The Machine Age

Thomas A. Edison created some of the most important inventions ever like the light bulb. All he need was just power and he worked with power plants too. The Age of Invention was at the end of the nineteenth century.

            The concept of economies of scale is that the cheaper the product the ore of the product is sold. Assembly line production was how a factory functions, it requires stations. A monopoly is know to be the control of a complete industry.  Horizontal integration is when several smaller companies form one big company. This one is illegal. Vertical integration is when one company buys out all the little factors, companies. Andrew Carnegie based his work off of Charles Darwin and it was later called Social Darwinism. Carnegie was known to “preach” the Gospel of Wealth.

            Manufacturers cut off costs by hiring immigrants, women, and children. The middle class was allowed to live in cleaner neighborhoods by mass transportation, which is just the transportation railroad lines, cars, etc. Black and Latino immigrants usually lived in the same neighborhoods, which came to be known as ethnic neighborhoods. Political bosses had political machines, which were community services, but the bosses did it for their benefits. The Knights of Labor, which were activist, started losing popularity because of their leader, Terrence Powderly, had several unsuccessful strikes. After a while a new group emerged led by Samuel Gompers. It was called the American Federation of Labor and it helped get equality in the labor issues. Another person that did well for the laborers was Jane Addams. She founded a settlement house, which helped immigrants learn English. Due to people learning English, the public began reading popular novels and newspapers.

            Sharecropping was popular among blacks because it was convenient among the poor. The whole system of renting land was called the crop lien system. Ranching and mining was also a growing industry. Because the railroad was created, people and products could be transported much quicker. The Homestead Act and the Morill Land Grant Act. The Homestead Act was when the government would give certain people land so they can cultivate it, build a home and live on it. It proved to be good for the economy. The Morill Land Grant Act set aside land and provided money for agricultural colleges.

            Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison were presidents that we hardly remember because they were weak. The Interstate Commerce Act set up a committee to supervise railroad activities and regulate unfair practices. At this time, woman’s suffrage became an important political issue led by Susan B. Anthony. That led to the American Suffrage Association.

            The Grange Movement began because of the “silver and gold”  debate. Because the Grangers died out because they had no money, then the Farmers Alliances replaced them. The farmers alliances were much more successful than the Grangers because they began the People’s party and they began the populist movement. The populist were backing up the democratic candidate, William Jennings.

            Despite the Senate and the House debating about this issue the McKinley Tariff was still imposed. Because the nationalism amount was increasing, so did American production. The United States was exercising imperialism when they took over another country due to the ambitious idea of expansionism. The United States tricked Japan and eventually annexed Hawaii. In the treaty of Paris, Spain granted Cuba independence and ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States.

