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History
Dawes Severalty Act
This act sought to give authority to the United States’ president to partition land that was being held as community land by members of a tribe, into small allotments that were given out to individuals. This law emphasized on treating of Americans as individuals – severalty – and not as a community. This brought in a more sense of belonging for these America Indians who initially owned land as community land.
American Indians were given land in portions as individual owners, with household heads getting a quarter section, single adults and every orphan child getting an eighth of a section. This act was first enacted in 1887 by the Congress, and has been subsequently amended to include the territories by the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and Osage, the Indian Territory and the Seneca nations. The Act was named after Senator Henry Dawes of Massachusetts.
The significance of the act was to protect the Indian property rights during the times of the land rushes in 1890’s. Much progress was lost as inheritance over the years meant that the portions grew smaller. Additionally, most of the parcels of land were deserts, rendering them uncultivable.
Social Security Act
This act established a system of benefits during old age from the federal government in a bid to promote general welfare. It enabled the States to cater adequately for old people, blind people, the public health, and the crippled and dependent children.
It also established Social Security Boards that would raise money for other social cushioning, including funding maternal and child welfare. It established means by which the federal government could give grants to states to establish the social safety net. This act also stated how public health work would be rolled out and how one’s income taxes during his/her productive years could be channeled to establish the Social Security Fund. It provides benefits to the retired and unemployed people and a one-off payment at one’s death.
Its main significance was to limit the risks and troubles in the American way of life, like the burden of supporting widows and orphans, old age, and unemployment. President Roosevelt first advocated for it in 1935.
Battle of Little Bighorn
This was a military confrontation between the United States 7th Regiment and combined troops of Arapaho, Lakota and Northern Cheyenne. It occurred near the Little Bighorn River during the Great Sioux War in 1876. There had been initial tension in the Great Plains, where the natives were seeking to stop the encroaching American settlers.
The Americans attempted to use their army to conquer new lands but suffered a large number of casualties in the end, as their opponents successfully ganged up to beat them. An incorrect estimation on the number of Indian warriors that the American 7th Regiment was to face made it to engage a much larger and united force than it had anticipated.
The significance of this battle is that it made the US Congress to go back to the drawing board and increase the size of the 7th Regiment. The US Congress also amended the Indian Appropriations Act of 1876 to remove all the rations that were being given to the Sioux. They had to stop their hostilities and surrender the Black Hills back to the United States.
Schenck v US
This describes a decision reached by the Supreme Court that was related to enforcing the Espionage Act of 1917.
In the World War 1 era, America sought to limit freedoms given in the First Amendment to stem the antiwar dissent and enhance national unity. This culminated in passing the Espionage Act to punish those who interfered with the war effort by giving false information. Dissenters were often isolated, arrested and punished.
Among the leading dissenters was the Socialist Party that felt that the rich had started the war but it is the poor who were left to fight it. Its secretary general, Charles Schenck was actively involved in antiwar campaigns, and even printed leaflets intended to dissuade the commoners from joining the country’s armed forces.
Obstructing the draft during the draft age in World War 1 was a criminal offense that the defendants were guilty for. A search warrant given against the Socialist headquarters gave leads to new documents that served as evidence against the accused under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. He was tried and jailed for espionage.
The significance of this case is that it explored the limitations of the First Amendment, as read out by Holmes. According to Holmes, expressions that could be interpreted to cause a crime and even construed to pose a clear and present danger of being successful was punishable by the Congress.
He stated that no person could use his right for free speech to put the lives of others at risk. He therefore convicted Schenck to prison.
Plessey v Ferguson
This is a unique Supreme Court ruling in the United States that sought to ratify the constitutionality of the state laws that separated public facilities for blacks and whites.
In 1892, Homer Plessy, a Louisiana black had sat on a white car meant for the whites instead of the “Colored” car meant for the blacks. He had deliberately sat in the white car as a move by a civil rights group to challenge the seemingly racist laws that had been passed by Louisiana State. He was arrested and taken before the US Supreme Court. His lawyer’s argument that the Separate Car Act contravened the 13th and 14th Amendments was defeated.
The significance of this ruling stands in its verdict. The court held that the constitution was blind to color and that separate facilities for the whites and the blacks was just constitutional. This separate but equal only came to be struck down in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
Muckrakers
This refers to the early American groups who embraced reformist and investigative journalism in America before the start of World War 1. They specifically wrote about how big businesses were contributing to rampant corruption, social problems and political brinksmanship in the industrial era. They drew much public interest by their articles that condemned industrial monopolies and corruption, eventually shaping the American society.
President Roosevelt first coined the term in his speech in April 1906, when he mentioned “the Man with the Mucracke…” Their journalistic works included Brand Whitlock’s book, The Turn of the Balance (1907) that was against capital punishment as a way of serving justice. Charles Edward wrote The Greatest Trust in the World (1905) and The Uprising of the Many (1907).Another Journalist, Lincoln Steffens highlighted corruption in the city in The Shame of the Cities (1904).
These writers’ work had much significance in investigating and performing watchdog role over public institutions and social organizations. They were characteristic of the progressive America in the 1900s.
Seneca Falls
This was a convention that was organized in Seneca Falls, in New York. Its main aim was activate debates and discussions on women’s rights and their social, political and religious status. This convention lasted for two days and it managed to spark off other similar conventions, like the National Women’s Rights Group in America. Female Quakers with marked oratory skills organized the convention that progressed with sessions on law and women’s role in society. Elizabeth Stanton was a key facilitator of this convention. She presented to the congregation a Declaration of Sentiments with some proposed solutions that were to be debated and ratified. At the end of the convention, major political gains for women had been made, including the right to vote. This was very significant as it marked the beginning of sustained lobbying for women equality with men.
14th Amendment
This amendment to the US constitution that spells out the rights of citizens, their citizenship and the equal protection of the laws. It was moved after the American Civil War, as a way of seeking redress for the former slaves. It has several clauses, including the Equal Protection Clause, Citizenship Clause, Due Process Clause, and the Privileges and Immunities Clause.
It is significant in changing and overruling past Supreme Court verdicts such as the Dred Scott v. Sandford, which had previously held that children of American slaves could not be American citizens. The Citizenship Clause reversed this verdict.
The Due Process Clause requires a relevant legislative clause for any government official to deprive a person of his property, life, or even liberty. The Equal Protection Clause requires every State to give equal treatment to all people within its area of authority. This clause helped to remove racial segregation.
Wagner Act
This was a labor relations law passed in the United States in the 20th Century. It is known as the National Labor Relations Act (1935). Its main impact was to remove the underhand attempts by employers to scuttle the formation of workers’ unions by their employees. It provides fundamental rights of the private sector employees to belong to workers’ unions that can enter into collective bargaining agreements, and even issue strike notices. This act also establishes the National Labor Relations Board whose main role is to conduct elections of workers representatives.
Thomas Edison
This American inventor came up with the phonograph, the motion picture camera and an electric light bulb. He is credited for coming up with a system that uses principles for mass production by building the first industrial research laboratory.
Thomas Edison had over 1093 patents in his name. His inventions made widespread impacts in power distribution and consumption, mass communication, sound recording, telecommunications and motion pictures. His earlier work as telegraph operator opened up the doors to these inventions. He even built a power station on Pearl Street in Manhattan, New York
