Bellamy's Nationalist America In The Late 1800s

During the course of the early and mid-1800s, the United States of America went through a rapid transition of economic, social, and territorial changes. Immediate alterations to its political system continued to be a constant focus in development as well. Likewise, the early and mid-1800s was the same time period when the Market Revolution and the idea of westward expansion –also known as the Manifest Destiny– sparked an interest towards many working Americans. After a few decades of winning independence from British sovereignty, America already had its fair share of progress and of great leaders. But to be a leader who ideally understood the voices and needs of the so-called “common man” (The American Promise, 284) , a term that was coined

Imagine that you are working on a cotton plantation in the middle of Georgia. The sun is blazing hot and your hands are callused from separating cotton from cotton seeds. You are only able to clean about one pound of cotton a day. That isn't enough to satisfy the demands of textile factories in the North. If only there was a faster, more efficient way to clean cotton.

This is demonstrated in the formation of the National Grange Movement, an organization that was important in the economics and politics of frontier life. As westerners began to unite with one another and take collective action, it was clear that farmers were dedicated in their pursuit of changing the pro-corporation system that existed in the West. In a testimony at the Chicago Conference of Trusts, Aaron Jones, head of the Grangers, said that, “Every citizen of this Republic should be free to use his labor as will best contribute to his benefit of happiness,” (Doc C). It’s clear that farmers and westerners were not only enraged by the actions of corporations and monopolies, but were also outraged by their loss of security of life and property. Their way of life was being significantly altered by big business, and many westerners

In the United States of America, the late 19th century proved to be a time of much change. With change, there was no shortage of challenges being presented to the country and its leaders. One of those leaders during that time was President Ulysses S. Grant, who came to recognize some of the biggest challenges would be the country’s negative economy and fair equal treatment to all citizens of the U.S. Another man that recognized some major challenges facing the U.S. at that time was Frederick Jackson Turner. He would go on to study Americanization for most of his life, and creating an ideology of what made America the way it is.

Introduction The Declaration of Independence of 1776 asserted that all men are created equal and are endowed with certain unalienable rights among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. However, the exhaustion of farm land by poor agricultural planning and the introduction of the assembly line reversed the flow in the 1920s. They helped to turn the migration of the people back to the city. Many farmers returned to the cities to work for such leaders of industry as Ford and Rockefeller. The American Dream indicated not about a better life but about wealth.

Problems in America only grew worse when democracy was being added to the mixture of already complicated politics. In Woody Holton’s book, Unruly American and the Origins of the Constitution, he stated that, “many Americans. . . were growing ‘tired of an excess of democracy,’ a ‘prevailing rage of excessive democracy. . .’ [or] ‘democratical tyranny.’” Democracy was an attempt at home rule among the colonies, but not everyone was happy with this extreme excess of colonial citizens contribution to the government.

These principles can be seen throughout the writings of the political thinkers of the 1890’s and illuminate how this category of thought is familiar to the American life. Ignatius Donnelly, a social reformer who helped establish the Populist party in 1892, heavily criticised the oligarchical society that took advantage of the large, impoverished working class. To this ailment he offers the solution by stating that government should not be viewed “as a divine something which has fallen down upon us out of heaven, and therefore not to be improved upon or even criticised” instead, government is a “human device to secure human happiness, and in itself has no more sacredness than a wheelbarrow or a cooking pot” (790). Donnelly stresses that the

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the United States gained many new citizens – immigrants from other countries in search of the American Dream. However, the immigrants’ path to the American Dream was hindered by the prejudice they faced from native-born Americans. This prejudice, also known as nativism, depended on stereotypes that portrayed the immigrants as subservient and justified discriminatory actions. The “otherness” of the immigrants was further confirmed with Social Darwinism, a twisted extension of survival of the fittest that asserted failure as natural selection. Since many immigrants had a difficult time finding success due to cultural barriers and the already prevalent nativism, Social Darwinism allowed prejudice towards

Imagine living in a place where everyone is equal. Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy narrates a story about a man, Julian West, who lives in Boston during the 19th century where there is hardship, labor unrest, and a large gap between the rich and the poor. During the 19th century “many of the wealthiest Americans consciously pursued an aristocratic lifestyle, building palatial homes, attending exclusive social clubs, schools, and colleges, and focused on spending money not on the needed or even desired goods, but simply to demonstrate the possession of wealth” (Foner, 602). Julian West who is engaged to Edith Bartlett, an aristocrat, they were waiting to get married when their new house was finished, however; Julian West had serious insomnia

The contrasts between the American West and East in the nineteenth century range from a new start to the adventure of the living in the Wild West. The east had become overcrowded and did not allow much opportunity for people of lesser wealth. “In 1893, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner gave a celebrated lecture, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” in which he argued that on the western frontier the distinctive qualities of American culture were forged: individual freedom, political democracy, and economic mobility. The West, he added, acted as a “safety

Industrial production dropped by half, breadlines, soup kitchens, and the homeless shelters became popular in America’s town and cities. In Document six, it explains how consumers have to reduce purchases and cut back on spending habits and how farmers struggled not being able to afford to harvest their crops( William E. Leuchtenburg, The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932, 1958). Also in Document seven, and eight it states that, people and families have to stretch and makes ends meet on what they have and also finding a way to make things cheaper (Paul Blanshard, “How to Live on Forty-six Cents a Day,” The Nation, 1929/ Fortune, February

No idea is more fundamental to Americans ' sense of ourselves as individuals and as a nation than freedom. The central term in our political vocabulary, freedom—or liberty, with which it is almost always used interchangeably—is deeply embedded in the record of our history and the language of everyday life. Before the readings and lectures in this module, I believed the major issues at stake regarding the understandings of American citizenship in the late 1800’s, had much to do with the written laws of the Federal and state government. Based from my previous knowledge, of the Women Suffrage Movement, to the freedom fighters, political and social figurative leaders, to lastly to civil rights, and citizenship, I my assumption of that, was based on written laws that white supremacists, and authoritative figures including the government followed, regardless of their feelings towards justice and equality.

Populism in the 1890’s derived of racial controversies that damaged the movement from progressing into mainstream politics. Populist activists envisioned a system where there would be economic and political reform, but they failed to embrace minorities in this system. The issue of racial politics caused racial divisions within the Populist party, made African Americans loose trust in the Populists efforts to promote initiatives that mattered to them, and failed to racially be progressive in combating discriminatory laws in the 1890’s. To understand how racial politics impeded the opportunity of Populist progression, we need to evaluate the Populists viewpoints on racial integration, the desires of reform that African Americans strived for, and the role African American voters played in politics. ` From the 1890’s, historian C.Vann Woodward and Lawrence Goodwyn analyzed the racial politics behind the populist movement and stated, “white populists had challenging racial taboo’s, only to have their courageous efforts of unity between white and blacks

A historian once wrote that the 19th century was “a time of bitter conflict, as the world of the past fought to remain alive.” During the 19th century, there was an emergence of the political ideologies: liberalism, conservatism, and socialism. Liberalism sought to limit the government, preserve individual freedom and believed in the hierarchy of merit. Conservatism attempted to preserve the existing order and believed in tradition over reason. Socialists believed in strengthening parliaments and the working class to bolster laborers.

In 1782, French aristocrat J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, wrote an essay titled Letters of an American Farmer as a way of defining Americans. To persuade readers from countries unfamiliar with the American society is his purpose for writing this. Throughout he shows a feeling of admiration and respect towards the American way of life. In the first paragraph Crevecoeur starts with his claim that America is a “great asylum” put together by the “poor of Europe.”