Year Reflection

This year throughout our history class, I gained more of an analytical view towards major U.S. events instead of merely remembering facts. The movie Thirteen Days made me super proud to be an American and to realize even more the importance of civilians being in charge of the military. If it were this all controlling government that made all the decision, we would returning to what we fought for independence from in the first place. This class has helped me to better understand some of the most pressing conflicts current day as well. Our interactive class discussions helped me to better understand the topics, and feel more confident about myself.

Climate Change Politics Letter

Dear Future Student of 2216,

Today in our society in 2016, climate change is both favored and disliked in the United States. Climate change during our time period can be considered a heated political debate. Politically, it is divided strictly by a partisan line between Democrats and Republicans.

I’m sure you are wondering why the words “climate change” got our political parties so fired up, so I will start out by explaining a little bit of backstory behind the Republican party, what they believe, and what is happening currently. A majority of Republicans views on climate change is that it is not that big of an issue, or it is not even true. John Coleman, the co-founder of the Weather Channel (11) stated, “I have studied climate change seriously for years. It has become a political and environment agenda item, but the science behind it is not valid.” Coleman based his statements on the NIPCC, which is a non-governmental international body of scientists. Republicans believe the statistics from this group that does not involve the government because Republicans main beliefs is in a smaller government. Ronald Reagan (12), a past Republican President, stated “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” This statement sums up the Republican party in a nutshell, and helps to better understand their reasoning behind their climate change beliefs. Today, our current Republican candidate is Donald Trump. Donald Trump has spoken outwardly about his disbelief in climate change. One of his Tweets (13) (I’m not sure Twitter is even around in 2216, but it was a social media site where users could post short statements about what they believed, thought was cool, or just wanted to share) from 2012 states, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” While this Tweet was a little far fetched, there might be some truth to it. I’m not saying that it was made up entirely by the Chinese, but I do believe that Democrats attempts to cut Americans use of fossil fuels (14) and carbon-dioxide emissions will stunt our economic growth, and somewhat controls the lives Americans. Getting back to a more recent Tweet from Donald (13) in 2015, he said “I mean, Obama thinks it’s the number one problem of the world today. And I think it’s very low on the list. So I am not a believer, and I will, unless somebody can prove something to me, I believe there’s weather. I believe there’s change, and I believe it goes up and it goes down, and it goes up again. And it changes depending on years and centuries, but I am not a believer, and we have much bigger problems.” Speaking of our current President, Obama does think it’s a big issue, and signed the Paris Climate Treaty (14) just a few days ago in April 2016. Obama is planning to use this treaty to limit our fossil fuel and carbon-dioxide emissions, which relates back to the point I made about Donald’s first Tweet. I believe the debate between Republicans and Democrats about climate change is so heated is because Presidents Obama’s current actions about climate change are unconstitutional (14). His signing of the Paris Climate Treaty was unconstitutional because he signed it without the consent of the Senate, but no one seems to do anything about it. Of course this enrages the Republicans, and they are already upset because the treaty goes against what they believe in. Basically, it is such a heated debate because both sides think they are right and are unwilling to compromise. Also, the debate is made to seem more intense than it probably is in real life by TV and social media.

While most Republicans don’t believe climate change is a big issue, they still believe in trying to efficient. They tend to lean towards Theodore Roosevelt’s ideas (15) of creating national parks to preserve our land, instead of limiting our fossil fuel and carbon-dioxide emissions like the Democrats want. The Democrats (16) want to raise taxes on gas and electricity to make people less likely to use it, thus causing less pollution. The Republicans (16) are all for less pollution, but they do not want the American people to have to pay for it, or be limited by what they can use. The Republicans (16) believe in tax breaks for companies that produce more electricity from wind, water, and solar power. Also, the same applies for companies that come up with new methods (16) to burn coal with less pollution emissions. This then would not stunt our economic growth, and encourage companies to be more Earth friendly, or efficient, with the reward of a tax break.

