Gilded Age Essays (Examples)

rise of business and the new age of industrial capitalism forced Americans to think about, criticize, and justify the new order -- especially the vast disparities of wealth and power it created. This assignment asks you to consider the nature and meaning of wealth, poverty and inequality in the Gilded Age making use of the perspectives of four people who occupied very different places in the social and intellectual spectrum of late nineteenth-?century America:, the sociologist William Graham Sumner, the writer enry

George, a Massachusetts textile worker named Thomas O'Donnell, and the steel tycoon

Andrew Carnegie.

For Andrew Carnegie, wealth was a good thing. In his "Gospel of Wealth," Carnegies talks about the problem of "our age" which is the proper administration of wealth. e has his own philosophy of how wealth has come to be unequally distributed with the huge gap existing between those who have little and those…

Henry George, Progress and Poverty, Major Problems, pp. 20-?22.

Thomas O'Donnell Testimony before a U.S. Senate Committee, 1885 U.S. Congress,

Capital (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1885

The National League was formed in 1876 and enabled spectators to observe touring athletes play the game. The first World Series was played between the National League and its rival, the American League, in 1903. The popularity of baseball allowed for the financing of large baseball fields such as Fenway Park, Shibe Park, and Wrigley Field (Sports and Leisure, 2011). This era also saw the rise of collegiate football, boxing, and basketball.

The rise of entertainment was meteoric in the Gilded Age. With Americans working less and having a higher expendable income, they were able to enjoy entertainments such as expositions, amusement parks, vaudeville shows, sports, and music. To this day, the influence of these innovations and pastimes can still be seen in modern entertainment outlets and continue to amuse audiences everywhere.

Jim Crow Laws:

Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that were enacted between 1876 and 1965…

References

About Vaudeville. (1999). Retrieved from American Masters:

 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/vaudeville/about-vaudeville/721/ .

An Introduction to American Cultural Expression during the Gilded Age and Progressive

Era (n.d.) Retrieved from: http://bss.sfsu.edu/cherny/cultlexp/expo.htm

hen Alger's Ragged Dick put himself forward for hire as a guide for a rich boy who is visiting the city, the boy's businessman uncle hesitated to entrust his nephew to him. But after reflection the older man decided that although Dick "isn't exactly the sort of guide I would have picked out...he looks honest. He has an open face, and I think he can be depended upon "(55). Thus, although Alger believed that private generosity and charity alone were necessary to remedy the evils of capitalism, he knew no one could truly succeed alone. Dick's contact with the rich boy Frank because of Dick's shining honesty resulted in his becoming a young gentleman, not just because Dick was a hard worker. And, in the story of Tom, the street tomboy, rather than rise to prosperity through her labor, Tom became the genteel 'Jane Lindsay' at the end of the…

Works Cited

Horatio Alger: Gender and Success in the Gilded Age. Edited by Charles Orson Cook. Houston: Brandywine Press. 2001

hen Edith harton tells us that "it was the background that she [Lily] required," we understand that both Emma Bovary and Lily have a very important thing in common. They are first of all women in the nineteenth century society, fettered by social conventions to fulfill any kind of aspirations or ideals. A woman, as it is clearly stated in both novels, had no other means of being having a place in society than by acquiring respectability and money through a good marriage. To marry was the only vocation of a woman, as harton tells us.

Of course, there interferes a great difference between the two heroines here, because Madame Bovary, as her very title proves it, is already a married woman, while Lily in harton's book is in constant pursue of a redeeming marriage. But, essentially the frustration of the two heroines is the same, as Emma is as…

Works Cited

The American Experience: Andrew Carnegie- The Gilded Age. PBS Online. 1999. 1 Oct. 2006  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/gildedage.html .

Byatt, A.S. Scenes from Provincial Life. The Guardian. July, 27, 2002. Oct.2006  http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2342/is_n1_v30/ai_18631915 .

Cahir, Linda Costanzo Solitude and Society in the Works of Herman Melville and Edith Wharton. New York: Greenwood Press, 1999

Deppman, Jed. "History with style: the impassible writing of Flaubert - Gustave Flaubert." Style. 1996. Oct 2006

(oyer, 2001)

Sixty-hour weeks, no insurance, no compensation for injuries or overtime, and no pensions symbolized the workers' plight. And when the workers went on strike over the inequities, the government sided with the owners.

The mass society of the late nineteenth century had no diversity. It was a society in which the rich and powerful manipulated the existence of the politically and economically powerless mass through overwhelming mass production, mass communication, and mass distribution.

Examples (oyer 2, 2001) Mass production transformed the way Americans lived and worked at the beginning of the twentieth century. Thanks to its role in creating mass consumer culture (mass society), it constitutes a vital part of contemporary life. It was responsible for the dehumanizing assembly-line work of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as well as the physical comfort enjoyed by most people in industrialized countries. The 1926 edition of the Encyclopedia ritannica…

Bibliography

Boyer, P.S. (2001). Early republic, era of the. Retrieved February 20, 2009, from encyclopedia.com:  http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-EarlyRepublicEraofthe.html 

Boyer, P.S. 2 (2001). Gilded age. Retrieved February 23 from encylcopedia. com, 2009, from The Oxford companion to U.S. history: h ttp:/ / www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-GildedAge.html

Calhoun, C.W. (2006). The Gilded Age: Perspectives on the origins of modern America. New York: Rowman and Littlefield. ( http://books.google.com/books?id=XrZTTCaCRAUC&printsec=frontcover ) enotes.com. (n.d.). Overview: 1900's. Retrieved February 25, 2009, from Enotes.com:

 http://www.enotes.com/1900-american-decades-about/introduction

Norris consistently returns to the animalistic descriptions of McTeague. Early in the story Norris compares him to the likes of a work horse. Such harmless animals focus solely on survival in that they plow the fields so that they can eat. It is this initial description of McTeague as a harmless work horse contrasted with his "abominable" (265) actions in killing Trina that tend to show that violence itself is the inevitable end result of the city's corruptive power.

Before meeting Trina, McTeague is a sexless cart-horse like man among city urbanites, but she awakens the beast inside him in terms of sexuality and obsession. McTeague's foray into sexuality is comingles with a fetishism for gold. Trina conflates sexual pleasure with the possession of money. She often refers to her gold as "beauties" and declares "I love you" as she calls out "Mine, mine, mine -- all of you mine"…

Progressivism began as a social movement and evolved into a political movement, according to materials published by George Washington University (www.gwu.edu). Early in the social movement progressives were concerned about poverty, racism, greed and "class warfare," and they believed that those problems could be best addressed through education, a safer environment, and a workplace that was fair and safe (www.gwu.edu). Who were those considered to be progressives? The George Washington University narrative explains that they live "mostly in the cities," they had graduated from colleges and universities, and their beliefs included the belief that "…government could be a tool for change" -- and among the most vocal and visible social reformers / progressives were Jane Addams and journalists Jacob Riis and Ida Tarbel (www.gwu.edu).

