American History Homework Seven Answers - Student Ten

JessieH 
->Done!!!<\
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1\. What was the "Gilded Age"?

A time at the end half of the 1880s, that was extremely prosperous, and successful. Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) called this time the 'Gilded Age', because it appeared golden in all it's splendor.

Excellent, but mention how Twain felt that it was not all golden underneath, as implied by the name. (Minus 1).

2\. What do you like about Thomas Edison, and do you think homeschooling him created enormous wealth?

I guess what I like most about him, was his determination, and his ingenuity. A man of mediocrity who was hard of hearing most likely would have never attempted designing an invention only for people who could hear it. And I'm not entirely convinced that it was his homeschooling that caused his great success. Yes, if he had been in public school his whole life he probably would have had a much lower self-esteem. But if it was God's will for him to do all of the things he was destined to do, he would have done it no matter what school he went to.

Superb. May use for the model answers.

3\. How do you think the frontier might have affected the views of Americans? Maybe it affected their view of the Native americans. Having been jumped around all over the country couldn't have been easy for them, and maybe this stirred some compassion in the hearts of the settlers.

Good point.

4\. What do you think is special about the United States that has made it the world leader in inventions?

Maybe it's our wealth. There's no denying that most americans have more money then most of the world. So if someone in america came up with an idea for an invention, and it was a really good idea, we would go at it full force, investing in it, and given full support. But if someone came up with the same idea in a third world country, they would either have to come to USA to further it, or work extremely hard to raise enough money to invest fully in it. I don't think it has anything at all to do with our minds, or how smart we are. I think that it's because we have the means to make it happen, while other countries are struggling with stringency.

Excellent.

5\. How influential do you think political cartoons really are? Give an example or two.

1) Whether you like explaining the cartoons or despise them with a passion, they lock all of their information inside your head, and really teach you something. I know for me personally, if I get an image stuck in my head, I will most likely remember what it taught. No matter how hard you try, these cartoons will more likely then not stick with you, and you will remember the information.

2) They also come in handy when you have to analyze something in the real world, out side of homeschool classes. In a college course you just might have to interpret much harder cartoons (or a history question on an SAT or something) then we've been doing, and all of our little odds and ends such as the following will help us.

1) Columbia and uncle sam represent the USA. 2) The bear represents Russia. 3) The bull represents Britain. 4) What ever the democrats were for, the whigs were against.

And so on. I believe these will come in handy when we have to do much harder work to do in the years to come.

Superb answer.

6\. Other than Thomas Edison, who do you think was the most influential person between 1877 and 1896?

I think maybe it was Booker T Washington. With his moves and determination to get more comfortable positions for the africans, and his well known speech to the Atlanta Exposition in 1895, I think he was very influential. And his self-taught education was probably admired by africans, and that could have made him influential not only to everyone, but the africans singled out.

Whether or not during this span of years he was second only to Thomas Edison, I don't know. I know only that he WAS influential, and important. It doesn't matter who was more influential then him, or less, but each person is just as important as the rest, though perhaps not as influential when it comes to the economy or daily living. The only difference between people like Thomas Edison, and Abraham Lincoln and a next door neighbor, is that the neighbor probably will never be told about in a text book.

Excellent point about influence. Will use as a model answer!

7\. Please interpret the above cartoon, with special emphasis on explaining the images used and including a description of the point of view of the cartoonist.

I think maybe the cartoon is showing uncle sam (who is now representing america instead of lady liberty) riding a horse to reach prosperity. I think maybe the sun on the horizon is representing the gilded age, and all of it's wondrous prosperity, and wealth. The images used are a horse, a man, and a sun, and I think the view point of the cartoonist is for, and supportive the Gilded age, but was also trying to point out how we were in so much debt because of gold. I think maybe he is showing how we were all getting caught up in gold and wealth that we were being sunk into it, and that was keeping us from true prosperity, or the Gilded age.

Close, but the cartoonist is really advocating for use of silver as a standard for money. (Minus 1).

Excellent work! Score: 68/70. Well done!