Between Democrats and Republicans, climate change is a touchy subject talked about right now in 2016. Nowadays on TV, I am viewing presidential debates and conflicting viewpoints on each side. I hear more about terrorism and the stability of our economy on TV more than any other policy. But at least Pew Research Center(2) acknowledges I know that one group that actually cares about our climate and protection of our environment to keep our world healthier. Climate change today is shaped along the lines of partisans. Between the two, their party is determined by the gender and age groups. Republicans question whether or not global warming and climate change is real, and Democrats question what can we the people do about the changing climate. Today Democrats are more concerned with this growing problem rather than Republicans, because of these diverging questions. Democratic candidate of 2016 Hillary Clinton says from Hillary Clinton Campaign Website(7), “I won’t let anyone take us backward, deny our economy the benefits of harnessing a clean energy future, or force our children to endure the catastrophe that would result from unchecked climate change.” Democrats look more to the future and help these growing problems now disintegrate so the future won’t have to endure it. Today Democratic ideology Pew Research Center(3) shows in polls that 55% of Democrats want to help climate change, when only 14% of Republicans prioritize climate change. Hillary Clinton is funded, research from Open Secrets(6), by numerous organizations and companies. Some of the biggest donations are from some of the most prestigious universities like Harvard University and University of California. Together they fund her campaign 1 billion dollars, for the purpose of gaining university funds from this candidate for research in their school. Some of the university’s research would be related to climate change and protection of the environment. Universities like Harvard and California tend to be more liberal and in the end siding with Democratic candidates like Hillary Clinton and Obama from the 2012 election shown on Open Secrets(5). Nasa(1) recognizes that the main reason for global warming and climate change is the growth of humans of the greenhouse effect. That being said we caused it so we should be the ones fixing it and protecting our environment, like the Democrats are doing. Democrats are doing the right thing to our community, actually acknowledging the fact that climate change is happening and we the people need to be the ones helping our world.

Democrats see and acknowledge there is a problem and want to help it. On the other hand, Republicans don't believe in this so called "conspiracy theory" of climate change. Other countries have same issues discussed in Pew Research Center(2) with political parties having different views on pending policies in their nation. Canada, Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom have same points on the matter of climate change. These countries find climate change very important and will affect their country if not protected. The graphs from Pew Research Center(2) can be seen the percentages and importance of climate change. The United States growing tension in debates on climate change is similar to other major countries. Pew Research Center(10) describes how Earth Day was created 46 years ago. In importance to helping keep our earth clean by creating recycling programs to tell importance to others about climate change. As of this point in time to actually solve the crisis with climate change, people have to acknowledge it is a real and pending thing in our lives. My research from Forbes(4) shows that Republicans are keeping their followers away from seeing the truth behind the climate even though two-thirds of liberal to moderate Republicans believe global warming is real. What about the other one-third?

Funding for each candidate, between the two partisans, is heated. as well. Candidates use this fire as a political advantage towards other opponents. Politifact(9) describes between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, the rivalry Democratic candidates, a lot of comments about climate have been made towards Hillary Clinton. Sander’s says that Hillary’s campaign counts on money from coal and gas companies, which undermines Clinton’s energy and environmental policies. During this current 2016 election, from Open Secrets(8), trends show that 9% of oil and gas companies fund money to Democratic candidates, while the other 90% goes to Republicans. This supports the claims of Republicans not believing and caring as much for environment and climate change. They receive more money from these companies because of their reliance on fossil fuels rather than clean and renewable energy. In total from each election Open Secrets(8), from 1990 to 2016 Democrats have received $82,643,039, while Republicans received $330,487,781. This is nearly a 4:1 ratio of donation received by Republicans to Democrats.
In conclusion, by both parties having their say in the matter of climate change, makes it harder to solve the problem. I hope in the future when you are living in, that climate change won’t be an issue anymore and will be solved right now, 2016.

Sincerely,

Mary Leigh Oliver & Janvi Patel

Partisan Differences

Public Policy's Global Partisan Priorities Republican and Democratic Money from Coal and Gas Companies

Republican and Democratic Polls on Global Warming being caused by Humans

Footnotes:

1. "A Blanket Around the Earth" Nasa: "National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA is a United States government agency that is responsible for science and technology related to air and space. Evidence of climate change found on the climate website of NASA." I used this website for background information about the reasoning behind climate change.

