The Eugenics Movement

If you want to improve a country, perhaps one way would be to improve the people who live in that country. Some among the "progressives" hit on a novel way to bring about such improvement: breed better people. The attempt to improve the genetic heritage of America (and to hasten the evolution of the species) led to what's called the eugenics movement. Please read through the Wikipedia summary of the eugenics movement. What do you see here that suggests that there is a dark side to the progressive movement?

Carnegie: The Gospel of Wealth

People who make themselves wealthy sometimes make others better off as well, and it's possible to view the Morgan, Rockefeller, and Stanford types much more positively than I suggested in lecture.  With Andrew Carnegie especially, it's easy to view him more positively than I do.  Please read through Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth. How does reading this affect your general impression of Carnegie?  Does it make you more sympathetic or not?

Inaugural Addresses of the Presidents

One of the quickest and best ways to get a feel for the overall course of American political history is to read through the inaugural addresses of the presidents on the Bartleby "Great Books Online" site. Please select *one* of the inaugural addresses from the period we have been studying. Read through the address and cite here a line that seems to you particularly important. Try to find a line that might help you and others reading the blog prepare for one of the exam study questions, e.g., the question on the quality of the men elected to the presidency during this period. Garfield's address might be particularly useful since his time as president was so brief and there is little else to evaluate him on.

Ulysses S. Grant: First Inaugural Address, Second Inaugural Address
Rutherford B. Hayes
James A. Garfield
Grover Cleveland: First Inaugural
Benjamin Harrison

Harper's Weekly

Harper's Weekly was the most popular American publication during the Civil War. It's a great source for getting the mood of Americans during the ebb and flow of the war. Please glance through one of the 1865 issues of Harper's Weekly. You might find particularly interesting the January 14 issue that features Sherman's entrance into Savannah, the May 6 issue that focuses on Lincoln and his assassination or the May 13 issue that focuses on the aftermath of the assassination and the new president, Andrew Johnson. Please comment here on what the issue you read shows about America in 1865. Anything here that shows why it might have been difficult to reconcile North and South? Anything here that gives particular hope that the republic would be restored?

Welcome!

In order to really understand any people and time period, it's important to look, not just at secondary sources, but at primary sources as well. Rather than having you purchase an expensive supplemental reader for this class, I will post here links to some important primary sources online. For most class sessions, I will ask you to comment here on a selection particularly relevant to what we will be discussing in class.

To get started, here's a test of the History 152 blog system. If you don't already have one, please create for yourself a "Blogger" account by following the instructions at http://www.blogger.com/. Be sure to create a blogger profile which includes your e-mail address. Otherwise, I can't reply directly to your post.

To make sure your e-mail address is accessible to me, please log on to your blogger account. Click "edit profile" (toward the top on the right). Then click the box that says to make your e-mail address accessible.

When you have created your blogger account and your profile, click the "comments" link below, and answer one (1) of the following questions:

1. What figure from American history do you find the most interesting? Why?
2. What is the most important thing you learned in your high school American history classes?
3. What historical time period most interests you? Why?