American History Homework Ten Answers - Student Four

KaraH

1. There's a number of things I could have done to better prepare myself for this test. Had I all the time in the world, I would have read all the lectures leading up to the midterm instead of simply focusing on the terms. As it was, I really only focused on the bolded terms, I wish now I had studied the terms that weren't in bold much better then I did. One thing in any period of history I could really work on are the seemingly smallest details which often times make a huge deal later on.

Excellent points.

2. Number ten, which says, "'He who has gold makes and accomplishes whatever he wishes in the world and finally uses it to send souls to paradise.' This quote describes the twin goals of whose mission?" It was Christopher Columbus, something which I didn't know before and found somewhat fascinating. That time period had much new discovery and hope of adventure, just like any well written novel.

I really enjoyed that question also, and learned from it too. Well done.

3. When a single certain religion is presented to be taught to children as if it were the only correct reasoning, there are bound to be a number of protestors. As is happening in schools today, when textbooks and teachers rely on a simple theory instead of admitting a greater Being may be in play, so was it happening in the schools of the early twentieth century. This is what brought Clarence Darrow and William Bryan to debate in a highly publicised trial.

A textbook being used by a man called John Scopes taught young children in Tennessee that the Piltdown Man was a large link between human life now, and ape life in the far past. This was proven to be nothing more then a hoax some years later, but still a larger, more disturbing, matter remained. White supremacy. It was taught that people of lighter skin was further evolved then those with darker skin tones. A large racial dispute that should not be taught in schools.

Superb points.

4. No path should lead to war, not even with the best of intentions. However, I can see why America would have wanted to join this war. A German submarine sank a British passenger ship, which contained many American passengers. No matter what happens in war, innocent people who have to way of defending themselves should ever be involved, so perhaps in this case it was best to try to intervene. It was a good excuse, but because of joining it, many more lives then the lives that were lost on that ship were forever gone. It wasn't a direct attack against us in which we needed to defend, but instead an attack on English neighbors. So all in all, even though there are a few good reasons for joining, I don't think we should have at all.

Terrific analysis of war, with details about World War I to support your thesis.

5. He was a man of interesting opinion, that's for sure. When he dealt with foreign policy, he "spoke softly and carried a big stick." In 1903, Roosevelt completed his greatest moment, the Hay-Bunau-Varilla Treaty. This was a treaty with Panama which enabled the United States to use a five mile wide length of land to build the Panama Canal. It was nearly outrageously expensive, but it saved money, fuel, and possibly lives in the long run. Ships no longer had to boat the entire way around South America if they wanted to go from the Pacific to the Atlantic, or from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This was a good economic move for Roosevelt, in my opinion.

There are things that I found to be odd about him, though. I really dislike his idea to promote the simplified English. For those who had not yet started reading and writing, or even learning the language, it wouldn't present too much of a problem. But for those that already did and knew these things, it would make everything much more difficult. Even though it's "simple," those who learned the other way would have to spend a good deal of time to relearn everything. Spellings of words shouldn't change. If people are having difficulty learning English because of the difficulty from reading and spelling, I'm sorry, but there is now a set way of spelling things. Everyone here is accustomed to spelling things this way. If there's a problem with that, go learn a different language.

Roosevelt was just an ordinary man, who had good ideas and bad, and it's easy enough to see which is which unlike some people where you have to dig to find anything good or bad.

Fantastic answer. Will use parts in the model answer.

6. The seventeenth Amendment states that instead of different legislators, the common man was allowed to vote which Senator they would like to govern their state. This prevents the government from becoming corrupt, for if the current government is corrupt and the people see it, they can do something about it. If they didn't have the right to vote, all they could do would be standing back and watching as their freedom in what they wanted crumbled around them.

Excellent. Democracy does provide a check against corruption.

7. It would appear that it's depicting Teddy Roosevelt to be coming in between Russia and Japan. This would represent the Russo-Japanese War, when Roosevelt asked for representatives of both countries to come to America to discuss peaceable options.

Right.

H2) Free speech is free speech. It's what makes America "the land of the free," and when something gets in the way of that, there's a situation. The Postal Service was given the right to ban or confiscate anything that could be treasonable, so that would mean people didn't have the freedom to say what they pleased. It was illegal to go against things the government said was good, which is another infraction in free speech, and you could do serious jail time if you aided "the enemy." That last one seems to be a good idea, but if you don't have freedom to believe in what you want, and help those who you want to help, then there's no real freedom. There's no real point for there to be people supporting the "opposite site" here in America, but it's perfectly possible. For example, I really don't like the Yankees. That didn't keep me from going to a Yankee game, I simply supported the other side. Because that's freedom, I'm allowed to do that. When a certain rule or law gets in the way of that, like during World War 1, all real freedom for the common man was taken away if they couldn't discuss their thoughts through something so simple as the mail.

Superb analysis with a good personal example.

H3) I don't think Prohibition of alcohol was at all good. When something is made to be illegal, human nature somehow wants to do whatever is illegal even more then when it was legal. I've been told that the countries that don't really have many laws against alcohol have fewer problems with the stuff compared with the countries that have many laws against it. I admit, it seems alcohol is rarely treated with respect, but it can be used for good. When small amounts are used for celebrations, it can make a simple occasion all that much more special.

It was never banned in the Bible, Jesus Himself drank wine, however, it does say that one should not become drunk. If one should ever want a country to live with a Biblical respect to alcohol, they should not suddenly ban the substance completely which would cause people to be even more tempted to abuse it, but instead limit the amount a single person is permitted to buy and consume.

Interesting approach. Note that the movement for Prohibition was led by Christian women who were fed up with all the harms of alcohol on families, harm that continues to this day.

H4) The questions of the midterm were very challenging. A number of them I was able to puzzle out, but there were still quite a few that I honestly had no clue. From my understanding and memory of it, all, or nearly all of the time periods we have studied were covered. And, basing this on the handout that had the percentages of each subject matter, each subject was well covered.

Good!

Terrific answers. Perfect, in fact! Score: 100/100. Congratulations!--Aschlafly 15:20, 22 November 2008 (EST)