Most Significant Groups in US History

[miztikk]

So, i've pretty much summed up my alltime important groups... as of now, since this is a bit of a work in progress. they also aren't in any order.
1. traders, 2. industrialists, 3. economists, bankers, 4. labor unions, 5. framers of the constitution, 6. european explorers, 7. revolutionaries, 8. political machines, 9. slaves, and 10. farmers. i chose this "working" list based upon my feeling that because we are a capitalist society and have always been that way, most of our focus is towards making money and these groups are most definetely in some ways responsible.

fin.

[Caitlin W.]

Summation:

I thought this was a cool idea for a simulation...but it still needs to be refined, maybe use a forum that allows direct replies to posts (differentiates them by indenting or something)

Basically, the criteria I'm using are:
-group altered course of history (that eliminates Reconstructionists...sorry Jason!...because while they had an impact, US history didn't really change its course...the Freedom Riders would be a group that would fit this criterion, though, since I'm on Civil Rights)
-group has directly impacted today (knocks out Shakers...sorry Sam)
-group has impacted whole country (sorry Maureen)
-group is umbrella organization, if similar groups were represented (i.e. suffragists fall under feminists)
-group generated well-known leaders who impacted multiple facets of American life (sorry Amaka)

[Nicole V.]

Info Post #3

Nativists have kept fairly constant throughout history. They try to find ways to "protect" the country against immigrants and foreign influence. In the begining years of the colonies, Nativists focused on the Dutch in New York and the Catholics. The New Yorkers feared that all of the Dutch coming in were going to take over the colony, even though the English believed that they were there first. People in America feared the Catholics for similar reasons. They were trying to practice their own religions, and didn't want Catholics imposing on them. The next major targets were the Chinese who took jobs on the railroads. This is the time period where Nativists strated to get more involved politically. Next came the Germans, and Japanese in the World Wars. In today's world, the Nativists are concerned with groups such as Mexicans and Arabs. Nativists worry about how many resources Mexicans are using up, and worry that Arabs will try and hurt our country like they did on 9/11. For example, the recent decisions to build a new border wall between the US and Mexico which will help prevent so many illegal Mexicans from coming through to this country. While Congress themselves may not be true Nativists, the ideals set forth by this plan are the same held by true Nativists. Arabs are popular targets as well. No legislation has been passed as of now, but security at airports and police in cities especially have been tightening up and often focusing on this culture group. A defined group of Nativists does not truly exist today, but the message they founded is still being carried on by many people in this country. The original Nativists had such strong impacts, that Americans today are still influenced by their beliefs.

[Hannah L.]

Summative Post:

Based on the information gathered from the board I will be writing my out paper based on the following criteria:

-The correspondance between importance of individuals of a group with the group as a whole
-The lasting impact of a groups actions and/or ideas presented on todays society.
-The moral/social value of a group
-The significance and impacts of events that a group either led or participated in that people still recognize as a powerful point in history
-The knowledge "typical" individuals hold in regards to the group. ie: if i say barnburners, "typical" Americans will say, "what?"..not so significant.
-Acknowledging that significance can mean both extreme positive and negative influences

adios.

[brianw]

Summative Post
I thought this simulation turned out pretty well. Although browsing through the 57 pages of this thread might be arduous, it’s a lot easier then finding the information on my own. I thought it was great that people were able to fight defend their topics to the death. Though discussion got a tad too egotistical and pretentious for me at times, I definitely came out knowing much more about history than I did coming in. Evan J said “I'm not idealistic enough to think that people weren't posting so much on this thing for their own enrichment rather than proving to the rest of the kids that they know something about American history”. I don’t entirely disagree, but I would offer that the people who were trying to “show off” were the ones who offered the deepest insight into their subjects. Although it may have seemed obnoxious, those people knew their stuff, and we all benefitted from it. Through stubborn debate, everyone who was reading was able to learn a lot.
My Top Ten will have had lasting impacts on ALL of the following
- Government
- Morals
- Americans
Many of these groups will have set standards, or changed them, and will have been significant to ALL of Americans, not just confined within their own group.

Note: I will be making sure to pay attention to both positive and negative influences

done.

[Kathryn S]

Melissa, I am going to have to disagree with you on your point of “Music is definitely still influential in politics today”. Sure, the Dixie Chicks won their grammys, but will that decide which president gets elected? Also, you really have to think, even if a specific piece of music is influential in politics, it probably doesn’t affect a wide enough range of people to make thattt much of a difference. Remember the vote or die campaign thingy with all those people from the music industry endorsing it? Well I definitely don’t think that they caused a huge landslide in either direction. Sure, I’ll settle for the fact that music has been a traditional and fun part of our culture… but not so much as to call this group significantly influential.

