Nicholl Graves
AIU Online
HIST105-1302B-01
June 15, 2013

ABSTRACT

The expansion of authority in the federal government has changed over the years beginning as early as the U.S Civil War, and continues to change even in the present day. But, I will be concentrating on the expansion of authority from the U.S civil war through the Civil Right Era. A citizen of the United States would be more likely to interact with and be impacted by state or local government than the federal government. During the Civil War was one of the first expansions of the federal Government. Than during the Progressive Era the federal government attempted another expansion as a social movement. Then again, The Great Depression was the greatest expansion by far, because the role of the federal government came after the stock markets crashed in 1929. Beginning in 1954, the Supreme Court exerted federal authority over states which enforced separate but equal concepts to justify the segregation of black and white populations, which was the start of the Civil Rights Era.

The first major expansion of the federal government came during the Civil War. The federal government turned down the secession of what later became the Confederate States of America. The federal government did not allow the secession of states from the union, but after the war, the Reconstruction Era saw plans to impose racial changes after defeating the southern states. The federal government guaranteed civil rights for people of all races, (Muse). During, the Progressive Era the federal government begins a social movement to improve the lives and conditions of all Americans. Theodore Roosevelt was elected president in 1901, and many new regulations were put into place by progressive philosophy in 1906. The government was authorized to regulate railroad rates by the Hepburn Act. Progressive legislative victories include the 16th Amendment which authorized the federal government to start the federal income tax, (MUSE). After the stock market crashed in 1929, the era of the Great Depression started. The long period of economic stagnation, retraction, and slow recovery during the 1930s led many to call for more federal intervention