...casualties, the casualties were a result of the Battle of Antietam which took place during the Civil War. Some of the major factors that played part in such a high casualty rate in this battle were the artillery pieces used, the terrain and location of the battle, and the two experienced generals on both sides, George B McClellan as the Union commander, and Robert E. Lee as the Confederate commander. The Battle of Antietam featured four different artillery cannons, those cannons were the 1857 model Napoleon, the 3inch ordnance rifle, the 1841 model gun, and lastly the 10 pound parrot rifle. The 1857 model Napoleon cannon fired 12 pound projectiles, and had a ranger of up to 1600 yards. The...
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...Federalist built the United States for America in to what the American people experience today and their main goal was to see America governed by the people and become a model for countries around the globe. American federalism is defined by the United States Constitution as a “fundamental aspect of American government, whereby the states are not merely regional representatives of the federal government, but are granted independent power and responsibilities” (USA, Constitution). However this definition is constantly changing and took a long bumpy road to get where it is today. The United States constitution was drafted on September 17th, 1787 and ratified on June 21st, 1788. The United States became a sovereign nation on July 4th, 1776 at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but they needed a Constitution. The Articles of Confederation were drafted on November 7th, 1777 and ratified on March 1st, 1781. This document was signed by the thirteen original colonies that made up the United States of America and served as its first constitution. After becoming sovereign nation it became clear to many that the Articles of Confederation would not be able to hold a nation together. Under the Article of Confederation there was a unicameral legislative that provided no separation of power. The central government appeared to be too weak because under the Articles of Confederation most of the power was retained by the states. Congress had no power to tax therefore, they were unable...
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...1860’s, the American civil war almost devastated the whole nation but it demonstrated something extraordinary- the dedication of soldiers from the same nation fighting against each other. The Confederacy was formed by the seven states and they got separated from the American Union. It got fed up with the Federal Government’s and claimed that it was superior to state laws and rights. When they fought the civil war, they felt that they had been betrayed by the government that the original thirteen states had created. They started the civil war as they are fighting a second Revolutionary war and started fighting for their independence once again against a despotic government. The Confederates soldiers fought for their independence, for their property and way of life and for their very...
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...development towards the American Civil War. With the hardships in Congress and the happenings in the South, it was no surprise that this issue was so controversial and personal. The supporters of slavery argued that despite the current ideas of what slavery was, there were a multitude of political, moral and economic gains from this institution. Supporters of slavery argued that slaves provided cheap labor and a powerful workforce, while also serving as a source of currency for Southern farmers and that it provided a better life than those who worked in a factory. To begin, pro-slavery groups argued that one of the best reasons behind slavery was its contribution to the economy. Slavery provided cheap labor to the Southern plantation farmers. The farmers just had to purchase the slave at an auction — there was no payroll or need to pay hourly wages. This benefit was invaluable to the struggling farm. When the slaves had children, that child was already owned by the slave masters and therefore provided a free, new worker in a couple years. The groups also argued that the...
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...Except from Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett Fischer CONCLUSION ~ The War and the American Revolution We have a very difficult card to play. We often have to act by the moon or twilight and leave the World to judge it in the clear sunshine. -General William Maxwell to Adam Stephen, April 10, 17771 On New Year’s Day in 1777, Robert Morris sent George Washington a letter that rings strangely in a modern ear. “The year 1776 is over,” Morris wrote. “I am heartily glad of it and hope you nor America will ever be plagued with such another.” Washington shared that feeling, which was very far from our own. We celebrate 1776 as the most glorious year in American history. They remembered it as an agony, especially the “dark days” of autumn.2 Americans have known many dark days, from the starving times in early settlements to the attack on the World Trade Center. These were the testing times and the pivotal moments of our history. It was that way in 1776, after the decision for independence and the military disasters in New York. In early December, British commanders believed that they were very close to ending the rebellion, and American leaders feared that they might be right. Then came a reversal of fortune, and three months later the mood had changed on both sides. By the spring of 1777, many British officers had concluded that they could never win the war. At the same time, Americans recovered from their despair and were confident that they would...
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...Betsy Ross started an upholstery business during the course of the revolutionary war. During the war, she had created blankets, military supplies, tents and flags for Washington’s Continental Army. She gained a solid reputation for her sewing and she was hence given credit for making the first banner because of it. There is doubt according to historians as to whether or not Ross actually materialized the primary US flag, but according to the testimony of her children, grandchildren, and friends- it had been accepted that she did materialize the first flag. Aside from that, nobody questions that Betsy was acquaintances with General Washington. Ross’s child once said that both Betsy and the Washington family attended church in her hometown of Philadelphia. It was rumored that Washington requested her to embroider the ruffles for his shirts as well as other tasks associated with sewing. It is said that as a result of this relationship they developed, that that Ross was picked to make the first American...
