Growth and Industry on American Roads

¶ … social, political, or economic change the group of Americans experienced because of the war. Discuss the extent to which that change affected American society.

World War II brought substantive changes to the lives of American women. As husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons were drafted into the war effort, women had to meet the additional demands and burdens at home, and assume breadwinning roles and roles that contributed to the war effort. As the war came to end and surviving men returned home, many women were displaced from the positions they had filled. Many women experienced conflict about the loss of status brought about by the war ending. The tacit agreement -- based on necessity -- that women could assume critical positions in the war effort was not easily erased. What became evident was that world did not come tumbling down as a result of these important shifts in gender roles; having women occupied outside the home had become the monstrous threat to society that the decriers insisted would happen.

The Civil War was both the catalyst and the mechanism for the most significant change American have witnessed. Over the nearly 250-year history of slavery in the United States, African-Americans experienced profound changes. The Emancipation Proclamation freed only the slaves living in the Southern states and territories that were still rebelling against the United States. Substantive changes to the lives of African-American former slaves took hundreds of years beyond the official decree. The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed in 1866, with the states following in 1868. The significance of this amendment was that it overruled the Dred Scott v. Sanford (1857) decision that asserted black Americans were not actually citizens of the United States. Prejudice and discrimination still exist despite the several laws enacted to assure equality for all people regardless of race.

Theme 8 -- Identify two problems faced by the United States during the Cold War and for each: Explain how the problem led to conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union; Describe one action taken by the United Sates in response to the problem; Evaluate the extent to which the action taken was successful in solving the problem.