Cuba Outline

Thesis: The United States invaded Cuba for the purpose of retaliating on Spain for the destruction of the USS Maine battleship, also to help the Cubans separate from Spain, and by separating Cuba from Spain, the U.S. benefited in more ways than one.

I. The Spanish were suspected for blowing up the USS Maine battleship, therefore the U.S. retaliated,
went to Cuba, and waged a war on the Spanish.
     A. They most likely accomplished destroying the ship with an mine or a sunken torpedo.
     B. Some people thought that the ship was destroyed by the Spanish enemy, but others believed the destruction of the ship was due to some sort of accident.
         1. The chance of an accident occurring causing the Maine battleship to be completely destroyed are slim.
         2. The U.S. was looking for a reason to declare war on Spain, therefore the destruction of the battleship was most likely not an accident.
     C. "Spaniards, it is believed, arranged to have the Maine anchored over one of the harbor mines"(Document A: New York Journal).
          1. The Spanish had wires connected to a magazine and they sent an electric current sent thought the wire, blowing up the Maine battleship.
           2. U.S. Newspapers used yellow journalism to inform Ameridians about events leading up to the Spanish American war.

II. The United States invaded Cuba in order to stop the Spanish from forcing Cubans into        reconcentration camps.
     A. Americans were trying to help the Cubans gain independence from Spain, so Cuba could have their own government.
     B. The United States was on a mission to help improve the safety of the country Cuba.
         1. Clearly the Cubans needed help to sustain a peaceful country, because they were incapable of making sure that a U.S. ship, sent on a peace mission, could not be kept safe.
     C. "Four hundred and sixty women and children thrown on the ground, heaped pell-mell as animals, some in a dying condition, others sick and others dead, without the slightest cleanliness, nor the least help" (Document E: Reconcentration Camps).
           1. This description is of the conditions of the concentration camps in Cuba, which the Spanish claimed by keeping Cubans in camps they were protecting them.

III. The U.S. invaded Cuba in hope of obtaining the the area so that the America would have access to more resources and crops.
     A. Cuba grew and abundance of sugar cane and had many tobacco farms, which the U.S. uses a large quantity of both products.
     B. The U.S. also wanted to improve their trading with other countries, which included Cuba.
     C. By trying to improve the trading and port access and sending the navy to Cuba, the U.S. was being geopolitical.
          1. The method they were using was Mahan, where a country has a strong navy, controls and defends ports, and trades peacefully with other countries.
          2. "Following the successful conclusion of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States gained control of territories that could serve as the coaling stations and naval bases that Mahan had discussed, such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines"

Conclusion: While the U.S. was concerned about keeping the Cubans safe, they love to be the "underdog." By being the underdog, the U.S. benefits by increasing their relations with other countries, which is what they accomplished with Cuba.

Political Views of Booker T. Washington vs. W.E.B. DuBois

Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois both had different up bringings which later affected their political views. Booker T. Washington was born a slave, while W.E.B. DuBois was born free. They were both African-American men but had different political views and beliefs. The morals and upbringings of these two men were different, but both inspired them to strive to make a difference in African-American's lives.

Booker T. Washington being born a slave lead him to believing that people should have to work for what they deserve. Sometimes it takes hard work in order to get what you want or need and things should not always be natural or handed out as a gift. Booker T. Washington wanted African-Americans to have more rights and to be equals with whites, but he thought they should have to earn some of their rights. African-Americans needed to be educated and be able to make a living, which is why Booker T. Washington started the Tuskegee Institute. "He rejected the pursuit of political and social equality with whites in favor of developing vocational skills and a reputation for stability and dependability," (pbs.org).  If colored people were not educated then they couldn't get a job and if they didn't have a job they could not sustain themselves, so therefore they had not earned their rights as and American citizen.

W.E.B. DuBois was born into a free African-American family. As a free man, he had the outlook that rights should be natural. He thought that one should not have to work to get their rights, which is not fair to those who were educated and had jobs. DuBois, unlike Washington did not wasn't blacks to work for their rights and accept discrimination. Since he was born free, unlike many other African-Americans at the time, he did not understand what it meant to work for one's own freedom and rights like the black slaves did.


 These two men defiantly had different views but both wanted to gain more rights for African-Americans. The political views of DuBois and Washington were important factors which influences their beliefs and morals. DuBois approached getting more rights for colored people through protests. Booker T. Washington was more civil with trying to obtain rights for African-Americans. The fact that Dubois was free and with how he approached the issue seems to be due to his up bringing. Since Booker T. Washington was a former slave and chose to remain low key with trying to get rights for blacks reflects to how he was once a slave. Dubois was used to getting what he wanted without much fight, while Washington was used to having to work for what he wanted and not having much of a say about anything that happened to him.

