Lad #23 The Populist Party Platform

The Populist Party Platform- summarize

The Populist Party was created in an effort to address and attempt to diminish some of the political, economical, and social issues that have corrupted balloting, among many other things, and has resulted in an even larger gap between rich capitalists, who owned all the land, and poor people, who had pretty much nothing. Urban workmen, time and time again, have been denied the right to organize among themselves to gain self-protection, and wages have tanked even lower, which in turn furthered said gap between rich and poor. The Populist Party declares that the nation, as a whole, has yet again begun to favor the rich creditors, which in turn led to an increase in corruption, as expected. They also declare that the country desires a return of the Republic back to the common man, as well as wanting to expand the government in an effort to end issues such as injustice, poverty, and oppression in general. Next, they demand that labor unions be constitutional (legal),  for they believe that the wealth should belong to those who created it. They also suggest that telephones, railroads and telegraphs should be under the control and power of the government. The Populist also requested a change to a more stable and safe currency, like soft money, rather than gold and silver hard coin, as well as the institution of postal savings banks. They also request for monopolies to be prevented, especially over natural resources. The Populist Party concludes in demanding, as the main issues they wanted to resolve, an anonymous voting system that was free of charge, so voters could have privacy, as well as a request for the limit of a President's power of rule (and VP) to one term only.

This is a picture of the logo for the U.S. Democratic Party, for they too are a political party, advocate for better wages and such as well.

LAD #25: Dawes Severalty Act

Read the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 - summarize

The Dawes Severalty Act was an act passed in order to allow the President of the United States to be able survey and divvy out lands in reservations, in "severalty", to any Indian located on the land. This was to be allowed whenever The President feels that a reservation was in any way more so advantageous for the success of agriculture. One quarter was to be assigned to each head of the family, each Indian older than 18, and to each orphan under the age of 18. For regular children under 18 years old, one sixteenth would be allotted. In this act, the power of re-assigning land was held by the President, so all transactions were not always final. Indians themselves could choose their land as well, and was typically done by the head of the family, although not always. This act also required special agents be hired in order to help in the land-assigning process. Additionally, this Act offered up U.S. citizenship rights, although it excluded some Indian tribes.

I decided to connect The Dawes Severalty Act to the story "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie. I did this because one, we just read it in English Class so it came to mind, and two, because a lot of it is about how Indians on Reservations get discriminated against, even though there is no law restricting them. This is much like how The Dawes Severalty Act offered U.S. citizenship right to a select group of tribes, and not every Indian Tribe.

LAD #22: McKinley's War Message

Read President McKinley's War Message - summarize

 

President McKinley's War Message was created as a response to the Cuban revolution against Spain. The Cuban Revolution was a conflict that McKinley had a desperate desire to end.  In his letter to Congress, he talks about his hatred towards this battle, which has been occurring for over half a century. It also required the United States to continuously enforce its neutrality laws, which in turn frustrated and ticked off the citizens.  The revolution has had a vast amount of negative impacts on the United States economy, especially because it impaired trade.  In this message, McKinley influences Congress to go through with ending the war. The two possible ways of doing so included either creating reasonable compromises, or even an promoting a particular side.  President McKinley decided that he would most likely side against Cuba, in an effort to end hostility. However, he revealed that he preferred using a more neutral approach.  He determined it was necessary to first must evaluate the state of rights of life, as well as the rights of property protection, that the Cubans had. He also requests that all hostiles that pose a threat to the United States must be priority to get taken care of.  Because the two nations, Cuba and the United States, are reliant on each other for many different things, it was stated that conflicts, at all costs, needed to be eased. In the end, Congress had the final decision as to either coincide with the requests, or go about other methods of treating these issues.