LAD/Blog #39: Brown v Board of Education

Linda Brown

The 1954 Supreme Court case, Brown v Board of Education, the Supreme Court ruled that segregating schools was unconstitutional. This overturned their original ruling in 1896 in Plessy v Ferguson, which set the precedent for "separate but equal" in segregating public places. Oliver Brown filed a class-action suit against the Board of Education of Topeka after his daughter, Linda Brown, was denied entry into an all-white elementary school. The case went before the U.S. District Court in Kansas that agreed the segregation violated the Fourteenth Amendment, but still upheld the "separate but equal" ruling.

The Little Rock Nine were another group of

African Americans that were integrated into a white

school and had the National Guard as protection.

LAD/Blog #38: Truman Doctrine

        Truman addresses the concern of aiding Greece in their reconstruction. The leadership of Greece had continuously been undermined by communistic men, and they were asking for American economic resources and advisors to oversee the reconstruction progress. Before, both Britain and the United States had been supporting Greece, but not to a great extent. Britain could no longer provide support, leaving the responsibility to the United States. Truman went on to explain that the American foreign policy was to support the free European nations in need, otherwise they might all fall and leave the world, again, in disarray.

The Marshall Plan, passed in 1948, was another financial

aid program to provide European nations with

a way to pull themselves economically out of the 

pit they put themselves in during WWII.

LAD/Blog #37: FDR's Executive Order 9066

Executive Order 9066

           FDR issued his Executive Order 9066 as a security measure for the United States after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The order basically gave the Secretary of War and Military Commanders the right to create military areas and relocate Japanese-Americans to them. In these areas, people were excluded and the commanders could impose their own restrictions. Plus, the President asked for the support of several Federal agencies, which was seen in "Home is a Horse Stall", where Sox was put into an internment camp created by the Federal government. Considering how bad the bombing was, I understand FDR's need for national security. I also believe that the internment camps took it too far by excluding the Japanese-Americans, most of whom had been born in the United States and were American citizens.

The Dawes Act of 1887 permitted the

selling of Native American land, 

while the tribes were being pushed

into reservations and excluded from

the decisions.

LAD/Blog #36: FDR's Declaration of War

US declaration of war

        On December 8, 1941, President Roosevelt declared war on Japan. The bombing of Pearl Harbor, "a date that will live in infamy" pushed the United States, once again, into a European war. FDR explained to the nation that he was no longer able to remain neutral in this fight and had to defend his country against the now hostile Japan. In the vote to declare war, Jeanette Rankin was the only one to vote against it, earning her the nickname "Japanette" Rankin and causing the rest of Congress to look down upon her.

This was similar to the United States declaring 

war in the Great War because like defending 

themselves against Japan, the US was defending

against Germany.

LAD/Blog #35: Home was a Horse Stall

Japanese Internment Camp

            Sox and her family were just one of the many innocent families pushed into internment camps by the American government. The hostility towards Japanese-Americans was absolutely unacceptable, even though thousands had been lost in the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This was just another way for racist Americans to express their feelings in the name of patriotism. Store owners began to turn away Japanese customers, leaving them without food or clothing and violence sprang up once again. FDR officially made it clear to Japanese-Americans that they were unwelcome in the United States by issuing Executive Order 9066 and the Civilian Exclusion Order No. 27. Although it was very obvious that FDR was trying to keep American citizens from retaliating, but the Japanese internment camps could even be compared to the concentration camps in Nazi Germany. Sox and her family had to stay in an extremely small horse stall with nothing but straw pallets to sleep on. When they were moved once again, the barracks under construction made Sox very happy. The barracks were sadly such a blessing to these Japanese-Americans, who had everything taken away from them. These Japanese-Americans faced so much wrong after Pearl Harbor, all of which was not their fault. I feel extremely sad for these people who lost most of their possessions and the pieces they brought from home to remind them of their native culture.

Similar to the internment camps, Native Americans

were forced onto reservations where they were

forcibly controlled and assimilated.