Progressive journalists wrote investigative pieces that exposed "the evils of corporate greed" and they presented a balanced view of immigration and ethnicities, all the time "…urging…

Industrialization after U.S. Civil War

AMERICAN INDUSTRIALIZATION AFTER THE U.S. CIVIL WAR (1865-1920)

It is a truism that large-scale warfare tends to increase industrial production and innovation, and that societies benefit from this industrialization after the war is over. In America, the Civil War was followed by the economic prosperity of the Gilded Age -- I would like to argue that the chief effect of this prosperity was to cause new conflicts in American society, which had to be settled by reform rather than Civil War. This is in some ways a counterintuitive argument, when in 2014 many have been conditioned to believe that a prosperous economy benefits everyone, when (in the words of the old cliche) a rising tide lifts all boats. But did the booming economy of America between the end of the Civil War and the onset of the First World War actually benefit child laborers or…

Economic inequality refers to the situation whereby wealth, assets or wealth are not distributed equally among individuals within a group, among some groups within a population or even among countries. Economic inequality is also described as income inequality, gap between the rich and poor, wealth and income differences and inequitable distribution of wealth. This issue of economic inequality can imply various notions such as equality of outcome, equality and the equality of opportunities. There exist differing opinions on the importance of economic inequality and the impact it has. There are some studies which have put emphasis on inequality as being a social problem. Whereas some inequality might promote investment, when it is too much inequality can end up being destructive. Though income inequality hinders long-term growth, it can also help long-term growth. Economic inequality differs between different societies, historical periods, and the existing economic systems and structures. This paper will…

References

Krugman, P. (2014). Why we're in a New Gilded Age. Retrieved October 11, 2014 from  http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2014/may/08/thomas-piketty-new-gilded-age/ 

Domhoff, W. (2009). Wealth, Income and Power. Retrieved October 11, 2014 from  http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html 

Madrick, J. (2013). Inequality is Not the Problem. Retrieved October 11, 2014 from  http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2014/apr/24/inequality-not-problem/?insrc= 

Hacker, A. (2012). We're More Unequal than you Think. Retrieved October 11, 2014 from  http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/feb/23/were-more-unequal-you-think/?insrc=rel

His dedication and intelligence allowed him to eventually become not simply passable in his English speaking skills, but a lawyer, a U.S. Congressman, one of the best journalists of his era (and, according to some biographers, of any era), and an incredibly eloquent (if somewhat bombastic) speaker and letter writer -- not to mention one of the wealthiest men in the world, especially in the field of newspaper publishing (Brian; Seitz).

In 1878, not even fifteen years since his arrival in the country, Joseph Pulitzer bought his first newspaper company -- the St. Louis Dispatch. The paper was in disarray, but fate intervened in the form of the Evening Post and its owner, John Alvarez Dillon. The two papers were combined and began issuing a joint newspaper that very same day, with Pulitzer immediately taking over the editorial page, which he was quick to put to use then and after…

Works Cited

Boylan, James. Pulitzer's School: Columbia University's School of Journalism, 1903-2003. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.

Campbell, W. Joseph (a). The Year that Defined American Journalism. New York: Routledge, 2006.

Campbell, W. Joseph (b). Yellow Journalism: Puncturing the Myths, Defining the Legacies. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001.

Douglas, George. The Golden Age of the Newspaper. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1999.

Twentieth Century

The Gilded Age witnessed industrial progress and accumulated wealth that boosted the growth of the middle class, yet at the same time there was the spread of "appalling" conditions in the slum areas of the cities, the farmers were in desperate times, and factory workers and others were trampled upon by the wheels of progress (Progressive pp). The "war between capital and labor" demonstrated that Americans were willing to fight for their economic rights, and many historians believe that if the conditions of the working poor had not been addresses, the country very likely would have been thrown into another revolution (Progressive pp). Yet, a revolution did actually take place, just not on the battlefield (Progressive pp). It was called the Progressive Movement, and as a basic conservative movement, it was not meant to cause as stir, but to address the problems of society and find solutions in…

Work Cited

The Age of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1933-1945. Retrieved October 17, 2005 from:

 http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/crossroads/sec2/essay10.html 

Boom or Bust. Retrieved October 17, 2005 from:

 http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/crossroads/sec2/essay09.html

American Religious History

Defining fundamentalism and liberalism in Christianity is hardly an exact science, especially because prior to about 1920 there was not even a term for fundamentalism as it exists today. hile present-day fundamentalists often claim descent from the Puritans and Calvinists of the 17th and 18th Centuries, Puritans were not really fundamentalists in the modern sense. They were not in conflict with 20th Century-style liberals and supporters of evolution and Higher Criticism because those did not yet exist. As George McKenna put it "if there were no liberalism there would be no fundamentalism" to react against it (McKenna 231). Today, about one-third of Americans define themselves as evangelical Protestants, and all Republican Party politicians have to make appeals to the Christian Right (Hankins 1). In 1976 there were at least fifty million 'born again' evangelical Protestants in the United States, and today their numbers may be as high…

WORKS CITED

Carpenter, Joel A. Revive Us Again: The Reawakening of American Fundamentalism. Oxford University Press, 1997.

Gilkey, Langdon. On Niebuhr: A Theological Study. University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Hankins, Barry. American Evangelicals: A Contemporary History of a Mainstream Religious Movement. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008.

Longfield, Bradley J. The Presbyterian Controversy: Fundamentalists, Modernists and Modernity. Oxford University Press, 1991.

" In it, he showed a poor boy and a rich boy (the Prince), who exchanged places and found that they each preferred to live in the life to which they had been born. Still, each learned from the other's life and the outcome was not what the Sunday School books had all written. The rich Prince "lived only a few years," but he lived them worthily.

In conclusion, Mark Twain was saying in his Story of the Good Little Boy, it is in a situation where one might expect to find reward that one finds punishment, and it is not how one's religion wants one to live that one finds reward and satisfaction. Also, the authorities in his Story did not exercise justice, so this was another disappointment for the reader, again coming to the conclusion that religion was not the answer to life's problems. It did no good…

Works Cited

Library of Congrress. "America's Story from America's Library." Website at: http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/jb/gilded.

PBS, "Andrew Carnegie: The Gilded Age." Website at  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/gildedage.html .

Twain, Mark. "Poor Little Stephen Girard," in Carleton's Popular Readings, Anna Randall-Diehl, ed., New York, 1879, 183-84.

Twain, Mark. The Gilded Age. New York: Classic Literature Library. 1873.

American Labor Movement

The "labor question," its origins, components, and whether or not it is still relevant.

The "labor question" is the foundation of the American Labor Movement. Drawing from our classwork and paraphrasing Rosanne Currarino's modern restatement of the "labor question(s)": "hat should constitute full participation in American society? hat standard of living should citizens expect and demand?" (Currarino 112). Concerned with the ideal of an industrial democracy, including a more equitable society with social and financial betterment of working class people, the "labor question" arose during and in response to America's 19th Century (Second) Industrial Revolution. America's Industrial Revolution occurred within the "Gilded Age," named by Mark Twain (Mintz), and lasting roughly from the end of the U.S. Civil ar until the beginning of orld ar I (D.C. Shouter and RAKEN Services). Fueled in part by refined coal and steam power, the American Industrial Revolution transformed America from…

Works Cited

AFL-CIO. Samuel Gompers (1850-1924). 2012. Web. 7 February 2012.

