LAD #37: Brown v. Board of Education

Linda Brown being escorted out of the "white" elementary school.

In Kansas, in the 1950s, schools were racially segregated, with white schools often being much better than black ones. The father of Linda Brown, a black third grader, tried to enroll her in a white elementary school, which was much closer to her home than the black one, but the principal refused to let her attend. The NAACP tried to help and requested an injuction. At court, the NAACP argued that segregating schools led to a feeling of inferiority among black children, while the Board argued that since other facilities were segregated, it would prepare them for being segregated later in life. The court felt compelled to rule in favor of the Board, but the NAACP appealed to the Supreme Court, which struck down the "separate but equal" idea of Plessy v. Ferguson, taking a huge step in desegregation of schools.

LAD #36: Truman Doctrine

President Truman addressing Congress with the Truman Doctrine.

Truman asks for Congress's approval to aid Greece, as it had been ravaged by invasions and war and he believed Greece was close to being taken over by communist revolutionaries and would lose its self-determination of America didn't step in to help. Greece also wanted America to send administrators that would help them use their resources effectively to improve their government. Truman also supports sending aid to Turkey, which, although not as badly damaged as Greece, deserved it because it played an important role in keeping peace in the Middle East. Truman believed aiding them would help preserve democracy in those two countries as well as the ones around them. He believed America was the only nation in a position to help their struggling governments after World War II.

LAD #35: FDR's Executive Order #9066

Japanese-Americans preparing for the move into internment camps, authorized by Executive Order #9066

In the Order, FDR authorized military commanders to set up "military areas" (internment camps) in which they could be restricted, and to provide transportation to and food / water / shelter for those areas. They could also take steps as they deemed necessary to enforce Japanese compliance. He directed the other Federal Agencies to aid them in setting up and enforcing the restrictions.

LAD #34: FDR's Declaration of War

FDR signing the declaration of war.

The day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, FDR addressed the nation saying that Japan deliberately attacked America even though they had previously agreed upon peace, and Japan had delivered a message to the Secretary of State that mentioned no hint of a future attack. Since Hawaii was so far away from Japan, it was clear that the attack was planned, possibly weeks in advance. Japan had been deliberately tried to lie to America. Japanese forces also attacked many other places in the Pacific area. He then asserts his certainty that America will pull through, no matter how long it would take. America would not only defend itself, but make sure that an incident like this would never happen again. With God's help, they would triumph over the danger. He asks that Congress declare war on Japan.

LAD #33: FDR's First Inaugural Address

FDR giving his first inaugural address.

FDR opens the speech with his most famous line - "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." He hopes that people will support him in the hard times America is facing. The difficulties, thankfully, only consist of material things, like money. Though loss of trade and unemployment are big problems, they still had a lot to be thankful for. Much of the problem was caused by money changers, whose thoughts were outdated, and it was time to restore the nation back to being based on social values rather than monetary profit. Also, happiness is not achieved through making money but through achievement, and people shouldn't try to get into high positions just for power and profit.

Restoration calls for action as well; the problem of unemployment could be solved by putting people to work on government projects and at the same time organizing the nation's natural resources efficiently. Talking about it won't help; they must act. In addition, practices such as speculation with other peoples' money and corrupt banking needed to stop.

The nation now realizes its interdependence, that they must act together in order to make any progress. Discipline was the key to getting the nation back on track.

LAD #32: Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact

French statesman signing the Kellogg-Briand Pact.

The pact stated that the signers - United States, Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain, India, Japan, Poland, and the Czechoslovakian Republic - would no longer turn to war as a national instrument and resolved that peace would be maintained between these countries. They were to condemn war and have all settlements of conflict be carried out peacefully. The pact would also be open to other countries to join, and it would be the duty of America's government to provide joining countries with a copy of the treaty and any necessary instruments they would need to ratify or adhere to it.

