesize their thoughts as it is a government-published report from 1946. Briefly, the document demonstrates the contributions women made in the labor force during the war, as well as the expectations of remaining chief care-giver on top of their jobs. The document concludes by touching on what will become of these women, and the men who they replaced and could serve as the starting point for a class discussion or other extension activity. Aside from viewing this issue in terms of military service (should jobs be “saved” for those who fight?) this document also expands upon the relationship between gender and economic opportunity. This may also serve as a companion to Document I on Handout 7, which deals with race and economic opportunity, and may also provide the students to compare and contrast the roles of race, gender, and social and economic opportunities both during this period (the 1940s) and/or the present.
Teachers may assign documents to be completed as homework. Teachers may assign an additional graphic organizer. This activity is meant to be completed cooperatively (describe how), but may be modified to suit instructional needs.
What about the changes after the war?
Questions about how the government was trying to change the image of women in order to attract them
3. How did World War II affect African-Americans in New Jersey?
Document E (Handout 5) provides some context for the African-American experience in New Jersey prior to World War II. The document implicitly refers to the Great Migration, and modeling/completing a close reading of the document and highlighting this detail to connect to previous content would help students activate prior knowledge. The handout also expands upon education inequality, and could also be used to review/introduce such topics as Plessy v. Ferguson’s “separate but equal,” Brown v. Board of Ed., and/or “white flight” as it relates to post-war suburbanization. Handout 5 also provides context for Documents F & G (Handout 6) as it shows industrial work in Northern Hudson County (in keeping with African-American settlement patterns mentioned in Handout 5).
Similar to the introducing Document A, Distribute Graphic Organizer (Handout 8). Document E (Handout 2) may be projected, photocopied and distributed to students, or made available as an electronic document (to use on a Chromebook for example). If necessary, review with students definition of a primary source, discuss how valid sources are, how to identify bias/inaccuracy. The graphic organizer is meant to be used for students to “read” the images and find details that correspond to the guiding questions. Students should be able to identify the context (when and where the document is from), the subject matter (describe what they are seeing), identify/speculate what the author’s purpose is (why was this created? What perspective is it trying to show? What is it supposed to make the audience think/feel about the subject?).
It is suggested the teacher describe the purpose of the graphic organizer and how it is used (described above). The teacher should then model how to “read” the image and fill out the graphic organizer through direct instruction. Ask the students: when was this created and where? (book/secondary source from 1988). Either through guiding questions or stated directly, explain that this shows the challenges (de-facto segregation) and economic opportunities for African-Americans in New Jersey at the start of the war. Consider asking them how New Jersey might compare to the rest of the nation (segregation – likely less) and economic opportunities (likely more). Consider having them compare the socio-economic situation about African-Americans in New Jersey at the start of the war to women in New Jersey (the content they previously covered).
After modeling this document, allow students to work individually/collaboratively on the next series of documents with the students completing guiding questions and/or graphic organizer. If this is given with class time remaining, the teacher should circulate as the students are engaged.
The bottom images in Handout 6 also show Farm Security Administration camps, and may be used to compare and contrast the types of work/pay between urban industry and rural agriculture. Note: Students may assume these images are related to the Civil War/Reconstruction Era if they see African-Americans engaged in agriculture. This misconception should be addressed. Additionally, one of the captions notes that many of the workers come from as far as Philadelphia (a distance of approximately 32 miles) in cars they own. This could/should be mentioned to counteract any additional misconceptions as well.
- Additional Resources/Extension: Japanese-Americans at Seabrook Farms. Although Japanese Americans (and internment camps during the war) were primarily located in Pacific Coastal states (especially California), Seabrook Farms was notable as it housed Japanese Americans during the war. Have students use the graphic organizer (Handout 8) and compare Document G to the images/text from the sites below. Have them compare and contrast the living and working conditions of Japanese Americans and African-Americans at Seabrook Farms (what kinds of housing did each group have? What kinds of jobs/opportunities did each do? Were they doing similar jobs? Different jobs? Which group do you think received better/more favorable treatment, etc.)
Documents H & I (Handout 7) details the account of an African-American veteran from New Jersey discussing his experiences in combat and in Mississippi as they pertain to racism. The other document below discusses the modest steps New Jersey took after the war to provide a measure of economic equality for African-Americans. This document could be used to discuss race/racism as it pertains to the United States, New Jersey, and/or other regions. As previously mentioned, it could also be used as the basis of a discussion on the relationship between socio-economic opportunities and race and gender.
Summative Assessment: Ask students to evaluate how World War II provided more opportunities for women and/or African-Americans in New Jersey. Students should support their response with details and evidence from the documents.
Possible prompts:
- Who’s social status changed more as a result of World War II in New Jersey, women or African-Americans?
- How did World War II change the opportunities for women and/or African-Americans from the start of the war to its conclusion?
Assessment Formats
- Multi-Paragraph Essay
- Digital Production (Prezi, Glogster, iMovie, etc.)
- Poster (ex. In the style of Rosie the Riveter)
- Debate
Extension
1. Have students research and explain what happened to Camp Kilmer and other military sites in New Jersey after the end of World War II. See Camp Kilmer | New Jersey Digital Highway
2. War ships were built in facilities at Ventnor Boatworks in Atlantic City, East Coast Shipyards in Bayonne, Bethlehem Steel Company Shipyard in Hoboken, and New York Shipbuilding in Camden. New York Shipbuilding, which never operated in New York but rather sprawled along a to-mile curve of the Delaware River in Camden. During the 1940s, it was the world's largest private shipbuilding facility; a thriving city within a city that employed more than 35,000 people. Federal Shipbuilding and Drydock Corporation in Kearny, NJ was also one of the largest facilities for building large warships during World War II. On one day alone in May 1942, the company launched four destroyers in a 50-minute period. By 1943, Federal Shipbuilding was employing 52,000 people and building ships faster than any other yard in the world. Have students research and explain what happened to shipbuilding in New Jersey after the end of World War II.
3. The USS New Jersey was built at the Philadelphia Naval Yard and launched in December 1942. During World War II, the USS New Jersey shelled targets on Guam and Okinawa, and screened aircraft carriers conducting raids in the Marshall Islands. The ship also was involved in the Korean War, the war in Vietnam and the Lebanese Civil War in 1983. It was decommissioned in 1991 and became a museum. You can visit the USS New Jersey battleship museum harbored on the Delaware River in Camden. See Battleship New Jersey.
4. Visit New Jersey’s World War II Memorial which stands across from the Statehouse in Trenton. It unfolds around the overall theme of "Victory," with three core ideas: Service, Duty and Sacrifice. The central sculptural element, named "Lady Victory" is encircled by six service markers and two arcing story walls that represent the six branches of the military and the respective New Jersey Medal of Honor recipients. The story walls strive to communicate the war effort both at home and abroad in terms of technology, communication and New Jersey's contribution with stories told by local veterans. See World War II Memorial
Handout 1
New Jersey and the Home Front: Major Sites and Facilities
Interactive Version: Create Maps
1. Which region of the state (north, central, south) has the most sites related to military activities? Which region of the state (north, central, south) has the fewest sites related to military activities?
2. What factors might account for the location of certain sites? How might this affect the opportunities for economic and social mobility?
Handout 2
Handout 3
Handout 4
Handout 5
Handout 6
Handout 7
Handout 8
New Jersey: On the Home Front Primary Sources Graphic Organizer
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Modified from: https://sheg.stanford.edu/historical-thinking-chart
Name _______________________________
Teacher _____________________________
US History II Period ___________________
Date _______________________________
New Jersey: On the Home Front Primary Sources Review
1. What types of occupations did women and African-Americans have before World War II? How did life on the home front change for them?
2. Which group saw the bigger change in their lives and why?
3. All of the documents relate to specific locations in New Jersey. Do you think the experiences of women and African-Americans were similar or not to most other states during World War II? Explain your response and select a document which best supports your answer.
4. Which of these two groups experienced the most change as a result of their involvement on the home front during World War II? Explain your response and select a document which best supports your answer.
New Jersey and World War I
Department of Health of the State of New Jersey, 1919
Lesson Creator: New Jersey Center for Civic Education, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ
Grade level: Secondary
Timeframe: Five Days
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- identify major sites in New Jersey related to military and industrial war efforts and explain their role in the war.
- analyze the impact of World War I on individual rights
- evaluate how World War I opened economic opportunities in New Jersey
- consider whether the war met its stated objective of making the world safe for democracy.
NJ Social Studies Student Learning Standards
6.1.12.HistoryCC.6.b: Explore factors that promoted innovation, entrepreneurship, and industrialization and determine their impact on New Jersey (i.e. Paterson Silk Strike) and the United States during this period.
6.1.12.HistoryCC.6.c: Compare and contrast the foreign policies of American presidents during this time period (1890-1930) and analyze how these presidents contributed to the United States becoming a world power.
6.1.12.CivicsDP.7.a: Evaluate the impact of government policies designed to promote patriotism and to protect national security during times of war on individual rights (i.e., the Espionage Act and the Sedition Amendment).
6.1.12.EconNM.7.a: Assess the immediate and long-term impact of women and African Americans entering the work force in large numbers during World War.
6.1.12.HistoryCC.7.a: Take a position based on evidence that evaluates the effectiveness of Woodrow Wilson's leadership during and immediately after WWI and compare it to another president's wartime leadership.
6.1.12.HistoryCA.7.a: Determine the extent to which propaganda, the media, and special interest groups shaped American public opinion and American foreign policy during World War I and compare those factors to contemporary American involvement in another country.
6.1.12.HistoryCA.7.b: Analyze the reasons for the policy of neutrality regarding World War I and explain why the United States eventually entered the war.
6.1.12.HistoryUP.7.a: Analyze the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations from the perspectives of different countries.
Essential Questions
- How was New Jersey critical to the wartime effort?
- How did opportunities provided by World War I for women and African Americans lead to social change after the war?
- Was the government war effort at home consistent with American ideals and values?
- Does the threat of sedition, sabotage and espionage, and the need to rally the nation behind the war effort, justify limitations on free speech and assembly?
- Were the initial hopes ("make the world safe for democracy", "the war to end all wars") and eventual sacrifices justified, given the result of the war and the Versailles Treaty?
Supporting Questions
- It has been argued that geography is destiny. To what extent did New Jersey’s geography and resources make its contributions to the war effort critical?
- How did New Jersey military installations and civilian support facilities (e.g., Fort Monmouth, Picatinny Arsenal, Fort Dix) contribute to the end of World War I?
- What role did Hoboken play during the war and why was it important?
- How were appeals to American ideals, patriotism, and Americanism used to support the war effort?
- What was government policy towards resident aliens during the war? How should the government treat resident aliens from belligerent nations during a time of war?
- What impact did World War I have on the development of the pharmaceutical industry in New Jersey?
Key Terms
- Neutral rights
- Reparations
- Indemnity
- Sabotage
- Ideals
- Patriotism
- “Americanism”
- Propaganda
- Espionage
- Sedition
- Syndicalism
- Civil rights
Background to World War I
World War I was one of the defining events of the twentieth century and the genesis of many of the conflicts that defined that century. Often overshadowed in the American imagination by the cataclysm of the Second World War, World War I set in motion some of the problems and the political turmoil that led to World War II.
The twentieth century had dawned with a sense of optimism and hope. A series of world fairs celebrated the triumph of science and technology as solutions to the problems confronting mankind. The nations of Europe were comfortable in their belief that balanced political alliances had rendered the prospect of war unlikely. Although each nation’s generals had created contingency plans in the event of war, Europe was confident that diplomacy, reason, scientific progress, and the alliance system would maintain peace.
This optimism was shattered with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. This act of political violence triggered a series of events that revealed the weakness of the alliance system as Europe’s diplomats blundered into an ever-widening conflict. During the summer of 1914 each declaration of war against one nation led to the involvement of allies until almost all of Europe was engulfed in a war no one wanted. The contingency military plans operated on as a series of rigid timetables, limiting the time for a diplomatic solution. Instead, it became a war of attrition that would kill millions, destroy the Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires, and lead to a vindictive peace that created the conditions for the Second World War and many of the global conflicts that continue to the present.
World War I was a global conflict, but the primary theater was the Western Front in Europe, where the war had stalemated into trench warfare. Repeated assaults “over the top” resulted in massive casualties with little change in the battle lines. The extensive loss of life for little discernable gain destroyed the optimism and hope that characterized the years prior to the war. This had a profound effect on art, culture, philosophy, and politics. The world would never be the same.
Content behind an ocean barrier and focused on the economic development of a vast nation and its resources, Americans were eager to remain neutral. The American president, former New Jersey governor Woodrow Wilson, was dedicated to enacting a series of Progressive domestic reforms and would win re-election in 1916 with the slogan “He kept us out of war”. However, events would conspire to compel the United States to eventually join the conflict on the side of the Allies. The sinking of the Lusitania, with the loss of 128 American lives, enraged Americans. Germany’s desperate gamble on unrestricted submarine warfare violated American neutrality, although American economic activity tended to favor the Allies. The discovery of the Zimmerman telegram, promising Mexico territories it had lost to the United States in exchange for entry in the war on the side of Germany, further eroded American support for neutrality. On March 20, 1917 President Wilson met with his cabinet and reached the decision to enter the conflict on the side of the Allies. On April 2 he addressed Congress and asked for a declaration of war.
The American experience and perception of the war is different from that of Europe. After three years of suffering, America entered the war on a crusade to “Make the World Safe for Democracy” and to fight the “War to End All Wars”. The intervention of the United States in the war was decisive. American troops helped break the stalemate and thwarted a desperate German attack during the last months of the war. Americans fought heroically at Chateau-Thierry, Belleau Wood, and in the Meuse-Argonne, turning the tide of battle in favor of the Allies. This idealism and sense of the New World rescuing the Old would also inspire President Wilson’s Fourteen Points and his hopes for the Versailles Peace Conference.