2. "Global Concern about Climate Change, Broad Support for Limiting Emissions", Pew Research Center: "Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. We do not take policy positions." This website was used for the graphs but also for information about trends about the United States and other countries of partisan.

3. "Budget Deficit Losing Slips as Public Priority", Pew Research Center: "Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. We do not take policy positions." This website was used for the graphs but also for information on priority for Americans.

4. "The End of the Partisan Divide Over Climate Change", Forbes: "a leading Internet media company, is among the most trusted resources for the world's business and investment leaders, providing them the uncompromising commentary, concise analysis, relevant tools and real-time reporting they need to succeed at work, profit from investing and have fun with the rewards of winning." This discusses the differences about Democrats and Republicans and the future of climate change.

5. "2012 Presidential Race", Open Secrets: "is your nonpartisan guide to money's influence on U.S. elections and public policy. Whether you're a voter, journalist, activist, student or interested citizen, use our free site to shine light on your government."This talks about which companies funded Obama and similarities to Hillary Clinton.

6. "Hillary Clinton", Open Secrets: "is your nonpartisan guide to money's influence on U.S. elections and public policy. Whether you're a voter, journalist, activist, student or interested citizen, use our free site to shine light on your government."This discusses the funding of Hillary Clinton campaign.

7. "Making America the World's Clean Energy Superpower and Meeting the Climate Challenge", Hillary Clinton Campaign Website: "Official campaign site of Hillary for America. Hillary Clinton wants to be a champion for everyday Americans - so she's a candidate for president in 2016." Hillary Clinton's campaign and what she has for when she becomes president.

8. "Oil & Gas", Open Secrets: "is your nonpartisan guide to money's influence on U.S. elections and public policy. Whether you're a voter, journalist, activist, student or interested citizen, use our free site to shine light on your government." Which oil and gas companies fund Democrats and Republicans.

9. "Sorting out Hillary Clinton's Fossil Fuel Contributions", Politifact: "PolitiFact is a project of the Tampa Bay Times and its partners to help you find the truth in politics. Every day, reporters and researchers from PolitiFact and its partner news organization examine statements by members of Congress, state legislators, governors, mayors, the president, cabinet secretaries, lobbyists, people who testify before Congress and anyone else who speaks up in American politics. We research their statements and then rate the accuracy on our Truth-O-Meter – True, Mostly True, Half True, Mostly False and False. The most ridiculous falsehoods get our lowest rating, Pants on Fire." This discusses the conflict between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders about fossil fuels.

10. "For Earth Day, here's how Americans view Environmental Issues", Pew Research Center: "Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. We do not take policy positions." This discusses the Earth Day information and what happens.

(11) "Global Warming the greatest scam in history' claims founder of The Weather Channel" June 9, 2015: Express - "A daily national middle market tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom."
(12) "Reagan's First Inaugural: "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." January 20, 1981: The Heritage Foundation - "Founded in 1973, The Heritage Foundation is a research and educational institution—a think tank—whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense."
(13) "Climate change and the Republican party: 'America is not a planet'" November 23, 2015: The Guardian - "Covering American and international news for an online, global audience."
(14) "Climate Hustle" April 27, 2016 :CFACT - "Today, CFACT is a respected Washington D.C.-based organization whose voice can be heard relentlessly infusing the public-interest debate with a balanced perspective on environmental stewardship and other important issues.  With an influential and impressive scientific advisory board, effective collegiate program on U.S. college campuses, CFACT Europe, official United Nations’ NGO representation, Adopt-A-Village project, Global Social Responsibility program, and “Just the Facts” daily national radio commentary, CFACT continues to offer genuine solutions to today’s most important global challenges."
(15) "A Widening Gap: Republican and Democratic Views on Climate Change" October 2008: Environment Magazine - "Now in its 54th year of publication, Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development analyzes the problems, places, and people where environment and development come together, illuminating concerns from the local to the global. More readable than specialized journals and more timely than textbooks, Environment offers peer-reviewed articles and commentaries from researchers and practitioners who provide a broad range of international perspectives. This ISI-rated magazine also features in-depth reviews of major policy reports, conferences, and environmental education initiatives, as well as guides to the best Web sites, journal articles, and books."
(16) "Republican Views on Global Warming" June 14, 2015: Republican Views - "Our mission is to report on Republican politicians’ and the Republican Party’s views and beliefs on the issues in a fair and unbiased way. All of our articles are original, well-researched, and unbiased. We are a reputable source on Republican views and beliefs."

