LAD #30: Schenck vs. US

Schenck sent out a  message to the American public telling them to peacefully protest by resisting the Conscription Act that was made during the Great War. Because of these actions, he was charged and was said to be in violation of the Espionage Act. Because of the circumstances, the Great War, Holmes said that Schenck was not allowed to say what he said. His words were not protected by the First Ammendment because of the current situation. Since his words caused a "clear and present danger" they were not protected by the constitution. The government was scared that people would actually do what Schenck wanted them to do and disobey the government. This case set the precedent that Congress could limit free speech when there was a war going on.

I synthesizeed this to the Patriot Act because although the American people have a r right to privacy, the Patriot Act was passed after 9/11 to work towards the greater safety of the nation. This violated a right kind of but was for the greater good, as was the decision in Schenck vs US.

LAD #26: MLK's "I Have a Dream" Speech

Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech is a speech that went down in history and will be remembered forever. He begins his speech by saying that twenty years ago, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which was a symbol of hope for many African Americans, but a hundred years later and they still are not free. He lists some of the problems that African Americans are facing during this time period. He then says that African Americans are "cashing a check" at the nations capital. The "check" is their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He then says that they are getting a message that there is "insufficient funds." Then, he tells people to keep trying to cash the check because the bank of justice can't be bankrupt. He continues to say that the time for change is right now, and that revolts will continue to happen until change happens. He then urges people that are revolting to make sure that they do not commit any crimes or do anything wrong, and speaks against violence. He then goes to the most remembered part of his speech where he states that he has a dream for many things, such as that his children will live in a country that does not judge them based on race, and that every place will be unsegregated. Lastly he talks about the song "My country 'tis of thee" and uses it to talk about the fact that freedom should ring through every place.

I connected MLK's speech to Soujourner Truth's "Aint I a Woman?" speech, because both speech addressed race, and rights in general for a minority group. They also both used similar rhetoric such as metaphors and connecting the situation to their own lives. Martin Luther King Jr. did things like talk about his children in his speech, and Truth talked about experiences she has had as a woman, and an African American woman.

LAD #25: Dawe's Act

Dawes Act was adopted by Congress in 1887. It gave power to the President which let him divide up the tribal lands held by Native Americans and split it up into shares for each separate person. Gender, age and family status all went into consideration when deciding the amount of land someone got. The President is allowed to do this any time that the land on a reservation is deemed advantageous for farming. It also allows the government to buy excess Indian lands and sell it to American settlers. The Act also provides for the assimilation of Indians into American culture. It also says that the government has the right to build railroads, highways and other infrastructure through appointed Indian lands.

 I connected this to the Assimilatino policies that happened in the late 1800s, where Native Americans were forced to give up parts of their culture such as cutting their hair and speaking english instead of their native tounge. 

LAD #24: Cross of Gold Speech

William Jennings Bryan delivered his Cross of Gold Speech in order to advocate for the principle of economic bimetallism. He believed that some amount of gold and a different amount of silver should "equal each other" and both be able to be used for payment. He supported the Democrats and delivered his speech through the support of the Democrat's idea of standardization of the dollar to silver. This would help a lot of poor western farmers. This speech set the stage for Bryan's economic populism.

I connected this with the Sherman Silver Purchase Act because this act was supposed to help farmers, just as the Bryan spoke about in his Cross of Gold Speech.

LAD #23: The Populist Party Platform

The Populist Party originally was opposed to big business. Some of the first members were farmers. The party's platform was based off of the principles that they supported such as unions, workers snf the basic rights of people. They supported an increase in government power. One of the ways they supported this was by having the government own railroads. Overall, the Populist Party promoted the rights of the people by railing against corruption in businesses.

I connected this to the Knights of Labor, because the Populist Party was a major supporter of Unions, and the Knights of Labor were one of the first union organizations in the United States

LAD #22: McKinley's War Message

McKinley's request for war was the opposite of his original ideas of neutrality towards Cuba's situation. Earlier, he thought Cuba was a lost cause and should be ignored, and that he should just follow Grant in leaving the situation be. However, he had a change of heart for multiple reasons and wanted a military intervention. He wanted to end the misery of the war in Cuba for humanitarian reasons, he thought America was obligated to protect Cuba, he thought it was hurting commerce, and, most important of all, he thought that the war endangered American peace and that it was expensive. This is another example of McKinley waging war only to please a bunch of people.




A situation similar to this one was when Woodrow Wilson gave a message asking to declare war. He was asking Congress, as was McKinley, to declare war against Germany. The presidents were similar because they had many reasons, keeping the United States' needs at heart, to want to go to war. 

LAD #21: Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth

Carnegie says that in earlier times there was not that much of a difference between the rich and the poor. That difference has developed, but it is for the better that there is this difference in living, and goes even further to say that it is for the betterment of civilization. He thinks that everyone should be trying to achieve the ability to earn enough money that it takes to live comfortably. He also says that there are three ways that someone with a lot of money can use their money. They can leave it for their descendants, they can leave it after death to public progress, or they can give it away during their lifetime. He says that the first way is unfair and uses the high class in Europe as an example to show why this idea fails. He also questions the second way because after death, a person can not garauntee that their wealth is being used for the purpose that it was intended for. He does believe in the third idea. Carnegie believes that this is the best solution to the unequal distribution of wealth that is different from a communist overthrow of the governmental system, but is actually an evolution of it. The extra money of the wealthy will become the money of lots of individual administers that will use it for the common good. It will go from being a large amount of money, to being small amounts of money amongst many people.

I connected this to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation because Bill Gates is also a very wealthy man, and he practices philanthropy by routinely giving money away. A way he does this is through his foundation, which sponsors many grants and scholorships. This gives a lot of his extra wealth away to other individuals as Carnegie expresses in his gospel of wealth.