The technology revolution made life 100x easier for people. During that time, great things were invented, from great inventors. The technology revolution had a major impact on our lives today. Thomas Edison was one of our great inventors.
Thomas Edison's first invention was the phonograph. The phonograph was the first machine that could record and reproduce sound.Though he created the phonograph that was not one of his greatest inventions. Next, came electricity and the famous light bulb. Edison developed durable light bulbs, the parallel circuit,safety fuses, and some other things.
Developing more and more, Thomas Edison started his modern electric utility industry. It evolved from gas and electric carbon-arc commercial and street lighting systems. He had a various amount of electric companies. Westinghouse was one of his electric companies, then along came General Electric. These companies actually still exist today.
The impact of electric was so amazing. It changed families life tremendously. It made housewives work around the house much easier. Since there was electric, along came appliances. Refrigerators were invented, washer machines, electric irons, and etc. People actually got to experience cold food, and not having to keep heating up the iron 20 times to just iron a shirt. Electric benefited people so much, people made electricity a necessity.
Everything in this world today is based upon technology. Without the great invention of electricity i wouldn't even be typing this paper, which would technically be great! Besides that, i can't even imagine not having a computer, phone, tv, appliances, or anything else relating to electricity. Technology is getting so outrageous I doubt if we will even need humans for anything later on in life.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Populism
In the mid 1800s a lot of things were starting to take place. There had been failing crop prices. Many farmers were in debt, and farmers complained about tariffs. Greenbackers, Goldbugs, and silverites were taking action.
Deflation was not always a bad thing to everyone, because everything was cheap, but it did hurt many people .Deflation had effected many farmers and debtors. On the other hand, it benefited the bankers and lenders.Farmers would take out mortgages when agricultural prices were high, but then had to pay the money back when crop prices were low.
In 1792 Alexander Hamilton had set the United States on a bimetallic standard. This was a continuous switch from gold standard to silver standard. There was a decision to remove the American dollar from bimetallism in 1873. As a result of the bad decision , the US faced consequences. The dollar was linked to a metal that was getting scarcer and scarcer. Then the demand for gold had rose tremendously. 1873 was an end of the bimetallic standard.
Silverites were mainly miners and westerners. They had wanted to lower the gold standard of the United States to silver, which would have allowed more money to be printed and made available to the public, and cause inflation. They wanted to free silver to put more money in the money supply. The silverites famous slogan was 16: 1. It meant the ratio of sixteen ounces of silver equal in value to one ounce of gold.
The greenbackers had argued for paper money to cause inflation. Many people opposed to that idea, and simply called paper money immoral. The Greenback party had only one 80000 votes in its first year.Greenbackers had tried, but were unsuccessful.
Deflation was not always a bad thing to everyone, because everything was cheap, but it did hurt many people .Deflation had effected many farmers and debtors. On the other hand, it benefited the bankers and lenders.Farmers would take out mortgages when agricultural prices were high, but then had to pay the money back when crop prices were low.
In 1792 Alexander Hamilton had set the United States on a bimetallic standard. This was a continuous switch from gold standard to silver standard. There was a decision to remove the American dollar from bimetallism in 1873. As a result of the bad decision , the US faced consequences. The dollar was linked to a metal that was getting scarcer and scarcer. Then the demand for gold had rose tremendously. 1873 was an end of the bimetallic standard.
Silverites were mainly miners and westerners. They had wanted to lower the gold standard of the United States to silver, which would have allowed more money to be printed and made available to the public, and cause inflation. They wanted to free silver to put more money in the money supply. The silverites famous slogan was 16: 1. It meant the ratio of sixteen ounces of silver equal in value to one ounce of gold.
The greenbackers had argued for paper money to cause inflation. Many people opposed to that idea, and simply called paper money immoral. The Greenback party had only one 80000 votes in its first year.Greenbackers had tried, but were unsuccessful.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
In US. history last class, we had read and discussed a packet. The packet contained a numerous amount of information all pertaining to the Civil War and Reconstruction. There were two main people that the packet focused on, William Archibald Dunning, and John Hope Franklin. These two men had different perspectives, or point of views, of the Reconstruction.
First off, William Archibald Dunning was born in Plainfield, Nj on May 12, 1857. William was a young boy, experiencing the horrible things, that went on during the Civil War. Dunning studied to be a teacher at Dartmouth College and the University of Berlin, although all his degrees were from Colombia University, including his doctorate degree. Dunning was selected to be the first Lieber professor of history and political science, in 1902. He was a very influential teacher, and talented man. Many people were impressed with his writings that he published. Two familiar books that he published during the Civil War and Reconstruction were called, The Constitution of the United States in Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1867 , and Reconstruction, Political and Economic, 1865-1877 .
John Hope Franklin was born on January 2, 1915. He was the professor of Legal History in the Law School at Duke University for seven years. Harvard University was where he recieved his A.M. and Ph.D. degrees. Franklin, like Dunning, also had many publications. Some of his numerous publications were, The Emancipation Proclamation, The Militant South, and Reconstruction After the Civil War.
William Archibald Dunning's theory of the failure of Reconstruction was blamed on northern Republicans who migrated to the South after the Civil War, a.k.a "carpetbaggers", and southern Republicans who had remained loyal to the Union, a.k.a "scalawags", and freed slaves. Also he believed that Reconstruction failed because of incompetency and corruption of the Radical Republican state governments. However, Franklin did not believe in the same theory. Franklin defended the actions of southern blacks and their white supporters. Not only that, but he blamed President Andrew Jackson on the failing eras, and conservative white southerners.