Climate Research

My topic is on the political view points of climate change. One thing that I learned from my research today was that a treaty about climate change, the Paris Climate Treaty, was signed yesterday April 27th, and President Obama was one of those to sign the treaty. President Obama is trying to use this treaty to further constrain the U.S. to cut the fossil fuel use, and carbon dioxide emissions. I knew this topic was a current argument, but I was interested to find out that things concerning this topic occurred as recent as yesterday. Another thing that was so interesting, and concerning to me about President Obama's signing of this treaty, was that he signed it without presenting it to the U.S. Senate, which is extremely unconstitutional. I am interested to see if someone will actually say anything to the President about his unconstitutional acts.

Another thing I learned was more about the opposing views on climate change from the Republicans and the Democrats. One thing that was interesting to me was that politicians are mostly concerned with the argument of global warming, not other climate changes like drought (which is statistically proven to be the American people's number one climate change concern). The Democrats view on global warming is that it does exist, that we the people are causing it, and that Americans should be actively working to cut down the fossil fuel and carbon dioxide emissions. Republicans on the other hand are about half and half. Some Republicans believe it is an actual issue, while some do not believe it is real at all. Several Republicans believe more in Theodore Roosevelt's ideas of preserving our land by making national parks, instead of cutting the use of fossil fuels and stunting our economic growth. It was interesting to me to see that Republicans and Democrats somewhat agree, but at the same time can not reach a solution to the argument.

Republican Views
CFACT
Pew Research
Environment

Climate Topics

I would like to focus my research on the political views because it is such a controversial argument in the United States today. I would like to learn more about the topic because it involves our society currently, and I am extremely interested in politics in general.

5 Blog Posts on Climate

Andrew Johnson - "How does climate change affect how our society functions as a whole?"
Janvi Patel - "Why is our climate changing so rapidly?"
Victoria Spera - "How is a climate determined?"
Hunter McEwen - "Is global warming real?"
Avani Reddy - "How does the climate of one region affect another region? what are some of the specific climate patterns?"

Climate

change
temperature
weather
warm
cold

Climate change is such a prominent discussion because of peoples beliefs in global warming, so it think of the word change when I hear the word climate.
Also, when thinking of the word climate I think of the weather and the temperature changes.

Why do people automatically assume that we people are the cause of climate change?

Dust Bowl Hyperlinks

History
Living History Farm
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory 
Library of Congress

1930's Reading

1. President Hoover's response made the issue not seem as serious as it really was, saying it would be over in 60 days. People blamed themselves when things began going wrong because the attitude of the 1920's was success, and now a decade later they were in a time of failure. Men blamed themselves because they were not able to provide for their families. This response was invalid because there was very little that the people could do to fix the problem, so they should not have blamed themselves. PBS
2. I would have terrified, thinking that I would be smothered to death, or separated from my family in the dust. I would be wondering how we would ever repair damages after the storm, or how my family could ever mentally recover from being beaten by the dust. PBS
3. The east and the west were affected by the drought. The plains being plowed by the settlers, the high demand for what during WWI exhausted the topsoil, and the overgrazing from the cattle and sheep herds caused this. I someWhat agree with the authors perspective, but I also think he is being too analytical about the situation. I do think that maybe this event was sent from God as a way to wipe away all of the bad, so that the Americans could somewhat "start over" again. PBS
4. The migration of people out of the Dust Bowl was the largest migration in American history. Life was hard for them when they got to California because most of the farms were corporate owned. They had to take up the work of the Mexican migrant workers, getting paid by the amount of fruit and cotton they picked. They got about .75c - $1.25, but had to pay .25c a day to rent a tar-paper shack and buy groceries at high-priced stores. PBS

Speech Feedback

1. I felt the speeches went well because I felt we all better understood the topics of the chapter by presenting it in this way.
2. Ward- because he was able to not be monotone throughout the entire speech, and was able to look up and interact with the audience. He also spoke very loudly also.
3. I learned that public speaking is harder than it looks. I learned that I need to practice my speech several times so I can be as fluent as possible.

