Mary Elizabeth Lease and the “Money Power”
October 20, 2009 at 8:42 AM | In Blogging Response Questions, Discussion Starters | Leave a CommentTags: Populism
If you are feeling stuck and don’t know what to write for this week’s blog, here is something for you to think about. According to Mary Elizabeth Lease (pictured) and her fellow Populists, the government was controlled by the wealthy and the corrupt. In a speech given in 1890 she stated:
Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street. The great common people of this country are slaves, and monopoly is the master. The West and South are bound and prostrate before the manufacturing East. Money rules, and our Vice-President is a London banker. Our laws are the output of a system which clothes rascals in robes and honesty in rags.*
Questions for consideration:
1) How might these sources relate to our current state of affairs as a country (in the 21st century)? Do you see parallels today, and if so, where?
2) For those of you who are history majors or who have taken both halves of the introductory U.S. survey, where else in American history can we find criticisms of this so-called “money power”?
*Available online on several radical sites, including History is a Weapon and History Matters. It is also published in Howard Zinn, Voices of a People’s History of the United States (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2004).
Potential Blogging Topic
October 13, 2009 at 10:00 PM | In Blogging Response Questions | Leave a CommentTags: archaeology, blogging, podcasts
MISSOURI-KANSAS BORDER WAR NETWORK
If you are planning on blogging about the border war at some point during the semester, there are some podcasts available on iTunes that may be of interest. The Missouri-Kansas Border War Network is an organization that seeks to educate the public and preserve the history of this region. You can see their website for more details, but you’ll have to go to iTunes to download their podcasts.
These podcasts are short (~6-8 minute) interviews with historians and archaeologists who study this period. The two described below are the only ones that I’ve listened to, but feel free to blog about any of the others; remember to include analysis in your post, and not just summary. Here’s more detail:
1. Donald Gilmore, in the interview titled “Order No. 11,” forwards his conclusion that Order No. 11 was not necessarily a reaction to Quantrill’s raid on Lawrence in 1863. I would be interested to hear your take on the last part of the lecture where he talks about slaveholders and their right to keep slave property.
2. Ann Raab, who is a graduate student in the archaeology department here at KU, is interviewed in the podcast titled “Bates County, Missouri, Archaeology Dig.” This past year, Raab conducted an archaeological dig on a plantation in Bates County, Missouri. Archaeology of the historic period (when written records have been preserved and can work in tandem with archaeological finds) is called “historic archaeology.”
Options for This Week’s Blog Posts
September 22, 2009 at 10:25 AM | In Blogging Response Questions, Helpful Tips | Leave a CommentTags: blogging, brainstorming, podcasts, primary sources
For those of you who are posting blogs this week, here are a few sources you can consider if you are having trouble choosing a topic. As you compose your post, think about how you are going to incorporate analysis in addition to your brief summary. If you choose to discuss a primary source, be sure to print out the “Interpreting Primary Sources” sheet posted on this webpage under the tab “Class Handouts.”
Podcasts
Primary sources
- Letter by James Mead (I read a quote from one of his letters in lecture)
- Handbook for the Kansas Pacific Railway
- Medical History of the 19th Kansas Cavalry
- Testimony of Henry H. Hewitt (concerning the Sand Creek Massacre)
- The Captive Cheyennes (article in the Lawrence Standard)
Remember too that you can address topics we’ve already covered, such as the earliest European explorations in the region, the Bleeding Kansas conflict, etc. You could also discuss a section of Miner and Unrau’s book The End of Indian Kansas, as long as you aren’t double-dipping and just reprinting on your blog what you’re including in your book review.
Blogging Questions for September 10
September 4, 2009 at 9:08 PM | In Blogging Response Questions | Leave a CommentTags: blogging
Since this is the first week that blog posts are due, feel free to choose one of the following questions and answer it within a blog post of 250 to 500 words. Be sure to explain why you have come to this conclusion by using evidence from lecture, discussion, or the readings. If you refer to one of the readings from Kansas Memory, be sure to embed a link to the source’s URL.
1) Based on our readings and discussion of Indian removal, how did the U. S. government determine who had the most legitimate right to claim land? For that matter, is the environment something that can be “possessed”? Explain your answer and why you have taken this position.
2) According to www.thefreedictionary.com, nationalism is defined as: “1. Devotion to the interests or culture of one’s nation, 2. The belief that nations will benefit from acting independently rather than collectively, emphasizing national rather than international goals, 3. Aspirations for national independence in a country under foreign domination.” Based on this definition, is the government’s policy on Indian removal an example of American nationalism? If so, why?
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