Progressive Era- The Jungle

1) What qualities did Sinclair believe a person must have to succeed in Packingtown?Sinclair thought that people spy on his fellows and tell tales, which is also known as knave.

2)According to the passage, what is the plant owner's main goal.His main goal is to become as rich as possible, without caring if he gained money by cheating or being unfair. Not caring where or how he got it.

3) What does Sinclair mean when he says, "...there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar....?"The workers meant nothing to the owners, they were just using them for their labor to get as much money as they could get. Then when the owners got tired of the workers and they weren't working as hard, they would kick them out, leaving them tired and worn out and being mistreated.

When it was published, The Jungle was so shocking that it launched a government investigation of the meatpacking industry.  The investigation eventually led to the establishment of laws regulating the industry.  Using the internet, research an area that our government regulates now (meat packing, environment, pharmaceuticals) and report how this is enforced today.The government regulates pharmaceutical products because now days there are so many things that could go wrong in the making of these products. If there was one little mistake in making them then there could be a huge lawsuit and someone could potentially die. Pharmaceutical products have to be regulated very closely so not complications happen. A really interesting way they are regulated are by clinical trials. Clinical trials test the new medicines and treatments before they are released so they know for sure the effects of it. Obamacare gives the pharmaceutical area millions of dollars to keep their products up to date and working. Regulating the pharmaceutical products helps saves lives and keep everyone healthy.

Source: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/03/government_regulation_destroying_pharmaceutical_industry.html

Industrialization

Industrialism is a system of developing industries that make large production of manufactured goods. There was usually manual labor in the industries. Industries were what helped America move in a positive way economically. They gave jobs to the lesser fortunate, helped produce goods faster and were great for making guns and weapons for the war. Industries had some great positive affects as well as negative affects. A couple positive effects were that they economically boosted the country by brining in a lot of money and gave the unemployed a job so they wouldn’t be living on the streets anymore. A negative effect for industries is that the working conditions were awful. Many people died in the factories. The working hours were long and hard for the laborers and the factories were very dangerous. There were so many machines that people could easily get hurt on. Also, the owners didn’t allow the people to leave during working hours so they were locked in.
This lead to many dangerous situations such as fires and workers not being able to escape. Later on in American history, there were machine inventions that took the place of human labor. Instead of having humans in the factories doing the work, there were machines. These machines took the jobs of the lower class, leaving him or her back to where they started with no job or money. In the end, industrialism was a huge downfall for the lower class.

A man named Henry George wrote source 1. His views on industrialism are that American had good ideas to begin with. We thought that making factories and giving the poor a job would be a great thing for the future of America. But George goes on to say that since the working conditions were just so bad that it really didn’t make much of a change. He says that even though the country may have looked like it was striving in wealth and machinery production, if anyone was to look deeper into the lower classes and how they were doing they would see that things aren’t as great as they seem, “and the machinery of production and exchange most highly developed- we find the deepest poverty…”.

David A. was the author of source number 2. David’s view on industrialism is that when people are hired to work in factories they are taught to do one simple task over and over and over again. That’s all they do. It pretty much becomes second nature to these people. They are taught not to say or do anything other than their one task. So when the machines came in and took over the jobs of these people, they were left useless. David shares, “and when there is no more of that kind of work to do, they are in a measure helpless” to show that the workers didn’t know how to do anything and were left without a job when the machines took over. He believes that the people should have had variety in their work so when they were ran out of their job they would have some other options of work choices, not left helpless.          

The author of source 3 is Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie saw mostly all the positives in industrialism. He noticed that the railroads helped transport goods and items across the country. He saw that the inventions of farming machines helped lessen the workload for farmers. Carnegie thought that all these inventions really benefited the citizens of the United States. Andrew Carnegie states, “Markets for his produce are easy of access and transportation swift and cheap” to show us that all the industrializing helped farmers greatly by making it easier for them to sell their goods.                     

The life of an industrial worker would have been hard. They would work long hard hours and not even get paid very much. Their life would revolve around their jobs and they wouldn’t have much time for family. The jobs of these workers would be very dangerous and life risking; their lives would be in their own hands. Workers were treated very poorly with their long working hours and hard labor. I feel as though these workers should have been treated better because they are humans as well. They were treated less for their social class and that is just not right. Everyone should be treated equally. No exception.   

              

US History articles

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1762443/assassination-of-Abraham-Lincoln

The Civil War:
http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war

The American Revolution:
http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution

John F. Kennedy Assassination:
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-f-kennedy-assassinated

Louisiana Purchase:
http://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/louisiana-purchase

Tenement

A tenement is an apartment that was lived in by many families at once. It was usually very cramped for space and not very well lighted. Tenements were built as block shaped buildings that had no lawn and only had windows on the front and back. Later on though, people realized that tuberculosis was being spread faster because of lack of light and fresh air. The newer models of tenements were starting to have lightwells in the center of the buildings to accommodate the inner rooms. Tenements are so small and lacking space that sometimes there will be a bathtub found in the kitchen. The main percentage of people who lived in these tenements were immigrants. The reason being, because they are giving all the money they make back home to their families in their home countries. People with small businesses and not a lot of money choose to live in these tenements to save money and not spend too much money on their rent. Tenements were very useful in the 1800s and offered places for immigrants to live without ripping them of all their money.

