Two political cartoons, “School Begins” by Puck and “Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner” by G.F Keller, both published in the late nineteenth century, avail of distinct examples in order to reveal America's attempt to civilize immigrants and non-white groups as a means of granting them social acceptance throughout the nineteenth century. “School Begins” exhibits Uncle Sam, a popular U.S. cartoon figure throughout history, as the dominant white American male in the center. In the cartoon, the class is made up of well-disciplined students studying books labeled with their state’s name, juxtaposed with the disorderly class seated in the front made up of the “Philippines, Hawaii, Porto Rico, and Cuba.” The territories are depicted as uncivilized, serving the racist and denigrating image that justified the right to govern the new territories gained after the Spanish-American War of 1898. In “Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner”, immigrants and Americans of different backgrounds sit around a table, prepared for the feast . The groups represented at the dinner reveal unruly characteristics and stereotypical representations of each group’s food to highlight their conflicting differences in American society. By looking at how the artists utilize the exaggeration of non-white and immigrant groups, we can see the dominant civilizing narrative the U.S. secured through imperialism and assimilation, and this is salient because it exhibits a racist hierarchy that justified Western civilization
For my journal, I am examining the second and third paragraphs on page two of J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur’s essay, “What is an American.” Using persuasive strategies, de Crevecoeur examines “that race now called Americans” (2), juxtaposing their former experiences in Europe with those upon arrival “on a new continent” (1). In this passage, de Crevecoeur anticipates the notion of America as a “melting pot,” while establishing the foundation of the concept of the American Dream.
Over the past few weeks of class, we have covered the first five chapters of our textbook, written by George Brown Tindell and David Emory Shi called, “America, A Narrative History.” Each chapter told the reader a narration of the history of America, as opposed to an expository version of America’s history. Each chapter had its own main idea over a portion of history, along with many details that cover the importance of the main idea. As a reader, one may obtain a deeper appreciation for the country 's history, prior to entering the class on the first day. The most important aspect of history, besides the battles that are fought, is the different cultures that make up today’s modern America.
Political cartoons could be defined as illustrations or cartoon strips that contain a social and/or political message in them. Political cartoons are often based on the current events around when they were written.
In conclusion, we take a basic movie about revenge and pull back to reveal a great historical piece about change in America. We see how immigration affects culture by introducing new a group into an environment and how people adapt to change in varying ways. Also we see how material possessions have a huge impact on the different social classes. The saying “to the victors go the spoils” holds true in all eras. Finally, we see how politics and popular culture play
It proves not solely that this "common law" wedding between history and anthropology works, however conjointly that in several respects, it appears almost indispensable to a full understanding of early american history itself. The essays specialize in, and are for the most part held together by, the sole factor that mattered on the first yankee frontiers: the social and cultural interactions and competition between white and red peoples. And here we mean mostly between French, English, (and to a way lesser extent, Spanish), and eastern Native
Originating in the 19th century, political cartoons are created and drawn as a means to deliver a message. Whether it be about politics, events or social concerns, the artist is able to express themselves creatively. The cartoons are not only meant to express the view of the creator, but are also open to interpretation. Most political cartoons have a biased point of view and uses rhetoric to persuade its audience.
The 1840s and 50s experienced a massive escalation in the number of immigrants from Europe especially from Ireland, and Germany, arriving on U.S shores in densely populated urban areas (Arenson, 2011). Most of them afterward became vigorous in domestic politics, much to the aggravation of old-stock, authentic Americans. The consequence was a renaissance in the formation of “nativistic” societies (small, indistinct, anti-foreign and anti-catholic organizations), some which banded together in the early 1850s to form the American Party (Arenson, 2011). Commonly referred to as the “Know-Nothing,” the party rode a wave of racial intolerance as well as racism into the mid-1850s.
