American History Homework Nine Answers - Student Nine

Rachel N.

1\. In your opinion, the 2008 election that concluded on Tuesday is most similar to which election in history, and why?

The 2008 election is in many ways reminiscent of the election of 1932 which was held between the Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover. The year 1932 was economically disastrous and the American people naturally wanted change in the economy. Just as Americans did not think that John McCain, being from the same party as President George W. Bush, could reverse the economic turmoil, so the Americans in 1932 believed that their current president, Hoover, could not reverse the Great Depression. Franklin Delano Roosevelt won the 1925 election in a landslide by promising to implement his elusive “New Deal” just as President Elect Barack Obama won the election of 2008 in a landslide by promising to implement his elusive plans for “change”.

Excellent, except I think you mean "1932" rather than "1925" in your second reference.

2\. Imperialism: a good or bad thing?

Imperialism is essentially greed and pride played out on the grand scale. It is greed for an obvious reason: the expansion of a nation’s territories and influence often results in financial benefit for its citizens. Imperialism is prideful in that it requires the imperialistic nation to believe that it is better than the nation that it desires to take over. Obviously greed and pride are wrong, so it follows that imperialism is wrong. Beyond this, if war is required, the lives of the soldiers of the imperialistic nation are put at risk. There are certainly times and places where it would be appropriate for soldiers to give their lives for their country, but this unnecessary expansion is not one of them.

Good analysis, strongly stated. But isn't missionary work "imperialistic"?

3\. Your thoughts on the progressive movement, please.

The progressive movement did not call for more government (as liberals do) or for less government (as conservatives do); it called for “better” government. It sought to draw from both parties in a compromise that would ultimately benefit all. This is a good idea in theory, and it actually succeeded in bringing about many important changes and reforms. For what it was, the progressive movement was a huge success and is perhaps the best example in the history of American politics of successful compromise. The ironic thing about this movement (and probably the reason that it didn’t last long) is that both liberals and conservatives believe that their government ideology is “better”, so progressivism effectively leaves both sides feeling not fully satisfied.

Superb.

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.

The man in this cartoon is President McKinley, and the child is a Filipino boy, presumably representing the Filipino people as a whole. This cartoon was draw after the fighting in the Philippians between the Unites States and Spain (during the Spanish-American War of the early 20th century) had ceased and President McKinley had to decide whether to keep the Philippians as a US territory or to return them to Spain. Like most all of the media at this time, this cartoonist supported keeping the Philippians as a US territory. This is demonstrated in that Spain is portrayed as in the same “direction” as a cliff. This was meant to communicate that McKinley giving the Philippians to Spain would be like him throwing them off a cliff. This reflected the popular view that the Spanish would mistreat the Filipinos. The world was watching to see what McKinley would decide in this matter as Spain and America were both world powers, so hence the man with a globe as a head looking on in the background.

Excellent, will use as a model!

Perfect! Score: 40/40. Congratulations!--Aschlafly 20:11, 15 November 2008 (EST)