The Great Depression 1929-33: A Sources Assignment

Question 1: Source A is an election poster published by the Democratic Party during the Depression. It is a cynical portrayal, mocking the Republican Party's beliefs. It implies that their policies have no foundations by telling people to smile and hope the Depression will go away, ‘This wonderful little gadget will solve the problems of the Nation'. It also says ‘WARNING – Do not risk Federal arrest by looking glum'. This is a subtle, sardonic reference to the Bonus Marchers, who had fought in the First World War and who, in May 1932 marched to demand immediate payment of the bonus they had been promised by the government. The quote from the poster refers to the way the government put down the protesters by arresting people and using violence. This poster gives us evidence about the beliefs of the Democratic Party and the methods employed by it to gain support. However, as the poster is a piece of propaganda and aims to persuade people to support their party it is biased and opinionated. This means that it may be over exaggerated for effect and comedy value. The truth may have been stretched to make a joke of it and win people's support. I do not agree that this poster (source A) does not give any evidence about the Great Depression. It may not be reliable evidence but it does have some historical value. It presents evidence about the ‘Bonus Army', the views of the Republican and Democratic Parties and the methods used by the Democratic Party to gain support. Question 2: Source B was written at the time of the Depression by an American actor, Will Rogers. It is quite accurate about what was happening, he says ‘We are starving to death', which was actually happening at this time. It is a primary source, written by someone with direct experience of the Depression but it cannot be completely reliable as although it is stated as fact it is actually opinion. This makes it less reliable as the author of the source may be biased or not know all of the facts. This source is particularly unreliable as an actor who may have over exaggerated to produce an effect wrote it. Source C is a statement written by D.B. O'Callagham, author of ‘Roosevelt and the United States'. It was written in 18966, over thirty years after the Depression. This source comments less on the impact of the Depression than Source B. It talks more about the Wall Street Crash and is based more on facts than opinion. It uses other sources as evidence to support the facts, ‘Economical experts have said†¦' and although it is a secondary source it seems quite accurate. The fact that it was written after the Depression gives it the advantage of hindsight but means it may be less accurate. Overall I think Source C is more reliable as evidence about the impact of the Depression because it is more factual then Source B. The author of the book would have tried to make it as accurate as possible and backs up his argument with evidence. Question 3 Source D is an artist's view of the Wall Street Crash. This tells us that it is not factual as it is a painting based on the artist's opinion and the artist is probably trying to put across his own point of view. It was created in October 1929 (at the time of the Wall Street crash) and was probably painted by someone with direct experience of the Crash. However it is quite an abstract painting, which different people may interpret in different ways. Source E is a set of statistics showing the changes in the price of shares of leading US companies between September and November 1929. They seem to be quite accurate as to the general change in prices but they are ‘from official figures' which means their accuracy depends on the accuracy of the figures from which they are compiled. These figures could have been adjusted to support an argument, and they lack detail that may improve their reliability. I think that Source E is more useful to a historian studying the Wall Street Crash because the statistics are more factual. There is very little factual information supplied by Source D and its usefulness could depend on the historian's interpretation of the painting. However the statistics although not completely sound are more reliable and useful as evidence because they are factual. Question 4 Source E is from a popular song of 1932. It tells of how the protagonist thought he was ‘building a dream' on the way to ‘peace and glory' for his country but he is now standing in the bread line. This is a typical story of what happened to many working-class men during the Depression. They spent their lives working hard for a better life but the suffered worst during a Depression that was not their fault. This makes the song seem accurate as this actually happened to many people. However the song may have been changed or simplified to fit a certain rhythm or rhyme and the songwriter probably had a personal point, which he wished to put across. I think that it does give an accurate interpretation of most people's attitudes towards the Depression. Not all people would have agreed with this interpretation because they were not affected in this way. This was mainly rich people and people who had been lucky enough to keep their jobs. However I think that it does give an accurate interpretation of a great proportion of people. It is called a ‘popular song', this means that a lot of people must have liked the song, probably because they found it truthful as they could relate to its message and because the were comforted to find that others were in the same position as them. Question 5 Source A does not really give much of an idea as to who suffered more or less during the Recession. It is an election poster aimed to appeal to all people who had suffered under the Depression. Source B says that the working classes were not to blame for the Depression and that it was the rich people whose fault it was. It implies that the poor suffered more because although they were not to blame they felt the effects of it worst. Source C tells us that not enough money was ‘finding its way into the hands of the workers' in the prosperity of the twenties. This shows that the workers did not enjoy much of the wealth of this decade and as a result of this they suffered worse in the Depression because the little they had, they lost. Source D does not tell us anything about the poorer people as it does not distinguish between the rich and the poor. Source E also does not give much of idea about the suffering of the poor, as statistics do not go into enough detail to tell us this. Source F probably says the most about poor people. The person who wrote the song tells us about waiting in line for bread and begging for money. I do not think that the poor suffered most as a result of the Great Depression because the people who were already poor did not have much to loose. If they were very poor before the Depression, the Depression had little or no effect on them. I think that the people who suffered the most were the working classes who had worked hard all their lives and earned their money. They lost the most during the Wall Street Crash, because the Rich did not loose enough to affect them and the poor lost nothing at all. Therefore I think that it was not the poor but the working classes who suffered the most because they lost what they had worked their whole lives for.

