Blog One: The Gilded Age

     Textbook Readings: 
                On January 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves in the rebellious states. Although it did not end slavery, it opened peoples eyes. Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 and Andrew Johnson became the next president. Chapter fifteen of our textbook, American Horizons, explains how life in the south was after the Civil War. During Johnson's presidency, the Thirteenth Amendment was passed, which outlawed slavery in the United States. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were also passed. The Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed national citizenship and equality to former slaves, detailed changes related to the former confederate states but offered no specific protection of freed people's voting rights, and the Fifteenth Amendment prohibited the denial of voting rights on the basis of race. However, due to Johnson's clashing with Congress over the constitutionality of the Tenure of Office Act, he was impeached and Ulysses S. Grant was his successor.  Even with these new amendments and a new president, life in the south for former slaves was not easy. It was very hard for former slaves to find jobs. Many worked on wage labor, rented land to farm themselves, were sharecroppers, or a combination of the three. The Homestead Act was also passed, which allowed families to claim 160 acres of land if they improved it over five years of residence. White southerners were not happy with the abolition of slavery, and as a result the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was created. The KKK is an organization associated with the bitterest and most violent opponents of Reconstruction and black freedom. Group members devoted themselves to denying African Americans any legitimate role in the public sphere, stressing supremacy of white, Protestant, Anglo-Saxon citizens. This kind of racism lasted all the way into the 1960's, where the Civil Rights movement began.
               Before the abolition of slavery, the culture of the south was based on slavery. Almost everyone in the south owned slaves, and had them work for them, whether it be in their home or out on the farm or plantation. When slavery was outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment, southerners didn't know how to react. Everything that they knew about life was completely different now. However, they found ways to bring slavery back. For example, many former slaves worked as sharecroppers. Sharecroppers were former slaves who rented land or farmed on shares and split the proceeds from the yearly crop with the landlord. They had to pay the landlord for the land, and then give them a potion of the money they made off the crops. As a result of the abolition of slavery and all of the racist feelings towards blacks and others, the Ku Klux Klan was established. This organization whipped, beat, burned and murdered people in the South. Because the South's culture heavily relied on the slaves, they reacted in racist and violent terms.
               The South's economy also relied on the slaves. The slaves would work on the plantations, farming the crops for the season. Those crops would be used throughout the south and even the north. There was also new technology invented to make working on the plantations faster, easier and more efficient. For example, the cotton gin, invented by Eli Whitney, made farming cotton so much more efficient by automating the seed separating process. Once slavery was abolished, the south had to find new ways to boost the economy. In addition to economy, geography played a big role in the south. The south was where all the farms and plantations were, and was where all the crops were grown. The reason the south had slaves was to farm on the plantations, and when slavery was gone they had to find new ways to farming the land.
                 In 1890, the census indicated that the western frontier was "closed". Chapter sixteen of our textbook, American Horizons, discusses how Indians were pushed off their lands. The US-Mexican War was from 1846-1848, and as a result copper was found in Arizona and cattle was brought to the states by the Spanish. The Fort Laramie Treaty was established, which erased the already existing Indian territorial lines. Then the Peace Policy was passed, which required Indian commissioners and leaders of various Christian denominations to provide Indians with food and clothing in exchange for promises to abandon cultural traditions and to assimilate to American society. Indian children were then taken away fro their homes and families and sent to boarding schools to assimilate to American society. The General Allotment Act, or the Dawes Act, was passed. The act divided Indian reservation land into smaller parcels of property. Indians were essentially being forced off their land to make room for American settlers traveling westward.
                Geography, demography and economics each play a big role in this chapter and point in history. The geography of the west was open for settlement, however the Indians had to be removed from their land to make way for the American settlers. There is only so much available land in the west, due to natural factors, such as mountains. It is not very easy to live in a mountain range, so the Indians had to be moved off their land. Since the demography of the United States was growing, westward expansion was necessary. Americans soon had to migrate westward. Lastly, the economy of the west was a big factor. In the west, industry would become very big, along with ranching, farming, and mining. These aspects of the west would bring in money for the economy.
