American Self Making and Self Help
Money (economy)
Religion 
Diversity 
American Dream
Marco Rubio
Costia Bradaton
Quote: “Young Americans, unable to start a career, a business or a family, because they owe thousands in student loans for degrees that did not lead to job” (Rubio).
This quote is saying that people still have the American Dream but it is hard to achieve and he exemplifies the situation of young people in America. Marco Rubio is saying that it is hard for young Americans to start their business since they are in debt at the end of getting degrees. This quote is important because it shows the depressing reality of young people in America that they need to suffer from paying back their debt and not being able to start their careers.
They still have American Dream and pursue success but afraid of failure. Therefore, less people try to achieve American Dream (From Lecture week 1)
Christianity
Puritan
John Winthrop
John Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity”
- Predestination
- Prohibition on excessive wealth
- signs of election
- “city on a hill”
Variety of culture and people are in one country
Mary Rowlandson
What is Puritan? (From the lecture)
- stands for purifying the Church of England of Roman Chatolic practices & maintaining that the Church of England should become more protestant
- communialism
“City on a Hill”
Quote: “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause Him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by word through the world” (Winthrop).
Annotation: He used “City on a Hill” as an example for the rest of the world in rightful living (from lecture)
Context(Timeline):
- 1630: Winthrop’s “A Model of Christian Charity”
- 1675-1676: King Philip’s War
- 1675: Mary Rowlandson captured
- 1682: Mary Rowlandson Publishes Narrative
- 1692-1693: Witch Trials
Quote: “And here I cannot but take notice of the strange providence of God in preserving the heathen. They were many hundreds, old and young, some sick, and some lame; many had paposes at their backs. The greatest number at this time with us were squaws, and they traveled with all they had, bag and baggage, and yet they got over this river aforesaid; and on Monday they set their wigwams on fire, and away they went” (Rowlandson).
God, Predestination, and Faith
The beginning of “Indian” as a feature of American popular culture: around the time that Mary Rowlandson wrote her novel
Enlightenment 
Human Rights
Hector St. John de Crevecoeur
What is an American?
- Anthropolical look
- strengths & weakness of new nation
-self interest & equality; self made man & one’s natural rights - the farmer as ideal
- different of cultivating land
Quote: “Individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.”
Independent from Britain
New Nation
Constitution
Context(from lecture): Shay’s Rebellion
- Revolutionary War ends in 1783 w. Treaty of Paris
- 1686-1687
- A debt crisis among the citizenry and in opposition to the state government’s increased efforts to collect taxes both on individuals and their trades
- poor farmers, farms seized for bankruptcy, didn’t want to pay taxes
attempt to capture armory and overthrow government
On Commonsense
Thomas Paine
Main point (from lecture):
- Independence form England
- The creation of a democratic republic
- Change from monarchy to democracy
Context:
- Enlightenment thinker during Revolution
- People started to think differently on political issues
- He created American political identity
Quote: “For all men being originally equals, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others for ever…” (Paine).
Annotation: Their notion of hereditary succession does not make their nation happy and their country succeed. This shows that their way of ruling is far from success and produces bad government that does not represent the people. This is important because Paine points out that success is made by devotion and not inheritance.
Different races
Slavery
Frederick Douglass
Quote: “Just at this point of my progress, M.Auld found out what was going on, and at once forbade Mrs.Auld to instruct me further, telling him that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read” (Douglass).
Douglass is emphasizing how the slaves were treated brutally and unequally. Douglass is saying that Mr.Auld believes that slaves were born for doing hard and laborious works and there wasn’t any room for educating them. Douglass believes that education is fundamental for his own freedom. This quote is important because it makes a connection between education and freedom. As Douglass becomes more educated, he realizes that many plantation owners aren’t educated and their limited education is the only advantage they have over the slaves.
