LAD #37: Brown vs. Board of Education

LAD #37: Brown vs. Board of Education


When little Linda Brown wanted to go to a white school that was closer to her house, a whole new era in Civil Rights sprung up as the NAACP grabbed the case as a perfect way to get more equal and fair rights. In 1951, a court case called Brown vs. Board of Education began as the NAACP sued to desegregate public schools in Topeka. They argued that the black schools that children were being sent to were inferior to those provided for white students, and that is affecting the way that they learn and ultimately, what they grow up to be. Though the court was pressured by their previous ruling in Plessy vs. Ferguson, they overruled that and declared that the segregation of public schools was not allowed anymore. While it did force the desegregation of public schools, it ignored it in other areas of the places affected by this terrible thing.

LAD #36: Truman Doctrine

LAD #36: Truman Doctrine
 
On March 12, 1947, President Harry S. Truman set forth a policy in a speech that outlined his views toward the containment of communism in the world. It specifically addresses the threat of these communistic views in Greece and Turkey, two countries who were attempting to resist Soviet influence in this political and economic field. Truman said that because this communist influence posed a threat to the peace of the world, and the state of the United States in specific. He wanted to provide military and economic help to these struggling countries in order to make sure that communism did not reach it. Eventually, they sent $400 million dollars to these countries to help in the fight, which was less than what Truman asked for, but still was substantial. By doing this, the United States could protect civil liberties all over the world. This thus set up Truman's policy of containment for years to come throughout the Cold War.

LAD #35: Executive Order 9066

LAD #35: Executive Order 9066


In February of 1942, in the midst of the Second World War, Franklin Delano Roosevelt issued an executive order pertaining to the state of Japanese Americans living in the country. He began by saying that, during a wartime, a country must take certain necessary measures to ensure the safety of those living within as to ensure that there will neither be attacks from outside or from the inside. He then said that he invested the power to the Secretary of War to create military areas where he can admit, keep, and allow to exit anyone on his command, based on the needs of the country. However, he also needs to accomodate for transportation, food, and other needs that the people of the are may need. FDR also allowed the Secretary of War to do anything he deemed necessary to run and protect these areas, and told the other governmental areas that they were required to help him.

LAD #34: FDR's Declaration of War

LAD #34: FDR's Declaration of War


On December 8th, 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war for the United States on Japan. This was one day after the bombing at Pearl Harbor, "a date which will live in infamy," as Roosevelt called it. He continued to say that Japan had broken their diplomatic tie with the United States soon after the bombing, and the attack was clearly planned out days in advance. The attack cost America many lives as well as ships. However, it did not stop there. The Japanese also attacked Hong Kong, Guam, and the Philippines. The people of the United States already knew that they had to do something. Roosevelt had already started to prepare for further defense. He then said that the United States would win. He finished the statement by formally asking Congress to declare war.

LAD #33: FDR's First Inaugural Address

LAD #33: FDR's First Inaugural Address


80 years ago today, Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his inaugural address for the first term which he came into presidential office. He began with one of his most famous quotes: "...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." He wanted to tell people the whole truth about what the Great Depression would and could bring for the country. He asserted that it did not have to be as detrimental as people made it out to be so far. This entire address and this thought in particular showed his optimism as well as his realism. He acknowledged the devastation that this country was in at that time. He stated each of the country's problems that eventually caused the Great Depression. Once the problems are out there, they can begin to be solved. He then offered suggestion for reform and recovery, such as making farming goods more valuable and decreasing the cost of government in general. He finishes by saying that the US has not failed their democratic mission, but only elected a strong leader as to help themselves get out of this crisis and back on their feet again.

LAD #32: Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact

LAD #32: Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact


The Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact was passed in 1928 by nations such as Germany, France, and the United States and, though it had good intentions, was an utter failure. The pact's attempt was to create a much more peaceful world. In it, the countries which signed were agreeing to denounce war as a foreign policy or way of solving disputes. The point of this was to encourage countries to work out issues diplomatically, rather than to go to war, as was the barbaric way of the past. The United States took unofficial leadership in following through with the treaty and other countries were allowed into it as well. The reason this was largely unsuccessful was that the only way that a country can be true to enforce an international agreement is if it has military force to back up the agreement. This pact did not allow for a military to go to war to settle conflicts, so it could not settle a conflict if a country broke the pact.

