Alex's APUSH Blog

Conflict arose in Cuba and the US understood that action needed to be taken. They sent a diplomat to Madrid negotiating with the Spanish, eventually getting them to adhere to their wishes. McKinley stepped in a delivered a speech directed to Congress why it was necessary to take military action. Spain had been fighting in Cuba for years and the U.S had to come in and protect other islands from foreign control, things were getting out of hand. The US invested a lot of money into Cuba which was now at risk. The US were in a tough position as they wanted to maintain neutrality but couldn't let these incidents happen without some sort of action. McKinley would prefer to avoid war, favoring a non militaristic approach, favoring compromise. Neutrality talks are possible. If the US must intervene, then there must be certain conditions 1.  Putting an end to the barbarities, bloodshed, starvation, and horrible miseries now existing there, and which the parties to the conf...

William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" speech was delivered on July 9th 1896. It is one of the most famous American political speeches. Bryan delivers this speech seeking democratic nomination. This is the midst of the issue of changing  the coinage ratio of silver to gold to 16:1. He begins the speech reflecting on the Civil War and conflict within the country. He brought up the 16th amendment or the federal income tax. He believed that money should help the struggling masses rather than the big businessmen. He end his impressive speech with "You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold", making a religious analogy that all can relate. Similar to William Jennings Bryan's speech, Martin Luther King Jr. "I Have a Dream Speech" was powerful. MLK's related to the rights of African Americans while Bryans was focused on other issues.

The Dawes Act was formed in 1887, addressing the placement of Native Americans. The act permitted the federal government to divide lands with no regard to tribes. An underlying reason for the implementation of the act was to increase the assimilation of Native Americans into society. The idea was that Native Americans would accept the new lands, becoming U.S citizens and a member of society. This ended up breaking apart Native tribes and destroying their culture. It destroyed the social bonds of tribes with the intention of, severing tribal ties and integrating them into society. This act was highly controversial because of "good intentions" but its devastating effects. This can be compared to Andrew Jackson and the Trail of Tears. The displacement of so many Native Americans devastated their culture and killing many. Jackson was a controversial president as was the Dawes Act. 

The Populist Party was formed on the 117th anniversary of Independence Day. In the Preamble the Populist party begin with a fuming opening, introducing their beliefs. They believed that the nation was on the verge of moral, political and material ruin, caused by corruption within government. The saw the people as demoralized and silenced, everything was going poorly. The business were to powerful and the people were oppressed. The Populist Party was determined to change this, ending the issues of the US. In the Platform they listed their demands and laid out what they thought was necessary. These were divided in the general categories of finance, transportation and labor. In terms of finance they wanted a currency that was safe and sound, a tax no higher than 2 cents, no banking corporations etc. For transportation, they thought it was a means for exchange and public necessity. The railroads should be operated by the government for the people. Forms of communication should also...

               In Andrew Carnegie's "Gospel of Wealth" he discusses the imbalance in the capitalistic style of big businesses. There is the argument that the powerful businessmen like himself were considered "robber barons", showing the effect of a laissez-faire government. He believed that it was sensible to have disparities between the rich and the poor, a sense of Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is that social order is accounted as the product of natural selection of those persons best suited to existing living conditions. In other words the best survive and thrive for their traits and characteristics. Despite this ideology, he believed that it was the duty of the wealth to give back to society through charity. His charity work is shown through certain colleges like Carnegie Mellon University.  Similarities can be drawn between Mark Zuckerberg and Andrew Carnegie for their philant...