Of the People A History of the United States, Volume II: Since 1865, with Sources

by McGerr, Michael; Townsend, Camilla; Dunak, Karen M.; Summers, Mark; Lewis, Jan Ellen

• ISBN13: 9780197798805
• ISBN10: 0197798802
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780197798812
• Edition: 6th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2026-02-17
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• More Book Details

Summary

Of the People: A History of the United States does more than tell the history of America-of its people and places, of its dealings and ideals. It unfolds the story of American democracy, carefully marking how this country's evolution has been anything but certain, from its complex beginnings to its modern challenges.

The authors see American history as a story "of the people," of their struggles to shape their lives and their land. Their narrative focuses on the social and political lives of people-some famous, some ordinary-revealing the compelling story of America's democracy from an individual perspective, from across the landscapes of diverse communities, and ultimately from within the larger context of the world.

The theme of democracy concentrates attention on the most fundamental concerns of history: people and power. These concerns have been especially relevant as the authors completed revising the book for this new edition in the midst of the 2024 presidential election campaign, one of the most divisive in modern American history. Recent history is always a challenge and always subject to revision, but the authors show how contemporary struggles over democracy are rooted in the past. Their balanced, inclusive approach makes it more possible for teachers and students to deal with the most controversial events.

Author Biography

Michael McGerr is Paul V. McNutt Professor of History at Indiana University-Bloomington.

Camilla Townsend is Distinguished Professor of History at Rutgers University.

Karen M. Dunak is Associate Professor of History at Muskingum University.

Mark Summers is Thomas D. Clark Professor of History at the University of Kentucky.

Jan Ellen Lewis was Professor of History and Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Rutgers University-Newark.

Table of Contents

Contents

Chapter 15: Reconstructing a Nation, 1865-1877
American Portrait: John Dennett Visits a Freedmen's Bureau Court
15.1 Wartime Reconstruction
Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan Versus the Wade-Davis Bill
The Meaning of Freedom
Experiments with
Free Labor
15.2 Presidential Reconstruction, 1865-1867
The Political Economy of Contract Labor
Resistance to Presidential Reconstruction
Congress Clashes with the President
Origins of the Fourteenth Amendment
15.3 Congressional Reconstruction
The South Remade
The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson
Radical Reconstruction in the South
Achievements and Failures of Radical Government
The Political Economy of Sharecropping
The Gospel of Prosperity
A Counterrevolution of Terrorism and Economic Pressure
15.4 A Reconstructed West
The Overland Trail
The Origins of Indian Reservations
Reforming Native American Tribes out of Existence
15.5 The Retreat From Republican Radicalism
Republicans Become the Party of Moderation
15.6 Reconstructing the North
The Fifteenth Amendment and Nationwide African American Suffrage
Women and Suffrage
Reconstructing America's Foreign Policy
15.7 The End of Reconstruction
Corruption Is the Fashion
Liberal Republicans Revolt
"Redeeming" the South
Struggles For Democracy: An Incident at Coushatta, August 1874
The Twice-Stolen Election of 1876
Sharecropping Becomes Wage Labor
American Landscape: The Exodusters Make it to the Promised Land
Conclusion

Chapter 15 Primary Sources
15.1 Petroleum V. Nasby [David Ross Locke], A Platform for Northern Democrats (1865)
15.2 A Black Tenant Farmer Describes Working Conditions
15.3 Sharecropping Contract Between Alonzo T. Mial and Fenner Powell (1886)
15.4 Joseph Farley, An Account of Reconstruction
15.5 A Southern Unionist Judge's Daughter Writes the President for Help (1874)
15.6 Red Cloud Pleads the Plains Indians' Point of View at Cooper Union (1870)

Chapter 16: The Triumph of Industrial Capitalism, 1850-1890
American Portrait: Rosa Cassettari
16.1 The Political Economy of Global Capitalism
The "Great Depression" of the Late Nineteenth Century
16.2 The Economic Transformation of the West
Cattlemen: From Drovers to Ranchers
Commercial Farmers Remake the Plains
Changes in the Land
The West as a Treasure-House
America Moves to the City
American Landscape: Pioneers' Paradise Lost
16.3 The Rise of Big Business
The Rise of Andrew Carnegie
Carnegie Dominates the Steel Industry
Big Business Consolidates
16.4 A New Social Order
Lifestyles of the Very Rich
The Consolidation of the New Middle Class
The Industrial Working Class Comes of Age
Social Darwinism and the Growth of Scientific Racism
Struggles For Democracy: "The Chinese Must Go"
The Knights of Labor and the Haymarket Disaster
Conclusion