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...Leadership and the Use of Power to Achieve Social Change Introduction The United States changed forever on November 4, 2008. Anyone watching a television on this important evening knew that everything had changed. Barak Hussein Obama had just been elected the 45th President of the United States of America, and he represented the first African American to ever win this office. To many the election was a fulfillment of Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream for social and political equality for African Americans. Still others, including the newly elected President, reached back to Lincoln. President Obama would also, invoke the founding fathers, giving credit to the social experiment that democracy is and thus hinting to the efforts of Washington and others. The days that followed the Obama election would be filled with symbolism leading to the concert on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, and the day of service, called by the President, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. the day before inauguration. The election of President Obama seemed to have brought full circle the experiment of democracy. The dreams of the founding fathers were present, the echo of Lincoln’s consequential Presidency were present, and certainly the dreams and speeches of Dr. King were front and center in this cultural moment. Yet the cultural moment represented so much more than a continuum of ideas and dreams of significant men. This moment was one of the first major societal changes in a generation...
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...difference who you are. Anything your heart desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dreams, no request is too extreme. . . . —Jiminy Cricket On September 22, 1994, Michael Eisner, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, one of the most powerful and well-known media conglomerates in the world, stared out the window of his Burbank office, contemplating the current situation surrounding the Disney’s America theme park. Ever since November 8, 1993, when the Wall Street Journal first broke the news that Disney was planning to build a theme park near Washington, DC, ongoing national debate over the location and concept of the $650 million park caused tremendous frustration. Eisner thought back over the events of the past year. How could his great idea have run into such formidable resistance? The Controversy Comes to a Head Eisner’s secretary clipped several newspaper articles covering two parades that took place on September 17 in Washington, DC. Several hundred Disney opponents from over 50 anti-Disney organizations marched past the White House and rallied on the National Mall in protest of the park. On the same day in the streets of Haymarket, Virginia near the proposed park site, Mickey Mouse and 101 local children dressed as Dalmatians appeared in a parade that was filled with pro-Disney sentiment. Eisner was particularly struck by the contrast between the two pictures: one showing an anti-Disney display from the National Mall protest and another of Mickey and Minnie Mouse being...
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...difference who you are. Anything your heart desires will come to you. If your heart is in your dreams, no request is too extreme. . . . —Jiminy Cricket On September 22, 1994, Michael Eisner, CEO of the Walt Disney Company, one of the most powerful and well-known media conglomerates in the world, stared out the window of his Burbank office, contemplating the current situation surrounding the Disney’s America theme park. Ever since November 8, 1993, when the Wall Street Journal first broke the news that Disney was planning to build a theme park near Washington, DC, ongoing national debate over the location and concept of the $650 million park caused tremendous frustration. Eisner thought back over the events of the past year. How could his great idea have run into such formidable resistance? The Controversy Comes to a Head Eisner’s secretary clipped several newspaper articles covering two parades that took place on September 17 in Washington, DC. Several hundred Disney opponents from over 50 anti-Disney organizations marched past the White House and rallied on the National Mall in protest of the park. On the same day in the streets of Haymarket, Virginia near the proposed park site, Mickey Mouse and 101 local children dressed as Dalmatians appeared in a parade that was filled with pro-Disney sentiment. Eisner was particularly struck by the contrast between the two pictures: one showing an anti-Disney display from the National Mall protest and another of Mickey and Minnie Mouse being...
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...University of Phoenix Material Influences on the Constitution Table Write one or two paragraphs in each section. Include citations for your sources. Documents Summary What was its influence on the Constitution? Magna Carta Magna Carta, also called Magna Carta Libertatum or The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, is an English charter, originally issued in Latin in the year 1215, translated into vernacular-French as early as 1219,[1] and reissued later in the 13th century in changed versions. The later versions excluded the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority that had been present in the 1215 charter. The charter first passed into law in 1225; the 1297 version, with the long title (originally in Latin) "The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, and of the Liberties of the Forest," still remains on the statute books of England and Wales. The 1215 charter required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties, and accept that his will was not arbitrary, for example by explicitly accepting that no "freeman" (in the sense of non-serf) could be punished except through the law of the land, a right which is still in existence today. Magna Carta was the principal document forced onto an English King by a group of his matters, the feudal barons, in an effort to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was followed and directly influenced by the Charter of Liberties in 1100, in which King Henry I had specified particular...
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...gender, income, faith, sexual orientation, or cultural background, has the opportunity to live life to its fullest. They share the values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. In this paper you will learn a lot about the YMCA’s history, its founder, and some of the activities. George Williams founded the YMCA in 1844. In 1844 twenty-two-year-old George Williams joined 11 friends to organize the first Young Men’s Association (YMCA), a refuge of Bible study and prayer for young men seeking escape from life on the streets. The Y offered something unique for its time. The organization’s drive to meet social need in the community was compelling. And its welcoming to members crossed rigid lines separating English social classes. Thomas Valentine Sullivan led the formation of the first U.S. YMCA at the Old South Church in Boston on December 29, 1851. The first “student YMCA” was started in 1856 at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. Dedicated to the leadership development of college students, student Y’s remaining active on the campuses of major universities such as the University of Illinois. In 1853, the first YMCA for blacks was founded by Anthony Bowen, a freed slave, in Washington, D.C. YMCA housing began in the 1860s to give young men moving to cities from rural areas safe and affordable lodging. Facilities included gyms, auditoriums and hotel-like rooms. Chicago’s Farwell Hall, the first known YMCA dormitory, was completed in 1867. Between 1922 and 1940, YMCA...