               Chapters seventeen and eighteen of the textbook, American Horizons, talk about big business and immigration. The textbook states that big business equals industrial capitalism. Some examples of big business is Andrew Carnegie and big steel, J.D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil, and Cornelius Vanderbilt and the railroads. These men controlled the industries that they were involved with, and many Americans were not happy with that because it took away competition. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was passed in 1890. The act dismantled the "combination in the form of a trust" that restrained trade. Workers who worked in factories experienced very poor conditions, low wages and long hours. In order to protect these workers, labor unions were rising, such as the American Federation of Labor, American Railway Union, and United mine Workers. Chapter eighteen talks about immigration. The textbook states that in 1900, sixty percent of those who lived in the nations twelve most urban centers were wither foreign born or had parents who were born abroad. Many native born Americans had the feeling of nativism, which is the opposition of immigrants and immigration. As a result of nativism, the American Protective Association advocated strict immigration laws. For the immigrants who were in the country, they lived in clusters not only by their ethnicity, but also by their region or village of their homeland. This chapter also talks about Tammany Hall, which was the Democratic political machine, headed by William "Boss" Tweed, who was very corrupt.
               The main factors in chapter seventeen are economics and politics. Economics and politics go hand in hand when it comes to big business. Men like Carnegie, Rockefeller and Vanderbilt controlled their industries destroying competition, however also making money and circulating money into the economy from their businesses. A factor of chapter eighteen is also politics, along with culture. The country's nativist attitude toward immigrants displays the racist culture that is still present in the country at this time. Native born Americans only want natives to live in their country, not immigrants from foreign lands. Another factor is also politics. "Boss" Tweed's Democratic machine was very corrupt, which contributed to the politics of the time.
               Finally, Chapter nineteen talks about imperialism, and the United State's expansion westward. During this time, the United States had an Open Door Policy, which asked only for unhindered access to markets where they believed could compete successfully against economic rivals. America at this time was in the process of expanding and trying to colonize different lands, for example Cuba and the Philippines. The USS Maine was stationed in Havana Harbor in Cuba to protect American citizens and property in Cuba. On February 15, 1898, the Maine exploded killing 260 of the 276 American sailors on the ship. As a result, the Teller Amendment was passed, stating the US would not colonize Cuba, and the United States would go to war with Spain. The Treaty of Paris of 1898 would end the war. There was also a war against the Philippines, and as a result the Philippines remained an American colony until 1946. When president McKinley was assassinated in 1901, Theodore Roosevelt became president. During his term, the Panama Canal was built, and added the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine which stated the nation's right to intervene in the international affairs of Latin American nations to ensure order and suppress European influence.
               The main factor in chapter nineteen is politics. The United States has become very powerful, and now is their time to show just how powerful they are, through imperialism. By going to war with Spain and the Philippines, the United States shows that they are not to be messed around with. The United States is becoming a great power, and by colonizing different lands, the leaders of the Unites States are making a political statement.
