Thursday, February 20, 2014

Irish

           The Irish started to migrate to the United States by the 1820's and one main reason was because of the Potato Blight in 1845. The Potato Blight dealt with the potato harvest that stated to engender fungus, it spread like wild fire through the crops. In about 5 years there was about a million Irish individuals dead from the fungus potato. This is what spiked the jolt in the Irish to leave Ireland and acquire a fresh new start in America. Although, there was still a growth of immigration before the tragedy in the early 19th century due to living conditions, religious conflicts, economic conditions, and lack of political involvement  the Irish wanted to obtain a new life style where they could actually look forward to a future.
      The Irish settled in the middle colonies, particularly in Pennsylvania due to the fact that it was a major port of debarkation. Basically a debarkation is a place where an ample amount of trade or business occurs. However, in a few decades the Scotch-Irish were moving southward to the Great Philadelphia Road which was considered the major road in actually starting a new like in the southern colonies. By the 1760' The Irish had reached South Carolina once they kept moving down Virginia's Shenandoah Valley and then onto North Carolina Piedmont region. These individuals most likely became Indian fighters and frontiersmen. 

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        The United States government policies and programs affected the Irish immigration patterns such as their lifestyle, it had changed dramatically. In Ireland the lifestyle consisted of a life that was mainly farming and rural work, industrialization had not hit them like the United States. It was difficult for the Irish to adapt to the new line of work because they had never worked in a factory before. Also they were very poor in Ireland and were a bit more enriched financially in America but the prices of objects were high which didn't help them. The Irish were pushed from there customs and tried to be more "American" because they need transition to there new lifestyle.
The Americans were not very found of any newcomers that would come to the United States; thus, the Irish were no exception in this sad truth about the American nation. They felt threatened by the “unique” individuals because these men were skilled  workers while most Americans were just regular workers and wanted more pay. The Irish were not accepted by the Americans they would be generalized with the African Americans due to the fact of the low social and economic status. Both of the ethnicitys felt that were they worked they were being treated unfairly that the white people were taking advantage of them. Also they did not enjoy each other company they shared ones hate for one another. They could have united and tried to change things to try make the workplace or treatment better. 
          The United States government policies and programs affected the Irish assimilation when they had came to make a new life in this new nation; however, their new lifestyle dramatically changed. In Ireland the lifestyle consisted of a life that was mainly farming and rural work, industrialization had not hit them like the United States. It was difficult for the Irish to adapt to the new line of work because they had never worked in a factory before. Also the living/ housing situations were the Irish had to live they were crowded and were section houses. It meant that the Irish were cramped into one bed room with about 2 families in each tiny room and there was about 10 families per building. These places and many others that were from Ireland were not clean or acquired the full health code, Americans felt that the Irish did not deserve the cleanliness of the streets or homes they deserved scum.
         The economic conditions impacted the immigrants experience because they were low in the social latter, they came to this county in hopes of a better life. In reality it was promised that the Irish were going to have a job and a home in America but it did not specify what exactly the Irish were going to obtain. The Irish
would get the most dangerous jobs that usually Americans wanted to avoid like servants, domestic workers, coal miners, build canal and construct railroads. In West Virginia the coal companies felt that they owned the Irish workers that were acquiring there product. However, in further generations the Irish started to climb the social latter due to education. They would become policemen, firemen, and teachers, the Irish started to become weather. 
       The cultural heritage affected the Irish placement of settlement due to the fact that they had different customs but they gained some acceptance form the Americans when they started to for get there traditions. However, the Irish did not mind because they were free and could practice there religion not like in Ireland. For many years the Irish in Ireland were controlled by Britain, they would have to follow there instruction and decisions. In the United States there was an ample amount of Irish living there and it made them obtain a powerful political force. The Irish influenced the Democratic Party and the Catholic Church. The Irish gave more to America than just money with the workplace it gave them political individuals that would run the county. For instance, the late President John F. Kennedy who only wanted to make America a better place for all individuals not only the people that were on top of the social latter. 