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...two unprecedented achievements. He led Russia (then Soviet Russia) nearer to real democracy than it had ever been in its centuries-long history. And, with the partners he found in American presidents Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush, he came nearer to ending the decades-long cold war than had anyone before him. Nor is it reasonable to assume that Gorbachev should have completed those undertakings. Few transformational leaders, even "event-making" and "historically fateful" ones, are able to see their missions to completion. This is especially true of leaders of great reformations, whose nature and period generate additional opposition and problems than their initiators (unless they are a Stalin) have power or time to overcome. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, to require a well-known example, a perestroika of American capitalism, continued to unfold and undergo setbacks long after his death. Most such leaders can solely open political doors; leave behind alternative ways that did not exist before, and hope, as Gorbachev usually did publically, that what they began would be "irreversible." How is this historical state of mind to be explained? In post-Soviet Russia, the primary cause was political expediency. Fearing a backlash at home against their role within the Soviet breakup and worried regarding Gorbachev’s continuing popularity abroad, Yeltsin and his inner circle insisted that the new Russian president was the "undoubted father of Russian democracy" and Gorbachev merely...
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...CIVIL WAR JOURNALS “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, And is not either to save or destroy slavery” -Abraham Lincoln (1862) THE BACKGROUND CAUSES OF THE CIVIL WAR (C.W. JOURNAL #1). The Civil War wasn’t only about the fight of freedom for the black people, but also the economics, and the states against the federal rights, lead them to the call of battle. To me, they were important factors that people had their own desire of having the life they wanted. The Economic and social differences between the North and the South became more notable each day. The North needed the South, and the South needed the North. The southern economy was depending on cotton in which they needed the salves to work on. The North had the industries that purchased the raw cotton and turned them into finished goods. This created a major difference in economic attitude, and the North meant the change of society, evolved with different cultures and classes. Other fact that lead them to war was the disagreement the states had against the government. The government felt that the states should still have the right to decide if they were willing to accept certain federal acts. This resulted in the idea of nullification. When nullification would not work, the states felt that they were no longer respected and moved towards secession. ELECTION OF 1860 (C.W. JOURNAL #2). The Democratic Party split into Northern and Southern due the slavery issues. In the Northern democratic...
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...an activist for Civil Rights, Bayard Rustin is mostly remembered for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which has been one of the most famous of the non-violent marches in United States history. He had used Gandhi’s tactics of non-violence by introducing it to the American civil rights movement, while at the same time, bringing Martin Luther King, Jr. to the forefront as the focal point for nonviolence and peace. Despite the achievements that Rustin had accomplished during his career as an activist, he was beaten, silenced, imprisoned, and fired from different organizations mainly because of the fact that he was a gay man living at a time that homosexuality was not only frowned upon, but also it was outlawed. In this paper, I will explain all the contributions that Bayard Rustin had made to the Civil Rights movement during the mid to late 20th century and why he is not given credit for the other activities that he was responsible for. Writers and historians such as Lawrence Freedman have stated that Bayard Rustin was content with his status as an “intellectual engineer behind the scenes” 1. In their view, Rustin was a powerful man with such a powerful political philosophy that the leadership at the time had begun to constrict him. Other historians have argued that the main reason why Rustin was written out of the history books is because he stayed true to a social agenda that had benefited all groups who were oppressed at the time that the civil rights movement had...
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...Abraham Lincoln: A political Genius [Name of the writer] [Name of the institution] Abraham Lincoln: A political Genius Introduction In 1846, Abraham Lincoln was elected to federal congress. He was a resolute opponent of President Polk, fought the war against Mexico, summoning the president to declare in what place would have happened to the alleged violation of borders. He demanded the extension of rights of the Union against those particular States, abolitionists argued fiercely, calling for the abolition of slavery in the District (1849). He campaigned vigorously for candidates Whigs, presented himself unsuccessfully in the Senate (1849), and refused the governorship of Oregon. He made a brilliant campaign in 1855 and was presented by the State as candidate for vice-presidency of the republic, but not chosen. In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was carried to the Senate election against Stephen A. Douglas won. The debate focused mainly on the admission of Kansas into the Union as slave state or not slavery. The campaign was of utmost importance because Lincoln forced his competitor to speak out against the Dred Scott decision, which alienated some Democrats and then dividing this party, decided his defeat in the presidential election. For the Senate election, Abraham Lincoln had the majority (4000 votes) vote of the electors of the first degree, but the distribution of electoral districts secured eight-vote majority in which Douglas was re-elected. In 1859, he continued the...
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