1930's Radio Entertainment

During the 1930's, some of the main forms of entertainment on the radio were live musical performances, dramas, comedy acts, or even baseball games. Two of the biggest comedians that became famous through the radio programs were Jack Benny and Fred Allen. The most interesting entertainment program that was on the radio was the dramas. One of the most popular dramas of the time was "Our Gal Sunday". There were different dramas that would be played during the day, and different ones at night. A certain day of the week, listeners could tune in to the station and hear the next segment of the story. These stories were so intriguing to people because the characters and situations were easy to relate to and love. Through these dramas, they often gave people a hint of old American family values and morals to live by.

Family sitting around the radio listening in.

American Radioworks
PBS
Living History Farm

Chapter 24 Speech

The increasingly urban and consumer-oriented culture, and the development of the automobile created a well-developed youth culture that now valued education, and expanded the geographical horizons for millions of people. This changing world led to new social patterns, hobbies, interests and activities. The incoming world struck fear for many Americans trying to hold on to past values and culture. This fear led to extreme anti-movements against the impending future. These anti-movements included the National Origins Act of 1924 to ban immigration from east Asia, and the Klan’s focus shifting to purging American life from immigrants.

These positive cultural expansions caused by the automobile and the consumer-oriented atmosphere created new ways of life for all classes of people, especially youth. The automobile now allowed working and middle-class families to go on vacation, instead of just upper-class, because it made traveling more affordable. It also made it easier for people who lived out in the county to drive into town, or for the people in the city to escape the bustle and take a drive out in the countryside. The automobile led to the development of suburbs because of the new luxury to be able to drive into town every day, but not have to live in the constant congestion of the city. Another development that resulted from the automobile was the new youth culture. The automobile provided a way to escape their parents and develop social skills all of their own. These changes in social skills of youth also led to an increase in high-school and college attendances. Teenagers now had a desire to go to school, which helped them make an identity unique to their time. Adults during this time period became fearsome of the changing social patterns, interests, and hobbies of the new youth cultures, because these ideas were completely foreign to them when they were growing up.

Some of the fears and intimidations of our changing culture from the older generations led to radical movements against the incoming future. The Ku Klux Klan’s primary focus was on blacks, but now their targets had shifted to immigrants, Catholics, and Jews. The Klan’s shift in focus led to an increase of membership, not only in the south, but all across the north and the west. In 1924, the National Origins Act was passed banning immigration from east Asia. Since immigration from China was already illegal, this mainly targeted the Japanese. These radical movements were an attempt by the older generation to keep the United States the way it was in the past. Essentially, they were just intimidated by change, and felt that everyone should believe the same old principles that they did.

The automobile and the increasingly urban and consumer-oriented culture, developed a new youth culture that valued education, and expanded the geographical horizons of Americans. These new, positive cultural changes led to extreme movements against the future. All of these changes, both good and bad, are so important because they most dramatically shaped the culture we live in today.

Review of Hunter McEwen's Mini-Book

Hunter McEwen's newest masterpiece, Joining The Klan, tells the heart wrenching story of a man named Bill living in southern Georgia. Bill decides he wants to stop immigrants from "invading his home", so he becomes a member of the Klan. This short story shows the change in focus from the old Klan (being focused mainly on blacks) to the new motives of the Klan (being focused mostly now on immigrants, Jews, and Catholics). Bill hears a story about a Jewish man who raped and killed a young woman, and just wants to protect his country and his people. Truly heart wrenching.

Review of Ben Justice's Mini-Book

Ben Justice's book, Religious Fundamentalism, tells the short story about a man named John who is on his way to the scopes trial in the 1920's. This compelling story uses accurate representations of the slang used during that era. The preface provides background facts that set up the stage for the story. This book may be difficult for some young kids to comprehend, but is overall a compelling-must read.

