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Civil War, Native American Issues, Keystone XL Pipeline, Reparations, and Klu Klux Klan
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Civil War, Native American Issues, Keystone XL Pipeline, Reparations, and Klu Klux Klan
Taking a deeper look at Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, one quickly finds allegories with the United States Civil war. One of the most profound similarities has to do with the way both conflicts act as watershed moments, changing the way war is viewed in the public eye. The Civil War was the first conflict to be exclusively photographed, where citizens witnessed first-hand the carnage and battlefields from their home front (Cederman & Vogt, 2017). Similarly, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the first significant conflict to be documented extensively across the world owing to the existence of speed internet. The conflict is being captured using high pixels, fast internet uploads and unprecedented viral replies. Another aspect that cuts across both wars is the severe economic implications that have come with the war. During the civil war, major inflation followed the confederacy blockade. Similarly, the entire world is experiencing increased inflation, with the prices of essential commodities, including gas skyrocketing to a new high. Another similarity is that both wars targeted transportation and trade networks.
One of the issues Native Americans face today is lack of resources which leads to unemployment and poverty. Research points out that 1 in 3 Native Americas lives in poverty in the U.S. with a median income of a mere $23 000 a year. Poor living conditions are another problem with both tribal and non-tribal households being overcrowded. Low high school graduation rates are another problem for Native American students and the violation of their voting rights.
Both the gold mining of the 1800s and oil mining on native lands share the similarity that they had the same negative impact on the environment. New mining methods, such as the use of hydraulic jets and the population that happened during the California Gold Rush, altered California’s landscape permanently. Developed in 1853, the hydraulic mining technique had huge profits, but they destroyed a big part of the region’s landscape. Sediments from the mines clogged some rivers and dams meant to supply water to the mines changed the course of the rivers from farmland. Similarly, oil mining had a health risk on indigenous communities that lived near the oil facilities. The health risks were due to a lack of consistent housing, clean drinking water, access to health facilities, and sanitary waste and sewage disposal.
The Keystone XL pipeline is a 1897 kilometer pipeline that starts in the oil sands in the city of Alberta in Canada to Steel City in Nebraska. The proposed pipeline would join an existing pipe in Nebraska and could transport 830,000 barrels of oil to the United States each day. Currently, the projected was halted by President Joe Biden and is yet to begin construction. The project is quite controversial because of numerous reasons. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advised former president Obama against approving the project saying that it would not create sustainable jobs, reduce petrol prices or affect energy dependence. The US State Department first advised exploring alternative routes in Nebraska, citing that Sandhills region had a fragile ecosystem.
Some of the successes of the Freedmen’s Bureau is that it established 40 hospitals, more than 4000 schools, and distributed 21 million rations. Moreover, it helped former slaves locate their lost relatives and legalize marriages. One of the failures is that it was understaffed and underfunded. By the time it reached its peak, the Bureau only hand 900 agents. Another disadvantage is that it was strongly opposed by the white Southerners as racism was prevalent.
Reparations refer to a redress system where individuals receive compensations for historical injustices. At the center of the American Dream is the assumption that we all have the chance to create wealth that gives meaning to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness as stated in the Declaration of Independence. Japanese Americans were to be paid $1.5 billion to those interned in World War II. Native Americans have received billions of dollars and land as benefits for being forcefully evicted from their ancestral lands. Black Americans are yet to receive reparations for racial discrimination that is state-sanctioned. People of color need reparation seeing how brutal American slavery used to be where up to 15% of slaves being shipped from West Africa succumbed along the way (Feagin & Ducey, 2018). Reparations were not a possibility. The redress meant well but it was farfetched.
The Klu Klux Klan started with the aim of restoring the white supremacy through violence and intimidation. The organization was used as a vehicle for underground resistance against Radical Reconstruction. The organization originally started as a social club which was started by Confederate veterans in 1866. They coined their name from “kyklos”, a Greek word where the English word “circle” comes from. Today, no supremacist terrorist groups exist with the purpose of intimidating citizens into accepting white supremacists. Although society has a long to go way, the world is much more equal today than it was a decade ago.
References
Cederman, L. E., & Vogt, M. (2017). Dynamics and logics of civil war. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 61(9), 1992-2016.
Feagin, J. R., & Ducey, K. (2018). Racist America: Roots, current realities, and future reparations. Routledge.