The war effort of the United States was not without challenges. The country needed to quickly marshal its vast resources and convert the economy to wartime production. The small peacetime military had to be dramatically expanded and raw recruits had to be quickly trained for deployment overseas.
The United States in 1917 had just experienced its largest increase in immigration and many citizens expressed a concern about the loyalty of the immigrant population and the need to establish an American identity. Support for the war was not unanimous, and government officials were concerned about sedition and sabotage, leading to the adoption of the Espionage and Sedition Acts. Life on the homefront was characterized by patriotic campaigns to sell Liberty Bonds and to foster “Americanism” and national unity, sometimes at the expense of civil liberties.
New Jersey, due to its diverse population (26% of the state’s population was foreign born in 1910), geographic location, and available resources would play a critical role in the national war effort. More than three million troops passed through Hoboken, New Jersey, the main point of embarkation (and return) for soldiers going across the Atlantic. Picatinny Arsenal was the major source of munitions for the United States and the Allies in World War I. Fort Monmouth provided training to the Signal Corps that did the essential communication during the war. Fort Dix offered basic training and a staging site for new recruits. The production of warships at the shipyards in Camden, of medical supplies by Johnson & Johnson and Squibb, and of food supplies from New Jersey were key components of wartime production.
Review the vocabulary
Ask your students what the following terms mean and have a class discussion to ensure that the students understand the terms (Definitions, clarifications and context are in italics):
- What are “neutral rights”? A neutral nation does nothing to assist or impede a belligerent (warring) power. Belligerents have the right to search for war matériel (military supplies, materials or equipment) on neutral shipping during time of war, but cannot deny the right of trade among neutrals.
- What are “reparations”? Making amends for a wrong one has done, by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged. The courts often require a convicted offender to make financial reparation to his victim. In international relations, it is the compensation for war damage paid by a defeated state.
- What does “indemnify” mean? To indemnify is to compensate someone for a hurt, loss or damage. The role of insurance companies is basically to “indemnify” people.
- What does “sabotage” mean? To sabotage is to deliberately destroy, damage, or obstruct (something), especially for political or military advantage.
- What are “ideals”? An ideal is a principle or value that one actively pursues as a goal, usually in the context of ethics. You might ask your students what they think are “American ideals”? They generally include consent of the governed, democracy, representative government, rule of law, due process, equal protection and freedom or liberty.
- What is “patriotism”? Devotion to and vigorous support for one's country. Patriotism is often seen as “national pride” or a sense of attachment to a homeland and alliance with other citizens who share the same sentiment. Patriotism is not the same as “nationalism”. The goal of nationalism is to secure more power and more prestige for one’s nation or group. The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does.
- What is “Americanism”? Americanism is an attachment or allegiance to the traditions, institutions, and ideals of the United States. Americanism is a set of the United States patriotic values aimed at creating a collective American identity and can be defined as "an articulation of the nation's rightful place in the world, a set of traditions, a political language, and a cultural style imbued with political meaning".
Over the past two centuries, Americanism has been put to a variety of uses, some benign and democratic, others belligerent and demagogic. The idea of “Americanism” has its origins both in the need for a nation of immigrants to create a national identity rooted in a commitment to democratic values, as well as the concurrent fear of the “other” as a cultural threat to those very values and beliefs. During the first decades of the nineteenth century, it inspired the notion of Manifest Destiny, which attempted to legitimize the conquest of lands occupied by Native American tribes and Mexican citizens in the Southwest. It also animated, in the 1850s, the attempt by the new American Party (the Know- Nothings) to drive Irish immigrants from political power wherever the “papists” had established a foothold. As the U.S. grappled with a flood of immigrants 1890-1920, and especially during World War I and immediately afterwards, the most aggressive promoters of Americanism sought to limit free speech for fear of efforts to undermine U.S. democracy. By the late 1960s,” Americanism” had become virtually the exclusive property of the cultural and political right.
- What is “propaganda”? Information that is biased or misleading and not objective and is used primarily to influencean audience and further an agenda, often by presenting facts selectively to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded languageto produce an emotional rather than a rational response to the information that is presented. Propaganda is often associated with material prepared by governments, but activist groups, companies, religious organizations and the media can also produce propaganda.
- What is “espionage”? Espionage is spying, the use of spies to convey information regarding a nation's plans, resources, and activities to another nation
- What is “sedition”? Sedition is conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the government or interfering with the government’s war efforts during a time of war. Sedition raises the issue of free speech and First Amendment protections during times of war or national emergency.
- What is “syndicalism”? A revolutionary doctrine by which workers seize control of the means of production and distribution by direct means (such as a general strike). The concept of syndicalism was originally developed in France by labor unions during the late 19th century and was at its most vigorous between 1900 and World War I.
- What are “civil rights”? The rights belonging to an individual by virtue of citizenship. In the United States, the term refers especially to the fundamental freedoms and privileges guaranteed by the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution and by subsequent acts of Congress. These include civil liberties, due process, equal protection of the laws, and freedom from discrimination.
New Jersey’s unique position
New Jersey has a 130-mile coastline on the Atlantic Ocean, providing many ports for ships, troops and supplies. The coastline also offered an opportunity for infiltration. German Americans comprised over nine percent of the 1910 U.S. population, America’s largest immigrant community. Early twentieth-century German America had built a vibrant civil society, earned political clout, and established a niche deep enough to withstand local suspicion and prejudice during the early years of the war in Europe. Jacob Haussling, a German-American, was the mayor of New Jersey’s largest city—Newark—when the Great War started. At the same time, a German espionage network had begun conducting sabotage well before the U.S. entered the war.
Sabotage at Black Tom depot, Jersey City—July 1916
On July 30, 1916, there was a huge explosion at the “Black Tom” depot in Jersey City, an act of sabotage by German agents to destroy U.S.-made munitions that were to be supplied to the Allies in World War I. Black Tom was a small island off Jersey City that was being used as a major munitions depot, probably the single most important assembly and shipping center in America for munitions and gunpowder being sent to the Allies. Since the United States had not yet entered World War I and was officially neutral, American munitions dealers were legally able to sell to any of the warring nations. Most of the arms, however, were going to the Allies—Britain, France and Russia—because the British navy had blockaded Germany.
The first of the Black Tom explosions was felt at 2:08 a.m. followed half an hour later by a second blast. At least five people were killed, including a baby in Jersey City who was thrown from his crib. There was an estimated $20 million—the equivalent of some $500 million today—in property damage. Thirteen huge warehouses were leveled and six piers destroyed. Fires continued to burn through the remains and consume hundreds of railroads cars and barges tied to the docks. Shrapnel thrown from the explosions tore a hole in the nearby Statue of Liberty. The Black Tom explosion was so large it could be felt in Philadelphia, ninety miles away. The act of sabotage was the largest enemy attack on continental American soil prior to 9/11.
In the aftermath of the explosions, law-enforcement agents quickly arrested officials from the railroad, storage company and barge business who operated from the Black Tom site. However, investigators were unable to determine whether the disaster was the result of safety violations by any of these officials. The authorities initially thought that residents and citizens of foreign birth were involved, not foreign saboteurs. In the meantime, harassment of German Americans increased. It would take years for a persistent team of American lawyers to find sufficient evidence that showed that, in fact, the disaster had been plotted by the Germans. The lawyers sued Germany in the Mixed Claims Commission at The Hague, and in 1939 won the case. Germany, under the rule of Hitler, failed to pay up and the settlement was renegotiated in the early 1950s. The last payment was made to Black Tom claimants in 1979.
Wrecked warehouses and scattered debris at Black Tom (US Army Signal Corps / Getty Images)
Today, the remains of Black Tom are joined by landfill as part of Liberty State Park. Nearby at the Statue of Liberty, a legacy of the disaster remains: Due to the damage the statue sustained on July 30, 1916, its torch has been closed to the public for the last century.
Activity 1: Look at Handout 1: The impact of the Black Tom explosion. Read and compare three accounts of the Black Tom explosion:
- The Handout 2: The July 31, 1916 New York Times account of the Black Tom explosion
- The investigation and trial in Smithsonian, Nov. 2011 2011 at Sabotage in New York Harbor
- The History Detective article at https://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/black-tom-shell/
- Extension Resource: “100 Years Later, Was Black Tom Explosion An Act of Terrorism?” at 100 years later: Was Black Tom explosion an act of terror? - nj.com
- What do you think should have been the U.S. response to the explosion?
New Jersey's Contributions to World War I
Activity 2: Provide the information below to your class. Then ask Essential Question 1: How was New Jersey critical to the wartime effort?
Hope and Horror in Hoboken
Although the United States did not enter the Great War until the spring of 1917, the conflict had an immediate impact on Hoboken, a port city with large immigrant communities. America’s trade with the Allies, especially in munitions, raised tensions internationally, and these tensions were felt locally. Before America’s entry in the war, several Germans from Hoboken were arrested on suspicion of sabotage and related activities. A German citizen named Fritz Kolb was arrested in his room in the Commercial Hotel in Hoboken in March 1917 and convicted a month later for possession of explosives.
The (German) Hamburg American Line had used Hoboken as its American home port. German ships were interned in Hoboken shortly after the start of World War I in Europe and confiscated in 1917 when the U.S. entered the war. For example, the U.S.S. Leviathan was originally built as the S.S. Vaterland for the Hamburg American Line but was taken by the U.S. government and operated from the U.S. Army Transport piers in Hoboken 1917-1919. Show your students Handout 3: The Leviathan in 1919. The ship was decommissioned in October 1919, became the S.S. Leviathan, and returned to service as an ocean liner in 1924. It was scrapped in 1938.
U.S.S. Leviathan at the U.S. Army Transport piers, Hoboken, NJ, Aug. 9, 1919
When America formally entered the war on April 6, 1917, Hoboken’s waterfront became central to the war effort as the port of embarkation (and return) for thousands of American troops. America’s involvement in the great conflict was launched from piers that have since been removed or turned into grassy parks where families can enjoy a peaceful afternoon. While the horrors of the war were experienced in faraway fields or in doomed ships on the open sea, bits and pieces of the conflict’s disruptive nature were felt in the docks, tenements, and streets of Hoboken. “Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken” became a slogan for troops hoping for a safe return home. Share with your students Handout 3: “Heaven, Hell or Hoboken” Postcard.
World War I Postcard, Hoboken Historical Museum
Picatinny Arsenal
Picatinny Arsenal is a unique facility that provides virtually all of the lethal mechanisms used in Army weapon systems and other military services. Located in the hills of Jefferson and Rockaway Township, Morris County, 35 miles from New York City, it began as Picatinny Powder Depot in 1880. The army’s first powder factory was constructed here. As its activities expanded, the post became Picatinny Arsenal. Before World War I, seven plants in the United States made propellant powers, five of them in New Jersey: DuPont’s three works in Carney’s Point, Haskell and Parlin; a Hercules plant in Kenvil, and the Army Powder Factory in Picatinny.
Supplies of war materials felt the impact of World War I before the U.S. entered the war: a second shift was added at Picatinny Arsenal in 1914. Show your students Handout 4: Making Bombs at Picatinny Arsenal. The most vital contribution from Picatinny Arsenal during the war was helping older plants to increase their output and aiding new plants in beginning production. Other work included adding TNT to high explosive shells, bombs and grenades. The powder factory’s laboratory expanded its mission from quality control to studying problems encountered in developing new powders, explosives and projectiles. The arsenal also provided a campground for the 42nd Infantry as it mobilized to go overseas.
Employees worked ten hours a day, six days a week. Many walked to work. Few automobiles existed and the roads were unimproved. Train service was poor. World War I brought more women into Picatinny’s ranks. Not only did more women join the already heavily female powder bag sewing room and clerical positions, it also brought four women into laboratory work as powder testers and chemists.
When World War II started, Picatinny Arsenal was the only plant in the United States capable of making ammunition larger than what was used in small arms. In an effort to streamline the acquisition process and deliver the armaments efficiently and economically, Picatinny Arsenal has established increasingly close partnerships with universities and industry partners, involving them in collaborative efforts early in the research and development process. Today, Picatinny Arsenal serves as the headquarters for the U.S. Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center and employs highly skilled technicians, scientists and engineers engaged in the full range of armament research and development.
Fort Monmouth
The Army established Fort Monmouth at the outbreak of World War I when it recognized that the Signal Corps--with its strength of 55 officers and 1,570 men--was insufficient to furnish communications for the tremendous Army that was needed for the war. The search for land for additional Signal training camps led the Army to Fort Leavenworth, Kans., Leon Springs, Texas, Presidio of Monterey, Calif., and to a site in New Jersey formerly home to the Monmouth Park Race Track and a luxury hotel. The Army originally called the installation "Camp Little Silver," based merely on its location. The camp was named "Camp Alfred Vail" in September 1917 to honor the New Jersey inventor who helped Samuel Morse develop commercial telegraphy. By the end of 1918, some reportedly called it the "best equipped Signal Corps camp ever established anywhere." The camp ultimately prepared several battalions for war. About 1,000 officers and 9,000 enlisted men served at the post in 1918. Share with your students Handout 5: Ft. Monmouth (see “Innovations from New Jersey” lesson at https://civiced.rutgers.edu/nj-lessons/new-jersey-history-lessons).
A view of Signal Corps Radio Laboratories, Camp Alfred Vail, Jan. 19, 1919, looking north.