The greatest improvement

The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labor, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is any where directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labor.†This is the first paragraph excerpted from Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations. com/compare-and-contrast-karl-marxs-and-walt-rostows-theories/">Adam Smith is regarded as the Father of Modern Economics, and the Father of Capitalism. Smith’s most famous work, The Wealth of Nations was the first systematic attempt to explain the workings of the economy in market terms, emphasizing the importance of the division of labor. The fundamental element in Smith’s viewpoint is his focus on the importance of the free market in ensuring the highest level of quality of commodities at the lowest prices. Smith’s philosophy is that human beings are naturally individualistic.He furthers political theories that emphasize the individual, and proclaims the worth of each individual. He believes that human beings will interact most effectively when they live in a society of economic freedom, with individualistic philosophies that tend to emphasize what people can do as individuals, not what they can do as groups. In The Wealth of Nations, he states that: â€Å"In a free economic system, an individual is led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention†¦By pursuing his own interest, he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it.† We can understand in this excerpt that because individuals constantly seek to better their own condition, they will continually direct resources to better uses when it is possible to do so. This will result to their and other people’s advantage which can consequently better or improve the conditions of others as well.Adam Smith believes that the tenets of the free market system can improve the living conditions of individuals. In his view, free markets allow all individuals in an economy to improve their conditions. This collective improvement by individuals results to national improvement – the wealth of nations. He believes that a free market enables individuals’ significant self interest to exercise itself within the limits established by a government that controls people from performing positively bad actions.Smith states: â€Å"Man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. He will be more likely to prevail if he can interest their self-love in his favor, and show them that it is for their own advantage to do for him what he requires of them†¦It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.†This paragraph very well sums up Adam Smith’s philosophy that individualistic tendencies can very well result to the improvement of others, and to the wealth of nations.Smith greatly believes on the benefits of the division of Labor. The division of labor is a fundamental component of economic growth and it is this division allows the wealth of nations and individuals to develop. The division of labor requires a free market in order to be most effective.Where there is a closed or highly regulated market, or monopolies or guilds control productive practices, inefficiencies can often result. Subsequent to John Locke, Smith also sees labor as the ultimate source for all value. Smith states: â€Å"Labor†¦is the real measure of the exchan geable value of all commodities.†Resources:1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Great Political Thinkers. Plato to the Present. Sixth Edition. William Ebenstein. Allan Ebenstien. Chapter 23: Smith. Pages 492-497.

Overpopulation affects the environment Research Paper - 1

Overpopulation affects the environment - Research Paper Example he population has effected the environment through two agents: the increasing population itself, and the advances in technology that this population has brought with itself (Stancheva). However, currently both the problems have little hope of being tackled, so that the environment continues to be adversely effected. For this purpose, and in this paper, it is assumed that the problem of overpopulation is a fixed entity, and the only variable that can be modified is the way the environment is handled through lifestyle and habits of the general population. This paper, therefore, purports to present some of the problems that are inflicted on the environment, and the way they can be properly handled by appropriate changes in the lifestyle. The most dire issue related to overpopulation is that of fresh water supply (Stancheva). According to the United Nations, the supply per capita has decreased by one third in the past year (Stancheva). It is the worst in the developing and the underdeveloped countries of Asia, Africa, and South America, coinciding with the increase in the population in these areas (Stancheva). Nevertheless, the developed countries and the urban areas are also not prevented from this crisis (Stancheva); with the increase in population in the urban areas due to migration, the demand for fresh water has increased while the supplies either remain constant or have decreased. A case in point is Beijing (Stancheva). Another problem related to water is its pollution. Again, it is worst in the underdeveloped countries, where 95% of the sewage, especially from factories, is dumped into the water system untreated, which ultimately makes its way into the ocean (Stancheva). Combined with over-fishing, which results in the