Civil War and the Constitution
Government
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Civil War and the Constitution
At a time when the Civil War was taking place, the United States Senate had a significant impact. Even though President Abraham Lincoln and his military commanders are often the focus of wartime history, the Senate had to deal with war-related matters even before Lincoln took the oath of office and continued to do so throughout the war. As a result of the attack on Fort Sumter, the Capitol quickly became a sea of troops. We even had a temporary base of operations in the Senate Chamber! As well as housing a bakery, the Capitol also as a temporary hospital for the soldiers in need of medical attention (Masera et al., 2022). After thereafter, the Senate faced a series of high-stakes constitutional battles as it carried out its legislative and oversight responsibilities. The Senate and the House of Representatives worked together to enact momentous legislation that continues to define our country today. For many years after World War II, a number of senator-led discussions on civil rights and emancipation, as well as constitutional changes guaranteeing the rights of citizenship, took place.
Supreme Court and Jim Crow
As a result of Jim Crow, blacks were not given the same rights and opportunities as their white counterparts. To construct Jim Crow, the Supreme Court of the United States was crucial.
The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments ensured the freedom, citizenship, and the right to vote for African-Americans in the United States. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 prohibited the segregation of schools, public facilities, transportation, and juries, among other things. During Reconstruction, the Supreme Court seemed ready to assist in the advancement of African Americans. To confine juries to whites was unconstitutional and infringed on the 14th Amendment rights of African-Americans in Strauder v. West Virginia, which was ruled by the Supreme Court in 2013 (Wiegand, 2021). A white jury had found two African-Americans guilty in the case of Virginia v. Rives, and the Supreme Court upheld their convictions. The Court argued that since there were no black jurors, a black defendant/rights plaintiff was not disadvantaged. Strauder made it clear whites may discriminate lawfully without violating federal law. People of color had no recourse in court and were tried by a panel of whites alone. Victims of crimes against blacks were almost never held accountable. Segregation and discrimination was unpunished as long as the state was not involved.
Litigating Equality
The constitutional assurance that no person or organization shall be denied the protection of the law that is enjoyed by like individuals or groups is known as "equal protection" in the United States of America. To put it another way, people in comparable situations should be treated equally. All similar instances are given equal treatment under the laws, and no one is subject to responsibilities higher than those placed on others in similar circumstances, which is what is meant by "equal protection." State governments cannot refuse any individual "the equal protection of the laws" under the Fourteenth Amendment, which was enacted in response to the American Civil War.
How the Courts have Evaluated Civil Rights Concerns
The Supreme Court has dealt with a wide range of civil rights disputes, including racial and gender discrimination, sexual orientation discrimination, and issues relating to disability rights. In Korematsu v. U.S. (1944), the Supreme Court affirmed the conviction of an American of Japanese ancestry who had been prosecuted for staying in California after a presidential directive in 1942 designated most of the West Coast as a "military region" and required transfer of most Japanese-Americans from California.
References
Masera, F., Rosenberg, M., & Walker, S. (2022, January 16). The Power of Narratives: Anti-Black Attitudes and Violence in the US South. Papers.ssrn.com. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4009956
Wiegand, W. A. (2021). Race and School Librarianship in the Jim Crow South, 1954–1970: The Untold Story of Carrie Coleman Robinson as a Case Study. The Library Quarterly, 91(3), 254–268. https://doi.org/10.1086/714314
My Personal Decision Making Style
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My Personal Decision Making Style
Each person has their own preferred decision-making style that they employ in making decisions in their day-to-day activities. My personal decision-making style is the analytical style. I tend to be the kind of person who likes to collect and analyze information thoroughly before making a decision. I like looking at matters from all possible angles before making a decision. If I fail to do this, I will not be confident about my decision. I will keep second-guessing myself and asking if I made the right choice. I tend to be keen when it comes to making decisions. I prefer dealing with reliable facts and data when making decisions because data does not lie, and it rarely leads one astray. Worth noting, I am the kind of person who likes seeking other people’s opinions while making a decision. This is because I like listening to other people’s points of view. While I like seeking outside counsel, other people’s opinions will rarely sway my decision, but rather, it helps me deny or confirm knowledge. I believe I am an analytical decision-maker because I am adaptable and have a high tolerance for ambiguity. Ambiguity prompts me to think deeper about my decision, thus helping me make informed decisions. One downside of being an analytical decision-maker is that I like to be in control of the decision process. Because I tend to be so focused on finding the best solution, I like to be in control of matters. Because I enjoy finding solutions, I ensure that all decisions I make benefit all parties involved. I also enjoy discussing new challenges and will do whatever it takes to find the best solution.