The Twenty-First Century, 2001–present

This is Unit Seventeen, part two, on the years from the crash to two thousand sixteen. Part one closed with homes underwater, and pointed to Occupy Wall Street. Carry one observation through this part: three arcs this course has followed for many units close here. The dispute over who may enter the country, which began with Chinese exclusion in unit two. The struggle over same-sex marriage, from Stonewall to a Supreme Court ruling. And national health insurance, sought by presidents since Theodore Roosevelt. By the end you will be able to describe the fights over inequality and immigration. To trace the arc of same-sex marriage to Obergefell. To describe the climate debate and Citizens United. To trace the long arc of national health insurance to the Affordable Care Act. And to describe the elections of two thousand eight, two thousand twelve and two thousand sixteen.

Five entries on inequality and immigration, ending with children at the border.

Occupy Wall Street.

USH2 2425 Occupy Wall Street

In two thousand eleven young, left-leaning New Yorkers occupied Wall Street to protest an economy that seemed tilted toward the one percent, the Yawp records, the same resentment, it says, that fed the Tea Party on the right. The Yawp reports that from two thousand nine to two thousand thirteen eighty-five percent of new income went to the top one percent.

English as an official language.

USH2 2426 English Only

In two thousand six three-quarters of Arizona's voters approved making English the state's official language, the anchor records, part of a drive, it says, by some social conservatives to define American culture by its European heritage. The movement was strongest, the anchor notes, where Spanish-speaking populations were large, as in Arizona.

Immigration reform.

USH2 2427 Immigration Reform Fails

The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of two thousand six sought tighter border security, more guest workers, a path to legal status for long-term residents who had entered illegally, and English named as a common and unifying language. Both versions failed, the anchor says, and anxiety over immigration rose in the recession even as arrivals slowed.

Tucson.

USH2 2428 Tucson's Mexican American Studies

In two thousand ten Arizona banned classes that promoted resentment of other races or encouraged ethnic solidarity, the anchor records, and Tucson was ordered to end its Mexican American studies programme or lose ten percent of its school funding, about three million dollars a month, the anchor says.

Children at the border.

USH2 2429 Children at the Border

Beginning in October two thousand thirteen, the border states faced a surge of children from Central America; some fifty-two thousand, some unaccompanied, were taken into custody. A United Nations refugee study found fifty-eight percent of these migrants, largely from El Salvador and Honduras, driven by poverty, violence and the threat of exploitation, the anchor records. Theme eleven closes its arc here. Unit two taught Chinese exclusion, unit nine the quotas of nineteen twenty-four, unit fourteen their repeal in nineteen sixty-five. The Yawp adds that border apprehensions and deportations reached record levels under Obama, and that Trump pushed further. The same dispute over who may enter runs from eighteen eighty-two to the present.

Four entries on same-sex marriage, from state bans to a ruling of the Supreme Court.

The marriage bans.

USH2 2430 Marriage Bans

Between nineteen ninety-eight and two thousand twelve thirty states banned same-sex marriage by statute or constitutional amendment, the anchor records, alongside unit sixteen's Defense of Marriage Act. The Yawp notes the Supreme Court had struck down sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas in two thousand three, though majorities still called gay relationships morally wrong.

Civil unions and marriage.

USH2 2431 Civil Unions and Marriage

Vermont allowed same-sex couples to form civil unions with the legal rights of marriage, and a Massachusetts court then held that unions without marriage were discrimination, making Massachusetts the first state to let same-sex couples marry, the anchor records. The Yawp dates the Massachusetts ruling to two thousand three, the start of state courts' rulings against marriage bans.

Proposition Eight.

USH2 2432 Proposition 8

In two thousand eight California voters passed Proposition Eight, limiting valid marriage in the state to one between a man and a woman, with crowds on both sides at San Francisco's City Hall. The anchor says the dispute was settled by the Supreme Court in two thousand thirteen; meanwhile Maine, Maryland and Washington legalised same-sex marriage by popular vote.

Obergefell v. Hodges.

USH2 2433 Obergefell v. Hodges

In June two thousand fifteen the Supreme Court ruled five to four in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex marriage was a constitutional right, the Yawp records, with nearly two-thirds of Americans supporting that position. The anchor does not carry the case. The Obama administration had already repealed don't ask, don't tell in two thousand eleven. The arc runs across three units: unit fifteen's Stonewall and decriminalisation, unit sixteen's don't ask, don't tell and Defense of Marriage Act, and this ruling. The misreading treats the change as sudden; state courts had been ruling against bans since two thousand three while thirty states banned it. Law and opinion moved together, and against each other, for a decade.

Four entries: the climate debate, a film, a ruling on political money, and the smartphone.

Kyoto.

USH2 2434 Kyoto

In nineteen ninety-eight the United States signed the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but Bush objected to its heavier limits on industrial nations and it was never ratified. The Yawp notes that in nineteen ninety-five the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found a discernible human influence on global climate, and says climate change failed to transcend partisan barriers.

An Inconvenient Truth.

USH2 2435 An Inconvenient Truth

In two thousand six a survey of sixteen hundred climate scientists found nearly three-fourths reporting interference with their research, the anchor records, as the administration appeared to suppress climate reporting. Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth won the Academy Award in two thousand seven, and Gore shared the Nobel Peace Prize that year with the climate panel.