History Detectives:
               In this episode of History Detectives by PBS, the history detectives venture to discover if the artifacts they are given are indeed artifacts and not just trinkets. In this episode, the detectives investigate a picture frame which is believed to have been from the Titanic or the Lusitania, Woolworth Store signs in the time of the Civil Rights Movement, and Nazi spy toys in America. First the picture frame is investigated to see if two cousins stories of their great grandfather being on the rescue mission of either ship is true. In order to figure out which ship the frame came from, if either, we first see how the tree rings of the frame are tested and compared against the tree rings of the oak wood used in the Titanic in Ireland, and the oak wood used in the Lusitania in Scotland. The results showed the oak on the frame was most similar to the oak in Ireland, putting the Titanic in the lead. Then the detective met with a woman named Pat, who also had a very similar frame, and photos of her grandfather on a rescue ship, the Minia. While looking through the photos, they find one of Pat's grandfather, and a man who appears to be the cousins great grandfather. They go to the museum and find the sign in list of all the men who were on the Minia at the time of the Titanic rescue. There was Pat's grandfather's name, and there was also the cousin's great grandfather's name. That proves he was there. They were also told of the man who would make these frames, and that both Pat and the cousin's frame are almost certain to have come from the Titanic's grand staircase. The next story was of a man who had Woolworth store signs from Winston, Salem in the 1960s. He wants to know if these signs were the same ones that were up in the store during the lunch sit-ins during the Civil Rights Movement. In order to find out, the history detective goes to the library to look for clues, but comes up short. Then he meets with one of the Civil Rights activists who was at the lunch sit-ins in the Woolworth store the signs are claimed to have been from, Carl Matthews. He told the detective that he hired someone to take pictured for him during the sit-ins. In the background of one of the photos of outside the store, the detective finds a frame that the signs could have been in. He measures the signs and the frame, and it is a perfect match. The signs did in fact come from the 1960s Civil Rights Woolworth lunch sit-ins. The last mystery of the episode is when a man comes to the detective with Nazi spy toys he says to have gotten from his childhood friend who's father traveled to Germany every summer and returned with these toys. Then in 1943, there was news of a Nazi spy in Detroit, Michigan where the man with the toys lived at this time. The spy turned out to be his friend's father, and then the family disappeared. He never knew what happened to them, and wants to find out. The detective goes to a toy expert to find out if the toys were really bought in Germany. He couldn't tell just from the toy itself, but he did find out that the toys were used as propaganda for Hitler in Nazi Germany. The detective then meets with an author who wrote of wartime spying in Detroit. Her research contained many files of the FBI  case. The FBI made a woman a double agent, and the accused spy, Dr. Thomas, gave her information. Dr. Thomas pleaded not guilty, however was found guilty and sentenced for a 16 year term in prison. The verdict was later reversed on a legal technicality, and there is confirmed evidence that Dr. Thomas did not go back and forth to Germany every summer, and the toys were not a cover for suspicious acts, they were just toys and could have been bought in the U.S. The case against Dr. Thomas was dropped because the information was now believed to be public information, already printed in newspapers, and the double agent was no longer cooperating. The man's childhood friend survived and lived a very long and successful life, and passed away in 1999.
               In this episode, politics and culture are present. Politics is present in the Nazi spy toy mystery. The American government was trying to crack down on Nazi spies in the Unites States, and as a result they falsely accused a man. Politics was also present in the Woolworth sign mystery, along with culture. The Civil Rights movement was going on in the times that these signs were hanging above the door of the store, with lunch sit-ins happening right inside. The culture of the south was segregated, and these sit-ins were happening with the hopes that segregation would no longer exist. The Civil Rights activists were strong and weren't going to give up until change was present in the south, and by doing so they were making a political statement. Culture is also present in the Titanic picture frame. In that period of time, craftsmanship was still big. One man carved many picture frames out of the wood from the Titanic wreck. It was part of the culture, and those frames will be in families for many years to come, along with the story behind it.
Time Team America:
               In this episode of Time Team America, a group of archeologists travel to New Philadelphia, Illinois in search of the school house for black children established by the towns founder, a black man named "Free" Frank. Frank established the town in 1836, before the civil war, and was a free black man who bought himself out of slavery. In this town, whites and blacks would live among each other. The archeologists begin their search by digging in small areas of the lot of land where the schoolhouse was believed to be. They were on a fixed schedule, and storms got in their way. After two days they came up with no evidence of the schoolhouse. They found other things, such as remains of a blacksmith's store, a general store, houses and a black only cemetery. They found these things by digging up the ground and placing the dirt in a strainer, getting rid of the dirt so all there was left in the strainer was rocks, or artifacts. As the search continued, they found pieces of a writing slate and brick pieces, however no solid evidence of the schoolhouse.
