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[[American History Lecture Ten|Lecture]] - [[American_History_Homework_Ten|Questions]] - [[American History Homework Ten Answers|Student Answers]]
A bicycle craze hit the nation in the 1890s, and the Wrights started making and selling bicycles. Then they began to focus on designing a bicycle-powered airplane:<ref>http://www.first-to-fly.com/History/Wright%20Story/wright%20story.htm</ref>
:In 1896, the newspapers were filled with accounts of flying machines. Wilbur and Orville noticed that all these primitive aircraft lacked suitable controls. They began to wonder how a pilot might balance an aircraft in the air, just as a cyclist balances his bicycle on the road. In 1899, Wilbur devised a simple system that twisted or "warped" the wings of a biplane, causing it to roll right or left. They tested this system in a kite, then a series of gliders. ... [D]uring the winter of 1901-1902 Wilbur and Orville built a wind tunnel and conducted experiments to determine the best wing shape for an airplane. ... Toward the end of the 1902 flying season, their third glider became the first fully controllable aircraft, with roll, pitch, and yaw controls. During the winter of 1902-1903, with the help of their mechanic, Charlie Taylor, the Wrights designed and built a gasoline engine light enough and powerful enough to propel an airplane.
Yankee ingenuity continued. Within five years Henry Ford was producing his first "Model T" automobiles. He developed the assembly line and the use of interchangeable parts to speed make productionmore efficient, to reduce costs, and double to increase output. Henry Ford also believed in sharing his enormous profits with his workers, increasing their wages to record high levels. He felt they could become his best customers if they were paid more. Ford was an example of a businessman who had almost no original ideas of his own, but improved and used the ideas he learned from others. There is nothing wrong with that, and unfortunately many do not achieve their potential because they are unwilling to use someone else's good idea. "Not invented here" as a reason to reject good ideas is a mistake.
The labor movement grew, while continuing to suffer from radical infiltrationby radicals. "Big" Bill Haywood was a miner and a violent unionist who founded Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in 1905. He was involved in many labor disputes, including textile strikes in New Jersey. He was eventually convicted under the Espionage Act of 1917 (see its discussion below) and, while he was out of jail pending appeal of his conviction, he fled to the newly communist Russia in 1918.
But the NAACP was too "moderate" or passive for some. Marcus Garvey, another African American leader, founded the United Negro Improvement Association, which advocated both black pride and a return to Africa.
In 1915, in ''Guinn v. U.S.'', the U.S. Supreme Court helped African Americans by striking down "grandfather clauses" that interfered with voting by descendants of slaves. The Court based its ruling on the 15th Amendment, which you should recall guaranteed the right to vote regardless of "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." In other words, the 15th Amendment prohibited interfering with the rights of former slaves to vote.
In the last lecture we discussed imperialism, and mentioned how Teddy Roosevelt became a hero in the Spanish-American War. He is also a modern-day hero to some, such as Republican the 2008 presidential candidate John McCain, and . Teddy Roosevelt is the only modern figure to have his face carved in Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, probably due to his support for the national park system. Let's look now at this important American President.
== Teddy Roosevelt ==
