LAD #29: Keating-Owen Child Labor Act

In the year 1916, the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act limited the number of hours that a child could work and forbade the sale of goods produced through child labor to be sold across state borders. Ranging from young children to smaller teens, a census showed that nearly two-million girls and boys were working across America at the beginning of the twentieth-century. This finding called for an end to be brought to child labor. Muckrakers such as Lewis Hines used photography of children fixing dangerous machinery and working in filthy coal mines to further this movement. Many influential individuals, such as Carl Marx and Charles Dickens, sided with these muckrakers against child labor. Dickens used his works of literature, such as Oliver Twist, showing the lives of young orphans working and living in poorhouses in London. First proposed in the year 1906, the Keating-Owen Child Labor Act "banned the sale of products from any factory, shop, or cannery that employed children under the age of 14, from any mine that employed children under the age of 16, and from any facility that had children under the age of 16 work at night or for more than 8 hours during the day." Eventually being passed by Congress and instituted by Woodrow Wilson, the act was later found to be unconstitutional in the Supreme Court case of Hammer vs. Dagenhart. It was not until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, an Act still in place today, was an effective labor act set into motion in the United States.

LAD #28: Wilson's First Inaugural

Woodrow Wilson begins his first inaugural address by praising the industrial success and political integrity of this country. But he states that Americans are wasteful; the spiritual and physical costs of natural energy and human life have not been effectively evaluated. "But the evil has come with the good, and much fine gold has been corroded." Essentially, Wilson is claiming that the United States Government is not doing its duties to properly protect its citizens. "With the great government went many deep secret things which we too long delayed to look into and scrutinize with the candid, fearless eye. The great government we loved has too often been made use of for private and selfish purposes, and those who used it had forgotten the people." With regards to this, the president claims, "our duty is to cleanse, to reconsider, to restore, (and) to correct the evil without impairing the good, to purify and humanize every process of our common life without weakening or sentimentalizing it." He reminds the American public that the governments duty is to serve both the humble and the powerful, using justice and fair play to do so. Directly addressing an unjust tariff, restricting the industrial system, a corrupt bank and currency system, as well as a misuse of natural resources, he seeks to restore security to a vulnerable society. Calling for patriotism, he ends his speech.

LAD #27: The Clayton Anti-Trust Act

In order for the government to gain an increased level of control on business, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act was set in place. The administration of Woodrow Wilson passed the Act after Henry De Lamar Clayton, Jr., a Democrat from Alabama, introduced it. This act helped to set the basis upon which businesses are regulated today. In the past, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was the only means through which big businesses could be monitored. Using this act, Theodore Roosevelt was able to become the nation's first trust buster. The Clayton Anti-Trust Act, passed in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission Act, was used to regulate the behaviors of large corporations with regards to the law. Unlike the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which effectively hindered the actions of the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor, the Clayton Anti-Trust Act cannot be used against labor unions. Due to its national heritage, Major League Baseball was one of the only corporations left untouched and unregulated by the Clayton Anti-Trust Act. Now, unlike in the past, strikes, pickets, and labor unions could be enacted against big businesses without interference from the government.

LAD #26: "I Have a Dream"

Martin Luther King, mirroring the words of Abraham Lincoln, begins his speech with the reality that five score years ago the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, giving the blacks previously contained by slavery a beacon of hope for years to come. Yet, one-hundred years later, Martin Luther King asserts that these African Americans are neither free nor treated fairly. King states that the people have gathered here upon the day of his speech in order to follow up on a previous note. "The note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the 'unalienable Rights' of 'Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.'" Using the analogy of a check and a bank, King asserts that whites have marked "insufficient funds" for their benefit on their check of freedom. King wishes to cash the check that is far overdue for blacks, "refus(ing) to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. (He) refuse(s) to believe that there is insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation." He wants to secure freedom and enable blacks to enjoy the riches of justice. Blacks deserve their freedoms issued under the Emancipation Proclamation, and King asserts that they cannot wait any longer or use gradual methods in order to gain what they desire. Rather, King states that a revolt will continue until the "bright day where justice emerges." They will fight for their freedom with dignity and pride, but they must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence." King procliams that he has a dream that is "deeply rooted in the American dream." This dream is that African Americans can live peacefully with their white brothers and sisters and that his children can "one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." He concludes the speech by repeating the words of an old African spiritual; "'Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"' 