Research Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 8

Research Paper - Essay Example They share a history and tradition with certain faiths, but over time they have evolved, added and mutating rituals and making up new ones along the way (New Advent). Can it be said that the Santeria are one of the world’s more successful syncretic religions? Perhaps, but it depends on the criteria one uses to measure success. For example, there are not many members of Santeria and it is also quite a geographically and racially limited faith (de la Torre, 12). It probably would not appeal to a broad segment of the world’s population. The practitioners of this faith have also not made much of an impact on contemporary life. But before discussing this issue further, some history about Santeria is important. The Santeria developed largely out of a mix of African tribal religions and new world spirituality that meshed together in the plantations of the Caribbean. During the 16th and 17th century many Africans were kidnapped from their homes on the East Coast of Africa and f orcibly transferred to the Caribbean to work on sugarcane plantations as slaves (Eltis, 156-7). Their journey in the Middle Passage was a truly cruel and terrifying one. Although the place they were going to was very religious—mostly Catholic—the people there had no real respect for the Africans’ traditional religions. Many new arrivals to the New World found their religion had been criminalized and that they had to be baptized into a new faith (Eltis, 78). They had the vestiges of their old life stripped from them as they were nothing more than rags. Over time, the old religion and the new religions became one and Santeria was born. Santeria has special gods and special priests and interesting ceremonies that sometimes feature animal sacrifices. Music plays a very important role in the rituals (de la Torre, 121). In these respects it is similar to many of

Continuity and Change of Scribal Education Essay

Continuity and Change of Scribal Education - Essay Example ole in the dissemination of cuneiform literacy, which firstly appeared as an educational institution in the Old Babylonian period and was referred as Eduba, a Sumerian word meaning ‘the tablet house’ (Sjà ¶berg, 1974). One of the literary sources frequently mentioned is the royal Hymn dedicated to Ã…  ulgi, the king of The Third Dynasty of Ur. Ã…  ulgi is presented describing his scribal education and proclaiming himself a perfect scribe. The passage became a background for the supposition that scribal schools had already existed in the twenty first century BC, however this is unlikely since all preserved versions of this Hymn came from the Old Babylonian period and primary from the school tablets in 18th century BC (Kuhrt, 1995). Archaeological evidence provides the tablets mostly referred to the administration system (lists of agricultural items, receipts, taxation documents etc.). Therefore, both the archaeological and literary sources hardly allow locating the appearance of the organized school practices earlier than the Old Babylonian epoch. However we can speculate that some scribal training was provided. A wide range of administration tablets could not be produced without the extensive knowledge of cuneiform literacy. Moreover, the texts from Ebla mention that the group of young scribes arrived from North Babylonian Mari. These tablets possibly indicate that Babylonian scribes were sent to teach their foreign colleagues, as Mieroop suggested. His assumption allows the suggestion that scribal schools probably existed already in the third millennium, and this is only not proved because of the absence of archaeological evidence (Mieroop, 2007). We know old Babylonian Eduba due to the references found in literary sources. Apart from royal hymns, Eduba is mentioned in Eduba-Dialogues, describing the student life. Examination Text A provides information about exams in scribal school. Another frequently quoted source is ‘Schooldays’ that contains a vivid

