Speech

Jackson Grelier

Speech

I have learned a lot about the history of the United States during my semester in this class. I’ve learned that you don’t necessarily have to copy down notes while the teacher lectures all class period, or learn straight out of a textbook, but you can also get the same learning experience from watching a historic film or two. It really enjoyed learning in depth about how industrial workers were treated during the industrial era of the United States. In years past, I had learned a lot about the industrial revolution, but the detail we went into really helped me fully understand what the conditions were like during that era. One thing that I thought was an unpleasant topic in the history of the United States was the treatment and removal of Native Americans from their home lands. I felt it was very wrong to remove a group of people from a place they had been living in for much longer than the new American settlers had. The school system seemed to like to shield us from the wrong things America had done when we were younger, so it was very interesting to see these events from the perspective that they really happened. I feel like I will always be able to talk about the Sand Creek Massacre no matter how long it has been since I learned about it. Not only did I do one of my major projects on that topic, I also found it very interesting, and can tell the stories very well, from memory, about what happened on that day. I learned so much about the first hand accounts from the people that were against what the soldiers had done, which happened to be most people by the way, and read many personal letters and stories about the soldiers that experienced and resented the slaughter that occurred at Sand Creek. It is important to learn about the history of you country for many reasons, one being that it is easy to repeat mistakes you have made in the past if you don’t learn from those mistakes people had made previously. It is easy to see this pattern because of the many times our nation and it’s people have repeated the same mistake throughout the years, even coming back to us present day. We have many problems that can be traced all the way back to time periods we studied this semester. If I had to name this era, I would have to go with the revolutionary era. Between all of the many great industrial innovations, and all of the many great men that came out of this time period, it is safe to say they revolutionized the way people thought about business and many other aspects to the American way of life. These men completely changed the nation and the world when they brought in their ideas. I’ve realized that learning about history isn’t just about memorizing the facts, or the dates of a war, but understanding and analyzing the significance these events had on our country.

Jackson Grelier

1. Hard Work
2. Skill
3. Opportunity
4. Luck

I think the most important thing when it comes to economical success is hard work. If someone has the work ethic, it is almost a given that they are going to be more successful than the next person. Next, I think skill is the second most important. Many people are born with natural skills at certain things, and it is much easier for them and takes less effort to be successful at something. The reason it is second is that even though they are more talented, a less talented person could work harder than the more talented person, and be much more successful. The third is opportunity. Like talent, some people are born with more, or less opportunity. It is so much easier to be successful if your surrounded by a good, successful environment. The least important factor to being successful is luck. The reason behind that is luck is not a controllable thing so it is had to know whether you are going to get lucky regarding your economic success, or not. Many people do get lucky and have economic success, but it doesn't seem very consistent.

I learned a lot about the logistics of the fashion business and the three leading companies that dominate the fashion field, including Zara, Uniqlo, and H&M. The articles really showed me how well and efficient these three fashion powerhouses get their jobs done. From the designing, to the distribution process, to the manufacturing process, these companies have innovated the way all other companies look at how they manage things. They are able to get their clothing distributed around the world, and still have a way to get new clothing lines and designs distributed out regularly. These article really opened my eyes to how innovative and productive these companies are.

Hello family,

I am writing from my new home in the United States. We arrived in New York City a couple of weeks ago and it has been such a major change from our lives in Italy. We first went in search of more italians that may be in New York, and we soon found that there was as it seemed a small part of Italy located in NY. There is a small district of NY that is completely consisted of Italians. There are even many places like grocery stores and restaurants that sell authentic italian food.

It is very comforting to be surrounded by other italians that understand what we are going through. We have such a good sense of our community and we feel very comfortable around our neighborhood. The people here in our community were extremely inviting and accepting of new people coming into their neighborhood. We have not experienced the same kind of acceptance all across the city though. It seems like there are many other races that do not really enjoy our company in the city, like the whites for example. I think they feel as if we are coming in and taking over their country, but in fact we just want to be a part of it. I want to be americanized and I feel that is a pretty common idea across all the different ethnic communities.

Jackson Grelier

October 28, 2014

Sand Creek Massacre

The removal of Native Americans from their homeland was an awful and very controversial subject during the 1800’s. To take them out of the place they have been living for a much longer time than Americans seems against much of the rights America was founded on. There were many awful things done to the Native Americans purely out of hate, in the process of moving them out of their land. One event that stands above most others was the Sand Creek Massacre. The Americans basically told a large group of indians they could be protected if they stay at Fort Lyon. The Americans gathered an army and slaughtered a majority of the Indians, including women and children, and many of the soldiers thought nothing of it. The event that happened at Sand Creek was a tragedy, mainly because of the many Native Americans that were killed and how unsympathetic the soldiers were, but it was not a portrayal of how everyone in America felt, in fact, for many it was almost the exact opposite.

The leader of the attack was Colonel Chivington, and he led the small army of soldiers to murder many innocent Indians that only wanted peace. One fact to show how real and brutal the massacre was, is that only nine of Chivington’s men died, while 148 indians died that day. The news about the event that happened at Sand Creek soon spread across the nation, primarily because of two soldiers that did not believe in what Chivington and the other men did. Captain John S. Soule and Lieutenant Joseph A. Cramer were the men that wrote letters to their former commander Major Wynkoop about how awful the massacre was. “I tell you Ned it was hard to see little children on their knees have their brains beat out men professing to be civilized.” Said Soule in his letter to Wynkoop. “[...] Only that I think the Officer in command should be hung, and I know when the truth is known it will cashier him.” said Cramer in his letter to Wynkoop. These quote show how passionately these two soldiers felt about what they had seen and how they wanted to do something about it. The documents were found in the year 2000, just in time to help congress pass legislation to establish the Sand Creek National Historic Site. Chivington also proceeded to call Soule and other officers that did not participate in the murdering cowards and was publicized saying that. The men fighting under Soule spoke out in defense for their leader which helped start an investigation of Chivington and his actions

It was not only some of the soldiers that were against it, but most of American citizens were against the idea as well.  Many newspapers soon published the story and it was apparent they were greatly against it. “No attempt was made by the officers to restrain the savage cruelty of the men under their command [...]” This was one of the quotes published in the Santa Fe newspaper on January 10, 1865. This is not the only first hand example of people’s resentment towards the idea. “The bodies[...] were brought to town this morning[...] the general remark of the hundreds of spectators was that those that perpetrate such unnatural, brutal butchery as this, ought to be hunted to the farthest bounds of these plains and burned at the stake alive.” Was one of the lines in the Denver Commonwealth, on June 15th, 1864. The use of words like “unprovoked”, “ peaceful”, when referring to the Native Americans really help further depict how they wanted nothing to do with a fight that day. Other words used to describe the soldiers include, “brutal”, “cruelty”, and other words of that kind. This shows how the people during that time period understood that the massacre was an awful event, and it shows by their many writings in newspapers and letters.

Basic History of Sand Creek

First hand Manuscripts

Primary Sources: Letters

Chivington & NY Tribune

Denver Commonwealth

Quotes on subject

https://amin210.wikispaces.com/The+Sand+Creek+Massacre

http://www.black-hawk-design.net/BlackHawk/washita_river/page27.htm

http://www.santafetrailscenicandhistoricbyway.org/scmasacre.html

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-sandcreek.html

This is a picture of the location of Sand Creek modern day.

History Essay