LAD #31: Wilson's 14 Points

LAD #31: Wilson's 14 Points


During the Great War, United States President Woodrow Wilson gave an address to Congress in which he stated his Fourteen Points which became his guiding ideology as the moral leader of this war. This address was given following the withdrawal of the great power of Russia from this fight. Wilson both questioned Russia's motives and admired the treaty that they made known as the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The former jeopardizes the democratic aspect of the latter. He delivers this speech to offer advice, which will hopefully be followed, to keep peace in the world and prevent another world war. He stated fourteen ideological steps to making that positive. Among these are the removal of economic barriers, the evacuation of Belgium, and reduction of armaments. However, perhaps the most famous of these is his advice to build a peace keeping organization in his suggestion of the League of Nations. Unfortunately, these points did not work out because of the failure of the Treaty of Versailles, but these points were also much too idealistic to ever work when human nature is taken into account.

LAD #30: Schenck vs. United States

LAD #30: Schenck vs. United States



During the Great War, or as we know it, World War I, Schenck mailed information to draftees of the war that said the capitalist system was wronging them in having them sign up for the draft. In this, he urged them to help his cause by petitioning the Conscription Act, but not by violent measures. He was thus charged with conspiracy for going against the Espionage Act. Holmes, the justice that spoke for the court's unanimous decision, said that this was illegal despite his rights promised in the first Amendment to the Constitution. This was an exception. His words in this case would have created a "clear and present danger" which could bring the democratic country into termoil. Congress thus had the power to stop him from saying said words. This was mostly because we were now in a wartime so utterances prior allowed in peacetimes were unacceptable.

LAD #29: Keating-Owen Child Labor Act

LAD #29: Keating-Owen Child Labor Act


The Keating-Owen Act in 1916 was based on a previous proposal by Albert Beveridge's proposal 10 years earlier and dealt with the issue of child labor. At this time, over 2 million children were working in places like mines and factories. This bill banned products being sold by companies who employed children that were less than 14 years old, mines with children under 16, or places that made children work for more than 8 hours during the day or at all at night. It also tried to regulate interstate commerce, but, although it was passed by President Woodrow Wilson, was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in the case of Hammer v. Dagenhart. However, it did lead to further acts and laws to regulate and ban certain forms of child labor. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court kept ruling acts unconstitutional and there was little hope for successful legislation. Not until 1938 would there be an action of government that actually helped the children.

LAD #28: Wilson's First Inaugural

LAD #28: Wilson's First Inaugural



When Woodrow Wilson won the presidential election in 1912, his first inaugural address consisted of him talking about the changes that had been occurring in government preceding him. The first thing that he mentioned was that the majority of the capitol were Democrats now. Clearly, this agreement in politics in the capitol would mean that the government would be able to pass new laws because they would agree on them, but Wilson also said that it was good because it was a fresh ideology to run the country by. Then he states that, though we have tried to build our country upon moral values, evil has come along with the good that we have done. While we have done much good for our country by industrializing, we were forgetting a greater evil that was going on. The abuse of a large part of the population was occurring all over, and change was needed. Now, the greater good was starting to realize this and was working to restore the country to its former prestige and value on human rights. We still however, tended to take economic factors into account much more than social factors. Wilson said that we still needed to restore, not to destroy. There was still work to be done. It will not be easy. Wilson concluded by saying that this was a day not of success, but of a need for more dedication and summoned the true honest and patriotic Americans to his side to help him.