Chapter 16 Primary Sources
16.1 Stephen Crane Visits the "Breaker" at a Coal Mine
16.2 Visual Document: Alfred R. Waud, "Bessemer Steel Manufacture" (1876)
16.3 George Steevens, Excerpt from The Land of the Dollar (1897)
16.4 James Baird Weaver, a Call to Action (1892)
16.5 Visual Documents: "Gift for the Grangers" (1873) and the Jorns Family of Dry Valley, Custer County, Nebraska (1886)
16.6 William A. Peffer Pleads the Farmer’s Cause, 1891

Chapter 17: The Culture and Politics of Industrial America, 1870-1892
American Portrait: Luna Kellie and the Farmers' Alliance
17.1 The Elusive Boundaries of Male and Female
The Victorian Construction of Male and Female
The Moralists' Crusade for Virtue and Self-Control
Urban Culture
17.2 A New Cultural Order: New Americans Stir Old Fears
Josiah Strong Attacks Immigration
From Immigrants to Ethnic Americans
The Catholic Church and Its Limits in Immigrant Culture
Immigrant Cultures
The Enemy at the Gates
17.3 Two Political Styles
The Triumph of Party Politics
Masculine Partisanship and Feminine Voluntarism
The Women's Christian Temperance Union
The Critics of Popular Politics
17.4 Economic Issues Dominate National Politics
Greenbacks and Greenbackers
Struggles For Democracy: The "Crusade" Against Alcohol
Weak Presidents Oversee a Stronger Federal Government
17.5 Government Activism and its Limits
States Discover Activism
Cities: Boss Rule and New Responsibilities
17.6 Challenging the New Industrial Order
Henry George and the Limits of Producers' Ideology
Edward Bellamy and the Nationalist Clubs
Agrarian Revolt
The Rise of the Populists
Conclusion

Chapter 17 Primary Sources
17.1 Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus" (1883)
17.2 Josiah Strong, Excerpts from "The Superiority of the Anglo-Saxon Race" (1885)
17.3 Henry George, Excerpts from "That We Might All Be Rich" (1883)
17.4 Jacob Riis, Excerpt from How the Other Half Lives (1890) and Visual Document: Jacob Riis, "Nomads of the Street" (ca. 1890)
17.5 New York World, "How Tim Got the Votes" (1892)
17.6 Tammany Times, "And Reform Moves On" (1895)

Chapter 18: Industry and Empire, 1890-1900
American Portrait: J. P. Morgan
18.1 The Crisis of the 1890s
Hard Times and Demands for Help
The Overseas Frontier
The Drive for Efficiency
The Struggle Between Management and Labor
Corporate Consolidation
18.2 A Modern Economy
Currency: Gold Versus Silver
The Cross of Gold
The Battle of the Standards
18.3 The Retreat From Politics
The Lure of the Cities
American Landscape: Galveston, Texas, 1900
Inventing Jim Crow
The Atlanta Compromise
Struggles For Democracy: Mary Church Terrell and "The Progress of Colored Women"
Disfranchisement and the Decline of Popular Politics
Organized Labor Retreats from Politics
18.4 American Diplomacy Enters the Modern World
Sea Power and the Imperial Urge
The Scramble for Empire
War with Spain
The Anti-Imperialists
The Philippine-American War
The Open Door
Conclusion

Chapter 18 Primary Sources
18.1 Frederick Winslow Taylor, Excerpts from The Principles of Scientific Management (1911)
18.2 Booker T. Washington, "The Atlanta Compromise" (1895)
18.3 Theodore Roosevelt, Excerpts from "The Strenuous Life" (1899)
18.4 Platform for the Anti-Imperialist League (1899)