Described America by using a metaphor: Melting Pot 
Benjamin Franklin
Context:
- lives 1706-1790
- 1776 Declaration
- 1775-1783 Revolution War
- Pick it up in 1784
- 1788 Ratification of Constitution
- Finishes in 1789/1790
Quote: “From the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and in which I passed my earliest years, I have raised myself to a state of affluence and some degree of celebrity in the world. As constant good fortune has accompanied me even to an advanced period of my life, my posterity will perhaps be desirous of learning the means, which I employed, and which, thanks to Providence, so well succeeded with me. They may also deem them fit to be imitated, should any of them find themselves in similar circumstances” (Franklin).
Valuing the self/self making as makeable
He was a self made man
- through his own life
- he overcame his low & humble origins and inherited social position to re-invent himself through self-improvement based on a set of strong moral value
Civil Disobedience
Thoreau
“If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smoothcertainly the mahchine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then,. I say, break the law. Let your life be a counterfriction to stop the machine
He described the government as a machine.
(People should break the machine if they don’t work)
Romanticism
How did Romanticism respond to the Enlightenment?
Enlightenment is the age of reason while romanticism is focused on human emotion
Edgar Allan Poe
Context(from lecture):
- struggles with authority
- southern identity but born in Boston
Quote: “The death then of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world” (Poe).
This shows that Poe is a romanticism thinker because his poem is all about beauty and emotion
Industrialization & modernization 
Increased number of immigrants
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
Rich and Poor 
Andrew Carnegie
Jacob Riis
The Gospel of Wealth
Quote: “Such, in my opinion, is the true gospel concerning wealth, obedience to which is destined some day to solve the problem of the rich and the poor…” (Carnegie).
Annotation: Andrew Carnegie is saying that rich people are responsible for spending their money on poor people to create a better community and narrowing down the gap between rich and poor. He argues that rich people have this responsibility because they are the best people to judge how to help society and he believes that their wealth belongs to society. This quote is important because he is informing people how to reduce economic inequality and what wealthy people should do in order to solve this inequality.
How The Other Half Lives
Quote: “Nothing is now better understood than that the rescue of the children is the key to the problem of city poverty, as presented for our solution today…” (Riis)
Annotation: Jacob Riis is saying that children growing up in the tenements of New York live in a poor living condition and poverty. He listed examples such as violent, abuse, homelessness and starvation. This shows how wealthy people are not willing to help poor people and ignore the needs of help. He is emphasizing that this societal issue has to be fixed.
What was Chinese Exclusion Act?
- The first law implemented and enforced to prevent all members of a specific ethnic or national group from immigrating
Quote: “Congress condemned the Chinese Exclusion Act and affirmed a commitment to preserve civil rights and constitutional protections for all people…” (Chinese Exclusion Act)
This quote is saying that Congress recognized that the Chinese Exclusion Act does not protect all people in the United States and violates civil rights. This is important because it shows that the law was not protecting people and it was the first law restricting immigration into the United States. It is important to learn how the laws got changed and how people worked hard to build a better country.
Civil Rights of African Americans
Booker T Washington
Context (from the lecture):
- 1895: Atalanta Exposition Speech
- 1901: Born into Slavery, Up from Slavery
Casting Bucket Down
Quote: “Cast down your bucket where you are” (Washington)
Annotation: This quote is saying that people should make the most of any situation where they are. He believed that there are more opportunity for African Americans in the south than the north.
W.E.B. Du Bois
Context (from lecture)):
- Founder of NAACP
- Frist African American Ph.D. From Harvard
- The Souls of Black Folk (1903)
The Talented Tenth
Quote: “The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men. The problem of education, then, among Negroes must first of all deal with the Talented Tenth; it is the problem of developing the Best of this race that they may guide the Mass away from the contamination and death of the Worst, in their own and other races” (Du Bois).
Annotation: Du Bois belives that African Americans should not be excluded from education that other races get and they shouldn’t focus on the practical skills. Additionally, he belives that 10% of African Americans are responsible for their civil rights and political rights. This is why he emphasizes education among African Americans.
Education
Feminism
Betty Friedan
Quote: “We can no longer ignore that voice within women that says: "I want something more than my husband and my children and my home” (Friedan).