Heading Towards the Civil War and Reconstruction

James Polk was the eleventh president of the United States and he was a democrat expansionist. Polk took part in the Oregon Treaty, which allowed the United States to acquire Oregon, Washington, and parts of Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. Polk teased Mexico into attacking them, which led to the Mexican-American War. The North didn’t really go for the war since they thought the Slave Power, rich white Southerners, was “pulling the strings.” The gag rule raised suspicions move on the Slave Power. In the process, the Wilmot Proviso was defeated. The Wilmot Proviso prevented slavery into the new land gained from Mexico. The failure of the Proviso caused the formation of the Free-Soil Party. The Free-Soil Party was a single-issue party that was devoted to the Wilmot Proviso. The war ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which caused Mexico to hand over the Southwest. Stephen Douglas, a democrat, brought up the Compromise of 1850, which was defeated in Congress.  It ended the fugitive slave law, which required the North to report slaves. So they left slavery up to popular sovereignty. The personal liberty laws were brought up which allowed a fugitive a lawyer and a jury. After the Whig party had ended the uprising of the Republican Party emerged. Another party, the American party (the Know-Nothings) were nativist, people who hate foreigners. John Brown led the proslavery camp which ended up killing 5 people.. After that it got really intense and 200 people ended up dying, that was known as the Bloody Kansas. James Buchanan was the president of the United States in 1860. After that Abraham Lincoln came into the picture as the new republican star. Then Stephan Douglas destroyed his political career and that came to be known as the Freeport Doctrine. In December 1860, South Carolina seceded and after that, 7 other states followed and they were known as the Confederate States of America. Jefferson Davis was to lead the confederacy. Jefferson Davis imposed a military draft known as the conscription. This brought up the class tensions. The radical republicans wanted immediate emancipation which they introduced the confiscation acts. Then Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which liberated all slaves residing in those states still in rebellion. The people that were against the Civil War were called the Copperheads. The government established the Freedman’s Bureau to help out the new liberated blacks. In the Sherman’s March, the Union Army burned everything in its wake. Abraham Lincoln then proposed the Ten-Percent Plan, which required ten percent of voters to swear an allegiance to the Union. Then Lincoln enacted the Wade-Davis Bill, which required for the Confederate States to be ruled by a military governor. When Lincoln was assassinated, the southern democrat, Andrew Johnson, took over. Not long after, Johnson got impeached with the impeachment proceedings. Ulysses S. Grant then took over and proposed the Fifteenth Amendment, which required states to enfranchise black men. They still followed the “Johnsons Reconstruction Plan” which had all southerners swear a loyalty oath. All the new land that was left over, radicals proposed to give it to the freedmen’s and it was known as the “forty acres and a mule” While the Blacks tried to fit back into society, they preferred sharecropping as a profession. The only violent thing that was stopping the African Americans from prospering was the Ku Klux Klan, which murdered abolitionist and blacks.

War with Mexico

I think that the most important perspectives that were missing from this passage is how the Native Americans would of felt since they were probably going to be forced to move once more. Since the first time they were moved was when Andrew Jackson had them leave, when it was known as the Trail of Tears. Another possible perspective that is missing is the slave’s perspective. The Union was deciding the fate of the slaves but the slaves, obviously, had no say in this.

            Well from what I know. The way that people I know, they see the United States as bullies and aggressors. I still see the people of the United States as ambitious people who just want to prosper in this world. The Americans just believed in Manifest Destiny and they wanted to fulfill “the prophecy”.

Original Proposed 13th Amendment to the Constitution Assignment

Well in the first excerpt, Lincoln is saying that he is aware that the South is afraid of the Republican Administration that’s about to get in office. He is clarifying that the South shouldn’t be afraid because no one and nothing will be endangered. The South was afraid that “their peace and personal security” will be endangered. He clarifies his statement even more by saying that he wont “interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exist.” He states that ALL states will be provided with protection when asked for protection. It will provide protection for every state.

In excerpt two, he says that an untitled amendment has been passed that’s says that the “Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States.” He also says that he cannot promote it and/or change the amendment.

 Abraham Lincoln mentions that slavery won’t be interfered with as long as it’s in its proposed state. Lincoln also says that apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States...” my guess is that Lincoln is speaking directly to the southern states.

I think that the thirteenth amendment is saying that no more new amendments can be made that will interfere with whats going on in the states. In other words, it cant have the power to abolish or interfere with the States.

Ch. 12: An Age of Reform

1.)  Explore why Americans had an impulse to improve American society in the first half of the nineteenth century.

One of the era’s numerous efforts to improve American society was abolitionism. Abolitionism is a favoring to abolish a practice or institution. Womans’ Rights were also becoming a problem so women protested for their rights. There was a lot of antislavery gatherings against slavery. All of these organizations criss-crossed the Atlantic to promote their cause. “Reform was an international crusade.”

2.) Explain the significance of the abolitionist movement to the idea of American freedom.

The abolitionist movement was the movement to abolish slavery. American freedom was, obviously, the freedom of Americans. These two are significant because if they were to abolish slavery then that would mean that there is really American freedom. Before,  Americans would celebrate the freedom of Americans but the slaves had nothing to celebrate. They were still held back from their freedom, so that made Americans hypocrites.

3.) Analyze the pros and cons of the colonization movement and why many blacks were opposed to it.