My Mini-book

This is a mini-book that I made about an engaged woman in the 1920's who is about to entire the working world. The book includes 13 slang words from the 1920's. She becomes bored of sitting at home, so she goes and gets a job as a sales clerk at Macy's. She takes up the new style and becomes a "flapper".

WWI Poster Analysis

1. I would define propaganda as images or information used to influence people towards a certain view point.

2. The definition for propaganda according to dictionary.com is information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.

4. In the first image, my eye is initially drawn to the bright red cross in the top left corner. The red cross seems to be symbolizing that is a god, since it is surrounded by light from behind the clouds. My eye is drawn to this because of its bright color, and because of the light shining behind it. Then my eye goes towards "the mother" wearing the red cross uniform, sitting with her hand reaching out and a child in her lap. This draws my attention second because of the sad looks on their faces and her bright colored uniform. They are also placed in front of what appears to be men riding horses.

5. I believe this the artist hoped that this image would encourage women or mothers to join the red cross and help the wounded men from war. I believe this was also to tell women that they can be more than just a stay at home mom.

6. This poster is targeted towards mothers because it says on the poster "Our Greatest Mother" and the lady is shown holding a child.

4. In the second image, my eye is drawn to the yellow door with the word "opportunity" written on it. I am drawn to this because of its bright red writing, but also because a woman nurse is holding it open. My eye is then drawn to the rolled up piece of paper in her hand. I assume this piece of paper is a degree from college because of in the distance behind her, there appear to be school buildings. I'm drawn to this because she appears proud and ready to work as she is coming through the door of opportunity.

5. I believe the artist hoped that women would be inspired to go to school and get a degree because then they will have unlimited opportunities of things to do. I believe, just like in the first image, that this is telling women that they can have a different job than just being a stay at home mother.

6. This poster is targeted for young women because it shows a woman just getting out of college ready to go to work.

4. In the third image, my eye is drawn to the woman messing with the radio with the headset on. I'm drawn to this because the image is focused in on her, and because she stands out from the group of men in the background.

5. I believe the artists intentions were to encourage women to go be a part of the war and that they too could help. Even though they could not fight, they could still help the men who were out fighting. I think this was intended to make them feel like they also had power like the men.

6. This image was also intended for young women who wanted to be a part of the war or wanted to strive for power. You can tell because it shows a woman on the radio with the soldiers walking behind her. She is contributing to the war along with the men.

7. I am not extremely comfortable with the government using tax dollars to try and convince me of something because I would rather come up with ideas on my own and not be told how, or what to do.
I do not want the government to have control over what I think or want to do.

8. I believe the government felt it was necessary to invest in propaganda during WWI because they needed people to volunteer and if they were unaware of the opportunity, or didn't have the little push of inspiration, then people may have never volunteered.

Multiple Choice Answer Key

1. b
2. d
3. a

Multiple Choice Questions Chapter 21

1. The Progressives believed all of the following except:
a) that growth and progress could not occur recklessly as it had in the late nineteenth century
b) that the "natural laws" of the marketplace and Social Darwinism were sufficient to create order, stability, and justice for society
c) the idea of progress
d) that continued growth and advancement were the nation's destiny
e) direct human intervention in social and economic issues was essential to having an improved society

2. Which of the following was the main argument for Women's Suffrage?
a) the idea of women being the head of the family instead of the males
b) to promote promiscuity, looseness, and neglect of children
c) a women's role was to be a mother, sister, daughter, or wife, not a large role in society
d) that women deserved the same rights as men - particularly the right to vote
e) to promote women to divorce their husbands and become independent

3. All of the following were reasons for temperance except:
a) alcohol was dangerous to peoples health
b) drunkenness caused violence and occasionally murder
c) working-class families small wages were wasted as the workers spent many hours in the saloons
d) employers saw alcohol as an impediment to industrial efficiency
e) it was a necessary step in restoring order to society

A Living Essay about Progressivism

For this assignment, I worked with Andrew and Victoria on connecting our topics of Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe, the voyage of the Titanic, and the building of the Brooklyn Bridge all to progressivism.

During the Progressive Era, the new ways in which it was possible for people to move from place to place demonstrates that this was a period of great innovation. Jewish Immigration from eastern Europe, the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, and the voyage of the Titanic all exemplify people being open to new ways of changing their lives.