[WILL M]

summarative

Not that this is some new theory, but there is no clear cut way in ranking these groups. They all in one way or another effected the success or failure or the groups that came after them. This is why one of the factors that will go into my rankings will be the time particular groups had their greatest impact in respect to the other. Basically, groups that came earliest in history could be placed ahead of more recent ones because they impacted more groups of people that followed. Also, groups that lasted longest and even better, are still around and have an impact on today's society, would be ranked highest. The last piece of criteria I will use to rank the groups will be to look at the overall importance of their existance and how it changed the outcome of America today. Or, without that particular group, how different would our country be? Will this come to a undisputed list, certainly not. But then again, is anything in history undisputed?

[solomon]

Third info post.......bottom line is, imagine if the the barnburners weren't around. The election results in the last 200 hundred years would have been totally different. In the election of 1860 over 30 percent of the popular vote was made up of barnburner parties, so imagine if Lincole was never elected president. How would the civil war played out, even if there was a civil war! What if Woodrow Wilson had never won the election of 1916. Perhaps we would have never been involved in World War II, and perhaps the depression could have been avoided. And lastly, what if Al Gore won the election in 2000? One, would 9/11 have happened, and two would we still be in Iraq, actually i take that back because we probably never would have been in Iraq in the first place. Basically, barnburners have shaped history, but its sort of hard to tell how they did unless I could spell it out for you all, so imagine if all these elections had been changed, all of history would be changed

[derek n]

summative
i actually kinda liked the simulation as-is, all disorganized and jumbled... forced students to check out the other posts while searching for questions to answer. and there's definitely a lot to be learned from all the information put up here; hopefully this thread will be put to good use in future years. i know i, for one, will be coming back to study for the test.
i'm going to choose groups for my out-paper based on:
-group's immediate impact - instant or slow, rippling change?
-was the group a "one-hit wonder," or did it survive for centuries to inspire generations of americans?
-how did the group spread its influence? (thru the media, religion, government, the arts, etc)
-are the group's leaders household names, underappreciated heroes, or behind-the-scenes masterminds?
-does the group still demand attention today?

[Nicole V.]

Finally for my summation post...
I thought this was a very good simulation but flawed. If it was organized maybe in a different way, or maybe done in smaller groups so there wouldn't be so many posts to read, this simulation could be very successful. However, it will also be a very useful study guide..... Anyway, like many others, I have not yet picked who my official top ten are going to be, but i have a few guidlines which my groups will fit. They must have had an impact on American society, and caused some kind of change. If the group hadn't exsited, America would have turned out differently. The group does not have to have been a positive influence, nor must they exist today. I am going to pick my groups based on the amount of signifigance their actions had on Americans and the American government. The ones who had the biggest impacts will be the groups in my top ten!

[Beth M.]

boggle234 said:

Beth M:
"The justices have different opinions and rarely, if ever, agree 100% on anything."

If these supreme court justices are supposed to be going by the constitution then why do you think these people are so important to America ....when really they are just going on their own opinions

Kathryn-
They're important because each has their own opinion of how to interpret the Constitution. Some interpret it strictly, while others take it more loosely.

[matth]

Will M. wrote...
"Basically, groups that came earliest in history could be placed ahead of more recent ones because they impacted more groups of people that followed. Also, groups that lasted longest and even better, are still around and have an impact on today's society, would be ranked highest."
This is exactly why Democrats are far and away the most significant group in U.S. history. The Democrats have been around for such a long time that they have no choice but to have a major impact on almost any group that follows them. The fact that the Democrats make political choices that affect virtually every aspect of Americans' lives only amplifies the profound significance they have on our country. Democrats can fit basically any criteria you can come up with to determine which of these groups is most significant. It would be next to imposible to leave them off your top ten list.

[Sophia Y]

Okay, Final post
For my out paper the groups prominence in mainstream society will not matter. I will not choose a group simply because it is part of the vernacular. I will choose my top ten groups based upon their influence on the American people and the American "personality". What groups helped to form our ideals and our lifestyles? Just because a group was important during it's own time period (say the 1830s) and defined politics or life in the time period if it was just a fad and has no lasting influence today then it will not be in my top ten. The accomplishments of a certain group both inside of their time period and outside of their time period. How consistent a groups goals have been and how efficient and successful they have been at accomplishing these goals. This is the criteria for making it into my top ten. It may seem lenient but I think that it will be hard to pick groups that are really the top ten most influential in all of American history.

