Social Security

The Social Security Act is a federal insurance program for Americans. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed this Act in 1935.  The working class would pay into a fund by having it taken out through a payroll tax deduction (FICA or Federal Insurance Contributions Act). This money would give monthly payments for the retired, disabled, blind, single widowed mothers with children and the unemployed. This money would help them survive and stay out of poverty. It helped give them money for food, medications, a place to live, and the necessities in life in order to survive. This system has existed and is in use for the past seventy-seven years. Even though the money each person gains for social security is not that much, it still helps us today to keep our country prosper and the poverty level to not rise. It’s our responsibility to our country to keep others out of this state of deficiency and help them survive because when we get old and are in need, we want social security to be there for us to help us stay alive.

Prohibition.

In the 1800s, if you did not drink alcohol you were looked down upon with suspicion. The average amount of consumption for one man in a year would be five gallons.  Post Civil War and in the Gilded Age is when people started to look down upon alcohol and feel the need to outlaw it. Drunken husbands were abusing their wives and children, the crime rate went up, and prostitution started. While World War I was going on, they used slogans saying that "Prohibition was helping the soldiers". Prohibition was finally passed as  the 18th amendment in 1917 because everyone thought that all of the bad that was happening in the world was due to alcohol. In this political cartoon, they state that alcohol is a "Hun rule association". Being apart of the Hun is a negative connotation because they were barbarous and destructive people.

Annexation of Hawaii.

This political cartoon depicts the annexation of Hawaii by having Uncle Sam and a woman holding the American Flag  as they approach some natives to the Hawaiian island. In 1893, the United States overthrew the queen of the islands, a woman named Lydia Kamakaeha Liliuokalani, or Queen Lili. The United States imprisoned Liliuokalani while they seized almost 2 million acres of land to annex to our country. America refused her plea to "regain the throne" and following the former queen's death, Hawaii was declared a territory of the U.S. In 1959, Hawaii became the fiftieth state admitted to the union.

Public Correlation

The Spanish American war was caused by the yellow journalists, such as Hearst and . Especially reguarding the picture of the USS Maine exploding, which was a complete lie. It was an accident which the press overexaggerated just to sell papers. Hearst even said,"you make the pictures and I'll make the war." by saying this he is stating t hat he will make the war happen due to public correlation. the war against Iraq was also under public opinion. The pu blic thought that the attack from al queda on the twin towers was from iraq.  People had a misconception and stereotype on all muslims even though it was the extremists who started it. The public enforced going to war against iraq because they wanted to protect our country even though they did not know the truth in the matter, just the attack of the USS Maine which caused the Spanish-American War.