Chapter 19: A United Body of Action, 1900-1916
American Portrait: Helen Keller
19.1 Toward a New Politics
The Insecurity of Modern Life
The Decline of Partisan Politics
Social Housekeeping
Evolution or Revolution?
19.2 The Progressives
Social Workers and Muckrakers
Struggles For Democracy: Public Response to The Jungle
Dictatorship of the Experts
Progressives on the Color Line
19.3 Progressives in State and Local Politics
Redesigning the City
Reform Mayors and City Services
Progressives and the States
19.4 A Push for "Genuine Democracy" and a "Moral Awakening"
The Executive Branch Against the Trusts
The Square Deal
Conserving Water, Land, and Forests
Theodore Roosevelt and Big Stick Diplomacy
Taft and Dollar Diplomacy
American Landscape: The Big Burn
19.5 Rival Visions of the Industrial Future
The New Nationalism
The 1912 Election
The New Freedom
Conclusion

Chapter 19 Primary Sources
19.1 Daniel Burnham and Edward H. Bennet, Plan of Chicago (1909)
19.2 Upton Sinclair, Excerpts from The Jungle (1906)
19.3 Visual Documents: Lewis Wickes Hine, National Child Labor Committee Photographs (Early 1900s)
19.4 Helen Keller, Excerpts from "Blind Leaders" (1913)

Chapter 20: A Global Power, 1914-1919
American Portrait: Mabel Seagrave and the American Women's Overseas Hospital Unit
20.1 The Challenge of Revolution
The Mexican Revolution
Bringing Order to the Caribbean
A One-Sided Neutrality
The Lusitania's Last Voyage
20.2 The Drift to War
The Election of 1916
The Last Attempts at Peace
War Aims
The Fight in Congress
20.3 Mobilizing the Nation and the Economy
Enforcing Patriotism
Struggles For Democracy: Eugene V. Debs Speaks Out Against the War
Regimenting the Economy
The Great Migration
Reforms Become "War Measures"
20.4 Over There
Citizens into Soldiers
The Fourteen Points
The Final Offensive
20.5 Revolutionary Anxieties
Wilson in Paris
The Senate Rejects the League
Red Scare
American Landscape: The 1918 Influenza Epidemic
Conclusion

Chapter 20 Primary Sources
20.1 Eugene V. Debs, Excerpts from Canton, Ohio, Speech (1918)
20.2 George Creel, Excerpts from How We Advertised America (1920)
20.3 Woodrow Wilson, Joint Address to Congress Leading to Declaration Against War on Germany (1917)
20.4 Marysville Evening Tribune, Influenza, and the American Military (1918)

Chapter 21: The Modern Nation, 1919-1928
American Portrait: "America's Sweetheart"
21.1 A Dynamic Economy
The Development of Industry
The Trend Toward Large-Scale Organization
The Transformation of Work and the Workforce
The Defeat of Organized Labor
The Decline of Agriculture
The Urban Nation
21.2 A Modern Culture
The Spread of Consumerism
New Pleasures for a Mass Audience
A Sexual Revolution
Changing Gender Ideals
Struggles For Democracy: The Scopes Trial
The Family and Youth
American Landscape: The Tulsa Race Massacre
The Celebration of the Individual
21.3 The Limits of the Modern Culture
The Limits of Prosperity
The "Lost Generation" of Intellectuals
Fundamentalist Christians and "Old-Time Religion"
Nativists and Immigration Restriction
The Rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan
Mexican Americans
African Americans and the New Negro
21.4 A "New Era" In Politics and Government
The Modern Political System
The Republican Ascendancy
The Politics of Individualism
Republican Foreign Policy
Extending the New Era
Conclusion

Chapter 21 Primary Sources
21.1 Hiram Wesley Evans, Excerpts from "The Klan: Defender of Americanism" (1925)
21.2 Marie Prevost on "The Flapper" (1923)
21.3 Visual Document: Colgate & Co. Advertisement (1925)
21.4 Robert Lynd and Helen Lynd, Excerpt from "Remaking Leisure in Middletown" (1929)