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

David Graham Phillips

            David Graham Philips ,a brilliant author, was born on October 8, 1867. He was the son of a politician David Graham Phillips Senor and his mother Margret Lee. His family was not rich, he was categorized as middle class;however, even if he did not an ample amount of money he still acquired a higher level of education. He attended two colleges Indiana Abury College which in modern times is called DePauw University and then he transferred to the College of New Jersey which is recognized now as Princeton. He was finished with ll his education by the year 1887. After he graduated he immediately stated to work at a newspaper as a reporter which was in Cincinnati with the Cincinnati Times Star. Then he moved to New York to widen his experience as a writer/ reporter in the year of 1890. 
          Once he moved to New York he had a reputation for writing, he had a gift and by 1902 he was rising to the editorial rank of the New York World. However, that was his last year writing on that newspaper because he started to write novels but his first one was The Great God Success published 1902. In his later years Philips was considered a muckraker which is either a journalist, novelist, and/or critic who were trying to expose the abuse of business and the corruption in politics through their writing. He was well known for his scandalous articles about the corrupt government in the U.S. Senate which was published in the Cosmopolitan magazine in 1906. Philips was also a writer for the Saturday Evening post and other journals that were popular during his time.
         Philips articles and novels always engendered controversy throughout the city because he was one of the first to state the corruption of the government. His novels were potent but at the same time they were unrefined or very blunt, there was no such type fluff that made the government look "good". The main ideas of his novels considered of corrupt influences in society and general social problems. He had published many books before his death. He did not die of old age, he died because he was brutishly murdered by a musician. The musicians motives were that he thought that Philips had wrote and stated allegations about his family.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Battle of Little Bighorn

         During the late 1800's the rail road was starting to be constructed throughout the nation of America, at the same time industrialization was occurring. The white individuals and other ethnicities that were part of the movement were excited for the new technology; however, there was some individuals that did not agree with the evolution. They did no agree for only one reason which was the territory that was surrounding the new construction and those individuals were the Native Americans. The white people had restricted the Native Americans to one place and they obeyed but now the whites found use for the land to make some profit, found gold, so they are breaking the treaties the Native Americans made with them to seize the land. The Native Americans were furious and thought it was unfair so they started to fight against the white individuals. And in one of the battle the Native Americans triumph which was the Battle of Little Bighorn.
          The battle took place on June 25, 1876 and did not end till a day later on the 26th of June. It was located near the Little Bighorn River in Montana and fought by the US army and two Native American tribes that joined together to due the attacks of the Americans. The troops were the 7th Calvary who was lead by Lieutenant Cornell George Custer and his order were to get rid of the Native Americans. The Natives that were fighting in the battle was the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne Native Americans, they were lead by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. When Custer started to attack with his troops he soon realized that he was out numbered, there was about 10,000 Native Americans fighting against them. There was no chance that Custer could have won that battle.
          The Native Americans did win that battle but it was sure going to be their last victory with very little casualties. The Americans were outraged with the win that they were saying the Natives wanted to kill Americans for no apparent reason. However, in reality the American had broken the treaty to gain access to gold which is just plain greed. It is still unknown the true reason for the uprising of the Natives, some blame the gold that was found and other think it was a simple act of revenge. 

Thursday, January 16, 2014

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

The Americans passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 due to the fact that the Americans felt threatened by the Chinese. In the eyes of the American nation the Chinese were talking away their “precious” jobs, over populating the United States, and getting paid a lot of money for a job that is supposed to come cheap.  One strong opinionated American Henry Grimm who was a famous writer in the 19th century engendered a play that had the common stereotypes of Chinese men, it was called “The Chinese Must Go”. The first page of the play highlights the fact that the Chinese are putting the poor American men out of a job. The men that have a family to take care of,the ones who have actual responsibilities and obligations to consider. To the Americans in 1879 when the play was constructed they thought that the Chinese were in no need of the jobs of America because they had no family or actual care. Grimm accentuates the idea a little further when he states, “White man fools; keep wifee and children-cost plenty money; Chinaman no wife, no children, save plenty money. By and by, no more white working man in California; all chinaman- sabee?”. Grimm underlines the perception of the Americans about the way they viewed Chinese men during that time. The Chinese were supposedly not wanting to acquire a family but that was a complete lie because they were prohibited by the laws that America had implemented on them.
There was a Chinese man named Lee Chew who established a bibliography called “The Biography of a Chinaman” written in 1903 February 19 discussing the inequalities that a Chinese man would go through. Chew mention in his bibliography, “Chinese were persecuted not for their vices [sins], but for their virtues [good qualities]”. The Americans were jealous of the Chinese men because there work was always done best there was never any complaints from their bosses. The Chinese man worked harder than the American men did because they wanted to make money and their labor was not cheap. The Chinese were not a danger or a horrific add to the community but an ethnicity that were converting to Christianity which meant they respect the American culture and wanted to join along.

