Showing papers in "Pacific Historical Review in 1975"
TL;DR: In this paper, Collier challenged the Goliath of the federal government in a case involving the lands of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico, and his surprising victory in that encounter resulted in the birth of modern Indian reform movement.
Abstract: THE GENIUS OF JOHN COLLIER, commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1933 to 1945, was that he saw the bankruptcy of federal Indian policy more clearly than anyone else in his generation. With its emphasis upon the allotment or division of Indian reservations into individually owned parcels of land and the forcible assimilation of Indians into white society, that policy had brought widespread poverty and demoralization to the majority of Indians by 1922. In that year, Collier, much like David, challenged the Goliath of the federal government in a case involving the lands of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. His surprising victory in that encounter resulted in the birth of the modern Indian reform movement.'
35 citations
TL;DR: In the last half of the nineteenth century, the rise of heavy industry and rapidly growing populations as discussed by the authors was one of the most important changes in the technology of urban transportation in America.
Abstract: D URING THE PAST TWO DECADES, as urban history has become increasingly sophisticated, its central focus has shifted from urban biography to theories about and explanations of the urbanization process.' Leading scholars have suggested that nineteenth-century American cities were shaped by forces significantly different from those that influenced the growth patterns of twentieth-century cities.2 Perhaps the most important changes occurred in the technology of urban transportation. In the last half of the nineteenth century, the rise of heavy industry and rapidly growing populations
21 citations
TL;DR: The appearance of the stalwart negro regiment [in Manila] was a surprise to the Western Volunteers, for they had been isolated to such an extent that the arrival of the Twenty-fifth had not been heralded as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The appearance of the stalwart negro regiment [in Manila] was a surprise to the Western Volunteers, for they had been isolated to such an extent that the arrival of the Twenty-fifth had not been heralded. However one smart volunteer ... shouted to a tall negro giant: "Hello, nig. Didn't know you'd come. What do you think you're going to do over here!" The big negro replied, "Well, I doan know, but I ruther reckon we're sent over hah to take up de White Man's burden!"'
21 citations
TL;DR: The sociology of knowledge is a fairly new and still fluid discipline which, I suspect, will increasingly influence and involve historians who are probing the dynamics of cultural change as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: THE SOCIOLOGY OF KNOWLEDGE is a fairly new and still fluid discipline which, I suspect, will increasingly influence and involve historians who are probing the dynamics of cultural change. Its subject is the relation between thought and life-styles. The general proposition that the way we live tends to be connected with the way we think is a platitude. It can become very puzzling, however, when one tries to find out just how that relationship has operated in a specific historical situation. Despite this potential fascination, historians are still normally suspicious of the sociology of knowledge for two reasons.
14 citations
TL;DR: Turner suggested that the frontier thesis should be tested in other areas of the world which had experienced conditions similar to those of the United States during its formative period as mentioned in this paper, and his view has been echoed by many historians of the Americas who have exhibited substantial interest in comparing the two areas.
Abstract: ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION Frederick Jackson Turner suggested that his frontier thesis be tested in other areas of the world which had experienced conditions similar to those of the United States during its formative period. "South America should be a rich field," he said, and his view has been echoed by many historians of the Americas who have exhibited substantial interest in comparing the two areas.' John Francis Bannon, for example, believes that
13 citations
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11 citations
TL;DR: For instance, the definition of the West used in the Western Historical Quarterly (WHSQ) is a good one as mentioned in this paper, with special attention given to the trans-Mississippi West, both nineteenth and twentieth century.
Abstract: IN THE 1960s the tremendous increase in historical literature on black Americans began to make an impact upon western history. The role of blacks in several facets of the frontier was explored, and simultaneously several large Negro communities and their contemporary problems received widespread attention. Over a decade of writing has produced substantial but uneven advances in the recognition of the place of blacks in western history. Gerald Nash is essentially correct in stating that "The story of Black Americans in the West [in the twentieth century] still needs to be told,"1 but in some other areas, historians might recall the warning of Thomas Bailey that the treatment of blacks in American history was changing from invisibility to overvisibility.2 There is an obvious need to assess the state of blacks in western history. For the purposes of this paper, the definition of the West used in the Western Historical Quarterly-"the westward movement from coast to coast, frontiers of occupation and settlement, the borderlands of Mexico, the westward movement in Canada and Alaska, with special attention given to the trans-Mississippi West, both nineteenth and twentieth century"-is a good one.3 Once the Old
11 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the American government responded to Japanese occupation of northern Indochina with a "freeze" on Japanese funds in the United States, terminating all trade with Japan and setting in motion the final chain of events leading to Pearl Harbor.