Chapter 22: A Great Depression and a New Deal, 1929-1940
American Portrait: Dorothea Lange
22.1 The Great Depression
Causes
Descending into Depression
Hoover Responds
22.2 The First New Deal
The Election of 1932
FDR Takes Command
Federal Relief
The Farm Crisis
Struggles For Democracy: Electrifying Hill Country
The Blue Eagle
22.3 The Second New Deal
Critics Attack from All Sides
The Second Hundred Days
Social Security for Some
Labor and the New Deal
The New Deal Coalition
22.4 Crisis of the New Deal
Conservatives Counterattack
American Landscape: The 1937 Ohio River Flood
The Liberal Crisis of Confidence
Conclusion

Chapter 22 Primary Sources
22.1 Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address (1933)
22.2 Visual Documents: Dorothea Lange, Farm Security Administration Photographs (1930s)
22.3 "Ballad for Americans," Federal Theater Project, Sing for Your Supper (1939)
22.4 Remembering the Great Depression, Excerpts from Studs Terkel's Hard Times (1970)

Chapter 23: The Second World War, 1941-1945
American Portrait: John Sengestack and the Black Press in World War II
23.1 Island in a Totalitarian Sea
A World of Hostile Blocs
The Good Neighbor
America First?
Means Short of War
23.2 Turning the Tide
Midway and Coral Sea
Gone with the Draft
American Landscape: Martial Law in Hawaii
The Winning Weapons
The Second Front
23.3 Organizing for Production
A Mixed Economy
Industry Moves South and West
New Jobs in New Places
Women in Industry
23.4 Between Idealism and Fear
Japanese Internment
No Shelter from the Holocaust
Struggles For Democracy: The Zoot Suit Riots
23.5 Closing with the Enemy
Taking the War to Europe
Island Hopping in the Pacific
Building a New World
The Fruits of Victory
Conclusion

Chapter 23 Primary Sources
23.1 Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Four Freedoms" Speech (1941)
23.2 Charles Lindbergh, America First Committee Address (1941)
23.3 Letter From James G. Thompson to the Editor of the Pittsburgh Courier (1942)
23.4 From Italy to Chicago, Pfc. Ray Latal Comes Home (1945)

Chapter 24: The Cold War, 1945-1954
American Portrait: John Turchinetz
24.1 Origins of the Cold War
Ideological Competition
Uneasy Allies
From Allies to Enemies
24.2 National Security
The Truman Doctrine
Containment
Taking Risks
American Landscape: The Nevada Test Site
Global Revolutions
Korea
NSC-68
24.3 The Reconversion of American Society
The Postwar Economy
The Challenge of Organized Labor
Opportunities for Women
Civil Rights for African Americans
24.4 The Frustrations of Liberalism
The Democrats' Troubles
Truman's Comeback
24.5 Fighting the Cold War at Home
Doubts and Fears in the Atomic Age
The Anti-Communist Crusade
The Hunt for Spies
Struggles For Democracy: The Hollywood Ten
The Rise of McCarthyism
Conclusion

Chapter 24 Primary Sources
24.1 Harry S. Truman, Excerpts from Special Message to the Congress on Greece and Turkey (1947)
24.2 High School and College Graduates in the Cold War (1948-1950)
24.3 Joseph McCarthy, Wheeling, West Virginia Speech (1950)
24.4 Margaret Chase Smith, "A Declaration of Conscience" (1950)

Chapter 25: The Consumer Society, 1945-1961
American Portrait: Walt Disney
25.1 Living the Good Life
Economic Prosperity
American Landscape: West Texas
The Suburban Dream
The Pursuit of Pleasure
25.2 A Homogeneous Society?
The Discovery of Conformity
The Decline of Class and Ethnicity
The Resurgence of Religion and Family
Maintaining Gender Roles
Persisting Racial Differences
The Survival of Diversity
25.3 The Eisenhower Era at Home and Abroad
"Ike" and 1950s America
Modern Republicanism
An Aggressive Cold War Strategy
Avoiding War with the Communist Powers
Crises in the Third World
25.4 Challenges to the Consumer Society
Rebellious Youth
The Beat Movement
The Rebirth of Environmentalism
The Struggle for Civil Rights
Struggles For Democracy: "SOS" - SMOG!
The Crisis of "Misplaced Power"
Conclusion