The camp later became known as Fort Monmouth. (Army File Photo)
In addition to wartime training, the Army conducted research and development work at the radio laboratories and airfield. That included pioneering work on air-to-ground radios and direction finding by radio. The Chief Signal Officer authorized the purchase of Camp Vail in 1919 for $115,300. The Signal Corps School relocated to Camp Vail from Fort Leavenworth in that year. The Signal Corps Board followed in 1924. The installation received permanent status and the name "Fort Monmouth" in August 1925. The designation honored the Soldiers of the American Revolution who died in the Battle of Monmouth Court House in 1778. The Signal Corps' Electrical Laboratory of Washington, D.C., and the Signal Corps' Research Laboratory of New York merged with the Radio Laboratories here in 1929 to form the consolidated "Signal Corps Laboratories." The scientists of those labs developed the first U.S. aircraft detection radar, among many other things, between the wars.
Fort Monmouth began to change in the 1960s with the abolition of its technical services. During the Vietnam War, the majority of the Signal Corps' enlisted personnel trained at the Southeastern Signal School at Fort Gordon, Ga., not at Fort Monmouth. As a result of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure law, the army command at Fort Monmouth was closed and relocated to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. By 2019, 74 percent of Fort Monmouth has been sold to a variety of private projects. In 2024, Netflix purchased a 292 acres "mega-parcel" from municipalities of Eatontown and Oceanport. Development of Netflix Studios Ft. Monmouth will be completed in 2028.
Fort Dix
When the U.S. entered World War I, the federal government created or enhanced 38 military installations in New Jersey, including Camp Dix, the training and staging facilities near Wrightstown, NJ, that became Fort Dix. It opened in July 1917 and the 78th Lightning Division was activated there in August 1917. Share with your students Handout 5: Trench Warfare Training at Camp Dix, 1918. The camp became a demobilization center after the war. Between the World Wars, Camp Dix was a reception, training and discharge center for the Civilian Conservation Corps. Camp Dix became Fort Dix on March 8, 1939, and the installation became a permanent Army post. During and after World War II the fort served the same purpose as in World War I--as a training and staging ground during the war and a demobilization center after the war.
Trench Warfare Training, Camp Dix 1918 https://history.army.mi
Since Vietnam, Fort Dix has sent soldiers to Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iran. Currently, as many as 15,000 troops train there on weekends, and the post has been a major mobilization point for reserve and National Guard troops since the September 11 attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C.
World War I was good for business in New Jersey
In addition to munition plants and training and staging grounds, the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, located at Camden waterfront, received orders for 30 destroyers between July and December 1917, as well as orders for major components for transport ships under construction elsewhere. Share with your students Handout 6: New York Shipyard in Camden, NJ. The first Battleship New Jersey served as a training vessel during World War I. The Second Battleship New Jersey is the more well-known World War II vessel moored at the Camden waterfront.
New Jersey also became the site for the manufacture of dyes, which had previously been imported from Germany, and pharmaceutical research, which had previously been done in Germany. Johnson & Johnson, the New-Brunswick-based pioneer of sterile surgical dressings, absorbent cotton and bandages, became the prime source of medical supplies for the Allies during the war. E.R. Squibb (now Bristol-Meyer Squibb), with production in New Jersey, supplied vaccines and other life-saving medicines to the Allies.
Military Service
Expecting around a million enlistees but receiving only 73,000 volunteers for military service, Congress and President Woodrow Wilson realized other methods were required to call up a large military force. On July 20, 1917, President Wilson signed the Selective Service Act of 1917, which required all men between the ages of 21 and 30 to register with locally administered draft boards for military conscription by national lottery. The age limits for the draft were later extended to include all men age 18 to 45. Unlike the Civil War's conscription act of 1863, those who were drafted could neither purchase an exemption nor hire a substitute to take their place. In addition, local boards were charged with the registration, determination of order and serial numbers, and classification of draftees. Although the draft was canceled at the end of World War I in November 1918, the Selective Service System is still with us today, as every male over the age of 18 can attest. In recent years, as women have officially been allowed in combat roles, Congress has debated including women in Selective Service, but no official change has been made to date.
By the end of the war in November 1918, some 24 million men had registered under the Selective Service Act. Of the almost 4.8 million Americans who eventually served in the war, some 2.8 million had been drafted. New Jersey contributed 72,946 conscripts and 46,960 volunteers to the Great War. The 78th Lightning Division was activated at Camp Dix in August 1917 with men from New Jersey, New York and Delaware and transported to France in May and June 1918. The 78th was in three major campaigns during World War I – Meuse-Argonne, St. Mihiel, and Lorraine. It was the "point of the wedge" of the final offensive which knocked out Germany. Demobilization at the end of the war took place in June 1919.
Activity 3: Short research project. Use Handout 7 to explain the role of Fort Dix, Fort Monmouth, Picatinny Arsenal, Hoboken pier, shipbuilding, and military service during World War I and then draw conclusions. Here is a completed graphic organizer:
|
Attribute or Resource |
Location |
|
Coastal protection |
Entire coast of state—130 miles |
|
Ports |
Camden Hoboken Newark Jersey City |
|
Military training |
Ft. Monmouth Ft. Dix |
|
NJ Troops |
Four million Americans served in the U.S. military during World War I. More than 141,000 were from New Jersey, including more than 1000 women. |
|
Building war ships |
New York Shipyards, Camden |
|
Producing war materials |
Picatinny Arsenal |
|
Preparing medications and medical supplies |
Johnson & Johnson Squibb |
|
Food—Army rations |
Farms Campbell Soup |
World War I brought women and African-Americans men into the military and the workforce
American women participated in the war effort within the constraints of the gender roles of the era and also by taking on roles traditionally filled by men who were now absent at the front. New Jersey was the training site for the approximately 300 women who served in the Army Signal Corps as bilingual (French-English) long-distance operators. These women were chosen not only for their advanced linguistic skills, but also because tests showed that, on average, women were able to complete the calls on the early twentieth-century switchboards much faster than men were.
About 21,000 women served in the Army and Navy Nurse Corps, which had been established in the first decade of the 1900s. To boost soldiers’ morale and remind them of the stakes of victory, the American military formalized a recreation program that sent respectable young women, along with famous entertainers, overseas. Their role was to talk, sing, dance and listen. The American Red Cross also sent women to war areas, including some from New Jersey.
Women also worked in factories, especially those involved in wartime production. For example, an advertisement in the Asbury Park Press on August 23, 1917 read: “Announcement was made today by the Dupont Powder Co, that it will employ women munitions makers at ‘war’ plants at Carney’s point, N.J.” Women also worked on New Jersey’s farms, helping to boost essential food production needed for American and Allied soldiers.
Life Magazine, May 23, 1918
The stated war aims of “making the world safe for democracy” reminded some women that they lacked the same rights as men. Even after the United States entered World War I suffragists, led by New Jersey’s Alice Paul, continued to picket the White House protesting the exclusion of women from voting. Paul was arrested for blocking sidewalk traffic on October 20, 1917 and sentenced to seven months in prison, the longest sentence given to any suffragist. Many women, including suffragists, opposed U.S. entry into World War I, but muted their opposition in the hope of gaining the right to vote. On January 19, 1918, President Wilson gave public support to women’s suffrage, stating "We have made partners of the women in this war. Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?" With the enactment of the 19th Amendment in 1920 women finally gained the right to vote.
Two of the leading pacifists of the era were subsequently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize: Jane Addams in 1931 and Emily Greene Balch in 1946, the only American women to ever receive the international peace prize. For most women in New Jersey and elsewhere in the nation; however, the end of World War I meant returning to the world as it was before the war, with limited political or employment opportunities other than that of “homemaker”.
In 1917, although African-Americans were considered second-class citizens, many African American men were eager to show their patriotism and willingness to serve in the nation’s military. Within one week of Wilson’s declaration of war, the War Department had to stop accepting black volunteers because the quotas for African-Americans were filled. While still discriminatory, the Army was far more progressive in race relations than the other branches of the military. Blacks could not serve in the Marines, and could only serve limited and menial positions in the Navy and the Coast Guard. Although African-Americans were earning higher positions in the Army, that did not necessarily mean they were getting equal treatment. Black draftees were treated with extreme hostility when they arrived for training. White men refused to salute black officers and black officers were often barred from the officer’s clubs and quarters. The War Department rarely interceded, and discrimination was usually overlooked or sometimes condoned. Since many Southern civilians protested having blacks from other states live in nearby training camps, the War Department stipulated that no more than one-fourth of the trainees in any Army camp in the U.S. could be African-American.
The Army’s 369th Infantry regiment consisted of African-American combat troops, including many from New York and New Jersey. By the end of World War I, African Americans served in cavalry, infantry, signal, medical, engineer, and artillery units, as well as serving as chaplains, surveyors, truck drivers, chemists, and intelligence officers. More than 350,000 African Americans ultimately served—but in segregated units—and primarily as support troops. Several units saw action alongside French soldiers fighting the Germans and 171 African Americans were awarded the French Legion of Honor.
Wartime experience helped many black servicemen resist racial discrimination more aggressively on their return home. Some developed this attitude through training for combat duty. For others it came as part of a broadened worldview, acquired by simply leaving home and witnessing alternative living and work situations. For those who traveled to France, where black servicemen were generally treated with civility, racial bigotry on their return to the United States was probably more difficult to tolerate. Expecting to come home heroes, black soldiers received a rude awakening upon their return. Back home, many whites feared that African-Americans would return demanding equality and would try to attain it by employing their military training.
As the troops returned, there was an increase of racial tension. During the summer and fall of 1919, anti-black race riots erupted in twenty-six cities across America. The lynching of African-Americans also increased from fifty-eight in 1918 to seventy-seven in 1919. At least ten of those victims were war veterans, and some were lynched while in uniform. Despite this treatment, African-American men continued to enlist in the military, including veterans of World War I who came home to such violence and ingratitude. They served their country in the brief period of peace after World War I, and many went on to fight in World War II. It was not until 1948 that President Harry S Truman issued an executive order to desegregate the military, although it took the Korean War to fully integrate the Army.
Perhaps the greatest effect of World War I on African-American life was that it triggered the first phase of the Great Migration--the unprecedented movement of southern blacks northward. During this phase, between 1915 and 1920 (the second phase was between 1920 and 1930), approximately 500,000 blacks trekked northward. New Jersey’s African-American population increased from approximately 89,000 in 1910 to nearly 208,000 by 1930 (Encyclopedia of New Jersey, Rutgers University Press, 2004).
Activity 4: Essential Question 2: How did opportunities provided by World War I for women and African Americans lead to social change after the war?
The Homefront
Essential Question 3: Was the government war effort at home consistent with American ideals and values?
Liberty Bonds: “If you can’t enlist, invest!”
The U.S. Government issued bonds to pay for World War I and named them "Liberty Bonds" in an attempt to appeal to people's patriotic duty. A sophisticated public relations campaign promoted the idea that buying a bond was helping to secure the country's liberty. The campaign was designed to appeal to people's patriotism and the Treasury swung the weight of Hollywood behind it. Huge rallies were organized, hosted by the stars of the day. Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Al Jolson were some of the film stars who publicized the idea of buying bonds to show patriotism. Charlie Chaplin even made a short film "The Bond" to support Liberty Bonds. In addition to the movie stars, the Liberty Bond campaign used posters designed by popular artists of the day.
In addition to rallies and posters there was a travelling airshow featuring elite pilots who performed aerial stunts for the crowds. A ride in one of the airplanes was the reward for those purchasing a bond. John Steinbeck recalled that his mother, Olive, was so affected by the death of one of their young neighbors that she declared her own war on Germany. Her weapons were war bonds. She bought a great many and on one occasion earned herself a ride in a plane. For the third Liberty Bond issue, there were approximately nine million posters and ten million button badges produced. The New Jersey Council of Defense, a civilian group attached to the governor’s office, helped coordinate the four major Liberty Loan campaigns in the Garden State.
War Savings Stamps, which cost as little as 25 cents, were sold to those with modest incomes. Once a person accumulated a designated number of so-called “thrift stamps,” they could trade them in for a Liberty Bond that would earn interest. Despite all the publicity, the appetite of the average American for Liberty Bonds was muted. The majority of bonds were bought by institutions rather than individuals. In all, the U.S. government raised around $17 billion for the war effort through the sale of Liberty Bonds. The total cost of World War I to the United States was approximately $32 billion, or 52 percent of gross national product at the time. Liberty bonds only raised a little more than half that amount.
Several of the posters supporting the war effort were produced by Charles Livingston Bull, a taxidermist and wildlife illustrator from Oradell, NJ. Keep Him Free (1917) depicts a bald eagle – America in animal form – guarding its nest. The nest is a bustling hangar from which the planes of the fledgling Army Air Service are unleashed on their mission to protect their home from an unseen aggressor. The poster implores the viewer to buy War Savings Stamps from the Treasury Department.
Activity 5: Have your student look closely at Handout 8: Liberty Bond Posters. Have a class discussion about the following questions about each poster:
- Are there any symbols? If so, why do you think they were chosen?
- Does the poster try to persuade mainly through words, visuals, or both equally?
- Who do you think is the intended audience?
- Do any or all meet the definition of propaganda? Why or why not?
- To what emotions are they appealing? Pride? Joy? Fear? Anger? Admiration? Other?
- To what American ideals and values are they appealing? Patriotism? Nationalism? Americanism? Explain.
