Andrew Carnegie: A "Captain of Industry" or a "Robber Baron"?

During the nineteenth century, America has emerged from agricultural period to industrialization. Machinery improved and new innovations emerged during industrialization including Thomas Edison and the light bulb. Because of that, we live in the world we know today all high-tech and advanced.

Also during the industrialization period, there were plenty of large companies in America, especially in the East. For instance, a steel company owned by Andrew Carnegie. For many of you who think that Carnegie is like any other owners of the industrial companies, a "robber baron" are not necessary wrong.

For one thing, Carnegie did things that would damage his reputation. He put his steel laborers to work for long hours and low wages. And in the Homestead Strike of 1892, he supported his plant manager, Henry Frick for locking out workers and hiring Pinkerton thugs to suppress the strikes. Sure, he did those things but he has done alot of good deeds as well.

Carnegie is more of a "captain of the industry" than a "robber baron". He preached for the rights of labor unions and to protect their jobs and unlike most industrialists who were greedy; Carnegie believed that the wealthy had an obligation to give back to society. Thus he donated most of his fortunes on the good causes like education and peace. Because of him, 2,500 public libraries were established across the Eastern America and a "place of peace" that would later evolve into the World Court was established. In his later life, he gave away $ 350 million dollars for the good cause!! Who would give away that much money?!!

Today, Andrew Carnegie was known as an industrialist, millionaire and a philanthropist. It was all because he became a powerful businessman and a leading force in the American steel industry that produced more steel than all of England. And because he has done something good for the society when not alot of industrialists did in the nineteenth century despite him oppressing his laborers. Well, everyone has done something good and bad in a lifetime just like Carnegie had.

Survivors: Western America

After the civil war, the white settlers started moving towards the western part of America in pursuits for wealth and better lives. The settlers were divided into two groups. Those who worked on agriculture were farmers while the latter, worked on herding cattle and selling them for meat were ranchers. Both groups faced hardships and obstacles while trying to make a living in the hot sunny West. However the real question is, who survived? Who did not?

Farmers, they went to the west to claim lands for farming. The farmers were given 160 acres according to the Homestead Act of 1862 and they had to work on the same land for 5 years to officially own it. Farmers must also pay off their debts and loans to the government. However alot of farmers failed to claim their lands because of poor harvest and lack of rain during the years thus couldn't make any money to pay off debts and loans to the government nor had money for themselves. As the result, farmers left homes to find better lands and ways to make money.

While farmers went to the west for agriculture, ranchers went there for cattle grazing and selling the cattle for meat. There were plenty of open lands in the West for the ranchers to use. Ranchers also encountered obstacles while trying to build lives there. Ranchers had to graze the cattle and herd them on a long walk to their destination. It would take days and days and days to finally reach their destination. By that time, the cattle would be very thin and unhealthy due to lack of water and from being in the sun. Thus the meat wouldn't be very healthy and good enough to sell and the ranchers would lose money.

All of these continued to happen until the advancement of technology improved. Railroads made things alot easier for the ranchers since they can transport the cattle easily and quickly and the use of barbed wires to keep the cattle where they were and prevent any outsiders. For farmers, the improvement in farm machinary helped to reduce time and effort to work on the land like grain spreaders, steam powered threshers, cornhuskers and cornbinders, and more efficient plows. Farmers became more aware of the unpredictability of rainful in the west and started to use crop rotation, hybridization and preservation of water and topsoil.

Famers and ranchers had to face alot of hardships and obstacles but they both succeeded. However in my opinion, it were the ranchers that succeeded the most. It is because they didn't invest in as many machinary as the farmers did. So whenever the prices of the machinary dipped, they hurt the farmers more than they did to the ranchers. Plus farmers had to grow crops in which the machines were designed for. The ranchers didn't have to pay off loans or debts to the government. They created more money prior to the destruction of buffalos and the removal of Native Americans. Thus the ranchers survived...

If you have a different opinion or feel strongly about this, please do tell me. I am open to all views and opinions.