Chapter 25 Primary Sources
25.1 Gael Greene, "The Battle of Levittown" (1957)
25.2 H. H. Remmers And D. H. Radler, Excerpts from "Teenage Attitudes" (1958)
25.3 John Foster Dulles, "A Policy of Boldness" (1952)
25.4 United States Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization, Excerpts from "Survive Nuclear Attack" (1960)

Chapter 26: "The Table of Democracy", 1960-1968
American Portrait: Dolores Huerta
26.1 New Approaches to Power
Grassroots Activism for Civil Rights
The New Liberalism
The New Conservatism
The New Left
The Presidential Election of 1960
26.2 The New Frontier
Style and Substance
Civil Rights
American Landscape: "Spaceport USA"
Flexible Response and the Third World
Two Confrontations with the Soviets
Kennedy and Vietnam
26.3 The Great Society
Lyndon Johnson's Mandate
"Success Without Squalor"
Preserving Personal Freedom
The Birth of a More Representative Nation
26.4 The American War in Vietnam
Johnson's Decision for War
Fighting a Limited War
The War at Home
26.5 The Great Society Comes Apart
The Emergence of Black Power
Mexican American Activism
The Youth Rebellion
Struggles For Democracy: Protest in the Schools
The Rebirth of the Women's Movement
Conservative Backlash
1968: A Tumultuous Year
Conclusion

Chapter 26 Primary Sources
26.1 Martin Luther King Jr., "Statement to the Press at the Beginning of the Youth Leadership Conference" (1960) and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Statement of Purpose (1960)
26.2 John F. Kennedy, Speech on the Space Program (1962)
26.3 Lyndon B. Johnson, Excerpts from Address at Johns Hopkins University, "Peace Without Conquest" (1965)
26.4 Diane Carlson Evans, Oral History Interview on Her Service as an Army Nurse in Vietnam (2012)
26.5 John Wilcock, "The Human Be-In" and "San Francisco" (1967)

Chapter 27: Living with Less, 1968-1980
American Portrait: "Fighting Shirley Chisholm"
27.1 A New Crisis: Economic Decline
Weakness at Home
The Energy Crisis
Competition Abroad
The Multinationals
American Landscape: The South Bronx
The Impact of Decline
27.2 Confronting Decline: Nixon's Strategy
A New Foreign Policy
Ending the Vietnam War
Chile and the Middle East
Taming Big Government
An Uncertain Economic Policy
Regulating the Environment
27.3 Refusing to Settle for Less: Struggles for Rights
African Americans' Struggle for Racial Justice
Women's Liberation
¡Si Se Puede!: Mexican Americans Asian American Activism
The Struggle for Native American Rights
Gay Power
27.4 Backlash: From Radical Action to Conservative Reaction
"The Movement" and the "Me Decade"
The Plight of the White Ethnics
The Republican Counterattack
27.5 Political Crisis: Three Troubled Presidencies
Watergate: The Fall of Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford and a Skeptical Nation
"Why Not the Best?": Jimmy Carter
Struggles For Democracy: The Pollster
Conclusion

Chapter 27 Primary Sources
27.1 Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jørgen Randers, and William H. Behrens III, The Limits to Growth (1972)
27.2 Nixon Decides on the Christmas Bombing (1972)
27.3 New York Radical Women, Principles (1968) and Pat Maxwell, "Homosexuals in the Movement" (1970)
27.4 Statements by Roman Pucinski, Ethnic Heritage Studies Centers; Hearings Before the General Subcommittee on Education of the Committee on Education and Labor (1970)
27.5 Clyde Warrior, "Statement" (1967)