Immigrants and the Committee on Public Information
The attempt to crowd out Independence Day with “Americanization” Day was launched in 1915 in response to nearly two decades of increasing immigration. World War I saw an increase in nationalism and the desire to foster "Americanism," as well as an upsurge in distrust of immigrants, especially immigrants from Germany and the Central Powers. Prewar, Germans had earned a positive reputation as an industrious minority racially and religiously close to native-born Americans. However, in order to build support for a war abroad, the federal government ostracized the German-American minority at home. A wave of wartime vigilantism swept the country, with thousands of Americans denouncing their immigrant neighbors and anyone else suspected of disloyalty. However, the vast majority of German-Americans were patriots, and many fought for their country in 1918. “Americanization” Day did not become an institutionalized event, although the sponsoring organizations continued English classes and citizenship classes to help “Americanize” immigrants.
1917 (Library of Congress)
The day U.S. entry into World War I was declared, President Wilson issued a proclamation curtailing the liberties of Germans. The government evicted and barred enemy aliens from the District of Columbia and other zones near war plants and military bases. Attorney General Thomas Gregory advised the nation’s 8.6 million German immigrants and descendants to “Obey the law. Keep your mouth shut.” Enemy aliens could no longer bear weapons, use a radio, publicly criticize any U.S. policy, nor leave the country without permission. Home-front anti-Germanism escalated as the war progressed.
On April 13, 1917, President Wilson issued Ex. Order 2594 creating the Committee on Public Information to influence the American public to support the war effort. A publicity and propaganda agency, the Committee on Public Information encouraged “one hundred percent Americanism” and strongly pressed Germans toward assimilation, including burning German books, banning German music, renaming German foods, ceasing German-language education, and intimidating German churches and civic organizations into closing.
Registration followed restrictions. On November 6, 1917, seven months after the declaration of war, President Wilson ordered all German alien males fourteen and older to register with the government. Austro-Hungarian men followed on December 11th, when Congress declared war on their homeland, and women from both countries faced registration beginning April 19, 1918. At first, internees were held in local jails and army bases; later, three major camps for men—Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia; Fort McPherson, Georgia; and Fort Douglas, Utah—were established.
German merchant marine crews in the U.S. became the first internees, but they were soon joined by German labor radicals. On the pretext of performing disloyal acts or expressing too much homeland pride, the leaders of German-American politics, science, and the arts faced internment to force their communities to be quiet. Yet, many naturalized citizens served in the U.S. military.
Activity 6: Have the students look at Handout 9: Americanization Day and answer the following questions:
- What is the goal of Americanization Day?
- What does the phrase “Many Peoples - On Nation” mean to you?
- How does the poster positively appeal to patriotism? To American values?
- Were negative effects of the appeal to patriotism and American values? Explain
Essential Questions 4: Does the threat of sedition, sabotage and espionage, and the need to rally the nation behind the war effort, justify limitations on free speech and assembly?
Germans, who had been detained in internment camps, being deported from Hoboken, September 25, 1919. Library of Congress
Activity 7: Have students examine Handout 10 : Resident Aliens in Time of War. Then consider the following questions for a class discussion or essay:
- Why were Germans aliens being detained and deported in World War 1?
- Were those actions by the United States Government legitimate or justified? Why or why not?
- How should the government treat resident aliens from belligerent nations during a time of war?
- Are there others examples of residents alien detention or deportation in time of war in United States history? Were those examples legitimate or justified? Why or why not?
Activity 8: Have your students read Handout 11, Remembering My Greatest Hero (My Father) on Memorial Day, by Jerry Izenberg. Summarize the article and respond to the following question:
- According to Izenberg, why was going off to fight for the United States “easy” for his father?
- How did Izenberg’s father continue to show his patriotism and commitment to the United States of America even after his service in World War I?
- Is there an inspiring immigrant story in your family’s history? Describe who he or she was and what they did to show their patriotism and commitment to the United States of America.
- What is the most important lesson from Izenberg’s article that can be applied to the contentious issue of immigration today?
The war against free speech, 1917-1920
The Espionage Act of 1917
As America entered World War I, the U.S. government was concerned about espionage as well as those outspoken pacifists who did not support the war. An Espionage Act was passed on June 15, 1917. The Espionage Act of 1917 made it a crime to interfere with the war effort, disrupt military recruitment, or to attempt to aid a nation at war with the U.S. For those convicted of aiding the enemy, obstructing military recruitment, protesting conscription, or saying or doing anything to impede the war effort, the maximum fine was up to $10,000 (roughly $200,000 in current dollars) and 20 years in a federal prison. Those Americans who were drafted but refused to fight also faced prosecution under the Espionage Act. The Espionage Act empowered the U.S. Postmaster General to stop the dissemination and mailing of any publication deemed treasonous or insufficiently patriotic. Within the first year of the Espionage Act, 45 newspapers had their postal rights rescinded.
The Sedition Act of 1918
The first Sedition Act passed in the United States in 1798 criminalized the making of false statements that were critical of the government during the undeclared naval war with France from 1798 to 1800. It expired in 1801. The Sedition Act of 1918 was a series of amendments to strengthen the Espionage Act of 1917. Violence on the part of local groups of citizens, sometimes mobs or vigilantes, persuaded some lawmakers that the espionage law was inadequate. In their view, the country was witnessing instances of public disorder that represented the public's attempt to punish unpopular speech where the government was unable to do so because of the First Amendment. The solution was to enhance the government's authority under the Espionage Act.
Aimed at socialists, pacifists and other anti-war activists, the Sedition Act of 1918 made it a crime to "willfully utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language about the form of the Government of the United States" or to "willfully urge, incite, or advocate any curtailment of the production" of the things "necessary or essential to the prosecution of the war". President Wilson and his Attorney General viewed the bill as a political compromise. They hoped to avoid hearings that would embarrass the administration for its failure to prosecute offensive speech. They also feared other proposals that would have withdrawn prosecutorial authority from the Justice Department and placed it in the War Department, creating a sort of civilian court-martial process of questionable constitutionality.
The final vote for passage was 48 to 26 in the Senate and 293 to 1 in the House of Representatives.
Enacted May 16, 1918, the Sedition Act became law so late in the war--just a few months before Armistice Day--that the number of prosecutions under its provisions were limited. The most notable was Eugene Debs, head of the Socialist Party, who was arrested In June 1918 for violating the Sedition Act by undermining the government's conscription efforts and sentenced to ten years in prison. Debs appealed the decision, and the case eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld his conviction. He was in prison until December 1921, when President Harding commuted his sentence to time served. In March 1919, President Wilson had released or reduced the sentences of some two hundred prisoners convicted under the Espionage Act or the Sedition Act. The Sedition Act was repealed by Congress in December 1920; however, major portions of the Espionage Act remain part of United States law to the present day.
Both acts were used to punishing effect in the years immediately following the war, during a period characterized by the fear of communist infiltration into American society that became known as the first Red Scare (a second would occur later, during the 1940s and 1950s, associated largely with Senator Joseph McCarthy). President Wilson’s Attorney General, Mitchell Palmer, and his right-hand man, J. Edgar Hoover, used the Espionage and Sedition Acts from November 1919 to January 1920 to persecute anarchists, communists and radical left-wing political figures, many of whom were deported.
In Schenck v. United States (1919), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Espionage Act as constitutional. During World War I, Charles T. Schenck had produced a pamphlet maintaining that the military draft was illegal. He was convicted under the Espionage Act of attempting to cause insubordination in the military and to obstruct recruiting. Schenck appealed on the grounds that the statute violated the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Espionage Act did not violate the First Amendment and was an appropriate exercise of authority by Congress in wartime. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, writing for a unanimous court, concluded that the courts owed greater deference to the government during wartime, even regarding constitutional rights. The Court held that the First Amendment does not protect free speech that approaches creating a “clear and present danger” of a significant evil that Congress has the power to prevent. The court concluded that the widespread dissemination of leaflets was sufficiently likely to disrupt the conscription process, comparing the leaflets to shouting “Fire” in a crowded theatre, which is not permitted under the First Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court also upheld the Sedition Act amendments to the Espionage Act in Abrams v. U.S. (1919) by concluding that leaflets calling for a general strike and the curtailment of munitions productions posed a sufficient danger to the war effort to meet the standard set in Schenck. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Holmes argued that the First Amendment protects the right to publicly disagree with the viewpoints and objectives of the government unless it creates a “clear and present danger” and concluded that the distribution of the two leaflets did not meet this test.
However, in Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) the U.S. Supreme Court held that seditious speech—including speech that constitutes an incitement to violence—is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as long as it does not pose an "imminent" threat. Brandenburg, a leader in the Ku Klux Klan, made a speech at a Klan rally and was later convicted under an Ohio criminal syndicalism law. The law made it illegal to advocate "crime, sabotage, violence, or unlawful methods of terrorism as a means of accomplishing industrial or political reform," as well as assembling "with any society, group, or assemblage of persons formed to teach or advocate the doctrines of criminal syndicalism." The Court held that the Ohio law violated Brandenburg's right to free speech. The Court used a two-pronged test to evaluate speech acts: speech can be prohibited if it is (1) "directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action" and (2) it is "likely to incite or produce such action." The criminal syndicalism act made the advocacy and teaching of doctrines while ignoring whether or not that advocacy and teaching would actually incite imminent lawless action. The failure to make this distinction rendered the law overly broad and in violation of the Constitution.
Activity 9: Have your students read Handout 12: Summaries of Schenck, Abrams and Brandenburg. Respond to the following questions as a class discussion or in written essays:
- Did the threat of sabotage and espionage, and the need to rally the nation behind the war effort, justify the government placing limitations on free speech and assembly?
- Do national security concerns ever justify the limitation of the rights of citizens?
- After considering the Supreme Court decisions in Schenck, Abrams and Brandenburg, do you think that the Espionage Act and the Sedition Act of 1918 were constitutional? Support your opinion.
New Jersey poet Joyce Kilmer
Of the more than 140,000 New Jerseyans who served in the Great War, more than 3000 lost their lives. Alfred Joyce Kilmer, a well-known journalist, literary critic, lecturer, editor and poet who was born in 1886 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, was one of them. Kilmer attended both Rutgers University and Columbia University and married his college sweetheart, Aline Murray shortly after graduating. They had five children. In 1912, Kilmer became a special writer for the New York Times Review of Books and the New York Times Sunday Magazine and was often engaged in lecturing. He moved to Mahwah, New Jersey, where he resided until World War I. His enduring short poem "Trees" (1913), was published in the collection Trees and Other Poems in 1914. Kilmer’s works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his Roman Catholic religious faith. He enlisted in the New York National Guard and was deployed to France with the 69th Infantry Regiment (the famous "Fighting 69th") in 1917. He was killed by a sniper's bullet at the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918 at the age of 31.
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| Kilmer's Columbia University Yearbook Photo, 1908 | The cover of Kilmer’s Trees and Other Poems, published 1914 | Sgt. Joyce Kilmer, the Fighting 69th Infantry Regiment, United States Army, c. 1918 |
See Handout 13 - Trees, by Joyce Kilmer
The end of the war
On January 18, 1918, President Wilson gave a speech to Congress that outlined Fourteen Points for peace and the end to World War I. He sought lasting peace and for World War I to be the "war to end all wars." After an armistice was declared on November 11, 1918, troops as well as caskets began to return home. More than two million American soldiers had fought in Europe. Over 50,000 Americans died in combat, and thousands more died from disease. The first troops to return to America arrived in Hoboken on December 2, 1918. There were celebrations for the returning troops. On December 4, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson left from Hoboken for peace talks in Paris.
President Wilson’s return from Paris to Hoboken on July 8, 1919 was a time of celebration, as people crowded along Washington Street to wave American flags and watch the president pass in his motorcade.
President Wilson returning to Hoboken, July 8, 1919
Activity 10: Have your students read Handout 14: Dec. 5, 1918 New York Times article about President Wilson’s departure and determine whether the article was optimistic or pessimistic about his ability to achieve his war goal of a lasting peace.
113th Infantry marching in a coming home parade in Jersey City, 1919 (NJ State Archives)
General Pershing triumphantly returned to Hoboken aboard the USS George Washington on September 8, 1919. On November 13, 1919, the Lake Daroga docked in Hoboken, carrying the first transport of the bodies of fallen American soldiers. Although the Armistice took place in 1918, the United States did not formally end the war until 1921. President Warren G. Harding signed the congressional resolution that officially ended American involvement in World War I while golfing in Raritan, New Jersey.
The cost of the Great War was severe: the U.S. spent $52 billion and lost 116,000 troops. Yet it also marked the coming of age of the American military, which transformed itself almost overnight from a small army engaged in regional battles into a major military powerhouse. The U.S. had 130,000 troops when it entered World War I and four million by the end of the war. A total of nine million lives were lost altogether by all of the belligerents in the war. Over 141,000 New Jerseyans served, including more than 1,000 women. Eight New Jerseyans were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, two of them posthumously.
President Warren G, Harding speaks at ceremony honoring the American war dead in World War I in Hoboken, NJ on May 21, 1921 (Hoboken Historical Museum)
Activity 11: Have students look at Handout 16: President Harding honoring American war dead in World War I in Hoboken, NJ, on May 21, 1921, and write an essay responding to Essential Question 5: Were the initial hopes ("make the world safe for democracy", "the war to end all wars") and eventual sacrifices justified, given the result of the war and the Versailles Treaty?
Extension:
Many towns in New Jersey have memorials and monuments to those who fought and lost their lives during World War I. Find out where the memorial is in your town and take a field trip to visit it.
