LAD #26: I Have a Dream

             Perhaps the most well known activist of the Civil Rights Era, Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his powerful "I Have a Dream Speech" during the march on Washington. As Lincoln sits solemnly in his memorial, Dr. King begins by speaking of the accomplishment of the man who led us through the Civil War. "Four score and five years ago" President Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation, and yet a hundred years later African Americans still are not free as they live in poverty and segregation and is still "languished in the corner of society." Referring back to our Founding Fathers, Dr. King declares that our government has defaulted on the promise they set forth in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as still today African Americans are denied their unalienable rights. Despite this King believes that the "Bank of justice" still can give them what they deserve as they come to cash their "check." Now is the time to stop taking the "tranquilizing drug of gradualism," but the time to "make real the promises of democracy." In mesmerizing rhetoric, Dr. King emphasizes that it is now the time for African Americans to finally become equals. If the nation returns to "business as usual" it will be shocked as African Americans are granted their full rights. Despite this promise, he also emphasizes that their protests shall not "degenerate into physical violence." We must march ahead, and never turn back and will continue to march until the rights of Africans Americans are met. He then acknowledges the journeys and suffering of those who were before him, and tells that when they return to their homes that this will be changed. It is here where he declares his famous dream that one day the United States will one day upheld the ideas that were written in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. A dream where all man can come together, a dream where the injustice of oppression will be soon wiped out, and a dream where one day his children will be "judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." With the faith of this dream man will stand together knowing that all will be free, and soon if African Americans and Whites work together they can "let freedom ring." When this happens, when freedom does ring, all people whether Black, White,  Jewish, Catholic, or Protestant will be able to sing that they are "free at last."

LAD #25: Dawes Severalty Act

           In February 1887, the Dawes Severalty Act was passed as a continuation of the policy or creating and populating Indian reservations. A system  of procedure was set up to allot tracts of reservation land to families to "own," while the land still fell in the domain of the United States. Rather than forcing Indians onto the land, land was to be allotted systematically. One quater of each section was given to the head of each family, one eighth was given to any person over the age of 18 and one sixteenth was given to people under the age of 18 who were born before the creation of this new system. There were many other parts to the Dawes Act that were beneficial to the landholder, including extra grazing land. To prevent conflict, provisional lines were drawn that ensured the total amount of land given to each person or family is equal to the remainder of the land they were entitled to during the original passing of the act. If suitable lines are not drawn in four years, they will be drawn by the Secretary of the Interior. The issue of an Indians not on reservations, they can still acquire land if they apply to the local land office. Patents can be handed out, ensuring land is owned by Indians within the domain of the United States for twenty-five years. The Secretary of the Interior regulates the extension, selling, and purchasing of land. The U.S. also holds the right to use sold land for redistribution of settled homes, immigration systems, or education. Also, religious organizations in the middle of the reservation will be allowed and given a tract of land up to 160 acres. Citizenship is offered to Indians who comply with the act. This does not apply to displaced Indians under Jackson's administration as well as the Seneca Nation in New York. The act also lacks protection of Indian land from being crossed by railroads, telegraph lines, or other public uses.

LAD #24: Cross of Gold

      In his speech to the Democratic Convention, William Jennings Bryan combines the platform of the Populist Party and his stance on bimetallism. Bryan begins by saying that the issue of money was a large one and exclaimed that Silver Democrats were at the convention to declare their stance on the issue and to publicize their ideas with the common man, which is the the group of people their are trying to reach. Bryan emphasizes the fact, although very hostile to Republicans, the Democratic platform was not as hostile as it really was and went on to defend it. To the Republicans who said that bimetallism was an attack  on business, Bryan said that Republicans stance was hurting the common man whose lives had been interrupted and thrown off course because of the use of gold. A graduated income tax that was allegedly "unconstitutional" to Republicans, Bryan quickly addressed this too. Staying firm on the fact that every man has to contribute equally to the nation so that each person can equally enjoy the protection the country provides. Republicans went on to condemn the Democrat opposition to the nations currency, which Bryan accepts as truth, and compared it how Andrew Jackson saved the nation from the B.U.S. Bryan then compares himself to Jefferson thinking that money is a function of the government, and not of the private banks. It was now Bryan's turn to attack the Republican platform, as he mentions the inconsistencies of its platform and of William McKinley. McKinley was elected saying he would soon convert the mono-metal nation to bimetallism, but then why were they saying that gold was more beneficial than a combination? Great Britain had a gold standard so perhaps this is where the influence came from, but Bryan questions why McKinley is following the Europeans. Bryan successfully explains his platform, by eloquently combining the Democratic and Populist ideals.

LAD #23: Populist Party Platform

    Similar to our nation's founding, the Populist Party included in its platform a preamble to gain appeal of the masses and to condemn the slums people called cities. Reacting to the heavy industrialization that was taking place, Populists represented the common man and would fight to protect him. One of the most powerful tools the worker had, the power to unionize, was prevented by many big businesses and the Populists stepped in. When they weren't sticking up for the little guy, they advocated the use of silver as a to back currency which was restricted by government to profit the wealthy. The stimulation from agriculture produced billions of dollars, and the current system prevented this process to be conducted. The workers and artisans of these products are then impoverished as they rely on a currency that is not recognized by the government. At the base of their platform, the Populists were seeking to return the power of the government to the "plain people."In the second section, where they include policies and resolutions, they further advocate for a value ration of 16:1 of gold and silver and also that the government should own and operate railroads, telephones, and the telegraphs. Further pushing their stance on supporting the common man, the Populists argued that land should never be monopolized by foreigners to be used of business speculation but should be given to the rightful owners to be used to create wealth. They also believed a fair ballot, fair and liberal pensions for Union veterans, and stood for sympathy with labor organizations and their pleas.

LAD #22: McKinley's War Message

       With hostilities between Spain and America reaching their climax with the Spanish-American War, McKinley addressed Congress. The atrocities Spain had committed on the Cubans needed to be stopped as they "shocked the sensibilities and offended the human sympathies of our people." The problems that arose from Spanish mistreatment were not only a detriment to Cuba, but to American interests. Trade and capital investments needed to be protected as the situation escalated and to do this the United States had to intervene neutrally, give Cuba its independence, and settle the dispute. Although a hostile intervention was not off the table, McKinley saw only four grounds in which the United States could do so. Narrowing it down to end "barbarities," protect the rights of Cubans, protect trade, and to protect America itself. The explosion of the Maine, to McKinley, was enough to satisfy this fourth ground and he sent a letter to Congress asking for war. The final straw of a conflict which had caused many American headaches, it was up to McKinley and Congress to establish a stable government and in ending this conflict avenge the destruction of the Maine.