Most Significant Groups in US History

[Alex S.]

To Amaka O.

Again, it doesn't matter how bad the vice president turned president is. In the case of Andrew Johnson, yes, he was an awful president. But, he still brought stability to the US government merely by being there when Lincoln was killed. And if Johnson had been impeached, then his vice president would have followed him. The role of the vice president, and its importance in history, is not affected by what kind of people the vice presidents were.

[sweetlou]

During the late 1700’s and 1800’s land expansion was the most important thing to
our country. With events including trail of tears, Louisiana Purchase and the battle at
Tippecanoe it become clear our main objective was land. America is a wide country and at
this time there was tons of land that was still waiting to be settled. A major problem western
travelers encountered was Indians. The natives were tired of being forced off their land, and
were ready to start taking a stand. Many Americans were aware that the English had been
supporting the Indians in their defense agianst the whites. This upset many Americans and
especially the War hawks. The War hawks knew that they needed to take a stand agianst the
British and finally overthrow all Indians. The Indians stood in the way of American
expansion and American money. The Hawks were not going to let British backed Indians
dictate their land decisions any longer.

[sweetlou]

tim, your totally off, indeed Jackson was after land and was an expansionist, trail of tears is a forced migration of indians for jackson to take the land

[thad]

jordankesner said:

To Thad,
Who was the most well known mountain man? were they a popular group?

@jordan-

I don't know who the most well-known mountain man was, but Jim Bridger was certainly one of the most liked. An individual by the name of Grenville Dodge described Bridger as, "a very companionable man. In person he was over six feet tall, spare, straight as an arrow, agile, rawboned and of powerful frame, eyes gray, hair brown and abundant even in old age, expression mild and manners agreeable. He was hospitable and generous, and was always trusted and respected." The mountain men, like Bridger, were generally unknown. They were pretty much noble savages that lived off the land and generally kept to themselves. They were only truly hated by the Native Americans whose land they had to traverse to trap and explore.

Oh, yeah, and the most amusing mountain man was probably Liver-Eating Johnson. Yeah, you should seriously check this guy out, he is cool.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver-Eating_Johnson

[Michel'le F.]

jyoung said:

Ok, it's nice that Quakers talked about it, but how many Quakers were at the formation/signing of the Constitution? Also, you're repeating yourself. There are many groups that have influenced many areas, or their cultures have spread. my question is what is so special? What about their culture is so important that it is noteworthy that the Quaker culture has spread. What does it add to these places that it has spread to?

Jason Y,
I am not repeating myself. I do apologize if u feel that way. Anyway, your new question is what is so special about the quakers... and my answer is that the foundation of quaker beliefs lay on EQUALITY. you must overstand this concept, America was a country that was fouded for the equal rights of white men. This did not include blacks or women. Therefore, the Quaker values of equality and freedom that began in Pennsylvania were spread to the rest of the colonies and added states throughout the years. You're saying that many groups influenced areas, but how many people still think shuffleboard is evil? (a puritan belief) This simulation is called Lasting Contributios, meaning that the contributions have to...last. I do believe that in this country ALL men and women are born with equal rights. This is a result of the advocacy that Quakers made throughtout the hundreds of years that they've existed. Have i mentioned that they STILL EXIST!!!! lasting much?
by the way, ben frankli, gouverneur morris, robert morris, and james wilson, ALL SIGNED THE CONSTITUTION, ALL FROM PENNSYLVANIA and agreed with the Quaker Beliefs proposed by William Penn even though they were not participating members of the quaker society. THE MORALS AND VALUES THEY LEARNED IN THEIR STATES TRANSLATED INTO THEIR POLITICAL CAREERS.

[laura b]

chia24 said:

For my final informational post I would like to reinforce the importance of the Iroquois Confeeracy by how beneficial they were to Western expansion. One of the colonies biggest problem were the Native Americans that attacked any settlers who tried to expan West so many people were hesitant about moving their life to be terrorize by the indians. through the alliance with the Iroquois Confederacy, who were the most powerful indian tribe with the strongest military, the settlers had protection from the other indian tribes which were no match for the Iroquois Confederacy, making expanision easier and stronger because more people were able to move west and stay there with less problems from the indians.

Amaka-
i disagree. Can you really safe to say people were able to live in the West w/o problems from the indians? And in regards to their military, what about the Sioux?

[samr]

trombonesoprano said:

Ok, so here it goes...

Whigs helped shape our country and kept it from complete anarchy. The political party was created in opposition to Jackson's Democratic party, which they believed was becoming way too powerful. Whigs believed the Executive branch was inferior to Congress, (Where the Whigs made up most of the participants). Congress created a mass of ideas, not just one. This, they believed, would increase the diversity of beliefs when making decisions.
Henry Clay, a co-founder of the Whig party, was one of the most prominent men in American History. There's the obvious Corrupt Bargain, but the Great Compromiser was also well known for other negotiations.
Webster-Hayne Debates, other co-founder of Whig Party, well known for the Webster-Hayne Debates, arguing over federal land vs. state land.
Biddle- President of Bank of United States- asked for rechartering of Bank, Jackson said no. Whigs back Biddle, Jackson said no. Guess What? Welcome to the Panic of 1837. Should have listened to us.


Whigs like to argue. Through this, there is legal evidence of the Whig's impact on American History

If you say the WHigs thought the Democratic Party was too powerful, how is that preventing anarchy? Anarchy is when the government is too weak, not powerful

[sweetlou]

Alex green check it, reconstruction is a failure in the sense it changes nothing in the south. Slaves stay as farm workers and racist southern politics stay the same.

