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.

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Journey through slavery pt 4

The overall message that Walker was trying to portray is that the slaves had more of a right living in America because they everything in order to keep things in place. The white people on the other hand, only told the slaves what to do rather than actually trying to do it themselves. Although whites would always talk about freedom for the slaves, they did not actually want that which makes them liars that they actually believe in that idea. William Lloyd Garrison further explained the sins in slavery in his newspaper called the Liberator. Garrison, along with other abolitionists, were brave souls because they were actually fighting for something that could get them killed.

Slavery was considered as a difficult issue to argue due to the fact that most representatives were for slavery. Slavery was claimed to be a major issue within America; however, 75 percent of the whites did not own slaves. But another issue was that there were up to two million slaves in the South because of all the economic they had endured. The people in the North had also depended on slavery due to the labor the slaves had to offer. During Andrew Jackson's presidency is when slavery began to expand as well because the Indians were being removed from their land. They were getting kicked out of their land due to the westward expansion that was occurring. The demand for more slaves and cotton during the time was a major conflict.

Primary Source: http://www-tc.pbs.org/kcet/andrewjackson/edu/jacksononindianremoval.pdf

Journey through slavery pt. 3 - Brotherly Love

The Enlightenment was a movement in the eighteenth century that emphasized the idea of individualism and was based on advanced knowledge. However with the Enlightenment going on, so was slavery. Although all men were said to be equal, Americans thought otherwise. Slaves were not seen or treated as humans, which basically challenged the ideas of the Enlightenment. The white men made it nearly impossible for the slaves to follow through their movement, the Abolitionist Movement. This movement was based on the slaves attempting to end discrimination that they had, had enough of. Abolitionist ideas spread to the northern churches in the 1830s, which then ended up leading to the Civil War.
Due to the invention of cotton gin, there was a large request for slaves. Slave owners needed more

slaves in order to make more machines and engender revenue. Even thought these machines looked as if they were going to benefit the entire society, slavery was bound to expand westward. The nation was slowly but surely expanding, in both a good and bad way. The idea of slavery expanding is not a good one because it basically contradicts the ideas of the Enlightenment. Over time, the idea of slavery was becoming an extremely powerful one.

Primary Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-bradley/the-enlightenment-divides_b_1602654.html

Battle of Fort Sumter

The Battle of Fort Sumter was the bombardment and the surrender of Fort Sumter located in Charleston County, South Carolina. This was the battle that started the Civil War, which lasted from April 12- April 14, 1861. The commander of the U.S. troops in Fort Sumter, Robert Johnson, had informed Abraham Lincoln that there was less than a six week supply of food at the fort. The Confederates attempted to call a truce between them and the Union; however, Lincoln rejected it. Lincoln's intentions was to provoke the Union to shoot the first shot so that they could seem at fault. General P.G.T. Beauregard was told by the Confederate government to demand for an immediate evacuation. Due to the fact that the supplies did not reach Fort Sumter on time, the Confederates shot their guns at 4:39 A.M. on April 12, 1861.The Battle of Fort Sumter is considered one of the bloodiest wars in American history. The Confederates came out with the victory in this battle. There were a total of fifteen casualties; 11 Union casualties and 4 Confederate casualties. It was a battle of the East, close by the Atlantic Ocean.

     General P.G.T. Beauregard

                                                                Robert Anderson

  

This battle is considered important because it was basically the first battle that led to the Civil War. After the Battle of Fort Sumter, several states seceded from the Union, which then gave the Confederacy 11 states in total. While Major Johnson was attempting to recruit troops from the northern states, the men who had fired the cannons at Fort Sumter were being admired and seen as heroes. This battle would then lead to four years of war. The Battle of Fort Sumter is one of the most important events in South Carolina and the United States as well.