The Jungle- by Upton Sinclair

1) What qualities did Sinclair believe a person must have to succeed in Packingtown?
  
    Sinclair believed that a person must be hard working and willing to do anything to earn money. They needed to be the best at their job and maybe even manage the company. Being high up in the rankings of the company would bring more money and would allow you to become as wealthy as u could become. You either needed to own the company or you wouldn't make it in the business.

2)According to the passage, what is the plant owner's main goal.

The plants owner wanted only money. He didn't care how he got it and would push workers to the limits and didn't even help if one was injured on the job. He simply shrugged it off and had another man, usually a back-up, come and fulfill his duties. He didn't care about the conditions of the plant and didn't care how the animals were treated when on their death bed. If a man was done working, he was thrown in the gutter and the next man waiting outside would be called up.

3) What does Sinclair mean when he says, "...there was no place in it where a man counted for anything against a dollar....?"

When Sinclair says this, he means that in the factory nothing meant anything. Men weren't treated fairly and they didn't mean anything to the owner except labor. Cows were thrown around and calves were slaughtered even though everyone knew they weren't good for meat. All of it was a cruel game that the owners played that lead people to believe it was alright when in the end, even Sinclair declared it was cruel and wrong.


Sources: (http://www.ukrainebusiness.com.ua/modules/news/images/topics/5d489836-1342-81b5.jpg)-image

.and our American Vision Modern Times book (pg 336-338)

US an imperial nation?

 During the 1900's something huge was washing across the nation bringing new ideas to peoples everyday lives; it was called Imperialism. Imperialism is " the policy of extending a nation's authority by territorial acquisition or by the establishment of economic and political hegemony over other nations."(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/imperialism, by Farlex, 2013) Around 800 years ago, the earliest victims of imperialism were Europeans who fell to Western European imperialism.  A European imperialism example would be Germany and the Nazis during the rage of world war 2. Germany was the cause of exploited labor and they had concentration camp workers work in harsh conditions that were almost unbearable.(http://www.michaelparenti.org/Imperialism101.html, by Michael Parenti, 2005). As of today in the 21'st century, there is no known proof of imperialism still going on in the United States although there are small reports in foreign countries who still believe in the harshness of what went on when their parents were just as young as them.(book-The American Vision Modern Times, Joyce Appleby Ph.D., 2006) (picture-http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Schurz_Imperialism_Bunco_Doll.jpg)

William M. Boss Tweed

          During Tweeds younger years when he was a growing boy, he left school at age 11 to learn what his father had done(making older style chairs) and later he became a brush maker at a place of investment. He was the son of a third generation Scottish man who worked by making chairs and when older, Tweed married Mary Jane C. Skaden. 
           William M. Boss Tweed was a very well known and powerful second-rate political man in New York City in the 1850's and 1860's. Born on April 3, 1823, he held the position of US congressman,  and state senator. Because of Williams political power, it allowed him to bring in large amounts of money for himself and some others. The amount estimated that he took was over $200,000,000. Tweed went to jail a couple of times for the crimes he committed and got out on a $1 million doller bail, but was found and eventually died in the Ludlow street jail on April 12, 1878 (age 55) He became the 3rd largest land owner in New York and was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1852. in 1867 Tweed was also elected to the New York State Senate.
     
sources-(http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAtweed.htm, John Simkin)

Hiring Workers

              During the making of the railroad, many Irish immigrants moved into the Americas. They became the ones to work on building these transportation roads in order to start migration of people around the country. The job was cruel and the owners could barely keep 800 people in work at a time. Owners hired over 50 new men as wagon pullers and all were of Chinese heritage. These emigrants  were pushed from their homeland because of poverty and overcrowding. The Irish weren't doing their jobs as well as the Chinese were and so owners decided to employ more of them. In no time shiploads of migrants flocked to America to work on the developing railroads. By the end of the year, more than 12,000 emigrants were working on the transportation system. Because the Chinese were so well behaved and hard workers, they became known as the ""Celestials" which also referred to their strong spiritual beliefs. Although they worked so hard they were payed much less than the Irish or American people. The owner was so happy with how willing his workers were that he made a bet that they could lay 10 miles of tracks in one day. on April 28, 1868, all the men worked as one to lay down rails as fast as they could and as the boss watched, he said he never saw such organization as what he was seeing before him.
              In the camps, the Chinese were alienated due to their different ways of life. They ate seafood and vegetables, they kept live animals in pins for food such as cows, chickens and pigs.  They bathed themselves and instead of drinking alcohol, they preferred lukewarm tea.The Americans stuck to what they were familiar with such as dried food which was salted for preservation. The Irish stuck to boiled foods and beef or potatoes.


By Piper Wright

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-cprr/

Harriet Tubman

          The underground railroad was a very big deal back during the civil war era. Thousands of slaves flocked to those grounds to find safety and freedom from their cruel owners that treated them as nothing. One special women by the name Harriet Tubman was probably one of the most well known "conductors" and actually made 19 trips to the south and picked up over 300 in-slaved African Americans. She later pointed out that during all her trips to the south, she "never lost a single passenger." Harriet Tubman can easily relate to all the poor workers because she in-fact was one as a young child.
          At a very young age of six or seven, Harriet began to work as a house servant when eventually a couple more years later she was sent to work in the fields. One day while Harriet was working on the crops she saw another field hand being abused;so she went over and blocked a two pound weight he was holding but the weight slipped and she hit her head. This caused spells of very deep sleep during some nights. In 1849, Harriet  had enough and was scared to be sold away to someone way crueler so she made a vow to herself she would eventually run away. during the night Harriet ran on foot, following the north star as guidance. She later came back to rescue her brother,two other men, and her husband. Only then did she notice that others needed help and so she started the underground railway, a network of trails that led from the south to the north. She was very clever and had a really good way of not being seen. Later on during the civil war she worked for the union as a cook, a nurse and even a spy. Later on after the war had stopped, Harriet Tubman died in 1913 in Auburn New York.
          Harriet Tubman was an inspiration to a lot of people and brought freedom to thousands of African Americans. Her work and dedication was used to write books and even used to make videos and documentaries. She was taught to stick up for others and treat them how she wanted to be treated and because of that, she is one of the most well known people/conductors that had to do with the underground railroad and freeing slaves.