Most Significant Groups in US History

[sweetlou]

and by the way sweetlou is Louie pollack

[Sarah D.]

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.

hey amaka...
could you please describe how the Iroquoi Confederacy were able to convince other tribes from preventing Americans to expand westward? I understand that they had somewhat of an alliance with us, but was there more to it than just that?

[Caitlin W.]

Ok-informational post #2: Environmentalists dictate the economy.

Currently, American manufacturing is hitting huge lows, because of its inability to keep up with global environmental standards. American cars (the most prominent example) can no longer be sold in Japan, Korea, and Germany (not to mention many others countries) because they do not meet the "clean emissions" standards of these nations. Ford and GM have watched sales drop precipitously as the global market closes. Yet, they refuse to acknowledge the importance of environmentalists and so, refuse to correct their designs. As American manufacturing loses its international market, it loses its ability to export and generate revenue through trade. The national debt will soar higher.

Furthermore, the American economy is almost entirely dependent on oil. Environmental groups have been warning of the effects of such a dependence, but the average consumer has not heeded the message. Already, our need for oil has involved us in two official wars (the Persian Gulf Wars). As oil supplies are depleted, the demand will only grow higher (should we refuse to switch to alternative fuels), plunging this nations into more frequent, more expensive wars. Foreign policy would become a quagmire.

[Michel'le F.]

mishab said:

for Michel'le
what traditions are still evident of the Quakers in Pennsylvania?

The members of the Quaker society still remain a modest and humble people. They still adovate for equality, but mostly in other countries, since here in america all citizens have gained freedom and equality. In addition, they still organize to meet about national issues, such as abortion. They meet every year to discuss and congregate.

more beliefs if you're interested

simplicity

peace

social justice

freedom of conscience

and a sense of responsibility.

[Caitlin W.]

alex s.
How can the caliber of the vice president not directly affect the office itself? If John Quincy Adams had gotten his act to gether and been a politically active, high-caliber vice-president, the role of the office would be radically different than what it is today. Likewise, had any really high-energy, motivated person entered the office of the vice-presidency, determined to make a change, they could possibly have made the role of the vice-president significant. Instead, you have vice presidents who languished in the position, hoping that the president would give them a good enough name that they could win the presidency for themselves. Even TR, perhaps the best VP, didn't do anything in the vice presidency

[Caitlin W.]

word michel'le...not to mention that there are still sizable quaker communities in Pennsylvania, that operate much the same as they always have. I actually have a family friend who has raised up as a good ol' pennsylvania quaker (kept her brothers out of the draft too)

[Ayesha M.]

carolinah said:

Yes eventually all things must come to and end but if the revolutionaries waited for the British to finally leave we could still be waiting. King George was willing to let the war continue, he never really came to terms with the Americans winning the war. Yes there were British forces in America after the war but they had no control, they couldn’t enforce any rules, it was out of their power. The British tried to manipulate the rules in America but never could like they use to, they tried to control the trade but ended up losing, they had no authority.

first of all, we would definitely not still be under British control due to many events that made the british empire weak and fall from power. and i wrote that it "seemed" like the british were still in control, and they were able to manipulate rules as you said yourself, meaning that the british did still have some power.

[Jake V]

sophiay said:

That's a lot of votes, and a lot of people influenced by the ideals of the Freemasons.

I see the logic in that 4 million freemasons ostensibly means 4 million votes for candidates who embody the ideals of Freemasonry, but what candidates can you name who did embody those values? if you can give the names of important people who were elected with the help of Freemasons, we'll have a much clearer idead of just how influential they were.

[joy]

The Confederates, yea, we all know that they lost the Civil War, but that’s not the point. The United States would have been in the same position if they lost the Revolutionary War. The Confederates embodied the spirit of what America was founded on: fighting for what you believe in.

The South also gets bad mouthed for believing in the enslavement of African Americans. Owning slaves was the only way that their economy could survive. Beside, at this time, many Americans believed that the black race was “inferior.” In 1858, during the Lincoln-Douglass debates, Lincoln said, "I will say, then, that I am not, nor have ever been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races ... I am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race." The popular view back then was white supremacy.

Just because the Confederacy is not around anymore, does not mean that the group is not important. The things they did during their time are what make them important. The Confederate army had amazing horse riders and riflemen. Although they ran out of supplies constantly, due to the blocked trade routes, they were passionate fighters that fought without shoes, proper uniforms and food for days.