               Culture and geography are bother factors in this episode of Time Team America. When Free Frank's town was up and running and occupied by both black and white, the it is almost like the southern culture didn't exist. Although the Civil War has not been fought yet, it was still unheard of for whites and blacks to live together. These people who lived in Frank's town lived in a much simpler time, with only a few stores in the town and a few houses. There were no malls or superstores. The people had to live off the land, which brings us to geography. Frank's town was on flat land, there were no mountains or lakes or rivers to separate the town, which made it more closely knit. There was also a main road that rain through the middle of the town, which made traveling and communicating in the town much easier. Although the schoolhouse wasn't found by the team, they found other very interesting and fascinating things that proved that Free Frank succeeded in making his town. 
Bill Moyer's Journal:
               In Bill Moyer's interview with Douglas Blackmon, they talk about Blackmon's latest book, Slavery By Another Name. In his book, Blackmon talks about the period of time after the Civil War when slavery was "reinvented". During this period of time, the black codes attempted to recreate the slave codes, essentially recreating slavery. Across the south, emancipated slaves were arrested on made up charges, whipped, beat, stripped and chained. These emancipated slaves were being treated like they were still slaves, and worse. In one account, a freed slave was arrested, and the arresting officer forgot the charges, so he made up charges against the freed slave, even though he was doing nothing wrong. Emancipated slaves were being criminalized and being treated terribly, and the stories of this time have never been told until now in Blackmon's book.
                    Economics, culture and geography are all factors in this interview. Blackmon states that the southern economy, and the American economy as a whole were addicted to slavery. They didn't know how to let it go, so they found a way to get around the laws and reinvent slavery. This ties in with culture and geography. Southern culture is dependent on the slaves work, and when slavery is outlawed so is the southern way of life. The geography of the south is made up of farms and plantations that supply the nations with the crops it needs. When slavery is abolished, who is going to farm that land? The southern didn't want to give up the way of life that they knew, so they reinvented slavery, something that almost all Americans don't know about.
               When I was done listening to this interview I was shocked at how this is a part of history that is not being taught in schools. I had no idea that this even happened in the south until watching the interview. It was like slavery was never outlawed. As freed slaves, they should have been able to live as free people, not being arrested on made up charges and beat, whipped, stripped and chained. I think that this should be taught in schools because it is a very important part of history after the Civil War.
The Rockefellers:
               In this episode of American Experience by PBS on the Rockefellers, we learn just who exactly the Rockefellers were and are today. This documentary goes into great depth on the Rockefeller family. In 1839, John D. Rockefeller was born. When John was growing up, his father came and went as he pleased, and John soon learned that his father took a second family under a fake name. He then moved the family to Cleveland to carry out his second life. John knew that he wanted to have a much different life than his father's, and he dropped out of high school and began to work to support his family. He became interested in the oil business, and discovered that refining, not drilling, oil was where the steady money was. By the time he was twenty-five years old, his refinery was one of the largest in the world. After he got married to Laura Spellman, John set out for one giant company which was run and owned by him. He created Standard Oil. In two months, 22 out of the 26 Cleveland refineries were taken over by Rockefeller, which created a monopoly and took away competition. In 1883, John moved his family to New York, and by 1889 the family's fortune was more than $40 million. Although their family had enormous wealth, they did not show it. John and Laura kept their children cut off from the outside world, raising them like poor children. John was also a huge philanthropist, although not many people saw him for that. John became very stressed about work and all of the lawsuits against him and Standard Oil that he took some time off of work. Then in 1897, he retired from Standard Oil, leaving the company to his son, John Jr., however John Sr. retained the president's title. While Jr. was running the company, Sr. was living as a fugitive, hiding out in their home and keeping his whereabouts a secret. On May 15, the Supreme Court ruled Standard Oil as a monopoly, and it should be dissolved. John Jr. made it his life mission to get his father's good name back. Meanwhile, Sr. was becoming settled in his retirement. He became a whole new person; very happy and lively. He went outside in public and enjoyed his life. Then in 1928, Rockefeller Center in New York City begins to emerge. On March 23, 1937, John D. Rockefeller Sr. dies, leaving his legacy up to his son and grandsons. Jr.'s son Nelson becomes his right hand man at Rockefeller Center, and in 1952 the Rockefeller name and business is handed down to Jr.'s sons. Even though John D. Rockefeller was viewed as the most hated man in America, he created a legacy that is still alive today.