Sources for additional information:
- New Jersey Archives at World War I Centennial Commission; NJ WWI Facts - World War I Centennial site; NJ WWI Stories - World War I Centennial site; and https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/edu-home/edu-curriculum.html
- Hoboken Historical Museum at hoboken-in-wwi
- “Fighting for Respect,” National Museum of the United States Army at FIGHTING FOR RESPECT: African-American Soldiers in WWI - The Army Historical Foundation; Unit 9 World War I and the Great Migration, 1915-1920; and Internal Affairs: Untold Case Studies of World War I German Internment
- Richard J. Connors, New Jersey and the Great War, 1914-1919 (2017)
- Frederick Luebke, Bonds of Loyalty: German-Americans and World War I (1974)
- Laurie and Mappen, Encyclopedia of New Jersey, Rutgers University Press, 2005, pp. 886-887.
Handout 1: Black Tom Wreckage
Wrecked warehouses and scattered debris at Black Tom (US Army Signal Corps / Getty Images)
Handout 2: The Responsibility, NY Times editorial, July 31, 1916
This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them.
The immensity of the explosions in New York Harbor might more deeply impress a people less used than we have become to destruction on an enormous scale. The shock in the small hours of Sunday morning caused panic twenty-five miles away from the scene, aroused feelings of apprehension, among people who were still awake, much further away. But since this young century was ushered in we have had the horrors of Martinique, the San Francisco and Messina earthquakes, the Titanic disaster, and the most awful of all the wars, which, if they have not dulled our sense of calamity, have assuredly put us in a mood to regard with reasonable calmness, though not with indifference, the destruction of not more than two or three human lives and property worth $18,000,000 or so. It is a pity, but it is true. The shock has passed, the nerves of the millions who heard the mighty blasts from afar have been quieted, the broken window panes will soon be replaced. In the neighborhood of Black Tom and the ruined warehouses, of course, havoc and worse than havoc still rules. Some days must elapse before we know all the details of the disaster.
But enough is known now to indicate that, except for a clear defiance of the law, it would not have occurred. The storing of high explosives overnight in Jersey City had been prohibited by the Interstate Commerce Commission. Orders had been given to remove quickly all cargoes of such explosives received there to Gravesend Bay to be transferred without delay to the ships that were to carry them away. Yet, after midnight, two barges laden with nitroglycerine were towed to the wharves where the disaster occurred, and where there were already stored many carloads of equally dangerous stuff. What caused the fire which led to the explosions is not at present a pressing question. Responsibility for the disaster must rest between the storage company and the towing company. One of these agencies may be more culpable than the other, but it seems now that both have disobeyed a just rule devised for the safeguarding of life and property.
Published: July 31, 1916
Copyright © The New York Times
Handout 3: Hoboken in World War I
U.S.S. Leviathan at the U.S. Army Transport piers, Hoboken, NJ, Aug. 9, 1919
“Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken” became a slogan for troops hoping for a safe return home.
WWI Postcard, Hoboken Historical Museum
Handout 4: Making Bombs at Picatinny Arsenal
Handout 5: Fort Monmouth and Fort Dix
Fort Monmouth, January 19, 1919
Trench Warfare Training, Camp Dix 1918 https://history.army.mi
Handout 6: New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, NJ
Handout 7: What were New Jersey’s Contributions to World War I?
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Handout 8: Liberty Bond Poster
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Carefully look at the posters designed to interest people in buying Liberty Bonds during World War I and answer the following questions:
- Are there any symbols? If so, why do you think they were chosen?
- Does the poster try to persuade mainly through words, visuals, or both equally?
- Who do you think is the intended audience?
- Do any or all meet the definition of propaganda? Why or why not?
- To what emotions are they appealing? Pride? Joy? Fear? Anger? Admiration? Other?
- To what American ideals and values are they appealing? Patriotism? Nationalism? Americanism? Explain.
Handout 9: Americanization Day
In the years immediately surrounding World War I, organizations like the New York National Americanization Day Committee hoped to use patriotic holidays such as the Fourth of July as a means to unify the country’s diverse populations. (Ryan Reft, Library of Congress Blog, September 26, 2017). Consider this observation and answer the following questions.
- What was the goal of Americanization Day?
- Does the poster meet the definition of propaganda?
- To what emotions are they appealing? Pride? Joy? Fear? Anger? Admiration? Anxiety? Other?
- To what American ideals and values are they appealing? Patriotism? Nationalism? Americanism? Other? Explain.
Handout 10: Resident Aliens in Time of War
Germans who had been detained in internment camps being deported from Hoboken, September 25, 1919. Library of Congress
Consider the above photo of resident alien detention and consider the following questions:
- Why were Germans aliens being detained and deported in World War 1?
- Were those actions by the United States Government legitimate or justified? Why or why not?
- How should the government treat resident aliens from belligerent nations during a time of war?
- Are there others examples of residents alien detention or deportation in time of war in United States history? Were those examples legitimate or justified? Why or why not?
Handout 11: Remembering My Greatest Hero (My Father) on Memorial Day, by Jerry Izenberg
My father was an immigrant to whom the American Dream was more than a cliché. It was a beacon that brought his family here dirt poor, driven by nightmare memories from Eastern Europe that he later shared with me. It was why going off to war in 1917 for the country he loved was easy for him. It is why this annual remembrance appears once again on another Memorial Day.
Harry Izenberg (Courtesy Jerry Izenberg)
The picture is older than the Great Depression by more than a decade and older than the day that Hollywood first put a voice to its motion pictures. Time has turned what once was its clearly defined black-and-white composition to a soft sepia setting that lends a kind of ironic warmth to a photo taken during the grimmest of man's ventures.
He is standing in front of a fortress-like wall in what the war correspondents of that day referred to as "somewhere in France." To a set of eyes riveted in a new millennium, the uniform he wears appears to be on leave from another world.
The boots are high and polished, the trousers tucked inside. The high-collared fatigue jacket is buttoned from waist to throat and tightly sculpted to his torso. Tilted ever so slightly on his head is the high-crowned, broad-brimmed campaign hat.
He was my father, and the day the picture was taken, his trench-mortar battalion was about to leave for what was known in World War I as "the front." He would return deaf in one ear.
As I do every Memorial Day, I take the picture down from the shelf next to my desk. The older I get, the more I understand its meaning.
The man in the photograph is perhaps no more than 24 hours removed from a date with the kind of timeless terror we still cannot eliminate 10 decades later. But the face in the picture has a gentleness that belies what awaited him. His irrepressible smile seems just a heartbeat away.
It was the smile the war could not kill, the Great Depression could not kill, the fumes in the dye house, where he sometimes worked as often as seven days a week, could not kill and the things he wanted to give his family, but couldn't, could not alter.
The smile was his legacy to us, and even in the toughest of times, he also gave us the gift of laughter.
Ecclesiastes tells us of man and his seasons, of "a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of peace." That's what the picture is all about because he was a man who lived through war but never let war live in him.
One day, in one of those unplanned moments when fathers tell their sons things about which the sons never knew, he explained why he had enlisted the morning after World War I was declared.
He told me about a moment on the deck of a bucket-of-bolts ship bound for America cutting through the fog of a 19th century morning. He was only 8, then but he still remembered his father, Jacob, lifting him on his shoulders to see the outline of the Statue of Liberty through the haze. My father said Jacob told him, "Now you will go to school. Now there will be an end to pogroms and murder."
For him, his service in World War I was the repayment for a father's promise on a ship crammed with immigrants. Years later, home from that war and until the day he died, he acknowledged that by hanging the American flag on every holiday... Memorial Day... Armistice Day... Flag Day... the Fourth of July. When I got married, his personal wedding gift was that same flag. Harry Izenberg was a man of many dimensions on his American journey. The way he told it, he became an American citizen not on the day his father got what was then called "papers" but in a schoolyard in Paterson, the first time he held a baseball bat in his hands.
He was a greenhorn in a foreign country who had never seen or played in a baseball game.
He couldn't speak the language.
But he discovered that day that he could hit a baseball.
Decades later, it was his view that he became an American then and there in that schoolyard.
Along the way much later on, he became a lot of things. There was a time before his marriage when he earned a nice but risky living as a bowling hustler. He was also a minor-league baseball player, finishing up in something called the Delaware-Lackawanna League that followed the railroad of the same name.
The teams were sponsored by the depots whose names were printed across their uniform shirts. As soon as they saw him hit, they offered him more money than he had ever made playing the game he loved.
"But you got to work for the railroad or you can't play," the manager said.
"Work as what?"
"We'll make you a tracer of missing box cars."
"I don't know how to find a missing box car."
"Don't worry. We've never lost one."
For the part of the journey that included my mother, my sister and me, he was a dyer of fur pelts. He would come home each night with dark, stained fingers that he would soak in vanilla to ease the smell of the dye. I am sure that the frequency of the heart attacks that finally killed him had something to do with the fumes he inhaled all those years.
When he died, I was left with the kind of memories that made me forever rich.
I remember the way he loved to sing and how he taught me to drop-kick a football, how to make the pivot at second base (which I never mastered) and how to finish a combination with a left hook.
I look at the picture and I remember that shortly before I left to board a troop ship during the Korean War as he had done on his way to France, I asked how he had felt about "his" war.
"I really believed," he said softly, "it was the war to end all wars."
And then he paused and he looked at me for what seemed an eternity before he said:
"Take care of yourself."
It's Memorial Day weekend.
I look at his picture and I am thankful for the memories, the sacrifices, the love and the things with which he willingly put up to try to get me on the right track.
Jerry Izenberg, NJ Star Ledger, May 25th, 2018.
Summarize the article and respond to the following question:
- According to Izenberg, why was going off to fight for the United States “easy” for his father?
- How did Izenberg’s father continue to show his patriotism and commitment to the United States of America even after his service in World War I?
- Is there an inspiring immigrant story in your family’s history? Describe who he or she was and what they did to show their patriotism and commitment to the United States of America.
- What is the most important lesson from Izenberg’s article that can be applied to the contentious issue of immigration today?
Handout 12: Summaries of Schenck, Abrams and Brandenburg
In Schenck v. United States (1919), the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that Espionage Act as constitutional. During World War I, Charles T. Schenck had produced a pamphlet maintaining that the military draft was illegal. He was convicted under the Espionage Act of attempting to cause insubordination in the military and to obstruct recruiting. Schenck appealed on the grounds that the statute violated the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court held that the Espionage Act did not violate the First Amendment and was an appropriate exercise of authority by Congress in wartime. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, writing for a unanimous court, concluded that the courts owed greater deference to the government during wartime, even regarding constitutional rights. The Court held that the First Amendment does not protect free speech that approaches creating a “clear and present danger” of a significant evil that Congress has the power the prevent. The court concluded that the widespread dissemination of leaflets was sufficiently likely to disrupt the conscription process, comparing the leaflets to shouting “Fire” in a crowded theatre, which is not permitted under the First Amendment.
In Abrams v. U.S. (1919) the Supreme Court upheld the Sedition Act amendments to the Espionage Act by concluding that leaflets calling for a general strike and the curtailment of munitions of productions posed a sufficient danger to the war effort to meet the standard set in Schenck. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Holmes argued that the First Amendment protects the right to dissent from the government viewpoints and objectives unless it creates a “clear and present danger” and concluded that the distribution of the two leaflets did not meet this test.
In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) the U.S. Supreme Court held that seditious speech—including speech that constitutes an incitement to violence—is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution as long as it does not indicate an "imminent" threat. Brandenburg, a leader in the Ku Klux Klan, made a speech at a Klan rally and was later convicted under an Ohio criminal syndicalism law. The law made it illegal to advocate "crime, sabotage, violence, or unlawful methods of terrorism as a means of accomplishing industrial or political reform," as well as assembling "with any society, group, or assemblage of persons formed to teach or advocate the doctrines of criminal syndicalism." The Court held that the Ohio law violated Brandenburg's right to free speech. The Court used a two-pronged test to evaluate speech acts: (1) speech can be prohibited if it is "directed at inciting or producing imminent lawless action" and (2) it is "likely to incite or produce such action." The criminal syndicalism act made the advocacy and teaching of doctrines illegal while ignoring whether or not that advocacy and teaching would actually incite imminent lawless action. The failure to make this distinction rendered the law overly broad and in violation of the Constitution.
Respond to the following questions:
- Did the threat of sabotage and espionage, and the need to rally the nation behind the war effort, justify the government placing limitations on free speech and assembly?
- Do national security concerns ever justify the limitation of the rights of citizens?
After considering the Supreme Court decisions in Schenck, Abrams and Brandenburg, do you think that the Espionage Act and the Sedition Act of 1918 were constitutional? Support your opinion.
Handout 13: Trees, by Joyce Kilmer
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| Kilmer's Columbia University Yearbook Photo, 1908 | The cover of Kilmer’s Trees and Other Poems, published 1914 | Sgt. Joyce Kilmer, the Fighting 69th Infantry Regiment, United States Army, c. 1918 |
Trees
BY JOYCE KILMER
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Handout 14: New York Times Editorial, Dec, 1918
Note: On December 4, 1918, President Wilson arrived in Hoboken to board the ship that would take him to the Versailles Peace Conference. He was greeted with pomp and adulation.
If Mr. Wilson were not well grounded in the philosophy of life, especially public life, he might have felt as he departed yesterday that the American people are capriciously mutable in their moods. Only a few days ago they were protesting against his decision to go to Paris, they scolded him for wanting to go at all. Yet as he sailed down the bay yesterday morning he was saluted by a more varied and tumultuous expression of good wishes than ever before fell upon the ears of a departing traveler. It was universal, genuine, hearty, unmistakable.
It means first of all that the people admire Mr. Wilson very much. They delight on all occasions to pay him the tribute his great achievements of leadership have deserved, they want to show their appreciation of the distinguished service he has rendered to the country and to civilization during four trying years. They admire his courage, too, and his resolution, even though his purposes sometimes run contrary to their wish. By going abroad he disregards an unbroken tradition, and though we give enthusiastic welcome to new things, we are great respecters of old custom. Yet firmness is so manly a trait that there must be multitudes who will entertain a secret admiration for Mr. Wilson’s courage, after he had on due deliberation made up his mind to go to Paris, in carrying out that design even against the popular wish.
