ch 24

Before this chapter it seems as though the United States was making such great progress!  Reading about the great depression is so depressing!  Just like that the stock market crashed and many people were in a world of hurt.  It is also sad to think about so many people being jobless and living in such poverty in the United States.  I like FDR.  I did a whole report on him once and he seemed like he tried his best to make a bad situation better.  Eleanor Roosevelt seems like she was really trying to help make a difference.  It was nice to see her trying to help.  

ch 23

Oh my goodness, do you ever stop to think about what we would do without our vehicles?  I know I would miss my car for sure.  It is so convenient to hop into your car and drive to the grocery store or to school or home or to see family and friends.  I could not imagine how long it took people to travel for just simple things before the automobile.  I think I would spend a lot more time at home!  The picture on page 554 is hilarious!  How did people ever find their car?  The cars are all made in an assembly line and they all look the same.   Thank god for November 2, 1920 because I love listening to music on the radio.  Listening to music is fun and relaxing.  I am not surprised on how quickly it became popular.  I think that anyone could see that prohibition wasn’t going to make people very happy.  

ch 21

This chapter was surprising to me because there was so much that I knew so little about!  Usually I have a pretty good idea about what we are reading about already.  I had never heard the term “muckrackers” before this reading, but they seem like they can be compared to some of our journalists today.  I guess we will always have corruption and people will always be around who dig it up and were elaborate about it in their words to the public.  I think it is such a great thing that people realized working conditions were hazardous and started campaigning to make them better.  I cannot imagine if working conditions were still that bad in America today.  I certainly would not want to work in a cramped factory with poor ventilation for long hours with no breaks.  It sounds awful.  

E.C. ch 19

I have never been around New York, but I think it would be cool to see where all the immigrants had to come through when coming to America.  I think it is so odd that native born Americans did not like immigrants so much when just a few years before their family members were immigrants!

I love sports so I am so happy to read about them becoming popular in America!  It said baseball, horse racing and boxing were popular.  I play soccer, but I love watching baseball and boxing.  I think horse racing can be fun to attend every now and then.   

I find it odd that the book talks about what I great writer Mark Twain was, yet I have never had to read any of his work for school.  

chapter 18

This chapter seems like the United States is making some real growth!  It is nice to see that after everything the United States went through to get started, progress is finally being shown.  Companies were expanding and things like a telephone and light bulb were invented!  It is so interesting to think about how rare and amazing a telescope and a light bulb were for people back then, but today I can assure you it would be extremely hard to find someone that did not use a phone or a light bulb as a normal everyday thing.  I bet Alexander Gram Bell would be shocked to see how far phones have come.  I mean you unlock them with your finger print now!!!  In addition I think labor unions are for the most part good.  My dad is part of a union and I think it is beneficial.  

chapter 17

Reading about the Indians reminds me of fourth grade.  We learned about Indians in the fourth grade and everyone got to pick a tribe about write a report about it.  I was very into it and loved hearing about everyone’s different tribes.  It surprises me that there were not a greater number of Indians who causes uprising like Sitting Bull.  I watched a movie on Custer’s last stand at the Little Big Horn and though it didn’t get the Indians any positive outcomes besides winning the battle they still tried to fight for their land and their culture.  I cannot say they were wrong to try to stand up for themselves.  It saddens me that these people were once so free and all because white people think they have more right to the land the Indians had to be pinned down to small tribal lands.  I think the railroad brought about a great deal of good.  It opened jobs for immigrants, allowed people to settle west more easily and helped transport cattle.  I like reading about the cattle drives, I live on a ranch and my family raises cattle.  We also ship our calves off to stockyards like they drove their cattle to in Abilene. I also had no idea the Yellowstone National Park was founded so long ago (1872).

chapter 16

I know that the reconstruction after the civil war is important but I find it a bit less entertaining than reading about the actual war.  The Ku Klux Klan stands out in this chapter as being a group filled with very harsh and cruel people.  There is finally hope for black people and it amazes me how some people were still so awful to the black race.  

chapter 15

I love reading about the civil war!  I hope I have time to go back through and read the whole chapter.  I liked the part about recruitment and conscription.  I thought the confederacy would have enough volunteers, I never knew they drafted men to fight.  It always seemed to me like the south was eager to fight.  I think in a time of civil war Lincoln handled leadership very well.  I think it is a little unfair that women did the job of men while they were at war but after the war so no status gains.  

ch 14

It kind of surprises me that through the compromise of 1850 Utah and New Mexico Territories were territories open to slavery.  I thought they would more likely be free sense they were free when they were under Mexican rule.  The thing that caught my attention in this chapter was Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  It seems as though this book really caught people attention and pushed them to take an aggressive antislavery position.  I can only imagine how moving the play of this book must have been.  I cannot think of many people who could read about a woman and her infant running away from hounds and trying to cross an icy river and an old man being wiped excessive and the person reading it still being able to be proslavery.  No wonder so many minds were swayed against slavery in a major way.

expansion (chapter 13)

I loved the reading in this chapter!  I am able to stay so interested and focused on this part of the United States history.  The number of Irish people that came here all in a short period of time is crazy!  I have watched a couple movies on the Alamo, so reading about it reminds me of the movies and I was able to picture images in my mind more easily.  I think Santa Anna was pretty heartless being able to kill every single person there!  He even killed the injured who could not even fight.  It surprises me that early on California was not such an attraction.  I thought it had always attracted people, but it seems like it was the gold rush that gave people incentive to make the difficult journey to California.

fed paper 10

Honestly I am horrible about reading government papers and documents!  I do not really keep up with politics or things like that very much.  It was hard for me to read this paper and understand exactly what they were talking about.  What I think I was able to get out of the paper was that our government has come up with ways to deal with factions.  It doesnt seem like it is very easy but the best way to deal with factions is controlling their effects.  I do not really feel comfortable writting about this type of thing because I do not fully understand it.

southern ways

The first thing that struck me in the chapter is how cotton was over half of all exports in the U.S. in 1860.  I knew it was a big deal, but I never knew how important it was to the United States economy.  I though it was odd that after Nat Turner led a slave rebellion there was much done to end slavery.  In the South I think it worsened the chances of freedom!  I think it is so horrible that plantation women had to help raise the children her husband had with another women!!!  I really do not think I could do that.  I can not image watching a kid grow up that everyday reminded me my husband cheated on me.  What a horrible feeling to have all your life.  I also thought the part about the slave families being torn apart was just awful.  It said that I one life time a slave would see 11 family member be sold or traded.