Buffalo soilders and Native Americains

The class started a new lesson called "buffalo soldiers". To prepare for this lesson the class watched videos on ABC-CLIO. We then came up with the essential question which was, " Did the government have good intentions when enacting policies for westward expansion? In what ways did the policies impact the natives and buffalo soldiers?". To answer these questions, we analyzed documents the created multiple choice questions that not only were for our exam, but to help better comprehend the essential question.
 

When enacting the policies for the westward expansions, the government had good intentions. The goal of the westward expansion was so that the government had more control over America and to accomplish that, they created policies to wipe out the Native Americans. An example was the Dawes act. Stated in the Dawes act reading, it was "an act to provide for the allotment of lands in severally to Indians on various reservations". This policy specifically focused on trying to wipe out the Native culture although it was said to help reserve land for Native . Another example was the Carlisle school system. This system was created to Americanize the Indian youth. Henry Pratt, founder of this school system, thought this would be good for the native children. It stated " kill the Indian in them and save the man." This shows that Pratt had good intention because he believed that the better way was to take way the native culture.

http://mtviewmirror.com/western-expansion-leads-to-imperialism/

 With all these policies created it caused a rise up in which was when the Buffalo soldiers were created. Buffalo soldiers were African American soldiers that were ordered to fight against the Natives. The government provided the Buffalo soldiers with handed down weapons and a low supply of horses. The war gave African Americans opportunities to jobs in the military. At that point, the African Americans were seen higher than the Natives since they were doing the government a favor.

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jun/18/news/la-yosemite-buffalo-soldiers-national-recognition-20130618 

 

I don't think that the government had good intentions when enacting these policies for the Westward expansion. I think they were just thinking about themselves and becoming successful so they did anything to achieve their goal. They tried to make it seem like they wanted to better the Native Americans lives by creating all these policies when really, they just wanted gold and to rule more land and find gold. They also used the African American troops to fight for them in the war so they did not have to lose men.

Robber Baron or Capitian of Industry?

The class started a new lesson called Carnegie and Rockefeller. For this lesson the teacher assigned the students to come up with an essential question. As a class, students watched a series of short video clips on The business of America.  As students watched the videos, they took notes in small I digital group google docs. Students then chose to read primary documents and take notes in those groups. As a class they came together and decided on the essential question, "Should Andrew Carnegie and John D Rockefeller be classified as robber barons or captains of industry".

Robber Barons was a term used in the 19th century to describe the industrialist that would  describe a leader who had a personal fortune the positively contributed to the country. Robber barons were seen as corrupt, cruel, and sportsmanship-like. They bribed government officials, hired personal army's, treated workers poorly, and destroyed rival business. Although they had many bad characteristics they advanced the U.S. by moving forward American output but not by modern day standards. Captains of industry appeared during the time of intense economic and industrial growth after the American Civil War during the 19th century. They were very successful who created successful American companies. They were compassionate and serious about their job and their job usually had an important impact on the country.

Andrew Carnegie was considered captains of industry because he donated towards the New York Public library. He also was a steel tycoon. He published an article in 1889 called "Gospel of Wealth"  to exhaustive philosophy of social Darwinism. However, he was also considered a robber barons because he was influential on starting employees working up to 72 hours a week in harsh conditions and paying them low wages.

http://www.slideshare.net/bright9977/life-of-andrew-Carnegie

John D. Rockefeller was also considered both captains of industry and robber barons. Rockefeller was a prime leader of the Standard Oil Company which was the first great U.S. business trust. He was a notable philanthropist who donated millions of dollars to help education and found public library. He was considered robber barons because he paid his workers very low wages. He demanded rebates from the railroads. These methods were used to to reduce the price to his consumers. He also compelled  smaller companies to acquiescence their stock to his control.

http://www.boreme.com/posting.php?id=37986#.VYHwYX8o6Uk

In today's world robber barons and captains of industry still exist. A current example of Robber baron company is the iphone company. Although is very helpful and has positively contributed back to society, they run sweatshops that are in terrible conditions. The workers in the sweatshops work long hours and do not pay them on fair wages. On the other hand, the apple company could be considered captains of industry because it often gives back to the community. Just recently, they donated 50 million dollars to Stanford University hospitals. I think that all company founders can be considered both robber barons and captains of industry because sometime they have bad techniques that could achieve great things.

http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/01/apple-inc-aapls-india-strategy/