Voices of Freedom 15-19: Questions and Answers
They called for more governmental control and policy, many of which were eventually implemented.
How did the Populists seek to rethink the relationship between government power and freedom? (The Populist Platform, 1892)
Proposed that guaranteeing economic security to all would eliminate inequality. People would depend on each other for work in order to reach material abundance.
How does Bellamy suggest that the transition to a society of harmony and equality will take place? (Looking Backward, 1888)
A "free woman" chooses a mate not because she has to but because she wants to. She also uses birth control as a means of controlling what her motherhood experience will be like.
How does Sanger define "free womanhood"? (Women and the New Race, 1920)
A women will get to choose when, with whom, and to how many kids she will have as a mother.
How does she believe access to birth control will change women's lives? (Women and the New Race, 1920)
They called for more governmental control and policy, many of which were eventually implemented.
How does the Omaha platform identify the main threats to American liberty? (The Populist Platform, 1892)
The contract gave the planter the right to supervise the labor of his employees.
How does the contract limit the freedom of the laborers? (A Sharecropping Contract, 1866)
Denied: -Preaching the gospel without a license -Keeping firearms/weapons -Rent or lease property in "unincorporated" areas -Marrying white people Granted: -The right to sue and be sued -Owning personal property -Marriage (only with other freedmen/mulattos) -Witnessing in court cases
What basic rights are granted to the former slaves and which are denied to them by the Black Code? (Mississippi Black Code, 1865)
-This declaration reveals a theme during the aftermath of the civil war: Americans looked to the government to bring about social change. -"More leisure, rest, and thought will cultivate habits, customs, and expenditures that mean higher wages." -"If the worker's power to buy increases with his power to do, granaries and warehouses will empty their pockets, and factories fill up with producers..." -The author claims that the people will no longer be slaves to "capitalist depotism"
What benefits does the declaration claim will come from shortening the hours of work and increasing wages? (A Second Declaration of Independence, 1879)
Gilman devised plans for communal nurseries, cafeterias, and laundries to help free married women from "house service."
What changes in family life does she envision as a result of the growing economic independence of women? (Women and Economics, 1898)
Democracy would be brought to all other countries and the result would be peace and justice among free and self-governing peoples.
What changes in the relationship between the U.S. and the rest of the world does Wilson foresee emerging from WWI? (A World Safe for Democracy, 1917)
The women are generally described as needing help, being helped, or helping. The men are described in terms of their occupation and what they offer the family, how successful they are. The mom feels as though she must stay in the United States now that her daughters have settled in L.A. One daughter is engaged but has a job in order to pay for her things, and is described as being "the most Americanized," according to her mother. This indicates that "Americanized" meant seeking personal economic independency.
What differences in attitudes toward Americanization and gender relations within the Santella family are revealed in Gamio's report? (Manuel Gamio on a Mexican-American Family and American Freedom, 1926)
Many people began to give testimonials about how African American were not evil, immoral monsters as many thought.
What does Wells see as the contributions of the anti-lynching movement? (Crusade for Justice, Ida B. Wells, 1892)
When family members were described in this account, their description always included their occupation, and sometimes their salary/compensation. For instance, when describing one of the daughters: "she is now the secretary of a doctor. She receives $20.00 a week for this work."
What evidence does the report provide about the spread of consumer culture in early twentieth century America? (Manuel Gamio on a Mexican-American Family and American Freedom, 1926)
Risks: -As the price of cotton fell after the Civil War, workers found it difficult to profit from the sharecropping system -The workers had to provide their own clothing, medicine, medical bills, and if they wanted those things it was taken out of their yearly crop earnings -Docked for disobedience Benefits: -Laborers got to keep one half of the yearly crop
What kinds of benefits and risks for the freedpeople are associated with a sharecropping agreement?
Christ wanted holy marriages and alcohol often kept men from having healthy relationships with their wives. With Jesus, their was no man or woman, just redeemed human being. Their hope was that the government system would reflect Jesus' dominion here on earth, and that did not include alcohol.
What religious convictions inspire Willard's crusade against liquor? (Women and Temperance, 1883)
Racial segregation, and also, when blacks tried to change the system they were threatened with either extreme legal power or violence.
What social conditions gave rise to the Memphis lynching? (Crusade for Justice, Ida B. Wells, 1892)
In response to planters' demands that the freed people be required to work on the plantations, the Black Codes declared that those who failed to sign yearly labor contracts could be arrested and hired out to white landowners. This was an effort by the white landowners to continue the system of slavery that had been in place before in an unofficial way.
Why do you think the state of Mississippi required all black persons to sign yearly labor contracts but not white citizens? (Mississippi Black Code, 1865)
In the nineteenth century, people were still "free" even though they were dependent upon their parents and other people. But in the society that Dr. Leete lives in in 2000, the children are not dependent on their parents, and he thinks that this is needed in order to achieve total freedom.
Why does Bellamy's character Dr. Leete state that the meaning of the word "free" could not have meant the same thing in the nineteenth century as it does in 2000? (Looking Backward, 1888)
Since the State would tax estates "heavily at death," Carnegie thought that the "selfish millionaire" who kept all his money until death would die in disgrace. Ironically, Carnegie was a tyrannical entrepreneur: approving of violence toward his workers + strongly opposed to labor unions.
Why does Carnegie believe that "the man who dies thus rich dies disgraced"? (Gospel of Wealth, 1889)
Carnegie thought that is was best to provide to charity only to those who were motivated to improve themselves, in part by giving aid and assistance in an indirect way.
Why does Carnegie think it is better to build public institutions than give charity to the poor? (Gospel of Wealth, 1889)
The right of free speech was being undermined. Debs said that "it is far more dangerous to attempt to gag the people than to allow them to speak freely what is in their hearts."
Why does Debs insist that the Espionage Act represents "the negation of every fundamental principle established by the Constitution"? (Speech to the Jury, 1918)
To show that being able to speak freely (as opposed to what it was like under the Espionage Act) was what promoted change in American society.
Why does Debs recount the history of political dissent and opposition to previous American wars? (Speech to the Jury, 1918)
The growing number of women who desired a life-long career offered evidence of a "spirit of personal independence" that pointed to a coming transformation of both economic and family life.In the home, Gilman argued, women experienced not fulfillment but oppression, and the housewife was an unproductive parasite, little more than a servant to her husband and children. By condemning women to a life of domestic drudgery, prevailing gender norms made them incapable of contributing to society or enjoying freedom in any meaningful sense of the word.
Why does Gilman foresee a radical change in the economic position of women? (Women and Economics, 1898)
Women, in addition to men, were to be advocates for all of the things of Christ on earth.
Why does Willard believe that women should enjoy the right to vote? (Women and Temperance, 1883)
No autocratic government could be trusted to keep faith within it or observe its covenants. It must be a league of honor, a partnership of opinion, only freed peoples can prefer the interests of mankind rather the narrow interests of themselves.
Why does Wilson believe that autocratic governments, not democratic ones, are the cause of wars? (A World Safe for Democracy, 1917)
This declaration reveals a new sense of identification between American workers and their counterparts overseas. It calls for France, Germany, and Great Britain to join hands with the United States labor movement. The author says that anyone who aids this "long-postponed and worldwide movement" is a friend.
Why does this declaration appeal to other countries for support? (A Second Declaration of Independence, 1879)
