History of the US since 1865 - Assignment Example

History of US since 1865 Question History of USA since 1865 revolves around numerous events and activities that lead to the present nation. In April 1865, the southern part of the nation faced a profusion of challenges that ranged from slavery, unemployment, poor health care, and lack of proper education systems.This period in United States signifies an era of reconstruction when the then president Abraham Lincoln met his brute assassination. In March of the same year, President Lincoln had established an organization of the freedmen that aimed at resolving the imminent challenges that could lead to freeing slavery, providing employment to former slaves, and solving both the health care and education problems. Freedmen organization faced multiple set- backs from within the president’s party members who feared that the former unions that operated slavery would never give up on the vice and instead operate it undetectably (Kett et al 468). Moreover, lack of a formidable political institution at this period hindered the southern part of the nation on its quest to integrate with the federal government. Individuals could not find consensus on who had the right to vote leading to the introduction of laws that barred the freed slaves from participating in election. Question 2 The fourteenth Amendment dates its inception on the ninth day of July 1868 when the constitution of the United States undergone ratification thus extending the policies that initially fell under the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The Amendment sought to offer citizenry to all persons born in United States by providing an equal treatment in human rights advocacy and property ownership. The Amendment intended to clarify the federal law such that every person and institution that fell within its jurisdiction would conform to the principles and guidelines set by the Act. The Amendment incorporates several provisions that include an equal protection by the law to all persons within its dominion (Kett et al 472). Respect to a person’s life, property and liberty by adhering to the due process of the law in instances of disagreement. No State should coerce individuals to limited privileges and protection of their rights. Lastly, the Amendment offer provisions that grant citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in United States regardless of their color, race or gender. The Amendment facilitates a wide-ranging impact in United Statesthrough its augmented interpretations of clauses that aid in offering a comprehensive meaning. Institutions of justice such as the courts have extended words like persons to constitutecorporations thus providing protection to numerous organizations and companies that fall under the term corporation. Question 3 Sharecropping involves an act of farming whereby an individual may seek land from the landowner and by using the land, he or she offers half of the crop harvest as a repayment. This system of farming allowed African American who did not own land to operate in such a land incurring all cost of farming until they could harvest in order to providecompensation to the landowner by either selling the crops to raise fund for repayment or by offering half of the crops harvest. This system allows reciprocity thus enabling both the landowner and the tenant farmer to benefit. Sharecropping in the Southern part of US involved cotton farming that immensely influenced the lives of African American during the reconstruction era when the federal government configured an annual agreement in order to protect African American sharecroppers. After the Civil war, most African American people did not have money to purchase land and therefore depended on the white settlers who owned lands (Kett et al 485). Through sharecropping, African American settlers could manage to provide food to their families as they also practiced subsistence farming. This system of farming enabled the southern farmers and African American farmers to acquire tools on credit from merchant, which they could pay later using their farm products. This enabled the settler to uplift their lives economically as they had funds to augment their yields. Question 4 The American settlers who lived on the plains mostly comprising of Europeans immigrates from Germany and central United States met numerous environmental conditions that led to changes in their culture and farming practices. Among the conditions entails the grasshopper plague that attacked their crops thereby causing a wide spread drought on the plains. Changes in climate also affected the populace that occupied the plains for instance strong thunderstorms and hailstorms. The other blatant condition emanated because of the varied rates of evaporation in the plains that could not sustain the growth of crops. The physical nature of the plains facilitated the strong winds to blow the growing crops because of its flatness. These living conditions made it difficult for the new immigrates to farm in the plains. While travelling to the plains, the American settlers met a couple of challenges that included fierce attacks from the Indian, harsh climatic conditions such as extreme hotness during summer and profound coldness in winter (Kett et al 519). The process of setting up a homestead involved a rigorous activity of collecting sods of earth that acted as raw material in building a homestead since trees in the plains were scanty and unavailable. The requirement to each homesteader to build a house and cultivate the land to make it viable also posed problems to many settlers who could not meet the requirement since it needed sacrifice and hard work. Many women found homesteading difficult as the plan called for single women to exercise autonomy thus were not able to carrying out all duties of enhancing the land is viable single-handedly. Question 5 The growing population of Indian immigrates to the United States encouraged the white to control their influence in most parts of the nation. The wide spread Immigration led to multiple cultures spreading in many parts of United States thus compelling the whites to place some