               In this document on the Rockefellers, economics, politics and culture are all relevant. Rockefeller made so much money off of Standard Oil. Even though it was a monopoly and eventually dissolved, he made millions off of it. He made his money, and then circulated his money in the economy again by giving to many charities. He also founded the University of Chicago, supported medical research and even paid for the education of black women in Spellman College in Atlanta. John D. Rockefeller was known as this monster of America, however people didn't see him aside from Standard Oil. Politics is also relevant in this documentary. Standard Oil and Rockefeller became under investigation by Theodore Roosevelt, and Rockefeller's company was declared a monopoly. John Jr.'s son also ran for Governor of New York. Lastly, culture is also relevant. John Sr. made his wealth, but didn't express it inside his household. His children were raised like poor children, to teach them that success and wealth isn't just handed to them, they have to work hard for it and earn it. He made his children keep a log of their money; their income and their expenses. John Jr. Had his children do this too. It was part of the culture.
               Although John D. Rockefeller Sr. was viewed as the most hated man in America, I don't see him that way. He grew up with barely anything, not even a father. He was fulfilling the American dream, by creating his own business and becoming successful. When Standard Oil began eliminating competition, monopolies weren't against the law. It was only until after was it illegal. No one ever talks about how much Rockefeller gave to charity, which is very important. I believe that Rockefeller was a man with a dream, and he accomplished that dream, while helping others along the way. He made his family a legacy, which still reigns today.    
Talking History:
               In this audio, Susan Lewis talks about businesswomen in Albany, NY from 1830-1885. According to Lewis, a businesswomen was any women who was making money but not through wages. In other words, a women who was self-employed. Many women during this time period had jobs such as dress makers, grocers, saloon keepers, dry and fancy goods dealers (materials), milliners, candy dealers, variety store owners, which carried small quantities necessities, and liquor dealers. These businesswomen ran their own businesses for a variety of reasons, some being because they were widows and had to support their families, and others being because their husbands were "worthless" and didn't do anything to support the family, so the women had to. Lewis gives many different stories of businesswomen of this time to help us get a better understanding of the businesswomen during this time period.
               In this audio, the main factor that is relevant is culture. Traditionally during this time, and all the way up to the women's civil rights movements, women did not work in business. They stayed at home and took care of the children and matters at home. However, because of certain circumstances, some women were in business, and some were very good at it. Usually, women at this time were considered "not worthy" of credit, however successful women in business were worthy for credit, sometimes even more worthy than their husbands. This is a huge part of our culture, because from this time period, women were in the same workplace as men, which would usually have been unthinkable at this time. As time went on, however, our culture began to change and accept women into the workplace next to men.  
Bibliography:
Bezis-Selfa, John, Greenwood, Janette Thomas, Kirk, Andrew, Purcell, Sarah J., Schaller,
               Michael, Schulzinger, Robert D., Sheehan-Dean, Aaron. American Horizons. New York:
               Oxford University Press, 2013. Print.
Bosch, Adriana, Deane, Elizabeth. "The Rockefellers." American Experience. PBS. Web. 23 January,
               2014.
Lewis, Susan. "Businesswomen in Albany, New York, 1830-1885." Talking History. Talking
               History. April 3, 2003. MP3.
"Bill Moyer's Journal." WSKG. PBS. 20 June 2008. Web. 23 January 2014.
"History Detectives: Titanic Picture Frame, Woolworth Signs, Nazi Spy Toys." PBS Video. PBS. 7
               August 2012. Web. 25 January 2014.
"Time Team America: New Philadelphia, Illinois." PBS Video. PBS. 21 July 2009. Web. 25 January
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