Discuss how Spencer's ideas of social Darwinism were used to justify the eugenics movement in the US and Canada during the early part of the twentieth century.

Herbert Spencer took the ideas of Darwin and adapted them to the study of society.Spencer applied Darwin's evolution to human societies and this approach was referred to as social Darwinism.He believed that evolution occurs in the social environment as well as the biological-societies that are better suited to their environment flourish while those that are not die out.Applied to individuals,this perspective became known as eugenics,and justified the launching of a national campaign of "ethnic cleansing" by the US that involved subjecting the "unfit" population to legislated segregation and sterilization programs.The victims included poor people,brown-haired white people,blacks,immigrants,Indians,Eastern European Jews,the sick,and anyone else classified outside the superior genetic lines drawn up by American "raceologists." The campaign sterilized around 60 000 Americans.In Canada,eugenicists encouraged the National Council of Women to support the forced sterilization of "degenerate" mothers in order to prevent the birth of "degenerate" babies.