-Discuss the silver vs. gold argument, listing at least one argument for silver and one argument for gold. In the time between the Civil War and World War I, there was a great economic instability. Men wanted their money to be backed by precious metals, although, they were not in agreement on what precious metal that would be. For the most part, men of high status, who owned large companies, desired their dollar to be insured with gold and only gold. Men of humble institutions, factory workers, and laborers from small farms wanted their dollar to be backed by silver and gold. Both sides have sufficient reasons for their desire of silver, gold, or both to back their money. Men of large businesses or large farms, who had given out loans …show more content…
Wealth and success came with the age of factories, and so did problems, requirements, and laborers that were associated with major factories. While factories required many employees to function, they usually did not hire women or African Americans very much. Even though they would not normally hire fully grown African American men, they would hire white children, some only at the age of ten. Labor was desperately needed. So, immigrants desperate for work would often be hired at large numbers alongside of white American born citizens. It was the vast number of immigrant workers that made the factories thrive. Over time American citizens began to despise the immigrants because the immigrants took away jobs, made their cities vastly overcrowded, and lived by different social and religious standards. Immigration reforms were demanded and, eventually, the government began to restrict who could come into the …show more content…
As in the Gilded Age, we still hear cautionary tales today to bring about immigration reform. Donald Trump, for instance, has used Muslim terrorism as a campaign topic to restrict immigration for those with an Islamic religious background. -What were the causes of expansion? The last few decades of the 1800’s were times of expansion for the United States. The U.S. morphed from the state of being an owned colony to one that possessed colonies. The driving motive for expansion was both economic and political as the U.S. sought to keep up with the other leaders of the world by looking for new opportunities beyond the continental land. As the United States became more and more powerful within the Western Hemisphere, the European countries began to invade other critical countries. These critical countries were either countries with great value or they were in a crucial location for shipping across the Oceans. The United States noticed these invasive moves and took offense. They did not want to fall behind and lose the title of being a world
At the turn of the century, and after gaining our independence, the United States land mass more than doubled through the use of purchasing, annexing, and war. However, the foreign policy of our government took a predominately isolationist stand. This was a national policy of abstaining from political or economic relations with other countries. General Washington shaped these values by upholding and encouraging the use of these principles by warning to avoid alliances in his farewell speech. The reasoning behind these actions was that the Republic was a new nation. We did not have the resources or the means to worry about other countries and foreign affairs; our immediate efforts were internal. Our goals that were of primary importance were setting up a democratic government and jump-starting a nation. The United States foreign policy up to and directly preceding the Civil War was mainly Isolationist. After the war, the government helped bring together a nation torn apart by war, helped improved our industrialization, and helped further populate our continent. We were isolationist in foreign affairs, while expanding domestically into the west and into the north through the purchase of Alaska. However, around 1890 the expansionism that had taken place was a far cry from what was about to happen. Expansionism is the nations practice or policy ...
United States expansionism in the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century is both a continuation and a departure of past United States expansionism. Expansionism in the United States has occurred for many reasons. Power (from land), religion, economics, and the ideas of imperialism and manifest destiny are just a few reasons why the U.S. decided to expand time and again throughout the course of its 231 year history. Expansionism has evolved throughout the years as the inhabitants of the country have progressed both socially (the Second Great Awakening, the women's suffrage movement, the populist party and the early 19th and 20th century social reformers) and economically (factories, better farms, more jobs, etc.) Expansion changed from non-interference policies to the democratic control of the government as the United States grew in both size and population. Through the use of the documents and events during two major-expansion time periods (1776-1880) and 1880-1914), I will display both the continuation and departure trends of United States expansionism.
Expansionism in the late 19th/ Early 20th century Expansionism in America during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century shared many similarities and differences to that of previous American expansionist ideals. In both cases of American expansionism, the Americans believed that we must expand our borders in order to keep the country running upright. Also, the Americans believed that the United States was the strongest of nations, and that they could take any land they pleased. This is shown in the "manifest destiny" of the 1840's and the "Darwinism" of the late 1800's and early 1900's. Apart from the similarities, there were also several differences that included the American attempt to stretch their empire across the seas and into other parts of the world.
The late 1800’s was a watershed moment for the United States, during which time the Industrial Revolution and the desire for expansion brought about through Manifest Destiny, began to run parallel. Following the end of the Spanish-American war, the United States found itself with a wealth of new territory ceded to it from the dying Spanish empire. The issue of what to do with these new lands became a source of debate all the way up to the U.S. Congress. Men like Albert J. Beveridge, a Senator from Indiana, advocated the annexation, but not necessarily the incorporation of these new l...
The view on the wealthy in the society was different from one person to another and this actually led to publications and criticisms one after another. Actually the discovery of new economic opportunities made United States to be viewed as a land of economic glory and prosperity. This in turn attracted more people from different parts of the world. Ironically, some of the optimistic immigrants got overly involved relentless poverty and had to struggle for cont...
Throughout most of the nineteenth century, the United States expanded its territory westward through purchase and annexation. At the end of the century, however, expansion became imperialism, as America acquired several territories overseas. This policy shift from expansionism to imperialism came about as a result of American's experience in the Spanish American War and the Congressional debates that followed the American victory.