LAD/Blog #34: FDR's First Inaugural

FDR's First Inaugural

            On March 4th, 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural address to the American people. He began the speech by telling the citizens that the United States was facing some harsh conditions, but he would do his best to rise and meet those head on. FDR asked for their support through the dark times, saying that "the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself". FDR outlined his plan to treat the Great Depression after the stock market crash as war, and mobilize the American Homefront to increase productivity and lower unemployment. He then mentions his good neighbor policy, changing the old one, to respect the rights and agreements of other countries. Concluding his speech, he asked for the public to trust him, as he was going to assume a lot of power in the coming years.

President Herbert Hoover was a lot

like FDR in that he tried to help

the United States during the Great Depression.

Unfortunately, for him, it was "too little, too late".

LAD/Blog #33: Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact

Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact signing

             This pact, also known as the Pact of Paris, was meant to outlaw war to prevent another global conflict. European nations and the United States realized that the Treaty of Versailles was not working in that prevention, so they tried another route to keep the peace. The pact is named after Artiste Briand, the man who proposed the treaty to keep war from between America and France, and Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg. In total, after several countries settled their debates on whether to ratify it, the pact was signed by sixty-two nations. To enforce this pact, the League of Nations would have to be strong in their willingness to break up and prevent fights from between countries. Their first test came with the Mukden Incident, where Japan invaded Manchuria, but nobody came to China's aid. It seemed as though the path towards another global conflict was inevitable.

Wilson's Fourteen Points of Peace, although
they mostly not used, outlined a plan
to keep the peace between countries
and prevent another world war.

LAD/Blog #32: Wilson's 14 Points of Peace

To President Wilson, these points may have seemed realistic, as many of them are, but most could have only happened in his wildest dreams. He wanted to treat the losing side fairly, so as to prevent another war. Unfortunately, the Allies had different plans and wanted Germany to pay for the long years of suffering they had put them through. They tried their best to restore Europe and its countries back to the way they were, except Germany. Despite Wilson's insistence to go easy on them, the Treaty of Versailles took away most freedoms that Germans enjoyed and sank them deeply in debt. The thing that really stuck to the guidelines of Wilson's 14 Points of Peace was the 14th point, forming a general association of nations to keep the peace throughout the world. Thus, the League of Nations was born. The 14 Points of Peace may have seemed like the best way to restore Europe at the time, but most points were idealistic.

At the end of World War II, the Axis powers

signed peace treaties with the Allies which were

as harsh, if not more than the treaties signed after

the Great War.

LAD/Blog #31: Schenck v United States

Pamphlet telling the public
to resist the draft.

Charles Schenck and Elizabeth Baer distributed leaflets telling people to peacefully resist the draft, since they believed it violated the Thirteenth Amendment. Both Schenck and Baer were convicted of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and appealed to the court by saying that the statute violated the First Amendment. The court upheld that the First Amendment was not actually violated, and defined, for the first time, the "clear and present danger" doctrine. Justice Oliver Wendall Holmes compared it to shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theatre, which would cause massive amounts of panic and destruction.

Peter Zenger also went on trial for speaking out 

against the government. In this case, he was 

acquitted and became the defining factor

in free speech.

LAD/ Blog #30: Wilson's First Inaugural

Wilson's First Inaugural Address

Woodrow Wilson first acknowledged that people had changed their perspectives on the nation and had a strong desire to rectify the wrong-doing that had been occurring for some time. He believed that the government was powerful and could handle the change that it needed to undergo. He wanted to send the message that the government was able to go against big businesses, but it needed the support of the people to do so. Wilson also states that the government, while the nation prospered under a great economy, had forgotten about its people and the environment. He thought that it was time for a change in perspective and a correction of the wrong-doings, specifically the harmful tariffs, food quality, labor laws, and lack of environmental preservation. These progressive beliefs were his idea of the law's duty to protect the nation it served.

Teddy Roosevelt was another president

who regulated big businesses and was nicknamed

the "Trustbuster".

LAD/Blog #29: Clayton Anti-Trust Act

Clayton Anti-Trust Act

The Clayton Anti-Trust Act was an addition to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. It was meant to increase the effectiveness of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which had the greater impact out of the two. The Clayton Anti-Trust Act focused more on the price discrimination, price fixing, and unfair business practices still in use during the Progressive Era. Enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and the Antitrust division of the Department of Justice, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act took down price discrimination and big business merging, which destroyed competition. It stated that discrepancies in prices could only occur due to the quality of the products and prohibited people from selling at lower prices when their intent was to create a monopoly. The Sherman Anti-Trust Act and the Clayton Anti-Trust Act worked well together, one banning monopolies, and the other prohibiting their formation.