[Brian T]

Jason Y-
Some important industrialists: John. D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ford, George Pullman, J.P. Morgan, Charles M. Schwab (the steel guy, not the broker), George Eastman (Kodak), and Andrew Mellon. Is that enough?

[Alex S.]

To Helen C.

You said that artwork has impacted the American psyche. Unless artwork has actually triggered events, though, it doesn't seem very influential. Do you have any examples of things that artwork has caused to happen?

[WILL M]

thanks laura- respect

but for my last informational post I would like to bring up the fact that farming was behind the reason for the start of the civil war, on of the most important events in U.S. history. While we all should know from the class that this war was not really fought over slaves as it is often elluded to in textbooks and elementary lessons, but the money that the cash crops (which obviously came from farming) fueled the southern economy with. This was an event that changed the political, social, and economic aspects of America for many years following, and all because of the farming the south had mastered and built an economy around.

[sweetlou]

Danny I understand that the Baby Boomers are the largest group and affect stuff like no other group. Can you please tell me why the group is so massive, where there certain birth or sex techniques popular during that time?

[thad]

zoov said:

The thing about isolationists is that they provide a very important balance within our nation. Yeah, basically, isolationist sentiment helps to temper those of us who want to go to war every two seconds. It also protects our economy at times, by raising tariffs when they need to be raised. It is certainly true that in the world we live in now, a global economy is very important... this means that being isolated in an economic sense isn't really feasible anymore.... oh well. Despite this, something important to take away from isolationism is non-interventionism.

I agree that isolationists provide the extremely important service of balancing out national issues. Like you said, with the world wars, it made a ton of sense that America would not want to get involved and risk its economic stability and the pointless loss of American lives. If America could play both sides by being isolationist and benefit in the long run, by all means, do so. The fact that those like Ralph Nader still exist and are isolationists is amazing. Most of these groups just seem to fade out and stop being significant, but if the isolationists are still around, they truly must be one of the most significant groups in history.

[sweetlou]

Mishab of the Indians are the best Americans and all the good stuff then why were they so easyly kicked off their land, why weren't they able to construct large citys and a "modern" country

[sweetlou]

Buddy I understand our ground is valuable because of all the natural deposits and so forth, what type of enviormental effect has miners had on our ecosystem?

[Sarah D.]

Informational Post #2

Identured servants were not only responsible for saving America's tobacco industry, but they also found life after their working term to be enjoyable. Many indentured servants found working for their masters extremely beneficial. Some indentured servants even agreed to serve an extra couple years if their masters would agree to teach them a trade. Many indentured servants who were skilled prior to working for their master found good paying jobs after their sentences. An abundant amount of slave owners often realized the value of their workers and treated them with great hospitality. Indentured servants had the opportunity to become important citizens in their communities, which many of them did.
Indentured servants made their mark in America in more ways than labor. Even Ben Franklin, was the grandson of an indentured servant. John Howland was an indentured servant came to America on the Mayflower to work as an indentured servant. When his master died of sunstroke, Howland was given his estate and lived to be a wealthy man. He later became a leader of the trading business in his colony.
Indentured servants were not only useful on the tobacco fields. They were also used as soldiers form 1689 to 1760. During Queen Anne’s War, the British tried to recruit many indentured servants to fight, paying their masters in return for their service. Many fought in the French and Indian War as well in the states which were considered to be in danger of a French invasion

[Michel'le F.]

tiff5439 said:

It is quite clear that slaves are the most important group in United States history because they led to the prosperity of such southern states like Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland and Delaware. Millions of Africans were transported from the coasts of Africa and forced to work in these newly established plantations, and were the main contributors to the success of the southern plantation system. The institution lasted for 300 plus years, and was popular amongst the southern states because of its humongous profit to the southern economy. With the large numbers of plantations and the abundance of the cash crops, slavery remained fundamentally important to the regulation of the amount of imports and exports coming into/from the south.

i totally agree with u tif. Slaves did so much for the american economy i dont even know where to begin. if it werent for the slaves who were ripped from the african lands and forced to work on plantations, who would have cultivated the crops and built up the industries in this country? Eli Whitney would have needed to invent the cotton gin way before he did thats for sure.

[samr]

thad said:

@sam-

Are miners still prominent in today's world economy? They were pretty important in their time, but do they still even mine stuff in America? I thought most of the mining industry was outsourced to other nations, but could you correct me if I'm wrong?

Miners are still extremely prominent today. They still mine everything that they mined back in the 1800's, and we still have lots of resources left. As for outsourcing, why would we do that? We have all of the materials we need right here, so we use our own miners to get it cheaper. If we outsourced, that would mean we have to buy the resources from other countries. Instead, we could mine our own resources AND sell them to make money.

[Michel'le F.]

dtyea said:

If your parents are between the ages of 43 and 62, then you are directly affected by a baby boomer. It's hard to believe that our parents were part of many significant cultural changes in the past sixty years, but it's true. Here are some examples:
-Rock N' Roll
-Civl Rights movement
-Women's rights
-Gay rights
-"Hippies"
-"Yuppies"
The baby boom generation created all of these cultural reforms, and have also supplied this country with our last two presidents. The baby boomers have influenced this country since they were born in monumental numbers, and will continue to affect this country as long as they survive. Without a doubt they are the most significant group in American History. Everyone should agree with me, and if you don't then it is a direct insult to your parents. Yea, that's right. Okay I'm going to bed now, goodnight.

Danny T,

When the baby boomers die what impact will they leave on this country? Won't the next generation just take over? Just answer the first question if u can, thanks.

[sweetlou]

Evan yes the framers of the constitution are important, but to who. As far as im concerned they represented only a fraction of our great nation. All the stars you mentioned were racist slaver owners, and magic and bird were much fresher