Currarino, Rosanne. The Labor Question in America: Economic Democracy in the Gilded Age. Urbana, Chicago and Springfield, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2011. Print.

D.C. Shouter and RAKEN Services. "The Gilded Age - Industrial Revolution in America." 2011. Raken.com Web site. Web. 7 February 2012.

Dictionary.com, LLC. Xenophobia. 2012. Web. 7 February 2012.

nineteenth century and the early part of the twentieth century was a time of hardship for many Americans, and a time of extreme injustice for several groups, as well. African-Americans were strictly segregated and subjected to institutional racism by the state and local governments in the South and by cultural sentiments, and Native Americans continued to be pushed into ever-smaller reservations and subjected to a host of other injustices, as well. The former group was being ostracized from mainstream American society, while the latter group was forced to assimilate or to live in squalor, and leadership in both groups was split, as well. Meanwhile, expansion into areas of the continent that had been unsettled increased due to mining efforts and for other reasons, as well, though by the early twentieth century the frontier had largely been closed and the first phase of America's history, at least according to some observers,…

EB Du Bois

The contrast between the thought of EB Du Bois and that of his predecessor Booker T. ashington is readily apparent in the titles of the best-known works by the two men. ashington's thinking is laid out in his book Up From Slavery, and the title indicates not only an autobiography, but one which is unapologetic in the credence it lends to the typical American capitalist narrative of "rising" in the world. By contrast EB Du Bois offers his trenchant critique of ashington in a work entitled The Souls of Black Folk: the very title indicates that we are meant to be closely considering not materialistic but spiritual values in wondering how the African-American population would make their way in the United States after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment and into Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the rest. It is worth considering closely, though, how Du Bois offers…

Works Cited

Du Bois, WEB. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. New York: Bantam Classic, 1989. Print.

However, he steers relatively clear of muscular economic writing in Conscience of a Liberal, preferring the position the book as something of a call to arms for the liberal movement. While this approach allows him to cover a wide range of ground and be fairly convincing in doing so, it also hampers his arguments by removing what should be the key to his credibility. His economic arguments strike more as a recitation of facts and figures rather than the heavy lifting he of which he is obviously capable. As his credibility stems from his work as a prize-winning economist, and this book lacks that to some extent, it seems as though the book is a long-form blog or other such opinion piece.

There is an element of urgency in his work, however, best evidenced in the chapter about health care. Krugman ties the demise of conservatism to universal health care…

A nation faithful to democracy is blessed and called to spread this "good news" throughout the nations "(Withrow,2007, p.15 ).

Coupled with this "gospel" was the support and verification of major scientific theories during this period. Social Darwinism was derived from Darwin's work on the evolution of the species. In essence, Darwin's theory of human evolution refers to the principle of the 'survival of the fittest," on which the ideal of human progress becomes possible. Therefore, taking this principle into account, Social Darwinism attempt to explain and justify the social and economic inequalities in society in terms of those who are the strongest and fittest in the society i.e. those who are the most prosperous and who accumulate the most. Therefore, the vision that this theory produced was one that favored and justified the strongest and most successful in society.

In order to understand the impact of Social Darwinism one…

References

Carnegie a. The Gospel of Wealth Reflection Questions. Excerpts of an essay written by Carnegie in 1889. Retrieved from  http://learningtogive.org/resources/stories/gospelofwealth/ 

De Santis, V. The American Gilded Age Revisited. Australian Journal of Politics & History, 29

(2), pp. 354 -- 367. Available from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119538983/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

Withrow L. Success and the Prosperity Gospel: from Commodification to Transformation a Wesleyan Perspective. Journal of Religious Leadership, 6(2). Available from http://arl-jrl.org/Volumes/Withrow07.pdf.

The notable exception to this layout of the various departments of the casino at The Venetian is again its Sports-ook, which is entirely rounded into a half-circle and therefore gives an air of having consumed far more resources than a rectangular shaped Sports-ook would. It is easy to craft a desk that is straight, to cut the wood in a way that makes it have strong borders and edges; for that reason most desks that you see are straight. To cut the wood so as to make it rounded is far more difficult, and someone looking at such a curved piece of wood would have to assume high expense involved in procuring and designing wood in such a fashion.

In the center of the floor of the Venetian (and not all casinos are like this) are the slot machines, conspicuous examples of mass expenditure, ringing and glittering and flashing lights.…

Bibliography

1. Thorstein Veblen, The Theory of the Leisure Class, taken from Michael Lewis (ed.), The Real Price of Everything (Sterling, 2007), 1048-1227.

2. Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, taken from Great Books of the Western World, Volume 40 (Britannica, 1952)

3. Jason Goetz, The Bubble Boys: How Mistaken Educational Ideals and Practices are Causing a Warped Social Fabric (CreateSpace, 2011)

4. Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or to Succeed (The Penguin Press, 2005)

William Pitt allinger, by John Moretta well researched and enticingly written biography by John Moretta, brings the life of William Pitt allinger, into remembrance as one of the most integral men of his time (Moretta, 2000). John Moretta received his Ph.D. In history from Rice University (tamu.edu). Moretta is professor of history at Central College, Houston Community College, and teaches at the University of Houston (tamu.edu). William Pitt allinger, attorney, was born at arbourville, Kentucky, on September 25, 1825, the son of James Franklin and Olivia (Adams) allinger (utexas.edu). He attended St. Mary's College in ardstown, Kentucky, moved to Galveston in 1843, and began the study of law with an uncle, James Love (utexas.edu). He was admitted to the bar in 1847 (utexas.edu). During the Mexican War he enlisted as a private and advanced through the ranks to be adjutant of Albert Sidney Johnston's regiment (utexas.edu).

In his book, Moretta…

Bibliography

King, Richard. "William Pitt Ballinger." Handbook of Texas Online. 1997-2000. The Texas State Historical

Association. 26 Nov. 2002. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/BB/fba52.html.

Moretta, John. William Pitt Ballinger: Texas Lawyer, Southern Statesman, 1825-1888. Austin: Texas State

Historical Association, 2000.

Civil ar began, some ardent defenders of slavery -- like George FitzHugh, author of the notorious 1857 polemic Cannibals All!, or Slaves ithout Masters -- argued that the abolition of slavery would result in something worse: the spread of the industrial-style market capitalism of the North. e do not have to agree with FitzHugh's belief that this industrialization would be worse than slavery in order to realize that, in many important ways, he made an accurate prediction. In this paper, I will argue that the industrialization of "Gilded Age" America in the latter nineteenth century should be understood as filling the economic gaps left by abolition -- which resulted not only in new prosperity, but also in new violations of human rights.

