05/20/11

Progressive Era = Progress ?

Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was the 28th President of the United States.

President Wilson, argued towards a stronger central government. He also was fighting for anti-legislation and labor rights for all workers. One of his first and many accomplishments was him singing  the underwood tariff. The underwood Tariff provided substantial reduction rates on imported goods and was further moved into reduction of cost of living.

 

 

 

05/20/11

Immigrants find homes in USA…

The first picture is Ellis Island,Between the years of 1892 to 1954, over 12 million immigrants entered the United States though Ellis Island, which is a small island in the NewYork Harbor. The immigrants were mostly European. In search for a better life, these immigrants came to the United States in hopes for finding jobs and making money.

The second picture shows these immigrants workings. These immigrants took on jobs of people in the United States, who did not want to work for less pay. Such job labor was including working for steel mills, textile mills and coal mines.  Only ten cents an hour working 55 hours a week were the cost of their pay. Even young children were working on these jobs. Between the years of 1890 – 1900 about 35,000 were killed on these jobs due to child labor.

The comparison between these pictures depicts that these immigrants traveled to Ellis Island to get into the United states just to form better life for themselves and their families. However, getting hard labor jobs for fraction of the pay of only ten cents an hour, and poor child labor cost these immigrants their lives.


05/20/11

9/11 Archives

I personally like the concept behind the 9/11 digital archive, honoring and remembering the victims that died that day. I agree with Jonathan on many aspects, I like the idea that people can post memories about their experiences on 9/11, but I find it less sincere in some aspects when I see someone post a picture of themselves from a trip they took to New York 20 years ago in front of the towers and then saying I feel your pain. The fact is that unless they were in the area or knew someone who was in there on 9/11, you really can feel the way we did. Being in New York all my life, I personally don’t like the fact that Ground Zero has become a tourist site, I think that is just wrong. I do however like the fact that people care enough that they do post about it, I just wish there was a separate section they could do it in. I also like the fact that the archive is filtered enough for spam, which shows a genuine concern and passion about remembering those who died.

I think one thing the site could use is a digital memorial, such as the names and pictures of the people who died there that day. I think that those people should have their own section, and only friends and family of those people should be able to post there, perhaps directly under the pictures. I also think the photos should be organized into specific photo albums depending on what the pictures are about. Overall I really do like this site and I’m glad something like it exists.

05/19/11

Strikes on Railroads??

 

The railroad strike in 1877 were during the gilded ages.  The strike took place in West Virgina. The reason behind the strike , was due to the cut in wages for the second time in a year by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. In order to help, these railroads to proceed in running, the state military tried their best to restore the train services. However this was not possible because the military soldiers did not want to work against the people who were already on strike.

This led to a negative fall back of the strike, the strike slowly moved towards Baltimore which caused serious violent street battles between the strikers and the Military of Maryland. Moving along the states the strike spread out to the Midwest. Here , in the state of St. Louis, the violence was in control for a week by the St.Louis Military. Certain issues depicted fights between strikers and the police.  By the time the strike was over with, nearly a 100,00o people had been dead. In the end there was very little gains, due to the fact that there was a enforcement on the iron rule on the workers and it made it very difficult to organize.

 

 

05/19/11

womens finally get to vote!

Womens suffrage was one of the many important events that took place  in our history. It portrayed  negative and unequal rights toward women. In search for equality, Susan B. Anthony was the forming leader who brought women their rights in the United States. She “dedicated her life to “the cause,” the woman suffrage movement.” He accomplishments during the time help form the Nineteenth Amendment, which was in the year 1920 .   Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment guarantees all American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation and protest. Beginning in the mid-19th century, several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change of the Constitution. Few early supporters lived to see final victory in 1920.

05/19/11

African Burial Grounds

Today New York is known as a mosaic of cultures and races, as it happens to have been known in the mid 18th century. However New York during the 18th century was not as accepting of peoples as it is today nor was it isolated from the issue of slavery. With over 20 percent (2,000 people) of the population of New York being slaves, tensions rose within the city that culminated in a rebellion when about 25 slaves in 1712 burned an outhouse and killed nine whites. Following this the white population was uncomfortable and when a fire erupted in 1741, the black population was instantly condemned. Trials were held that resulted in 30 people being burned and hung, and to this day it is unknown if the fire was a result of a rebellion or an accident. In 1991, workers discovered the burial site of these “rebels” in what would turn out to be the African Burial Ground, resting place of an estimated 15,000 people. In 2007, a memorial was built to remind New York of its role in the slave trade and of the struggles of those buried.