measures that could tame the trend. The whites employed policies that could enhance the process of civilizing the Indian communities who passionately observed their culture (Kett et al 527). Such processes included the use of education systems that aimed at teaching the Indians population common cultural practicesthus enhancing peace and harmony. The federal government of US set aside huge tracks of land west of the Mississippi that it sold to the Indians who were willing to acquire US citizenship as a means to woo many Indians. This aided in creation of Indian homesteads, which made it easy for the federal government to control the growing Indian population. Using the education systems, some Americans and government figures were able to transform values and practices of the Indian communities into the American tradition. Indians students were to attend boarding schools where they communicated in English as a requirement to abolish their numerous arrays of languages. This made the transformation process successful since many students ingratiated themselves into the American culture. Question 6 The mythic frontiersman represents a white lad who grew up in an Indian family and attended his education under the authority of the Moravian missionaries who mainly belonged to the protestant community. The young man portrays himself as a skillful interpreter and a military expertise that in the initial episodes of the anecdotes attracts numerous favors but soon these traits fade away leaving the frontiersman childless and without a wife. The mythic frontiersman portrays how the American culture has undergone radical changes due to the influence of multiple cultures from immigrates that has left many human and natural resources extinct and unproductive. The mythic frontiersman representsan idealized version of frontier life that portrays the natural aspects of the people of America in order to offer explanations to various phenomenon that surround the population. The American people has used frontier myth in order to address the intricate issues of their lives that aid in building a common notion towards any aspects of their lives for instance the puzzling ideas of creations (Kett et al 536). The myth aided the conservation movement to preserve environmental factorssuch as natural resources that were heading to extinction if the myth never addressedthose natural factors. Question 7 The questioner links the Chinese workers to slaves or mules because of their tendencies to work in gangs or groups headed by one of their fellow Chinaman. In addition, the Chinese workers got their employments through a distinct firm such as the house of Sisson, Wallace and companies that was entitled to look for workers for the railroad construction company. The questioner focus on the payments made to the Chinese workers to verify how Charles Crocker managed to pay them having accepted the fact that it is not easy to identify Chinese individuals by name (Kett et al 556). The bias emanate when the questions asked represent the Chinese workforce as a driven lot that can only get employed through a familiar firm or receive payment through their own fellow work mate thus rarely dealing with the employer. Question 8 Both the National labor union and the Knights of labor specialized in advocating for both the skilled workers and the unskilled workers. The two unions had accrued large membership than the American federation of labor. The National labor union grew out of the ironworkers who led the union under the pre-civil war idealism. This philosophy insisted that all workers should work for eight hours, sleep for eight hours and carry out their personal activities for eight hours. The National labor union supported the incorporation of women workers in elective posts thus augmenting its members. The Knights labor union headed by a garment cutter advocated for an equal payment of women and abolished child workforce. In addition, the union introduced an income taxation that aimed at increasing the revenues of the union (Kett et al 558). Both the National labor union and the Knights labor union supported the restrictions of immigrates especially the Chinese. The American federation of labor immensely grew after the decline of the Knights labor union where it aimed at addressing skilled crafts personnel through their independent nature of their strategies. The American federation of labor did not include women in the craft industry thus denying women an opportunity to vent their quest for employment. Despite the many violent strikes, the union successfully attained the highest number of members because of its simple and flexible strategy. Question 9 Social Darwinism a term coined by Herbert Spencer depicts the influence placed on the social, economic, and political arena by natural selection theories that adamantly insist how the fittest organism will survive under critical situations, and in this case, the human being. This precept considered the white Europeans as the fittest human race that could control all other races. This assumption blend well with the advancement the white Europeans were making that ranged from industrialization to technological thus strengthening the proponents thoughts that social Darwinism was in deed a reality. In the American societies, the proponents of social Darwinism include William Graham Sumner who supported a similar view when he postulated that the wealth people in the society should do not be taxed arguing that the economy was an aspect of nature that humans cannot control. Social Darwinism augmented the social unrest that had started because of numerous wildcat strikes that faced labor unions of the American societies (Kett et al 562). The opponent of social Darwinism include Lester Frank Ward who argued that human possess the power to change same factors of nature and that individuals should focus on becoming responsible. Social Darwinism set a competitive pace in the business arena as individuals tried to outdo their rivals in all sectors of the business. This aspect augmented the development of business such that the small business could not survive in the market because of the fierce