Buffalo Soldiers and Native Americans

This week we again worked on creating questions for our own final. This time our topic was Buffalo Soldiers and Native Americans. We used videos from ABC Clio and other primary and secondary sources to teach ourselves about the Native Americans and Buffalo Soldiers. We learned about what happened to the Native Americans and what the Buffalo Soldiers did. After taking countless notes and the class came up with an essential question. It is, during westward expansion, did the impact of federal policies towards Buffalo Soldiers and Native Americans match their intent? After coming up with the essential question we created 40 multiple choice questions based on what we learned. To answer the essential question, I believe that the impact of the federal policies towards Buffalo Soldiers and Native Americans matched their intent.

Buffalo Soldiers in New Mexico. PBS Learning Media.

The government needed to give African Americans jobs after the Civil War because they had no way of making an income. To do this President Johnson created an act for 6 regiment troops to go into the Midwest and keep peace and push the westward expansion along. These troops were the Buffalo Soldiers. The Buffalo Soldiers were told to move the Native Americans off the land so the whites and farmers could move in. The Buffalo Soldiers did as they were told and kept as much peace as possible as they fought the Native Americans to leave. Sadly, the Buffalo Soldiers did not have good resources and tools. They had to march to get places to fight. The government didn't care about the treatment of the Buffalo Soldiers only as long as they got the job they were meant to do done. The policies and tasks they were sent to do backed that up.

Buffalo Soldiers in New Mexico. PBS Learning Media.

Life on the Plains. American History. ABC Clio.

The Native Americans were being pushed off their land by the government and Buffalo Soldiers. The government wanted them off the land because of the westward expansion. The people wanted to farm the land as while as find gold. The Native Americans were under "special protection" from the government so the government could control them. The government sent them to reservations and tried to get their ways out of them. The kids were also sent to boarding schools to be educated like other white Americans. The government enacted policies such as the Dawes Act so they could move the Native Americans out just as they wanted.

Life on the Plains. American History. ABC Clio.

Julianna O

Rockefeller and Carnegie

Over the week we have been working as a class to learn about John D Rockefeller's and Andrew Carnegie's impact on big industries. We watched an ABC Clio video about the two people and the industries they ran. We also went through primary and secondary sources to learn about their industries and how it affected the public. Our essential question is were the captains of industry a positive or a negative impact to the public? I believe that the captains of industry had a positive impact on the public.

John D Rockefeller made a lot of money through his company Standard Oil. Many believe his goal was to be the richest man in the world. Standard Oil was a very successful company by keeping their prices so low that other companies could not compete with him. Another strategy Rockefeller had was to buy out his rival companies as well. Many think that when we went about this he did not always go about it well and used cutthroat tactics to get them to give in. This tactics did allow John D Rockefeller to be a very wealthy man in the end. He believed that it was his right to make money so he could give back money to the people. Rockefeller gave away a total of 500 million dollars to charities and the public. He believed in the education of people so he donated a lot of money to schools. He also helped eradicate yellow fever by donating to charity groups. Over all his impact was a good one. He kept oil costs low, gave to education, and gave to charity.

John D Rockefeller portrait. From Edline John D Rockefeller biography.

Andrew Carnegie worked in the steel industry but before that he had small jobs. He worked in factories and was able to take telegraphs by sound. Later Carnegie traveled all over Europe and studied techniques in big businesses. He teamed up with Bessemer to create a very successful steel business. Carnegie's company was able to produce high quality steel at a low price. This allowed for people to use steel as much as they needed. They could create railroads and other important things. Carnegie ended up giving over his company to J.P. Morgan. In the end Carnegie had created several schools and gave to charities as well.

Andrew Carnegie portrait. From Edline Andrew Carnegie biography. 

Julianna O