Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA )

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Tennessee Valley Authority was established under the New Deal economic policies during the first tenure of Roosevelt. It was federally owned corporation. It was aimed at providing electricity through hydro power plants. Apart from that, it was aimed at controlling floods, navigation and producing fertilizer. The Tennessee Valley economy was in a miserable condition. Therefore, the TVA was aimed at improving the economy of that region. It covered Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky and some parts of Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia. It aimed at involving the community people in spreading the knowledge of use of new seeds and fertilizer. The people was involved in its administration and locally recruited. It was owned by the Federal government but the people of region had major say in its administration. It provided electricity at a cheaper rate as compared to privately owned electrical power generation companies which dominated the electricity generation in America. It encouraged industry around its region and thus the economy of Tennessee and regions around it improved.

On the whole, it is considered to be one of the successful activity of New Deal economic policies. Secondly, it represented the shift in the mindset of the American government towards the social and economic policies. Earlier American themselves did not like that American Federal government should interfere. Similar, America did not desire that in hard times people should look towards government to improve their economic condition. However, in TVA the Federal government took the responsibility of improving the economy of the region.

In success of TVA became a role model for the future economic development in which Federal government backed the financing. However, the success of TVA was not repeated. It is still in existence in America.

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Subject to Editing

New Frontier

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The term New Frontier was coined by John F Kennedy. He used this term in a message at the time of his nomination to the presidential candidature by the Democratic party.

He spoke, “We stand at the edge of a New Frontier—the frontier of unfulfilled hopes and dreams, a frontier of unknown opportunities and beliefs in peril. Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered problems of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus.”

He spoke to encourage his countrymen. At that time there was sense of anxiety due to increase in competition during the Cold War.

When Kennedy became the President he adopted number of measures to face the Cold War situation. In the field of economy, by the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, the President was given power to negotiate on tariff issues with the European Market. With the Fair Labour Standard Act 1961, the daily wages of the workers in retail sector was increased. Under Omnibus Housing Bill 1961, economy was revitalized by providing affordable housing and increased housing construction. Under Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962, the training was financed for the unemployed who had been displaced by introduction of new technologies. In order to given equal status to the Women in education and work places Kennedy signed Equal Pay Act in 1963. IN the field of Defense, Kennedy allowed development of troops in counterinsurgency, tackle spread of communist forces, increase nuclear arms development etc. He tackled Cuban Missile crisis, Laos, Vietnam and Bay of Pigs invasion though such measures faced lot of criticism.

In the above manner, the spirit of New Frontier message was translated into such actions which faced new field of crisis, new frontiers of science and space, the frontiers of peace and war, the frontiers of poverty and surplus and reinstated the confidence of the American nation.

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Marshall Plan-European Recovery Programme (ERP)

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Marshall Plan
European Recovery Programme (ERP)

In his speech on June 5, 1947, the Secretary of State of America, George Marshall told the audience of Harvard University that in Europe “United States should assist in the return of normal economic health in the world.”

He further said that the policy of America was “against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Any government that is willing to assist in recovery will find full co-operation on the part of the U.S.A. ”

He then assured that it would be the policy of the American government to assist the European countries in recovery of their economy in manner that a political and social conditions could develop in which the free institutions would exist. He told that they would not cooperate with such governments and parties (reference to communist parties and countries) which did not allow the development of free institutions (for him, the development of democracies.) He further told that the European governments would have to develop a consensus about the role and part they would play in recovery of their economies and the political institutions they would work through. He insisted that the economic designs would not be planned by the American government but the European governments would themselves decide upon the model to be adopted. In other words, he suggested that they would have to develop a critical view the communist form of economic model. He said, “The initiative must come from Europe.”

The government of United States of America then participated in the recovery of the economies of the European governments for next four years and that cooperation or the contribution in form of financial and technical support was called European Recovery Programme.

The American government evaluated that if the European governments did not improve in European economies, then they could not continue to buy from America for long. It would not be in benefit of American economy. Then, with shattered economies they could fall in the camp of Communist USSR. Therefore, for the benefit of the American economy and to stop the spread of Communism in the world, America came up with European Recovery Programme.

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Resources:

Text of the Speech of Secretary of State by George C. Marshall delivered on June 5, 1947 at Harvard University accessed on November 15, 2009 through the links on NARA.

