LAD #21: Dawes Act

The Dawes act was an act that would allow individual native americans to have the right to own their own land on reservations. The plots of land were given out according to age as well as if you had a family or not. In case there is not enough land for each native american, the government had planned many precautions under the dawes act. The native americans were given the right to choose their own piece of land. If two chose the same piece, it would be divided in two and the rest of their land would be in another place. If they didnt choose in 4 years, an agent would choose for them. If a native american doesnt live on a reservation, they will still receive their piece of land. all of the native americans will also receive patents for their land and it will be protected. These native americans can now be punished for breaking the law and can be protected by the law. In addition, and native american not associated with a tribe can become and american citizen. these opportunities were not given tribes such as the Iroquois and Sioux.

LAD #20: Bryan's Cross of Gold Speech

Bryan's cross of gold speech, which was the most famous speech made by a politician in America, spoke of the matter of whether silver should be freely coined at a 16:1 ration with gold.

In the first paragraph of the speech, Bryan opened up the argument with the statement that people live and die, but principles last forever, and that day they were deciding on a principle. In the time of the speech, a group of democrats called the silver Democrats took control of the party and slowly moved throughout the country, pushing for the free coinage of silver. In this decision, men did not side on their own personal opinions, they sided with their own group's opinion. Bryan argued that the businessmen of the northeast were too strict and did not keep in mind the needs of the average man. He argued that farmers and miners were just as good businessmen as the ones in New England. Bryan claims they are fighting for the common man in the Midwest and other places, who needs the silver in order to pay off their debts. He also believed that the income tax was good for the people and that the government should be in charge of coining money. many people cared more about the gold issue than the tariff because it was a more important issue at the time. Bryan urged that we must stray away from the gold standard and move toward bimetallism.

LAD #19: Populist Party Platform

In the late 19th century, the populist party rose as a third power in the presidential elections. They opposed the concentration of capital in the hands of the wealthy and supported that common American man.

The populist party also wished to increase the standard of living in America. They believed that the factory workers were not getting paid enough and conditions in America were slumping to European levels. They also believed that the corrupt corporations were decreasing the value of silver so they could benefit from the value of gold. They claimed that they were there because the parties were not doing anything to stop the corruption in the country. They supported labor unions and the rights of workers. They also believed that the government had to start intervening with the railroad companies throughout the county. They believed in unrestricted coinage of both gold and silver. They also believed that money needed to be circulated to the people faster and more money should be put into the economy.

They believed that telephone companies should be operated by the government instead of private companies. They also pledged to hold an open ballot, pension for ex-union soldiers, keep foreigners from getting American jobs, and to protect the rights of the people

LAD #18: McKinley's War Message

In 1895, fighting broke out between the Spanish and the Cubans. The Cubans were hoping to win their freedom from the Spanish. Three short years later, partially fueled by the sinking of the U.S.S. Maine, the United States entered the war on the side of the Cubans.

In his War message, McKinley stated to congress that the war raging on was now affecting the American citizens. He stated that the people were shocked by the atrocities taking place in the war. In addition, it was affecting the American economy as well. The United States had a large amount of trade with Cuba and the war that was going on was damaging the trade relations.

McKinley goes on to say that the war has dragged on for three years and there is still no clear winner yet. He thought that it was necessary for the United States to either act as a neutral nation to help solve the problem, or act as a military ally to one of the countries.

McKinley believed the U.S. needed to intervene because we needed to stop the bloodshed, we needed to protect the citizens of Cuba, we needed to protect our trade, and we needed to protect our own government and freedom.

McKinley Then urges that the U.S. needs to go to Cuba because the U.S.S. Maine was blown up by was was thought to be a submarine torpedo.