...America's Post-Civil War Growing Pains Dayna L. Wingert Professor Smith HIS 105 January 22, 2012 In 1865, at Appomattox Court House, Virginia General Robert E. Lee surrendered 27,800 Confederate troops to Grant. This eventually brought about the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, that abolished slavery in this country. The Thirteenth Amendment states that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” (Becker, 1999) This was easily the most significant turning point in the era of Reconstruction. In today's society all races are integrated, this is what creates the American culture. In 2008, all races came together to shatter more than two hundred years of history by electing Barrack Obama, the first African American President of the United States. President Obama put the sentiments of this history making night in to words by stating “Young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans have sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of red states and blue states,” he said. “We have been and always will be the United States of America.” (Johnson, Nove) This is a testament to the end of slavery and the profound impact it has had...
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...‘THE CATCHER IN THE RYE’ AND ‘IGBY GOES DOWN’ – NON-CONFORMITY Both J.D Salinger’s 1951 Bildungsroman novel The Catcher in the Rye and Burr Steer’s film Igby Goes Down, demonstrate that regardless of context, the youth will choose not to conform to socially held values. We can see that this is the manifestation of the vulnerability and hesitation experienced as adolescents like us grow up. Ultimately both these texts explore the search for identity and individualism as a cause for non-conformity. The Catcher in the Rye was written during a post war era and a time of drastic social change. However, many of its conservative values remained and most importantly, the notion of youth conformity was held in high regard. On the other hand, Igby Goes Down is set in the 1980s -1990’s American era, a time of expanding multi national corporations, materialism and commercialism. Salinger and Steers utilise the characterisation of their young, sardonic and rebellious protagonists, Holden and Igby to epitomise non-conformity. The composers allude to the recurring theme of isolation and alienation in both texts. As a result of their non-conformity, the protagonists experience rejection and depression as they search for their selfhood. Similarly, the national ethos of the American Dream is explored as a mere fallacy, and both composers portray this through their protagonist’s wealthy backgrounds and opulent upbringings and yet money doesn’t bring them happiness. Salinger, through literary...
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...he grows closer with as his own family pulls away following the death of his wife. Walt’s isolation from his family as well as his bitter attitude toward the world that changed around him reflect the cultural shift society has undergone and how the American dream has become a nightmare of crime, gangs, sex, and money. Walt’s vintage Gran Torino becomes a symbol, encompassing a time when things were simpler and the future looked bright. As he copes with the changes that occur in every aspect of his life Walt becomes an antihero, driven to do good for the people around him by using the violence built up inside of him from his years in the Korean War. Eastwood embodies a dying generation through the single character of Walt and his personality and actions allow the audience to draw comparisons between the America of yesterday and the America of today, which has immigration, innercity violence, and racism. His direction brings the audience’s attention to these social and cultural issues through his extensive camera work and a well developed screenplay. From the beginning of the film onward, Eastwood uses the camera frame as part of the narrative to show Walt’s position on the world around him. This is first seen when his teenage granddaughter enters the church for her grandmother’s funeral, the audience views her through Walt’s eyes. As shown in Fig 1, Walt does not focus on her face (as he did for the other grandchildren) but instead on her bare midriff and lack of respect at a...
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...The Union victory in the Civil war in 1865 gave millions of slaves their freedom. Although they were free former slaves had many new challenges to face during the rebuilding of the South. This time period is known as Reconstruction (1865- 1877). The reason this time is called Reconstruction is because this was the period when the federal government restored the seceded states to the Union. During the era of Reconstruction there were massive changes in American culture, economy, and politics. Before the Civil war was over President Abraham Lincoln began to prepare his plan for Reconstruction. Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was one of forgiveness, he did not want to punish the southerners. Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was that a southern state could be readmitted to the Union once 10 percent of its voters, who voted in the 1860 election, swore an oath of allegiance to the Union, this plan was called the “10 Percent Plan”. Radical Republicans did not agree with President Lincoln’s plan and they came up with their own plan to counter President Lincoln’s. This plan was the “Wade Davis Bill”, which required 50 percent of a states registered voters to swear an ironclad oath of allegiance to the Unites States. President Lincoln was able to block this bill from passing, but unfortunately he was assassinated before he was able to act on his plan for Reconstruction. President Lincoln’s assassination was a major turning point for this time in history. If President Lincoln had...
