Character Blogs

Theodore Roosevelt

1. As a young one, Theodore Roosevelt was a sickly child who was often in bed. Because he had always been in bed sick, once he was older and was stronger, he would spend his time in the outdoors, and eventually grew to go to and graduate from Harvard. After his wife died, he grew to be interested in politics, where he then thought about the idea of Manifest Destiny, meaning he believed the U.S. should eventually spread throughout the world.
2. The first policy that should be known and is correlated with Theodore Roosevelt would be the Big Stick Policy which means that countries should not be afraid to use military force if countries needed to be controlled. He also added the Roosevelt Corollary to ensure that if European countries invaded in Central and South America, then they would be able to intervene. Lastly, he helped create the Progressive Party which was advocating for progressive change.
3. Roosevelt attempted to advance the nation by making their influence spread. He made the country believe and advocate for the overall imperialistic ideas of taking over the world. He advanced the nation by making them more involved in foreign affairs.

Woodrow Wilson

1. To begin with, Wilson was a man who was greatly interested in the academics and was interested in politics from an early age. He went to Princeton University and later on would become professor, then even became the University President. He came up with the idea Moral Internationalism, meaning that because the U.S. was so privileged, it had the right to be involved in all world affairs.

2. To begin with, Wilson was involved in the Treaty of Versailles, which ultimately ended World War I. After this, he created the 14 points in which all the leaders of the countries would get together to discuss global issues. In addition to this, he created the United Nations which would enforce the 14 points established.

3. He advanced the nation by making sure there was some way that the United States would be involved in foreign affairs. By creating the United Nations, the U.S. would have the power to be involved in all the world issues. This, in turn, would allow the U.S. to spread its power further into other countries.

Ida Tarbell

1. This woman came from a farming background and from a family that was humble in their surroundings. Her family had worked hard to receive what they had, and in fact established a small oil company themselves. However, later on large corporations such as the one owned by Rockefeller took their small shares for themselves. She later in life became a muckracker and became famous for exposing the Rockefeller corporation.

2. Tarbell was most famous for her exposure of the Rockefeller corporations in her series "The History of the Standard Oil Company". This then led to the investigation of the company which was then separated into 6 smaller companies. She opposed the 19th amendment and believed that women should be happily reserved in their homes.

Robert La Follette

1. Just like Tarbell, La Follette came from a humble background, and grew up in a rural area with his family. Because of this, he knew the struggle of being an average American and took that into consideration once he was elected for the House of Representatives. Even though he was a Republican, he went after any Republican or any Democrat he saw to be corrupt and created the Wisconsin Idea in which he tried to get the democracy to be fully for the people.

2. The most important act that La Follette was involved with was the Sedition Act. Although he may not of created this Act, he can be correlated with it since he fought openly against it. He believed that it was unconstitutional and fought to get Eugene Debs released from prison for speaking ill about the government.

3. Robert La Follete advanced the nation in the sense that he tried to even out the equality in the country.  He attempted to find a way where the people would receive most of the power of the government, even though he was not all that successful. He was the only one that while in government, continued to fight for the constitutional rights of the people.

John D. Rockefeller

1. Originally, John D. Rockefeller was born in a farm with a well off family. His family was not exactly rich, but was not poor either. They owned a farm, and eventually sold it to buy a larger area of land in which they prospered even more. Rockefeller continued to go on to University and became one of the people at the top of his class. In addition to this, he obtained a well paying job at early age and with a bit of investment, he created the Standard Oil Company which ultimately made him one of the most rich.

2. John Rockefeller was mostly involved in the monopoly business. He knew how to make his country advance through 

3. John Rockefeller advanced the nation through the economical scale. He took over the economic side of the United States through the oil companies and the railroad companies. This in turn, made the United States one of the most influential and most wealthy countries.

Eugene V. Debbs

1. For the most part, Debbs grew up in a household full of german culture. The family was not vastly wealthy, but they were able to carry themselves well throughout their lives. Later on Debbs grew to work in a library and that is where he grew to gain knowledge to speak out against the government and their tactic of governing.

2. The main legislature that Eugene V. Debbs was involved with was the Sedition Act. The Sedition Act states that if you speak ill about the government, then you will be incarcerated. This is exactly what Debbs was subject to. Because he spoke about the way the government was governing the people, he was sentenced to time in jail even though he wanted to run for president. At the same time, he created the American Railroad Union in which rights were given to many workers of the railroad business.

3. Debbs advanced the nation, not only by speaking about the improvement of the government, but also by advocating for the rights of the working class. He made sure that there would be regulations and processes that would ensure that they would receive good working conditions. This was a social improvement and advancement since it raised awareness for the lower class.

Life After The Reconstruction

For the most part, African Americans were still visualized as being of a lower class. They were still thought of as being slaves and that still deserved to be treated like animals. In the south, Even though it was believed that they would have freedom, what ended up occurring was that the southerners were finding loopholes and were finding ways to make sure that the negroes would stay under them. They would pass regulations that would still allow the whites to have the ultimate power over them. Also, life for African Americans after the reconstruction was extremely difficult since they were usually attacked by furious whites. Many were lynched, beaten, and even killed in public. Because of these violent attacks, it was then that regulations and amendments were made. One famous amendment was the 14th Amendment in which equal rights were granted to anyone born in the untied states. Other famous laws were the black codes that were essentially established to help ensure the safety of the African Americans

Italian Immigration

Italian Immigration

The italian group came to the United States, initially, in order to flee the chaos that was occurring in their homeland. During the time that italians were coming, there were major issues occurring back in Italy. Before a certain era, Italy was not a full country and was in constant war up until 1861. This area was made up of various different territories and once they were made to unite there was much tension between the areas that had been combined. This made people want to leave and abandon their homeland.

1. Initially, when the Italian immigrants arrived in the United States, they would initially come through Ellis island. As a matter of fact, in the 1880s, the number of people that were coming through were up to 5,000 people a day. In that same year it was estimated that there was about 300,000 total that went through and stayed in the United States. In the year of 1890, the number of people that had arrived had doubled to 600,000 people. By the 1920s, which is 40 years later, the number of italian immigrants had increased to 4 million people.
2. For the most part, the United States allowed immigration to be passed without many regulations. They were basically allowed to both arrive and go through. At Ellis Island, they would come in as thousands and would typically be greatly revised before allowing to be let in. There would be a routine in which the immigrants would constantly have to be revised by different doctors and go through different tests. One would be a physical test in which their physique would be double checked and to help determine if they would be physically equipped for the labor that they would have to do in the United States. They would also be put through mental tests to see if their mental state was healthy enough to have as a citizen in the United States.
3. For the most part, the citizens of the United States would see the Italian immigrants as a lower class. For the most part, it was observed that they were found to be extremely different. To the rest of society, they were observed to be rowdy and were still seen as Italians rather than Americans. Even when they were in their small villages, when taken pictures of, they were always thought of as outsiders.
4. For the most part they were also seen as a cultural amount of people. They would all stick to their traditions even though they were in the Americas. It is believed that they would be in the streets and have their own flea markets. As a matter of fact, they were also following through with religious traditions too. One famous tradition was when they would all have a parade and honor their patron Saint.
5. Italians, for the most part were allowed to travel into the United States. They were seen as a good labor force and were typically basically let in when they arrived. However, there was one point in which there was beginning to be an overcrowding of italians in the city. What was occurring was that there was beginning to be an overflow of immigrants, and there was not enough work to take care of the immigrants and the people began to blame them for taking away jobs from the Americans.
6. Answered in 5&6