“It may be said that every generation since 1870 has written the history of the Reconstruction era. And what historians have written tells as much about their own generation as about the Reconstruction period itself.” John had declared in a speech American Historical Association in 1979.
Though Dunning's and Franklin's view of things were very different, much of it was due to the eras in which they had lived. Dunning lived and wrote during a time when corruption in Republican governments was a recurring problem. That is probably why Dunning had so much dislike to the Republican Party. In contrast, Franklin was around during the World War II civil rights movement. That made them look upon many things differently.
First off, William Archibald Dunning was born in Plainfield, Nj on May 12, 1857. William was a young boy, experiencing the horrible things, that went on during the Civil War. Dunning studied to be a teacher at Dartmouth College and the University of Berlin, although all his degrees were from Colombia University, including his doctorate degree. Dunning was selected to be the first Lieber professor of history and political science, in 1902. He was a very influential teacher, and talented man. Many people were impressed with his writings that he published. Two familiar books that he published during the Civil War and Reconstruction were called, The Constitution of the United States in Civil War and Reconstruction, 1860-1867 , and Reconstruction, Political and Economic, 1865-1877 .
John Hope Franklin was born on January 2, 1915. He was the professor of Legal History in the Law School at Duke University for seven years. Harvard University was where he recieved his A.M. and Ph.D. degrees. Franklin, like Dunning, also had many publications. Some of his numerous publications were, The Emancipation Proclamation, The Militant South, and Reconstruction After the Civil War.
William Archibald Dunning's theory of the failure of Reconstruction was blamed on northern Republicans who migrated to the South after the Civil War, a.k.a "carpetbaggers", and southern Republicans who had remained loyal to the Union, a.k.a "scalawags", and freed slaves. Also he believed that Reconstruction failed because of incompetency and corruption of the Radical Republican state governments. However, Franklin did not believe in the same theory. Franklin defended the actions of southern blacks and their white supporters. Not only that, but he blamed President Andrew Jackson on the failing eras, and conservative white southerners.
“It may be said that every generation since 1870 has written the history of the Reconstruction era. And what historians have written tells as much about their own generation as about the Reconstruction period itself.” John had declared in a speech American Historical Association in 1979.
Though Dunning's and Franklin's view of things were very different, much of it was due to the eras in which they had lived. Dunning lived and wrote during a time when corruption in Republican governments was a recurring problem. That is probably why Dunning had so much dislike to the Republican Party. In contrast, Franklin was around during the World War II civil rights movement. That made them look upon many things differently.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Freedmen's Bureau; Black Codes; Reconstruction Act
After the American Civil War had ended, the South was in social, political, and economic disorder. Reconstruction was definately in need. As a result, after the Civil War, in 1865, the Congress established the Freedmen's Bureau, as an effort to assist former slaves . It was a Bureau of Refugees, freedmen, and abandoned lands. The Freedmen's Bureau provided various amounts of things such as food, medical care, helped with resettlement, and it established schools. There were over 1,000 schools built, teacher-training institutes were created and several black colleges were founded with the financial help of the bureau. On January 16, 1865, there was an act that gave freed slaves 400,000 acres of abandoned rice land on Georgia’s Sea Islands and on the coast of South Carolina. The land was divided into forty-acre plots. Later the army was ordered to provide mules to the freedmen, also known as “forty acres and a mule.” However, this order did not last long after the assassination of President Lincoln. The vice president, President Andrew Johnson, had took over.
Later on in 1865, while the freedom of the Southern blacks was settling in, there were several Southern states that had passed legislation, creating Black Codes. The Black Code generally restricted the blacks right to own property. It controlled where they were allowed to live, established a curfew, and forced them to work as agricultural laborers or as domestics. A year later, the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was established, quickly eliminatiing the Black Codes. The Civil Right Act, was what the black people hoped for. The act gave the blacks the rights and privelages of full citizenship.
Also, during the reconstruction there was a battle for political power. President Andrew Johnson, was a very horrible president. He was very unsupportive of the Freedman's Bureau, but thought that there should be a southern white rule over local government. He supported that idea strongly, but abolitionists and Republican Congressional members put a stop to it immediately.In 1867, the Reconstruction Act eliminated the white controlled governments. Now with the Reconstruction Act in action, it gave the blacks the freedom to participate in the political process.
Though the Freedmen's Bureau had many successes, it was not succesful for everything. There were several overriding factors. Due to these couple factors such as inadequate funds, inefficiency, and corruption, in 1870 the organization had to come to an end. After all the progression towards equality, everything soon came to an end. All of the hardships, and successful effort of Reconstruction had vanished. By 1877 blacks were again relegated to second-class citizenship. The Southern Democrats had retaken control.
By the Southern Democrats regaining power, I know things for blacks had to only get harder. I can't even imagine how they were feeling at the time. Everything they had worked for and gained, seemed so worthless, and useless. The Reconstruction of the Civil War had built happiness and hope for thousands of people. How could all that success be driven away? All of this only gave blacks more strength to continute to fight for their equality. No one should ever give up in what they deserve."You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."-Margaret Thatcher.
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