Chapter 28: The Triumph of Conservatism, 1980-1991
American Portrait: Jerry Falwell
28.1 Creating a Conservative Majority
The New Economy
The Rehabilitation of Business
The Rise of the Religious Right
The 1980 Presidential Election
28.2 The Reagan Revolution at Home
The Reagan Style
Shrinking Government
Reaganomics
The 1984 Presidential Election
28.3 The Reagan Revolution Abroad
Restoring American Power
Confronting the "Evil Empire"
The Reagan Doctrine in the Third World
The Middle East and Terrorism
The United States and the World Economy
28.4 The Battle Over Conservative Social Values
Attacking the Legacy of the 1960s
Women's Rights and Abortion
Gays and the AIDS Crisis
African Americans and Racial Inequality
"The Decade of the Hispanic"
28.5 From Scandal to Triumph
Business and Religious Scandals
Political Scandals
American Landscape: Times Beach, Missouri
Setbacks for the Conservative Agenda
The Vulnerable World
The Vulnerable Economy
Struggles For Democracy: Reagan at the Berlin Wall
Reagan's Comeback
Conclusion

Chapter 28 Primary Sources
28.1 Ronald Reagan, Excerpts from "Address to the Nation on the Economy" (1981)
28.2 The Debate Over the Defense Build-Up (1983)
28.3 Equal Pay for Women (1982)
28.4 Excerpts From the Republican and Democratic Party Platforms on the State of the American Family (1984)

Chapter 29: The Globalized, Information Society, 1989-2008
American Portrait: David Rockefeller
29.1 The Age of Globalization
The Cold War and Globalization
New Communications Technologies
Multinationals and NGOs
Expanding Trade
Moving People
American Landscape: Celina, Ohio
29.2 A New Economy
From Industry to Information
A Second Economic Revolution?
Downsizing America
Boom and Insecurity
29.3 Democracy Deadlocked
George H. W. Bush and the End of the Reagan Revolution
The Rebellion Against Politics as Usual
Clinton's Compromise with Conservatism
Domestic Dissent and Terrorism
The Response to Climate Change
Scandal
29.4 Culture Wars
African Americans in the Post-Civil Rights Era
Family Values
Multiculturalism
Women in the Postfeminist Era
Contesting Gay and Lesbian Rights
29.5 Redefining Foreign Policy in the Global Age
The New World Order
The Persian Gulf War
Retreating from the New World Order
A New Threat
29.6 Twin Crises
"Bush 43"
9/11
The Global War on Terror
The Iraq War
Iraq and Afghanistan in Turmoil
Financial Crisis
Struggles For Democracy: "Gitmo"
Conclusion

Chapter 29 Primary Sources
29.1 Kenichi Ohmae, "Declaration of Interdependence Toward the World" (1990) and Helena Norberg-Hodge, "Break Up the Monoculture" (1996)
29.2 Frank Luntz, "The Environment: A Cleaner, Safer, Healthier America" (2002)
29.3 The Defense of Marriage Act (1996)
29.4 George H. W. Bush, Excerpts From "Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the Cessation of Hostilities in the Persian Gulf Conflict" (1991)
29.5 George W. Bush, Excerpts From "Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the United States Response to the Terrorist Attacks of September 11" (2001)

Chapter 30: "The American Dream", 2008-2024
American Portrait: Maria "Bambi" Roaquin
30.1 Obama and the Promise of Change
The Presidential Election of 2008
Confronting Economic Crisis
Ending the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
The Politics of Frustration
A Second Term
Climate Change
Unending War?
30.2 Transformation and Division
A Diverse Society of Color
LGBTQ Rights
Religious Beliefs and Practices
Economic Change
Unequal Outcomes
American Landscape: The Winter Strawberry Capital of the World
30.3 Politics of Division
Polarized Politics
The Presidential Election of 2016
Struggles For Democracy: "Pizzagate" and the Politics of Social Media
"Make America Great Again"
"America First"
30.4 Trump's Downfall and Return
Impeachment
Pandemic
"I Can't Breathe"
The Presidential Election of 2020
Biden's Quest for "Unity"
A Traditional Foreign Policy
Trump's Triumph
Conclusion

Chapter 30 Primary Sources
30.1 Barack Obama, Keynote Address, Democratic Party Convention (2004)
30.2 Debate in the House of Representatives on a Resolution "That Symbols and Traditions of Christmas Should Be Protected" (2005)
30.3 Donald Trump, Extract of Remarks at a "Make America Great Again" Rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (2017)
30.4 Children and Immigration Policy (2018)
30.5 Campus Unrest During the Hamas-Israeli War (2023-24)