The Jungle

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`He believed they needed to basically be haters to one another. The people had to not care about working conditions and not care about other employees.
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The plant owners main goal was to make money. They didn't care how they did it or what they needed to do, the main goal was to maximize the money flow.
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 This means that no matter what the task is or what is being ask of the workers they will not double guess themselves if it means they make a dollar. It shows how bad the conditions were back then and how anybody would do almost anything for money.


An area that is enforced today would be the slaughterhouses. These places are where we get most of our meat that we either buy at the store or buy at a restaurant. Farmers in the past have treated  animals with very little care and it didn't  raise an issue to the general population regarding animal cruelty. In the 1800's there weren't associations like the USDA who regulate the treatment of the animals. Even recently people believe that animals aren't being treated they way they should be treated at slaughterhouses, and some want slaughterhouses to be gone completely. The USDA stresses on not treating the animal with unnecessary cruelty to kill it. They do have a long check list that is updated as things change to make sure no animals is getting an unfair treatment.

USS Maine

 The USS Maine sank on January 1898, at the time it was believed that it was sunk by the Spanish army. With the sinking of the Maine the U.S declared war on the Spanish. The war was a good boost in Americas economy and  opened the doors for bigger and better technology to come out. it also gave birth to a division of men lead the Teddy Roosevelt called the Rough Riders. The war although did come at a toll of both American and Spanish lives. With closer inspection of the Maine it was discovered that the ship sank because of her forward gunpowder magazines exploding.

The Mains forward gunpowder maginzes had exploded which caused a hudge explosion sending debris and men flying in all directions over three quarters of the ships crew parished in the explosion. Ship was completely destroyed and some of the ship still lyes in the Havana harbor. In an inquiry between George A. Converse and Marix, Marix said the following "Looking at the plan of the mains forward 10 inch and 6 inch magazines would it be possible for them to have exploded, torn the ships side on both side…"

Source- http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/spanam/events/maineskg.htm

Haymarket Riot

The Haymarket Riot was the aftermath of a bombing that happened after a labor demonstration on May, 4th 1866.  The bombing happened in Haymarket square in Chicago. The labor demonstration started as a peaceful rally to workers who were striking for an eight hour day, someone threw a dynamite stick at police officers who were trying to disperse the protest. Gun fire soon broke out after the bomb and it resulted in the death of seven police officers and at least four civilians. In the proceedings that followed eight anarchist were convicted of conspiracy. The evidence came out to that one of the defendants may have built the bomb but no one on trial threw it.

Seven people were sentenced to death and one person was sentenced to 15 years. Two of the defendants sentences were changed to life in prison and another committed suicide in jail. The other four were hung on November 11, 1887. The Haymarket Riot is generally considered a significant part of international M

ay day. A cite of the incident was designated a Chicago landmark in 1992.

Rail road workers.

Chinese peasants began arriving on the American shores in 1850, they came over because of poverty and the overpopulation of their hometown. These Chinese immigrants faced growing prejudice and increasingly restricted laws. In early 1865 the Central Pacific had work for over 4,000 men but the contractor Charles Crocker couldn't even hold onto 800. working the railroad was a hard job, and not too many people signed up. The workers were mainly Irish immigrants, the Irish were known for spending their paychecks on liquor and the Chinese had no better reputation. But due to the shortages Central Pacific agreed to start hiring the Chinese.

The Chinese workers were organized into groups of 20. Each group had 1 white foreman. The pay for the Chinese workers were about $25-30 a month. The workers lived in canvas camps along the grade. Toward the end of the line, Crocker was convinced of the skills of his Irish and Chinese workers that he decided to try for a record of laying 10 miles of track in one day. The Chinese and Irish workers were working like an organized army laying tracks, making Crocker very proud.

Gettysburg

 Gettysburg was a battle fought in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 1-3, 1863. This single battle took the most lives on any battle during the civil war. It was considered to be the turning point of the war, with the Union forces defeating the Confederates. With the defeat of the confederates it turned around Lee's attack of the north.
 The confederates had more numbers than the union but the union solders were on a hill, they had the high ground and Gen. Hooker (commander of union troops) knew and used this too his advantage. The confederate troops made pushes up the hills to Gettysburg many times, each time loosing hundreds of soldiers. Gen. Lee understood he was in a tight position but he kept pushing up the hill. In total there were around 165,000 soldiers fighting. Of those 165,000, around 51,000 died in battle. By far it was the costliest battle but not the biggest battle of the Civil War.

Sources-
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gettysburg
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/gettysburg.html?tab=facts