The African Burial Ground is located near what used to be known as the Collect Pond. Just as today New York fights to make room for the residents and immigrants, the city of New York was trying to house its growing population during the 19th century. In an attempt to protect New Yorkers from the dangers of cattle slaughtering, the city relocated the slaughterhouses by the Collect Pond. The Collect Pond was a large fresh water pond that covered the area of what is now Foley Square and more. By relocating the slaughterhouses the city ruined this water source and in 1803, voted to drain the pond. After the draining of the pond it was filled with earth to create some of the worst real estate in New York. This swampy area was inhabited by African Americans, making it no surprise that the African Burial Grounds were located nearby. Furthermore, the canal that was built to drain the pond is now better known as Canal Street, and you can experience the change in topography from high ground to the swampy low ground of the graveyard at Foley Square.

05/18/11

September 11 Archieve

September 11 digital archive is a good way to show the events that happend on that day. I like that the website is a pretty much has anything you need to know about 9/11 from people’s personal stories. I didn’t like that the website is based only on personal opinions and does not talk about the facts, you can not find a good explanation of that event.

For the future historian, the website overall is good and useful. The site includes stories, images, emails, documents, sounds, and videos of 9/11. This site will help the future historian to include their personal information or image about the event. Also if they have questions,they can email them. So,i think the site is useful for them.

05/18/11

Big Brother FCC

 

 

 

Is it really even possible to regulate the internet?  Apparently it’s been attempted by the Federal Communications Commission back in 2010 to have the internet categorized as a telecommunication service instead of an information service provider.  Changing how it is labeled, changes the laws that it falls under and would finally change how it is administrated.  This would in effect would basically give the FCC a huge promotion in managing and supervising the internet.  This is an audio from NPR and the transcripts between Democratic Commissioner Micheal Copps and Bob Garfield, the disk jokey.

http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/2010/12/24/02

 

In 1997 the US government passed the No Electronic Theft Act.  This enabled criminal prosecution of any person that was found guilty of illegally dispensing copies of pirated software.  This modified the previous law that did not carry the right to charge anyone, no matter how large the scale of  piracy, of a crime.  Ten years later, I still don’t really see the affect of this law except that the average person has just become more computer savvy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NET_Act

 

 

 

 

http://www.gallup.com/poll/123101/americans-likely-say-government-doing-too-much.aspx

This is just an article of how Americans are getting sick of all the new government regulations.

05/18/11

9/11 digital archive

September 11th was a horrific, yet, historical day in American and world history.  It solidified the modern day era of radical ismlamic fundamentalists.  The 9/11 digital archive is a great way to recap the events that occured on that day.  The good thing about the website is that it pretty much has anything you need to know about 9/11 from people’s personal stories, to the  history regarding 9/11 and the aftermath.  The weaknesses of the website is a lot is based on personal opinions and does not talk about the facts.

Even though the 9/11 digital archive is based on personal stories, there is no real history regarding why the attack occured and how, America reacted with the war on terrorism.  The website is also aimed to be a memorial type website, rather than a site historians can use as a refernce for events.  In the future historians can use the website as a way of reflecting on how Americans reacted and what they think about terrorism.

05/18/11

September 11 Archive

I think the September 11 Archive is a good place for finding information about September 11. When I first time entered the website, overall the site was simplicity and brevity. I think this is the strengths of the website. Also, this website provides diverse information about September 11, and everyone can contribute the source, which I think to be the weakness because we do not know which is true or false, but we still can get a lot of public voices about the topic. During the experience, I was like the special collections. There are some links really useful and having huge information in the special collections.

For the future historian, the website had a lot of primary sources and secondary sources about the event, so this will help the future historian gather information which includes stories, images, emails, documents, sounds, and videos of September 11. Overall, this website is useful and recommended for researching the event of September 11.

05/18/11

FINAL REVIEW SHEET ANSWERS (PART I)

HIS 1005: Modern American History Final Exam Study Guide (exam is May 23, 2011)

 

Section I – Identifications

All identifications on the exam will be drawn from the list below. For each term, in 2-3 sentences identify the historical importance of the person, place, or event. Include at least mention of when and where he/she/it took place.

 

1) Iwo Jima – Iwo Jima refers to the Battle of Iwo Jima. In this battle the United States captured the island of Iwo Jima from Japan. It was part of the Pacific Campaign during WWII and took place in 1945.

