Unjust Treatment to Buffalo Soldiers and Native Americans

Recently in History class we have been talking about the Buffalo soldiers and Native Americans. To learn about these topics we used the same process as the week before, we watched various videos on ABC-Clio and PBS, we took notes on separate topics and eventually created our own essential question and exam questions. In this lesson we were trying to determine whether the discrimination towards the buffalo soldiers and Native Americans was intentional or if the white settlers and government believed what they were doing was just. While the federal government may have thought the things were doing were just, they were acting completely barbarous towards these two groups of people.

Buffalo soldiers at this time were black Americans who had just come off the civil war, they became soldiers because frankly they had to pick their poison; buffalo soldier or sharecropper. When being a sharecropper was much like being a slave, and not having any say, buffalo soldiers did not have it much better. They were forced to fight Indians in many instances, and did hard labor, such as laying out electrical lines and cutting paths for other soldiers. The government may have thought that compensating them with clothing, food, and shelter was fair, but it really was not. These men were faced with a large amount of controversy when carrying out orders simply because they were black, they also were put into battles that were highly unsafe obviously compromising many lives. Seeing as though the buffalo soldiers were put into many dangerous situations the resources that they were provided did not make the treatment just.

This is a timeline of the Indian removal and the tension that
grew between the westward expanding Americans and these
two groups of people.

After the Civil War there was gold found westward, and for this reason they expanded to the West taking over native american land. When this happened they were faced with conflict because of the people that they were exterminating on their way. To get rid of the native american tribes the american troops destroyed the natives food supply, homes, and even took lives in an effort to get them to move. At this point the government put into action The Dawes Act. This allotted a certain amount of land to each person, but these amounts of land were not what the native Americans had previously had, and most of the land was of no use to the people. After all of the total war, in effort to try to get natives to move; the native Americans became protected by the government, so they were enrolled in schools and encouraged to leave their native roots and traditions. All this was brought about by reformers who thought of themselves as “Friends of the Native Americans” so it is believed that they did want to give these people more education and in turn a better life, but on their way to this they destroyed a lifestyle and many lives for that matter, thus making what the government did unjust.

Captains of Industry or Robber Barons?

This week in class we have been doing things a little differently. To start of the lesson about John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie we watched several videos about the time period and the economic systems that were being put to use. In groups we would take shared notes on the videos and also on a few primary and secondary sources. After being filled in on what the focus and content of the lesson was, we, the students decided what our essential question would be for the week. We were to determine whether Carnegie and Rockefeller were robber barons or captains of industry. Robber barons were seen as corrupt, unsportsmanlike, bribed government officials, they bought out or destroyed rivals, and created giant monopolies and trusts. Citizens of the time had a love hate relationship with them. Captains of industry were simply business leaders who advanced the economy. These two men were both robber barons and captains of industry.

This shows Rockefeller's standard oil tank as an octopus strangling
its competitors, and the government.

Seeing future industry in oil Rockefeller quit the merchant business in which he was involved and began putting his prospects in oil in 1865. His business techniques attracted Flagler and he had the ability to negotiate lower shipping rates with the railroads, and then in 1870 the two men created the Standard Oil Company of Ohio. When Rockefeller’s strict strategies did bring the company extreme success, they damaged his reputation in the public. Some people believed that he and his partners used illegal tactics to get them to where they were, and eventually in 1892 antitrust legislation by Congress and Ohio supreme court forced Rockefeller to disband his companies. From this negative perspective John D. Rockefeller can be seen as a robber baron. Then again, Rockefeller’s wealth peaked at a highly impressive $900 million, this was more than the federal budget and qualified him as the most wealthy man in America’s history, but this money was not only spent for his own purposes but was also donated to charities and educational institutions. Throughout his years he was giving away millions of dollars for the advancement of education, medicine, and science. He also was willing to drop his prices, and this obviously has consumers following him constantly. As Rockefeller can be seen as a robber baron, he can be viewed as a captain of industry as well.

This image depicts Carnegie giving back on one side and
cutting wages on the other.

Andrew Carnegie was known for his strong production of steel in the U. S. With his addition to the industry it helped the country to surpass Great Britain in the production of steel. He also created a process where higher quality steel could be bought at lower costs. He became the first operator in the country to take messages by sound. Carnegie impressed Thomas Scott a businessman, who he saw frequently in telegraph offices, and eventually he became superintendent of the eastern military and telegraph lines. On top of all this by 1900 Carnegie’s wealth had reached an impressive 350 million, making him the second richest man in the world. And with this money, he built libraries, donated to education foundations, and promoted causes of peace. From this perspective it is clear that Andrew Carnegie was a captain of industry. On the other hand Carnegie could definitely be seen as a robber baron, he was also known for the Homestead Strike in 1892. This strike happened because of the wage cuts that were being delivered to the workers of the plant in Homestead, Pennsylvania. The laborers were fearing the loss of their jobs, and were obviously angry about the pay cuts, but within days the strike was broken and many were dead or injured. Another example of possibly unsportsmanlike business behavior was the fact that during the economic depressions Carnegie took advantage of the low prices and saw it as an opportunity to further his own businesses, while the rest of the country was plagued with poverty.

These two men both showed extreme talent in their industries, pushing and testing the limits of the economy. They donated to many foundations, for the causes of the community and for the purposes of giving back. From this point of view they can be seen as captains of industry, but they were also robber barons. In the case of Rockefeller, he had a tough reputation because of his cut-throat tactics, and was even suspected of using illegal methods. Andrew Carnegie cut the wages of hard working and poor workers so his company could advance. He also prospered off the overwhelming depression of the economy.