[YmaniB*]

imyourbestbeth said:

manigirl18 said:

So...Ive been searching and searching throguh all 36 PAGES!! and for some reason I cant seem to find a question..so here is my last POST about the revivalists...PLEASE just ask 5 questions..

ANYWAYZ..
The Burned Over District- an area where religious conversion due to the leadership of Charles G Finney passed from one place to another as if it was a disease.
Cane Ridge, Kentucky-Largest Revival of the time. Over 10,000 people attended. This was a revival Western style
Western Revivalism-Very rowdy, and loud. Emotional and uplifting, this bought the "way" of praise to a whole new point

Ymani-
How have the revivalists affected other parts of US history? What exactly makes them more significant than the other groups?

HEY BETH!
Revivalists have not only affected religion but as we all know the West was seclududed in many ways. The revivalistic ideas allowed the West to stand out from the rest of America which allowed them to be noticed.

[Lily H.]

im right there with you nicole...

info post 3

a final argument that may have gone unacknowledged towards the fabulous loyalists...
the sir wentworths and james chalmers of american history all shared a common quality (other than their loyalty to the crown)...they had money. it was their wealth and their connection to the resources of england which jump-started the american economy...especially in terms of southern plantations etc. we all remember 1776 correct? and how it was the representative from south carolina (who wore the lacey/flamboyant/expensive styles of the day) who was most hesitant on rebeling against the british? although disliked, it was their money and influence which furnished america with the establishments necessary for potential success; of course they never expected this success to come seperate from king george, but thats beside the point. they were the bridge between the wealth of england and the resources of the colonies. although the success of america sounds better if credited only to those who fought for it...in reality its backbone can be highly attributed to the influences of the loyalist and their financial involvement in the colonies.

[Danny T.]

summative

in order to make the most objective criteria for determining the most significant group in history, we have to evaluate how significant each group was relative to the time of their existence. this would take away the problem that will brought up a few minutes ago because literally the most important group is the first group to exist because wihtout them, the next groups wouldnt exist and so on. so heres what the most significant groups in american history must have:
-their influence on society must be seen and traced back to them in todays society. (how significant can they be if they didnt even affect the nations future?)
-people in todays society must know who they are. (if a groups accomplishments are so significant then people would know about it)
-history wouldnt be the same without them (they have to have done something to change history, not just go along withe the course of events)
thats basically it, this posting thing was a cool idea but i think next time there should be like 5 different boards to post on because i missed like 30 pages of posts

[YmaniB*]

So..HERES YMANIS summary post!!
My TOP TEN WILL BE BASED ON...
the importance of the group, and the impact they had on the specific time
the moral of the group
and the influence of the group(IM SHOOTING FOR THE POSITIVES)

overall this simualtion.was cool ..work is work..but SINCE this was something new it kept me interested! I LOVED the questions and answers, and the respect that was kept by the students. NEXT time tho..there should be some way that questions are sent to us so that were not searching throguh millions of pages!!!

XOXOX
yMANI B*

[Emma B]

summary: my criteria for the most signif groups in US are....(in semi-order of importance)

-groups that would have made america an EXTREMELY different place if they were not in existence
-groups that are known among the public today (lasting impact) and
-groups that were influential to the whole of America, not just a specific group

the end, peace

[Samuel C.]

Post III

Besides the furniture and the music, people should realize the historic legacy that the shakers are leaving. The Sabbathday Lake community in Maine (which if you think about it is still an active utopian society we learned about from the early 19th century!!) will be preserved as a monument for people to visit for years to come. the same is already true from other shaker communities. they're furniture, music, and communities will keep memories of them alive for generations.

[Lily H.]

la la la final criteria!

the groups worthy of being considered the top ten most influential in american history will be judged on the following....
-how many other groups were influenced directly because of their actions
-if their influence carried over time regardless of that groups physical existence
-if that group doesnt exist today,why?
- how did the group effect our economy? society? politics? and was that effect due to reactions of others or specific intentions of that group
-if americans today can still relate to that group or what it stood for
-or on the contrary, if americans still cant accept that group and why
-swimwear, eveningwear, and a brief interview

sorry, bad joke. im tired. it's been a long sunday. see you all in a few hours. goodnight, and good luck.

sorry...did it again

daba