Expansive growth was the moniker which expressly defined the Gilded Age. Industry in all sectors, witnessed massive growth leading to the creation of an American economy. Due to the rapidly changing nature of industrialization important men of both the public and private sectors attempted to institute their own controls over it. However this transforming landscape integrated both economic and political changes, but also cultural and social interactions. In turn, those who controlled the flow of business would also steadily impact the American social scene by extension. Alan Trachtenberg, professor of American studies at Yale and author of The Incorporation of America, argues that the system of incorporation unhinged the idea of national identity that all American’s had previously shared. As a result incorporation became the catalyst for the great debate about what it meant to actually be American, and who was capable of labeling themselves as such. Throughout his work Trachtenberg consistently tackles the ideas of cultural identity and how those ideas struggled against one another to be the supreme definition of Americanism. This work not only brings to life the issue of identity but it attempts to synthesize various scholarly works into a cohesive work on the Gilded Age and demonstrates that concepts developed during the incorporation of the time period have formed the basis for the American cultural, economic, and political superstructure. The Incorporation of America sets a high standard for itself one in which it doesn’t necessarily meet; however the work is still expansive and masterful at describing the arguments of the Gilded Age.
The United States began as a group of 13 colonies controlled by Great Britain. These colonies won their independence in the American Revolution and became a unified country. Since that moment, the United States has been continuously expanding its borders. The Northwest Territory was gained as a result of the American Revolution, the Louisiana Territory was purchased from France, and the lands of California, New Mexico, and Texas were gained after the Mexican-American War. All of these gained lands helped expand the borders of the United States and develop the country into a global force. Expansion into the western lands of the United States became a growing trend in the early 19th century and continued to gain popularity amongst Americans. These lands promised a new start for some people, and for others, an opportunity for great wealth. Western expansion also created conflict between Americans. Competition for the best land, debates over slavery, and conflicts with Indians began to emerge with the increased expansion. The benefits and conflicts associated with western expansion defined the area and its role in America.
From the period between the 1870’s through the 1890’s, it became an era known as the Gilded Age. The term was characterized by a famous American Literature author named Mark Twain. The writer tried to point out that the term means that while on the outside society may seem perfect and in order, underneath there is poverty, crime, corruption, and many other issues between American society’s rich and poor. This era’s gild is thicker than the cheaper material it’s covering. This can be shown through the countless numbers of achievements and advances America has made during the period of reconstruction and expansion, industrialization, and foreign affairs.
The United States of America has never been content with stagnation. The landmass of the Thirteen Colonies was enough to rival that of the Mother country from which they separated. The forefathers believed that it was the manifest destiny of this nation to eventually claim the expansion from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. By 1890, nearly a hundred years following the original claim of Manifest Destiny, the land that was once open, was now under American control. But no sooner was the Great American Frontier closed, than was the door to East Asian expansion opened with the great gold key of American diplomacy. In a world where imperialism was contagious, and cartographers had to work around the clock to keep up with an ever-changing geopolitical landscape, the United States seized the opportunity to establish herself as a significant world power. With great expansionist minds at her helm, such as Theodore Roosevelt and Howard Taft the United States began to grow beyond her border to claim stake in this wide-open world. This new expansionism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century was a different institution than its early to mid nineteenth century counterpart. Still, the drive to exercise the sovereignty of the United State and to propel itself over the world’s stage was the same then as it was in the time of Thomas Jefferson. In order to understand this assertion, attention must be given to three levels of analysis. First, the similarities that exist between the drive and purpose of old and new expansion must be taken into account. Second, the differences in the global political scene must be considered. Finally, there exits differences in the means by which expansion occurred.
The early 1800’s was a very important time for America. The small country was quickly expanding. With the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition, America almost tripled in size by 1853. However, even with the amount of land growing, not everyone was welcomed with open arms. With the expansion of the country, the white Americans decided that they needed the Natives out.
... of official or meaningful government was established. The gold was easily accessible and there were no restrictions on the methods or terms of its use. This created economical problems within the state. While the gold was plentiful, there was a lack of other supplies and necessities. "Food was hard to come by in anything but hard tack -- and stuff like jerky and dried beef. Fresh vegetables were very rare."
The first gold findings were found at a mill business in stream beds in 1848. Gold mines were immediately put into action underground and above. Easy gold extraction reeled in the inexperienced and experts knowing they could find large quantities of the valuable mineral making them richer faster. Also the actions of cutting class lines with the skilled upper class men and the unskilled lower class laborers working at the same gold fields next to one another(Gold Rush 1849). The extremely wealthy anxious to get more rich than they already were. The poor and middle class to find gold and wealth for a better
The word “commodity” is a term that means “an economic good” (Britannica, 2012) which can be either a product or a service that can be traded or exchanged. Commodities vary in their type, value, benefits, and quality. Of the numerous average commodities that exist throughout the globe, commodities holding greater values also have their own ranking as being precious commodities. Such precious commodities include gold, a precious metal that had been highly valued since ancient times and known for its beauty and scarcity. In this essay, I will write about gold as a commodity and I will discuss the various pros and cons related to this commodity.
The gold standard is a necessary element of a healthy economy because a fiat currency can effectively destroy its own value. Before World War Two, Germany had severe problems with the inflation of their currency that reached absurd quantities. There were times during the 1920’s that a German family would buy their food at lunch because by the time evening came around the price of food had doubled or tripled. The US government has not yet returned our property rights since it took away the gold backing of the dollar during Nixon’s presidency. Reintroducing the gold standard would be the best thing that could happen for the future of the US economy. A gradual long term transition to full gold standard using a temporary fractional reserve of gold with regulated imports and exchange value for gold would increase the growth and stability of the US economy. This would serve as the best plan because the gold-backed money would be beneficial to the economy’s growth in the long term, the regulation of gold