Preview

Forty Acres And A Gap In Wealth

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
215 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Forty Acres And A Gap In Wealth
The essay, "Forty Acres and a Gap in Wealth", by Henry Louis Gates Jr. was a nice descriptive paper touching on an interesting topic in today's world. Previously, I did not know of the forty acres and a mule Southern Homestead Act. I find the fact that the families that participated in the Act succeeded much more than the people that did not. Also, the fact that the Act failed so miserable is also thought provoking, and because of the failure, Americans are left wondering, what if? I agree with the author that there are steps that can be taken to dissolve the problem. However, as the author said, everyone must be willing to help out. "Forty Acres and a Gap in Wealth", by Mr. Gates Jr. contained a plethora of knowledge. The author's writing
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    1983 Apush Dbq - Example Document Based Question
    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages

    1983 Apush Dbq - Example Document Based Question

    Nearly all of the reasons for agrarian discontent in the late 19th century stem from three areas: land, transportation, and money. The farmers were fighting the perceived threats posed by monopolies and trusts, railroads, and the demonetization of silver. The American farmer during this period already had his fair share of problems which, compared to the success of the industrialized businessmen, resulted in much of the animosity between the two groups. The fact of the matter was farmers had entered a viscous cycle. Wheat and cotton, once the staples of American agriculture were selling at such low prices that it was almost impossible for a farmer to make any profit off of them. This was only made worse by the modern equipment many farmers had invested huge sums of money into that would double or even triple the amount of crops produced each season. Farmers were finding it impossible to compete in this new global market that was helping America’s budding industry so much. Finally, the panic of 1893 devastated many of the nation’s farmers already struggling to hold on. As a result, many farm groups, most notably the Populist Party, arose to fight what farmers saw as the reasons for the decline of agriculture. The decline of agriculture was caused by these factors, not the banks, the railroads, or the government. However, the first two preyed on the weak farmers while the latter stood by. Therefore, most of the farmer’s complaints were valid.…

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Farming On The Divide Chapter 1 Summary
    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Farming On The Divide Chapter 1 Summary

    When Alexandra’s brothers, Lou and Oscar, insist they sell the farm to leave the Divide, Alexandra protests they keep the land. She is convinced she can find an alternative way to farm the Divide. Alexandra explores the river country because of her interests in learning new farming methods to save her father’s farm. Unfortunately, Alexandra becomes disappointed when she discovers the river country is no more flourishing than the highlands. She resolves to keep farming on the Divide, but she tries to apply her new farming techniques in hopes one day the land will repay her for her effort.…

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of The Promised Land The Great Black Migration And How It Changed America
    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Summary Of The Promised Land The Great Black Migration And How It Changed America

    Around the 1920s America was approaching the Great Depression era, coinciding with “social equality”. The Great Depression caused close to 50% of the population to become unemployed. The steady decline to this was devastating for Uless Carter’s family as Nicholas describes a simple action such as paying the land owner, “Industrious renters they might be, but the planter still kept the books, and if at the end of the year the family owed him money, there was nothing they could do about it.” A situation such as this should not arise if one were to approach it with a mind of “social equality”. The Carter family was treated poorly and not equal, after 3 years of trying to farm at the correct pace, they move to another plantation.…

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    A Thousand Acres - Summary
    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A Thousand Acres - Summary

    Jane Smiley was born in Los Angeles, California and later moved to Missouri, where she went to school until college. She went to Art at Vassar College, and then traveled around Europe where she worked on an archeological dig. She returned to America and became a teacher. She had two daughters and a son.…

    • 1039 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Reconstruction Era of the United States and Law Answer Selected
    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Reconstruction Era of the United States and Law Answer Selected

    What was the most powerful source of political unity among white conservatives in the South?…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Where Ideologies Clash: Galbraith vs. Carnegie
    • 1928 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Where Ideologies Clash: Galbraith vs. Carnegie

    References: Carnegie, A. (2010). The gospel of wealth. In L. A. Jacobus (Ed.), A world of ideas: Essential readings for college writers (pp. 387-402). Boston, MA: Bedford/ St. Martin’s…

    • 1928 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Andrew Carnegie vs. Henry George
    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Andrew Carnegie vs. Henry George

    In the gilded ages dating back to the nineteenth century both Andrew Carnegie and Henry George were known as very influential men of their time both striving towards the common goal of deflating poverty in hopes to diminish it as a whole. Though both Andrew and Henry shared a similar feat they had very different approaches and ideas of methodizing the overall goal. Carnegie was a shrewes businessman who viewed it to be acceptable for very rich and very poor people to co-exist as long as the rich provided that their surpluses aspired the community with parks or libraries for example to better themselves known as the "lasting good," and the rich would therefor better society rather than die rich men. On the other hand, George felt that is wasn't the fact that Americans weren't given enough that was causing poverty but rather the rate of poverty by the misuse of land for example that was the cause. Capital, a result of labor, and used then by labor to assist in further production has led to the misuse of resources as well. So basically George stated that if those who owned land used it's recourses to provide places for poverty stricken people povery in turn would diminish itself.…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    A Review on the Rich and the Rest of Us
    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages

    A Review on the Rich and the Rest of Us

    This book has historical backgrounds, personal stories and statistics to say to us that poverty is not just a big issue but also a national threat along with bringing shame upon USA. It seems that the citizens of America as a whole does not choose to solve this problem. Cornel West and Tavis Smiley are crying out for help to speedily address the growing poverty before it forever distorts the US democracy, values and economic future.…

    • 1169 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Homestead Act (1862): The Homestead Act Of 1880
    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Homestead Act (1862): The Homestead Act Of 1880

    The Homestead Act (1862): On May 20, 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act to provide travelers with 160 acres of public land. In return, the settlers would have to live there and improve the land for at least five years. This Act caused distribution of about eighty million acres of land to the public. With this great offer hundreds of people decided to pack their bags and move to the west.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    What Caused The Dust Bowl
    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages

    What Caused The Dust Bowl

    In 1909, the federal government passed the Homestead Act. Thousands of families abandoned their daily lives in order to jump at the opportunity to own free land. As stated in the background essay, “What Caused the Dust Bowl?”, in order to keep their claim…

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Powerful Essays

    Book Review of The Worst Hard Times by Timothy Egan
    • 2202 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Book Review of The Worst Hard Times by Timothy Egan

    When you consider the disaster of the American Dust Bowl of the Dirty Thirties on the Great Plains, no wonder Stephen Long of 1821 concluded that the American West was “almost wholly unfit for cultivation, and of course uninhabitable by a people depending upon agriculture for their subsistence.”1 It seems that Timothy Egan’s book, The Worst Hard Times, hit the nail right on the head as to the cause of the worst natural disaster that the United States has ever experienced. The great dusters of the Dirty Thirties occurred because of the United States Government’s encouragement to over-farm the Great Plains during the early twentieth century, particularly during the Great War and the 1920’s. When you take into account this foolhardy encouragement to the homesteaders and their family farms it is only natural that the homesteaders share in the blame.…

    • 2202 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Haymakers
    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Haymakers

    Every family moved to Minnesota with one common goal in mind. This goal was to have a home, a family, and a farm. Life on the farm was not easy; if Andrew Peterson was still living, he would attest to that. Peterson was a man of religion and land. He emigrated to the United States of America from Sweden; who came here with nothing but a dream and a prayer. After five years of life as a hired hand in Iowa, Peterson was given the opportunity to purchase land in Carver County, Minnesota. The land he purchased was nothing but Mother Nature's most beautiful green. Unbeknownst to Peterson, it would take him 20 years to carve out the farm land he desired. How daunting this seems, as his tools were elbow grease, an axe, and a scythe.…

    • 1114 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Effect Of The Dust Bowl On Society
    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Effect Of The Dust Bowl On Society

    The government purchased almost 4 million acres of land, which was later re-grown into permanent grasslands (PBS). The grass fell victim not only to the government for the military, but also to the Homestead Act. The Homestead Act required that the homesteader had to pay a small fee and then live on the land for 5 years. Although five years may seem like a long time today, it was a small price to pay for the people who wanted to live on the…

    • 666 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Wealth Disparity In America
    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Essay On Wealth Disparity In America

    A crucial controversy of America today is the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor, and the discrepancy is caused by capitalism run wild and only the helping hand of the government can only fix the problem. A question that turns the tables is what if the growing wealth disparity in America is actually caused by the government? For years, the idea that inequality is economically neutral has been the prevailing view not just among traditionalists but also between most Americans outside the further reaches of a political audience. There could be ideological or moral reasons to object to a growing gap between the wealthy and the rest but for economic reasons, there are no such. Furthermore, there are many ways inequality places itself in America. In our society, a good amount of the population is forced to stand up and work for our country while hardly being redeemed for their time and effort, thus the problem of income inequality. An estimate of these people live from paycheck to another, barely coping with life itself, not because they cannot manage their money well, but the reason is that…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Criminology
    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Criminology

    One of the most significant problems in the world now is that of economic inequality, and the social problems it produces. And the most damaging impact may be in developed nations such as the U.S. and Canada. The U.S. in particular has the greatest gap in wealth among all developed nations, and the problem it is causing is becoming more apparent with each passing day. During the recession in the U.S., at least 6 million people have lost their jobs; 25 million are underemployed. Eight trillion dollars of middle class wealth has been destroyed in the housing collapse. One out of eight mortgage holders owe more money on their home than it is worth. Fifty million people live at the poverty level. One of out of 8 people is on food stamps. One out of 2 children will be on food stamps at some point in their lives.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More

Related Topics