Many interesting characters came out of the Confederacy. One of these is Lieutenant General Nathan Forrest. Forrest enlisted to the Confederate Army in 1861. During his service, Forrest, now in command of his own battalion, led secret raids that yielded Union prisoners and caused instability in the Federal Army. After the Battle at Shiloh, Forrest was made brigadier general in 1862. Forrest’s most impressive victory came at Brice’s Cross Roads in Mississippi, where, against a force over twice the size of his own, he succeeded in putting his enemies to confused flight. After the Civil War, Forrest became involved with the Ku Klux Klan, where he became Grand Wizard in 1867.

Hopefully this answers previous questions about the significance of the Confederacy.

[Brian T]

Michel'le-
Besides transportation, industrialists made contributions in electricity (Samuel Insull and Thomas Edison), oil (rockefeller) which eventually led to the development of plastics, communications (Alexander Graham Bell ), and glass (Libbey-Owens Firm, Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company).

[Rina C.]

sophieq1 said:

Infomational Piece #1
I want to begin my first post with sharing how the robber barons, although the name itself is derogitory, actually did do good things for society as a whole. They are responsible for a tremendous amount of infrastructure and transportation lines in the country presently. These wealthy men built the transcontinental railroads, excellerated the development of oil industries, and created national parks, schools etc.
People such as Rockefeller, Ford, Vanderbilt, Carngie were all considered Robber Barons although some did nto deserve the bad name. Rockefeller and James J. Hill, especially can be noted to be seperate form the rest of the barbarick millionares of their time. These people used worked diligently from scratch to create and maintain their own business. They worked to lower prices for their consumer, conceal waste, and provide more effieficent materials.
Even some men who did achieve wealth at the expense of others, later felt a responsibility to society. Men such as Carnige and Morgan contributed large sums of money to charities concerning education and peace.

Okay, i guess my question is because my topic is railroad workers... but how did the robber barons play a part in the creation of railraods?

[Michel'le F.]

ajg1300 said:

So, uhh Michel'le, I have a question:

I understand that Quakers are more durable than rocks and have been around longer than father time (unless that Quaker Oats guy IS father time, or something), but Why, oh why, does founding Pennsylvania and being everywhere make the Quakers at all significant?

Alex G.
I may have said this in another answer but the Quakers are significant because their beliefs have spread from pennslyania to the rest of the country. when everybody else was yelling persecution and rights for whites the quakers were like maybe we should all be equal and hey hey, we are!

[Brian T]

sweetlou-
Besides helping expand the country, did the warhawks help defend the country from outside invaders?

[Rina C.]

Okay everyone, sorry that I'm a little late with my info posts......... but the best group in American history is RAILROAD WORKERS. They are the best because they involved everyone in America at some point. From the beginning of the railroad, workers were native born Americans and immigrants (Chinese and Irish). Also those involved with finance and big businesses had a big impact on railraods because railraods were essentially businesses. Also politicians played a big part in railroads. Abraham Lincoln agreed to help promote the beginning of the transcontinental railroad.

[Beth M.]

2nd Informational Post:

So here I will mention some of the more important Supreme Court Justices and the cases they worked on/why they are important.

John Jay- First Chief Justice (1789-1795), appointed by Washington, co-author of the Federalist paper, first American diplomat (Jay Treaty w/ Britain), most notable case = Chisholm v. Georgia (the court declared that some of the state's sovereignty was secondary to the United States Constitution)

John Marshall- Chief Justice (1801-1835), appointed by Adams, sat on Virginia House of Delegates, Virginia delegate to the Constitutional Convention, Secretary of State, cases include, Marbury v. Madison, Cohens v. Virginia, McCulloch v. Maryland, Dartmouth College v. Woodard, Worcester v. Georgia just to name a few. He participated in over 1000 cases and wrote 519 of the opinions.

Roger B. Taney- Chief Justice (1836-1864), appointed by Jackson, Attorney General under Jackson, most known for Dred Scott Decision

Salmon P. Chase- Chief Justice (1864-1873), appointed by Lincoln, abolitionist, elected as a Whig to Cincinnati City Council (1840), elected to US State Senate for Ohio on Free-Soil Ticket, Secretary of Treasury under Lincoln, most known for being presiding judge in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Jackson

Melville Fuller- Chief Justice (1888-1910), appointed by Cleveland, presided over Plessy v. Ferguson

William Howard Taft- Chief Justice (1921-1930), appointed by Harding, 27th President of United States, US Secretary of War under Roosevelt, 1st Civil Governor of Philippines, the only former President to swear in following Presidents

Fred M. Vinson- Chief Justice (1946-1953), appointed by Truman, Truman's Secretary of Treasury, US Representative for Kentucky, member of US Court of Appeals, presiding judge in Brown v. BOE in which he called for a second hearing, but died before the verdict was given

Earl Warren- Chief Justice (1953-1969), finished off Brown v. BOE, also presided over Miranda v. Arizona

Warren Earl Burger- Chief Justice (1969-1986), appointed by Nixon, strict constitutionalist, landmark cases include, Roe v. Wade, and United States v. Nixon (Nixon's impeachment... ironic much?)