 

2) NATO – The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a military alliance that combined for mutual defense. It is still around today, but was created in 1949. It began with 10 countries, among them the United States. NATO was created because the Berlin blockade provided evidence that in order to stop the Soviets an alliance was needed.

 

3) Arms Race – The Arms Race describes a competition between two or more parties for the best armed forces. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation. A nuclear arms race developed during the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union. On both sides, perceived advantages of the adversary led to large spending on armaments and the stockpiling of vast nuclear arsenals. This took place during the 1940’s even up until the 1990’s.

 

4) Containment – Containment was a United States policy using military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to stall the spread of communism, enhance America’s security and influence abroad, and prevent a “domino effect”. A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to expand communist influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam. This policy was created in 1946.

 

5) Marshall Plan – The Marshall Plan was the large-scale American program to Europe where the United States sent them monetary support to help rebuild European economies in order to combat the spread of communism. The goals of the United States were to rebuild a war-devastated region, remove trade barriers, modernize industry, and make Europe prosperous again. This plan was created in 1948.

 

6) Age of Affluence – The Age of Affluence was a nickname to the 1950’s in America. It was named so because of the prosperity from the wartime economy, the rise of suburbia, mass consumerism, the TV, credit cards, and the expansion of the car industry. Advertising was also a major contribution to this age.

 

7) McCarthyism – McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by heightened fears of communist influence on American institutions and espionage by Soviet agents. Originally coined to criticize the anti-communist pursuits of U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, “McCarthyism” soon took on a broader meaning, describing the excesses of similar efforts.

 

8) Domino theory – The domino theory was a theory during the 1950s to 1980s, promoted at times by the government of the United States, which speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. The domino theory was used by successive United States administrations during the Cold War to clarify the need for American intervention around the world.

 

9) Rosa Parks – Rosa Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called “the first lady of civil rights”, and “the mother of the freedom movement.” On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks, refused to obey bus driver’s order that she give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. While her action was not the first of its kind to impact the civil rights issue, Parks’ individual action of civil disobedience created further impact by sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

 

10) Little Rock Nine – The Little Rock Nine were a group of African-American students who were enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. The ensuing Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by the Arkansas governor, and then attended after the intervention of President Eisenhower, is considered to be one of the most important events in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. On their first day of school, troops from the Arkansas National Guard would not let them enter the school and they were followed by mobs making threats to lynch them.

 

11) Greensboro Sit-in – The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests which led to the Woolworth’s department store chain reversing its policy of racial segregation in the Southern United States. They occurred in Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1960. A group of black students began sitting in on the store’s lunch counter, and as many more students joined the movement, the store changed its policy.

 

12) Silent majority – The silent majority is an unspecified large majority of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly. President Richard Nixon popularized the term in a 1969 speech. He appealed to the American people, calling on the “great silent majority” for their support as he worked for “peace with honor” in Vietnam.

 

13) Gulf of Tonkin incident – The Gulf of Tonkin Incident is the name given to two incidents, one disputed, involving North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964. The outcome of these two incidents was the passage by Congress of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which granted President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asian country whose government was considered to be jeopardized by “communist aggression,” and served as Johnson’s legal justification for opening warfare against North Vietnam.

 

14) Tet Offensive – The Tet Offensive was a military campaign during the Vietnam War that began in 1968. Regular and irregular forces of the North Vietnamese Army fought against the forces of South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies. The purpose of the offensive was to spark a general uprising among the population that would then topple the Saigon government, thus ending the war in a single blow.

 

15) Watergate – The Watergate scandal was a political scandal during the 1970s in the United States resulting from the break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Effects of the scandal eventually led to the resignation of the President of the United States, Richard Nixon, on August 9, 1974, the first and only resignation of any U.S. President. It also resulted in the indictment, trial, conviction and incarceration of several Nixon administration officials.

 

16) Jimmy Carter – Jimmy Carter served as the 39th President of the United States (1977–1981). As president, Carter created two new cabinet-level departments: the Department of Energy and the Department of Education. In foreign affairs, Carter pursued the Camp David Accords, the Panama Canal Treaties, the second round of Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT II), and returned the Panama Canal Zone to Panama.

