American History Homework Eleven Answers - Student Nineteen

JennaN

1. This course is mostly over. Can you now identify a value in learning history?

I have truly benefited from studying American history. Through looking at the past I find hope in the future. As our economy spins out of control I find a peace in knowing that we have been through this before. Somehow, even if it takes a very long time, the United States of America will pull through. Fifty years from now the troubles of 2008 will also be history.

Fantastic, will probably use as a model. The putting of things in perspective, which history does, is valuable.

2. Was the United States right to enter World War II, and should we have entered sooner or later?

The United States should have entered WWII sooner. It was inevitable that America was going to be sucked into the war. If we had entered before Pearl Harbor, we could have had the advantage of surprising the Japanese. Once the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they knew we would soon be fighting against them. Having just the little advantage of surprise over the Japanese could have changed history for the better. Perhaps, later in the war, the Japanese would have surrendered before we dropped the atomic bomb primarily on innocent civilians. Many lives would have been spared and the world would have sooner regained peace.

Excellent points.

3. Which of the approaches in American history towards immigration do you like best, and why?

Establishing Ellis Island as a health check point was one of the best ways to allow immigration to continue, but keep European sicknesses from infiltrating the American society. Two of my great-grandfathers, and one of my great-grandmothers immigrated to America through Ellis Island.

Terrific, with a personal reference! May use this as a model.

4. Pick out something from the "Roaring Twenties" and describe what you like about it.

I really like how America began to invent her own form of entertainment. Two things that started this were jazz music and silent movies. In the 1800s Yankee ingenuity was the cause of many useful inventions. In the roaring twenties, this American ingenuity was used to invent things for entertainment. This decade opened the door for the entertainment world to expand and the American culture to grow.

Excellent again, also "model answer material."

5. What is your view of the New Deal, and what might you have done differently in response to the Great Depression?

The New Deal was very liberal. FDR did too many things too quickly to do them well. In his first 100 days in office he acted on so many different issues that the meaning behind each one was lost. FDR should have thought back to the wise words of Benjamin Franklin; hast makes waste. It is a good thing that I was not president in the 1930s because there is not a simple answer to the Great Depression. But, FDR should have supported businesses instead of putting so much money into paying for new branches of government.

Superb. ("haste", not "hast").

6. Do you think we should have dropped the atomic bombs on Japan? Explain.

Yes. The Japanese army was cruel. They needed to be stopped, and the only thing that would stop them was the killing of their own friends and families.

Good, though I might have expressed that more politely.

7. Please interpret and explain the cartoon, including an estimate of its date. (It was published by a paper in New Jersey years ago.)

This cartoon is a Republican’s view of the election of 1935, so it was published around then. Because the president, FDR, was a democrat, it was assumed that the republicans would gain seats in congress during the midterm election. Unfortunately this was not the case. The democrats won 9 seat in the house and 9 seats in the senate. This cartoon suggests that the democrats are taking a dictatorial approach to government. In the back-round, Teddy Roosevelt looks on in frustration. The author is proposing that FDR is taking Teddy Roosevelt’s ideas and using them the wrong way. The author may have been doing this in response to the way that FDR had impended the “Good Neighbor Policy” in 1933. By establishing this concept, he contrasted how Teddy Roosevelt felt about foreign policies. The author obviously liked Teddy Roosevelt and did not like FDR.

Excellent, but there was no national election in 1935. I think you mean 1934.

Terrific answers, one of the very best in the class! Now I have to decide which ones to use as model answers. 70/70. Perfect!--Aschlafly 20:28, 6 December 2008 (EST)