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-tenement.htm

http://www.artblogny.com/2012-10/architecture/life-in-a-tenement-in-the-late-1800s-have-things-changed-much#.Umfq0hbU5Ed

Hiring Workers

When it came to hiring workers for the building of the railroad, it wasn’t too easy of a job. There were around 4,000 job openings for workers on the railroad. Out of that 4,000, there was only about 800 of those positions filled at one time. A great majority of the workers were Irish because there were so many Irishmen immigrating to the States. The Chinese were also immigrating to America because they heard of the gold that was found. Men were skeptical when hiring the Chinese because they knew that they were so unreliable.  The Irish were starting to complain about their wages, so recruiters started hiring the Chinese. They were noticing that hiring the Chinese put the Irish back in their place because they were scared of the Chinese taking over the jobs. The Chinese actually started showing more skill in their work and were working much better and strong than the Irish. Crocker, a contractor of the railroad, really liked the Chinese work ethic so he started advertising in China about the railroad work overseas. The Chinese were just a better choice for the contractors to hire because not only were they better workers, but they were paid less. Hiring workers was all about getting the best work for the cheapest labor hours, and in the end, it seemed to be the Chinese that accomplished this.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-cprr/

The Builders

      Life as a buisness owner in the 1800 was a bit more difficult then what you might think running a buisness would be like today. Most people from the 1800's who were looking to get in a buisness would do so by possibly building a country store out west where they could get all the people looking for gold to get there products. The pros of this was it was quick money if you could keep your product in stock long enough before the mines ran dry and the main people buying your product packs up and leaves to their new mining towns. The risk of opening a buisness in a mining town was a risk of going bankrupt when the mines hit rock bottom, this was just as big of a risk if you were a miner that risked it all to come find gold in the mountains of the west. But the smart buisness owners had an advantage because they knew how to manage money, In one case of a good man named Stanford he was such a sucsesful buisness man he elected to run for a job in politics but he refused because he wanted to contenue the hunt for money out west. The good that came from this was he didn't have to show up to work ready and focused, a job like this for Stanford wouldn't have worked becuase he was a genarally a lazy and slow person who would spend time focusing in minor details. Stanford although a good buisness man wouldn't have lasted to long in the politics of a growing country. So although being a buisness owner was one carrer choice in the 1800's it was as risky as selling everything you owned and moving wast to try to cash in on the ever growing California gold rush.

By: Tj Cecil

Life in Camp

Life in camp as a worker for the railroad was a rough and dirty life. There weren’t any comfy mattresses or walls sheltering them from the drastic weather they faced. The camps they built for the men were put up as fast as they could because the men needed to focus on building the railroad, not their camps. Many diseases were passed through these camps because of the uncleanliness. The tents and blankets the workers used for sleeping were never cleaned after each time used; they were just packed up and moved to the next location. For fun in the camp, the workers liked to gamble, drink and shoot their friends. This goes to show that these men lived a hard life. The workers worked long hours and every once in a while needed a break, that’s why so many gambling houses, brothels and saloons were popping up around. The workers enjoyed spending some of the money they made and getting a night off. Life in camp was probably not very fun. They were always packing up their belongings and moving because they had to get to new parts of the railroad to build. So many men were traveling out there for this that there were towns being put up for the workers and the trail they followed was becoming permanent. The building of the railroad put up many new cities and towns along the railroad and brought many men out west to help work on it. Life in camp for these men was quite the experience.

By: Allie Morgan

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-hell/

Harriet Tubman

            Harriet Tubman was an African American woman who was born in Maryland in 1820 as a slave. Harriet escaped slavery in 1849 and she returned to the slavery states many times to help other slaves escape to freedom.  She is known for her heroic ways of leading slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a chain of safe houses that were used to let slaves hide and rest on their journey north.

            Harriet Tubman had worked as a field hand for as long as she could remember. She was working on farms in Maryland when she married John Tubman, but they eventually separated after a short while. Harriet’s owner died in 1849 and this is when she got the idea to escape to Philadelphia. She heard that she was going to be sold to the Deep South and that scared her, so she knew that it was now or never if she was going to ever be free. When she arrived in Philadelphia a rush of happiness ran throughout her body because she was now a free person, not owned by anyone. This happiness soon left when she heard the news that her family was in danger. Harriet rescued her brother and sister’s family in 1850-1851. This was the stepping-stone for her success in freeing 300 slaves through the Underground Railroad.

            Harriet was a woman that will never be forgotten. She put her friends life before her own. The Underground Railroad alone freed over 3,000 slaves and this wouldn’t have been the case without Harriet taking the first step towards freedom. Harriet was nicknamed Moses after the man in the Bible who freed the Egyptians. Harriet was a good woman and really made a difference in the life of the minorities.

http://www.historyinanhour.com/2012/03/10/harriet-tubman-summary/

http://www.biography.com/people/harriet-tubman-9511430