Abstract: IN JULY 1941, the American government responded to Japanese occupation of northern Indochina with a "freeze" on Japanese funds in the United States, terminating all trade with Japan and setting in motion the final chain of events leading to Pearl Harbor. At the time, four-fifths of Japan's petroleum came from the United States,x and with relations already strained in the extreme, Japanese leaders had begun to consider the Netherlands East Indies as an alternate source of supply.2 The financial freeze and resultant term-
11 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a study of the Refuse Act of 1899 is presented, and a broader perspective on the U.S. Army's role in protecting the nation's waterways is given.
Abstract: IN THE LITERATURE dealing with the American environment, the U.S. Army engineer is a familiar but by no means favored figure. The scholarly strictures of Arthur Maass and Samuel P. Hays-and the more impetuous attacks of Arthur Morgan, Harold L. Ickes, and William O. Douglas--are familiar to every student." Indeed, quite a respectable bibliography could be compiled of all the publications that depict the engineers as conservatives, if not "heavies," in all that concerns the environment. This essay cannot hope to answer a cannonade so broad in front and so varied in caliber. However, a study of that curious and important law, the Refuse Act of 1899, may suggest a broader perspective on the Corps' role in protecting the nation's waterways.2 The public spotlight fell upon the Refuse Act for the first time in its shadowed history during the environmental crusade of 1969-
10 citations
TL;DR: The response of the important steel industry to the depression challenges the Williams interpretation and the generation of diplomatic historians influenced by it as mentioned in this paper, finding that the major thrust of activity to solve depression-related problems was domestic.
Abstract: W ILLIAM APPLEMAN WILLIAMS has argued that American manufacturers needed and sought foreign markets to solve problems created by the depression of the 1890s.1 The response of the important steel industry to the depression challenges the Williams interpretation and the generation of diplomatic historians influenced by it.2 Studying the history of the industry3 between 1893 and 1913 indicates, first, that the major thrust of activity to solve depression-related problems was domestic. Secondly, the systematic search for foreign markets occurred after the depression of the 1890s and because manufacturers had in fact solved many problems created by the depression.
TL;DR: Turner's contention that the frontier encouraged rapid upward social mobility was more a product of logic and imagination than of empirical evidence has been examined by historians using computerized and other quantitative techniques as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Turner's contention that the frontier encouraged rapid upward social mobility was more a product of logic and imagination than of empirical evidence. Recently, historians using computerized and other quantitative techniques have subjected this aspect of the frontier thesis to close systematic scrutiny. Although promising, the results have been inconclusive. In fact, there is a growing debate between those who find evidence to support Turner and those who find the degree of social escalation on the frontier not as great as was formerly supposed. Evidence of an open and upwardly mobile frontier society has been provided by scholars who have examined selected aspects of the American experience: the tendency of im-
TL;DR: This paper argued that the Civil War did little to alter the pattern of discrimination suffered by blacks in Colorado Territory, and as the territory anticipated statehood, black settlers began to balk at restrictions on their citizenship, and they waged a vigorous campaign from 1865 to 1867 to obtain the right to vote and to educate their children in public schools.
Abstract: THE CIVIL WAR did little to alter the pattern of discrimination suffered by blacks in Colorado Territory. As the war came to a close, however, and as the territory anticipated statehood, black settlers began to balk at restrictions on their citizenship.' Refusing to be satisfied with the termination of slavery in the South, they waged a vigorous campaign from 1865 to 1867 to obtain the right to vote and to educate their children in public schools. Though neglected by historians, their quest for equality in Colorado is significant, for it constituted one of the few successful civil rights efforts at the state or territorial level in the nineteenth century, and it had important repercussions for manhood suffrage in other territories.2
TL;DR: A growing body of literature now exists on the economic foreign policy of the United States after the First World War as discussed by the authors, pointing out the reliance of policy-makers upon private initiative, their emphasis upon equal commercial opportunity, and their hopes for a cooperative economic order among the great powers.
