I’m a bit sore (although not enough to really matter too much) that the Bears ended up losing on Sunday. I guess history did not repeat itself, since the Packers will go on to the Super Bowl this year.
Because I’ve been sick since Sunday, and missing school because of it, I wanted to at least post a short blog today about something going on. As per usual when I have this idea, the historical pickings were slim. So, I’m picking Super Bowl XX, not something exciting but something interesting.
In Super Bowl XX the Chicago Bears beat the New England Patriots 46-10. My dad always talks about this game because he is a Bears fan. I suppose I found it interesting that this event came so closely to my last post from Sunday.
Yup, I think that’s about all I have to say on this topic for today. Short post, yes, but I think the change of pace works for this week and is refreshing. Until next time, happy history!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Bears v. Packers
Last week when both the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers won their play off games, history was made. Today’s game is the first time the Bears and Packers have met in post season since 1941. In that game, the Bears won; in today’s game, we are still waiting to see what will happen.
I’m glad the games are on today, since I actually got sick and am suffering through it right now. The game is helping provide a distraction for my aches and pains. With that, I am going to let history play out and see if the Bears will win again, or if Green Bay will come out victorious in this game. Remember, the winner gets to go to the Super Bowl, so the stakes are high right now.
Happy History All!
I’m glad the games are on today, since I actually got sick and am suffering through it right now. The game is helping provide a distraction for my aches and pains. With that, I am going to let history play out and see if the Bears will win again, or if Green Bay will come out victorious in this game. Remember, the winner gets to go to the Super Bowl, so the stakes are high right now.
Happy History All!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Prohibition
It is Sunday, and school starts on Tuesday for me. I’m enjoying my last day off (I work tomorrow) before I go back to school. And what better way to spend it than to watch the Bears Seattle game and blog? As an added bonus, Chicago is winning, which is always good (but may I note I am a Broncos fan first and foremost.)
Two amendments in the United States Constitution don’t do much more than cancel one another. Amendment 18 to the Constitution regards the infamous Prohibition. Prohibition came at a time when the country was changing and reforming many of the problems in government and with society.
On January 16, 1919, the 18th Amendment was passed. Prohibition had been a powerful force in America during the 1800s. These societies, known as temperance societies, consisted of people concerned with how alcohol affected society. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1873, made Prohibition a political issue and advocated for complete Prohibition of alcohol, not moderation or temperance.
After ignoring the issue in the 1916 election, Congress met and passed the 18th Amendment. At the same time WWI was being fought in Europe. Many German and Irish immigrants were streaming into the United States, both of whom were Catholics in a predominantly Protestant country. One could say Prohibition went in conjunction with the rise of the second KKK, which focused on anti immigration issues.
Prohibition lasted for 14 years before it was repealed with the 21st Amendment. During that time the country faced several problems with bootleggers and Moonshine. In addition, vineyards were allowed to continue producing wine, and many people stockpiled wine for later since the consumption of alcohol was not prohibited, rather the sale was. Chicago became a heaven for those importing alcohol, and many gangsters like Al Capone made millions off the sale of alcohol during the 1920s.
The effects of Prohibition are still seen today, mainly with the sport NASCAR. NASCAR began when different bootleggers were bragging about how fast they raced away from the police. Soon enough these different men decided the only way to truly determine who was fastest was to race. Thus, NASCAR was born.
So that is my blog for this week. I will try my hardest to update next week, but with school starting I actually have a crazy week ahead of me. I need to work and start on my schoolwork; I already know my capstone and one history class will be very demanding. I wish everyone a good week and Happy History!
Two amendments in the United States Constitution don’t do much more than cancel one another. Amendment 18 to the Constitution regards the infamous Prohibition. Prohibition came at a time when the country was changing and reforming many of the problems in government and with society.
On January 16, 1919, the 18th Amendment was passed. Prohibition had been a powerful force in America during the 1800s. These societies, known as temperance societies, consisted of people concerned with how alcohol affected society. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, founded in 1873, made Prohibition a political issue and advocated for complete Prohibition of alcohol, not moderation or temperance.
After ignoring the issue in the 1916 election, Congress met and passed the 18th Amendment. At the same time WWI was being fought in Europe. Many German and Irish immigrants were streaming into the United States, both of whom were Catholics in a predominantly Protestant country. One could say Prohibition went in conjunction with the rise of the second KKK, which focused on anti immigration issues.
Prohibition lasted for 14 years before it was repealed with the 21st Amendment. During that time the country faced several problems with bootleggers and Moonshine. In addition, vineyards were allowed to continue producing wine, and many people stockpiled wine for later since the consumption of alcohol was not prohibited, rather the sale was. Chicago became a heaven for those importing alcohol, and many gangsters like Al Capone made millions off the sale of alcohol during the 1920s.
The effects of Prohibition are still seen today, mainly with the sport NASCAR. NASCAR began when different bootleggers were bragging about how fast they raced away from the police. Soon enough these different men decided the only way to truly determine who was fastest was to race. Thus, NASCAR was born.
So that is my blog for this week. I will try my hardest to update next week, but with school starting I actually have a crazy week ahead of me. I need to work and start on my schoolwork; I already know my capstone and one history class will be very demanding. I wish everyone a good week and Happy History!
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Crazy Horse
Every week I write my blog in a Microsoft Word Document, because I don’t think Blogger catches all my misspellings as well, and trust me, every week there are plenty of them. I may love writing, but spelling is not one of my strengths.
