Homework Nine Answers - Student Eighteen

1. What is your view of anti-trust laws - necessary, or something that makes a problem worse?

I think anti-trust laws are necessary. The main purpose of anti-trust laws are to reinforce and protect the core republic values regarding free enterprise in America. Essentially it is the government looking out for its people. Free enterprise allows commerce to grow. Anti-trust laws, therefore, give both private individuals as well as corporations the ability to maintain a proper line between the government and its people when conducting business transactions. As Senator John Sherman put it, "If we will not endure a king as a political power we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life."

Superb answer, could become a model answer.

2.Imperialism by a charitable Christian people: a good or bad thing?

I think imperialism is a bad thing. The United States did not have the authority to invade other countries. This could be seen as hypocritical. If the Monroe Doctrine stated that European countries could not interfere with the U.S. any longer, then why were we interfering with the smaller countries in the Pacific? If we did not want to have to deal with problems from other countries, than why were we ourselves meddling with the politics and disputes of other nations? It is one thing for us to come to the aid of another nation in fighting a just war if they request our help, however, to invade a country for the sake of taking it for our own, I find that wrong.

Excellent.

3.Your thoughts on the Progressive Movement, please.

I think the Progressive Movement is a good thing. It is important for us to strive for the betterment of society . What good have we done if we choose to ignore our problems and do not make any attempt at changing things. The abortion issue is a good example of this. It is a fine thing to reduce the number of abortions being performed by keeping the taxpayers money from going to the abortion mills, however, the problem of abortion still remains. It is still legal, and while reducing abortions even just by one is a good thing of course the problem still hasn't gone away. We should constantly be striving to make our goal the complete elimination of abortion and that attitude of not giving up till we've gotten 100% compliance should be put into everything we are striving for when it comes to bettering our society. If Americans and especially government officials had this attitude then government and society as a whole would work more effectively and efficiently.

Your answer is a strong endorsement of the progressive approach to government!

4.Please explain the cartoon in the Minnesota Tribune, having the caption at top, "WHAT WILL HE DO!" and the caption at the bottom, "The eyes of the world are upon him." Include your description of the point of view of the cartoonist.

This political cartoon is of President William McKinley, and has to do with the choice he had to make at the end of the Spanish-American War. “The eyes of the world are upon him,” means that everyone was watching and waiting to see whether Pres. McKinley would keep the Philippines or give the nation back to Spain. The American newspapers did not want the Philippines to return to Spain because thy were afraid that Spain would mistreat the Filipino people. Therefore, after the Spanish-American War, Pres. McKinley decided to keep the Philippines as an American territory.

Excellent answer.

7.Who was the "Conservative Democrat"? Discuss.

Grover Cleveland was the conservative Democrat. He was elected president in 1884 for his integrity, his support of the gold standard, his opposition to unions, his opposition to government spending and his support of free enterprise. While in office, Cleveland did everything he said he would. During his second term , Cleveland was faced with the Financial panic of 1893. Hundreds of banks and businesses failed, but Cleveland did the conservative thing, nothing. He told the failed banks and businesses to help themselves. Proving his dislike of unions, Cleveland broke the Pullman Strike in Chicago in 1894. Both of the above examples truly demonstrate how conservative President Grover Cleveland was.

Superb answer again.

8.Select two of the social movements of the late 1800s and discuss.

The Woman's Rights movement which was started by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, founded the National Woman Suffrage Association. This group wanted women to be given the same rights as men, legally, politically and socially. It was a foreshadowing of the Woman's Suffrage movement in the early 20th century. The Woman's Christian Temperance Union was established in 1874 by women in order to battle the problems of alcohol in their families and communities. The WCTU desired nationwide prohibition and eventually obtained it early in the 20th century.

Correct.

Honors (pick 3 out of 5)

H1.Do you agree with how the United States finally ended the fighting in the Philippines during the Spanish-American War?

Yes, I do agree with how the U.S. ended the fighting in the Philippines. Our troops tried other means of overcoming the Muslims, but they did not want to hear about peace. Thus there was nothing else that our troops could have done but kill them.

Evidently that was the view taken by the military commanders at the time! Some back in the United States disagreed.

H2.Write about any issue you like relating to 1880-1920.

In 1903 the world was made a forever smaller place. The invention of the airplane by Wilbur and Orville Wright made it possible to travel from place to place in a much more timely manner. The Wright brothers built their own machines to test out their ideas. Even when they were faced with many obstacles they never gave up. After much hard work, on Dec. 17th 1903, Orville took off in their first airplane, a flight that only went about 120 ft and lasted 12 seconds. This flight however changed the world forever. The invention of the airplane is thanks to two simple brothers who were mere bicycle repair men. These seemingly simple nobodies impacted the world in a lasting way that no one would have ever imagined possible.

One of the best answers in the class, with a great opening sentence.

H5.What is your view of John D. Rockefeller?

I think John D. Rockefeller was a smart and hardworking man. He accurately predicted the growing need for oil, formed oil companies and began aggressive business tactics to monopolize the oil industry. By 1911, his Standard Oil Company of New Jersey controlled an outstanding 95% of the oil industry. Another thing that makes me like Rockefeller was that when he retired from his oil business, he spent the rest of his life as a philanthropist. He did not keep all of his money for himself.

Right. Superb answer.

Alexa w

90/90. Very well done indeed.--Andy Schlafly 21:54, 27 April 2011 (EDT)