Automobiles, Cities & The Turn of the Century

Automobiles and their uses were specifically needed and made into a necessity at the Turn of the Century. However, they date back to the 15th century, when Leonardo da Vinci created models that were intended to transport people and many objects. Way on down the road in time, steam, electric and gasoline powered car engines were all developed for various reasons and needs. The one man that can be credited with the most up-to-date version of a car would be a German, Karl Benz who went on to be the founder of Mercedes Benz. In 1885 the first gasoline powered engine was invented, paving the way for cars to become more complex, luxurious and easy to use.

1900 Oldsmobile - First Mass Produced Car

The first factory mass-produced car was the 1900 Oldsmobile. It is shown in the picture to the left, and as you can see it is very basic and bare. They were sold from 1901 to 1906 and costed a total of $650. Three years later, the Ford Motor Company was founded. Ford developed the Model T, in 1908, a popular and cheap car throughout the early 1900's. Middle class ownership skyrocketed and the History Study Center even said, "[the Model T was a] car for the great masses."  The University of Vermont detailed that, "[Ford] revolutionized the design and production of the automobile. Now that times were changing, so did the design of cars change. No longer did they look like horse drawn buggies, they were distinctive in that they had four tires, and were powered by a combustion engine. According to the History Study Center, the most impacted areas of life in the United states were by means of social and economical status. The amount of traveling people were having to start do, as well as the distances at which they would have to travel, the increasing rural area home trend and the industrial city rise were all major factors in the rise of the automobile.

Newton, Massachusetts Early Freeway

According to the American History: A Survey by Alan Brinkley, Charles and Frank Duryea were responsible for the first gasoline driven car that I mentioned above earlier. The automobile not only rose from small depths to great heights, but it did so at astonishingly high rates. In 1895, just four cars were on small, desolate highways. But by 1917 at least five million were on developed highways, traveling from one city to another or from the city to their rural or urban houses. The University of Colorado Boulder, explained that vehicles and roads connect rural and urban life on a daily basis. The more that cities got congested, the more people wanted to move in the suburbs, and that is exactly what they did. Not only did people live outside the city, but in special cases early on, business would relocate to the suburbs in search of better business opportunities. Inexpensive land, the ability to expand up and out and the fact that access to the business would be less stressful and simpler, were all reasons why the suburbs grew. Before the invention of the car, people would either have lived and worked in the city, or they would have live and worked in the country and the commute back to work. After the car was widely available, people travelled to and from work, cutting out living in the city for the most part, altogether. The University went on to say that "New jobs due to the impact of the automobile such as fast food, city/highway contraction, state patrol/police, convenience stores, gas stations, auto repair shops, etc. allow[ed] more employment for the world's growing population."

Early 1900's Congested City

A chauffeur, Oswald Hessler, who drove a car in New York City, wrote an enraged letter to the editor of the New York Times, asking for him to investigate why there was such mayhem on the roads. "Why don't they do something or have something done to diminish these brutal affairs?" he went on saying. "Last Monday on 34th Street I saw a red taxicab doing all kinds of stunts." Accidents were a major part of everyday life in major cities such as; Chicago, Boston, New York and Philadelphia. In the October 25, 1912 edition of The Day Book, out of the many crashes listed one detailed that two women were "seriously" hurt, but that no cause was ever released to the public. In the sam newspaper, on August 7, 1914, a woman by the name of Mrs. E. Winterling was involved in a wreck that gave her lacerations on her face, by glass being thrown from another cars' windshield. A final newspaper article, out of the many that I found, was in The Washington Times, written on May 14, 1919, that involved a police car who was trying to avoid an accident with another car, got involved in its' own accident by swerving too quickly and flipping over. He also was cut by glass on the face. In this same article, it told that a four year old boy was hit and bumped on the ground by another automobile. All of these accidents were just few of the many reasons that laws were created to keep drivers, pedestrians and everyone else safe.