But above all the emotions which inspired the people of the country to bid their President godspeed as he went away is the wish that he may accomplish two purposes which they have very much at heart. One is that he may exert upon the conference an influence in the unselfish spirit of the ideals he has so often declared, ideals growing out of his earnest hope that the peace to be attained will be enduring because it is based upon justice and righteousness. The other is that, by his personal presence and communion with the representative men of the nations that have fought with us for the triumph of right over wrong, he may promote good understanding, a firm and lasting friendship. Our people are profoundly and sincerely desirous of a close and friendly union with the peoples of Great Britain, France, and Italy in all good work for the world’s welfare. For the people of those nations they have a feeling of the warmest friendship, they want to be on the best of terms with them to the end that differences and misunderstandings may be avoided, or, if they should arise, that they may be promptly removed by measures of candor and conciliation. The country’s good wishes go with the President because it feels that he is its ambassador going beyond the seas not only to conclude a peace, but to establish relations of amity that will endure through all the coming years.
How would you characterize this article? Does it indicate that the public (or the New York Times) was hopeful or pessimistic about President Wilson’s ability to achieve the American war aims?
Handout 15: Post War Parades in Jersey and Hoboken
Troops Returning Home to Jersey City, May 20, 1919
President Wilson returning to Hoboken from the Peace Conference, July 8, 1919
Source: https://www.hobokenmuseum.org/explore-hoboken/historic-highlights/hoboken-in-wwi/
Handout 16: President Harding Honoring American War Dead, Hoboken, May 21, 1921
Source: https://www.hobokenmuseum.org/explore-hoboken/historic-highlights/hoboken-in-wwi/
As it entered World War I, the United States had initial hopes that it could “make the world safe for democracy" by winning "the war to end all wars." Were those hopes and sacrifices justified, given the eventual result of the war and the Versailles Treaty?
New Jersey and the War of 1812
LC-USZ62-8358
Engraving of British frigate Macedonian being fired upon by U.S. frigate United States, Oct. 25, 1812
Lesson Creators: Michael Kenduck, Westwood Regional School District; Sarah Meakem, Mahwah School District; and Karen Vander Leest, Ramsey School District
Grade Level: Secondary
Class periods: Two-four
Objectives: Students will be able to:
- Analyze the causes of the War of 1812
- Identify specific ways in which the Embargo Act impacted the economy of New Jersey
- Evaluate articles from newspapers during the War of 1812 to determine whether New Jersey representatives should have supported or opposed the War of 1812
- Explain the perspective and role of New Jersey citizens during the War of 1812
- Describe how the Federalists ad Democrat-Republicans used national interests in their local campaigning in the 1812 election
- Determine if the War in 1812 was to the benefit or detriment of people in New Jersey
- Explain how New Jersey voters were impacted by national events when voting for President in 1812 and 1816
New Jersey Student Learning Standards for Social Studies (2020):
6.1.8.CivicsPI.3.a: Cite evidence to evaluate the extent to which the leadership and decisions of early administrations of the national government met the goals established in the Constitution.
6.1.8.CivicsHR.3.a: Explain how and why constitutional civil liberties were impacted by acts of government during the Early Republic (i.e., Alien and Sedition Acts).
6.1.8.HistoryCC.3.b: Explain how political parties were formed and continue to be shaped by differing perspectives regarding the role and power of federal government.
6.1.8.EconNE.4.a: Explain how major technological developments revolutionized land and water transportation, as well as the economy, in New Jersey and the nation.
6.1.8.HistoryCC.4.a: Explain the changes in America’s relationships with other nations by analyzing policies, treaties, tariffs, and agreements.
6.1.12.EcoEM.2.b: Assess the effectiveness of the new state and national governments attempts to respond to economic challenges including domestic and foreign trade policy issues.
6.1.12.HistoryCC.2.a.: Create a timeline that related events in Europe to the development of American trade and American foreign and domestic policies.
Essential/Focus Questions:
- To what extent were the politics in New Jersey representative of regional interests during the years leading up to and during the War of 1812?
- What were the economic ramifications of the international conflict with Britain and France on New Jersey?
- How did national events impact local elections in 1812?
- Was the War of 1812 in the best interest of New Jersey? The Nation?
Background:
After overthrowing the French revolutionary government, Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in 1799. Britain declared war on France in 1803 after Napoleon seized parts of Italy, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands. In 1806 Britain enacted a naval blockade of the French coasts and France closed French-controlled territory to British trade. Britain responded with “Orders of Council” in 1807 forbidding French trade with its allies or neutrals. In addition, the British, and to a lesser extent the French, were attacking American ships and forcing American seamen to serve in their navy. The British navy suffered manpower shortages due to the low pay, harsh working conditions and a lack of qualified seamen. Impressment of seamen for the Royal navy was a longstanding maritime tradition in Great Britain. Britain came to regard impressment as a maritime right and extended the practice to boarding neutral merchant ships in local waters and at sea. Britain did not recognize naturalized American citizenship, and treated anyone born a British subject as still "British". As a result, the British claimed that many American seamen who were “naturalized” citizens (often a dubious claim since many were born in the United States) were actually British citizens who had illegally defected to the United States. Between 1793 and 1812, the British impressed more than 15,000 U.S. sailors to supplement their fleet during their Napoleonic Wars with France. See http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/british-navy-impressment/
From the perspective of the United States, the whole nature and purpose of impressment represented an affront to human rights and national sovereignty: the act of forcing individuals to serve a foreign power against their will was an "arbitrary deprivation" of personal liberty devoid of the due process of law. This perceived flouting of freedom on the part of the British also clashed directly with America's emerging attitude regarding the rights of neutrals on the high seas. International maritime law at that time limited the extent of national sovereignty to a country's warships and territorial waters, which often left civilian fleets vulnerable on the open seas. Although the United States insisted on the democratic rights of seamen and sovereign vessels of all nationalities on the high seas, evidence exists of similar efforts at impressment on the part of the American naval establishment. See http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2012/summer/1812-impressment.html
On June 22, 1807, the British warship HMS Leopard pursued, attached and boarded the American frigate, the Chesapeake, off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia, looking for deserters from the Royal Navy. After a short battle which killed three people and injured eighteen, the Chesapeake commander surrendered the vessel and four crew members were removed and tried for desertion. Both the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans were united in their outrage against the British. While President Thomas Jefferson attempted to negotiate a settlement with Britain, fourteen American seamen were seized by the British from the warships Jason and Columbine off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, in early Sept. 1807. With negotiations failing, President Jefferson considered declaring war against Britain but opted instead for an embargo on trade in December 1807. The goal was to use economic coercion to force Britain and France to stop impressing American seamen and to respect American neutrality. The Embargo Act banned the export of American goods on American or foreign ships. The Act prohibited American vessels from landing in any foreign port. Non-Importation laws outlawed the importation of British textile and metal products. Most New Jersey residents rallied behind Thomas Jefferson’s government in the initial dispute over the British navy’s impressment of American merchant sailors and the seizure of American ships trading with France. However, this unity ended with the enactment of the Embargo Act, which hurt trade along the Eastern seaboard, including New Jersey.
Early in 1809, just 3 days before President Jefferson left office, Congress repealed the embargo. In effect for 15 months, the embargo exacted no political concessions from either France or Britain.
James Madison, elected president in 1812, had an opportunity to end the War of 1812 almost as soon as it began. The British had repealed the Orders in Council rules that curbed American trade with Europe – and thus one of Madison’s major reasons for war was now moot. If the British had foregone the right to impress American sailors, Madison could well have gone back to Congress with the suggestion that hostilities cease immediately. However, the British considered impressment their right by custom, and believed it essential to their naval might. By June 1812 the United States had had enough and the United States declared war on Great Britain, citing, in part, impressment. Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815 and Britain ended the practice of impressing seamen on non-British ships.
Activity 1: Responses to impressment, 1807
Read Handout 1 and compare the responses to the Chesapeake incident in 1807 from two national newspapers, the Washington National Intelligencer and the New York Evening Post.
- Which newspaper do you think reflects the view of the Federalists? Why?
- Which do you think reflects the view of the Democratic-Republicans? Why?
- What point did the two newspaper agree on?
The Intelligencer was reflecting the view of President Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans. The article gives the British the benefit of doubt that perhaps the incident was the work of subordinate naval commanders rather than the British government. Jefferson did not want to go to war with Britain.
The New York Evening Post reflects the views of the Federalists and puts some of the blame on the American commodore. The Federalists are interested in making President Jefferson rather than the British look bad.
Both newspapers expressed outrage about the incident.
Activity 2: Analyze political cartoon, 1807
Have students carefully look at and analyze Handout 2: “OGRABME, or The American Snapping Turtle” political cartoon and respond to the questions:
- Where does your eye go first?
- What do the snapping turtle, the man with the barrel and the man trying to stop the turtle represent?
- What do the ship and the men on the shore in the background represent?
- What powerful words and ideas are expressed?
- What does “OGRABME” spell backwards?
- What was happening during this time period?
- What was the creator’s purpose in making this primary source? Was he supporting or opposing the Embargo Act?
- What does the creator do to get his or her point across?
- What was this primary source’s audience?
- What have you learned? Support your conclusions with specific evidence.
This political cartoon from 1807, created by Alexander Anderson, addresses the displeasure with Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act prevalent throughout the northern United States. The cartoon depicts a smuggler or trader being bitten by an American snapping turtle, the U.S. government, called "Ograbme." The name is a play on the word embargo (backwards). In the distance is a British ship (flying the Union Jack), presumably waiting to smuggle American goods back to Britain. The smuggler/trader's exclamation of, "Oh! This cursed Ograbme," is a thinly-veiled criticism of the Embargo Act. Intended to punish Britain and France for interfering with American shipping, the Embargo Act actually harmed American merchants, who were now bereft of profitable overseas markets. Since most American industry during the early 1800s was located in the North, and shipping was from the Atlantic seacoast, criticism of the Embargo Act was rather widespread in the northeast section of the country.
Activity 3: The Economic Impact of the Embargo
By the spring of 1808 New England ports were nearly shut down, and the regional economy was headed into a depression with growing unemployment. On the Canadian border with New York and Vermont, the embargo laws were openly flouted by smugglers. In March 1808 Congress prohibited for the first time, the export of all goods, either by land or by sea, regardless of destination. The Enforcement Act, signed into law in April 1808, was the last of the embargo acts. It decreed that port authorities were allowed to seize cargoes without a warrant, and to bring to trial any shipper or merchant who was thought to have merely contemplated violating the embargo.
Read Handout 3: Chart of Exports and Imports, 1805-1818, to determine the economic impact of the Embargo Act of 1807. How much were exports reduced from 1807 to 1808? How much were imports reduced from 1807 to 1808? Draw a conclusion as to whether or not the Embargo Act had a negative impact on the U.S. economy.
The Embargo Acts of hurt the American economy far more than the British or French, and resulted in widespread smuggling. Exports fell from $108 million in 1807 to just $22 million in 1808. Farm prices fell sharply. Shippers also suffered. Harbors filled with idle ships and nearly 30,000 sailors found themselves jobless.
Activity 4: The Economic Impact of the Embargo on New Jersey
What was the impact on New Jersey? Look at Handout 4: Map of New Jersey. What can be inferred about the economy of New Jersey in 1807 from this map? The map shows that New Jersey has a long coast along the Atlantic Ocean. Although much of the shipping normally went through New York City and Philadelphia, the coastal ports of New Jersey offered excellent opportunities for smuggling.
Read and use Handout 5: Excerpt from “New Jersey and the Embargo, 1807-1809,” New Jersey History, vol. 116, nos. 3-4, Fall/Winter 1998 by Harvey Strum. As you read the short article, list the impact of the Embargo on each of the places identified.
What can you conclude? The Embargo created hardships for New Jersey farmers and merchants trading with New York City and Philadelphia. The produce from New Jersey farmers used the ports of New York and Philadelphia. Roads were slow and minimal. Canals did not yet exist. Trade depended greatly on the seaports. Smuggling out of Perth Amboy became rampant.
Activity 5: The Political Impact of the Embargo
Background: James Sloan was a Democratic-Republican serving in the House of Representatives from one of New Jersey’s six at-large districts starting in 1803. He was a Quaker from Gloucester County (although he was later disowned by the Quakers) and had held a number of township offices, including that of tax assessor, as well as serving on the county board of Chosen Freeholders, and as a justice for Gloucester County. He organized and took charge of the new Democratic-Republican political organization in Gloucester County in 1800 at a time when most Quakers in south Jersey supported Federalists. He was serving his third term in the House of Representative when he voted for the first Embargo Act and its supplements. But in 1808, he broke with the Democratic-Republicans and questioned the benefit and constitutionality of the Embargo.
Read Handout 6: Excerpt from Bruce Bendler’s “James Sloan: Renegade or True Republican.” Use the graphic organizer to explain why, according to Sloan, the Embargo was bad for the nation; for the region; and specifically, for New Jersey. Then decide whether you think he was a renegade or a patriot. Support your decision with evidence. Do you think that members of Congress should follow the dictates of their political party if they are contrary to the interests of their constituents?
