Blog entry #10 - Maaz Mateen 1B

This week of American history has been emphasizing the Cold war and its importance. The Cold war is not exactly the traditional idea of warfare, it focused around ideas like the policy of containment and such. Two countries trying to rise to the top of the chain. One side is the U.S. currently at the top because of how WWII turned out, On the other side is the USSR with communism as it's weapon. What I want to touch up on is how sad it is to see the U.S. attempting at creating hate for Communism.

During the Cold war, the U.S. was ridden with anti communist hysteria. The majority was against communism, and to me it felt like the HUAC and the government was using this as a justification for some really ugly stuff. There were many programs that went to such length simply because the government had the excuse to always say it was for the fight against communism. Creating files on thousands of American (many of whom who were not related to communism)? That's fine, as long as it's for the fight against communism. Sentencing a couple to death simply because they were communist? That's fine as long as it's fpr the fight against communism. I am exaggerating a bit here, but I do feel like this was something that was happening. This was called a "red scare" after all. The U.S. was scared to some extent. Communism was a formidable opponent for many reasons, but one of the most prominent ones was the domino effect. As communism was spread to one country, then another country would soon also become communist until many other countries had become communist in Europe. Thus spreading the "iron curtain" around Europe.

Blog entry #9 - Maaz Mateen 1B

This week was rather eventful not only in Am. Studies but also in Am. Lit. The two classes are correlating together rather oddly. We are learning about the struggle of women in Florida during the lat 1800's and early 1900's. In Studies we are observing the roaring 20's in its entirety. I want to talk about prohibition, lynchings, and women's rights.

Prohibition was a huge aspect of the 1900's, one documentary we viewed in class displayed America to be a drunken country that was tripping over its won shoelaces. So some higher ups had the motivation to try to completely rid america of its drunkery. But Mr. Hoffman mentioned that some higher ups were actually drinking during the prohibition period. So what was the point? How many higher-ups actually cared for the well-being of America when they were passing prohibition? I know that for women Prohibition was a legitimate cause to fight for to stop domestic violence. Of course, people easily were still able to drink alcohol, and I am not sure if prohibition was actually affecting domestic violence at the time.

When making the presentation for studies, I came upon the subject of lynchings. These things were terrible and horrible events. Usually related to the KKK in some way, they were events to execute and mutilate black men for a crime they probably did not even commit. Sometimes mayors and judges would even attend these horrible events. The had postcards for the lynchings and everything. It shocked me so much when I saw how much African-Americans were still discriminated against (especially in the south).

Women were extremely active during the 1920's. They were able to vote, and start to get shots at national sports. To me it seemed that the 1920's were supposed to be a conservative time for America, however not for women. Women just seemed to keep changing during the 1920's. Not just in mind but also physicality. Women started to wear different clothes and flaunt their freedom around.

Blog entry #8 - Maaz Mateen 1B

The past week we focused a lot on how America got involved with International problems. I want to focus a lot on Spain and how America dealt with them, along with the path America took for movement during the Indian Wars. First off the whole thing with the men in California either having to sail all the way across south America, or having to cross panama. To me, it seemed highly unnecessary. I wondered why they didn't go through Canada, Mr. Hoffman said something like " there were no roads, and it was pretty much empty". I mean I understand why someone might have not wanted to go through there for the transfer of gold. However I still believe it is a much easier route then going all the way around south america or even crossing Panama. I'm sure it would have been much more convenient to be involved with Canada rather than Panama. What do you think might have happened if we found a way to transfer gold through Canada? The second topic is the whole thing with Spain. I really found it kind of sudden how America started to war with the Philippines right after they "helped" free them. I also found it a little odd that America proposed their own governor, then allowed only people who would vote for him to vote in Cuba. In general I felt that the way America treated their first few international businesses was a little odd and controlling.

Blog entry #7 - Maaz Mateen 1B

This week we focused almost completely on the Native Americans. We learned of the three forms of Americanization that the Indians were put through. However the most interesting topic for me were the schools. I was intrigued by what these young children endured for their tribes. Both of the children that we read about had agreed to go to these schools for the sake of courage. Why do you think "courage" was such a big deal for these children? The second most interesting thing that shocked me was how brutal the Indian wars were. Mr. Hoffman mentioned that American soldiers fired on Indians even though they were holding white flags. This confused me, because America had abolished slavery, hinting that America wants peace. However the Indians were brutally murdered. The least important act of Americanization were the treaties. From the beginning I had already guessed that the treaties would not work for many reasons. One of the reasons was that the treaty was only for the Sioux tribe. This must have caused some trouble for the other tribes. Which of the three acts of Americanization was the most interesting to you?

Blog entry #6 - Maaz Mateen 1B

Our class these past few weeks mainly focused around these three images, and I felt that the image overhead was the most important as it held all the persuasive appeals. What do you think was the most important/interesting image, and why? For the people in Communications or speech class, we are familiar with these 3 techniques and have gone quite in depth. For this image specifically there is a lot of Logos going on. There are many words, which mostly contain facts and other such logical appeals. However what I think is the most persuasive role in the image is most certainly the black man just sitting there doing nothing. I feel that this paper is trying to make emotional appeal through this man. At that people were used to seeing the opposite of this happening. Never was the black man not working or being put into unpaid labor. Now they have literally reversed the conditions making the people of America feel emotion. The emotion of desire. To desire equality after all of this hardship we put ourselves through. We fought through slavery and now all we want is equality, even if the black man should deserve more at this time. I KNOW that equality for all is better.
What do you think about the in-fighting of the republicans?

Blog week #5 - Maaz Mateen 1B

The civil war has ended. But at what cost? This past week focused on the completion of the civil war along with the Unit test of course. But even though we barely discussed the ending of the civil war. I feel it is a very important role in American history. How do you think the civil war played a role in the Great Depression?  We learned about the promises that Abraham Lincoln could not keep to the United States of America due to his unfortunate death. How do you think Lincoln's death played a role in the Great depression? Lincoln's death allowed his vice president, Andrew Johnson to take office. Fun Fact: President Johnson was actually a slave holder. Now that you know that Andrew Johnson was a slave holder, we also need to understand that when he came into office, he was resented by the North because he could not completely fulfill the reconstruction of the union. And the south also hated him because they thought he was a traitor to the south. He stuck with the Union during the civil war so this resentment might not be so misplaced after all. Due to all this plus the pressure he got from trying to fulfill Lincoln's footstep. I personally applaud him for standing his ground and having his own ideals.

Blog week #4 - Maaz Mateen 1B

This last week we mainly focused on the Civil war. We had two different ways of understanding this war. First we observed and understood the importance of the maps leading up to the war. We used to maps to get a better understanding of the division between north and south. The second method was through the battle of Gettysburg and also through the battle of Cold Harbor. These two battles were decisive and important regarding the fate between the victor and the loser in the Civil War.
That maps gave us some background info on Abraham Lincoln and David Lee. It taught about the split between the Union and the Confederacy. We learned about the two sides of the war. Unions and confederacy, republics and democrats, North and South. this split really interested me when I realized that America could have split. What is your perspective on America splitting?
The battle of Gettysburg was probably the most decisive battle in the Civil war. Mr. Hoffman mentioned how the battle of Gettysburg was a proud and honorable battle when historians view it, what do you think about that? This battle was started when Lee tried to sneak up on Gettysburg so he could have an easy route to the Capital. The Union anticipated this and set up a defense. The Union won. The battle of Cold harbor seemed to be a one-sided massacre by the Confederate. This was the war with the most casualties in American history, and this battle was the bloodiest.