competition set by the big business. Question 10 Settlement-house movements were built in areas where the population comprised of the poor people in order to address harsh living conditions most American people were going through. The American societies faced many challenges caused by industrialization, labor unrest, and unemployment. The settlement -house aimed at upgrading the poor people by providing food, shelter and health care that they lacked (Kett et al 562). In turn, the rich individuals managed to ingratiate themselves with the poor hence comfortably adjusting to their life. I believe settlement houses-immigrates benefitted the most as they were able to access those facilities that they lacked in the poor neighborhood. The poor American acquired a sense of hope and optimism when they lived among the wealthy individuals who were willing to help. Question 11 A traditional working class of artisans involved the breakdown of skills at the factories thereby dividing a particular skill to variousindividuals within the industry. This emanated because of industrialization that led to increased activities within the factory hence the need to sub divide labor. The unpredictably of the economy during the 19th century augmented the number of menial tasks in factories though at a lower salary. Industrialization increased menial tasks in the factories though offering minimal salaries leaving many people in poverty. Artisans faced intense fear of losing their jobs as industrialization always provided a strict adherence of time to all employees (Kett et al 564). In addition, Industrialization enabled the working class of artisan to seek labor laws that would protect the skilled artisan while at work. In response to industrialization many artisan decided to practice their skills at home thus facilitating cohesion within the family members. Question 12 Immigrates always saw America as the land of opportunity because of industrial revolution that took place in America though that has changed over the years especially because of the fact that manufacturing has recently dwindled in employment capabilities. Most German immigrates carried with them some cash that helped them settle in the Western part of Chicago (Kett et al 569). As part of immigrates, they too faced discrimination from the locals who feared exploitation by the new comers. The Irish immigrates were running away from the potato famine that faced their background as it was the only source of food. Once in the land of opportunity, the Irish could not tolerate the harsh accommodations that were crowded. Chinese faced numerous discriminations in their work place, as most labor union did not accommodate them thereby facing the same problem of unemployment they were running away from in their background. French-Canadian immigrates came across restrictive laws that forbidden them from acquiring employment opportunity they were seeking in the land of opportunitiesand this challenge deteriorated with the economic difficulties that faced the American societies. Cultural barriers and corrupt political organizations that operated in America augmented the challenges towards the Slavic immigrates. Question 13 Women from the working class and those from the poor families take responsibilities of caring for their children while setting the expected results though leaving much of the growth to take its course. These women use a means of directive communication to their children thus avoiding instances of reasoning with the children. In addition, these women do not trust outsiders or institution to take care of their children.Women from the middle class tend to be relatively busy than their counterpart in working class and the poor families thus have minimal time with their families hence leaving the trust of their children to other people such as schools. Middle class women train their children from tender age on how to seek direction from their seniors. Women from African American middle class families tend to resemble their white counterparts in that they offer protection to their children against racial discrimination. This may involve enrolling their children in African American schools in order to avoid racial crash on their children. Cult of domesticity is a term started by clergymen to describe the numerous roles that women had to carry out at home in line with the moral and cultural obligations of their families. During the end of the nineteenth century, Victorian advocates that campaigned for cult domesticity extended the role of women to include artistic decoration, which the middle class women spent ample time decorating their houses in accordance with their cultural significance (Kett et al 576). This new role encouraged women to stay away from external businesses arena thus focusing on the improvement of their family’s cultural heritage.The artistic decoration insinuated that home was a place of relaxation for men after arduous undertakings in the world of business. Question 14 Most urban poor people lived in slums and ghettos that were in a close proximity to the dwelling of the affluent individuals. The poor people lived in overcrowded neighborhood and within major factories that emitted fumes that polluted the entire slums turning the rooftops into a gray color because of the soot produced. The urban poor black individuals faced segregation in locales far away from the factories, as they could not secure employment in those factories (Kett et al 572). Lack of decent housing confounded many slum dwellers since they could not pay rent like their affluent counterparts who lived in suburbs. The overcrowded nature of the slums posed health hazards such as waterborne diseases that the rich did not encounter in their fashionable avenues. Pollutions from factories carried with them chemicals that could adversely affect human beings. The urban poor blacks could only get menial jobs that could not pay well thus confined in abject poverty that made their lives difficult to survive in urban places. Work Cited Kett.J, Halttunen. K, Clark. C and Salisbury. N. The Enduring Vision, Volume II: Since 1865. Belmont CA: Cengage Learning, 2014. Print Read More