William H. Rehnquist- Chief Justice (1986-2005), appointed by Reagan, entered US Army Air Forces in 1942, very conservative (disagreed with Roe v. Wade as associate justice), predided over imeachment trial of President Bill Clinton and Bush v. Gore ending the controversy over votes in Florida (2000)

Sandra Day O'Connor- Associate Justice (1981-2006), appointed by Reagan, first woman on Supreme Court, member of Arizona State Senate, deciding vote in McConnell v. FEC, Grutter v. Bollinger, Zelman v. Simmons-Harris, Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, and United States v. Lopez

Thurgood Marshall- Associate Justice (1967-1991), Chief Counsel for NAACP, lawyer during Brown v. BOE, first African-American Supreme Court Justice

Basically, the point of this imformational post is to show how the Supreme Court Justices are made up of at least one person from almost every other group on this list, and these are only a few of the many justices. If this does not show how the Supreme Court Justices are the most significant group in US history, I'm not sure what does.

[Brian T]

The industrialists are the best. Almost every single product you have in your house is available to you today because of the work of the industrialists. That keyboard you are typing on, that mouse you are clicking, and that monitor you are looking at are all available because of the advancements made by industrialists. Yes, the inventors came up with the idea for all of the products, I'm not trying to take any credit away from them, but the industrialists were the ones who created the companies and are the reason that the inventors' products sold so well. As companies grew, there became more competition; this was the motivation behind many of the advancements made by companies. If it weren't for all of the work by industrialists we would still be living on farms, and more importantly, we wouldn't be able to do this simulation!

[jonahsprung]

sam r--(I think it was you who asked me)
Some examples of very famous educators would be two names I am sure you have already heard: Horace Mann and John Dewey, two men who possibly did more to further the cause of education in thier respective eras more than any other people.
I will cover other famous educators in my next two informational posts.

[Helen C.]

Will M.-
Apparently, the first political cartoons appeared in Martin Luther's booklets in the 16th century, but Benjamin Franklin's 'Join or Die' snake cartoon from 1754 is definitely one of the defining ones worldwide, and Americans have embraced them ever since its appearance.

Alex S.-
Most forms of art take a while to produce, and since there's often just one end result, it's hard for one piece of art to get enough exposure fast enough to trigger a single decisive event. Schools of art can help to spread an idea, but it's hard to point to any big events in American history and trace them directly to a particular piece. Recently, art has gotten easier to show to large groups at a time, but its influence is more often an effect on the way people look at things. (The main exception I can think of is Thomas Nast's drawings of Boss Tweed, which were a major factor in his loss of power and subsequent arrest.)

[Sarah D.]

Informational Post #3
Indentured Servants were responsible for encouraging people to rebel against their master or boss. In 1666, William Clutton of York County Virginia told his servants that they would not receive the food he was supposed to give them. His servants planed together that they would "get a matter of forty of them together and get arms...there would enough come to them and they would goe through thte country and kill those that made any opposition. "They were the first Americans to have their rights violated, whether it was starvation or being deprived of rest. Indentured Servants understood that desperate terms called for desperate measures. They understood what they had a right to when they signed a contract of servitude in America, all of which did include food, shelter, and clothing.

[jonahsprung]

jvogt said:

sophiay said:

That's a lot of votes, and a lot of people influenced by the ideals of the Freemasons.

I see the logic in that 4 million freemasons ostensibly means 4 million votes for candidates who embody the ideals of Freemasonry, but what candidates can you name who did embody those values? if you can give the names of important people who were elected with the help of Freemasons, we'll have a much clearer idead of just how influential they were.

To Sophia:
Wasn't there actually an enormous backlash against the Freemasons after that guy dissapeared? I recall that their membership dropped very sharply and they fell from prominence and respect. There was the Anti-Freemason Party, was there not?

Oh wait you basically adressed that. Guess I should have read your post first, huh?