Abstract: A GROWING BODY of literature now exists on the economic foreign policy of the United States after the First World War. Stressing the Wilsonian program for restructuring the international order in line with American ideals and interests, this literature points out the reliance of policy-makers upon private initiative, their emphasis upon equal commercial opportunity, and their hopes for a cooperative economic order among the great powers. Yet it has failed to illuminate completely how American officials sought to control the international economy so as to avoid the pitfalls of either ruinous competition or preferential and state-sponsored commercial policies. Specifically, it has slighted the efforts by important officials in the Woodrow Wilson administration to institutionalize eco-
TL;DR: White Capism was so disturbing that they compared it to the campaign of terror waged by the Molly Maguires in the Pennsylvania coal fields during the 1870s as discussed by the authors, and historians have paid little attention to them until recently.
Abstract: SEVEN DECADES BEFORE the Chicano movement began, an organization of masked, native night riders resisted Anglo land encroachers in territorial New Mexico. These New Mexicans, called White Caps or las Gorras Blancas by their contemporaries, conducted raids on Anglos who threatened native-owned land near Las Vegas. Cutting fences and destroying property, they caused such havoc that on August 12, 1890, New Mexico territorial Governor LeBaron Bradford Prince begged officials in Washington to allow federal troops to patrol the area between Las Vegas and Lamy.' To some observers "White Capism" was so disturbing that they compared it to the campaign of terror waged by the Molly Maguires in the Pennsylvania coal fields during the 1870s.2 Despite the anxiety caused by the White Caps, historians have paid little attention to them until recently. As long ago as 1947
TL;DR: A personal experience was prompted by a personal experience as discussed by the authors, when in Europe recently, I had a bitter dispute with a German friend about the Marxist interpretation of certain aspects of the industrial revolution.
Abstract: THIS ESSAY was prompted by a personal experience. When in Europe recently, I had a bitter dispute with a German friend about the Marxist interpretation of certain aspects of the industrial revolution. My friend insisted, or so it seemed to me, on an analysis that could have been taken from the pages of Neues Deutschland, i.e., "The dirty old British bankers were responsible for imperialism." Moreover, when I objected to his "simplifications," I, along with all American historians, found myself accused of flabby thinking, of lacking any proper critical method. Perhaps my German friend is correct. David C. McClelland notes, in Roots of Consciousness, that
TL;DR: For example, this paper argued that America's domestic well-being depends upon sustained, ever-increasing overseas economic expansion, which would provide an outlet for the domestic surpluses, ensure continued prosperity, preserve corporate capitalism, and mitigate the possibility of class conflict or internal revolution.
Abstract: IN RECENT YEARS it has become fashionable to explain American diplomacy in terms of economic motives. According to this interpretation, twentieth-century foreign policy has rested on the assumption that "America's domestic well-being depends upon . . . sustained, ever-increasing overseas economic expansion."' Since the 1890s, industrial production has satiated the domestic market, thus forcing factory owners to seek alternative outlets for their products or close their doors. Rather than submit to economic strangulation, businessmen began to look overseas. Such expansion would provide an outlet for the domestic surpluses, ensure continued prosperity, preserve corporate capitalism, and mitigate the possibility of class conflict or internal revolution. When confronted with severe economic dislocations during the 1930s, American policy makers and businessmen reaffirmed their belief that prosperity was contingent upon "finding and expanding markets-and making them 'secure for the products of the United States.' "2 Acting on
TL;DR: In this paper, the past actions and present status of standing committees that counsel the Departments of State and Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission in their historical enterprises are described and discussed.