OUTLINE

This paper will argue that American industrialization after the U.S. Civil ar filled the gap left by the abolition of slavery, essentially replacing it with "wage slavery."…

Works Cited

FitzHugh, George. Cannibals All! or Slaves Without Masters. Richmond: Morris, 1857. Web. Accessed 15 Jan 2016 at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=ECdb7EjiBnEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=cannibals+all&cd=2#v=onepage&q=worse%20than%20slavery&f=false 

Hofstadter, Richard. The American Political Tradition. New York: Vintage, 1989. Print.

Oshinsky, David. Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice. New York: Free Press, 1997. Print.

Changing Landscape:

How industrialization and other social changes transformed the face of 19th century America

The late 19th century in America was characterized by seismic political shifts in the ways in which Americans conducted their economic lives. In addition to the changes the Civil ar wrought in America, there was also an increasing divide between the needs of urban and rural Americans. The U.S. was becoming more ethnically diverse due to the rise of immigration and newly freed African-Americans were attempting to find their political voice. The increasingly dominant urban culture of the North along with the interjection of new political parties and cultures was profoundly threatening for many Americans and raised charges that America was becoming more "European." This concept meant very different things to people, depending on their perspective. For rural farmers it meant the dismaying rise of big business and banks which had become the power elites…

Works Cited

Andrews, Thomas. Killing for Coal: America's Deadliest Labor War. Cambridge, MA: Harvard

University Press, 2010.

Clement, Elizabeth Alice. Love for Sale: Courting, Treating, and Prostitution in New York City,

1900-1945. Raleigh, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2006.

Democracy and Economic Inequality in America

The fundamental aim of democracy in political governance is to ensure elected officials represent the interests of their constituents in the legislature. This means that the votes taken by members of Congress should reflect the policy preferences of their constituents. In reality, however, there is often disconnect between what legislators vote for and what their constituents prefer. In his book Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age, Bartels argues that the increasing economic inequality in the US is evidence that legislators do not in reality represent the interests of their interests -- they represent the interests of more powerful groups or entities as opposed to the average citizen. With reference to matters of economic inequality, this paper discuses the discrepancy between the choices of legislators and the policy preferences of their constituents.

Who actually governs in the American political system remains…

Natalie Merchant’s song “Gold Rush Brides” offers an impression of history, and also reflects on the one-sided nature of historiography. The song simultaneously evokes the myth and mystique of the wild west, of the days of frontier settlement when men and women ventured west seeking their fortunes and in the process encountered the native people who they would kill. Merchant draws interesting parallels between the frontier mentality and patriarchy, too, showing that the stories of women have vanished (“who were the homestead wives? Who were the gold rush brides?”) just as Native American stories and whole cultures were being obliterated, driven by nothing but a “lust for gold.” In fact, Merchant makes the connection between women and Native Americans even more direct in the line, “Dakota on the wall is a white-robed woman.” As Foner discusses the start of the gold rush in the Dakotas, Merchant mentions this lesser-known start…

Both Andrew and Abby had been killed in a similar manner -- crushing blows to their skills from a hatchet (Tetimony of Bridget Sullivan in the Trial of Lizzie Borden).

Just prior to the murder there was a great deal of conflict at the Borden house. The two living Borden sisters, Lizzie and Emma, occupied the front of the house, while Andrew and Abby the rear. Meals were rarely served as a family; Andrew was very tight and rejected many modern conviencences and the two daughters, well past marriage age for this time period, argued with their Father about his decision to dive the valuable properties among extended relatives before his death instad of the estate going to them. Lizzie did not hate her step-mother, but did not really enjoy her company and the combination of Andrew's monetary views, the new social mores of the time, and Andrew's insistence that…

Retrieval & Storage

It has become a commonplace in public discussion over the past decade or two to assert that we are presently living through an informational revolution as great and momentous as that which took place in the wake of Gutenberg's movable type and the introduction of printed books to Europe. hether this proves to be accurate or merely a rarefied and academic strain of vacuous Silicon Valley hype has yet to be demonstrated, but it is undeniable that technological changes have altered the way in which information can be stored and retrieved. hat has not changed is the tendentious nature whereby information in general is stored and retrieved. I wish to focus on three ways in which this tendentiousness has been expressed in the past -- which I will summarize as forgery, ideology, and historiography -- in which the storage and retrieval of information has conditioned the use…

Works Cited

Chartier, Roger. The Order of Books: Readers, Authors, and Libraries in Europe between the Fourteenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Trans. Lydia G. Cochrane. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1994. Print.

Clanchy, M.T. From Memory to Written Record: England 1066-1307. Second Edition. Oxford: Blackwell, 1993. Print.

Echard, Sian. "House Arrest: Modern Archives, Medieval Manuscripts." Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies, Spring 2000 (30:2): 185-210. Print.

Simpson, James. The Oxford English Literary History, Volume 2 (1350-1547): Reform and Cultural Revolution. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. Print.

hile some eventually returned to their homelands, the vast majority settled throughout the United States, forming ethnic communities in urban areas, and homesteading farmlands in the west and mid-west rural areas. They fled their homelands due to economic depressions, and/or religious and political persecutions for the opportunity to establish a better life in the New orld, and in the process endured many hardships and often discrimination. Today, more than 43 million Americans claim German ancestry, and another 34 million claim Irish roots.

orks Cited

Cohn, Raymond L. "Immigration to the United States." Illinois State University.

Retrieved November 13, 2006 at http:/ / the.net/encyclopedia/article/cohn.immigration.us

Hansen, Lawrence Douglas Taylor. "The Chinese Six Companies of San Francisco and the smuggling of Chinese immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, 1882-1930." Journal of the Southwest. March 22, 2006. Retrieved November 13, 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.

Hardwick, Susan . "Galveston: Ellis Island of Texas." Journal of…

Works Cited

Cohn, Raymond L. "Immigration to the United States." Illinois State University.

Retrieved November 13, 2006 at http:/ / the.net/encyclopedia/article/cohn.immigration.us

Hansen, Lawrence Douglas Taylor. "The Chinese Six Companies of San Francisco and the smuggling of Chinese immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, 1882-1930." Journal of the Southwest. March 22, 2006. Retrieved November 13, 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.

Hardwick, Susan W. "Galveston: Ellis Island of Texas." Journal of Cultural Geography.

Technology in History Classes]

Since the beginning of education in the U.S., the classroom setting has remained the same: Students have sat quietly in their seats with just a pencil, textbook and lined paper to practice their "readin', riting and 'rithmetic." However, the advent of new technologies is heralding a change. In a growing number of schools, technological innovations are beginning to significantly change the way that information is conveyed and students learn. Depending on the creativity of the teacher, the advent of computers, CD-ROMs, videodiscs, multimedia, and cable networks is expanding the breadth of the curriculum -- from mathematics to the social sciences. For example, teachers have found multiple ways to restructure technology into high school history that have made an often very dry topic come to life.

In 1983 Howard Gardner, a Harvard University professor, introduced his theory of "multiple intelligences" (MI). His book Intelligence Reframed showed that…

Loewen, J. (1995) Lies My Teacher Told Me. New York: New Press.

Norton, P. (1999) Teaching with Technology. New York: Hartcourt Brace.