The pros for the colonization movement was that the white people weren’t going to see the black people anymore, in which some were very hostile towards them. The colonization movement was for the safety of the both races. Another pro is that slavery was going to end already. A con is that African-Americans were seen as a danger to society. They were never going to be able to be equal to the white people. Another con is that “colonization rested on the premise that America is fundamentally a white society. The blacks were opposed to it because they wanted to be noticed as Americans and they wanted their American rights.

4.) Why was this a period of institution building?

This was a period of institution building because America was in the process of getting their mess in order.  The Americans were trying to get the abolitionist movement in which they tried (and succeeded) to get rid of slavery.They were trying to settle out the colonization movement in which they were trying to get rid of the African-Americans by sending them back to their home country. They were also trying to settle the women’s rights’ movement. So the Americans had a lot on their hands on building their country to a stable and powerful nation.

5.) How did the abolitionist movement and the women’s movement influence each other?

These two events both influenced each other because the abolitionist movement was dealing on giving the slaves their release from slavery, in other words, their freedom. Since the African-Americans were going to get their rights then the women felt like they should be able to do the same, which is also known as the womans rights movement.

Chapter 11 The Peculiar Institution

Explain how important slavery was to the national economy and the emergence of the United States as a great power?

Slavery was important to the national economy because slaves worked in cotton plantations, which cotton had replaced sugar as the world’s major crop produced by slave labor. Since cotton was sold world wide, the slaves were a necessity and they needed more slaves to make more cotton. If there was more cotton to be sold, then the nations economy will prosper and that will make the United States into a great powerful country.

Describe slave culture, explaining the similarities and differences among various regions.

The slaves culture originated, obviously, from African culture. It was shown in their music, dance, religious worship, and their remedies to diseases. The slaves in the United States had a culture binded by two others, the African traditions and their American values and experiences. In the Caribbean and Brazil, most slave cultures were just African traditions, since the slave trade continued in the nineteenth century.

Why did many white southerners support slavery even when they did not actually own any slaves?

The white southerners that did not own any slaves supported slavery because they believed that their economic and personal freedom rested on slavery.

What meanings of freedom were most important to the slaves?

At the time, most blacks were freed already. The most important things were the little things. Free blacks just wanted the same rights as a fellow white man. Blacks had few economic opportunities and they weren’t allowed to vote. They were prohibited from owning dogs, firearms, and/or liquor. Blacks had a lot of restrictions.

What forms of slave resistance were practiced in the American South?

One form of resistance was individual forms of rebellion. That was the most common form of rebellion and it was just sabotaging their masters’ things like the rails, tools, fences, boats, etc., and even thefts of food. Another form of slave resistance was rebelling in a physical way. A group of slaves eventually took over a ship that was transporting them to be sold and they eventually gained their freedom after taking over “The Amistad”.  Another uprising was Nat Turner’s Rebellion in which over 80 slaves killed 60 white people in a form of slavery resistance.

Chapter 10 Democracy in America

How did John Quincy Adams envision the United States becoming the “freest and mightiest nation in the world”?

He wanted the United States to be the mightiest nation in the world by telling legislation to promote agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, and the mechanical and elegant arts.

How did democrats and Whigs differ in their understanding of American freedom and its relationship to governmental power?

The democrats believed that “the government should adopt a hands-off attitude toward the economy and not award special favors to entrenched economic interest.” In the other hand, the Whigs believed that  “via a protective tariff,, a national bank, and aid to internal improvements, the federal government could guide economic development.

What were the main arguments for and against Indian removal?

The first main argument against Indian removal was that the Indians were hostile when they tried to reclaim “their” land. The second main argument was that the Court  had said that they didn’t own the land, they just had the right to occupy it.

How did the Missouri Compromise and the nullification crisis demonstrate increasing sectional differences in antebellum America?

These two events increased sectional differences because the Missouri Compromise just a predicament that the United States was going through. Missouri wanted to get in the union but as a slave state and that was just going to ruin the balance of states which was 11 free states and 11 slave states. So to compromise they made Maine a free state. That caused some controversy but so did the nullification crisis. The nullification crisis was when congress imposed a series of tariffs. Then South Carolina nullified it but President Jackson still sent troops to collect taxes . That caused most of the differences.