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=11068733&postID=7750181028081856792

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Hindi Version
अमेरिका के जोर्ज मार्शल ने जून ५, १९४७, हारवर्ड विश्वविद्याला में अपने भाषण में कहा कि विश्व की आर्थिक स्थिथि को सुधारने के लिए अमेरिका सहयोग करने के लिए तैयार है. उसने कहा कि अमेरिका भुखमरी, गरीबी, हताशा एंव आराजकता का अन्त चाहता है.  इस लिए कोई भी सरकार जो अपनी आर्थिक स्थिथि को सुधारना चाहे अमेरिका उसे सहजोग देगा.

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अनुवाद अभी जारी है

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Truman Doctrine

President Harry S. Truman of America gave the outline of a Doctrine in his speech to the Joint Session of Congress on March 12, 1947, which is partly reproduced as below. It is called the Truman Doctrine.

"I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. (Containment of Communism)

I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. (promote Democracy)

I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes." (Financial Help)

From above, it can be said that Truman Doctrine was a policy of containment, promotion of democratic government and institution in world and financial help to those countries who faced the possibility of coming under communist ideology.

It was a first set of measures in a series of measures adopted by the United States of America in Post World War II period to contain the spread of communaism which is also known as the containment policy of the United States of America.

The America adopted this policy when Greece approached America for financial assisstance to rebulit her economy which had suffered during the World War II. Earlier Britain had given assistance. But Britian withdrew gradually. Simultaneously, Greece faced the rise of communist violence in the country. Similar situation was emerging in Turkey.

Under the Truman Doctrine America gave financial assistance of 400 million dollars to Greece as well training to technicians and professionals from Greeces upto 1948.

It was part of two sided policy containment adopted at the beigning Cold War. The second side was direct financial support to the European countries under Marshall Plan. Truman Doctrine was considered as a tougher side of the policy.

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Reference Source: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/trudoc.asp

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Note: The note is yet to be finalized.

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Ku Klux Klan

As per Stanley H. Horn, in his book, The Invisible Empire: The story of Ku Klux Klan, the group called Ku Klux Klan was organized by the members of Confederate army in Pulaski in Tennessee after the American Civil War had ended. As per the present US government classification, they are termed as  a hate group. The organization adopted the aim of protecting the rights and interests of White population in South States during the post Civil War period. They adopted the means of violence, murder and intimidation of African Americans and White Republicans (Carpetbaggers). Their aim was regain the control for White people over the South states. They wore long white robes, covered their heads with conical hats and hid their faces under masks. The Federal government passed Force Acts in 1870 and 1871 to prosecute the members of Ku Klux Klan for committing murders and other crimes of violence. They were suppressed. However, they again resurfaced and managed to help the white democrats to regain the political control over the South states.

In 1920s, a fresh organization with the same name and similar dress code resurfaced. They aimed at promoting the interests of White population. After Great Depression and then in post World War II period, their influence decreased. However, they are believed to be still popular among a section of white population in United States of America.

Emancipation Proclamation

Emancipation Proclamation refers to two executive orders which Abraham Lincoln issued as the Commander in Chief Army and Navy of United States of America and President of America.

The first executive order was issued on September 22, 1862. It was issued after the victory of Union Army in the Battle of Antietam on September 7, 1862. It declared that on January 1, 1863, slaves in areas then "in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free."

The main significance was that it declared that slaves on the territories which at that time was fighting as Confederate of States, would be free. It did not refer to the slaves on the territories which were directly under the control of Union Army.

Secondly, after the 1862 proclamation, the Union Army started employing Africans in their army. It helped them to strengthen their war efforts.

The second executive order was issued on January 1, 1863. It proclaimed that in the states which were actually at that time rebellion against the United States of America, “all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free.”

At the end of Civil War, by thirteenth Amendment all the people held as slaves were declared free.

Abolitionism (American History)

What is the Abolitionism?

The Abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and emancipate the slaves in America. Similar movement had taken place in western Europe. According the exponents of this movement, the Enlightened thinkers, the practice of slavery was violation of the rights of man.(The Bill of Rights) Similarly, some of the denominations of Christianity called it un-christian practice.

The leading exponent of Abolitionism in America were John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Aron Burr, Henry Clay etc. There were radicals like John Brown who was executed for his anti-slavery activities which crossed the permissible limits. There were writers and journalist like William Lloyd Garrison who was the publisher of The Liberator. Similarly there were African American popular abolitionist Frederick Douglass and Robert Purvius. The popular Abolitionism movement society was American Anti Slavery society.