 

17) Ronald Reagan – Ronald Reagan was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989). As president, Reagan implemented sweeping new political and economic initiatives such as his supply-side economic policies, dubbed “Reaganomics.” His second term was primarily marked by foreign matters, such as the ending of the Cold War, the 1986 bombing of Libya, and the revelation of the Iran-Contra affair.

 

18) Berlin Wall – It was a wall to separate East Berlin from West Berlin, erected in 1961 and dismantled in 1989. It was the embodiment of what Churchill called The Iron Curtain, separating the Free Western sector of Berlin from the Communist sector. In 1948 the Soviets cut all road and rail links from West Berlin and all supplies had to be flown in around the clock for more than a year.

 

19) September 11 – The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by al-Qaeda upon the United States on September 11, 2001. The hijackers intentionally crashed two of the airliners into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, killing everyone on board and many others working in the buildings. The hijackers crashed a third airliner into The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed into a field near Shanksville in rural Pennsylvania after some of its passengers and flight crew attempted to retake control of the plane, which the hijackers had redirected toward Washington, D.C., to target either the Capitol Building or the White House. There were no survivors from any of the flights.

05/17/11

The September 11 Digital Archive

After going through the 9/11 Digital Archive website, I found it pretty easy to use. The moment I saw the homepage it looked very organized. When you read the homepage it gives you a brief description of the website. One strong point of the website is that it explains a few of the many tabs that they have on the website. To me the strongest point is the organization. If I wanted to fine stories, or images, instead of me having to go search all I have to do is click on the Browse tab. To be honest I don’t really think there is any weakness to the website. It has a lot of information that is well organized, the interface is very simple and easy to figure out, overall the website is easy to use.

For future historians the website can be very useful. By going through the website they can obviously learn about the history of 9/11 but they can also learn about the people. With the many stories on the website it can give historians information on how 9/11 affected the people. The website also has a vast amount of images, videos, facts, and many more to help historians learn about 9/11.

05/17/11

Digit-all Archive

From the first second that I went on the 9/11 website, I found it very simple to use. When you land on the homepage, you can see different bookmarks lined up horizontally on the top of the page. These bookmarks truly break down the different sections of the website. As one can see anybody is able to browse, research, or contribute to this site. This is definitely one of the strengths of this site. For example if I want to browse through hundreds of thousands of documents, I can simply click on the browse button. From there one is able to filter out what they want to see based on either images, email, stories, etc. The research portion of the website helps people research archives and other documents about 9/11. It makes everything very simple. Contributing is even easier than anything else! All you have to do is type up, or upload whatever you need to, and you submit it. It can literally take under a minute. Which other website runs like this! The simplicity and ease of the website are definitely its forte.

The simplicity only acts as a negative to people who require aesthetic pleasure from this website. It is very bland and boring, but that  might be the desired theme, since this website is about an extremely tragic event. The biggest negative about the website in my opinion is the validity of what it posted. I am not sure that everything that is posted is true. People are able to submit whatever they like, and I’m sure that if the website gets a complaint they will take something down. However, many stories may be factually incorrect. The search process is also subpar. When you search for certain thing such as ’23rd floor’ you must be very specific. If you write 23 then any result for ’23rd’ would not show up. This is a massive downside to this website, because it is nearly impossible to search through all of its documents. So, for example if one wanted to look for things on a specific floor, it would not be as easy as it seems. Lastly there has been minimal marketing in terms of getting this website to the public. Barely anybody has heard of this website, and that limits the amount of entries submitted to the blog.

In the future historians will know exactly what people thought about the event. They can learn about 9/11 from this website, as well as the public’s reaction. They might be able to view images, videos, audio recordings, email, stories, etc. This website truly makes it easy for anybody to learn about 9/11. Of course this story is told from the American point of view, but it does include numerous facts. Overall, the websites pros outweigh its cons, and this website should be considered a great accomplishment.

 

05/17/11

Freedom From the Grasp of Foreign Oil?

Over the course of any history class, it becomes quite apparent that any event, act, or regulation has a very direct cause . One issue that seems to constantly be making headlines and undoubtedly has a very clear and direct effect on each of us is the perpetually  rising oil prices. At it’s core, the principals that govern the fluctuation of oil prices are the most basic fundamentals of business – supply and demand. However, as our dependency on foreign oil rises, it becomes easier for oil producing countries to step beyond these fundamentals and take a more active role in setting their own prices and indirectly having their say in the direction of our economy.