The First Traffic Light - Cleveland

According to the University of Michigan, the first law ever passed dealing with roads and driver responsibilities was in 1901. This law set up a speed limit for all driver; 12 miles-per-hour on the highway and 8 miles-per-hour on city streets. The growing number of pedestrians, horses, bicycles and streetcars made making these laws a necessity. However, by the numerous number of accidents in the 1910 to 1920 time frame, these laws proved to be ineffective. The post-Model T time era became the first use of traffic control. "[T]raffic lights, signs, and painted pavements...commanded a new physical presence in cities..." The first form of control was sending multiple policemen to hectic traffic corners to alleviate traffic manually. That proved to be too tedious and expensive. The first form of our modern traffic control that can be traced back would be traffic lights. However, these were in the middle of intersections and they simply didn't direct traffic like they should. The first red and green traffic light could be found in Cleveland in 1914, and while it was a step forward it still was slow. In 1917 the first red, yellow and green light was added into the city of Detroit. Another form of control was stop signs. In the 1900's it was known as a "boulevard stop" and was created because many of the right of way ordinances were unclear. And in all honesty, all these forms of control were simply ignored, which is very reminiscent of today. On the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History website, they talked about how paved roads were due to the amount of bicyclists, the increased need for sanitation, farmers wanting to export produce and the need for truckers to get from place to place. Up until 1916, individual cities and counties were responsible for their own roads, which funds were raised and collected through taxes. At that point Congress began to realize that roads were beneficial to the entire country, and in result, they invested millions of dollars into the road systems of America. Each individual stat would then put the same amount that Congress allocated to each state for roads, and thus created the paved roads, highways, freeways and interstates of today.

Automobiles directly impacted the growth of cities and urban/rural areas by making it easier to transport goods, travel to and from work and to make long distance journey's, which at the time were unheard of. From the 15th century to the Turn of the Century, all these small little laws and inventions impacted the course of the automobile and in which direction it tended to go towards. Cities became hubs of activity and congestion, while people began to move out of the city to the country, and become more of commuters.

Sources

Who Invented The Automobile? - Library of Congress

I used this website by the Library of Congress for the very simple basic background information on the automobile. 

Automobile's 1900's - University of Vermont

This website helped me with the Ford side of the early automobile's. It gave me many facts about the technology and how it was mass produced.

Automobile in American Society - History Study Center

This gave me background information on the time period, what was happening, the first true creator and specific detailed numbers.

Oswald Hessler's Testimony - New York Times Archive

I used this Chauffeur's testimony to show how the traffic was terrible, and how accidents and crazy drivers made cities mad houses.

October 25, 1912 - The Day Book

I searched the archive of newspapers and found this newspaper article about two women being injured in a car crash, with the cause not being identified.

August 7, 1914 - The Day Book

This article dealt with a woman who was cut by a piece of flying glass from the scene of a car crash.

May 14, 1919 - The Washington Times

Finally, this article told about a police car that was involved in a wreck when it tried to move from getting in another car accident. 

American History: A Survey - Alan Brinkley

Our history textbook provided me with details on the amount of cars on the highway in one year, as compared to another year.

The History of The Automobile - University of Colorado Boulder

This website told about how expanding outside of the city in urban areas, and roads or railroads would be connecting the big city to the urban country.

America on the Move - Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

The NMoAH's website wrote about how highways were connected, paid for and how long it took before Congress realized a national highway system was needed.

The Automobile Shapes The City - University of Michigan

This scholarly source told about the first instances of traffic control, as well as many failed and successful attempts at trying to find the right protocol. 

Opinions on Carnegie, Modern Impressions

Source: GOP.com // The Affordable Care Act Plan

Carnegie believed that the best way to improve the lives of others was to promote world peace, think and improve the community of the world and to educate others while being selfless at the same time. I can tell this by the many charitable works and donations that he contributed to the world and by his willing to give his money away not only to help his family or the people around him, but the whole world as a whole. My opinion of the approach is pretty positive, however I also am a very domestically inclined person. While helping others in the world who have little to nothing, I also think that fiscally and socially we should be more concerned with ourselves as a country. Too much aid and frivolous spending has proved to be detrimental to our government, and the cutting back of such spending could significantly improve our problems here. If I had hundreds of millions of dollars to give away, I would give most of it to the GOP, because I and other Conservatives could cut through all the political problems, since we are not in the political occupation, and help bring this country back together. Healthcare is a big issue in our country right now, and with the help of Americans outside of Congress, public healthcare for all could certainly be improved. We need more bi-partisanship, and in order to do that we have to compromise on a few things. A private government bailout could also be an option, as the United States needs money, and pumping it into the economy could allow the Liberals or Conservatives to let the other side "win" on other issues.

Sand Creek Massacre

What is the Sand Creek Massacre? After numerous stories, what really happened? Were the Native Americans peaceful people, or were they actually the provokers themselves? Not much is clear, but hopefully the accounts and details of the crime will give us a better understanding of what happened on that cold, winter day.