Warren, W. (1999) "Using the World Wide Web for primary source research in high school history classes." Journal of the Association for History and Computing.Vol. 2, No. 2.

For many reformers reform was almost like a religious conversion, satisfying their spiritual and societal needs. And most of the reformers were of younger age though in some instances they pressed for conservative reforms. Reformers of the nineteenth century were different from their predecessors in the eighteenth century in believing, unlike their predecessors, that the change could be brought about from the bottom up, that it should come form the individual. In contrast to their predecessors, reformers of the nineteenth century were anti-elitist. Therefore, many reformers championed abolitionism, women's rights, temperance, and institutional reforms for the socially disadvantaged: the poor, the insane, the uneducated, and even criminals. Walters does not suggest that all reform movements were liberating. They could be repressive too, as some reformers advocated slavery.

Walters places significant emphasis on Protestant Evangelicalism, which he puts at the heart of social forces which inspired reformers the strongest. But with…

The American Public Health Association (APHA) is founded. This organization is concerned with the social and economic aspects of health problems.

The National Quarantine Act is signed into law. This legislation is designed to prevent entry into the country of persons with communicable diseases.

1899 the National Hospital Superintendent's Association is created. It later becomes the American Hospital Association.

Patel & ushefsky, 1995, p. xvii)

The seeds of health care legislation and centralization began before 1875 but began to take hold as the most accepted manner in which to ensure safe and scientifically founded health care for many and to begin to ensure that diseases that commonly plagued a newly urbanized and highly stressful environment of mass immigration could be dealt with, in a more centralized and practical manner. Founded earlier in 1847, the American Medical Association began to have a concrete and centralized role in the health care decisions…

References

 

Doubtlessly, this threat is somewhat reasonable with regards to the future; the expansion of western economies is going to bring along with it technological changes that will drastically alter how people in the Middle East live their lives. Still, these changes are primarily economic in their nature: capitalism does not reorganize the social classes, only where they live and what jobs they carry out. The philosophical underpinnings of estern society are so similar to those of Islam such that objections to east/west cooperation -- on both sides -- on the basis of religion are almost ridiculous. Nevertheless, these objections still exist.

This difficulty is emphasized by the apparent contrast between many Middle Eastern governments and those of their estern counterparts. Much of the contrast, according to Lewis, stems from the history of the Islamic state, and the way in which religion itself is at the root of many policies. This…

Works Cited:

1. Husain, S. Abid. "Modern Trends in Islam." Enhancing the Understanding of Islam for the Media. Jalan Ragum: Malindo Printers, 2002.

2. Lewis, Bernard. The Middle East. New York: Scribner, 1996.

(Huff, Social ork, 2000, Chapter 1, p.3)

Private efforts were not enough to treat the ills caused by the unchecked capitalism of the Gilded Age, however, an age that brought tremendous wealth to some Americans and tremendous poverty to others. During the first depression occasioned by this split between the haves and the have-nots in 1890, private relief organizations could not cope. "In Mulberry Bend, the heart of the Italian district, one-third of all babies born in 1888 died before their first birthdays. Traditional agencies such as the Children's Aid Society and the Salvation Army were overwhelmed, incapable of meeting the demands placed on their services." (Huff, Social ork, 2000, Chapter 1, p.4) "The old shibboleths commonly accepted as the major causes of poverty, low character, indolence, and intemperance, were replaced with more systemic theories," that sought economic and social causes as the cure, rather than moral reform. (Huff, Social…

Works Cited

Murray, Jill. (1996) "The Social Work History Online Time-Line." The School of Social Work. Retrieved 10 Nov 2005. http://www.gnofn.org/~jill/swhistory/

Huff, Dan. (2000) Social Work: Progress and Reform. A Cyberhistory of Social Work's Most Formative Years. Retrieved 10 Nov 2005 http://www.idbsu.edu/socwork/dhuff/history/central/tc.htm

Trip to Chinatown / Hello, Dolly!

One might not ordinarily associate comedienne Carol Channing with formidable erudition, but the Broadway premiere of Hello, Dolly! In 1964 would manage to unite them both thanks to the participation of Thornton ilder. ilder remains persistently underrated in the canon of American drama, partly because his own achievement had originally derived from fiction -- yet an examination of ilder's own notebooks reveals that his own successful stage plays were frequently based on his own critical and scholarly engagement with the most abstruse sort of Modernist texts. ilder would claim that his sprawling 1942 comedy The Skin of Our Teeth, which would win that year's Pulitzer Prize, had been based on James Joyce's Finnegans ake (which presumably would have come as a great surprise to Tallulah Bankhead, who starred in ilder's play). Yet it is my contention that among the many learned influences upon ilder's…

Works Cited

Cather, Willa. "Music and Drama." Nebraska State Journal, 1 November 1894. Willa Cather Archive. Accessed 1 April 2011 at:  http://cather.unl.edu/j00078.html  . Web.

Herman, Jerry. Hello, Dolly! New York: Edwin Morris, 1964. Print.

Hoyt, Charles. A Trip to Chinatown. In Clark, Barrett H. (Editor), Favorite American Plays of the Nineteenth Century. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1943. Print.

Gassner, John and Quinn, Edward. The Reader's Encyclopedia of World Drama. New York: Crowell, 1969. Print.

U.S. History

Historical Book Review: Moretta, John Anthony. William Pitt Ballinger, Texas A&M University Press: 2000.

John Antony Moretta's biography of William Pitt Ballinger attempts to put in an historical perspective the career of a legendary Texas lawyer. Throughout this text, the author stresses the multifaceted nature of his subject. A kind of 19th century Thomas Jefferson in the breadth of his accomplishments, Ballinger's various interests and occupations included not only his career as a lawyer, public servant, and civic leader, but also earlier service to his state of Texas as a solider. Later, Ballinger's literary talents were exhibited in his work as an author, editorialist, naturalist, education reformer, and bibliophile.

Moretta's admiration for his subject seems unfeigned. When recounting an incident from Ballinger's life, regarding his service to the Confederacy for example, Moretta cites evidence that although the subject's actual service record might indicate otherwise, Ballinger was in fact…

Even if a reader does not share Moretta's affection for his prickly subject, however, the biography does provide ample interest and scope for a student of the late 19th century American legal and political scene. Moretta himself admits this in his introduction, stating, "through Ballinger we can watch the evolution of Texas from a rural and agrarian slave society into one of the fastest growing commercial states in postwar America." (Moretta 1-2) The 'cast of characters' involved in Ballinger's life encompassed individuals as diverse as Jefferson Davis and Daniel Webster. The relationship of Ballinger to the former is perhaps the most interesting because, again reflecting Ballinger's complex relationship to the Confederacy, after the war, Ballinger helped negotiate Texas' surrender and played a key role in the drafting of the state's 1876 constitution.