An offshore oil rig in arctic Alaska

Any disaster as severe as the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 or the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon near the Gulf Coast this past summer is sure to stir up quite a scare when it comes to the dangers involved in the exploration and drilling of hard to reach oil fields, so it should come as no surprise that the government would subsequently put further exploration under a close watch. But the more you read into the benefits of increasing domestic oil production and therefore lessening our dependency on that of foreign countries the extent to which higher domestic output only becomes more and more apparent and it becomes irrefutably evident that it would be a major step in our ongoing quest toward economic recovery.

Over the past few weeks there have been many steps taken by the Federal Government to trying to ease the effects of these steadily rising prices on the pockets of the American people; and in fact, just yesterday “In his weekly radio and Internet address,” President Obama said that, “the administration would begin to hold annual auctions for oil and gas leases in the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve, a 23-million-acre tract on the North Slope of Alaska.” (John Broder, New York Times). It’s very clear that the president has real understanding of what’s actually going on in our country and is making an effort to show the people that he’s doing what he can to help us; and although I do not agree wit hall of his policies, I feel that I must commend him for his ability to speak to, and connect with, the average American citizen on very personal level.

This latest step in Washington’s stance on drilling within our nation’s border is sure to have a very direct and hopefully positive effect on each of us individually as well as on our economy as whole, and I encourage you all to take a few minutes to read the article that I’ve linked below – or at the very least watch the videos.

-C. Salama

Video: Obama on New Drilling Leases

\”Shrinking Oil Supplies Put Alaskan Pipeline at Risk\” – The Wall Street Journal

\”Shrinking Oil Supplies…\” Video

\”Obama Shifts to Speed Oil and Gas Drilling in U.S.\” – New York Times

05/16/11

Free Trade? Cheap Labor.

There was a lot of controversy with the NAFTA agreement.  NAFTA is the North American Free Trade Agreement, an agreement that was to eliminate  barriers for trade and provide a fluid flow of trade and investment between Canada, US, and Mexico.  It was a hard debate that spanned through two presidencies, through Bush senior to Clintons Administration. Mexico belive they would benifit the most, and that it would help boost their economy, and immigration from Mexico to the US

In the New York Time article by By Elisabeth Malkin, “After 15 Years, Nafta’s promise, unfulfilled”   Even though Mexico’s exports have exploded in recent years, there is still a surge of Mexican crossing the boarder for a better life in the US.  Many Mexicans abandon their home and land and head North.  Things were even harder when China enter the World Trader Orgaization, enabling many companies to take their factories to China and pay even lower wages.  In my opinion, Nafta almost seemed like a legal way for companes to go into poor countries, and legal exploit these people for cheap labor.

It was important for free trade to work because many hoped it would curb migration over the southern border, but free trade is just not enough.

 

05/16/11

Assignment due 5/18

1) Read Foner, chapter 28
2) Visit the September 11 Digital Archive and contribute something to the collection.
3) Respond to this post with at least one substantial (2-3 paragraph) comment describing your experiences on the web site.  What are the strengths of the site?  The weaknesses?  What may future historians conclude about the events of 9/11 based on their use of the site as a resource?
4) Review the study guide and be ready with any questions at our last class on Wednesday.
05/16/11

Deregulation v. Regulation

Arguments made by individuals like McCain highlight the powers of the government to regulate. McCain approached the idea of regulation, as to not being limited to federal regulation. In fact, it is interesting the approach McCain took when it came to internet. He decided to deregulate, yes this is no typo. He decided to deregulate internet broadband, because interference with market forces is not limited.

McCain as senator worked for almosta decade to deregulate the marketplace to give it he freedom to grow and flourish, examples of this are rules to deregulate insurance and banking industries. His reasoning for this was that it would lead to a healthier and stronger economy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/16/AR2008091603732.html

05/16/11

ARRA

On February 17th 2009, President Barack Obama signed his first law.  He passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment act.  This was a bill passed to provide relief to low income families, open up jobs,  and help pay for medicare, so that no one is left without it health insurance.  This was a major problem in America, however many people were and still are against it, believing that it will not help fix the issue of urban poverty.

In 1996, President Bill Clinton was just elected to his second term in office.  He had strived for universal health care before it was shut down, in 1994.  In 1997 his wife started a universal health care for children, which became very popular.  He was never able to achieve universal health care for everyone throughout his 8 years in presidency.  Clinton had  a similar goal as obama when he strived for universal health care to bring relief to the needy.

http://www.recovery.gov/About/Pages/The_Act.aspx