First Semester Speech

Caroline Jones

December 15, 2014

USH

First Semester Summary Speech

            I was pleasantly surprised to learn about several events in the history of the United States, one of which being the role sports played in the consumer society. Sporting events are a great way to spend time with friends and to stay active, and this was the first time they had viewed leisure positively.  Theodore Roosevelt had a positive view on sports, but created new rules to ensure the safety of the players. He even hosted a white house meeting based around it. I was surprised that a president played such a large role in beginning organized sports, even though it is one of the most important topics throughout history. Football was an organized sport in college, which is why it is a more elite sport. 

            When I learned about the way business owners treated their employees, I was unpleasantly surprised. I believe that if a manager wants their worker to do the best job possible, they must respect each other. In the emerging industrial age, workers were worked until they physically could not go any longer, or until they were injured. Strikes were the only way these workers believed they would get noticed, even though the strikes were rarely effective. In instances such as the Pullman strike, the workers wages were cut and rents raised. The employers did not give their workers realistic living conditions.

            I will be able to discuss assimilation ten years from now, because it was interesting to learn about. This topic is one that I can relate to my every day life. I had not previously thought about how we wrongly use other culture’s religious symbols and print them on to common fashion items. I remember learning about the white people wanting the Indians to become Christians and forget their ways. This is important, because we need to be aware of other cultures so that we do not offend them.

            Race is a topic Americans have struggled with in the past and continue to struggle with today. At the conclusion of the civil war when African Americans were first granted their freedom, it did not make things easier. If anything, it made their life much harder because once they left their plantations there was nowhere for them to go. Most of them only possessed the clothing that they were wearing, and few had ways to work for money. Even though they were free, the gaps between the blacks and whites were very definite. Still today in the United States, neighborhoods are separated by various ethnic groups.

            I would name the era from 1865 until 1920 “The Rise to World Dominance”, because in 1865 the United States was taking the first few steps to begin to rebuild the south after the Civil War and in 1920 America was the wealthiest country in the world. Soon after Reconstruction, the United States began to expand further west, gaining more land and natural resources. The economy began to boom with the help of new raw materials, rising labor supply, technological innovations, entrepreneurs, a government willing to assist the growth of a business, and a large domestic market for manufacturing products. I was impressed with the adversity that the United States had to conquer, and it taught me a great lesson to always work hard for what I want.