Global politics

Grainger, for the ones who get it done.

Welcome to this episode of The World According to Irina Shukerman, our very special series on global politics on the KJ Masterclass Live.

Irina Shukerman is a US-based national security and human rights lawyer as well as a renowned geopolitical analyst.

Her writings and commentary have appeared in diverse US and international media and have been translated to over a dozen languages.

CHAPTER XVI.

NATIONAL GROWTH AND WORLD POLITICS recording by ben wilford history of the united states by charles a beard and mary ritter beard part six national growth and world politics chapter sixteen the political and economic evolution of the south the outcome of the civil war in the south was nothing short of a revolution the ruling class the law and the government of the old order had been subverted to political chaos was added the havoc wrought in agriculture business and transportation by military operations and as if to fill the cup to the brim the task of reconstruction was committed to political leaders from another section of the country strangers to the life and traditions of the south the south at the close of the war a ruling class disenfranchised as the sovereignty of the planters had been the striking feature of the old regime so their ruin was the outstanding fact of the new the situation was extraordinary the american revolution was carried out by people experienced in the arts of self-government and at its close they were free to follow the general course to which they had long been accustomed the french revolution witnessed the overthrow of the clergy and the nobility but middle classes who took their places had been steadily rising in intelligence and wealth the southern revolution was unlike either of these catechisms it was not brought about by a social upheaval but by an external crisis it did not enfranchise a class that sought and understood power but bondsmen who had played no part in the struggle moreover it struck down a class equipped to rule the leading planners were almost to a man excluded from state and federal offices and the fourteenth amendment was a bar to their return all civil and military places under the authority of the united states and of the states were closed to every man who had taken an oath to support the constitution as a member of congress as a state legislature or as a state or federal officer and afterward engaged in insurrection or rebellion or given aid and comfort to the enemies of the united states this sweeping provision supplemented by the reconstruction acts laid under the ban most of the talent energy and spirit of the south the condition of the state governments the legislative executive and judicial branches of the state governments thus passed into the control of former slaves led principally by northern adventurers or southern novices known as the result was a carnival of waste folly and corruption the reconstruction assembly of south carolina bought clocks at four hundred and eighty dollars apiece and chandeliers at six hundred and fifty dollars to purchase land for former bondsmen the sum of eight hundred thousand dollars was appropriated and swamps bought at seventy-five cents an acre were sold to the state at five times the cost in the years between eighteen sixty eight and eighteen seventy three the debt of the states rose from about five million eight hundred thousand dollars to twenty-four million dollars and millions of the increase could not be accounted for by the authorities responsible for it economic ruin urban and rural no matter where southern men turned in eighteen sixty five they found devastation in the towns in the country and along the highways atlanta the city to which sherman applied the torch lay in ashes nashville and chattanooga had been partially wrecked richmond and augusta had suffered severely from fires charleston was described by a visitor as a city of ruins of desolation of vacant houses of rotted wharves of deserted warehouses of weed gardens of miles of grass-grown streets how few young men there are how generally the young women are dressed in black the flower of their proud aristocracy is buried on scores of battlefields those who journeyed through the country about the same time reported desolation equally widespread and equally pathetic an english traveler who made his way along the course of the tennessee river in eighteen seventy wrote the trail of war is visible throughout the valley in burned-up gin houses ruined bridges mills and factories and large tracts of once cultivated land are stripped of every vestige of fencing the roads long neglected are in disorder and having in many places become impassable new tracts have been made through the woods and fields without much respect to boundaries many a great plantation has been confiscated by the federal authorities while the owner was in confederate service many more lay in waste in the wake of the armies the homes of rich and poor alike if spared the torch had been despoiled of the stock and seeds necessary to renew agriculture railways dilapidated.

Transportation was still more demoralized.

This is revealed in the pages of congressional reports based upon first-hand investigations.

110-112.

CHAPTER XVIII.

