In this essay, I’m going to talk about the origin of some of the popular forms of entertainment in America around the early 1900’s. I’m going to regurgitate information about the origins of football, baseball, basketball, and the modern Olympics. I’m also going to talk about my favorite author, Edward Stratemeyer, as well as the invention of movies.

First up, I’m going to talk about sports. Football originally came to America in the form of Rugby, which I did not know was a thing until two days ago. From my five minutes of research on the topic, I think it is sort of like a cross between modern American Football and modern Soccer. It developed into these different sports in different places. In Europe they developed it into Soccer (as we Americans call it) and in America it developed into American Football. Football is one of (if not the most) popular sport in America, with the Super Bowl being almost universally watched in the country, and getting almost as many views as Mr. Beast’s videos.

Baseball is my teacher’s favorite sport, so naturally we spent extra time studying that, so I’m going to give it the least amount of space in my essay because I care for it the least. Baseball has its roots in cricket and other rudimentary forms of the game. When Alexander Cartwright left for California during the Gold Rush, he spread the knowledge of baseball to the west. The first traveling baseball team was the Cincinnati Red Stockings.

Basketball was invented by James Naismith in 1891. He wanted it to be less injury prone than football. The game began with throwing a ball into a peach basket, but it developed into the rules we have today fairly quickly. Basketball has taken the world by storm and is now an Olympic sport today.

Speaking of the Olympics, the ancient Greek Olympics were revived in the 1800’s. A stadium was restored in Athens, and the Olympic Game were held in 1870 and 1875. Before long the International Olympic Committee was organized. They were to oversee future holdings of the Olympic Games. There is now a Winter Olympics and a Summer Olympics, each spaced four years apart, and two years apart from each other.

After talking about all those sports, let’s talk about the early forms of movies. The first short films were in black and white and didn’t have any audio, and were very short. They were made by a small, little known inventor who went by the name Thomas Edison. Others copied his idea and started making movies of their own. Movies would go on to become a very popular form of entertainment around the world, and with the invention of streaming services, almost anyone can have access to movies.

Last but certainly not least (it’s the best of the bunch) I want to talk a little bit about my favorite author, Edward Stratemeyer. Stratemeyer pioneered dime novels. Stratemeyer is the author of many classical children’s stories. His different series included Tom Swift (my personal favorite), The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and others. He founded the Stratemeyer Syndicate, which was an organization where he would provide ideas and pay other authors to write the books because Stratemeyer didn’t have the time to write all the books for all the different series.

In conclusion, American Entertainment was developed in lots of different ways and aspects during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, including several different sports, the inventions of movies, and developments in the world of books, thanks in part to my favorite author, Edward Stratemeyer.

The American Industrial age was marked with many scientific advancements, made by many different people. In this essay, I’m going to give a brief summary of the lives of some of the people that were important to the American Industrial Age.

To begin, I’m going to talk about the people that we learned about this week, before I move on to actual inventions. Please note that I am going for quantity over quality and length for these summaries, because I am attempting to cover a lot of people, so bear that in mind as you read these next few paragraphs.

Cornelius Vanderbilt grew up in New York, helping his father work on his ferry. At sixteen, Cornelius had bought his own ship and had begun working as a ferryman himself. Vanderbilt began to acquire other companies after his initial success in his ferry business. Vanderbilt had some very interesting tactics to get rid of competition. He would use a lawsuit to shut them down, buy out the other company, or they would partner. He was able to get control of most of the shipping market because of this. In a risky endeavor, he sold off all of his shipping stock, and then spent the money on railroad stock. This ended up being a smart move for Vanderbilt, as he profited greatly.

John D. Rockefeller was another of the most wealthy American entrepreneurs. In 1863, Rockefeller invested in his first oil refinery. By 1870 he had founded Standard Oil, and he would buy out small company after small company, until his company grew to control 90% of the kerosene industry. He was an innovator, and built pipelines so that he didn’t have to transport the oil by rail anymore. Because the government decided intervene with Rockefeller’s business, he had to break up his company. He spent the rest of his life giving away his massive wealth, and started several charities.

Andrew Carnegie’s second job in the workforce was his first important one; He became a telegraph operator. He would go on to become one of the fastest telegraph operators in his area, and would become known for that. His mentor taught him how to make money from investing in stocks and also advised him to build a major road across the Mississippi River. Carnegie built the bridge out of steel, introducing him to the industry that would make him famous. Carnegie would go on to build a steel mill and produce his own steel for his company. He began to manufacture steel for other companies as well. Carnegie would go on to spend his money on all sorts of charities.

J.P. Morgan owned one of the largest banking firms in history, and was the richest man for a time. He got rich off of “remorganization”, which is reorganizing multiple smaller firms into one larger, more powerful firm. He would later go on to buy Carnegie Steel for millions of dollars. Through all of this, Morgan made lots of money which he would give away to charities later on in his life.