Ballinger was not simply part of Texas' agrarian and agricultural past, however. Although Moretta stresses the difficulty of Texas leaving behind this part of its history, he also, through Ballinger's legal work during the Gilded Age with Industrial Revolution tycoons, shows that Ballinger was able to be flexible in his attitude and outlook, to change with the shift in economic circumstances. Ultimately, Texas, although once a slave state, emerged as one of the most economically successful parts of the former Confederacy, despite the emotional resonance slavery still carried amongst many of its subjects. Gallinger's personal ability to respond to the times he lived in, to travel North and then return home again during the prewar and postwar periods does him credit as a man and a worthy subject of historical biography. It also enables the reader to "witness firsthand the impact Northern life had on Southerners." Gallinger's life gives a window on how Southerners and Texans viewed the entire country, not just their own state.

Moretta states that he chose to chronicle "Ballinger's life and career" because it could give readers " a wonderfully rich portrait" not only of a man but also "of Texas's premier antebellum city," that of Galveston, where Ballinger made his home. However, although Ballinger is certainly a colorful subject and Galveston was a bustling and diverse city, the author's prose occasionally falls flat. Only in recounted anecdotes and excerpted letters does Moretta's subject really become alive in the mind of the reader. The book contains a great deal of valuable historical information, and is thus useful to a student. But only in story does the reason that this individual was so respected become clear. A reader emerges from the text liking Ballinger, despite his political and social distance from the reader, but not necessarily enjoying the format in which one got to know him.

Gilded age, millions of women were employed in shops and factories. Others worked for wealthier households as domestic workers doing household chores. Several women favored to work in factories as opposed to working as domestic servants. Helen Campbell, a journalist, interviewed people who had formerly worked as servants to ascertain the reason for the preference (Cott and oydson, 2016). An American woman aged 22 called Margaret stated that the ultimate goal for everyone was freedom. Waitresses got two days off their work in a week. Those working in the house seldom had such privileges. They were engaged throughout the week and there was little break. Waitresses, on the other hand were assured of getting at least two days to spend on themselves. Margaret said that the two off days gave her freedom to pursue whatever ends she wanted. Another woman noted that sharing and working with others meant that she…

Bibliography

Campbell, Helen. Prisoners of Poverty (1900); reprinted in Root of Bitterness: Documents in the Social History of American Women. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996.

Cott, Nancy, and Jeanne Boydson. Root of Bitterness: Documents of the Social History of American Women. Northeastern University Press, 2016.

WomenWorking. Helen Stuart Campbell (1839 -- 1918). n.d.  http://ocp.hul.harvard.edu/ww/campbell.html  (accessed September 05, 2016).

The progressive era in American political culture set the stage for President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Starting in the 1890s, the Progressive Era drew upon Marxist theory of labor exploitation to help balance unbridled capitalist growth during the Gilded Age of industrial development. Progressivism welcomed social and technological progress both by suggesting reforms in both government and business to reduce corruption and ensure a higher quality of life for all Americans. Two of the progressive political party movements during the turn of the century included the Populist Party and the Bull Moose Party. Progressive values then later became embedded in the platform of the Democratic Party when President Franklin Roosevelt became president.

Some of the specific issues spearheaded by the Progressive movement included labor rights, women's suffrage, and anti-trust laws. During the age of urbanization, the Progressive movement helped to improve what was rapidly becoming deplorable and deteriorating living and…

As banks faltered and default rates rose, rates of consumption and demand plummeted. Unemployment began to increase, and in a predictable Keynesian fashion, as individuals grew more insecure about their job prospects they began to spend less money. The United States has a particularly consumer-driven economy -- Americans are known for having historically low rates of savings and to engage in high rates of spending -- so this was particularly disruptive to the usual rhythms of the economy.

Young people graduating from college suffered some of the worst effects of the recession. "Unemployment rates for individuals younger than 25 are currently 21% in the euro area and 19% in the U.S." (Branchflower 2010). They were competing with older, more experienced workers who had recently lost their jobs. The fear is that today's low starting salaries create a class of permanently low-earning graduates, many of whom have high levels of college…

Works Cited

Branchflower, David G. "Credit crisis creates Lost Generation." Bloomberg Business.

January 21, 2010. August 28, 2001.

 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-01-22/credit-crisis-creates-lost-generation-david-g-blanchflower.html 

Ferguson, Niall. "Where did all the money go?" From the Great Hangover. Edited by Graydon

From a study of Gibson's work, we learn, too, that there is a marked difference between illustrators and those artists who pursue their own creative inklings, like Picasso, Renoir, and others. The skill and expertise of illustrating is reflected in a much different sense than is formal portraiture, and while, as we see in the oil of Gibson's daughter, the illustrator might imitate formal portraiture, the skill and expertise of the illustrator do not lend themselves to that illustrator in attempts to create formal portraiture.

This is not to suggest that Gibson was not a gifted artist, because he clearly was. However his work shows an untrained gift, and a gift that restricted by the commercialism of the era in which lived and worked. It would have been very interesting to see Gibson's gift explored with formal training or the influences of the great artists of his time.

orks Cited…

Works Cited

 

Managerial Prerogative Has Gone Too Far?

Whenever an organization is founded and the objectives for its existence have been established, the founders and management of said organization are expected to ensure the continuity, viability, and resilience of the enterprise. This is done via the allocation of needed resources (i.e. capital, human, financial, etc.) and formulation of strategies in order to achieved set and target organizational goals. Once operational, there are other duties, responsibilities, accountabilities, rights and privileges management can and must exercise to achieve continued operational success and efficiency. One of these management principles or concepts is known as managerial prerogative, which "includes the right to organize operations and methods of working, issue detailed instructions on the circumstances in which work is performed, and take in matters relating to working hours in so far as these are not rigidly regulated by collective agreement (Eurofound, 2009)." Often, managerial prerogative is institutionalized…

Bibliography:

Bado, J. & Logue, J. (1991). Hard hats and hard decisions: The evolving role in employee-owned firms. Employee Ownership Law and Finance, 4: 1-19. Retrieved May 13, 2011 from http://dept.kent.edu/oeoc/OEOCLibrary/Preprints/BadoLogueHardHatsAndHardDecisions1991.pdf

Ellis, A. (2008). The strain between managerial prerogative and contractual principles in English labour law. Retrieved May 13, 2011 from  http://www.workplacebullying.co.uk/manperog.html 

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound). (2009, August 14). Limits to the employer's managerial prerogative. Retrieved May 13, 2011 from  http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/emire/FINLAND/ANCHOR-DIREKTIOVALLANRAJATGR-Auml-NSERNAF-Ouml-RDIREKTIONSR-Auml-TT-FI.htm 

Greenfield, K. (2008). Reclaiming corporate law in a new gilded age. Harvard Law & Policy Review. Retrieved May 13, 2011 from  http://www.hlpronline.com/Greenfield_HLPR.pdf

America and the Great War" and "The New Era"

Brinkley, Alan. The Unfinished Nation. Vol. 2: A Concise History of the American People .4th Edition. McGraw-Hill 2004.

What were the causes of WWI in Europe in 1914? Why was President Wilson so reluctant for the U.S. To get involved until 1917 and what finally put the U.S. "over the edge" and decide to enter the conflict directly?

