LAD #24 Dawes Sevarly Act

Passed in 1887 the Dawes Severalty Act was just another way for the government to control the Native Americans. The act was written by a Massachusetts senator, Senator Henry Dawes. It stated that the President was able to break up reservations and reallocate the land to individual Native Americans. This was an attempt to assimilate Native Americans into western culture. In addition the act allowed for any "left-over" land to be sold by the United States government. The land that was given to the Native Americans was very poor and was in no condition for farming. The United States government was using this Act to exceed power over the Native Americans.

LAD #29 Keating-Owen Child Labor Laws

The census of 1900 helped the public to see the absurd amount of children working in factories and mines and mills. The National Child Labor Committee hired Lewis Hine to take photos of children in poor working conditions to add to the controversy in an attempt to make a change in the world. Charles Dickens also helped to show the bring the public opinion out especially with the novel 'Oliver Twist'. The Keating Owen Act forbade any interstate trade by factories who employed children under 14 and mines under 16, as well as poor working hours for children. This act was soon declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and so another law, the Revenue Act of 1919, but this was also found unconstitutional. The federal government had little it could do to regulate child labor so an amendment was called for. In 1938 the Fair Labor Standard Act was passed and then in 1941 it was proved constitutional which reversed the previous decision in Hammer v. Dagenhart.
This is an example of child labor in factories.

LAD #28 Wilson's Inaugural Address

President Wilson points out that the change in presidents is going to be a good thing because it means that both the executive and legislative branches are democratic. This means that laws will be able to be passed and made more efficiently. He says that it is not important that the democratic party is having success, it is important that the nation is "refreshed". He realizes some old things are still good for the country, but that new changes need to be made. The United States has achieved great deals of success with industry, but also lives of workers and farmers have been used to make it this way. "We see the bad with the good" he says which means he knows that there are problems. He then goes on to name all these problems, such as tariffs and business ownership. He is basically calling for the change in the Nation. He sees that the public wants a change and President Wilson is rising to the challenge.

LAD #27Clayton Anti-Trust Act

Section 2: This part of the act says that it is against the law to drive the price down in order to create a monopoly. The price should be based on quality, quantity, method of transportation, or to meet the competition. Also, the customers must not be restrained of trade.


Section 3: The companies/corporations can not own parts of the trade such as the transportation or waterways, and also the companies cannot have a fixed price that helps other businesses unlawfully.  In addition, they cannot have contract to lessen the competition.


Section 7: Corporations cannot own the majority of the stock (directly or indirectly) of other corporations in order to try to eliminate the competition.
 This political cartoon shows how monopolies block competition which is why the Clayton Anti-Trust Act was trying to get rid of them.

LAD #26 MLK "I Have a Dream"

Martin Luther King starts the speech out by saying that this day would be remembered by all to be the greatest showing of freedom that this country has to offer. Which I believe to be true because the crowds are so dense and so far and so connected that it is the perfect example of America. He also relates this speech to the Gettysburg address by changing Lincolns words of "four score and seven years ago" to "five score" and also by holding the speech in front of his memorial. Martin Luther King then goes into how both black and white members of this country are supposed to be equal and he refers to the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. He then says "now is the time" to change this. The slaves were freed a hundred years ago and they have fought for freedom ever since, "now is the time" for black people to gain the equality that is deserved. MLK says that they respond to violence with peaceful actions. "I have a dream" relates to how America is built on the American dream, a dream that all Americans follow, brings together whites and blacks which is all about equality. This speech is in genius. America was built on dreams and this is just another way in which America grows and becomes the best country in the world.

#25Bryan's Cross of Gold Speech

Most people were favorable of the gold coins, except the people of the Populist Party. They were the only people interested in the silver coins, that is until William Jennings Bryan spoke out in a democratic convention. The silver coins would help low income farmers relieve them of their debts.
William Jennings Bryan said that the farms are essential to our country. He says that if the cities burnt down, which was actually probable because fire was a major issue during this time, then they would rise again almost immediately because of the farms, but that would not be the case with the farms. In fact, the cities would also fail if the farms did. So since the silver coins were necessary for the country to survive we should switch and since the United States was so powerful other countries would follow. If these other countries did not want to follow then the United States would still prosper.
This speech was significant because it wiped out the Populists Party's chances of ever being successful.

LAD #23 Populist Party Platform

The Populist Party arose during the time of big business. The party mostly wanted to give control to the  population and secure that the money earned will not be taken away. They wanted unions to be legal for everyone. They wanted the government to control the railroads. It seems to me to be another form of the democratic party with the only difference being that they didn't want to take money from the population. One interesting thing that was included was they wanted to take land away from the new immigrants that moved to the United States, but I guess that it makes sense because they didn't want them taking their jobs.

LAD #22 McKinley's War Message

President McKinley addresses congress to instate the Spanish-American War, but in truth the war wasn't even a war. The war was actually happening in Cuba where Cubans and Spaniards fought for power. This war was three years long and would most likely have been longer if President McKinley hadn't stepped in. McKinley sent a message to Spain that warned them if they continued to fight that the United States would take action to provide assistance to Cuba. The Spanish ended the war quite soon after this in order to avoid conflict with the United States. McKinley addresses congress in order to help Cuba and he gives 4 reasons:
1. To end the inhumane actions taking place in Cuba
2. To protect the people of Cuba because they have no government to protect them
3. In the interest of the economy and trade of the United States.
4. To protect the United States because Cuba wasn't very far away.
He ends the speech by basically saying that he knows that Congress will end up doing the right thing.