According to the workingmen of San Francisco on August 16, 1888 there was an immigration problem with the Chinese. Due to this the Americans wanted all Chinese men out because they were taking their money, jobs, and also living space. The Americans wanted to take back what was there in the first place the jobs. Even if in reality none of the Americans even the poor white man did not want. They just decided that their hardships were the cause of the Chinese that were occupying the job space. Is is then when the Americans were trying to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act. According to the speech that the working men gave in 1888 the year before the Act passed they said, “...Chinese immigration to our State had been checked and was in a fair way to be entirely stopped…”. As i stated before the Americans wanted the Chinese out because they did not want to compete with them to attain a job. The Americas wanted to get rid of the Chinese and saw this act as a way to do accomplish what exactly they wanted.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Battle of Atlanta




            On July 22,1864 the battle of Atlanta was fought in the southeast part of Atlanta there was about 34,000 Union solders and 40,000 Confederate solders fighting against each other. This was was during the Civil War and happened because of the Atlanta Campaign which was seize the important supplies and rails which was in the center of Atlanta. Even if the Confederacy had more bodies fighting on their side the Union soldiers won the battle of Atlanta. The Union solders lost about 3,600 men which was commanded by William T. Sherman and the Confederacy lost about 8,500 men which was commanded by John B. Hood. The Union wanted to destroy the Army of Tennessee and also the land of Atlanta because it would stop the supplies to the Confederates. However, when the Union solders won the battle Sherman went into the city. He started to burn the buildings all types even government buildings because he could not accomplish what he said out to do. Sherman was only able to make the Confederates surrender; thus, concluding that the Union won the battle.
           The battle of Atlanta had major affects on the political aspects of the nation of America because it helped Abraham Lincoln win his second election against George McClellan. It was not recognized by its military significance but by its impression that it left on the government. The Northerners were happy this the outcome of this battle due to the fact that the Union had won the battle against the Confederacy. The Union was affected because it made them stronger and more united they felt that they were gaining the lead on the war. This was is important to the Civil War because it ensured the presidency to Lincoln and he could continue on his plan to save the nation from separating. 




Sunday, December 8, 2013

Journey through Slavery prt 3 - Brotherly Love




My opinion about slavery in America during the 19th century was that the African American people suffered a lot to get to the point of the start of the abolishment movement in 1831 which sparked only after the execution of Nat Turner who was a former black slave and who led a slave rebellion which resulted in murdering 55 white individuals. To the political men in congress and the government they believed that the constitution was only meant for the white men when it says “All men are created equal”. To most Americans they assumed and believed that African Americans were not humans but animals a lower substance that they were. Blacks were inferior to the eyes of most American and could never view them as a human being let alone as equal or a part of their society. Even Thomas Jefferson thought that blacks and whites could never live together as equals. However, Richard Allen would go against this thought of blacks being inferior.

Richard Allen was a man that was against slavery and was trying to buy his freedom from is master to give blacks a sense of hope. Once he attained his freedom he created the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1794 which was the first independent black denomination in America. With the help of Philadelphia’s Leading Physician Benjamin Rush was a friend of the black community looking for funds and money for Allen. In Allen’s church there was organization of antislavery that occurred and the ACS spoke there and wanted to help the blacks see themselves as free one day. In September 15, 1830 there was a gathering of almost 3,000 black men to attend a conference about slavery and oppression by Allen himself even if he was an old man.

When the cotton gin was invented it made slavery more important because the plantation owners needed individuals to work the machines. However, it made slavery expand westward and the whites were in dire need of more slaves due to the Enlightenment era.  I think it was a great that our nation was growing in the technology aspect but it was making slavery more necessary than before in which I do not agree with what the cotton gin offered the nation. However, on January 1, 1808 the transportation and trade of slavery form Africa or any part of the world was over, America could not attain any new slaves that had not been on their soil before 1808. Instead of making slavery less powerful it strengthen it and the plantation owner were moving to the upper South because in the lower South starting to view slavery as a horrific act.