LAD #31: President Wilson's 14 Points

Wilson presenting Congress with his Fourteen Points

Wilson's Fourteen Points were proposed as a way to keep peace after World War I. In the opening, he discusses the conditions of countries like Germany and Russia. At Brest-Litovsk,  Germany was not interested in keeping peace, so Wilson proposed the 14 points in an attempt to make the world safe to live in. The points are summarized as follows:

1. Open covenants of peace

2. Freedom of the seas

3. Removal of economic barriers and establishment of equality of trade

4. Reduction of national armaments to the bare minimum necessary

5. Open-minded adjustment of colonial claims

6. Evacuation and lenient treatment of Russia

7. Evacuation and restoration of Belgium

8. Evacuation and restoration of French territory

9. Adjustment of Italy's borders

10. Allowing Austria-Hungary to self-govern

11. Evacuation and restoration of Serbia, Romania, and Montenegro

12. Secure sovereignty of Turkey and free passage through the Dardanelles

13. Creation of an independent Polish state

14. Establishment of the League of Nations

LAD #30: Schenck v. United States

Charles Schenck, a man convicted for obstructing the draft of soldiers into the army.

In Schenck v. the United States, Schenck mailed circulars to draftees that discouraged them from following the draft and joining the army and encouraged them to petition to appeal the Conscription Act. He was charged with violating the Espionage Act and obstructing recruitment. His case was appealed because of suspected violation of the First Amendment / free speech. The decision was unanimous in favor of the United States, with the reason being the character of every act depends on the situation. According to Holmes, in wartime, there is a "clear and present danger" that will stimulate evils Congress needs to prevent, and so certain things that are okay in peacetime can be punished.

LAD #29: Keating-Owen Child Labor Act

Two young boys working in a dangerous mill

The discovery that nearly 2 million children were doing dangerous work meant for adults caused a movement to get rid of child labor because of the negative effects on the health of children. The Keating-Owen bill outlawed the employment of children under 14 in most facilities (children under 16 in mines) and required the workdays of children under 16 to be less than 8 hours. Although the bill was passed and signed into law, it was ruled unconstitutional because it "overstepped the purpose of the government's powers to regulate interstate commerce." The Child Labor Tax Law was passed later but also found unconstitutional. Though the nation wanted laws against child labor, the Supreme Court's rulings made it impossible. Though a Child Labor Amendment was proposed, it was stalled by opponents' campaigns. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was finally passed, passing also the inspection of the Supreme Court in 1941.

LAD #28: Woodrow Wilson's First Inaugural Address

Woodrow Wilson's first inauguration

Now that Congress would soon be primarily Democratic, Wilson predicted that America would begin to look upon situations with fresh new eyes. Though there is much good in life, there is evil as well, as with industry; though innovations have been made, the government hadn't stopped to properly think about the human cost. So it was the country's duty, then, to restore the good that had been lost while the nation was in a hurry to industrialize. Wilson listed some things that needed to be changed, including tariffs, the banking system, the exploitative industrial system, and environmental problems. The government had forgotten about the people, caught up in its own affairs, and Wilson asked for the people's aid in revitalizing the nation. He promised he wouldn't fail them as long as they stood by him.

LAD #27: Clayton Anti-Trust Act

Political cartoon depicting the trusts this law aimed against.

The Clayton Antitrust Act outlawed local price discrimination that destroyed competitors, as well as exclusive deals by businesses to allow only the buying of their own products. They also forbade the prevention of labor union organization and for businesses to merge to create any sort of monopoly.

LAD #26: MLK's 'I Have a Dream' Speech

Martin Luther King Jr. delivering a speech.

The signing of the Emancipation Proclamation gave hope to millions of African-American slaves in America, but even 100 years later, they aren't truly free; they still face discrimination and crippling poverty. And although they haven't seen the promise given in the Declaration of Independence in effect yet, they are determined to do so, and it needs to happen soon. And people who think the revolts will calm before African-Americans gain their rights are dead wrong. Black people must not stoop as low as to degenerate into physical violence, however, and must remember their white brothers, some of which support them. They can't do it alone and they can't turn back and they won't be satisfied if they must keep living the way they're living.