After blogging through 2010 I realized I had 49 pages of text; and because we’re starting a new year, I don’t want to repost on a topic I have already posted on, because that would defeat the purpose of my blog. So last week after my final 2010 post I made a Table of Contents with all my blog titles and all the subjects I covered last year. Overall, I realized I had a lot of posts on Europe. Sure, I tried to mix it up, but it’s not difficult to see that I love European History.
This week, Wednesday January 6 marked the anniversary of Harold Godwinson being crowned King of England in 1066. My initial thought was to write about that, but then I realized I’ve talked about this topic already (See September 28, 2010’s post). So I think my New Years resolution is going to be to step out of my comfort zone and blog about some topics I’m not so familiar with this year.
One aspect of history I do not personally find the most interesting is the history of the west. Yes, this includes the history of my home state Colorado. This is interesting since my father in particular loves the history of this region. But for whatever reason I do not find this the most interesting. A quote I said to a friend trying to convince me to take a class about the west: “Manifest destiny. There, I just summed up the class for you!”
However, for the sake of mixing things up, I chose an event in history that took place in the American west for this week. I want to challenge myself, and I do enjoy learning things too. So here we go.
America has one part of its past it wants to forget; in fact most will simply ignore this event or even don’t know full well what happened involving it. I’m talking about the conflict with the American Native Americans. Genocide is a nasty word to use, one I never thought about in terms of American history. However, what American citizens did to the Native American tribes is indeed a genocide.
During this time period there was a lot of fighting between the groups. On January 8, 1877, Crazy Horse, Chief of the Sioux tribe, fought his final battle.
Six months earlier Crazy Horse banded together with his ally Sitting Bull, and the two led their combined forces to victory over Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and his men. The battle was near the Little Bighorn River of Montana, and would later be dubbed “Custer’s last stand.”
The win for the Native American forces resulted in 200 deaths of American soldiers. The American people demanded revenge against Crazy Horse. On January 8, the last of Crazy Horses followers along Montana’s Tongue River, and the soldiers opened fire driving the Native Americans into the blizzard. Crazy Horse and his warriors were able to hold off the soldiers, allowing the women and children to escape in the blizzard.
While Crazy Horse was able to escape, he knew he would be hunted. In May 1877 he led his followers to the Red Cloud reservation and surrendered. Crazy Horse was killed five months later.
This event is just one case of the conflict between the Native Americans and European settlers. It is important to learn about our past, even if it is a bleak moment in history for people. Effects of this conflict are still evident today; many Native American citizens live on reservations today and face hardships associated with the land they were “given.”
I have visited the Crazy Horse monument in South Dakota. When I visited it (many years ago) only the face was complete. It is still a work in progress today, but is a visual monument to an important figure in American history. Happy History everyone.
After blogging through 2010 I realized I had 49 pages of text; and because we’re starting a new year, I don’t want to repost on a topic I have already posted on, because that would defeat the purpose of my blog. So last week after my final 2010 post I made a Table of Contents with all my blog titles and all the subjects I covered last year. Overall, I realized I had a lot of posts on Europe. Sure, I tried to mix it up, but it’s not difficult to see that I love European History.
This week, Wednesday January 6 marked the anniversary of Harold Godwinson being crowned King of England in 1066. My initial thought was to write about that, but then I realized I’ve talked about this topic already (See September 28, 2010’s post). So I think my New Years resolution is going to be to step out of my comfort zone and blog about some topics I’m not so familiar with this year.
One aspect of history I do not personally find the most interesting is the history of the west. Yes, this includes the history of my home state Colorado. This is interesting since my father in particular loves the history of this region. But for whatever reason I do not find this the most interesting. A quote I said to a friend trying to convince me to take a class about the west: “Manifest destiny. There, I just summed up the class for you!”
However, for the sake of mixing things up, I chose an event in history that took place in the American west for this week. I want to challenge myself, and I do enjoy learning things too. So here we go.
America has one part of its past it wants to forget; in fact most will simply ignore this event or even don’t know full well what happened involving it. I’m talking about the conflict with the American Native Americans. Genocide is a nasty word to use, one I never thought about in terms of American history. However, what American citizens did to the Native American tribes is indeed a genocide.
During this time period there was a lot of fighting between the groups. On January 8, 1877, Crazy Horse, Chief of the Sioux tribe, fought his final battle.
Six months earlier Crazy Horse banded together with his ally Sitting Bull, and the two led their combined forces to victory over Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and his men. The battle was near the Little Bighorn River of Montana, and would later be dubbed “Custer’s last stand.”
The win for the Native American forces resulted in 200 deaths of American soldiers. The American people demanded revenge against Crazy Horse. On January 8, the last of Crazy Horses followers along Montana’s Tongue River, and the soldiers opened fire driving the Native Americans into the blizzard. Crazy Horse and his warriors were able to hold off the soldiers, allowing the women and children to escape in the blizzard.
While Crazy Horse was able to escape, he knew he would be hunted. In May 1877 he led his followers to the Red Cloud reservation and surrendered. Crazy Horse was killed five months later.
This event is just one case of the conflict between the Native Americans and European settlers. It is important to learn about our past, even if it is a bleak moment in history for people. Effects of this conflict are still evident today; many Native American citizens live on reservations today and face hardships associated with the land they were “given.”
I have visited the Crazy Horse monument in South Dakota. When I visited it (many years ago) only the face was complete. It is still a work in progress today, but is a visual monument to an important figure in American history. Happy History everyone.
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