An example of a present day person who is a spokes person for colored people is President Barack Obama. Today he makes sure that blacks and white are equal. He oversees that they are each treated with the respect that they deserve, are educated, and are employed. “This dream of equality and fairness has never come easily—but it has always been sustained by the belief that in America, change is possible. Today, because of that hope, coupled with the hard and painstaking labor of Americans sung and unsung, we live in a moment when the dream of equal opportunity is within reach for people of every color and creed.”

These three men all had one thing in common and that was looking out for the rights of others, especially colored people. Their views differed some in how they thought the best way to accomplish achieving more equal rights for all people. Their different views and morals have to do with how they have been raised all their life. Obama, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Dubois all shared common ground of one goal and that was to help others obtain equal rights.

Vertical and Horizontal Integration -- the Gilded Age

There are two different types of Integration that we learned about during the unit about the Gilded Age. These two types were verical and horizontal integration. Vertical integration is when one ownes several phases of production, which therefore eliminates the need for a middle man. This level of production allows the owner to be suffient without the help of other companies to produce anthing for him. This then leads the owner to have a monopoly over a certain industry. Horizontal integration is when one owns all of just one phase of production. This level of production allows an owner to control all production of something all over the country. Horizontal integration can lead the one to having a monopoly in a particular industry.

There are many famous people during the Gilded Age who were partakers in these two types of integration. Andrew Carnegie is an example of someone who owned all of one phase (vertical integration). He had his own steel company and then began making investments in coal, oil, and iron companies and then started manufacturing railroad cars. Then he went on to make his own iron bride bulding comapnay and telegraph firm. For more information about Andrew Carngie . Rockefeller at first an example of horizontal integration but later his company started to become more vertical. He owned all of mulitple oil companies which is horizontal. Later he started companies that made the barrels that oil was put into and also owned transportation companies so he could transport his own oil, this is vertical. He created a trust for his oil company and became very rich. For more information about Rockefeller .

A mordern example of a vertical company is Exxon Mobil. It is an oil comapny and they drill their own oil, produce the oil, ship oil, and has workers hired to do reseach for their corporation. A modern example of horizontal integration is the schools part of the North Deanery here in Indiana. The North Deanery connects a series of schools together and can control what high school(s) are adertized within the grade schools within the North Deanery.


Horizontal and vertical integration are important fro the expansions of companies. It helps owners expand their companies hiw they want. Vertical integration is more difficult because it involves gaining control of multiple phases of production. Horizontal integration only involves owning multiple of on phase, which leads to monopoly of a given industry.

The Fugitive Slave Act

     The Fugitive Slave Law was part of the Compromise of 1850, which was written by Henry Clay. This act required all citizens in the north to capture any escaped slave and return them to their owner. The Fugitive Slave Act split the north and the south even more because of their differences in opinion about slavery. This act helped many northerners unify and encouraged them to speak out against slavery but in the south the act was supported. Essentially the North and South were divided more than ever over differences in opinion about slavery. Most northerners did not want to follow the new act, but the south depended on the north to return their escaped slaves. Conflict increased in the northern states, because many northerners did not want anything to do with slavery and this new act was trying to force them to become involved. Tension increased in the south due to the north saying how cruel slavery was and trying to help slaves escape and establishing laws so that they didn't have to follow the Fugitive Slave Act. The differences in opinions about slavery between the north and south gave both regions the opportunity to defend their beliefs concerning slavery.
     The northern response to the Fugitive Slave Act was mostly negative. The north responded this way because they did not support the injustices of slavery, including how poorly the average slave was treated. Under this new act northerners felt like they were officers that had to be on the look out for fugitive slaves at all times. Other northerners that did not care about slavery as much as others and were in need of quick money, decided to capture free black men and take them to the south to become slaves. As a reward the people who took these slaves to the south were given money. This was unfair because black men who were born free did not have any rights, and they could not go to court and make a case for themselves. Dred Scott is an example of someone who was a victim of this unfair law and was sent to the south to become a slave. One significance of this law in the north is that the tension over this law caused some free northern states to establish personal liberty laws. These laws nullified the Fugitive Slave Law and arrested men for kidnapping if they were caught taking escaped slaves back to their owners in the south. This is significant because this shows that the issues that began due to this act caused the north to stand up against the south and show them how they felt about the cruelties of slavery.
     Abolitionists in the north wanted to help slaves escape from the south so that they could be free in the north. The Underground Railroad was a system that slaves, white abolitionists, and free black people from the north made to help runaway slaves escape from the south and make their way to Canada. It was made up of conductors who hid slaves in their farmer wagons and riverboats and took slaves either to a free state in the north or to Canada. Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave who helped many slaves escape to freedom through this system. This system finally showed people in the north taking a stand, putting their lives at risk, and helping many slaves from their abusive owners in the south. The Underground Railroad
     The south responded to the Fugitive Slave Act with support because it gave them hope that if their slaves escaped to the north that they might be returned. If the slaves were returned, the owners would pay whoever returned their slave. One outcome of the Fugitive Slave Act which made slave owners angry was due to the northerners writing books about the cruelties of slavery which lead the south to lie about how they treated their slaves. Harriet Beecher Stowe published a book called "Uncle Tom's Cabin," in this novel Stowe expressed how terribly slaves were treated, which impacted many white northerners and made them want to stop slavery more that ever before. Southerners responded to books like Stowe's by publishing books saying that they treated their slaves well and the only slaves that escaped were ones that were mentally ill. The slave owners who would claim that the escaped slaves were mentally ill would say those slaves had a disease called Drapetomania. This is significant because it shows that the south was so desperate to defend slavey and try to get their escaped slaves back that they had to lie about how they treated their slaves.
     The Fugitive Slave Act caused more conflict between the north and south than ever before. Most people in the north wanted nothing to do with slavery but the south needed the north's help so that they could get their escaped slaves back. The south became angry with the north because when the north was supposed to be returning the escaped slaves, abolitionists in the north were helping slaves escape to freedom.  The significances of the Fugitive Slave Act resulted in increased conflict between the north and south regions. The tension was due to lies made up in the south about how they treated slaves, and the new act lead some northern states to pass laws that nullified the act that was just passes. Under the Fugitive Slave Law, the north was able identify why slavery should be ended and south was able to fight in order to keep slavery.