LAD #27:Clayton Anti-Trust Act

LAD #27:Clayton Anti-Trust Act


The Clayton Anti-Trust Act of 1914 was a motion of the government against the corruption of big business in American industry. It was enacted to break up and destroy bad monopolies and trusts. One part of it was that it was now illegal to discriminate prices between products or services of similar value if it promoted monopoly and other big business corrupt tactics. It also prevented big businesses and companies that held a large portion of certain fields to drastically change their price with the intentions of driving out other businesses as to create a monopoly. It also made it so that companies could not buy controlling stock of a corporation or business, yet another action against big businesses.

LAD #26: I Have A Dream

LAD #26: I Have A Dream


On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech in Washington D.C. that would go down in history as one of the most famous speeches of all time. He began by saying that, although the Emancipation Proclamation was signed 100 years ago, the African American was still not free in America. Then he went to a different piece of American rhetoric: the Declaration of Independence. He stated that it said that all men are guaranteed with certain unalienable rights and that included blacks as well as whites, but they were being denied them. This problem was urgent to the citizens of the United States. He said that then was the time for not gradual, but speedy change. However, this equality should not have been done by "wrongful deeds" like violence. Then began the most famous part of this speech. King said "I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'" He goes on to say that he has a dream that someday the country will be truly equal. Only then will everyone truly be able to hear "freedom ring."

LAD #25: Dawes Severalty Act

LAD #25: Dawes Severalty Act


In 1887, the Dawes Severalty Act was passed. This act stated that the President of America could divide land that belonged to Native Americans and divide it up among individual Native Americans. Each head of the family got 1/4 of a section, each adult got 1/8, each orphan got 1/8, and people under 18 years of age got 1/16. To prevent conflict, there were distinct lines between everyone's tracts of land. Native Americans were also allowed to apply to get some land if they were not on a reservation. Unfortunately for the Native Americans, the United States government still had some extent of control over those lands and many transactions possible had to go through them first. This act also allowed Native Americans who cooperated to be granted citizenship in America. However, there were still some gray areas where some groups of Native Americans were not allowed to enjoy the benefits of this act.

LAD #24: William Jennings Bryan's Cross of Gold Speech

LAD #24: William Jennings Bryan's Cross of Gold Speech


In 1896, William Jennings Bryan gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention in which he addressed his populist party beliefs. In it he spoke upon the question of whether the free coinage of silver should be endorsed. Also, he tells of how he is running in the election not for a party, but rather for the principles in which he believes. Among these are that working men are the true business men and that the government should have more control over money and banking. He also holds true to the fact that he supported an income tax law that was recently declared "unconstitutional." He attacked in this speech the wishy-washy nature of McKinley's views on bimetalism and said he was confident that his party would win the election. He states that if the United States switches to bimetalism, that they would gain much power and become a major leader in the world. He finished with his famous quote that "you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold" and the crowd went wild.

LAD #23: Populist Party Platform

LAD #23: Populist Party Platform


The populist party ran on a platform that wanted to restore power to the "plain people." They sought to create an overall better morality and wanted to go back to the silver standard. Their platform included numerous principles that would benefit the common man. Such principles included the fact that labor unions should always hold strong and true and that railroads should be given to the government to own. They also wanted to return to the silver standard, increase inflation, and have a graduated income tax. They also expressed certain sentiments, including that the ballot box should not be corrupted, ex-soldiers should get pensions, and national aid to a private organization should be forbidden. All in all, this party sought to end the corruption caused by big businessmen and their corporations.

LAD #22: President McKinley's War Message

LAD #22: President McKinley's War Message


In April of 1898, President William McKinley gave an address to Congress regarding his beliefs on the war between Cuba and Spain. He began by stating that the constant conflicts within Cuba were costing the United States valuable time and money. Because of this, McKinley wanted to end this conflict as quickly as possible in order to help out everyone. He gives three ways America can help end it: being "an impartial neutral," helping compromise, or coming out as an ally for one of the sides. The first makes it so there would be hostility to both sides. They would intervene to 1. end bloodshed, 2. protect our citizens, 3. help trade and business, and 4. decrease the cost it is taking on the United States. He finishes by saying that this was his opinion, but it is ultimately up to Congress to decide what they are going to do.