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...merica's Post Civil War America’s Post Civil War Growing Pains HIS 105 – Contemporary U.S. History January 30, 2013 “America’s post civil war growing pains” In 1619, African-Americans were forced into slavery and roughly 244 years later, in 1863, as the nation approached its third year of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation declaring that all persons held as slaves were to be freed (U.S. National Archives & Record Administration, 2013). Despite the vague verbiage of the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln, the proclamation was repressed in many ways and did not end slavery as implied, or intended (Freeman, J., 2011). In January of 1865, began the downfall of the Confederacy. In the U.S., post Civil War, Reconstruction began abolishing slavery (Freeman, J., 2011). The Union victory at War promised a new future for the South's 4,000,000 freed African-American men, women and children, who were once slaves (Freeman, J., 2011). After the Civil War ended in May 1865, freedom was to put forth new opportunities for the newly freed African-American slaves (Azpiroz, X., 2012). The year following the Civil War, congress passed the Civil Rights act of 1866 (Azpiroz, X., 2012). The civil Rights Act of 1866 declared that all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens, of every...
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...The Third Man, was filmed in post World War II Vienna, releasing in 1949. The film was written by Graham Greene, directed by Carol Reed, and produced by the American David Selznick and the British Michael Korda. The black and white, pessimistic film “is one of the greatest British thrillers of the post-war era, in the best Alfred Hitchcock tradition, and beautifully produced….It was voted the #1 British Film of the 20th Century” (Tim Dirkes, Filmsite Review) Holly Martins, the unemployed American writer of western novels, comes to Vienna out of disparity. Holly gets invited to Vienna to work by his childhood friend, Harry Lime: It is their friendship that illustrates the disparity in the post World War II era, it describes the deception in people, the lack of morality, and friendship: the underlying plot and theme of the film in The Third Man. 1) How do the producers utilize the setting to make the audience feel the hopelessness in Post-War era, to accent the themes of deception, friendship, and morality in the film? 2) How does the characterization of Holly Martins show the real-life historical attitude of the average person in the post war era,? 3) How does the conflict express the themes in the Third Man? 4) Why is the theme of the movie most important vs. setting, conflict and characterization? In The Third Man, themes of the movie are expressed incoherently though setting, characterization, and conflict. The key element to understanding the theme throughout the movie is...
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...Outline I. INTRODUCTION A. Graham Greene’s The Destructors and D. H. Lawrence The Rocking-Horse Winner B. Even though Green’s The Destructors and Lawrence’s The Rocking-Horse Winner address the same issue, Greene’s story treats the issue of a torrid life differently. II. MAIN BODY A. Setting 1. Graham Greene’s "The Destructors" a. London during post war era b. Area is left with a sense of constant gloominess 2. D. H. Lawrence "The Rocking-Horse Winner" a. London during post war era b. Home seems to be covered with a dark cloud B. Theme 1. Trevor’s family a. Family lives beyond their means. The father was demoted and the mother feels she is better than the neighbors. b. Trevor doesn't want anyone to have more than he does. 2. Paul’s Mother a. Family living well beyond their means. Pleasant house, servants and a nice garden. b. Paul's mother wants money and nothing more. It becomes so intense that all the children can hear is the house whispering. III. CONCLUSION A. Parents sometimes unknowingly place undue burdens on their children. B. Circumstances may be similar however the manner in which they are dealt with can vary greatly. Torrid Lives It’s difficult to know how a child will handle their family’s issues. Graham Greene’s “The Destructor’’ and D. H. Lawrence’s “The Rocking-Horse Winner” both take the reader briefly into the lives of two children dealing with their family issues. Greene tells of a child...