Nationalism, imperialism, and secret treaties all played a role in the instigation of WWI in Europe, but President Wilson was initially reluctant to become involved, because of a long history of American isolationism in regards to entangling European affairs, particularly the secret alliances that stimulated the conflict. His refusal to involve the U.S. In WWI became a crucial part of his re-election campaign. But President Wilson began to protest German violations of American neutrality more vehemently in his public rhetoric than British violations,…

Keynes and Galbraith

John Maynard Keynes and his leading North American disciple John Kenneth Galbraith insisted that traditional free market capitalism and laissez faire economic thought of the 19th Century variety were no longer valid to the problems of modern industrial society. As Keynes wrote in his classic book The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936), laissez faire was inadequate to deal with the mass poverty and unemployment of the Great Depression. As he explained to Franklin Roosevelt, during a depression, the government had to direct the economy, using deficit spending to maintain full employment and consumption levels: it had to make the necessary investments that the private sector was no longer willing or able to make. In The Affluent Society (1958) he noted that Keynesian social democratic and welfare state policies had greatly reduced poverty and inequality in the U.S. And other estern countries, and was confident…

WORKS CITED

Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Affluent Society. NY: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1958, 1998.

Keynes, John Maynard. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. New Dehli: Atlantic Publishers, 1936, 2008.

Justice in Society

What does justice in society really mean?

"It's not fair." One of the first phrases every child articulates clearly relates to a kind of a rough philosophy of justice. This sentiment reflects the idea that because people are not being treated 'the same' the world is unjust. A child may regard the fact that older siblings get to go to bed later as unfair. However, as rough and crude as a child's logic of justice may seem, underlying its assumptions are some of the concepts that relate to a larger sense of justice, namely the issue of equitable treatment. For a society to be just, there must be efforts to create social and economic parity to ensure that the nation's political and judicial systems truly honor such principles of equity.

One concept of equalizing to create justice is that of "John awls' alternative distributive principle, which he…

References

Lamont, Julian and Favor, Christi. (2008). Distributive justice. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved:

 http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/justice-distributive/ 

Stiglitz, Jonah. (2011). Of the1%, by the 1%., for the 1%. Vanity Fair. Retrieved:

 http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105

Function of the American Government

The American government has had a long-standing checks-and-balances efficiency within its three-branch system. Because of the separate governable powers within the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the United States, American law has been approved after many constant revisions and discussions. It is extremely commendable that the legislative branch takes into account the representation of both "state" and "people." This is not to say, of course, that the government system of the United States is utterly perfect; the executive branch certainly holds a bit more power within the government than one would like.

One major positive effect of the passing of laws is the representation included within those laws. Long before the House-and-Senate solution of Congress, there was always the problem of representation amongst the population of the respective states. State borders vary in land mass and population; how does one reconcile a largely-populated state…

References

Dahl, Robert. (1977). "On Removing Certain Impediments to Democracy in the United States." Political Science Quarterly 92(1), pp. 1-20. The Academy of Political Science.

Lieberman, Robert. (2011). "Why the Rich are Getting Richer: American Politics and the Second Gilded Age." Foreign Affairs.

Putnam, Robert D. (1996). "The Strange Disappearance of Civic America." The American Prospect 24, pp. 34-48.

Short Answer Questions -- Part Two

Theodore Roosevelt

Writing Guidelines for History Identifications and Essays

Your essay should have an introductory paragraph that in some way summarizes, encapsulates, suggests, shapes, and/or sets up the ideas, themes, facts, or whatever you are going to discuss in the main body of your essay. In other words, you should set forth your thesis.

Here, in the main body of your essay, you should develop the principal ideas and themes, and support them with the appropriate facts. The main body will inevitably be several paragraphs long, perhaps a page or two or more, depending on what you want to say and the amount of material you include. Basically, the main body consists of as many paragraphs as you need to discuss the question at hand.

Also let me note that individual paragraphs generally begin with a topic sentence for that paragraph, follow that by a couple of sentences of development,…

Life of Honest Graft -- the Life and Times of George ashington Plunkett

The political machine created at Tammany Hall by Boss Tweed of New York City during the Gilded Age of American politics and the Industrial Revolution has become synonymous with political corruption. At the beginning of the book on another Tammany Hall politician, introduced and assembled by the historian illiam L. Riordon, George ashington Plunkett offers an apparently self-serving Tammany style distinction between honest graft, or illegal political corruption for personal profit, and dishonest graft. He states "Everybody is talkin' these days about Tammany men growin' rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin' the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft. There's all the difference in the world between the two. Yes, many of our men have grown rich in politics. I have myself. I've made a big fortune out of the game, and I'm gettin' richer…

Works Cited

Norton, Mary Beth, et. al. A People and a Nation. Sixth Edition. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

Riordon, William L. Plunkett of Tammany Hall. The Project Guttenberg: 1963. Available online 1 November 2004 at  http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/plunkett-george/tammany-hall/#s01 

Mary Beth Norton, et al., A People and a Nation, Sixth Edition, (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2003)

William L. Riordon, Plunkett of Tammany Hall, (The Project Guttenberg: 1963), available online at

Dollarocracy

Nichols and McChesney (2013) write about election spending and the negative effect that it has on democracy and governance in America in their book Dollarocracy: How the money-and-election complex is destroying America.. They have divided the book into central themes, including the concept of privilege, spending by the very wealthy, advertising and the role of the media in the election machine, finally arriving at some suggestions for reform to restore balance to the democratic system of the United States.

The book opens with an explanation of one of the core principles that underpins their arguments, that America is a society driven by class differences. Those with privilege consistently seek to use that privilege to enhance it. The authors make the case that such practices at this point are so rampant that "the United States is now rapidly approaching a point where the electoral process itself ceases to function as…

References

Nichols, J. & McChesney, R. (2013). Dollarocracy: How the money-and-election complex is destroying America. New York: Nation Books.

U.S. History 1877-Present

America has changed so vastly since the U.S. Civil War that it is hard to single out three events that have had the most beneficial impact from the later nineteenth century to the present day. However, in terms of selecting events that have had the greatest impact on the daily lives of Americans in this time period even to the present day it is possible to nominate some specific events. he ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920, the introduction of the New Deal under President Franklin Roosevelt, the passage of the Civil Rights Act during the Presidency of Lyndon Johnson are all events which continue to have a positive impact felt by all Americans.

he Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is what permits women to vote. he fact that it was only passed in 1920 is something of a scandal --…

The use of Communism as a fake menace was a staple of American political rhetoric well before Senator McCarthy's day -- the Haymarket Riot was an attempt to place blame on progressive political organizers, and the raids conducted after World War One by attorney general A. Mitchell Palmer were perhaps even more illegal than anything McCarthyism accomplished. However, the real function of McCarthyism was to conduct a witch hunt in American public life, and ruin the careers of people -- also effectively stigmatizing progressive politics for a long stretch afterwards. The most troubling aspect of McCarthyism, however, was that it was brought down by nobody except McCarthy himself. If McCarthy had not overreached by going after the U.S. Army -- which proved to be a crucial miscalculation -- he might have continued his red-baiting until he had effectively forced America into becoming a right-wing one-party totalitarian state, the inverted mirror image of his imaginary enemies.

