{"id":665,"date":"2015-10-04T20:34:23","date_gmt":"2015-10-04T20:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-american\/?p=665"},"modified":"2015-10-04T20:35:36","modified_gmt":"2015-10-04T20:35:36","slug":"1900s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/hist-american\/1900s\/","title":{"rendered":"1900s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1908<\/a>

1908 Ford Model T<\/p><\/div>\n

Near\u00a0the beginning of his memoir\u00a0Growing Up<\/em>\u00a0(1982), journalist Russell Baker\u00a0describes the United States of his mother’s childhood, in the first decade of the twentieth century, as a “young country,” one that seemed to his grandfather at least, as\u00a0the “greatest country on God’s green earth.” \u00a0Whether or not that was true, of course, depended (and still depends) on your perspective. \u00a0Still, it is amazing how much the maturing nation has changed since 1900. \u00a0The editors at the Digital History textbook have collected some of the most notable examples of these changes in their sections on “The United States in 1900”<\/a> and “Twentieth Century Revolutions.”<\/a> \u00a0For example, life expectancy has doubled and population has essentially quadrupled since 1900. \u00a0Incomes have skyrocketed. \u00a0Poverty rates, though still frustratingly high, have plummeted. \u00a0Some might argue that’s because government is far bigger and more powerful. \u00a0In 1900, government spending was less than two percent of GDP; today, it is about 40 percent (note: \u00a0these numbers vary by source and how terms are defined). Of course, others might\u00a0retort that today’s poverty rates could be even lower if the government taxed and regulated less. \u00a0Federal tax revenues were measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars in 1900 (in that era before the income tax), while today, they are measured in trillions. Nobody disputes that\u00a0technology has shattered the world that was. The editors point out, for example, that in 1900 there were only about eight thousand cars in the U.S. and that each person made an average of 38 telephone calls per year. \u00a0Obviously, things today are much different. \u00a0The average teenager texts more than 60 times per day. \u00a0 Yet perhaps the biggest difference of all concerns gender. \u00a0The editors label the 1900s\u00a0as “A Century of Women,” pointing out that at the beginning of the century, women could vote in only four states and that only about six percent of married women participated in the workforce. Nobody can dispute that opportunities for American women\u00a0are much\u00a0greater than they were in the era of Lucy Elizabeth Robinson’s childhood.<\/p>\n

Online Textbook Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

A New Era from Digital History<\/a> (Mintz and McNeil)<\/p>\n

Jane Addams from Digital History<\/a> (Mintz and McNeil)<\/p>\n

Selected Timelines<\/strong><\/p>\n

America 1900<\/a> (PBS)<\/p>\n

American Literature & Events: 1900s<\/a> (Donna Campbell \/ Washington State)<\/p>\n

Featured Videos<\/strong><\/p>\n

The nation’s first “feature” film was “The Great Train Robbery” (1903) from the Edison Motion Picture Co. \u00a0It’s only about 10 minutes long. \u00a0You can read more about its background and why it was so innovative at this page at the Internet Archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n