With all of these innovations, there were great intentions and promise but each innovation brought its own risks.When stringing the cables for the Brooklyn Bridge, one of them snapped and resulted in several deaths but over all the bridge was a great addition to New York City. Even though the sinking of the Titanic was a terrible tragedy, the overall impact of the boat helped to better the innovations of ships. When the Jewish immigrants came to America, they were living in hard times, but as time went on and more immigrants made their way over, it was overall well worth the struggle in the end.

Titanic and the Progressive Era

The Titanic was made to be the best of its kind. During the Progressive Era, this ship was built with several extravagant emanates to draw the peoples attention. The news paper articles from this time tell about all of the new and never before seen features on the ship. I discovered that the knowledge of the luxuries and the size of this ship spread all across the United States. The news paper articles that I found came from North Dakota, Florida, Texas, South Dakota, and Kansas. In all of these articles, the authors are baffled by the rooms on the Titanic having private promenades. It was the first ship ever to have a private promenade. The ship had huge suites, several baths, sitting rooms, "hot rooms", gymnasiums, tanks (swimming pools), cooling rooms, turkish electric baths, and squash courts with squash coaches along board, to make the passengers feel more at home. In my opinion, I believe the builders were trying to make the Titanic into one of the first "cruise ships" as we know them today. I learned through these articles that the goal of the Titanic was to expand travel, make people feel at home while they were at sea, and make the biggest and fanciest ship ever.

This topic relates to Progressivism as a movement because one of the main goal of progressives was to reform things and make them better, and that is just what they did with the Titanic. The Titanic was said to be modeled after the Olympic. The builders made sure that everything in the Titanic was bigger and more advanced than the Olympic. According to the Kansas City Star, the restaurant was even better than the one on the Olympic. Just like the progressives, the builders of the Titanic wanted to take something like the Olympic, and make it even better for the people. The Titanic was more fit for extended living with its large size suites and numerous baths. The technology, luxurious emanates, and massive size symbolizes some of the progressives goals to reform and make things better than before.

Titanic Stairwell

Titanic Suite

Titanic Sitting Room

Sources
1. Comforts of Home While at Sea, May 15, 1911 - Aberdeen Daily News
2. Interior Views of Titanic, Showing Comforts Provided Passengers, April 17, 1912 - Daily Morning News - Dallas, Texas
3. A Palace on a Ship, March 24, 1912 - Kansas City Star
4. Two Titanic Suites will be 4,350 each, March 20, 1912 - Miami Herald
5. Titanic Maiden Trip, April 11, 1912 - Grand Forks Daily Herald - North Dakota

3rd Quarter Reflection

This quarter, I feel like I have really improved my reading and multiple choice skills. The reading questions have been a challenge for me, but I believe they will help me in the long run. I really enjoyed analyzing the political cartoons and being able to learn this new skill. We are currently learning about the Progressive Era which I find extremely interesting. This era is what made America how it is today. I also enjoyed watching the High Line documentary. It was interesting to see how these people turned something run-down and old into a modern park that improved the entire neighborhood in New York. The documentary helped me to understand what factors were necessary to create this park, and what factors were also necessary in the Progressive Era.

Thinking about Progress

1. I would define progress as improving from one point to another to reach a goal.

2. The 1890's to the 1920's is referred to as the Progressive Era because "it was a period of social activism and political reform in the United States".

3. Some of the achievements and issues that were associated with the Progressive Era was the passing of the 19th amendment which gave women the right to vote to end women's suffrage, children's working hours were limited and their quality of education improved, they passed laws to protect the environment and address the problem of pollution, rise of crime during American urbanization, and alcohols effects on society and the call for prohibition.