history of the united states by charles a beard and mary ritter beard part six national growth and world politics chapter eighteen the development of the great west at the close of the civil war kansas and texas were sentinel states on the middle border beyond the rockies california oregon and nevada stood guard the last of them having been just admitted to furnish another vote for the fifteenth amendment abolishing slavery between the near and far frontiers lay a vast reach of plain desert plateau and mountain almost wholly undeveloped a broad domain extending from canada to mexico and embracing the regions now included in washington idaho wyoming montana utah arizona new mexico the dakotas and oklahoma had fewer than half a million inhabitants it was laid out into territories each administered under a governor appointed by the president and senate and as soon as there was the requisite number of inhabitants a legislature elected by the voters no railway line stretched across the desert st joseph on the missouri was the terminus of the eastern lines it required twenty-five days for a passenger to make the overland journey to california by the stage-coach system established in eighteen fifty eight and more than ten days for the swift pony express organized in eighteen sixty to carry a letter to san francisco indians still roamed the plain and desert and more than one powerful tribe disputed the white man's title to the soil the railways as trailblazers opening railways to the pacific a decade before the civil war the importance of rail connection between the east and the pacific coast had been recognized pressure had already been brought to bear on congress to authorize the construction of a line and to grant land and money in its aid both the democrats and republicans approved the idea but it was involved in the slavery controversy indeed it was submerged in it southern statesmen wanted connections between the gulf and the pacific through texas while northerners stood out for a central route the north had its way during the war congress by legislation initiated in eighteen sixty two provided for the immediate organization of companies to build a line from the missouri river to california and made grants of land and loans of money to aid in the enterprise the western end the central pacific was laid out under the supervision of leland stanford it was heavily financed by the mormons of utah and also by the state government the ranchmen miners and business men of california and it was built principally by chinese labor the eastern end the union pacific starting at omaha was constructed mainly by veterans of the civil war and immigrants from ireland and germany in eighteen sixty nine the two companies met near ogden in utah and the driving of the last spike uniting the atlantic and the pacific was the occasion of a great demonstration other lines to the pacific were projected at the same time but the panic of eighteen seventy three checked railway enterprise for a while with the revival of prosperity at the end of that decade construction was renewed with vigor and the year eighteen eighty three marked a series of railway triumphs in february trains were running from new orleans through houston san antonio and yuma to san francisco as a result of a union of the texas pacific with the southern pacific and its subsidiary corporations in september the last spike was driven in the northern pacific at helena montana lake superior was connected with puget sound the waters explored by joliet and marquette were joined to the waters plowed by sir francis drake while he was searching for a route around the world that same year also a third line was opened to the pacific by way of the atchison topeka and santa fe making connections through albuquerque and needles with san francisco the fondest hopes of railway promoters seemed to be realized western railways precede settlement in the old world and on our atlantic seaboard railways followed population and markets in the far west railways usually preceded the people railway builders planned cities on paper before they laid tracks connecting them they sent missionaries to spread the gospel of western opportunity to people in the middle west in the eastern cities and in southern states then they carried their enthusiastic converts bag and baggage in long trains to the distant dakotas and still farther afield so the development of the far west was not left to the tedious processes of time it was pushed by men of imagination adventurers who made a romance of money-making and who had dreams of empire unequaled by many kings of the past these empire builders bought railway lands in huge tracts they got more from the government they overcame every obstacle of canyon mountain and stream with the aid of science they built cities according to the plans made by the engineers having the towns ready and railway and steamboat connections formed with the rest of the world they carried out the people to use the railways the steamships the houses and the land it was in this way that the frontier speculator paved the way for the frontier agriculturist who had to be near a market before he could farm the spirit of this imaginative enterprise which laid out railways and towns in advance of the people is seen in an advertisement of that day this extension will run forty-two miles from york northeast through the island lake country and will have five good north dakota towns the stations on the line will be well equipped with elevators and will be constructed and ready for operation at the commencement of the grain season prospective merchants have been active in securing desirable locations at the different towns on the line there are still opportunities for hotels general merchandise hardware furniture and drug stores etc the Among the railway promoters and builders in the West, James J. Hill of the Great Northern and Allied Lines was one of the most forceful figures.

He knew that tracks and trains were useless without passengers and freight, without a population of farmers and town dwellers.

They're all, you know, they're all connected.

Everything is interconnected, and we're back to global politics.

Right.

We're doing a huge cleanup, and it may seem scary to people, but we have to understand we didn't get there overnight.

Back then, the working assumption in a lot of Washington rooms was that this could still be contained.

I wrote a piece about that in, in December of 2023 for the Foreign Policy Research Institute, and I called it The Reemergence of the Palestine Question in World Politics.

The argument had three parts.

Part one was that Palestine functions for Arab publics as what I call a gateway to dissent, not because everyone in the region is single-mindedly obsessed with Palestine at the expense of their own politics.

It feels good to GEICO.

Section One of Imperialism and World Politics, Part Three of Four.

This is a LibriVox recording.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

For more information or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org. Read by Alistair.

Imperialism and World Politics, Part Three of Four, by Parker Thomas Moon.

Chapter Thirteen A: Imperialism in Southern Asia, Part One.

Subsection: From Chartered Company to Empire.

Whenever you need help, it's ready, before your stay, through the moments in between, and after your trip, because a great trip starts with peace of mind and maybe a good playlist, but we've got the peace of mind part covered.

Section One of Imperialism and World Politics, Part Three of Four.

This is a LibriVox recording.

All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Read by Alistair.

Imperialism and World Politics, Part Three of Four by Parker Thomas Moon.

Chapter Thirteen A: Imperialism in Southern Asia, Part One.

Subsection: From Chartered Company to Empire.