Enter the Great War!

In order to persuade the American people to side with entering the Great War, we need to tell them how it started. It started in such a small area, probably why this moment is known as the “spark” of the war. The small area was Serbian and it was under the control of Austria-Hungary. Of course no one likes being controlled and when Austria-Hungary crossed the line a man by the name of Gavrilo Princip gunned down Franz Ferdinand, the Arch-Duke of Austria-Hungary. Each country declared war on each other and the fire was growing. The point is we are a country that fought for our freedom because we were being controlled and we should help those who want that same independence.

                Alliances are being formed and we seem to be the only major power left out. Obviously we should side with the Triple Entente. We would be fighting against Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy. We would be siding ourselves with Great Britain, Russia, and France. We also need to look at the pros and cons of each choice in this war. If we don’t join and the Triple Alliance (enemies) wins, then we could be looking at an invasion and imperialistic takeover. If we do join we could be the final push that stops a rising world power. There seems to be only one good choice and that is to join and get it over with. We are Americans, we cannot allow this to just pass by as we watch.

Current Muckraking

Picture of Don Black above.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/don-black-stormfront-legal-fund

                Catherine Thompson publishes an article on July 8, 2015, about an incident that takes place a month before. The incident is a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, was a target for a shooting. The FBI suspected and visited a founder of an online white supremacists forum called Stormfront.org. Shortly after the visit, the founder started soliciting donations for a legal defense fund. The man who founded the online forum was the Ku Klux Klan grand dragon and his name was Don Black. He stated, “My free of speech site was attacked and we have to protect ourselves.” He also said that, “We aren’t going to just sit there and let the government do what they want.”

                Soon the man who was involved in the shooting was revealed. His name is Dylaan Roof and he was an online associate. Don Black said he was concerned that federal investigation on his site would scare off the commenters.  He also said that the truth they write is being attacked when the government calls it “hate speech” and tries to shut it down. Dylaan Roof was known to have killed nine people in the church. To read more click on the link above.

Muckrakers

http://www.ushistory.org/us/42b.asp

            A muckraker is someone that exposes corruption in a business or group. In the article, linked above, it is explained when muckraking came about and why. It also has three muckraking incidents straight off the bat. I will give a little summary of each.

            The first one is done by a man by the name of Lincoln Steffens. He exposes city officials working alongside large businesses to stay in power so they could corrupt the public treasury. He exposed them to the public by writing an article called “Tweed Days in St. Louis” in a magazine. It was published in 1902.

            The second one takes place only a month after Steffens’ incident. A woman by the name of Ida Tarbell started her muckraking with a series called “History of the Standard Oil Company.” She mainly wrote about John Rockefeller and his “cutthroat” methods.

            The final one is probably one of the better known. Upton Sinclair, a socialist, wrote a book titled “The Jungle” to show the horrible effects of the meat packing industry. His exposure of the spoiled and dirty meat was huge on the public. Food regulations were formed to what we have today.

            To read more click on the link above. For a slideshow of pictures of muckrakers and reformers, click the link below.

http://www.shmoop.com/muckrakers-reformers/photos.html