Henry Ford was the famous founder of the automobile company Ford, which is still a common car manufacturer today. He was the mind behind the Model T, and also the assembly line. He also gave his workers a great wage in a time when there were not many labor laws, and so he had a great employer retention percentage.

In conclusion, all of these rich men played a pretty large role in the industrial age of America, and have shaped some of the industries that they worked in.

Ellis Island was the one place where people from foreign parts of the world had to go in order to immigrate to the United States. In this essay I’m going to talk about immigration to the states, Ellis Island, The Statue of Liberty, and the Washington Monument, the memorial to the greatest general of the war.

New York harbor was the most important port in America. Before the cultivation of Ellis Island, it was little more than a bit of sand outside of New York Harbor. It was actually owned privately before it was bought by the federal government. It’s first non-Indian owner was the Dutchman named Michael Paauw. It would go on to be bought by Samuel Ellis, where the island gets its name. The government of New York bought the island from Ellis’ family in 1808. The federal government then bought the island from New York, and then they went on to begin the construction of the Ellis Island Immigration Station. It opened in 1892 to the public. Almost any white male (why those restrictions?) was allowed to immigrate and become a citizen after staying there for two years. People flocked to America for all sorts of reasons, mainly economic or political reasons, but also because America had basically no religious restrictions.

Located near Ellis Island is Liberty Island, called Bedloe island before the Statue of Liberty was placed on it. The statue was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi of France. In 1876, a century after the signing of the Deceleration of Independence, the people of France decided to send a gift to the United States, celebrating the victory of the United States over Britain, and their ideals of liberty. Liberty is actually just the shortened version of the statue’s full name, “Liberty Enlightening the World”. The French built the statue in France, dissembled it, shipped it to America, and then, on the pedestal built by the Americans, it was rebuilt. The statue of liberty was actually made of copper, meaning that it was reddish-brown copper color when it was built, and has since oxidized into the blueish-green that it is today. In 1933, the statue became an official American monument. In 1937, the island’s name was finally changed from Bedloe to Liberty, and it is now called Liberty Island. Eventually, in 1982, President Ronald Reagan had the statue repaired and restored so that it can last much longer. The statue is mostly hollow, so the supports inside were also updated at this time. The statue is still standing to this day, and whenever somebody was immigrating through the Ellis Island Office, they would also see the statue. Today, Ellis Island is a national museum combined together with the Statue of Liberty.

The Washington Monument is the last thing I am going to talk about in this long, boring essay. It was erected in 1884, and was the tallest structure in the world for a short period of time. For most of its existence, it has been open for public touring. It is located at the national mall in Washington D.C.

In conclusion, Ellis Island has long been the nation’s main office for immigration, and is now a museum. The Statue of Liberty is one of the nation’s largest tourist attractions. Finally, the Washington Monument is a very large and impressive monument for a very important president. Washington was one of the most important men, not just in American history, but also in history in general.

In this essay, I’m going to talk about the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth amendments to the constitution of the United States of America. Amendment sixteen made income tax allowed, amendment seventeen clarified the rules of the senate, amendment eighteen banned liquors, and amendment nineteen allowed women to vote in elections.

Amendment sixteen was probably one of the worst amendments to the constitution. Literally its only purpose is to make the income tax allowed. It was the first amendment to give congress power instead of giving it to the people. This was one giant leap in the wrong direction, and gave Americans an income tax that would only get bigger as time goes on. Income tax is one of the many taxes that have to be filed to pay for all sorts of things, many of which should be privately funded instead of funded by taxpayers (eg. public schools, exploration for alien life, and other government nonesense). Basically, income tax should not be legal.

Amendment seventeen confirmed that there were two senators per state, and that the term of each senator lasts six years.

Amendment eighteen banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor, basically banning the entire existence of liquor in the United States of America. I guess you could still drink liquor if you already had it, but that’s it. Of course, people still did it illegally. This would go on to be reverted in the twenty-first amendment, which made it so it was legal again.

Amendment nineteen allowed all citizens of the United States of America to vote, regardless of sex. The fifteenth amendment had already stated that all races could vote, so now, anybody who was taxed was allowed to vote. There is not much more to be said about this amendment.

In conclusion, two of these amendments were good, and two of these amendments were bad. The confirmation of the rules of the senate were good because they could get rid of some confusion. The ban of liquor was bad, not because I think it is good to drink, but because government restrictions are almost never a good thing, and people were still going to do it illegally. Income tax is very bad, and legalizing it is also very bad. There should be as few taxes as possible. Lastly, allowing every citizen of the United States of America to vote is very good, because that means everybody can get representation in the corrupt American government.