Even though they have many difficulties to overcome, King dreams that one day America would fully live up to the preamble of its Declaration of Independence, that black and white people would be able to join together in real brotherhood and African-Americans would be really free. And when they are free, all of God's children, no matter their religion, skin color, or any other thing, could be really free.

LAD #25: Dawes Severalty Act

Advertisement for the sale of Native American lands after the Dawes Act

The Dawes Act sent Native Americans populating America to reservations and authorized the President to divide communal lands belonging to different tribes and allot sections of the land to individual owners, with amounts based on factors such as status. It also authorized the sale of Native Wmerican lands to American settlers. It attempted to assimilate Native Americans into American culture but didn't include the "five civilized tribes." The government was also given the right to build railroads through former Native American land.

LAD #24 - Cross of Gold

A badge advocating the central idea of the "Cross of Gold" speech.

In 1895, some Democrats organized to advocate the unlimited coinage of silver. They won over several times, but in the process, people were turned against each other.

William Jennings Bryan was not speaking as an individual, but represented all people of Massachusetts, who were equal before the law. He said the accepted definition of a businessman is too limited; people who worked in country areas should be considered businessmen just as wealthy people in cities are.

The lower class was simply fighting for their rights, not as aggressors.
Bryan also rebutted or countered many points of the opposing side; for example, they said they had passed an unconstitutional law with the income tax law, but Bryan said it hadn't been unconstitutional at the time of passage, only afterwards when a judge changed his mind.

He also opposed the national bank currency, as it injured the working class and protected creditors. He pointed out some of the hypocrisy in this system.

He said there were two ideas of government: one that believed prosperity would trickle down to the masses if given to the prosperous, and one that held that if wealth were given to the masses it would find its way up the classes above them; and he said that cities would live as long as farms existed, but if farms were destroyed, cities wouldn't last long either.

The gold standard would serve only to help upper classes, leaving lower ones in the dust. Bryan declared that those classes would fight those who supported the gold standard, concluding by saying they would not give the laboring class this crown of thorns or crucify mankind on a cross of gold.

LAD #23: Populist Party Platform

Campaign poster for the Populist Party

The nation is in ruins, with corruption in elections and property becoming concentrated in the hands of capitalists. Influences dominate both Democrats and Republicans, but haven't been met with serious efforts to prevent them, and they haven't tried to reform, allowing the many to be destroyed in favor of a few corrupt millionaires. In short, the Populist Party wants to put power back into the hands of the "plain people."

They declared a permanent union of labor forces, that wealth belongs to he who earns it and it's robbery for others to take it, and that the government should own and manage the railroads.

They made several demands regarding finances, including that there should be an unlimited coinage of silver and gold in a 16:1 ratio, more money to be circulated, a graduated income tax, that state revenues be limited to only necessary spending, and that postal savings banks be established.

Transportation and communications should be operated by the government for the interest of the people, and land should not be monopolized nor given to aliens.

Summarized, they wanted a free ballot, for money to be distributed as fairly as possible, and for more power to be put into the hands of the working class.

LAD #22: McKinley's War Message

President William McKinley, who delivered his war message to Congress in 1898

The revolution in Cuba is one in a line of insurrections against Spain. The brutality exercised in it has shocked the United States and made it difficult for the United States to remain neutral throughout the war. A final military victory doesn't seem possible for either side - an alternative would be the physical exhaustion of one or both sides.

Last time, he had laid out the options: recognizing insurgents as belligerent, recognizing Cuba as independent, neutral intervention, or taking a side; however, forced annexation is not among the options. He decided that the U.S. would have to intervene and that the proclamation of neutrality wouldn't accomplish any of their goals.

Intervention to stop the war is justified as follows: It is human duty to put an end to the cruelty in Cuba; they owe it to American citizens in Cuba; there has been great injury to American business and property; and the proximity of Cuba to America threatens their peace. The explosion of the battleship Maine illustrated this danger and horrified the nation.

For the sake of humanity, the war in Cuba needs to end. McKinley asked Congress to authorize him to take measures to end hostilities in the Cuban war. Though he said Spain had recently agreed to suspend hostilities, he emphasized that their decision to authorize him was of utmost importance.