The Celler-Kefauver Act of 1950 prohibited
big businesses from buying up their competition's
assets, which was a loophole they found through
the Clayton Anti-Trust Act.

LAD/Blog #28: Keating-Owen Child Labor Act

Keating-Owen regulations for labor

The Keating-Owen Child Labor Act does not allow manufacturers, producers, or traders to operate unless they have had 30 days without children under the age of 16 working in manufacturing, children 14-16 working more than 8 hours a week, and children under 14 working. A committee was also created by the Attorney General, Secretary of Commerce, and Secretary of Labor to enforce these guidelines. Plus, it allows inspections of the factories to make sure illegal child labor was not taking place and that any violations must be reported so the proper procedure could be used in court. The punishments for violations included jail time and fines. The Act concludes with the statement that it would take affect one year after it had passed. Unfortunately, it did not last very long as the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional in Hammer v Dagenhart, since they believed it to be exceeding the government's role in regulating commerce.

Lewis Hine, a muckraker during the progressive movement,

photographed child labor to encourage the reform of 

child labor laws in America

LAD/Blog #27: MLK Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" Speech

MLK's "I Have a Dream Speech" being given 1963

Being the well-known civil rights advocate that he was, Martin Luther King Jr. voiced his stance on the matter clearly in his "I Have a Dream" speech. He believed that white and black communities could be combined together, and peace could fall over the nation. When talking about the Emancipation Proclamation and Lincoln, he stresses the fact that even over a hundred years later after freeing the slaves, African Americans still face lingering oppression and racism within the United States. King then compares the Constitution to a check, which was meant for both black and white races, but nonetheless, the check was marked for "insufficient funds" for blacks. He did not believe that the "bank of justice is bankrupt" and continued to fight against the injustices, stating his dreams where "all men are created equal" and children would not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Rosa Parks was another civil rights advocate

who was arrested for refusing to sit in the back of

the bus. This led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott

of 1955-1956.

LAD/Blog #26: William Jennings Bryan's "Cross of Gold" Speech

Cross of Gold

        William Jennings Bryan delivered this speech in the hopes of advocating economic bimetallism. He believed that one amount of gold and a different amount of silver should be equal to another and supported the Democrats saying the dollar should be standardized to silver. Therefore, this would help the poor farmers out West and lead to Bryan's economic populism.

The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was also aimed towards

helping the farmers, as Bryan stated in his speech.

LAD/Blog #25: The Dawes Act

The Dawes Act

           The Dawes Act gave the President the power to split up Native American tribal land and give it to individual people. He was allowed to do this with any reservation land he deemed advantageous for farming and permitted the government to sell Native American land to American settlers. Also, the government was allowed to build railroads, highways, and other infrastructures through the reservation land. Plus, it increased the amount of assimilation of Native Americans into American culture.

The Homestead Act of 1862 also divided up land

in the West to those seeking to farm. It permitted

the government to have control of the land

and American settlers in the West.

LAD/Blog #24: Populist Party Platform

Populist Party campaign poster

          The Populist Party originally based their beliefs off opposing big businesses and all they stand for. Some of the first members included in the party were farmers who believed in unions and the basic rights of people for all workers. They were supporters of increased government control, and made sure all the railroads were controlled by the government. The Populist Party leaned in support of the people and their rights, going against corruption in business.

In Trump's 2016 election, he campaigned with speech

that made him seem like the common man. He put into

the minds of United States citizens that he was just another

ordinary person that would represent them and make

sure all their rights were being protected.

LAD/Blog #23: McKinley's War Message

McKinley's War Message

           McKinley eventually changed his mind towards neutrality in the Cuba v Spain war. He believed it was the United States' obligation to protect Cuba under the Monroe Doctrine and soon joined the fray. Besides protecting Cuban interests, McKinley thought that he had American interests at heart. He thought the war was hurting international trade and commerce between the United States and Cuba. The war proved to be a danger to American peace, and an expensive one at that.

Woodrow Wilson's war message asking Congress

to declare war on Germany was similar to McKinley's

as he felt it was right to protect other countries, and most

of all, the welfare of the United States.