4. All of these progressive reforms have in common the want for better living conditions for Americans.

5. Some of the four major goals of the progressives were protecting social welfare, promoting moral improvement, creating economic reform, and fostering efficiency. I have ranked them from 1 being essential goals that are worth striving for to 4 being a less important goal.
 1) Creating Economic Reform
 2) Protecting Social Welfare
 3) Promoting Moral Improvement
 4) Fostering Efficiency

The Future

1. One of the people making predictions about the future 100 years ago was John Elfreth Watkins . His successful predictions from 100 years were digital color photography, pre-prepared meals, mobile phones, the rising heights of americans, slowing population growth, hothouse vegetables, television, tanks, bigger fruit, and the Acela Express. His unsuccessful predictions were no more C, X, or Q in the alphabet, everyone will walk 10 miles a day, no more cars in large cities, no more mosquitos or flies. Other predictions from a 19th-century German Chocolate Company 100 years ago was that the police would have x-rays, flying machines, movable houses, airships, undersea ships, North Pole trip, a water walk, a ship railway, a roofed city, theater, moving sidewalks, and good weather machine. Predictions from 50 years ago from Robert Heinlein was that there would be interplanetary travel, contraception and control of disease, the U.S. will start a "preventive war", intelligent life will be found on Mars, mankind will not destroy itself nor will civilization be destroyed. Predictions by Isaac Asimov about 50 years ago is that robots will neither be common or good, appliances will have no electrical cords, vehicles will have robot brains, wall screens will replace the ordinary sets.

2. The 19th-century German Chocolate Company predictions seem to be a wish-list of what they hoped to have for the future because they were extravagant dreams, but the predictions from 50 years ago are more accurate to what our generation is trying to produce. An example of a car with a robot brain is the Autonomous Car that drives itself.

3. The predictions that have come true are mobile phones, television, digital color photos, bigger fruit, tanks, appliances without electrical cords, and vehicles with robot brains. Some of the bizarre predictions were the good weather machine, and the U.S. starting a "preventive war".

4. There is a trend of us being able to fly, and devices helping us to communicate with each other. They seem to be focused on innovated transportation. Yes, people seem to be anticipating a better world because they are planning to travel all over the world in different ways and even to different planets.

5. Our future world will be shaped around our ideas and goals of the changing what we have now. I predict that we will have holographic devices, flying cars, no need to drive or walk anywhere because of actual hovering boards and cars. Almost like something indoor brain that will just pop up, not needing any devices or anything just thinking about it and it will be searched or defined for you. i see a whole different world with people not depending on things they normally depend on like cars, TV’s, phones, and other devices people can’t stop using today.

6. The future is in our hands because we will be the ones having the ideas to change the world. The future would not change if we did not continue to come up with ideas and put them into action. The government and the people decide what the future of our country is. The future is completely up to us and how we want to make it.

The Future is Coming

How do you analyze a political cartoon?

2. On the guide to analyzing political cartoons that I found, I already knew to look for the irony in the images, the labeling of certain objects to give them more meaning, and the use of symbolism for an object to stand for a certain idea. I learned about exaggeration, where the physical characteristics of something or someone can be changed to make a point, or that each cartoon has an analogy to it to make their point stand out.

3. Going forward when I look at political cartoons, I will look for the exaggeration of the physical attributes in the images, and look and see if I can find the analogy to the message of the cartoon. The guide I will use is The Library of Congress Guide.

4.

This cartoon is meant to symbolize that the Americans were giving Hawaii, the Philippines, Cuba, and Puerto Rico lessons on how to become civilized and like America. In the background I observed a Native American boy reading his book upside down. This shows irony because the Americans also tried to teach the Indians to become a part of their society. The children who represent Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Cuba are drawn smaller because they are less powerful territories, whereas Uncle Sam is tall and towering over them because the US is such a super power. At the bottom of the cartoon Uncle Sam is saying "Now children, you've got to learn these lessons whether you want to or not! But just take a look at the class ahead of you, and remember that, in a little while, you will feel glad to be here as they are!"

This cartoon shows the Philippines or the Filipino people depicted as a wild dog barking "WAR". Uncle Sam is standing to the left of the Filipino dog cringing up at the dogs barking. The Philippines is shown as a wild dog to show how the Americans believed they needed to be civilized to the American way of life. 

This cartoon shows Uncle Sam chasing a wasp and trying to catch it under his hat. The sign in the corner says "The Philippine Islands". I believe the wasp is being used to portray the Philippines, and how the United States was trying to catch the Philippines and take them over.