... on my posts starting on Friday, July 6th.
7/6/07
One of the themes on which this class seems to encompass is the idea that "history is a dangerous subject". In fact, I've been given a handout to read with that slogan as it's title. After reading it, I don't feel like history is as influential as the authors depict. If it was, then we (as in humanity) would learn from our past and cease to repeat its mistakes.
For example, in the early 1800's the Federalists enacted unjust laws in order to preserve their party's dominance; stripping Americans of several of their freedoms. This plan later backfired, as the Jeffersonians took over and managed to remain in power until the Federalist party dissolved nearly a decade later. Presently, the current administration has done much of the same. The only difference is that instead of passing laws (aside from the Patriot Act), they are more inclined to just regard them as speed bumps and declare executive privilege as if that entitles them to immunity.
I was also encouraged by my instructor to read the last chapter of the book - first. In it, the author seems to scramble to find a way to put the past 5-6 years into perspective. He fails miserably. He brushes on the actions president Bush, but fails to give any insight on the results (or lack thereof) of what he has done. It was a painful read; a sour reminder of the president's neglect of science, the environment, the economy, international opinion, and most importantly: the will of the American people.
7/9/07
The reconstruction after the Civil War was far from an effort to rebuild the nation. It could best be considered an uphill battle. The emancipation of the slaves was a decree of freedom, but the word "freedom" had been used many times in the past - long before the war began. This meant that the concept of freedom would once more need to be defined.
If a person needed insight on how to go about describing freedom, all they would have to do is ask someone who's never had it. One former slave declared that "education was the next best thing to liberty." Education. It is the foundation on which progressive and rational thinking stands, yet could very well be the biggest thing our society has taken for granted today. How many kids do you know that would be willing to fight for the right to go to school? These days, it seems as if they'd rather fight to stay out of it. I know I did.
7/10/07
Due, in part, to the Reconstruction - plus the 2nd Industrial Revolution, you see farmers lose their economic independence. They leave their homes in search for work. They labor at factories for meager wages for long, painful hours. They have minimum safety, no compensations for injuries, and no protection from unemployment. Even then, much of the working class remained desperately poor; relying on the sum of their entire family's income just to survive.
At the same time, their unrelenting employers are constantly absorbed by larger, more powerful corporations. Between 1897 & 1904, some 4,000 firms vanished into larger companies that served national markets and exercised an unprecedented degree of control over the marketplace.
By 1890, the richest 1% of Americans owned more property that the remaining 99%! All of this happens in just 25 years. Even the founding fathers of this country believed that land was key to freedom. Someone had to have noticed the suffering of the common man in America. But, where are the dissenters? Where are the government officials, senators, and congressmen who saw all of this going on and said to themselves, "This isn't right."?
Apparently, there weren't any. None that managed to make it into my book anyhow.
7/11/07
The people started to wise up to what was going on. Per my book: "Americans came to believe that they were being denied economic independence and democratic self-government."
Why did Foner (the author) use the word "believe" I wonder. Why not use the word realize? Is he implying that they weren't?
Freedom took a nasty turn in the late 1800's. In fact, it looks like human progress shifted into reverse. 8,000 militiamen were dispatched by the governor of Pennsylvania to protect the interests of the Carnegie Corporation against an employee protest. The farmers; those lucky enough to consider themselves self-employed, faced increasing economic insecurity. They were locked into perpetual property due to tenant farming, faced excessive interest rates on bank loans, and were forced to pay high freight charges by railroad companies to get their crop to consumers. After all, the railroad companies didn't need their business. They weren't tight on money. The government had granted them millions of acres of land to lay their tracks. It was obvious that government support was geared towards trusts and corporations, and not the Average American.
It gets worse. In 1877, the failure of the Populist movement gave way to a new governing power; a coalition of merchants, planters, and business entrepreneurs who dominated the region's politics. They were racists, and sought to undo as much of the reconstruction as possible - especially the public school systems. Both black and white. Here's what one planter said: "What I want here is Negroes who can make cotton, and they don't need education to help them make cotton." Spoken like a true humanitarian.
Slavery actually came back in the south! Southern policemen arrested virtually any unemployed person for petty crimes, then "rented" them out to railroad and lumber companies. This was barely over 100 years ago! I really thought we, as humans, had progressed much sooner than how I'm coming to understand it.
