Gold Standard Act of 1900

Until the signing of the Gold Standard Act in 1900, gold and silver were used to establish monetary standards all over the world. The value of each was not well established and to make monetary matters worse, the Civil War was very distractive on the economy  and paper money had no silver or gold backing. The Gold Standard Act was created to take control of monetary policy. The sandard it set 1 oz. of troy gold was $20.67. The act further stated the value of a dollar bill (paper money) in gold and began the issuance of silver certificates to be used in place of silver coin. The Gold Standard Act of 1900 established gold as the more valuable metal.

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Second Impeachment In US History

On December 18, 1988 former President Bill Clinton was impeached by the House of Representative on charges of perjury, obstruction of justices and malfeasance in office which arose from the Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones lawsuit. The trial proceedings were largely partisan, with no Democratic Senators voting for conviction and only five Democratic Representatives voting to impeach. In all, 55 senators voted not guilty, and 45 voted guilty on the perjury charge. Bill Clinton also was acquitted on the obstruction of justice charge. This was the second impeachment in American History.

On February 12, 1998 the Senate came back from closed deliberations with Bill Clinton acquittal.

This picture of Bill Clinton shows a man going through one of the biggest struggles and humiliation that a public person could go through.

Posted in 1989-2000, June 21 assignment | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Second Impeachment In US History

‘Black Tuesday’ of my screenplay

Black Tuesday occurred on October 29,1929 which is a vital component that I envision in my screenplay. Prior to the stock market crash, Americans were in a progressive era with great economic prosperity. However, there was great speculation of the ‘bull’ market at the ti me. Hence, Black Tuesday brought an end to the economic prosperity since many investors bought stocks on margin.  Havoc and depression erupted on Black Tuesday in NYC along with the rest of the country as people lost their nearly everything in their portfolios. Although Black Tuesday was not the sole cause for the Great Depression.  banks and businesses began to close and consumer spending drastically declined consequently, which became factors leading to the Great Depression. After the stock market crash, people became frantic about selling the remainder  of their portfolios and rushed to withdraw money out of the banks and it didn’t take long for the economy to go  into a recession. Therefore, I’d like the audience to understand the significance of the day Black Tuesday and the changes it caused subsequently in American history.

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The Speakeasy

The 21 Club in New York City was a Speakeasy in the 1920’s during Prohibition.  Their website has some interesting information about the wine cellar:

Perhaps the most elaborately disguised vault in New York City, ’21’s Wine Cellar was built to be invisible. Behind several smoked hams that hung from the basement ceiling and a shelved wall filled with canned goods, stood a perfectly camouflaged 2 1/2 ton door that appeared to be part of the wall.  Opened only by inserting a slender 18″ meat skewer through one of many cracks in the cement wall, the secret door silently slid back to reveal ’21’s most coveted treasure: two thousand cases of wine.

There were apparently many raids at the club but the staff was so good at keeping an eye out that they always saw the police coming and hid everything just in time.  The 21 club has a section about its history on their website at http://www.21club.com/web/onyc/wine_cellar_history.jsp

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Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

In 1906 the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed. It required inspection of meat and drugs such as alcohol, cocaine and heorine in the United States. Before this Act people didn’t know what was in their meat or the conditions in which it was made in. Drugs were not labeled correctly and contained misleading information. These problems were exposed from the help of Upton Sinclair and Samuel Hopkins. Resulting from this act, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was formed and the sale of patent medicines containing opiates decreased by 33%.

The video is from youtube.

Posted in 1900-1916, June 29 assignment | 5 Comments

Flappers

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/3svvCj4yhYc" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]The flappers of the 1920s marked the beginning of a revolution of women. During this time, women ditched their conservative feminine looks and went for clothing, makeup and hairstyles that were a far cry from the norm and considered inappropriate at the time. Young women asserted their freedom by voting, driving cars, dancing, drinking, smoking cigarettes, staying out late, and going to “petting parties”. 