So Many Plans So Little Time

During the Reconstruction after the Civil War, the United States had to face the reprocussions from the war such as buildings, farmlands, agricultures and railroads were destroyed, the slaves were now freedmen, southern states were allowed to rejoin the Union, the plans to be done about the ex-confederates and so much more. During this time, two presidents came up with the plans to do about these reprocussions.

The first president who came up with the plan was Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president. The plan was issued on December 8, 1863. His plan was to give pardons to any one who committed crimes which included ex-confederates who would swear allegiance to the Union and take an oath. However the plan excluded the confederate military and government officals and those who had killed African American prisoners of war. For statehood, the state must create a new Constitution, endorse the Thirteenth Amendment and 10% of the number of people voted in the 1860 election must take oath. To the Radical Republican Congress, this plan was too moderate thus created the Wade-Davis Bill which required 50 % of the state male voters to take oath. Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill and was about to enforce his plan until he was assassinated in 1865.

Another plan was created and it was Andrew Johnson's. Johnson's plan was issued on May 29, 1856. His plan included pardons which anyone who will take oath to the Union, there was no exception or exclusion. For statehood, the states will have to create a new constitution, have to void secession, abolish slavery, ratify the Thirteenth Amendment and stop payments on war debts. During Johnson's presidency, the black codes were enacted in the south. Since Johnson's plan didn't include the freedmen, Radical Republicans tried to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1866 but Johnson vetoed it.

Now, there is one more plan but it wasn't issued by Lincoln or Johnson but the Radical Republican party. Their plan was to also include the rights given to the freedmen. Thus the Radical Republicans issued the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Also in their plan, it was to remove ex-confederates from Congress, issued the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867, for the statehood; the states were required to give equal rights for all and allowing the freedmen to vote, and the ratifications of both Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Thus, we have all three plans for the Reconstruction but there is one that I believe is the best and the most effective. It is the Radical Republicans' plan because they provided the rights of the freedmen while the other two didn't which led to the racial equality today. If it wasn't for their plan, the society we know today wouldn't exist.

The Black Codes of 1865

The Civil War has ended in 1864 as the Reconstruction began. The North and South have begun to rebuild while in the south, the slaves have won their freedom. Hold on a minute, did they really win their freedom?? Unfortunately, the answer is no. The white people still believed that they were more superior than the blacks and that the blacks must be under their authority. That was when the Black Codes created.

In 1865, the white southerners have long anticipated to maintain their sovereignty over the blacks. The Black Codes were created during Andrew Johnson's presidency. The purpose of the Black Codes was to keep the blacks under the white supremacy by limiting their rights. The Black Codes prohibited the blacks from voting, performing jury duty, testifying against the whites, or even performing occupations of their choice. The blacks can't even hold or sell property and they must have the permissions to enter any town.

The Black codes also targeted the unemployed. If anyone who is unemployed will be charged of vagrancy. This way, the person can get arrested or be fined. Because of the Black Codes prohibiting the rights to choose any occupation, the blacks were assigned as agricultural workers or domesticated servants. They were stuck with the Codes dictating the number of hours of labor a day and terms of labor until expiration. If they were to try and escape from labor or quit before expiration term then they will get arrested or be returned to their employers.

However this form of Black Codes didn't apply to all Southern states. There were so many different forms of Black Codes in each state but all of them imposed great restrictions on the blacks. For instance, in the state of Florida, the blacks weren't allowed to bear arms. If they were carrying weapons then they will have to surrender the weapons then be whipped thirty-nine times! Same penalty goes for the blacks having any association with the whites. However in Louisiana, the blacks weren't allowed to be on the streets after ten at night or the consequences will be working extra five days or paying five dollars. Now five dollars might seemed nothing to you but it was alot for a black person who didn't have any money.

Since the ending of the civil war, the blacks have never won the freedom they truly deserved; until the formations of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. During this time in 1865, the Radical Republicans tried to pass the Civil Rights Bill to protect the blacks from the Black Codes but the bill was vetoed by President Johnson. Ever since, the Radical Republicans had been prompting the idea of the bill until they finally passed it along with the Reconstruction Acts in 1867-1868; a year or two after the Black Codes were suspended. However, despite those acts, the white people gradually restored control over the southern governments when organizations such as Ku Kux Klan were able to frighten the blacks from voting in elections...