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...‘The immediate post-war years were depicted as an era of social stability of secure functioning institutions, full employment, benign welfare state and trusted systems of expert knowledge.’ How far do you agree with this claim as an accurate picture of the UK after the Second World War? Did things change towards the end of the twentieth century? The question requires a two part answer. First, do I agree with the claim regarding the immediate post war years, and second, was there a change towards the end of the twentieth century? First I shall look to the immediate post war years to see if the claim paints an accurate picture of the era in question, and second, I will look at some of the changes which occurred in more recent times. In the immediate post war years in the UK the traditional nuclear family was a widely accepted concept. The father, as head of the household and the bread winner, would go out to work. In this role he formed the link between the family and the state. The mother’s responsibilities were to take care of the children and the home. Marriage was seen as a heterosexual union and was taken on as a life long commitment. Generally religion and the church would play a part in most family’s lives with religion taught in school during the week and Sunday school or church attendance expected at the weekend. Most men of that era were employed in the manufacturing or industrial sectors and these jobs were generally very secure, widely thought of as ‘jobs for life’...
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...------------------------------------------------- Post–World War II economic expansion From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia "Golden Age of capitalism" redirects here. Other periods this term may refer to are Gilded Age and Belle Époque. In the United States and several other countries, the boom was manifested insuburban development and urban sprawl, aided by automobile ownership. Many Western governments funded large infrastructure projects during this period. Here the redevelopment of Norrmalm and theStockholm Metro, Sweden. The post–World War II economic expansion, also known as the postwar economic boom, the long boom, and the Golden Age of Capitalism, was a period of economic prosperity in the mid-20th century which occurred, following the end of World War II in 1945, and lasted until the early 1970s. It ended with the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, the 1973 oil crisis, and the 1973–1974 stock market crash, which led to the 1970s recession. Narrowly defined, the period spanned from 1945 to 1952, with overall growth lasting well until 1971, though there are some debates on dating the period, and booms in individual countries differed, some starting as early as 1945, and overlapping the rise of the East Asian economies into the 1980s or 1990s. During this time there was high worldwide economic growth; Western European and East Asian countries in particular experienced unusually high and sustained growth, together with full employment. Contrary to early...
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...of Population Growth 1956-2006 11 8.2 The Snowy Mountain Hydroelectric Scheme 11 8.3 Population Growth Since 1945 12 8.4 Fares and travel between Perth and other Australian capitals by air, 1945 12 8.5 Number of Registered Cars and Station Wagons from 1919-2003 12 1.0 Introduction This research report will look into the economic development after World War II producing an increased market of business travellers and tourism in Australia. It will also outline some of the technological, social and cultural impacts on Australia after this time, which also led to the increase in the tourism industry. This report will also discuss how the baby boomers now have a large affect on the tourism industry today. The Guest Host Relationship between tourism and hospitality guests and supplier will also be discussed. 2.0 Economic Development 2.1 Economic Development In the months prior to Australia going to war, the economic conditions had worsen in some states including New South Wales which was still recovering from the Great Depression in 1930s [www.parliament.nsw.gov.au], however at the conclusion of World War II in 1945, Australia, along with many other countries entered an economic boom or “long boom”. Birth rates increased, as well employment rates and living standards [www.parliament.nsw.gov.au]. Migration also increased in...
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...share the same goals and have worked cooperatively through several major conflicts. This was not always the case, prior to World War two the Japanese and United States’ relationship was very tumultuous. Admiral Perry took a very exploitive stance toward establishing foreign relations with the island nation and it left a lasting impression upon the Japanese. World War II brought saw the ultimate conflict between the two nations which left Japan devastated from both the aftermath of brutal fighting in the Pacific and the use of the atomic bomb on their homeland. How did Japan rebound from such a crippling defeat in the Second World War and how is it that we now enjoy such close ties, especially being from two opposing cultural styles? The United States took a front and center seat to Japan’s reconstruction after the war and it is a combination of both our help and the Japanese people’s remarkable character that facilitated such a miraculous rebirth; also forever tying our two nations together in the bonds of cooperation. “It’s resurgence was due to a legacy of past accomplishments, an indomitable determination to succeed in the quest for modernity, prodigious amounts of hard work, generally shrewd planning, and occasional injections of unanticipated stimulation, or what economists prefer to think of as exogenous events”(McClain 2002). Japan’s post war miracle recovery was the direct result of combined American/Japanese efforts to rebuild the nation and the nature of the Japanese...
