Brand Whitlock

Brand Whitlock was born on March 4th, 1869 in Ohio. He was an American writer that was later educated in public schools to become a newspaper reporter. Whitlock became a newspaper reporter for the Chicago Herald in the year of 1890. Three years later he became the Secretary of State of Illinois. At the time, he was interested in law as well and always read about it. He was interested in the Progressive reforms; the progressive reforms were to change and make improvements in the system by improving conditions for society. 

The Progressive reforms became popular in the late nineteenth century. His first experience in politics was when he had the chance to work for the governor of Illinois, John Altgeld. The governor also supported the Progressive reform. When Brand Whitlock moved to Toledo, Ohio, he became more interested in politics. Samuel Jones, also known as "Golden Rule", was Toledo's mayor and was also active in the reform. After his death, Whitlock was elected mayor. He still continued to believe in the same practices as Jones' had. Whitlock had served four terms as mayor for Toledo, Ohio.

While he was in office, he wrote novels that usually involved political issues. In the year 1914, Woodrow Wilson appointed Whitlock to be the official representative of the United States to Belgium. Whitlock died in France in 1934. He had written a total of eighteen books in his lifetime.

The Battle of Little Bighorn

On June 25, 1876, the Battle of Little Bighorn was fought by the federal troops and by the Indians. The battle was caused due to the discovery of gold. George Custer was the one who led the federal troops and there were Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. The Indians were trying to preserve the way of living by fighting off the troops who were trying to take their lands. The President of the United States wanted to buy the Sioux lands because of the gold they had recently found, but the Indians refused to give up their lands. 

Sitting Bull was the biggest motivation to the Indians because he had a vision that they would win against the United States troops. Americans were just interested in settling in the Natives land because of the gold; they wanted it all to themselves and leave the Indians with nothing. In this case, Americans were seen as the instigators because they were pushing the Indians out of their land. The Americans had evacuated them, but destroyed their belongings in which the Natives did not agree with their actions. If gold was never discovered in the Indians' land, then the battle had never occurred.

Sitting Bull and his men outnumbered Custer and his troops; the Natives won this battle against the Americans. Sitting Bull's vision had come true and they were ecstatic about their win against the Americans. Colonel Custer was ignorant and did not expect a lot of Indians to be present on the Natives side, but he was wrong. The Indians did not let themselves and fought against Custer and his men. Which then resulted in their win against them.

Chinese Immigration and Exclusion

Chinese went to the United States in the 1800's. In 1848, however, the Chinese were able to arrive when gold mining was discovered at Sutter's Mill. They were unable to do the work, but found better things to do for themselves and others. Plenty of Chinese workers helped in the building of the first Transcontinental Railroad. After the railroad was built, by mostly the Chinese, they were successful in other jobs they were able to take control of. The Chinese workers were hired to work on the trains, but they had the most dangerous jobs compared to the jobs that the white men had. Not only did the Chinese get the difficult jobs, but they worked for fewer pay than the white men.

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 prohibits immigration of Chinese Laborers due to the fact that they were taking over all the jobs that were intended for white men. After the railroad was built, they enforced the act because the Chinese had already done the hard work for the Americans. For the Americans, they thought that the Chinese were a threat and interfering with their jobs, so they did not want to welcome them any longer. The Chinese men are hated by the white men because they are "took" jobs and money away from them. Chinese men were not allowed to take their wives with them because others would think that they were prostitutes. Moreover, the whites were strictly against everything that The Chinese did or tried to do.

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was passed because they were seen as a threat towards the white men.  I believe that the Americans did not need the Chinese people after they had built the railroad because they had done more than enough. The Americans did not want the Chinese to take away their jobs and gain more money than them. The white men were being selfish when it came to the jobs and money that they were supposed to get.