Monday, February 10, 2014

Jazz Age - Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was born on June 8, 1867, in Richland Center, Wisconsin. After college, he became chief assistant to architect Louis Sullivan. Wright then founded his own firm and developed a style known as the Prairie school, which strove for an "organic architecture" in designs for homes and commercial buildings.  Over his career he created numerous iconic buildings. Frank Lloyd Wright was the most influential American architect of the 20th century. He designed private homes, office buildings, hotels, churches, museums, and more. As a pioneer of the “organic” architecture movement, Wright designed buildings that integrated into the natural environments that surrounded them. Perhaps the most famous example of Wright’s daring design was Fallingwater, which Wright designed to literally hover over a waterfall. Despite murder, fire, and mayhem that plagued his lifetime, Wright designed more than 800 buildings -- 380 of these were actually built, with more than one-third now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Picture of Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect.He died April 9, 1959.Frank Lloyd Wright passed away on April 9, 1959, at the age 91, six months before the Guggenheim opened its doors. Wright is widely considered the greatest architect of the 20th century, and the greatest American architect of all time. He perfected a distinctly American style of architecture that emphasized simplicity and natural beauty in contrast to the elaborate and ornate architecture that had prevailed in Europe. With likely superhuman energy and persistence, Wright designed more than 1,100 buildings during his lifetime, nearly one third of which he designed during his last decade.


Sources:
http://www.cmgww.com/historic/flw/fwcare.html
http://wrightonthepark.org/about-us/about-frank-lloyd-wright/

Friday, January 17, 2014

WWI letter

Dear Betty,

War has been distancing our hearts, our souls and our lifes. War has made me a different man, not stronger but I'm afraid colder. I pray everyday that god would let me return home to my beloved wife and children. I've seen my men die like stars falling off the sky. Their feet rot and fall apart like decayed bread. Everyday we hold on to our fate. Our soldiers unshackled from life's bonds by a bomb, blown from earth straight to heaven to be free. I've seen demons slaughtering our men within trenches. God has long left this place, angels have been defeated and death is coming closer with every breath I take.

Yours forever,

John

WWI Causes

M.A.I.N.

Militarism - the belief or desire of a government or people that a country should maintain a strong military capability and be prepared to use it aggressively to defend or promote national interests.

Alliances - a union or association formed for mutual benefit, esp. between countries or organizations.

Imperialism - a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.

Nationalism -  a desire by a large group of people (such as people who share the same culture, history, language, etc.) to form a separate and independent nation of their own.

1) Militarism: It is the preparation for war. At the time, Britain had the most powerful navy and Germany was trying to expand theirs. This established strong navies and prepared them for war.

2) Alliances: It is the formal agreement of support among countries in the event of an attack. This caused WWI because the conflict originally involved between two countries were likely to involve many more countries due to the alliance. Germany was an ally of Austria Hungary, if they were at war, then Germany would be automatically at war.

3) Imperialism: The building of power by controlling over colonies. Countries were arguing over colonies and this caused them to war. Every country wanted to expand their power.

4) Nationalism: It is a deep loyalty to one's nation. Gavrilo Princip from Serbia was the person who triggered WWI by killing Archuduke from Austria-Hungary, because he Austria-Hungary controlled Serbia at the time. This is an example of nationalism because he was showing loyalty to his own country.

The spark that started World War I was the assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie. His death triggered Austria's declaration of war against Serbia.





RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner, holder of the Blue Riband and briefly the world's biggest ship. She was launched by the Cunard Line in 1907, at a time of fierce competition for the North Atlantic trade. In 1915 she was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat, causing the deaths of 1,198 passengers and crew.


The Sussex Pledge was a promise made in 1916 during World War I by Germany to the United States prior to the latter's entry into the war.


Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink vessels such as freighters and tankers without warning, as opposed to attacks per prize rules. This had a huge impact on  WWI and was announced by Germany on January 9th, 1917.

The Zimmermann Note was a 1917 diplomatic proposal from the German Empire for Mexico to join the Central Powers, in the event of the United States entering World War I on the side of the Entente Powers.





Thursday, January 9, 2014

WWI - The Draft/Conscription


To raise a national army for the American entry into World War I, the Selective Draft Act of 1917 authorized the federal government to raise an army through conscription. The Act itself was drafted by  Hugh Johnson after the United States entered World War I by declaring war on Germany. The Act was canceled with the end of the war on November, 1918.

At the time of World War I, the U.S. Army lacked in size compared with the mobilized armies of the powers of Europe. As late as 1914, the federal army was under 100,000, while the National Guard  numbered around 115,000. The National Defense Act of 1916 authorized the growth of the army to 165,000 and the National Guard to 450,000 by 1921. By 1917 the federal army had only expanded to around 121,000, with the National Guard numbering 181,000. Six weeks after war was declared,  73,000 had volunteered for service.
All males aged 21 to 30 were required to register for military service by the guidelines of the Selective Service Act. Later congress made the law in August 1918 to expand the age range to include all men 18 to 45, and to expand volunteering. By the end of World War I, around 2 million men volunteered for the armed services, and about 2.8 million had been drafted. More than half of the almost 4.8 million Americans who served in the armed forces were drafted. There were 3 national registration days.
The World War I draft had a high success rate due to the patriotic attitude with fewer than 350,000 men dodging the draft.

                                                   








Sources: http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/usconscription_wilson.htm
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1968530 

Monday, December 9, 2013

Progressive Era - The Jungle

1) What qualities did Sinclair believe a person must have to succeed in Packingtown? 

Sinclair wanted a person to not get tired easily, work at a fast pace, doing quality work, and they would have a high wage.



2)According to the passage, what is the plant owner's main goal.


The plant owner wanted to stay richer than everyone. No matter how work gets done, the owner wanted to make as much money as possible.



3) What does Sinclair mean when he says, "...there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar....?"


It means that you have to make a profit, if you are not making money than do whatever it takes to change that.




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 meat packing profession has changed. Nowadays it is considered to be a dangerous job. Regulatory policies and procedures are required for the safety of the workers. The process has to meet USDA standards.  A daily inspection by the meat packing facility must take place in order to maintain sanitation standards.





Industrialization

industrialism


Industrialization is a period of social and economic change, modernization, and innovative technology. These advances in technology allowed large-scale manufacturing of goods and energy which lead to economic development. Social change was seen in the modernization of sociological and philosophical processes, attitude and perception progressed.

Industrialization in America introduced different innovations that made manufacturing more efficient, large-scale and cheaper, which created an economy for America who's primary focus moved to the manufacturing of goods unlike before. It brought the factory system into heavy use through the work of machines, and industrialization encouraged market capitalism as a way of trading.

Here we see how other nations advanced in wealth. 
The Us The Platt Amendment, amended the Cuban constitution to give the U.S. the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and access to naval bases on the island. 

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Women's Christian Temperance Union

The Women's Christian Temperance Union was organized by women who were concerned about the destructive power of alcohol and the problems that came along with it. They thought it was a threat to families and society. In many towns in Ohio and New York women met in the fall of 1873 in churches to pray and then marched to the saloons to ask the owners to close their alcohol beverages business. Women in that time period were very active and wanted to "Americanize" every immigrant by trying them to abstain from alcohol. With that they established the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU).  Yet they thought they needed to be seen nationally so they became national. The next summer they established the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union. The movement was highly recognized and within the first five years, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union established a network of over 1,000 local groups and began publication of a journal.









Sources: http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/prohibition/roots-of-prohibition/