When the thirteen colonies signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and became the United States of America, an international spotlight was drawn widely onto the new country. Because of this, many people from various regions of the world attempted to migrate to the United States. However, it is evident that in the early years of the new nation, it tended to exhibit xenophobic tendencies towards many nations surrounding it; this is made manifest in the 1894 political cartoon “Miss Columbia’s Schoolhouse” (Document 1). By the near turn of the century, thousands of inhabitants of various nations had migrated to the United States in a hope to escape the poor conditions of their home countries and to find opportunity in the United States. Unfortunately for the migrants, the Americans did not appreciate their presence despite the visions of the founding fathers’ hopes of the United States being a ‘melting pot’ as some would call it. In the political cartoon, Miss Columbia’s Schoolhouse is precisely this, a veritable melting pot of various cultures, but it has turned out to be far from what it was expected to be. Every individual except for Miss Columbia is seen as being indigent, barbaric, and uncivilized. Miss Columbia herself, seen as a strong embodiment of American values of freedom and democracy, is considerably larger when compared to the “others” surrounding her. It is evident through this visual appeal that American perceptions of others were that outsiders were in
The early 19th century in America saw the rise of industry and a booming economy, however, with industry came businessmen who saw an opportunity for power and profit. Even with help from the government, it would be a long time before the American people saw an improvement in the condition of the laborers and the regulation of corporations. Fast forward to the 21st century; two hundred years have passed and people are still struggling at the hands of a corporation-run economy. Throughout history, American laborers have been at the mercy of an industry controlled by a small few that did not have the best interest of the people in mind.
The American desire to culturally assimilate Native American people into establishing American customs went down in history during the 1700s. Famous author Zitkala-Sa, tells her brave experience of Americanization as a child through a series of stories in “Impressions of an Indian Childhood.” Zitkala-Sa, described her journey into an American missionary where they cleansed her of her identity. In “Impressions of an Indian Childhood,” Zitkala-Sa uses imagery in order to convey the cruel nature of early American cultural transformation among Indian individuals.
The house of representatives makes and passes federal laws. They are one of two chambers that creates the U.S legislative branch. The house may even be referred to as “the people house” because it’s representative’s are viewed and based upon the population or amount of people in each state. In this political cartoon, there are two sides one side is labeled “the people's house” which is the outside view of the Capitol building, while the other side shows citizens inside the Capitol building scared. The Capitol building holds meeting's and debates with the electives, however, the scared citizens show a negative connotation because they are not providing respect to the building and what's surrounding them. The ironic part of this cartoon is
“It is obvious that there are three naturally distinct, one might almost say hostile, races” (Tocqueville). In the early years of America, the country was a product of racism, slavery, and social instability. This unstable society was directly related to the settling of the Europeans and the establishment of the North and South territories. In Chapter 10 of “Democracy in America”, Alexis de Tocqueville addresses America’s communal unsteadiness regarding “the three races” as well as the North and South by establishing a loss of identity.
In the 1800’s, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, and many others had visions for America that involved a nation of a homogenous type of society. It was believed that in order to create a better nation, people other than the European-Americans needed to be eradicated. In these beliefs, these influential men affected the American society through their trials and tribulations, which help guide society into what it is today. According to Ronald T. Takaki, Thomas Jefferson was a man who viewed white people as beautiful and superior (Hollitz, 121).
Subsequent to the massive influx of immigration, different cultures were presented to America; immigrants from Europe especially differed from “the typical American because they were overwhelmingly Catholic or Greek Orthodox… and unfamiliar with democratic government”, which substantially challenged the United States’ devout Protestant and democratic ideals (USHistoryScene). Due to this extreme challenge of ideals, religious practices, and political stances, came an even more radical form of solution, known as nativism: a subvariant of both xenophobia and ethnocentrism. Nativism, however, was not just found in the ghettos and slums of cities, but also with bills passed and proposed; as one political figure, Lodge, wrote to President Roosevelt about the threat that immigrants were thought to pose to the United States: “I think if you could see the Dillingham [commision] and urge the necessity of taking up the report the very first thing tomorrow and pressing it to a vote would do good” (Lodge). Demonstrating that the view on immigrants at the time was not only seen as an immediate necessity, but was also vile, portraying the immigrants
Today we live in a world of which some have come to understand where it all came from. So many different little contributions have accumulated over the years to create “today” in the United States of America. Not one factor is more important than the next, however, some have had a larger, lasting impact today. Immigration and racial discrimination have played the most important role as to why American society has altered. In 1917 America entered World War one. By doing this America played a grave role in conquering Germany and ushering peace to Europe. However, the Great War also meant that the US would change dramatically through historical issues and changes which resulted in