The first atomic bomb, named Trinity, was tested on July16th 1945 in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Nobody was entirely sure what would happen when the bomb was exploded, some even feared world destruction. Shortly after Trinity was tested, bombs were dropped in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan. The two blasts killed almost 100,000 people and thousands more from radiation sickness and related cancers.

The United States continued tests, but the majority of tests were from November 1958 through September 1961. The first thermonuclear test was conducted in 1952 and code named ‘Ivy Mike’. The bomb swept the island clean of anything that was on it. The largest thermonuclear explosion was the one named ‘Castle Bravo’. 

Many of the various projects taking place after World War II were to test the effects of atomic bombs. Nuclear Fallout was always a concern due to the fact it could possibly spread to people around the world. The Partial Test Ban Treaty was established in 1963 to help stop the occurence of nuclear fallout. This decreased the number of tests significantly. The last known nuclear test done by the United States was in 1992 and occured in Nevada, where the majority of the tests were done, approximately 911. 

 There were extensive tests done with nuclear weapons, but whetger or not they were worthwhile is a good question. The United States spent $14,000,000,000 on launch pads, silos, and facilities between 1957 and 1964. This cost does not include the actual bombs or man power needed to run these types of operations. While I believe it is a good idea to know what atomic bombs are capable of, including damage they can cause to the atmosphere, I don’t think there needed to be as many tests as there were. Atomic bombs have the capability to destroy anything that comes in contact with them, but would the United States or anyone want to use those as a sort of normal warfare tactic. Atomic bombs do not have very much use for common and a somewhat civilized means of war. War is not good in the first place any way someone looks at it, but does making using a nuclear bomb make it any better?

Reconstruction was the time after the Civil War, when the rebuilding of the South was going to take place. Control was going to be a main focus, as well as helping slaves become adjusted to their new lives. The time period ran roughly from 1865-1877. Reconstruction did have some good points, but the bad outweighed the good. The slaves had to get used to their new lives as free people. Many had never stepped outside of the property of their owners. They did not know how to function in normal society. Most owners kept slaves from learning how to read or write. When slaves were freed from the shackles of the plantations, this meant they were thrown into a prison of civilization. They had no place to learn, eat, work, or live. The only skill many slaves had was to work in the fields.

In 1865, The Freedmen’s Bureau was established to help alleviate some of the strain slaves faced. It provided aid for medical needs, food, places to live, and built schools.

The Freedmen’s Bureau had inadequate funds, was unable to discontinue most poverty, and it failed to prevent the emergence of black codes. The bureau was terminated in 1872.

The emergence of black codes was also a problem. Black codes regulated blacks from doing certain things, such as voting,  and living in a certain area. The codes were quickly sought out and eliminated. By 1866, the codes were no longer around. Racism still persisted among many of the former Confederate states.

The government tried to help the Reconstruction process by passing the Civil Rights act of 1866, the 14th amendment in June of 1866, and the 15th amendment in 1870. The Civil Rights act gave blacks the full rights of citizens. The 14th amendment gave blacks and whites equal rights regarding federal and state laws. A state could not become a part of the Union until it passed the 14th amendment as one of its own laws. The 15th amendment gave blacks the right to vote.

Reconstruction ended in 1877 due to a few reasons. Reconstruction had had a few good events, but they were not all that good. The bad was quickly overshadowing the good. By the end of 1877, it was as if reconstruction had never happened. It would take almost one hundred years for blacks to be recognized as true citizens of America.

“Here, long before their outright disenfranchisement arounf the turn of the century, black political rights progressivley eroded. Small numbers of blacks remained in the Southern legislature, and a few even won election to congress.” (Foner 249)

The entire reconstruction did place some former slaves on the right path to becoming citizens. But it would take a few years for them to get adjusted to life as free people. It would take many, many years to actually let them have equal rights as white people. Reconstruction was not overall a good thing, but it had intentions of being good. Reconstruction needed more local enforcement and a more targeted strategy to help blacks get on their feet when they did not know how to stand.

Foner, Eric. A Short History of Reconstruction. New York: Harper & Row, 1990.

Next, I looked at Dani’s blog. Well, her blog only has one actual entry and some of the links were not embedded. Though, the writing did have a nice flow to it. It might be a good idea if Dani kept up on her entries…

Tory’s latest blog entry grabbed me from the first sentence. It made me want to read more. The entry was well laid out and had a good story behind it.  Reading an entry about something within the media concerning Christianity was a nice change to what the media usually prefers to say about Christians.

 The fourth blog I critiqued was Aihelya’s. Her subjects were very good and not ones found in an average high schooler’s blog. The articles written on Islam and Christianity were very informative, but I found that they were just informative. There was not really an argument for or against one or the other.

The last blog I read was Megan’s. I found her entries on the Proposition’s well thought out and full of information. They showed the good and bad sides of the propositions. Of the proposition blogs, they had an opinion about whether or not that proposition would be a good choice or not.

The first impression was bewildering. Americans have reason to be proud of what was to be viewed in Jackson Park; as such buildings no previous generations of men have seen, congregated in this manner; and the display of the achievements of science, art, and industries, exhibited in them, has undoubtedly eclipsed all other expositions in the world’s annals of progress. (Wisthaler)

28 million people from all over the world visited the fair in the six months it was running. The tickets were 50 cents per person. The fair introduced many things that are still around today, such as, the hamburger, ferris wheel (it could hold up to 2,160 at one time), quaker oats, and Aunt Jemima. Electric lights made a great debut also, a grand array of lights was set of at the opening ceremony. Grover Cleveland, the president at the time, set off all the lights using a telegraph that read “1492-1893,” thus marking the 400 year anniversary since Columbus had landed in the Americas.

Greatest of all the exhibits of the Fair are the palaces which contain them, forming of themselves a display more superb and imposing than any of their contents. Viewed from a distance sufficient to display their sky-lines, as in their entirety they only can be viewed to advantage, these temples of industry present a dazzling spectacle. As seen from the waters of the lake, and especially at eventide, when their long array of columns and porticos, their lofty towers and stately domes, mirrored in the waters, stand forth against a glowing sky, they are in truth a revelation surpassed only by the inspired vision of him by whom was beheld the city not made with hands. (Bancroft)

There were over 200 buildings at the fair but only one still remains today, The Palace of Fine Arts. The building was reopened in 1931 after the structure was rebuilt. The fair that happened more than 100 years ago still left remnants of what it once was. The 20th century really was a time of prosper, but also hardship, for America. Hopefully, the length in time the fair ran doesn’t mean anything for the country either…

Three days before the fair was scheduled to close, Chicago mayor Carter Harrison, Sr. was assassinated by a disgruntled office seeker, Eugene Patrick Prendergast. A massive closing ceremony was planned, but was canceled due to the assassination. The closing ceremony was expected to break the record the fair had already set on Chicago Day for the most single-day attendance of a major event. (wikipedia)

Bancroft, Hubert HoweThe Book of the Fair: An Historical and Descriptive Presentation of the World’s Science, Art, and Industry, As Viewed Through the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893.Chicago: The Bancroft Company, 1893.

Wisthaler, Johanna H.By Water to the Columbian Exposition. United States: PG Distributed Publishers, 1894.