Key Knowledge of American History

The following sample essay on “Key Knowledge of American History”: discussion on different era in American History and about people who impact on it.

Who was Andrew Carnegie? He was a rather impressive young man that immigrated at the age of thirteen from Scotland with his family to the United States. He started working at a textile factory in Pennsylvania and established during the depression in 1873 a steel company which showed later to be very successful and was the most advanced technologically advanced factory in the world.

In the late 1890’s he dominated the steel industry and his wealth was estimated in hundreds of millions of dollars. But there was something other than the success he achieved that was of significance and as a matter of fact a very rare aspect we find in so many people. He gave the worship of money culture a different meaning by donating most of his wealth to philanthropies while focusing on helping opening libraries throughout the countries.

The Indians and the Citizenship. By the year of 1924 all Indians became American citizens. But this was not an easy act it was very challenging and consisted of many years of rulings and sacrifices by the Indian people. Initially Indians were granted the citizenship if they would first surrender their tribal settings and accept the American society. But the Indian people were very proud of their roots and denied such request. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendment which consists of citizenship rights were not granted to Indians. All changed starting 1900 when approximately 53000 Indians obtained citizenship by utilizing the Dawes Act and accepting land allotment.

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Hundreds of thousands of Indians gained American citizenship the following years up until 1924 when all Indians became Americans.

What was black life in the South? The black farmers suffered most from the conditions in the area. Some factories in the upper south employed black laborers and some black farmers were even able to acquire more land. However most of them were not able to afford repairs needed for irrigation systems or machineries that were destroyed by the war. Black diverse communities increased after the civil war in form of churches, schools, clubs and businesses. A black middle class grew stronger as teachers and physicians were supported more now than before. Despite of all the positive changes regarding the black community black men were still not given the opportunity to serve as supervisors or clerks. Black women mostly were forced to work as domestic servants and work for wages. Equalities between black and white was still not a part of that time.

New created boundaries and what it meant. At the end of the nineteenth century new boundaries were drawn in order to classify race from class. The boundary of freedom was reclassified and identified towards those that were unworthy of the blessings of liberty. I quote the economist Simon Patten “The South has its negro and the city has its slums”. The working class disliked the immigration of the Chinese and the Institution feared the ignorant immigrant. The big shift came in 1890 when sources of immigrations were witnessed. Native born Americans described distinct races as the new immigrants. It was believed that the newly immigrated had no appreciation for the true freedom of the country and could possibly even pose danger to the democracy. The only answer was to reduce the immigration again and it was vetoed by President Cleveland.

The women’s era. This is the time things changed for women forever. Still though women were not able to vote, they were given more power and more rights in regards to social and political status. One of the changes were married women were given the rights to sign contracts and establish their own will. Women obtained a college education and started to become more power by working in clerical jobs. One organization to name was the largest women’s club ever founded with over 150,000 members. The president Frances Willard supported to fact that women wanted to no longer be seen as weak and dependent. A very powerful sentence spoken in one of her speeches was “Women become a wider freedom in America”. Women now were allowed to vote.

The Immigrant Quest for Freedom. What does this mean? In short, in the nineteenth-century new immigrants came to the United States looking for the land of the free. No inequalities, no religious forceful acts, instead it was allowed now to worship free and most of all they were free from the socialism in their own countries. But what did it really mean? It meant being financially free instead in poverty. Many immigrants goal was to earn sufficient money to return home to their country and help their families. It was then that America began its international culture, newspapers were translated and printed in over one thousand languages. But how free were they really in America? Not as free as some thought they would be because Mexicans still worked for poorly paid agricultural and railroad settings while many eastern Europeans worked for low paid wages.

Freedom became effective. As the international movement continued through Progressivism cities throughout the world experienced tremendous growth in the early twentieth century. New social politics were needed. The United States had much to learn from Germany where the old age originated from in terms of social legislation. What were those? Work Security, minimum wage rules and laws, workplace safety and unemployment insurance. But the modern era was thought to reinvent some of the items named in this article. It was to put more focus on large corporations, consumer protection and industrial freedom. A philosopher named John Dewey called the effective freedom the power to do specific things. Freedom was now more political than ever before. It seemed as freedom had a different meaning of different parties.

Theodore Roosevelt. Definitely a powerful name. He became the youngest president ever at the age of forty-two. He was the vice president to William McKinley that was assassinated while visiting the Pan-American Exposition. Roosevelt had an aggressive political agenda. One of his items was the problems caused by good and bad corporations, mainly due to greedy leaders only interested in profit. He ordered a prosecution of Northern Security Companies financed by J.P. Morgan. It seemed as Wall Street was led by the company regarding the stocks, this now was under scrutiny. It was one of Roosevelt’s major victories when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered to dissolve the company in 1904. But he did not stop there. After his re-election in 1904 he continued to push the economy. He established the Food and Drug Act which ensured the quality for foods and drugs.

The Race problem. The race problem increased after World War I due to the diversified population in America. It was once again a public discussion. The race problem no longer was about blacks and whites. By 1911 the U.S. Immigration Commission announced not less than forty-five races. Those included Anglo-Saxons, Northern and Southern Italians, Hebrews and many more. Some of the races were described as undisciplined and violent. A book written in 1916 by Madison Grant said the American population was in danger because there was a decrease in birth rates of white Americans and with the increase in Immigrants he expressed his concern over the future of the American population. It was believed that democracy could not be nurtured in a nation that was divided by races.

Americans and the Depression. It was definitely the greatest economic downfall in history. The American way of life took a turn from “safe as a bank” to the worst conditions ever. American people were seeking life in rural areas because there was poverty throughout the cities. Thousands of children would stand in line daily to receive bread. Over 33 million people tried to grow food in the agriculture. The Soviet Union that was seeking skilled workers received over one hundred thousand applicantions from the United States. Businesses crashed, corruptions everywhere. The president of the New York Stock Exchange ended up in jail because he was convicted of stealing from customers. Banks commited to selling bonds that had no worth and workers on wall street unloaded their own portfolios while adivising the public to hold on to their portfolios.