In 1808 New Jersey’s Democratic-Republicans met in convention to nominate candidates for the U.S. Congress. They denied the nomination to three-term incumbent James Sloan. In addition to arguing against the Embargo imposed by the Jefferson administration, Sloan had opposed the party’s nomination of James Madison as the candidate to succeed Jefferson as president. Four years later, Sloan broke with the Democratic-Republican party to support a revival of Federalism in New Jersey. He opposed war against Great Britain and endorsed Dewitt Clinton for president, as part of a new coalition, the “Friends of Peace.”
Activity 6: The Vote for War
Background: New Jersey, like much of the rest of the United States, had been hurt as a result of the Embargo Act. Farmers and merchants lost their markets as they were cut off from Europe. Surplus grains and other crops from New Jersey and other states drove prices down. And the economic sanction had not been effective in ending the impressment of Americans. Before he left office, President Jefferson ended the Embargo. A faction of congressman known as the “War Hawks” began calling for more aggressive measures.
When James Madison became president in early 1809 he also sought to avoid war with Britain. But British actions, and a continuing drumbeat for war in the U.S. Congress, seemed destined to make war with Britain unavoidable. The slogan "Free Trade and Sailor's Rights" became a rallying cry. In early June 1812 President Madison sent a war message to Congress in which he listed complaints about British behavior toward America: Impressment, continual harassment of American commerce by British warships, British Orders in Council which declared blockades against neutral American ships bound for European ports, and attacks by "savages" on "one of our extensive frontiers" believed to be instigated by British troops in Canada.
Henry Clay, a leader of the War Hawks, was a young member of Congress from Kentucky. Representing the views of Americans living in the West, Clay believed that war with Britain would not only restore American prestige but would also provide a great benefit in territory. An openly stated goal of the western War Hawks was for the United States to invade and seize Canada.
Analyze Handout 7: The vote in Congress for War in 1812:
Which states had split votes by their members of Congress? (New Hampshire. Vermont. Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, North Carolina).
Why do you think they were split? (The eastern seaboard states were tremendously injured by the Embargo and would be the first to face the British Navy.)
Even within the Democratic-Republican party, support for the war was hardly unanimous: one-quarter of either voted against the measure or abstained from the vote. Not a single Federalist voted for the war. The partisan divisions led critics to later pronounce the War of 1812 "Mr. Madison's War."
Have your class conduct a Congressional hearing about whether or not to support President Madison’s request for war against Britain in 1812. Assign students to play the role of and argue on behalf of the members of Congress from each of the 17 states in the union in 1812 (See Handout 7). Then have the class vote for or against war in 1812.
Activity 7: The Election of 1812
After President Madison’s declaration of war against Great Britain in June 1812, New Jersey Democratic-Republicans found themselves divided about their leadership. In political campaigns in 1812, national rather than local issues dominated. Instead of concentrating on problems in their county, local politicians were arguing about the Embargo Act and whether or not war was necessary.
Have students analyze Handout 8: Electoral Map of the Presidential Election of 1812.
- Who was running for President in the election of 1812? James Madison of Virginia and DeWitt Clinton of New York
- How many electoral votes did the Democratic-Republican candidate James Madison receive? (128)
- How many electoral votes did the Federalist/Peace fusion candidate De Witt Clinton receive? (89)
- Who won the election and by how many votes? James Madison won by 39 electoral votes. The electoral vote in Maryland was split: 5 for DeWitt Clinton and 6 for James Madison.
- Which candidate did New Jersey vote for? DeWitt Clinton
- Why do you think New Jersey voted this way? Displeasure with the Embargo Act and the vote for war
- Evaluate the decision of New Jersey representatives to vote for or against the War of 1812.
- Is there a regional pattern to the voting? What is it? Why do you think the northern states primarily voted for the Federalist/Peace candidate and the southern and western states for the Democratic-Republican?
- Were the issues in New Jersey different from or consistent with those of their Federalist-voting neighboring states, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delaware? Explain.
- Compare the Electoral Map of the Presidential Election of 1812 with Handout 7: The vote in the House of Representative for the Request for War in 1812. Are the two consistent? Did the election follow the vote for war? (Yes)
In New Jersey, the Federalists gained support and New Jersey’s electoral votes for president went to the Federalist/Peace fusion candidate, De Witt Clinton. However, the Democratic-Republican candidate, James Madison, won the national election. Benefiting from anger over national Democratic-Republican policies, New Jersey Federalists succeeded in electing Federalist Aaron Ogden as governor in 1812, for a one-year term.
Activity 8: New Jersey Perspectives on the War of 1812
Predict what you think would be the impact on New Jersey, with its long Atlantic seaboard, of a war with Great Britain in 1812. Most likely, the British would raid East coast ports and possibly attack coastal settlements.
Analyze Handout 9: New Jersey Newspaper editorials about the War of 1812. Have students read the editorials from the Centinel of Freedom and the Trenton Federalist written during the War of 1812 and respond to the following questions using the graphic organizer:
- Did you read anything surprising? If so, what and why?
- What political point of view do you think the Centinel of Freedom is expressing? (Democratic-Republican)
- What arguments does the Centinel of Freedom make in support of the war? National pride. The U.S. is fighting for the principle of open seas.
- Which political point of view do you think the Trenton Federalist is expressing? (The Federalists)
- What arguments does the Trenton Federalist make against the war? The cost of the war in terms of taxes. Trying to conquer Canada is not worth it.
- Do you think the War of 1812 was in the best interests of New Jersey? Why or why not? Support your response with evidence.
Although the war was unpopular in New Jersey, many New Jerseyans enlisted in the U.S. military during the War of 1812. A number of state residents served with the 15th U.S. Infantry, commonly referred to as the “New Jersey Regiment,” led by New Jersey-born military officer and explorer Zebulon Montgomery Pike. Pike led the American assault on York (now Toronto), the provincial capital of Upper Canada. The British retreated and the U.S. troops burned Upper Canada’s government buildings.
Another New Jerseyan who served with distinction in the War of 1812 was James Lawrence who was given command of the USS Chesapeake. The frigate left Boston on June 1, 1813 and immediately engaged the blockading Royal Navy frigate Shannon in a fierce battle. Although slightly smaller, the British ship disabled Chesapeake with gunfire within the first few minutes. Captain Lawrence, mortally wounded by small arms fire, ordered his officers, "Don't give up the ship. Fight her till she sinks." Or "Tell them to fire faster; don't give up the ship." Men carried him below, and his crew was overwhelmed by a British boarding party shortly afterward. James Lawrence died of his wounds . His fellow officer Oliver Hazard Perry ordered a large blue battle ensign, stitched with the phrase "Don’t Give Up The Ship" in bold white letters, which was displayed on his flagship during a victorious engagement against the British on Lake Erie in September 1813. The original flag is displayed in the Naval Academy Museum and a replica is displayed in Memorial Hall at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.
Soldiers on Sandy Hook watched for British warships seeking to enter New York Bay and flashed signals to the Atlantic Highlands. Lookouts on Staten Island read the signal via telescope and relayed an alert to Manhattan. The waters off Sandy Hook became the site of a U.S. defeat in the final days of the war.
Starting in March 1813, a Royal Navy squadron sealed off Delaware Bay, along with Raritan Bay and other New Jersey waterways, as part of a larger naval blockade that covered the Atlantic coast. Though the waterways remained closed for most of the War of 1812, British naval forces did allow neutral vessels access to ports in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. British raiding parties frequently conducted raids to steal livestock and other provisions from South Jersey coastal communities.
Activity 9: The impact of the War of 1812 on American politics
Background: After the abdication of Napoleon in April 1814 British public opinion demanded major gains in the war against the United States. However, realizing that there was little to gain from prolonged warfare and the growing opposition to wartime taxes and demands by British merchants to reopen trade with American, peace discussions between British and American negotiators began in the neutral city of Ghent (Belgium) in August 1814. The resulting Treaty of Ghent restored relations between the two nations to the borders of the two countries (U.S. and British Canada) existing before the start of hostilities. The treaty was ratified by Parliament on December 30, 1814. Because of the era's lack of telecommunications, it took weeks for news of the peace treaty to reach the United States. In the interim, American forces under Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. The treaty was ratified by the U.S. Senate unanimously on February 18, 1815.
Impact in Europe: The wars resulted in the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire and sowed the seeds of nationalism that would lead to the consolidations of Germany and Italy later in the century. Meanwhile, the global Spanish Empire began to unravel as French occupation of Spain weakened Spain's hold over its colonies, providing an opening for nationalist revolutions in Spanish America. As a direct result of the Napoleonic wars, the British Empire became the foremost world power for the next century.
Impact on the United States: The War of 1812 exposed the military weakness of the United States, which was ill-equipped and unprepared to challenge the British. The British were able to repel the American invasion of Canada and to lay waste to the nation’s capital. Only poor weather conditions prevented the British from actually occupying Washington, D.C. And the full force of the British fleet was not concentrated against the United States since Britain’s prime focus was on defeating Napoleon. Although the Treaty of Ghent failed to secure official British acknowledgment of American maritime rights, Britain had already stopped its policy of impressing seamen off American ships. In the century of peace among the naval powers from 1815 until World War I American rights were not seriously violated. The course of the war resolved and ended all of the original issues, especially since the American Indians had been defeated and the Americans scored enough victories (especially at New Orleans) to satisfy honor and the sense of becoming fully independent from Britain.
Analyze Handout 10: Electoral Map of the Presidential Election of 1816, and compare it with Handout 8: Electoral Map of the Presidential Election of 1812.
- Who was running for President in the election of 1816? James Madison of Virginia and Rufus King of New York
- How many electoral votes did the Democratic-Republican candidate James Monroe receive? (183)
- How many electoral votes did the Federalist/Peace fusion candidate Rufus King receive? (34 votes from three states: Massachusetts, Connecticut and Delaware)
- Which candidate did New Jersey vote for? Monroe
- Why do you think New Jersey voted this way?
- Compare the Electoral Map of the Presidential Election of 1816 with Handout 8: The Electoral Map of the Presidential Election of 1812. The War of 1812 was hardly a victory, so why do you think the Democratic-republican candidate, James Monroe, won by a landslide?
While the war had not ended in victory, the peace was nonetheless satisfactory to the American people, and the Democratic-Republicans received credit for its prosecution. The Federalists had been discredited by their opposition to the war and secessionist rhetoric from New England. Many in the public perceived the Federalist Party as unpatriotic and possibly treasonous and abandoned it. In addition, President Madison had adopted Federalist policies, including a national bank and protective tariffs, which left the Federalists few issues to campaign on.
Activity 10: The Impact on New Jersey
The inability of American forces to conquer Canada during the War of 1812 and the return to the status quo in the Treaty of Ghent ending the war convinced Federalists in New Jersey that the war had been futile and this was used to denigrate the policies of the Democratic-Republicans. The Democratic-Republicans, however, insisted that “the war was successful because it enshrined the image of the American citizen-soldier again defeating the professional armies of a despotic Europe” (New Jersey: A History of the Garden States by Lurie and Veit, p. 99). Although New Jersey voted for Federalist DeWiit Clinton in the 1812 presidential election, by 1816 the vote in New Jersey for president had shifted to the Democratic-Republic candidate, James Monroe, who won by a landslide. After the one-year term of federalist Aaron Ogden as governor in 1813, New Jersey returned to leadership by Democratic-Republicans. However, the parties shifted back and forth with Federalist Isaac Williamson serving as New Jersey’s governor from 1817 to 1829, followed by a return to Republican-Democrats. The political parties and their messages in New Jersey, as in the rest of the country, were in flux during this period.
Historiography: Divide the class into two groups. Have one group write a “history” of the War of 1812 from the perspective of the editorial staff of the Trenton Federalist. Have the other group write from the perspective of the Centinel of Freedom. Pair students and have them share their editorials with each other. Have the class discuss which view was more persuasive.
Assessment: Students will receive an exit card to check their understanding of the War of 1812. The exit cards will be collected by the teacher. Questions on the exit card may include:
- Explain the causes of the war of 1812.
- Explain the uneven impact of the Embargo Acts upon the northeastern states and the mid-western states?
- What do you think the people of New Jersey felt about the declaration of war against Britain in 1812? Support your position with evidence.
- How did national politics and events impact decisions by the people of New Jersey in the election of 1812?
- If the election of 1812 were to take place today, who would you align with-the Federalists or the Democratic-Republicans? Why?
Additional resources: Fictional accounts of impressment:
- In Lucy M. Boston's second novel, The Chimneys of Green Knowe(1958), and its film adaptation by Julian Fellowes, From Time to Time(2009), Fred Boggis narrowly escapes being kidnapped by jealous Sefton and unscrupulous Caxton, who plan to sell him into impressment and split the proceeds.
- In her novel Sylvia's Lovers(1863), Elizabeth Gaskellpresents a description of impressment during the first phases of the Napoleonic wars.
- Herman Melville's novella Billy Budd, Sailor(published posthumously in 1924) describes the impressment, subsequent treatment, and eventual drumhead trialof a sailor during the Napoleonic Wars.
- Frank Tilsley's novel Mutiny(1958 and the movie it was made into, M.S. Defiant(1962, titled Damn the Defiant! in the U.S.), depict impressment.
- In Kate Worsley's debut novel, She Rises(2013), 15-year-old Luke is press-ganged and sent to sea on board the warship Essex.
