No Justice, No Fun

The essential questions for this lesson on Westward Expansion were: Did the government have good intentions when enacting policies for westward expansion? And in what ways did these policies impact the natives and buffalo soldiers? To begin this lesson we watched videos on the topic. Our class was divided into four groups and each took notes pertaining to a different topic while watching the videos, my group had main events. After the videos were completed, we looked at primary sources and a timeline regarding the Buffalo Soldiers and Native Americans. Then we put our heads together to come up with the essential questions. Finally, we made questions for our final exam.

The government did have good intentions when putting in place the policies for westward expansion. The government made a sad mistake though. They thought of the majority and wanted to please them by enlarging the country but they didn’t think of the minorities: the minorities who at the time were much more concerned with obtaining more rights rather than more land. The government awarded many Medals of Honor to the Buffalo soldiers, proving that the government was trying to pretend that they treated the colored troops well, when they really did not. The Buffalo Soldiers, much like the Native Americans, tended to get the short end of every deal. These soldiers were given the tired horses, the used uniforms, and the hard jobs that the white troops did not want to deal with. But, since most of the Buffalo Soldiers had no jobs to go back to at home, they were stuck with whatever they were given.

For Native Americans, the impact of the Westward Expansion policies were horrifying, The most direct and obvious impact was the lost of land in reservations due to the Dawes Act of 1887. “Be it enacted…That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indians has been, or shall hereafter be, located upon any reservation created for their use, either by treaty stipulation or by virtue of an act of Congress or executive order setting apart the same for their use…” The Dawes Act assigned a certain amount of land per person instead of a singular plot for each tribe, greatly reducing the size of land left to the Native Americans. This whole idea of owning land went against the Native American belief that nature cannot be owned. So, the assignment of land made them lose that part of their culture. Another terrible system that also striped Native Americans was the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, made for the Native American children that promised to "kill the Indian in him and save the man." Another impact of Westward Expansion on the Natives was a loss of peace. They were being moved into smaller and smaller spaces, and this movement brought confrontation. Helen Hunt Jackson wrote in her 1881 book A Century of Dishonor, “There is not among these three hundred bands of Indians one which has not suffered cruelly at the hands either of the Government or of white settlers. The poorer, the more insignificant, the more helpless the band, the more certain the cruelty and outrage to which they have been subjected.” And this confrontation lead to violence that was commonly believed to be because of how untamed a Native American really is, when really it was the white men who were the monsters. Helen Jackson also wrote: “Every crime committed by a white man against an Indian is concealed and palliated. Every offense committed by an Indian against a white man is borne on the wings of the post or the telegraph to the remotest corner of the land, clothed with all the horrors which the reality or imagination can throw around it,” (A Century of Dishonor, 1881). The impact of Westward Expansion policies was extremely detrimental for the Native Americans. They lost their land, culture, peace, and on top of all that, they were made into monsters. 

Today, more attention is being paid to the minorities, but as is to be expected, things are still not perfect. One of Social Media's positive attributes is that it lets, for the most part, people hear about the news as it is happening. Social Media does this better than the actual news because the news picks and chooses what it wants people to know. Something will come up on Social Media that is not talked about on the news and everytime this happens I am shocked that the news is choosing to leave people ignorant when the purpose of the news is to inform people. It makes no sense to me because usually the things they leave out are the "controversial" problems affecting a minority. It is this kind of selective reporting that leads to the ignorance that will stop advancements in social justice. 
 

Angels or Devils: The Gilded Age

The Essential Question for the lesson on Carnegie and Rockefeller was created by the students this week. What we came up with was: Should Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller be classified as robber barons or captains of industry? The structure for this lesson was divided into days. On the first day we watched videos explaining the Gilded Age, or time period following the Reconstruction after the Civil War. Then on the second day we decided on the essential question and then we began writing our blog posts. On the third day the class decided on how to create the forty exam questions we would need to have completed on the fourth day.

This political cartoon by Udo J. Keppler appeared in the September 7, 1904, issue of "Puck." It shows J.D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil tank as an octopus with many tentacles wrapped around the steel, copper, and shipping industries, as well as a state house, the U.S. Capitol, and one tentacle reaching for the White House, as it crushes the competition

John D Rockefeller is a Robber Baron because he meets most of definition. Rockefeller bought out his rivals after destroying them. His method was to lower his prices until his competition could not match them and went bankrupt. John D Rockefeller was also known to bribe politicians. To keep his prices low, Rockefeller treated his workers poorly. In the end, he had become the head of a massive oil monopoly. All these actions of Rockefeller are what make him a Robber Baron.

Andrew Carnegie is not a Robber Baron. Instead, Carnegie is a Captain of Industry because he does not fit as much of the definition as Rockefeller. In Carnegie's “Wealth”, published in 1889, his main point is that those with wealth have a duty to those that do not. “…the man of wealth thus becoming the mere trustee and agent for his poorer brethren, bringing to their service his superior wisdom, experience and ability to administer, doing for them better than they would or could do for themselves.” Carnegie is no hypocrite, and donates a lot of his money to fund public needs like libraries and other organizations that advance the cause of education, eventually founding the Carnegie Mellon University. Another positive attribute of Andrew Carnegie is that he believed in meritocracy, promoting his workers based on their skills. Carnegie’s one slip up was the Homestead Strike. Beginning on the 29th of June in 1892, the strike made the public aware of Andrew Carnegie’s plot to terminate the iron and steel workers’ union. However, the rest of his life, Carnegie was apologetic. In a letter he wrote to William E. Gladstone, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, on September 24th of the next year, Carnegie admitted, "This is the trial of my life (death's hand excepted). Such a foolish step - contrary to my ideas, repugnant to every feeling of my nature. Our firm offered all it could offer, even generous terms. Our other men had gratefully accepted them. They went as far as I could have wished, but the false step was made in trying to run the works with new men." By writing this, it is clear that Carnegie regrets what he has done.

Today, while governments are still trying to stay out of economies, the two things still have a big effect on one another. In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might not be re-elected due to Turkey's current poor economy. This year's Turkish General Election will be on Sunday, June 7th. The President's political party, the Justice and Development Party, first came to power after a financial crisis and has since won six elections in a row. This year, the belief that the economy is poorly run, might sway voters to elect a different party. If Laissez-Faire worked the other way, economy staying out of government, the Justice and Development Party might not be so uneasy about tomorrow's election.