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...James Bennett Professor George J. Prokopiak HIS-114-OL010 Written Assignment 5 16 February 2015 Vietnam War and a New World Order with the End of Cold War Written Assignment 5 Question #1: As far as Vietnam is concerned, how did President Johnson "Americanize" the war? What was Nixon's policy of Vietnamization? Was anything achieved at the peace talks? What are the legacies of the Vietnam defeat? President Johnson “Americanized” the Vietnam War by many different avenues of approach taking a more aggressive posture. The president first started by supplying the South Vietnamese army with American military and economic assistance (Roark, 976-981). He significantly increased the American troop presence from 16,000 in 1964 to over 553,000 by 1969 displaying a much larger American presence (Roark, 976-981). America had stepped up bombing throughout Vietnam and neighboring countries (Roark, 976-981). In hopes of getting the backing of the American people and government, he strategically thought out who and where the bombs would be dropped (Roark, p. 980-981). He did not bomb near the northern border of Vietnam (Roark, p. 980-981). President Johnson did not want to provoke China or the Soviet Union into the war (Roark, p. 980-981). He did not want to make the same mistakes as Korea with the Chinese. He also thought about collateral damage. He tried to focus the bombings to low populated areas to minimize civilian casualties (Roark, p. 980-981). The bombing campaign was known...
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...During this war, the Second Continental Congress held a gathering of the most influential politicians and thinkers, which included John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert Livingston, to write what would become the Declaration of Independence. America’s independence allowed for the creation of a new government and, therefore, new political parties. These political parties that erected at the beginning of a new nation included the Federalists and the Republicans. Politics would become a matter of great influence in the society and government in America. Changes in the national government during the mid to late eighteenth century were gargantuan due to the fighting of the Revolutionary War, the constant conflicts between the newly created parties, the Federalists and the Republicans, and the creation of new constitutions to attempt to support the new...
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...How does Ted G. Goertzel claim C.W Mills’ s The Cause of World War III C. Wright Mills, who was a famous sociologist of America, claimed that a new world war is coming up and the cause of World War III is the military industrial complex. He states his opinion about new world war detailedly in his book The cause of World War III. In addition, we can know more about Mills’ s opinion about how does he regard the military industrial complex and the power elites. The Ted G. Goertzel clamed that Mills’ s opinion about new world war was wrong in his article The Cause of World War III, Thirty Years Later. However, Mills’ s opinion about new world war is partly right and partly wrong. It will be some local wars caused by the military industrial complex. But the nuclear wars will never happen between. Charles Wright Mills was born in 1916 and died in 1962. He was one of the famous sociologist at that time. Also, as a sociology professor at Columbia University, some of his works are remaining until nowadays, such as The Power Elite; White Collar; The Sociological Imagination. The Power Elite is about the class alliances in the U.S. Military; economy elite and political. The White Collar is an introduction of middle class in the U.S. He proposed the proper relationship in sociological scholarship between biography and history in the book named The Sociological Imagination. And this book was considered as the most influential book of Mills. He was so influential that The...
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...War is a tricky subject, and in this case after the attacks from ISIS on our embassy’s, after the attacks on American civilians, we still cannot go to war according to Just War Theory and our moral values, as badly as the American people may want to go to war, we cannot and must not engage ISIS militarily with a full standing army, we have to punish them in other ways. Just War Theory is conducted in three parts, the initiation of war, known as jus ad bellum, the conducting of the war itself, jus in bello, and finally the aftermath of war, known as, jus post bellum (Moser and McDonald, 2016a). Jus ad bellum is the initiation of war and it states that war must have a just cause and that war must be taken by a legitimate authority, and in this situation, both of the characteristics mentioned previously are present. Yes, we have a just cause, and yes, the United States is a legitimate authority. However, we need to look at everything about jus ad bellum, “armed conflict is taken as a ‘“last resort’” and all other means have been exhausted.” Let us not forget that “a just war requires a “‘right intention”’ and to not be motivated by aggression” (Moser and McDonald, 2016a). In this situation, the American...
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