According to the History Channel Online, one of the main cause's of the Sand Creek Massacre was the debate on who was entitled to control the Great Plans all the way to Eastern Colorado. In 1851, the Fort Laramie Treaty was signed and put into effect immediately. It guaranteed ownership from the area north of the Arkansas River to the Nebraska border, to the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes. Over the next ten years or so, new settlers of the Euro-American descent, started to arrive. They were miners and had intentions of mining the Rocky Mountains for gold. The Cheyenne Delegation, headed by Black Kettle accepted new settlement terms on February 8, 1861. The terms were so terrible that not after long, the Native American's were unable to sustain their tribes. A feeble piece of land, 600 square miles, was given to them, and their old land was taken. Annuity payments were also awarded to the Native Americans, but it did not offer much help to them. 

http://bit.ly/H94Hmc

I found one very helpful article from the History Study Center that gave me more information about the massacre. Not but three years after the settlement, The Sand Creek Massacre, out of the blue, took place. On November 29, 1864, 500 members of the Cheyenne tribe camped outside a military fort, at Sand Creek, Colorado. They were promised protection through the winter, as long as they stayed in that spot. Their leader, Black Kettle, had months of wavering peace talks that dwindled down to barely anything. And as the Massacre happened, it seemed like the talks did absolutely nothing. As he and his tribe saw American troops approaching their camp, he raised the American flag, as a sign of peace and unity. The Colonel in charge, John Chivington, ignored the two flags being displayed and forced the attack on the Indians. According to Reuters, Even another man, White Antelope, an elderly tribesman tried to stop the approaching militia. He crossed his arms in front of them, which meant peace or that they did not want to fight, but instead he was shot point-blank. Another History Study Center article detailed that Colonel Chivington killed and mutilated more than half of the entire population at the camp. On his return to Denver, his soldiers carried 100 "scalps" of Indians and were cheered on by many civilians. An official investigation was put on by a Congressional Committee, but no military leaders or soldiers were ever put on trial for it.

http://bit.ly/1bMxxlV

For background on this massacre, I collected Congressional accounts from the website known as History Colorado. A helpful document let me view each person's sworn-under-oath testimony, word by word. Colonel Chivington, a Native American caught up in the attack and a Lieutenant all were questioned about the event. Colonel Chivington went on to say in that interview, "From all I could learn, I arrived at the conclusion that but few women or children had been slain. I am of the opinion that when the attack was made on the Indian camp the greater numbers of squaws and children made their escape, while the warriors remained to fight my troops. / I had no reason to believe that Black Kettle and the Indians with him were in good faith at peace with the whites." This account does not make a lot of sense to me, as Black Kettle had peace talks for months with the American Army, and now Chivington says that he doesn't think they were at peach with the whites. An Indian, George Bent told about what happened during the battle. "We ran about two miles up the creek, I think, and then came to a place where the banks were very high and steep. There a large body of Indians had stopped under the shelter of the banks, and the older men and women had dug holes or piles under the banks, in which people were hiding. Just as our party reached this point I was struck in the hip by a bullet and knocked down; but I managed to tumble into one of the holes and lay there among the warriors, women, and children." The most shocking testimony would be that of one of Colonel Chivington's own men, Lieutenant Cramer. He went on to testify; "Q: At anytime during the attack on Black Kettle's camp did the Indians appear in line of battle? A: Not that I saw. Q: Were any of the Indian women and children killed and mutilated while attempting to escape? A: They were; they were followed and killed, but I don't know when they were mutilated." In my opinion, the Colonel was simply trying to cover his own person and life, while the Lieutenant knew that he had to tell the truth. Clearly there is an inconsistency between all the accounts, but they each tell a different point of view, which allows for us to piece together the events that made this massacre terrible.

http://bit.ly/GWOX5b

Even in today's society, descendants of those killed in the massacre, still care, and file lawsuits against the United States Federal Government. An article on Huffington Post's website details that the Native American's claim that the government has not paid the full amount of reparations to their people. They believe that no matter how long it has been since the event, the government is still the one at fault and the Native American's alive today still hold the government very high in accountability. While nothing can be done to ever repay the horrendous acts of stupidity, they still believe that they and their people are entitled to compensation for it. Homer Flute, shown in the picture, fourth from the left, went on to the following quote to the Native News Network about the incident and the lawsuit; "It has been nearly 150 years since our ancestors were deceived by a promise of peace and safety by flying the American flag and a white flag of truce in their camp at Sand Creek. Colonel Chivington, commanded the United States troops in the murder and mutilation of our ancestors."

