How US policies did what they were supposed to

During westward expansion, did the impact of federal policy towards the buffalo soldiers and native americans match the intent?

Westward expansion was a period of time in which the US expanded to lands previously unowned, or that had no reason for them to go to. This all changed with the discovery gold. Many policies were adopted in this area, and there was now a great move of people to the west, with one major problem: the area was already greatly populated with Native Americans, and it isn't hard to imagine that the Natives did not want to move. Because of this, much of the Natives were killed and the remaining were moved around by the government very often.

An example of this was the Native American tribe, the Nez Percé. The tribe lived in the areas of what is now Oregon, Washington and Idaho. They were forced off when gold was discovered there, and put on a reservation in what is now Montana. However, after gold was discovered there as well, they were to be moved again. However, some young warriors of the tribe had attacked some white people who moved in before the tribe could move out.

The tribe tried to move to Canada, but were unsuccessful, due to the vast majority of their numbers being killed on their way to Canada by the US army. The remainder returned to Oregon.

Another group heavily effected by these policies were the buffalo soldiers. These were African Americans that were effected by westward expansion. Many African Americans joined after being liberated in the civil war. There name was derived from the facts that their hair reminded people of buffalos, and that they reminded natives of a buffalo spirit.

Buffalo soldiers fought much of a war with native tribes, and also did a lot of hard work to build things out west such as telegram lines and railroads. They, as stated, were also necessary in fighting off native Americans to move. Tribes were forced out after the government passed a bill to make them move, but most were either uninformed, or simply ignored.

Below is a timeline tracking the events of westward expansion

 
All of these were heavily effected by policies drafted by the US. The goals of one were to remove the Native Americans, which it did accomplish. However, it also led to the death of nearly all of the people of certain tribes. It also affected the Buffalo soldiers, as they had a lot to do with building and expanding into the west, and also had to kill much of the Native Americans. As such, the impact of these policies were likely what was intended. It did remove Native Americans from the area where gold was wanted.


Information taken from sources in class, including the image above.

Were the captains of industry even good?

In class, we have been studying the time after the civil war, starting in about 1865 and going through the 20th century. During this time, industry in America was undergoing constant growth. This growth was seen especially in steel production, railroad expansion, and oil companies. Shortly after the civil war, John D. Rockefeller established a small oil company. Over time, this company grew, eventually leading Rockefeller to be one of the wealthiest people of the time. He donated significant amounts of his money back to the public, and yet his workers remained under paid, and were often on strike out of protest. Another example, this time in the steel industry, was Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie believed there were two phases of wealth: Acquiring wealth, then giving back to the community. However, like before, his workers were often on strike. So despite being leaders in growing industry, were these people really all that great?

John D Rockefeller was born into a poor family. He is someone to think about when you think about the 'rags to riches' story. The public had a very poor opinion of him because of the reaches of his company. It was generally thought, and usually true. Below is a political cartoon which depicts Standard Oill, Rockefeller's company, as a monster controlling many government buildings. This help shows the relations Rockefeller had with the public, as most people thought the company controlled parts of the government. So despite donating much of his wealth to charity, the public still did not trust Rockefeller. 

Andrew Carnegie was the owner of the largest steel company of the time. While his relations with te public were better than Rockefeller's, his was still not great. Carnegie, as stated, believed that there were two parts of one's life: acquiring wealth, and then giving it back to the community. For the most part, he did this. And yet, his workes were mostly paid just enough to keep them alive. Below is also a political cartoon, this time depicting Carnegie. It shows Carnegie donating much of his wealth to the public, and yet cutting the wages of his workers. So while he was giving his wealth back to the community, he does not give it tp the people who helped hom get it. Because of this, workers were often on strike, leading to events such as the homestead strike.

The captains of industry were not all bad. If it wasn't for them, then industry would not have grown nearly as much, and there would have less jobs. The only problem was that most of these jobs were bad, and pay was awful. If proper pay was offered, then these jobs would have been much better for everyone involved.

Information from sources given in class.