Harriet Beecher Stowe

     Harriet Beecher Stowe was a writer during the Antebellum Era and in many of her writings she expressed her opinions about slavery and woman's rights. Her religious beliefs and opinions about abolition were shown in her writing as well. During the transcendentalism period, abolition of slavery and rights of women were two major issues, which Stowe influenced through her writing as an author. She promoted rights for women and their capabilities and was against slavery and talked about the injustices of it. Her writing gave her a voice and she used it to her advantage, because during this time women were not allowed to vote and did not have any authority at home or job wise. Stowe's writing about slavery and women's rights defiantly changed the transcendentalism time period.
    She was most famously known as the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," which was a book based on Stowe's observations of the lives of African-Americans working as slaves. "I wrote what I did because as a woman, as a mother, I was oppressed and broken-hearted with the sorrows and injustice I saw, because as a Christian I felt the dishonor to Christianity - because as a lover of my county, I trembled at the coming day of wrath" (pbs.org). This quote is an example of how her faith influenced her opinion on slavery and why she was against it and effected by it. Her writing helped advance the abolitionist movement which worked towards ending slavery.
     Not only did she focus on the issue of slavery in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," but also brought up the importance of the role of a mother. This tied in with her strong beliefs that women deserved more rights during this time period and how mothers impacted the lives of those around them. "If the mothers of the free states had all felt as they should, in times past, the sons of the free states would not have been the holders, and proverbially, the hardest masters of slaves; the sons of the free states would not have connived at the extension of slavery (472)" (womanwriters.net). Her beliefs in women's rights are evident. She used her writing to speak her opinion so that maybe people's view on women would change, and then one day women would be given the rights that they deserved.

   

Dolley Madison

 

  Dolley Madison was the husband of President James Madison, and she is remembered as an influential and positive figure during the war of 1812. She managed to maintain a cheerful and hopeful atmosphere in the White House. She made the president a more approachable and pleasant man. She was a socialite and was admired by all the classes. 

     She collected all the important documents in the White House and made sure that the portrait of George Washington was saved before the White House was evacuated. By saving this portrait, Dolley is remembered even more for her good works and determination. This act of bravery shows her true character and determination, because she put her life at risk by staying in the White House to get the portrait when she was supposed to have already evacuated the house. 

     While the president was away with his troops, he always kept her informed through his letters and she helped him through this difficult war with encouraging words in her letters in response to him. "Dolley had become the president's political partner." She never failed to lift him up and stand by his side with every decision he made.  Dolley wrote in a letter to a friend: “I am not the least alarmed at these things but entirely disgusted & determined to stay with him.” "But Dolley, whose determination to stay with her husband was unwavering, remained. She welcomed Madison’s decision to station 100 militiamen under the command of a regular Army colonel on the White House lawn. Not only was it a gesture of protection on his part, it was also a declaration that he and Dolley intended to stand their ground."
     Dolley Madison was a memorable person during the war of 1812 mostly for saving the portrait of George Washington. She is also remembered as a socialite and was admired by all the classes for her good works and happy spirits that spread to many others. She will forever be remembered as a heroic figure for saving a piece of not just art, but American history.

Cite used for the direct quotes

(ttp://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-dolley-madison-saved-the-day-7465218/