Flappers of the 1920s are possibly best known for their style. At a time when corsets, long hair and long gowns were the norm, flappers introduced a more boyish look. Young women showed off their legs in short skirts, chopped their hair off into short bobs and wore excessive amounts of makeup. Kohl-rimmed eyes and bee-stung lips set the flappers apart from the rest. Accessories included newsboy caps, cloche hats, layered necklaces and horn-rimmed glasses. High heels came into fashion and dresses were often drop-waisted and knee-length to show off just enough leg when flappers danced. 

This video depicts what life was like for a flapper.

Posted in 1920-1932, Cultural History, June 28 assignment, Social History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, formally known as FBI, is an agency of the United States Department of Justice and was formed in 1908. The FBI works as a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency. The main motto of FBI is “Fidelity, Bravery, Integrity.” The importance of FBI in American history or in American society is unimaginable.

In 1908 the Congress passed a law that forbade the use of Treasury employees by the Justice Department, so Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte made a new Bureau of Investigation (BOI or BI). In 1935 the Bureau of Investigation changed its name to Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI.

Until 1886, there was no organization that have the power to regulate interstate commerce. When the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 passed, the FBI’s jurisdiction derived from this Act. FBI’s first official job was to visit and make surveys of the houses of prostitution in preparation for enforcing the “White Slave Traffic Act,” or Mann Act, passed on June 25, 1910. Later on, the FBI performed a lot of remarkable federal investigation efficiently that it can be considered as “symbol of trust” in the Americans’ mind.

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Gold Fever in 1898

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dcsYMTyZcE

This clip is segment of short film called " City of God " from 1950's. A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers into the area of dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia,Canada and the United States. The gold rush started in Alaska in 1898. This is important event in history as it many of the people rich, it was like " free for all". There were also some deadly incidents occured during the gold rush. The Palm Sunday avalanche was one of the most widely reported events of the gold rush.

Posted in 1890-1900, June 29 assignment | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

16th Amendment

The 16th Amendment was passed by the 61st Congress on July 12, 1909, and ratified on February 3, 1913. This Amendment overruled Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan & Trust Co. case in 1895 which limited the authorization of the Congress to collect an income tax. It states that

” The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.”

Before the ratification of this Amendment, the Congress could not collect a direct tax. The Congress was concerning about allowing wealthy people to have too much money because it could increase a gap between rich and poor. This Amendment became the base of income tax we pay today and created the distribution of the wealth.

Image from The National Archives: http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?doc=57

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Theodore Roosevelt’s Inaugural Address


Return to: AMDOCS: Documents for the Study of American History


Theodore Roosevelt

INAUGURAL ADDRESS

SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1905


The energetic Republican President had taken his first oath of office upon the death of President McKinley, who died of an assassin’s gunshot wounds on September 14, 1901. Mr. Roosevelt had been President himself for three years at the election of 1904. The inaugural celebration was the largest and most diverse of any in memory–cowboys, Indians (including the Apache Chief Geronimo), coal miners, soldiers, and students were some of the groups represented. The oath of office was administered on the East Portico of the Capitol by Chief Justice Melville Fuller.

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My fellow-citizens, no people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no spirit of boastfulness in our own strength, but with gratitude to the Giver of Good who has blessed us with the conditions which have enabled us to achieve so large a measure of well-being and of happiness. To us as a people it has been granted to lay the foundations of our national life in a new continent. We are the heirs of the ages, and yet we have had to pay few of the penalties which in old countries are exacted by the dead hand of a bygone civilization. We have not been obliged to fight for our existence against any alien race; and yet our life has called for the vigor and effort without which the manlier and hardier virtues wither away. Under such conditions it would be our own fault if we failed; and the success which we have had in the past, the success which we confidently believe the future will bring, should cause in us no feeling of vainglory, but rather a deep and abiding realization of all which life has offered us; a full acknowledgment of the responsibility which is ours; and a fixed determination to show that under a free government a mighty people can thrive best, alike as regards the things of the body and the things of the soul.

