Reading: Chudacoff & Smith: read all assigned; Thernstrom: Introduction; Kessner: Introduction
Written: Carefully look through the tag cloud (on the right side of the home page) on our course site. Click on at least 3 tags and read the posts that come up. Leave at least 2 brief comments, either on this post or others, arguing why a certain theme or topic is worthy of appearing on the midterm exam.
The New York Revolution:
-An important topic since we are studying New York
-We spent quite sometime discussing this topic
-It is worthy of being apart of the midterm
The change in the means of documenting history due technological upgrades.
-Worthy of being apart of the midterm because it doesn’t come with a lot of readings lol 🙂
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Transportation in New York was fun a topic too, you could incorporate that one too. Its a very informative topic. Helps the reader to know what was actually there before the trains we take on a regular basis… What do you think guys?! (I hope someone actually sees this and agrees)
I agree with you on the transportation worthy of appearing on the midterm exam. Public transportation isn’t a luxury in New York City, it’s a necessity, and has played what may be one of the most important ideas that evolved over time.
Immigration affects America as a whole, but due to its influence on cities, and later after the times we’re studying currently, Ellis Island, should also receive special mention on the midterm. Like transportation, it is a theme that has stemmed from the formation of America and still affects us now.
Slavery should definitely be on the midterm because there were many causes and effected to slavery. Also it took up a large chunk of urban New York history and slavery in this state has been different that slavery in many other states.
Another topic that the midterm should cover is industrialization. This is a big contribution to present day New York social and economic life and was a big aspect back then when it first started. Without it, machinery and sky-scrapers would not be possible. There were also negative and positive aspects of industrialism which would make it a good argumentative essay or short answer.
And yes, I will agree with Jamie and Eleazar on putting transportation as a topic because this is what caused the mobility of people outside their walking span and led them to search other opportunities “outside their box”. I guess thats three people on that topic…so far..
I agree with Farzana that slavery should be covered in our midterm. It is important to understand how the slaves were mistreated, and how even after waves of immigration, they were still abused. Also, we need to understand why it took so long for them to gain their “freedom.”
We can write an argumentative essay on why whites believed slavery wasn’t a bad idea.
Thanks guys! ^_^
I agree with everyone that said that slavery would be a good topic to be on the exam. Slavery didn’t only affect the nation as a whole, but also had a great impact on New York City. We spent quite some time on the topic so it would be understandable if it was on the midterm.
I agree with Jmaes on the fact that transportation should be include in the midterm. It had a big impact on New York but it also made traveling to America shorter. We think of transportation as trains and bus but we kind of forgot about boats. Transportation made it easier for people to travel to other cities and states when New York population was increaing.
I agree with Eleazar that immigration should be covered on the exam. We studied a lot about immigration and this topic is one of the essential reasons why New York is how it is today. A lot of culture; a melting pot.
I agree with Eleazar Villalon that Ellis Isalnd should be include due to the fact it was the first lace that people stop before coming to Manhattan. Another topic should be New Amsterdam. New Amsterdam was on of the first name for this state and I think we should discuss who ruled this state before the British.
I think the top 3 topics are slavery, immigration, and transportation because they had a strong impact on New York back then and it created and shape what it is today.
Topic should be Immigration that we just covered in our class. Because it has covered about how New York became a city of race and ethnicity.
I agree with the previous comments and think immigration should be included. Its a very broad topic and cuts across other topics such as: slavery, diversity and race. Services in New York city should also be included especially transportation
Most topics that everyone agrees with are very broad and does not pinpoint the exact evolution of early American society into what it is know. I absolutely agree that transportation, slavery, and immigration should be on the exam, but more focused topics should be considered as well.
Take Five Points for instance. This place is important with immigration, but also in terms of New York City life and how the poor were affected in different types of urban societies. Or even the riots in the 1800s and the outburst for those in poverty, those who opposed the Draft, and even those who physically abused African Americans and other religions because the job market was so competitive and the provisions of resources from them were so scare. The broader the better for the midterm, but the ability to make connections gets the A.
^^^BTW I totally oppose the whole essay questions idea, short answers seems suitable.
No historian will ever write about New York history in particular or about USA history in general without making many stops on immigration aspect that shaped this country since its existence.” Five points by Tyler” and Anbinder and “the Evolution Of American urban Society” by Chudacoff are just couples examples. As matter fact the immigration issue still one of the debated topic among the two political parties in America. therefore, immigration is an essential and critical issue that will last forever , and indeed it is worthy to be known and to become visible in midterm exam
I agree with everyone here who mentions slavery, immigration, and transportation, but K. Subero has a made a good point here. Perhaps issues that are specific would enable us to make better connections and write an essay that more closely answers the question. But if it’s broader, then students could choose to focus on different topics which would allow more space for individual arguments and what students think is more relevant to the topic.
