American History Homework Seven Answers - Student 33

Nick DeJ American History – Homework Seven

1\. The “Gilded Age” is a name given by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) for the end of the 1880’s. That time period seemed like a golden age because of all the prosperity, but underneath all of this was really greed and corruption.

Correct!

2\. The trait I like most about Thomas Edison is his creative mind. I do believe that being homeschooled made him become very successful. I believe that being homeschooled made his creativity shine. If he would have stayed in public school he would have been left back many times. (In today’s age, he probably would have been put on medication.) He would have been made to believe that he could never amount to anything. Being homeschooled, and having his mother as his teacher unlocked his imagination, making him create all those wonderful inventions and obtain enormous wealth.

Superb analysis, and I may your insight about medication in the model answers.

3\. I agree with Frederick Jackson Turner, who wrote in 1893, that the frontier experience had promoted democracy. The people who settled the frontier faced many hardships and had to rely on themselves for survival. These people were not about to accept a government that would not allow them to have a say.

Terrific.

4\. What made America the world leader in inventions was “Yankee Ingenuity” or American inventiveness. In addition, Congress passed the first patent law in 1790, which became a motivator for inventors.

Very good.

5\. I think political cartoons are sometimes influential. I think they are not as influential today as they were a long time ago. Two examples of political cartoons that were influential a long time ago are:

PUCK was a magazine in New York from 1876 to 1918. This magazine was known for its colored cartoons on political issues. It is believed that PUCK helped Grover Cleveland defeat James G. Blaine in the 1884 presidential election. In one cartoon, published in PUCK, drawn by Bernard Gillam, Blaine was portrayed as a man with tattoos all over his body, which were engraved with details of charges of political corruption.

Thomas Nast was an American political cartoonist. One character he drew a lot was William Tweed (“Boss” Tweed), who was a New York politician. In one cartoon, Nast showed Tweed and the Tammany Ring (an organization operated by Tweed) pointing fingers at each other in hopes of finding an answer to the question, “Who is stealing the people’s money?” Tweed requested that Nast stop drawing these cartoons. He even offered Nast a huge sum of money to leave New York and to study art in Europe. It is believed that Tweed said, “ My constituents can’t read. But, damn it they can see pictures.” Nast’s cartoons made people angry at Tweed and the Tammany Ring. Tweed was sent to prison, but escaped, only to be found later in Spain by a customs clerk who allegedly recognized him from Nast’s cartoons.

Excellent, particularly your examples and your point about cartoons being less influential today.

6\. I believe the most influential person between 1877 and 1896 was John D Rockefeller. Rockefeller was an American industrialist, born in New York in 1839. In 1862 he went into business with Henry Flagler and with Samuel Andrews; the inventor of a cheap process for the refinement of crude petroleum. In 1870 he founded Standard Oil Company and began to drive out the competition and monopolize the industry. In 1882, Rockefeller formed the Standard Oil Trust of Ohio. The “trust” was a new type of business. Ten years after forming this trust, the Ohio Supreme Court forced him to break it up into twenty smaller businesses. In 1889, he formed a holding company for all of his businesses in the name of Standard Oil Company of New Jersey. However, in 1911, once again, Rockefeller was forced to break this company up into smaller pieces, this time by the US. Supreme Court. After this incident, Rockefeller retired. He devoted the rest of his life to giving away his money to charities.

Terrific analysis, but the link to his influence is not entirely clear from your superb factual account.

7\. This cartoon appeared in a paperback book entitled Coin’s Financial School. The author of the book, William H. Harvey, advocated bimetallism. Bimetallism is a monetary system in which two commodities, usually gold and silver, are used and coined, without any restrictions, at a ratio fixed by law. Harvey believed the ratio should be 16:1. He also believed that reliance on gold without anything else tended to tighten the money supply and lower prices. The cartoon represents Uncle Sam sinking in the gold while there is plenty of silver to be mined. Because of this, he will never reach prosperity.

Terrific analysis. May use as a model answer.

One of the best papers in the class. Well done! Score: 70/70.--Aschlafly 21:35, 1 November 2008 (EDT)