LAD #25: The Dawes Act

The Dawes Act clearly requests the provision of land to Native Americans on various reservations. Too, it calls for the extension of the "protection of laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians." The Act states that the president has the power to call the assessment and land for any grazing and agricultural purpose. The entire purpose of this is to remove the concept of a communal tribal land holding and replace it with individually maintained and owned properties. Although many did not wish to allow Native Americans to gain citizenship, this was all done in attempts to assimilate many of these Native individuals into American society. For example, if "his residence (is) seperate and apart from any tribe of Indians therin, and has adopted the habits of civilized life, (he) is herby declared to be a citizen of the United States, and he is entitled to all rights, privleges, and immunities of such citizens." Under the act, the Secretary of the Interior was also deemed the power to issue any restrictions or laws he saw fit in order to secure the equal distributions of lands to Native American inhabitants on a reservation. These rights, however, were not to be extended to the "territory occupied by the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, and Osage, Miamies and Peorias, and Sacs and Foxes, in the Indian territory, nor any of the reservations of the Senecac Nation of the New York Indians in the state of New York, nor to that strip of territory in the state of Nebraska adjoining the Sioux Nation on the south added by executive order." Conclusively, the act did not encompass too many Native American groups and did very little as a result.

LAD #24: The Cross of Gold

In the "Cross of Gold" speech delivered by William Jennings Bryan to the Democratic Convention in Chicago in the year 1896, he logically and effectively integrated the values of the Populist party, specifically those of the coinage of silver and gold. Although his Democratic ideals combat the more Republican views of the era, he asserts that the only issue that he wishes to address there is the question of money and the opinions of the common man that are not being protected by big business and the government. He claims that the Republican economic views have far too long favored the entrepreneurs and robber-barons of the era, leaving the agricultural practitioner at the mercy of long hours and low wages. Despite continual Republican condemnations for issues that Bryan is accused of for being "unconstitutional," he holds true to his party values and the basis upon which this nation was founded. One such instance of Bryan being adamant comes about when dealing with the issue of an income tax law. He believes that if individuals are to partake in such a binding law that their security must be guaranteed by the government as it is clearly dictated in the United States Constitution. Bryan is again accused of holding the same views as Jackson with regards to the B.U.S. and the income tax law, as well as Jefferson in regards to his belief that money is a function of the government and not the banks. But the inconsistencies of the Republican Party as well as increasing foreign influences allow for Bryan to effectively argue for the introduction of the gold standard, successfully merging the Populist and Democratic parties.

LAD #23: The Populist Party Platform

In reaction to the rise of big business within America the Populist Party Platform, claiming to represent the political desires and rights of the common working man, devised a "Declaration of Independence" condemning the atrocities present within cities and hopes for self-protection by the abuses of big business. Also, the use of silver as an acceptable form of currency is advocated for, stating that the restriction of which is a tool of the government to maintain the power of the large businesses. Assertions are made in which it is argued that agricultural productivity allows for billions of dollars to be generated on account of crops, yet these crops depreciate the value of the dollar, leaving those that produce the raw materials for finished goods in a ring of depression and falling prices, prompting poverty. Simply, these common men seek to restore the power in business and government to the hands of those that it gains its power from; the people. In the following section they declare their policies and potential resolutions. They firmly stand for the use of silver and gold coinage, legalizing of union labor forces, and government ownership of industries such as railroads, telegraph, and telephone. Conclusively, they want fair rights for polling and ballots that will ensure political safety.

LAD #22: McKinley's War Message

President McKinley asserts his belief that the war between Cuba and her Spain should be brought to a close as quickly as possible in his address to Congress in April 1898. McKinley firmly believes that the constant insurrections between Spain and Cuba are harmful to America's trade, the United States' capital investments there, and the frantic mindsets of so many American citizens. McKinley strongly urges Congress to end the war by any number of means necessary, including neutral intervention so long as a forceful annexation can be avoided. When thinking about the rationality of this option, McKinley realizes that if American is forced to choose either Spain or Cuba to support during this era of conflict, he would most likely side with Spain to end the hostile and revolutionary acts of the insurgents. A neutral resolution, however, would be much more justifiable given the time period, yet it would involve a much more difficult four step process to achieve. Primarily, the United States would have to recognize its relation with the conflict closely to the liberties of the people living within the region. Thirdly, any call to protection must be made legal by any injuries on the country itself (for example things such as trade blockades or American Bloodshed). Lastly, the United States would be called in to terminate any hostilities that would endanger the well being of America itself. Conclusively, the two nations, having spheres of influence both economically and socially with America, the United States had a duty to pacify Cuba in the end