I opt for Five Points, and the Draft Riots because they play a huge role in describing and proving how racial and ethnic integration led to a wide variety of problems and at the same time opened up opportunities on many different levels that led to important historical change in New York.
I agree that transportation would be a great subject to talk about on the midterm. Not only is the subject interesting, but it is something we can all relate to; we all go to school in the city and almost always have to use some sort of transportation. For myself, I use a mixture of the LIRR, walking, and the subway.
I agree that immigration would also be a great subject to talk about on the midterm. As stated by Mohamd Elbaz, “no historian will ever write about New York City history in particular or about USA history in general without making many stops on immigration.” Immigration has been the basis of the United States for many a century. The founders of this country were immigrants and many of us are immigrants as well. How can we forget the prominent phraze: “Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free…”
I agree with everyone that immigration and transportation should be covered on the midterm. First and foremost, immigration is important to our society because it is what brought us here to this very country and continent. Without immigration, this country would not exist, and our freedoms that we take so much for granted could possibly not exist. Furthermore, immigration has also changed the lives of many people already residing in the United States. For example, when the Irish came to New York, they took jobs away from African Americans. To date, people are complaining that an influx of immigrants from South America has been a major factor in the decrease of job opportunities.
Transportation is important because everything we do is transportation. Walking to school may not seem like transportation, but it is. So is taking a taxi and or a subway. We all use transportation every day of our lives. For the most part, this transportation is public transportation like the subway system that I mentioned beforehand. Without the creation of the subway system in 1904, many people would have trouble getting to and from work.
Immigration should be a topic on the test since we’ve discussed it a lot in class, a more specific point would be the draft riot (since we studied a website made specifically for it)
Slavery should also be a topic, we also a website for this topic, and there are so many subtopic that students can use to help their arguments.
(I always agree that we should have a series of short answer rather than a whole essay)
Immigration:
-I think is it an important topic in understanding the history of New York.
-New York has more immigrants than actual “New Yorkers”.
-You could not talk about New York without mentioning it’s immigrants
I agree with everyone saying that immigration is key to understanding the history of New York. I think there should definitely be a question on the role of immigrants in the city since we’ve covered it quite extensively.
I think immigration should definitely be a part of the midterm. Not only was this a large topic for class discussion, but it was also a pivotal part of American history. Everyone in this class is a descendent one way or another from someone who came through Ellis Island looking for a better life for their family. It is important to remember this quest for the “American Dream” and to write about it on the midterm. Another reason why this should be included on Monday is the fact that the immigration waves are mentioned quite a bit in the Chudacoff readings. Since that assignment was recent, the information is fresh in our memory and will result in meaningful, insightful responses on the exam.
I agree with most of my classmates who say that transportation should also be covered on the midterm. The institutionalization of organized transportation united the 5 boroughs and made the city a whole instead of 5 separate points. It is important enough to make it to the midterm because without transportation boroughs such as Brooklyn and Staten Island would have played second fiddle to Manhattan for all eternity. Also, as New Yorkers, transportation is an essential part of our everyday life. Having said that, it only makes sense to have it has a topic on our midterm.
I think slavery is a pretty important topic and should definitely appear on the midterm. Slavery was the main driving force behind the Americas when it first started, and it defines who we are today.
Immigration should also be another topic because as we all know, New York is defined by its mixed culture. The fact that we have people from all over the world here stems from the fact that immigration was extremely popular at one point. It’s important to note these events that lead up to the future.
Although it has been mentioned several times already, I also agree that immigration should be on the exam. It’s something we discussed in class thoroughly and recently, but it’s also how America was created- by a melting pot of immigrants. The people who are native to the country are Native Americans and the rest are immigrants. It is a topic that is relevant even today. New York City was and still is separated with various clusters of different cultures within blocks of the city.
I think that publicizing the service of water and firefighting is important. It was one of the ways to stop confusion and poor sanitation in the cities. Without regulations, our living conditions today would have been different.
Ellis Island was the gateway for immigrants from all over the world, predominantly Europe initially, to start anew and from scratch in the land of the free: America. It was the starting point of a new life for millions of immigrants, who actually set the foundation of today’s America. With the melting pot of different ethnicities, religions, and cultures, the nation has become one of the most prosperous countries by far in history.
New York was one of the first states to abolish slavery, with the enactment of the Gradual Manumission Act of 1799. New York strongly believed in the growth of financial prosperity using the fundamentals of finance and investments, which Alexander Hamilton laid the foundations of. Not only were the unethical oppression lifted up, the economy of New York also prospered due to the revolutionary ideas of Hamilton.
I agree with everybody. Imigration for sure should be included in midterm. It applies to almost all of us. Morever, New York is the city for immigrants, so ignoring this topic we ignoring huge part of the history. That is why it is especially interesing and important.
I think that midterm should also cover entertaiment topic. As we had Central park or Barnum s museum. They are really very interesting fro students and at the same moment it teach us how people lived and about their recreation. And how it changed by this moment