Spanish-American War

Essay:
Some historians claim Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst "started" the Spanish-American War. Write a short essay for homework to support or refute this argument. Be sure that your response includes an answer to the Focus Question: How did yellow journalism contribute to the Spanish-American War?


In the late 1800s the Cubans were revolting against Spain. The US felt "obligated" to help out a revolutionary cause because of their successful history with revolutions. However, their practice of isolationism prevented them from justifying further involvement in the revolution. The bags of sand that tipped the iceberg were the "muckrakers" of the time. The yellow journalists provoked a war to enhance the popularity of their newspapers. Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst were the two people at the top of the muckraking ladder. They were the two most popular newspaper owners of the time; and also the most competitive. When the Maine was exploded just off the coast of Cuba, the muckrakers, a nickname given to melodramatic journalists by Theodore Roosevelt, publicized that it was Spain that exploded the American ship. Of course, a few months after the war was over, it turned out to just be some bad placement of the boiler room and the ammunition room which happened to be located right next to each other. The yellow journalists could have further investigated this and told what had really happened and prevented a war, but instead, to get more publicity and demand for their newspapers, they insisted it was the slimy Spaniards that exploded the American ship and that the US could not sit idly by and wait for Spain to attack home. This incident of slander of Spain provoked a war. 

Water Balloon WWI

Today I learned that trench warfare is kind of a bad way to end a war quickly. I also learned that the side with the most ammunition is the winner. I learned why the war didn't really start to move until the Americans got there. I learned that water balloons don't explode if you don't fill balloons enough.

I think that next year you should divide the sides prior to the day that the war is fought; that way the teams can be organized in making enough water balloons.

Devil in the White City Questions

1. Before reading this book, what did you think the expression “The Windy City” meant?
I thought it meant that Chicago was rather chilly with a strong wind factor.
2. Could this many murders and/or disappearances have gone undetected in a different city?
Yes, it is all in the size and excitement.

3. Do you think Holmes was born with an evil inclination or were there events that drove him
to evil?
I think that he was born an evil psychopath. You simply can't create an evil that strong.
4. There are two different producers that have optioned this for a movie - who do you think
will be cast as the main characters?
Holmes: Hayden Frye
Burnham: Alex Purut
Root: Jackson
Mrs. Holton: Kyndall Wells
Julia: Lillian LeQuire
Numerous women: Melissa Early, Ana Neville, Jared Nava
5. What surprised you most about this book?
How easy it was for Holmes to get away with all of the evil that he did unnoticed for as long as he did.
6. If you had a young daughter in the late 1800s, how would you have felt about her traveling alone or
moving to Chicago?
I would not want her to go there. If she insisted on going I would make sure that she was married or had a companion with her at all times.
7. Who was more powerful – Burnham or Holmes?
Holmes was more powerful because if you have the ability to sway people from the truth with sly words and an intense gaze, you can do anything.
8. What did Holmes look for in women and why?
Vulnerability and trust because those are the kind of women that can easily fall into the trap of his cruel lies and pure evil.
9. What did it mean to be a doctor or a pharmacist in this era?
It meant that you give people meds. It doesn't require any real skill because everyone just wants an answer...it didn't have to be the right one.
10. On page 62, Holmes suggests that “women as a class were so wonderfully vulnerable”.
To what extent, if any, does this hold true today?
I think that this definitely holds true today. I think that women are always vulnerable because of, first and foremost, the size difference. And also the underlying desire to look for good in someone.

Reconstruction or Destruction? 1871

The Civil War is over, but the hate is not. Recently, Congress passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. This was celebrated by blacks and abolitionists everywhere. In the South, however, they are finding loop holes in the system. Sharecropping has become one of the only ways for freed blacks and poor whites to make a living, forcing them into a lifestyle not so different from slavery. Jim Crow laws are being enacted everyday as a way to prevent newly freed blacks from having a say in politics. Violent uprisings occur everyday from groups of angry ex-confederates. Most of these uprisings have been linked back to organized white supremacy groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. The Freedman's Bureau has fallen. Where does this leave us? Has all of this, the War, reconstruction, assassination, been for nothing? No, it has not been for nothing. Even with the destruction and the hate roaring its ugly head, we still have hope. We have taken a giant step for America by even attempting to fix this broken system. The hope, this noble attempt of reconstruction in the South, will live on in the hearts of our children for generations to come, and when the time is right, equality and integration will prevail.

1871 Reconstruction of the South

Changing views of Race during the Civil War era

During the Civil War era views of race were changing. Due to the limitations of slavery and poverty, people of color were usually viewed as inferior to the white man.  All but people of European heritage were viewed as less intelligent and even a threat to the American way of life at the beginning of the Civil War era. There was, however, change happening. Proof of this change can be found in the Lincoln-Douglass debates of 1858. Douglass was a representative of what was about to change-- racism. Lincoln stood for giving non-whites a chance to thrive, while still seeing them as inferior. Even though Lincoln still viewed white as the superior race, he thought that all people should have their natural rights. He thought that non-whites deserved a chance to prove themselves as a race. Even though his views were flawed with a tint of racism, it was these views that changed American history as we know it.
Lincoln was simply a representative for the movement that was taking place in most of the North. This movement lead to the abolition of slavery and the growing opportunity for non-whites in America. Views of race was forever changed in America. People still opposed equality for non-whites and whites, but it was a giant step for mankind in the walk of equality for all.