Finally the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on Bush v. Gore in 2000 was a scandal in any number of ways, but chief among them was the Constitutional crisis that this decision represented. Because the justices split purely along party lines, the decision essentially politicized the Supreme Court, which was not to the benefit of the legal system. But moreover, there was no valid reason to delay the recount in Florida -- which ultimately found Al Gore had won the popular vote there too -- and merely underscored the bizarre elitist character of the Electoral College as being an element of the U.S. Constitution like the three-fifths compromise, a relic of a bygone era. As a result, America ended up with a president who had been installed by a bunch of judges appointed by his dad and his dad's boss -- the fact that his presidency was so disastrous should not be a surprise.

In conclusion, these three events all damaged the public life of the United States in various ways. The Spanish-American War turned warfare into a profiteering activity that could be conducted by coercing the public with propaganda campaigns. McCarthyism demonized political opinion in what should ideally be a tolerant and pluralist society. And the elevation of George W. Bush to the presidency ultimately damaged America's status in the eyes of the world, and its legal system, and ultimately its economy, even if it did give us the most charming amateur painter on the world stage since Adolf Hitler. The fact that Bush essentially revived the worst excesses of the Spanish-American War with his Iraq invasion, and of McCarthyism with his PATRIOT Act, demonstrate how all of these tendencies in American life are still with us.

Industrialization After the Civil War

The United States economy grew to unprecedented levels and very quickly, after the American Civil War. This economic and industrial growth comprised of a number of causative factors such as technological innovation, westward expansion, and immigration to the United States that have witnessed tremendous development over the years. American economic and industrial growth was a kind of mixed blessing; but at the same time, it raised the living standard of some Americans, made certain goods easily accessible, and equally helped the United States become world military and economic power. These same forces, on the other hand and at the same time, increased the gap between the rich and the poor, enhanced and reduced political corruption at different levels of government, and also created some lasting legacy for environmental destruction (Shultz, 2014).

This paper contends to most effect, that industrialization was nothing more than a mere…

References

Campbell, B.C. (1999). Understanding Economic Changes in the Gilded Age. OAH Magazine of History.

Hofstadter, R. (1989). The American Political Tradition. New York: Vintage.

Karson, M. (1958). American Labor Unions and Politics, 1900-1918. Carbondale: Southern

Oshinsky, D. (1997). Worse Than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow

Limited the Efficiency and Effectiveness of the President and Congress in the Late 19th Century

In the nineteenth century, the American government saw many Americans worry about the responsiveness, complexity, or size of their democracy. Having this perspective in mind, the American government of the nineteenth century was small and orderly, having a great machine that oversaw the state at night and held in check by the yeoman citizenry. Moreover, the lines of authority were overlapping where the federal structure took measures to ensure that the national government and the states each had their precise and respective orbits. As such, the structures ensured that the federal government remained small and limited. The little system of regulations precluded the emergence of the sprawling regulatory state having a cacophony of interest groups that competed, the bureaucrats were unresponsive, the politicians were ambitious, and citizen-clients. In summary, the idealized image of the nineteenth…

Works Cited:

Carlson, Bernard. Technology and America as a Consumer Society, 1870-1900. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing, 2007. Print.

Eric, Arneson. American Workers and the Labor Movement in the Late Nineteenth Century. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing, 2007. Print.

Glaeser, Edward, and Goldin, Claudia. Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America's Economic History. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. Print.

Johnson, Kimberley. Governing the American State: Congress and the New Federalism, 1877-1929. Princeton University Press, 2006. Print.

John La Farge is often referred to as one of the most "innovative and versatile American artists of the nineteenth century" and "the most versatile American artist of his time," a true Renaissance spirit that was not afraid to experiment in different areas of paintings and with different techniques. One look at works such as "The Great Statue of Amida uddha at Kamakura, Known as the Daibutsu, from the Priest's Garden," painted during his trip to Japan, will gives us the impression of a personality that transcended boundaries, approached new cultures and civilizations and remained an icon for art in the 19th century.

orn in New York City, in 1835, John La Farge studied with William Morris Hunter at the beginning of his career as a painter. In 1856, he benefited from a trip to France, where he familiarized himself with the most notable artists in art history. Visiting the…

Bibliography

1. John La Farge. On the Internet at  http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/lafarge/Html/Index.htm 

2. JOHN LA FARGE. On the Internet at http://www.butlerart.com/pc_book/pages/john_la_farge_1835.htm

3. Biography-John La Farge. On the Internet at  http://www.crgalleries.com/lafarge.html 

4. Akiko Mabuchi. Japanese Art and Japonisme Part I: Early English Writings. Ganesha Publishing, 1999

Fern Hill (Dylan Thomas)

The "Poetry Explications" handout from UNC states that a poetry explication is a "relatively short analysis which describes the possible meanings and relationship of the words, images, and other small units that make up a poem."

The speaker in "Fern Hill" dramatically embraces memories from his childhood days at his uncle's farm, when the world was innocent; the second part brings out the speaker's loss of innocence and transition into manhood. This explication will identify and critique Thomas' tone, imagery (including metaphors) and expressive language (as it contributes to the power of the poem). ("Fern Hill" uses 6 verse paragraphs; there are 9 lines in each paragraph.)

"Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs / About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green / the night above the dingle starry / time let me hail and climb / golden…

Works Cited

Bible Meanings. (2011). Lamb. Retrieved December 9, 2012, from http://www.biblemeanings.info/words/animal/lamb.htm.

Cox, C.B. (1959). Dylan Thomas's 'Fern Hill.' The Critical Quarterly, 1(2), 134-138.

Thomas, Dylan. (2012). Fern Hill. Academy of American Poets. Retrieved December 9, 2012,

from  http://www.poets.org .

Grave Goods of the Avars in Medieval Carpathian asin

The objective of this study is to examine the burial styles and grave goods of the Avars. This includes such as buried livestock and artifacts. As well the variability in the relationship between different several sites from this similar time period, and some specific burial sites of interest will be examined as well as the various traditions relating to positioning of bodies and preparation of the dead along with any possible meanings. Examined as well will be construction of the tombs and any other grave goods of interest. From this data this study will attempt to determine the traditions, individual wealth and the position of that culture and to determine what the traditions were of this culture as well as how they developed and changed over time. The difference in tribes or clans and other influences from that time period will…

Bibliography

Avar Rule Before 630 (nd) Retrieved from:  http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/44.html 

Avars (2014) Migration Period between Odra and Vistula. National Science Center. Retrieved from:  http://www.mpov.uw.edu.pl/en/thesaurus/tribes-and-peoples/avars -

Balint, C. (nd) Avar Goldsmiths' Work from the Perspective of Cultural History. British Museum. Retrieved from:  http://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/13%20Balint%20p%20rev-opt-sec.pdf 

Bordas, E. (nd) The Largest Cemetery from the Avar Period in the Carpathian Basin. Retrieved from:  http://www.sulinet.hu/oroksegtar/data/telepulesek_ertekei/Zamardi/pages/avarkori_temeto_angol.htm