My short summary of the paragraph (Roosevelt’s inaugural contained appreciation to US’s achievement, and mentioned that the goodness that US should remained in strong and achieve the best under a democratic government. )

Much has been given us, and much will rightfully be expected from us. We have duties to others and duties to ourselves; and we can shirk neither. We have become a great nation, forced by the fact of its greatness into relations with the other nations of the earth, and we must behave as beseems a people with such responsibilities. Toward all other nations, large and small, our attitude must be one of cordial and sincere friendship. We must show not only in our words, but in our deeds, that we are earnestly desirous of securing their good will by acting toward them in a spirit of just and generous recognition of all their rights. But justice and generosity in a nation, as in an individual, count most when shown not by the weak but by the strong. While ever careful to refrain from wrongdoing others, we must be no less insistent that we are not wronged ourselves. We wish peace, but we wish the peace of justice, the peace of righteousness. We wish it because we think it is right and not because we are afraid. No weak nation that acts manfully and justly should ever have cause to fear us, and no strong power should ever be able to single us out as a subject for insolent aggression.

Short summary: (US are a great nation and US should maintain the greatness in front of other nations. US should respect all the nations by doing good actions toward them to recognize their rights. Also, US should secured other nations’ safety and refrain them from wrongdoing others. (He is pro imperialism)

Our relations with the other powers of the world are important; but still more important are our relations among ourselves. Such growth in wealth, in population, and in power as this nation has seen during the century and a quarter of its national life is inevitably accompanied by a like growth in the problems which are ever before every nation that rises to greatness. Power invariably means both responsibility and danger. Our forefathers faced certain perils which we have outgrown. We now face other perils, the very existence of which it was impossible that they should foresee. Modern life is both complex and intense, and the tremendous changes wrought by the extraordinary industrial development of the last half century are felt in every fiber of our social and political being. Never before have men tried so vast and formidable an experiment as that of administering the affairs of a continent under the forms of a Democratic republic. The conditions which have told for our marvelous material well- being, which have developed to a very high degree our energy, self-reliance, and individual initiative, have also brought the care and anxiety inseparable from the accumulation of great wealth in industrial centers. Upon the success of our experiment much depends, not only as regards our own welfare, but as regards the welfare of mankind. If we fail, the cause of free self-government throughout the world will rock to its foundations, and therefore our responsibility is heavy, to ourselves, to the world as it is to-day, and to the generations yet unborn. There is no good reason why we should fear the future, but there is every reason why we should face it seriously, neither hiding from ourselves the gravity of the problems before us nor fearing to approach these problems with the unbending, unflinching purpose to solve them aright.

Short summary: (US should feel strong and steady in terms of facing problems. US have a strong responsibility to secure self-government countries. )

Yet, after all, though the problems are new, though the tasks set before us differ from the tasks set before our fathers who founded and preserved this Republic, the spirit in which these tasks must be undertaken and these problems faced, if our duty is to be well done, remains essentially unchanged. We know that self-government is difficult. We know that no people needs such high traits of character as that people which seeks to govern its affairs aright through the freely expressed will of the freemen who compose it. But we have faith that we shall not prove false to the memories of the men of the mighty past. They did their work, they left us the splendid heritage we now enjoy. We in our turn have an assured confidence that we shall be able to leave this heritage unwasted and enlarged to our children and our children’s children. To do so we must show, not merely in great crises, but in the everyday affairs of life, the qualities of practical intelligence, of courage, of hardihood, and endurance, and above all the power of devotion to a lofty ideal, which made great the men who founded this Republic in the days of Washington, which made great the men who preserved this Republic in the days of Abraham Lincoln.

Return to: WWW-VL: United States History Index

http://www.vlib.us/amdocs/texts/30roos1.htm

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