Abstract: HE EXTENSIVE USE Of members of the academic community to offer advice on governmental historical activities dates from the years after 1945. To be sure, the American Historical Association long ago created standing committees to monitor matters of concern to it--establishing a national archives, promoting documentary publication, securing prompt and impartial access to records still in departmental hands; but until after the Second World War most federal historical projects involved printing papers from the distant past, not writing about recent events from classified materials. Thus, a new situation arose with the launching of several postwar programs-editorial, archival, and narrative-in which civil servants or uniformed personnel used files not available then, or probably for some time to come, to nongovernmental historians. To aid with these programs, and also to attest to their scholarly character, the government appointed numerous advisory committees, but their work is little known within the profession. In some quarters, this ignorance has fostered suspicion and mistrust. To promote a fuller understanding of the problem, this essay seeks to describe the past actions and present status of committees that counsel the Departments of State and Defense and the Atomic Energy Commission in their historical enterprises.'
TL;DR: The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 as mentioned in this paper is considered to have been the critical turning point in official American attitudes and policies toward Japan, and prior to this war, these scholars contend, the United States government adhered to a strict policy of Japanese-American friendship.
Abstract: M OST STUDENTS of United States diplomacy consider the RussoJapanese War of 1904-1905 to have been the critical turning point in official American attitudes and policies toward Japan.' Prior to this war, these scholars contend, the United States government adhered to a strict policy of Japanese-American friendship. Japan seemed to share a common concern to keep the Far East open to all foreign contact, and the government in Washington and its representatives in East Asia sympathized with Japan's efforts to revise its unequal treaties with the Western powers. American officials also looked with favor upon Japan's victories over China in 1895 and Russia in 1905, since now Korea and China would be
TL;DR: A group of Indians chose to express their displeasure at the government's eviction of fellow Indians from Alcatraz Island by spraying paint on a statue of Theodore Roosevelt and labeling it "Fascist killer" as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: IN JUNE 1971, a group of Indians chose to express their displeasure at the government's eviction of fellow Indians from Alcatraz Island by spraying paint on a statue of Theodore Roosevelt and labeling it "Fascist killer."' In their own way scholars have contributed to this image of Roosevelt by lumping him with westerners who believed that Indians were inferior to whites and obstacles to the advance of civilization.2 That Roosevelt as United States Civil Service Com-
TL;DR: Becker's article on the Williams school of diplomatic history as discussed by the authors is a classic example of such an attempt to break the increasing domination of the historiography of American foreign policy by New Left scholars.
Abstract: "Study the historian before you begin to study the facts," E. H. Carr once cautioned. "When you read a work of history always listen for the buzzing. If you can detect none, either you are tone deaf or your historian is a dull dog."' There is indeed a loud buzzing in William Becker's article on the Williams school of diplomatic history. Like a host of other orthodox historians thrown on the defensive since the mid-1960s, Becker seeks to break the increasing domination of the historiography of American foreign policy by New Left scholars. His strategy is disingenuous: Try to show that the iron and steel industry is a major exception to the revisionist claim of a consensus at the end of the 1890s on the reality of an industrial glut and the pressing need for world markets to relieve it. Hold that this consensus is the foundation upon which the revisionists build their entire interpretation of twentieth-century foreign policy. Then the exceptionalism of the iron and steel industry shakes, if it does not undermine, the whole strucure of New Left scholarship. Finally, once the task of destroying the revisionists has been completed and the wreckage carried away, remaining scholars, Becker believes, "again will have to concentrate on policy makers and politicians and on the international, political, and bureaucratic context in which they worked" (p. 248). Put another way, such scholars will no longer have to face the unpleasant questions raised by the New Left's extension of diplomatic history into the arena of economics, ideology, power, and social structure. Becker's buzzing, in short, sounds like a throwback to the days when the only valid histories of American foreign policy were thought to emanate from the State Department, establishment scholars, and their in-house critics. If Becker has bold pretensions, his methods are deplorable. Take, for example, his handling of the place of foreign markets in the response of the iron and steel industry to the depression of the 1890s. Some manufacturers, like Carnegie Steel, "did sell abroad at times," but this, according to Becker, was primarily a "passive reaction" to unusual conditions in foreign markets and falling prices at home; it was not, as the revisionists would have it, an active effort to solve such depression-