Handout 1: Responses to British boarding of the Chesapeake
The Responsibility For The British Outrage
Washington National Intelligencer, 10 July 1807
We are pleased to observe the circumspection of the merchants. If they consult their own interests, or that of the country, they will for a time repress their spirit of adventure, and run as few risks as possible, until an explicit answer shall be given by the British Ministry. As yet, it remains a point undetermined whether the late barbarous outrages have emanated directly from the British Cabinet, or are the acts exclusively of subordinate commanders. If they are directly authorized by the Cabinet, then we may calculate upon a scene of violence co-extensive with British power, and for another display of that perfidy so characteristic of its government. Every American vessel on the ocean will be seized and sent into some British port for adjudication, and the courts will take special care, if they do not forthwith proceed to condemnation, at any rate to keep the cases sub judice. Indeed, if the recent outrages do not emanate from the government, it is difficult to say whether they will not, notwithstanding, seize what they may consider a favorable opportunity to wreak their vengeance on this country,
The Chesapeake and the Leopard
New York Evening Post, 24 July 1807
We say and we once more repeat it, that the Chesapeake, being aa national ship, was not liable to be searched for any purpose, nor to have any of her crew taken from her. This is ground that ought to be maintained at every hazard. But on the other hand, candor demands the concession, that it was in every way improper in the American commodore to enlist four deserters from the British man of war, knowing them to be such; and whether they were English subject, or had voluntarily enlisted and received their bounty (this being a conduct long since silently permitted by us), is immaterial. And we say further that if the Administration, on being applied to by the English consul, refused to accommodate the affair, but insisted on protecting the men by placing them under the national flag. The Administration thereby became criminal, and are answerable to the people for their culpable conduct.
Handout 2: OGRABME, or The American Snapping-turtle
Primary Source Analysis: Have students carefully look at and analyze the OGRABME cartoon by responding to the following questions:
- Where do your eyes go first?
- What do the snapping turtle, the man with the barrel and the man trying to stop the turtle represent?
- What do the ship and the men on the shore in the background represent?
- What powerful words and ideas are expressed?
Handout 2: Primary Source Analysis of OGRABME cartoon continued:
- What does “OGRABME” spell backwards?
- What was happening during this time period?
- What was the creator’s purpose in making this primary source? Was he supporting or opposing the Embargo Act?
- What does the creator do to get his or her point across?
- What was this primary source’s audience?
- What have you learned? Support your conclusions with specific evidence.
Handout 3: Chart of Exports and Imports, 1805-1818
|
Year |
Total Exports |
Total U.S. Merchandise Exported |
Imports |
|
1805 |
95,566 |
42,387 |
120,600 |
|
1806 |
101,537 |
41,254 |
129,410 |
|
1807 |
108,348 |
48,699 |
138,500 |
|
1808 |
22,431 |
9,434 |
56,990 |
|
1809 |
52,208 |
31,405 |
59,400 |
|
1810 |
66,758 |
42,367 |
85,400 |
|
1811 |
61,317 |
45,294 |
53,400 |
|
1812 |
38,527 |
30,032 |
77,030 |
|
1813 |
27,856 |
25,008 |
22,005 |
|
1814 |
6,927 |
6,782 |
12,965 |
|
1815 |
52,558 |
45,975 |
113,041 |
|
1816 |
81,920 |
64,782 |
147,103 |
|
1817 |
87,672 |
68,314 |
99,250 |
|
1818 |
93,281 |
73,854 |
121,750 |
from Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789-1945, prepared by the Bureau of the Census at the U.S. Department of Commerce, 1949, page 245. at http://www2.census.gov/prod2/statcomp/documents/HistoricalStatisticsoftheUnitedStates1789-1945.pdf
Handout 4: Map of New Jersey
As you read “The Embargo’s Impact: Smuggling,” list the impact of the Embargo on the following locations:
|
1. Little Egg Harbor |
|
2. Trenton |
|
3. Middlesex |
|
4. Perth Amboy |
|
5. Newark |
|
6. Richmond (Staten Island) |
|
7. New York Harbor |
Handout 5: Excerpt from “New Jersey and the Embargo, 1807-1809,” New Jersey History, vol. 116, nos. 3-4, Fall/Winter 1998 by Harvey Strum
Jefferson’s plan backfired. The Embargo of 1807 seriously harmed the American economy and led to the resurrection of the Federalists in New England, New York, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey. Because New Jersey lacked major ports, most of the export/import trade moved by way of New York and Philadelphia. New Jersey merchants dependent on the export/import trade were devastated. In Perth Amboy one firm reported, “The effects of the embargo here are very distressing and we are very sure that neither France nor England can suffer as much by a stopping of our trade as this country.”
The embargo hurt New Jersey farmers as well. According to New Jersey Federalists, the embargo produced a sharp decline in prices for surplus grain and produce that New Jersey farmers shipped or sold in New York and Philadelphia and estimated a loss of one million dollars annually. Wheat prices fell from a high of $1.25 per bushel in Trenton in 1807 to $1.00 per bushel in 1808. The cost of clearances required for every river craft to take produce to New York or Philadelphia also raised costs to farmers. The embargo reduced the value of horses, cattle, ad other livestock by 25 percent. For farmers the embargo reduced not only prices but also demand.
….Smuggling from Perth Amboy was so widespread…that the port became “notorious as a point of embarkation for illegal traffic” to New England and then to Canada. Evidence suggests that some enterprising merchants and ship owners sent vessels as far as England….The American Consult in Liverpool reported in February 1809 that of the twenty embargo violators in his district, “four-fifths… appear to be from New York and New Jersey.”
Handout 6: Sloan Breaks with His Party, excerpt from “James Sloan: Renegade or True Republican?” New Jersey History 125:1
In 1808, James Sloan broke with his party’s administration and with the majority of his Democratic Republican colleagues in Washington and in New Jersey…His increasing independence led to his exclusion from the congressional ticket in 1808. Four years later, Sloan broke with the Democratic Republican party to support a revival of Federalism in New Jersey…
James Sloan voted for the first Embargo Act and its first two supplements… By the end of April 1808, however, Sloan expressed doubts about the Embargo. As debate on the third supplement to the Embargo Act came to an end, Sloan continued to “profess his attachment to the embargo” but he also stated that the “details of the bill would be very injurious to divers[e] good people among his constituents and in other parts of the United States.” Even so, the House passed the bill by a vote of seventy three to twenty six. For the first time, Sloan opposed the policy so assiduously supported by the administration and the majority of his party. Sloan wrote his constituents and promised that he would not support “forging chains for you and your posterity.” Using language he once had directed against the Federalists, he pledged to no longer “enjoy the smiles of courtly sycophants and servile dependents upon executive patronage and the public treasury.”
Sloan’s change of heart on the Embargo reflected a growing disillusionment with his party and its leadership… In a speech to the House of Representatives on November 19, 1808, Sloan questioned the constitutionality of the Embargo. Congress, Sloan argued, had the constitutional power to regulate commerce, not to “annihilate” it. He further argued that continuance of the Embargo played into the hands of its intended victims: Great Britain and France. Additionally, it deprived the United States of profitable trade contacts. If the Embargo were lifted, Americans could trade with Spain and Portugal, where Napoleon’s armies were locked in an increasingly brutal war. Perhaps American trade could even deliver Iberia from the “rapacious fangs of the insatiable conqueror,” Napoleon Bonaparte. Simultaneously, the Embargo had caused increasing hardships among Sloan’s own New Jersey constituents, as well as among their commercial contacts in Philadelphia. In a second speech on December 27, 1808, Sloan described the Embargo as an instrument of oppression, enforceable only by “tyrannical” methods. Its repeal would preserve, not endanger, peace.
…In a letter accompanying his published speeches, Sloan saw the Embargo as a tool of “Southern Nabobs” who, “flushed with the election of another Virginia President,” wanted to “silence all opposition.”75 Such rhetoric revealed much larger differences between the now lame-duck congressman and the Virginia leadership of his party. Sloan saw support for slavery and low political participation in Virginia as evidence that his political party did not truly practice the democracy it espoused. He saw a growing divergence between the concerns of the Virginians and his own constituency of small farmers, many of whom were Quakers. Additionally, he saw the impact of the Embargo on the commerce of Philadelphia, just across the river from his home in Newton Township. His involvement in ferrying people and produce across the river had undoubtedly left him very cognizant of the plight of his own constituents and their contacts across the Delaware River.
Sloan did not win re-nomination to Congress in 1808; the party replaced him with Jacob Hufty of Salem County. In a pamphlet published soon after leaving office, by which time Congress had repealed the Embargo, Sloan again dwelt on the two issues of importance to him: the Embargo and removal of the nation’s capital from Washington to Philadelphia. He saw the Embargo as the “greatest evil these United States have experienced since the Revolutionary War.”
After reading the excerpt about Congressman James Sloan, complete the chart below. According to Sloan, why was the Embargo bad for the nation? The region? New Jersey?
|
Nation |
Region |
New Jersey |
Handout 7: House of Representatives Vote for War in 1812
|
State |
Region |
For |
Against |
|
NH |
Frontier Northeast |
3 |
2 |
|
VT |
3 |
1 |
|
|
MA |
Maritime and Federalist Northeast |
6 |
8 |
|
RI |
0 |
2 |
|
|
CT |
0 |
7 |
|
|
NY |
Commercial and Federalist Middle States |
3 |
11 |
|
NJ |
2 |
4 |
|
|
DE |
0 |
1 |
|
|
PA |
Jeffersonian Middle States |
16 |
2 |
|
MD |
6 |
3 |
|
|
VA |
Jeffersonian Southern States |
14 |
5 |
|
NC |
6 |
3 |
|
|
SC |
8 |
0 |
|
|
GA |
Trans-Allegheny West |
3 |
0 |
|
OH |
1 |
0 |
|
|
KY |
5 |
0 |
|
|
TN |
3 |
0 |
|
|
Totals |
79 |
49 |
Handout 8: Electoral Map of the Presidential Election of 1812
Handout 9: New Jersey Newspaper editorials about the War of 1812
Jonny Jump-ups!
Trenton Federalist, Trenton, NJ, Vol. XIV, Issue 710, page 3 (10-01-1812)
One cannot but be struck with the degradation of the country, in witnessing the airs and impudence of this kind of gosling fry among us. To hear them talk and swagger, it would seem as if they though the whole country rested upon their shoulders. All our old revolutionary me—Men grown gray in the service of their country—Who hazarded everything in the revolutionary war, are without ceremony denounced as tories and traitors, by these upstarts of yesterday. They talk of stopping the mouths of those to when they are indebted for every breath of liberty they ever drew. These chaps are hot for war—and if gostering, bragging, and bawling, would take Canada and level the walls of Quebec, the business had been done long ago. But shew them a gun and bayonet, with a little bit of paper to put their names to, and no mad-dogs fly the sight of water more quickly. Shallow as are their brains, and gross as is their ignorance, they’ll let you know they have just sense enough to keep out of the fire. Then you see how quickly these Jonny Jump-ups can Jump down—and how much better the chimney corner is suited to their courage, than a Canadian campaign.
The War a Righteous One
Centinel of Freedom, Newark, NJ, Vol. XVIII, Issue 6, page 1 (10-16-1813)
Almost all the Wars of Europe have been from motives of ambition, or for riches, or for some personal quarrel among their Kings, Queens and Princes. But the War which we have declared against England is a war of PRINCIPLE, a principle which our posterity on the seaboard will feel the good effects of through ages. If there ever was a righteous war since wars first began, it is the one in which we are engaged. It is a war that is to sweep from the ocean the slavery of its sons. It is a war that is to put an end to those sail water Dungeons, the Prison Shifts of England. It is a war in favor of the human race, against a nation that is an enemy to it! And to every thing beyond the limits of its own degenerated kingdom—Heaven will drown with a blessing these generous efforts in favor of oppressing humanity, and the conduct of our Executive and our heroes will be celebrated in future times with grateful admiration.
Handout 9: New Jersey Newspaper editorials about the War of 1812 continued
LIST OF WAR TAXES
Trenton Federalist, Trenton, NJ. Vol. XIV, Issue 710, Page 1 (10-05-1812)
- A bill to lay and collect a direct tax within the United States (land tax).
- A bill for the assessment and collection of direct taxes and internal duties.
- A bill imposing additional duties on the tonnage of ships and vessels.
- A bill to retain 25 per cent on the drawbacks allowed by law.
- A bill laying a duty on IMPORTED SALT.
- A bill to establish the office of commissioner of the revenues.
- A bill to lay duties on licences to retailers of wines, spirituous liquors and foreign merchandize.
- A bill to lay duties on carriages for the conveyance of persons.
- A bill to lay duties on licences to DISTILLLERS of spirituous liquors.
- A bill laying duties on sales at auction of foreign merchandize, and of ships and vessels.
- A bill laying duties on sugar refined within the United States.
- A bill laying duties on bank notes and on notes of hand and foreign bills of exchange of a certain description—STAMP TAX.
Until these taxes can be raised the war is to be carried on by Treasury Notes, a kind of PAPER MONEY; by which the national debt will be increased many millions, and by which so many honest people were ruined in the last war.
When Canada shall be conquered by thus exhausting and ruining our selves—WHAT IS IT WORTH? We shall have a cold, in hospitable country, full of fortifications, military posts, and a large fortified city; all of which must be maintained at an enormous expense from our own treasury. The population of Canada never has paid any tax to any government, and never will. It has cost Britain many millions every year, and will be a constant drain on the United States both in men and money.
Who then gains any thing by the conquest of Canada?
The friends and parasites of power. Here will be a new government to be established; a large army to be stationed.
Handout 9: New Jersey Newspaper editorials about the War of 1812
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Did you read anything surprising? If so, what and why? |
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What political point of view do you think the Centinel of Freedom is expressing? |
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What arguments does the Centinel of Freedom make in support of the war? |
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Which political point of view do you think the Trenton Federalist is expressing? |
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What arguments does the Trenton Federalist make against the war? |
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Do you think the War of 1812 was in the best interests of New Jersey? Why or why not? Support your response with evidence. |
Handout 10: Electoral Map of the Presidential Election of 1816
