Education
Nineteenth Amendment - Who, what, when, Why Ben - During the midterm elections of 1918, Woodrow Wilson had to address the issue of women’s suffrage sufficiently, for fear of public outcry if he didn’t. One figure that can be cited as being a powerful force throughout this movement was Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1900-1904 and 1915-1920. The organization and its members pressured Congress to change laws that discriminated against women and minorities. Jonathan- The 19th Amendment was passed on May 21st 1919 by James R. Mann, This amendment ensured females could vote equally as men could. A right known as women's suffrage was ratified in 1920 Which just ensured that women can vote in local or national elections. Audrey - So the 15th amendment allowed black males to vote and the 19th amendment is exactly the same thing just instead of race this time it’s about gender. Before the 19th amendment women’s suffrage was actually kind of a state to state thing so like women could vote in some states starting with New Jersey which never restricted women’s rights to vote. Then after the civil war there were a bunch of new states like Utah, Washington and Wyoming, whose state constitutions allowed women to vote. A big reason behind that was to encourage women to move to the west but it also got more states to want to let women vote state to state until it got to a more national level. Illy- The women’s suffrage movement was founded in the mid-19th century by women who had become politically active through their work in the abolitionist and temperance movements. In July 1848, 240 woman suffragists, including Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, met in Seneca Falls, New York, to assert the right of women to vote. President Hoover has a reputation for dithering in the face of the Great Depression, but what are some policies he enacted to counteract the economic crisis? Ben - President Hebert Hoover was tasked with managing America in one of its most vulnerable times. The Great Depression was caused by a number of factors, things like the farming crisis, income inequality, and a dangerously thriving stock market, all of which nearly destroyed the economy. This wasn’t an inevitable thing either, economists warned Hoover and Coolidge, (the president before him), that if they didn’t change things drastically, the economy would crash like never before. Maybe he did deserve the reputation of hesitation around the Great Depression. But I mean, what would you have done? (just saying it was a hard situation don’t actually answer that) Audrey - A lot of Hoover’s policies didn’t go very well and he kind of got blamed for a lot of the problems the US was having, which presidents often do. He didn’t want the government to get too involved because he was afraid of socialism and he also didn’t really do anything to help unemployment. Illy- he took office in 1929 the same year that us economy plummeted so yes like ben and audrey said he did get blamed for a lot of things that happened to the US because he didnt realize the severity of the event going on in his own country something i also found out that may have been a contributing factor in the way he managed this country was this quote from his inauguration “I have no fears for the future of our country” What is the 18th amendment to the Constitution? When was it ratified? Why did we need it? Ben - The 18th amendment is the only amendment in the constitution to ever be repealed. Ratified in most states in 1919, this amendment put in place a country-wide ban on alcoholic beverages. ( except 2 states ) Things like religious consumption of wine were still allowed, but any possession or redistribution of alcohol was illegal. Audrey - So it might sound a little extreme to make alcohol illegal but it was causing real problems. Not only were people drinking 3 times as much as they do today but the alcohol was much more potent. And with the war going on it was kinda like if you wanna defeat the Germans you better stop drinking. Illy- ok so who likes being told what to do ik i dont but basically we made the 18th amendment and all it did was make sneaky ppl and they were known as bootleggers and these bootleggers would make alcohol and then sell it to people What is “The Lost Generation” Ben - Back in the 20’s this term used to mean veteren, or generally anyone involved in, or affected by, the great war. Nowadays we define “The Lost Generation” as anyone born from 1883-1900. The Lost Generation experienced a lot of things that we can only imagine, the popularization of the telephone and typewriter, and a drastic rise in production of cars. By 1929, half of all American families owned a car. It must be confusing to see cars as a luxury, then go to war, come back, and now everyone has one. Audrey - When all the luxuries like cars, radios and washing machines, started getting popular, many Americans were going deep into debt to have them. That meant that if the economy struggled, which it obviously did, a lot of people were gonna be in trouble. Illy- people who came back from the vietnam war were also referred to as the lost generation as well What is the Anti Imperialist League? The Anti Imperialist League was formed in 1898 to combat America’s takeover of the Philippines. They believed that by being Imperial, America was going against everything it stood for, the values that people like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln tried to bestow upon this country. These values are things like non-intervention, self governing, and consent of the people. Audrey - There were a lot of members of the anti-imperialist league who didn’t really have anything in common. Obviously they all thought imperialism was bad but they all had different reasons. Some examples are Andrew Carnegie, who was a big businessman and one of the richest people in the US, Jane Addams, who kinda created the job of social worker, and then there’s also Mark Twain who, I think we all know, is a famous author. So the league was made up of all kinds of very different people with one common belief. Illy- so basically these guys motto was “consent of the governed” and they basically thought that america didnt revolve around this and they got mad and formed this group out of spite The Meat Inspection Act Ben - When I read the contents of the Federal Meat Inspection Act, I thought it was crazy that something like this wasn’t already in place. This law, put in place in 1906, specifically makes it so that if you sell any meat, you have to disclose what the meat is. Before this you could get away with not telling anybody or putting on a wrong label and nobody could press charges against you. Audrey - Before the meat inspection act packing plants were developing assembly lines to more efficiently process and pack the meat but they weren’t restricted much by the government and because of that they were unclean and were producing meat unfit for human consumption. The packing plants did have inspectors but they would specifically pick inspectors so nothing would ever be inspected well. For example they would take dead rats and pieces of old meat off of the floor and call it sausage. Illy- basically dont put the wrong label on the meat and then this wont happen like what did they expect to happen when people continually would wrongly label and taking things that werent usually made into meat product This law implemented 4 additional clauses, first and second is inspection of livestock before and after slaughter, third is higher sanitary requirements for slaughter houses, fourth is authorizing the entire U.S. department of Agriculture to monitor the entire process. So from the time the cow is born to the time it gets put in a store, they get to see it all and make sure nothing dishonest is going on. Pure Food and Drug Act Ben - The Pure Food and Drug Act, similar to the Meat Inspection Act, is pretty self explanatory. Signed on the same exact day as the Meat Inspection Act, meat packing companies got hit pretty hard. Food isn’t the only thing these laws affected, however. Audrey - Another problem with the drugs is they were being labeled incorrectly or dishonestly, similar to the problem with the meat. That was obviously very dangerous because people didn’t know what they were actually taking. The worst case was in 1937 when elixir sulfanilamide contained a poison and killed 107 people, many of them being children. That made it clear how important food and drug safety was and encouraged the pure food and drug act. Illy- basically the problem people are dishonest little turds and they cant jus help people out by doing what they are supposed to Certain drugs were deemed addictive, or dangerous. Morphine, Opium, Alcohol, and Cannabis were all deemed addictive or dangerous. These laws also led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.