The main solutions suggested by the abolitionist was immediate emancipation and full civil rights to the African American within America. Second suggestion was to send them to Africa and establish separate colony for them in Africa itself. The Liberia was such a place where many of them were send. However that experiment did not succeed. Finally, by Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln and Thirteen Amendment to the American Constitution in 1865, the slavery was abolished in America.

The struggle for the equal Civil Rights for the African American continued for a longer period. It developed into American Civil Rights Movement which is also called Second Reconstruction in the twentieth century. During this period Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became the major leader of African American Civil Rights. The major association was National Association for the Advancement of Colored People or NAACP.

On January 20, 2009, Barack Obama became the 44th President of United States of America and the first African American to hold the highest office in USA.

Who is an abolitionist?

Ans:According to John McPherson, as he wrote in his book in The Struggle of Equality, an abolitionist is “one one who before the Civil War in the United States of America had agitated for the immediate, unconditional, and total abolition of slavery in the United States”. The unconditional emancipation as an aim was oriented to achieve equality of civil rights for the black free slaves. (Read the notes on John M. McPherson)

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Notes:

James M McPherson's two books, The Struggle for Equality: Abolitionists and the Negro in the Civil War and Reconstruction (1964) and The Negro's Civil War: How American Negroes Felt and Acted During the War for the Union (1965) are still considered an authority on the African American struggle in nineteenth century. Another substantiating book is The Slave Community by John Blassingame.

Define Sanskritization

"The caste system is far from a rigid system in which the position of each component caste is fixed for all time. Movement has always been possible, and especially so in the middle regions of the hierarchy. A low caste was able, in a generation or two, to rise to a higher position in the hierarchy by adopting vegetarianism and teetotalism, and by Sanskritizing its ritual and pantheon. In short, it took over, as far as possible, the customs, rites, and beliefs of the Brahmins, and the adoption of the Brahminic way of life by a low caste seems to have been frequent, though theoretically forbidden. This process has been called -'Sanskritization'.”

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Source:
Srinivas M. N., Caste in Modern India and other essays, 1962,Media Promoters and Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Bombay, pp 42. Chapter 2, A Note on Sanskritization and Westernization. Quoted by M. N. Srinivas from 'Religions and Society among the Coorgs of South India, Oxford, 1952, p.32.

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Define Antebelleum America

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The word Antebellum is a Latin word. The meaning of the word is before war. The prefix 'ante' stands for before and 'bellum' is Latin word for war. Thus it means - before the war. Here the war refers to the Civil War of America. Therefore, the Antebellum America means before the American Civil War 1860. In the History and Historiography of the United States of America, the phrase Antebellum America is used in lieu of pre-Civil War period. When the American historians use this phrase, invariably their stress is on the rise of sectionalism in America before the Civil War with its social, economic, cultural, religious, political and constitutional dimensions. Among some American scholars, it is generally treated as cherished memories of old South states which vanished with the Civil War. Among the English literature scholars of America, the Antebellum America symbolized a classic age of culture and American civilization. The critics of that period counter it with the criticism of slavery as practiced in American South States before the Civil War. Hence, on one hand, it is studied as a cherished glorious period of American developments and on other hand, criticism of it emphasizes it as a phase of pre-colonial hangover among revolutionary and republican Americans. In short, in its theme, it is story of moral conflicts carried from colonial period and American response to it.

The American historians allocate different time spans for the Antebellum America. Generally, they discuss the happenings since Mexican American War and the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854 ending with Civil War as the period of Antebellum America. With a different set of sources and ideologies, the dimension of the time span changes for other set of historians and they generally study the period extending from 1812 to 1860 as the period of Antebellum America. Somehow, the period succeeding Civil War, which is generally termed as the Reconstruction period, refers to the end of the phase of American way of life which is studied under Antebellum America phrase. Therein, one can find the significance of the term Antebellum America in American history. No doubt a sense of Romanticism has been be attached to Antebellum America which is perhaps best represented by the novel of Margret Mitchell “Gone with the Wind (1936) and the movie based on that novel that was released in 1939.

Similarly, many historians prefer to study the period from 1784 or with some qualification of the selection of the sources, from 1789 to 1865 as one single whole chapter in the history of America. They do not use the word pre-Civil War. For them, the Revolution of America was the success of Americanism based on liberty and freedom, the freedom for labour and wealth. They prefer to call it Antebellum America wherein they suggest that it was one of the phase of cultural heritage of America.

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Course: History, M. A. I, History, Punjab University Chandigarh. Paper III, The USA
Category: Short Notes
Author: Asst Professor Sumir Sharma, Department of Post Graduate History, Arya College, Ludhiana