American History Homework Seven Answers - Student Eleven

American History Homework Seven-SarahW

1\. The “Gilded Age” was a term coined by Mark Twain that describes America in the late 1880’s. Mark Twain wrote a book called “The Gilded Age” about successful business men in Washington who were actually greedy and deceiving. The term “gilded” means that on the outside, everything was prosperous and great, but underneath, it was actually filled with corruption and hardship. One thing that made the gilded age gilded were “robber barons”. Robber Barons were people who used ruthless business tactics to become rich, like Jay Gould.

Superb answer! Might use as a model.

2\. I really like how Thomas Edison learned so much after being told by a teacher he was an idiot. His work ethic is very admirable too. I mean, how many teenagers do you know who would work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week? I believe that if Thomas Edison wasn’t homeschooled, he wouldn’t have been able to invent all the amazing inventions that he did. If he had stayed in school, the teachers probably would’ve written him off as retarded and not put care into his learning. Because his mother taught him, he was able to explore his creativity and learn in an environment suitable to his needs.

Superb again, could use as a model.

3\. The frontier was an opportunity for freedom, and an empty slate. You could make a new life for yourself, not be bothered by the big cities and people. I think people’s views became more independent. I think they didn’t like a lot of government interfering in their lives. When you’re out in the prairie used to being the boss of everything, and the government comes in and threatens your home and lifestyle, you wouldn’t like it. Frederick Jackson Turner said that the frontier life creates individualism and democracy, which I think is also true.

Excellent answer, could use as a model answer.

4\. America has always been a place where hopes and dreams can come true. The American Dream, where anyone can achieve anything, inspires us to reach for the stars and accomplish whatever we want. I think this is why so many Americans have invented such revolutionary inventions, because we are a land of making the impossible possible through hard work and dedication.

Superb again. Really fantastic. Will use as a model answer.

5\. I think that political cartoons can be influential, because people might by more inclined to read a funny little cartoon then read a whole article about a certain topic. The ones that we’ve studied so far probably weren’t very influential at the time, because they reference something that happened, instead of trying to persuade people to do something. The first cartoon we had, “Join, or Die”, was the most influential cartoon we’ve done, because it was telling the people something, to join together or suffer “death”. The rest of the cartoons were more about something that happened, not telling people to do something.

Good points.

6\. I think the second most influential person, the first of course being Thomas Edison, between 1877 and 1896 was John D. Rockefeller. He developed the oil industry, which is still prominent today. He also created trusts, which enabled him to monopolize all of the oil industry.

Good, though I think the oil industry would be prominent even if Rockefeller didn't exist!

7\. In the cartoon, you see Uncle Sam riding a sinking horse through “quicksand gold” with silver rocks or mountains or something, towards prosperity and the setting sun. I found the original picture of this when it was published in Coin’s Financial School, and underneath it says “Gold is quicksand, ever shifting and unreliable”. The cartoonist is saying that you can’t have just gold as a currency, you need silver, which is steady and reliable, and thats how you get to prosperity.

Excellent point about the quicksand.

H1. I think that conservative is a relative term. Within each party, you have a spectrum of beliefs, that are shared for the most part. Depending on where on that spectrum you lie, says how conservative or liberal you are. So yes, I think Grover Cleveland was conservative, but not entirely. He was still a democrat, just more conservative on the spectrum than most.

Good, but cite specific examples of how Cleveland was conservative. (Minus 1).

H2. I think that the Blaine Amendment is stupid and prejudiced. Those religious schools are providing an education just like public schools are. Why deny them the same rights public schools have just because they’re religious?

Superb. Will use as a model answer.

H4. I think that unions can be a good thing, because they protect employees from being bullied by their bosses. However, it’s easy for the unions to end up bullying the company, because if they don’t do what the union demands, they won’t have any workers, and will have to shut down, or give in. Back when they formed in the 1800’s they were really the only way to protect the workers from being taken advantage of, but I think that nowadays, they aren’t necessary, because if a person has a problem with their job, they could just sue the boss and get the same results. In 1886, the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.’s employees unionized and led a strike to shorten the work day to 8 hours. This was really the only thing they could do, so it’s a good thing there were unions. a

Excellent!

Superb homework, the best in the class so far this week. Score: 99/100.--Aschlafly 15:34, 1 November 2008 (EDT)