Annotation: The rules of women simply being objects to men to become their wives or the mothers of their children was the only way of life to women and they had no other options as they couldn’t get a job and hold property. However, they are waking up to the idea that they are more than a wife or a mother. They should be able to be independent and work as men.
Unfair Economic Rights
Changing Economic Rights (1900-1980)
- 1908 Muller v. Oregon (limits work hours for women)
- 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (Outlaws sex for setting wage classifications)
- 1963 Equal Pay Act (same wage for same work)
- 1964 Civil Rights Act (bans employment discrimination on basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin)
- 1972 Title IX (outlaws education discrimination on basis of sex)
- 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act (makes it illegal for banks to deny credit on basis of sex or material status)
Teddy Roosevelt
Quote: “He must not be a coward or a weakling, a bully, a shirk, or a prig. He must work hard and play hard. He must be clean-minded and clean-lived, and able to hold his own under all circumstances and against all comers” (Roosevelt).
Annotation: He illustrates the ideal from the average American man ought to be. This demonstrates the ways of American man should and shoul not be perceived to get by in this country and his own well being in life. There is a specific way to live for them and they need to follow that standard to fit in this country.
Historical Context (From Lecture)
Industrial Revolution
- Diverse and populous
- Wealthy people owned factories
- Working class (immigrants, migrants)
- City Increased mechanization
- Increased unionization
- More technology development
Second Industrial Revolution
- 1870-1914 Factory system Labor movements
- Consumerism
- Big Businesses Changing nature of work for both working classes and middle class
- More population in city
The Principles of Scientific Management by Frederick Winslow Taylor
Main Idea: Scientific methods is essential to increase the efficiency of the job and work.
Quote: “ Perhaps the most prominent single element in modern scientific management is the task idea. The work of every workman is fully planned out by the management at least one day in advance, and each man receives in most cases complete written instructions, describing in detail the task which he is to accomplish, as well as the means to be used in doing the work" (Winslow).
Annotation: This shows what the best form of work is and he mentions that breaking down the work days is more efficient to get work done. This is important because he presents a new idea of using scientific methods not only humans. He breaks down the science of working and shows each step that is needed to take to have a useful and effective work condition.
Chaplin’s Modern Times
New scientific methods were introduced and it was a period of significant development in the fields of science, politics, warfare, and technology. It shows a hardship of humanity in modern world when the new inventions were introduced into their work. 
The Women’s Liberation Movement/Feminist Movement 1960s-1970s (from lecture)
- 1850s-1920s: Focus on Suffrage (1st wave)
- 1960s-1970s: Cultural Change (2nd wave)
- moving from ideal of housewife to career
- push for workplace reform
- changing ideas about feminists/cultural codes for women’ and girls
- access to reproductive health
(Pill gets FDA approval 1960, Roe v. Wade 1973) - Economic equality: CCDs, mortgages
- Equal pay for equal work
- The E.R.A
Abigail Adams
“Remember the ladies” (1776)
Auotes: “ I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determine to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Lays in which we have no voice or Representation” (Adams).
Annotation: She is saying that the women should not let the men to take over their power and not let them take tyranny.
An American feminist writer and activist and a leading figure in the women's movement in the United States in 20th century
Phillis Schlafly
“What’s Wrong with Equal Rights for Women” (1972) (from lecture)
- Conservative Activist
- Family first argument
- Stop Era Arguments
- leads to drafting women
- less financial support from men
- taking away “rights not to take a job”
Quote: “ It assures a woman the most precious and important right of all—the right to keep her own baby and to be supported and protected in the enjoyment of watching her baby grow and develop” (Schlafly).
Annotation: She is saying that women have worked hard to overcome any adversity when it comes to having children. Also, she is trying to say that women are finally content with their ability to be able to keep their children and not have to give birth and then lost them to other people.
Martin Luther King
Quote: “In spite of my shattered dreams, I came to Birmingham with the hope that the white religious leadership of this community would see the justice of our cause and with deep moral concern would serve as the channel through which our just grievances could reach the power structure” (Martin Luther King).