2. History Channel

• I used the History Channel's helpful website for pre-massacre facts and information.

3. History Study Center and History Study Center 2 and Reuters

• I used these three sources for the main information, including the battle and the facts of what happened. 

4. History Colorado

• This source allowed me to see the accounts of each interview with Congress.

5. Huffington Post and Native News Network

• The modern take on the Sand Creek Massacre; lets the reader know that people still care about those who lost their lives. 

The Nina & The Pinta

Heroic Cowboy vs. Reality

The realities of the Western Cowboy were greatly different than the heroic image of them. Historically speaking, cowboys were dirty, lowly paid and under educated ranch hands who had no life outside of the ranch. But, they're position in society was vastly blown out of proportion, it was almost as if the old lives of them had been forgotten, even though they still existed. They were made to seem like awesome people who saved the day and didn't care about the law or rules, when in actuality they were far from it.

In movies and pictures the portrayal of the Cowboy seemed to be the same each time; the hero. It was always set in the "Wild, Wild West" where only saloons and tumble weeds existed. The scene would always begin in a bar and then trouble would come to the bar. A gun was their primary weapon and they always had just enough bullets to win the shoot out, which was also in every movie. The mythological Cowboy was created so that Americans could see what life was like in the West, without having to go there. However, these movies and pictures increased tourism to the area because people wanted to be a part of the action.

While the American cowboy was a significant figure in the idealization of history, it is even still the same way today. Many movies like the one above, Cowboys and Aliens, still depict the West as a place that is full of action. When in reality the West was a lot better than some cowboy. It was a vast region full of many different climates and geography. Many people from distant countries came to the West for prosperity, and to get the freedom that all wanted. Almost 90% of the California population in 1890 was Chinese. While this brought many diverse people to the area, almost all the whites did not like them being in their area. Many laws and regulations such as the Chinese Exclusion Acts made it impossible for Chinese to become citizens, whether they were born or emigrated over. The West was also known for its gold mines, sandy coasts and warm, climate. The Plains Indians were the very first settlers in the region and they taught the newcomers many ways to survive; building houses and using buffalo's for every daily life skill. The buffalo was a huge part of the West.

Chapter 15 Reflection

A cartoon about Negro Rule, from 1900.

Before studying the Civil War in class, I did not know that much about the Post-Civil War South. Many new topics such as the "Lost Cause", the Freedman's Bureau and Negro Rule I had never heard of. Studying this allowed me to learn more about that era of our country, as most of what I have heard of was just about how great the South was. I knew a lot about slavery and the mistreatment of blacks, but I had no clue about the specifics of what went on during those years. While I do not condone a lot of what the South did back in those days, I am still a proud Southerner and I will not let the past change my opinion of the present South.

A major thing that stands out to me that I have learned was that even thought the 15th Amendment was passed and allowed all to vote, the Southern states still figured out ways to go about getting around them. Specifically with Literacy Tests and the Grandfather Clauses. I never thought that the South would be that prejudice towards blacks. In a way this goes against the Constitution, however the loopholes found made it legal to perform illegal laws. Most of the time, there were two versions of the test; a harder test for African Americans and an easier test for whites, who were not yet grandfathered into the system. It was extremely difficult for blacks to vote, which made their voice not heard in our government.

It is important and beneficial for people to know about the history of the region they live in, is because that in many cases, history can repeat itself and might happen sometime in the future. It also lets people think about the many sacrifices and hardships that people in the past might have had to deal with, while we are privileged not to. History is a very powerful subject that invokes lots of emotions for many people. Specifically for blacks, while the pre-Civil War to around 1965 was many years of devastation and sorrow, in the present, blacks are proud that they have come so far. Seeing monuments in small rural Southern towns lets the residents as well as random people have a glimpse into the past without having to live in it. Statues dedicated and replicated after Generals commends their work in fighting for a cause that is only understood in the past.

My America

It didn't take me long at all to figure out how to use Animoto. First, I thought of what America means to me and what I thought of America as. Then, I used Google to search for those images. Next, I created my Animoto and chose a theme. Then I uploaded the pictures and previewed the video, realizing that I needed to use my own music. I used a great song by Toby Keith called, "Made In America" and it really gave my video more meaning. I like to use Animoto because of the ease of use and simplicity behind it.

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