Citizens United.

USH2 2436 Citizens United

In two thousand ten the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. FEC that no limits could be placed on political spending by corporations, unions and nonprofits, the Yawp records, sending money deeper into politics and, it says, heightening partisan gridlock. The anchor does not carry the case; the Yawp does.

The smartphone.

USH2 2437 The Smartphone

The release of Apple's iPhone in two thousand seven, the Yawp says, popularised the smartphone, and the internet, freed from desktop modems, shaped more of daily life than ever, above all for young Americans, whom the embrace of technology defined more than anything else. Social media became a political arena, as this unit's entries on two thousand sixteen show.

Six entries on Obama's presidency: the election, the recovery, the auto rescue, health care, the Tea Party, and reelection.

The election of two thousand eight.

USH2 2438 The Election of 2008

In two thousand eight Barack Obama defeated John McCain, winning ninety-five percent of the African American vote and forty-four percent of the White vote, the anchor records, against a ticket whose running mate, Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, convinced many voters in television interviews that she was not prepared, the anchor says. The Yawp says resentment at the bank bailouts contributed to Obama's election.

The Recovery Act.

USH2 2439 The Recovery Act

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of two thousand nine pumped almost eight hundred billion dollars into the economy to stimulate growth and jobs, the anchor records, as Obama oversaw the bank rescue begun under Bush, the Yawp notes. It adds that conservatives in the Tea Party decried an administration filled with former Wall Street executives.

The auto rescue.

USH2 2440 The Auto Rescue

Congress authorised eighty billion dollars to help Chrysler and General Motors, which returned to profit by two thousand eleven, avoiding layoffs and wage cuts in the industry, the anchor says. By two thousand thirteen the automakers had repaid over fifty billion dollars of the bailout, the anchor adds.

The Affordable Care Act.

USH2 2441 The Affordable Care Act

On March twenty-third, two thousand ten, Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, extending access to affordable insurance and requiring that everyone carry some. The Yawp says it forsook liberal models of national health care for a formerly conservative model of subsidised private care, like plans offered by Richard Nixon, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. The arc closes here. Truman failed to win national health insurance in unit thirteen; Johnson won Medicare and Medicaid for the old and the poor in unit fourteen; Clinton's plan failed in unit sixteen. The Yawp says presidents since Theodore Roosevelt had tried and failed. Opponents called it socialism, the anchor says, and more than twenty-four states sued to stop it.

The Tea Party.

USH2 2442 The Tea Party

Opposition to the health care law helped spawn the Tea Party, the anchor says, a conservative movement aimed at cutting government spending and shrinking the federal government, and Republicans took the House in two thousand ten on that opposition. The Yawp says Tea Party Republicans stunted the legislation of Obama's second term.

The election of two thousand twelve.

USH2 2443 The Election of 2012

In two thousand twelve Obama defeated Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who had signed health care reform into state law, and who told donors he did not care to reach the forty-seven percent who, he said, would back Obama no matter what. Republicans kept the House, the anchor records.

Four entries on the road to two thousand sixteen: wages, a movement, a nominee, and the election.

Stagnant wages.

USH2 2444 Stagnant Wages

By two thousand sixteen, the Yawp says, the average American worker had not received a raise in almost forty years, while corporate profits climbed and stock markets soared, and the Great Recession magnified rising income and wealth inequalities. Unit sixteen's widening inequality, the Yawp says, deepened after the crash.

Black Lives Matter.

USH2 2445 Black Lives Matter

The two thousand fourteen death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked protests, the Yawp records, and the hashtag Black Lives Matter became a rallying cry, as cell phone videos of the deaths of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and Philando Castile circulated across social media. The anchor does not carry the movement; the Yawp does.

Hillary Clinton.

USH2 2446 Hillary Clinton

In two thousand sixteen Hillary Clinton, a former senator and secretary of state, became the first woman nominated for president by a major party, the anchor records, campaigning on her government experience at home and abroad. The Yawp notes that Democrats flirted with Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, before nominating her.

The election of two thousand sixteen.

USH2 2447 The Election of 2016

Donald Trump, in the Yawp's phrase a celebrity billionaire, promised a southern border wall and a complete ban on immigration from largely Muslim countries, the anchor records, and won three hundred four electoral votes to Clinton's two hundred twenty-seven. Clinton won the popular vote by about two point nine million, forty-eight percent to forty-six, the anchor records.

Look at what you can now do. You can describe the fights over inequality and immigration: Occupy Wall Street, English only, a failed reform, and children at the border, the latest turn in a dispute that runs from eighteen eighty-two. You can trace the marriage arc: thirty state bans, Massachusetts first, Proposition Eight, and Obergefell's five to four, after a decade in which law and opinion moved together and against each other. You can describe the climate debate, a protocol never ratified and research interfered with, and Citizens United's removal of limits on political spending. You can trace health insurance from Truman's failure to the Affordable Care Act, built on a formerly conservative model and opposed as socialism. And you can describe the elections: Obama in two thousand eight and two thousand twelve, and Trump in two thousand sixteen, winning the Electoral College while losing the popular vote.