Martin Luther King says that people should reflect their behavior on African Americans and fix their unjust leadership and laws. He argues that African Americans are treated under immoral and unjust laws. He says that it is time to reflect on themselves to create a good community. This quote is important because he is emphasizing the importance of breaking unjust laws and they need to be educated in order to fix this. This also demonstrates that the community can’t be good because the structure of the society is unfair and immoral.
Link to other lecture: I think his idea and Frederick Douglass’ idea are similar. Douglass was a slave and he believes that education is fundamental for freedom. Martin Luther King didn’t mention it in this quote but he believes that they are responsible to break the unjust laws and I think that to identify unjust laws they need an education. As Douglass becomes more educated, he realizes that many plantation owners aren’t educated and their limited education is the only advantage they have over the slaves. He realized that the idea of slavery was immoral and unjust. This demonstrates that education is needed in order to adjust unjust laws and excessive civil rights.
Phillys Wheatley
Quote: “Improve your privileges while they stay, Ye pupils, and each hour redeem, that bears Or good or bad report of you to hav’n” (Wheatley).
Annotation: She is saying that students should be thankful that they can learn and get educated. This quote is saying that the students should take their chances as much as they can while they have opportunities because God will judge their behavior. I think this quote is important because it clarifies the purpose of her writing. She is telling the students that they need to be grateful for their privileges and it is given by God.
Careless about their behavior and future
Alcoholism
Big Book
Quote: “Of necessity there will have to be discussion of matters medical, psychiatric, social, and religious. We are aware that these matters are, from their very na-ture, controversial.” (Big Book)
Annotation: This quote is saying that there’s a solution for alcoholism and the alcoholism is related to psychiatric, social and religious. This quote is important because this shows the main idea of the book. This demonstrates that alcoholism demands social remedy in order to solve the problem of addiction. This quote doesn’t directly say what they did to overcome the addiction but this shows how alcoholism affects socially and psychologically. The author believes that alcoholism was increased because of industrialization. More competition between people because of machinery and the activities that they could do has increased, even immoral activities.
Jazz Age
Quote: “Wherefore eat, drink, drink and be merry, for to-morrow we die” (Fitzgerald).
Fitzgerald is saying that people in the Jazz Age were so careless about their lives and they acted like today was the last day of their lives. This demonstrates that the people were not aware of their future and they only focused on today. This is important because it shows how people in the city enjoyed their lives and it criticizes their carelessness on the wide gap between rich and poor.
Link to other lecture: I think Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth is related to Fitzgerald's belief. Carnegie believed that rich people should help out poor people in order to create a good community and society. Fitzgerald does not explicitly say that rich people should spend their money to help out poor people but he disagrees about moral degradation of the Jazz Age. They both criticize rich people’s selfishness and argue that rich people should spend it for their communities. Their beliefs are not directly related but I think that they both agree that rich people should be more aware of the poor and their community to decrease the economic gap between them.
Modern World
Making progress
Jenny O’dell criticizes the problem of focusing on making progress
Quote: “Among my students and in many of the people I know, I see so much energy, so much intensity, and so much anxiety. I see people caught up not just in notifications but in a mythology of productivity and progress, unable not only to rest but simply to see where they are” (O’dell).
Annotation: This quote is saying that modern world contains too much energy, intensity and anxiety and this causes people to keep working without rest. This is important because it shows how modern world only focuses on making progress. She emphasizes getting rest is important as much as making progress. She also recognizes how hard to do nothing in modern world since people only pay attention on being productive.
Link to other lecture: I am a lecture linker this week so I decided to make connection between this reading and Theodore Bear Roosevelt’s American Boy. O’dell is saying that it’s important to be productive but getting rest is important as well to be make progress. Roosevelt mentions that “work hard, play hard” (Roosevelt). Their ideas of working is similar since they both believe that they should focus on work when they have to work and make sure to have your own time after work.
Theodore Bear Roosevelt’s American Boy
“Work hard, play hard”
Annotaion: The practice of having a good work-life balance and prioritizing both professional growth and personal enjoyment. People who embrace the work hard, play hard lifestyle give equal attention to reaching their career-related and personal goals