Explain the role of the judiciary in developing common law. Does this Essay

Explain the role of the judiciary in developing common law. Does this role assist with law making Explain the law making proces - Essay Example Customs were codified in the period of William the conqueror and this is said to be the basis of common law. With time, the king’s courts started to be used as a forum for dispute resolution of individuals, thus making it the common law and was subsequently said to be distinct from customs. However, the judges of that based their decisions on the customs and when a situation arose where no custom could be found new laws were formed. The procedure used at that point in time was by way of issuance of a writ, however, problems arose, as writs were fixed and only Parliament could approve a new writ, for a problem, which did not come under the existing writs. This caused a lot of problems thereby creating a rigid legal system and in lieu of this a practice of petitioning to the king was developed whereby individual cases were dealt with by the Chancellor. In turn a Court of Chancery was established whereby a new rule of ‘equity’ was established, which was contrary to t he common law of the ordinary courts. 1 The Court of Chancery was effective in respect of rectifying injustices but the existence of a parallel system was a problem, one of the problems being the existence of two separate procedures and was bought to an end by the Judicature act 1873-1875 whereby a unified system was established. 2 Thus the important aspect of the English Legal System has been its development by way of precedents, which the courts followed by way of the hierarchy of the courts. Furthermore, the fact that the House of Lords did not till 1966 have the power to overrule its own decision has also played an important role in this respect. The hierarchy of the courts has played an important part in respect of development of the common law and therefore the doctrine of binding precedent has led to such development. 3 The decisions of the judges are based upon the ratio decidendi and obiter dictum. The ratio of a judgment is the binding decision and the reasons for deciding , however, obiter dicta are the things that have been said by the way.4 The advantages of the hierarchy of the courts and judicial precedent is the consistency of decisions, certainty of decisions, efficiency of time and last but not the least flexibility of judges to mould common law.5 The disadvantages can be uncertainty by stare decisis, fixity by way of unjust precedent and unconstitutionality in respect of separation of powers.6 Thus the judges have played an important role in respect of developing the common law as can be seen by the historical developments. The judges now also play an important role by way of statutory interpretation. The next issue that would be looked into is the law making process of the Westminster Parliament and whether or not it’s effective. The Houses of Parliament are House of Commons and House of Lords. The laws of Parliament also known as Acts of Parliament are also called statutes or legislation. These acts can originate via party manifestos ; national emergency, crisis or new development; Royal Commissions; the Law Commission; or Private Members’ Bills.7 There are different types of Bills and these can be classified as Private Bills; Private Members’ Bills; or Public Bills. Public Bills are the common form of bills introduction of which is usually done by a Government minister. This is the most common type of Bill. Public Bills deals with matters which affects the public generally. As far as Private Members’

Examine the structure and function of proteins Essay

Examine the structure and function of proteins - Essay Example Proteins are amino acids’ polymers, which are covalently bonded through peptide bonds forming a chain.In and outside cells, proteins have several functions including acting as transporters to ferry molecuules and ions across membranes, structural roles for instance cytoskeleton, acting as hormones, and catalyzing other biological body reactions Biotechnology entails understanding, exploiting, and modifying proteins for useful purposes. In order to accomplish this, one needs to understand various fuctions of proteins and their structure. The focus of this paper is to summarize various structures of proteins, various funcions of protein molecule in the cell, the link between molecular structure of proteins and their function, and how proteins as a whole contribute to health and/or disease. Studies conducted in this field have shown that there are four categories of protein structure. These are the primary structure, secondary structure, tertiary structure, and quaternary structu re. The amino acids are made up of a backbone section which is available in the different types of amino acids, together with a side chain for each residue (Nelson, L. & Cox, M. 2008). Since the carbon atom remains bound to the four categories, one isomer would happen in the biological protein. In this case, the molecules would be chiral. Glycine fails to be chiral due to the fact that it has a side chain that is an atom of hydrogen. The amino acids are bonded by a covalent bond chain which are referred to as the peptide bonds (Brown EC et al. 2004). Whenever the chain is short, such a chain is called a peptide. The chains that are long are referred to as proteins or polypeptides. In many cases, the peptide bonding is established in between the one amino acid carboxyl group together with the amino group. The bonding of peptides happens in the reactions of condensation, which involve the loss of a molecule of water. Primary structure of proteins. The primary structure proteins is the amino acid polypeptide chain sequence. The basic structure is combined together using the covalent bonding just like the case of the peptide bonds, which are often established in the translation process of proteins. The two ends of a polypeptides are referred to as the C-terminus. In this, the carboxyl terminus, and the N-terminus are the amino terminus (Mahn K et al. 2005). In order to count the residues, one would begin at the N-terminus, which involves the terminus where the group of amino acid fails to be involved in the peptide boding (Nelson, L. & Cox, M. 2008). This type of structure is identified by the corresponding gene to the protein molecule. A particular nucleotide sequence in DNA is normally shifted to the mRNA that is interpreted by ribosome in a process referred to as translation (Mahn K et al. 2005). In this case, the protein sequence is specific to the particular protein, and identifies the structure and the roles of the protein molecule. Protein sequence could be determined through tandem spectrometry tandem mass, and Ednan degradation (Nelson, L. & Cox, M. 2008). In most cases, it is always interpreted directly from the gene sequence through the utility of the genetic code. The post-translational modifications including the formation of disulfide, glycosylation, is considered as a section of the primary structure hence cannot be identified from the specific gene. For instance Insulin has fifty one amino acids classified in two chains, one having thirty one amino acids, and the other one having twenty amino acids (Mahn K et al. 2005). The primary structure is displayed in diagram 1. Diagram 1. Secondary structure. This is the second structure of proteins displaying the regular local sub-structures. The two categories of secondary structure include the betastrand, and the alpha helix (Nelson, L. & Cox, M. 2008). These structures are normally identified by the hydrogen bonding pattern between the key chains of peptide groups (Lukaczer D et