Group+7

Matt Kim, Amber Peiffer, and Katy Liedig

Matt:

Social Darwinism This cartoon shows how the stronger will succeed and the weaker will not. This is demonstrated through depicting of cats, which relates it to evolution of natural selection. The cat has the tool to open the can, while the other cat doesn’t, so the cat with the better attributes and tools will always win. This shows how the people of this time period succeeded in the economy. Unemployment This cartoon illustrates the problem of unemployment in our time period of recession and the global health insurance for everyone that Obama’s cabinet is advocating. Back in 1950, people who did not have jobs and could not afford to have a house or health insurance was considered a loser, and the hardworking people who made a good salary and could afford to have the amenities was considered the winners. Now, people who are hardworking and make a good salary are considered the losers and the people without a job or without money is considered the winner because the working people are losing out by having to pay for all the amenities through increased taxes for those who cannot afford it.

Andrew Carnegie This cartoon illustrates Andrew Carnegie as a wealthy man who strongly believed in not keeping the wealth to himself, but taking his wealth and resources to others to benefit society. He was a Scottish man who immigrated to the United States and made a fortune in the steel industry, which explains the United States flag kilt he is wearing. He took his wealth and spread his generosity to Scotland to build four universities.

Amber:



This political cartoon is of John D. Rockefeller and all his power. It shows that Rockefeller could just hold the white house and it's leaders in the palm of his hand and basically do whatever he pleases. Also in the background you can see the capitol and the smoke stacks surrounding it. This represents Rockefeller's industries and the influence and power they had over the government.

This political cartoon is of Boss Tweed. The giant, smirking man is Boss Tweed and represents all his power, corruptness, and riches. The average sized man in the middle is the police, and he is representing the law and how they can't touch a man as big and powerful as Tweed. Yet, he can catch a common person like the smaller man shown in the cartoon. The common person represents how little power the common person had compared to the powerful Tweed. At the bottom of the cartoon is say, "Can the law reach him--the dwarf and the giant thief". At that time Tweed could get away with breaking the law, unlike the dwarf or common people, and the law couldn't reach him.



This political cartoon is trying to say that the President doesn't understand the value of money through the Americans' eyes. Some Americans work hard for their salary, and then get ripped off with things such as taxes by the government and money is taken from them which makes them upset. It is saying that Obama's policy is for people who have a lot of money to just hand some of it over to those who aren't as wealthy. Also, this is showing that if it was the President's own personal money he would be angry and frustrated, because he earned that money from hard work, and it's just being "spread around" wherever.

Katy:

This cartoon illustrates what the Sherman Antitrust Act wanted to happen. Competition was highly encouraged, in fact, not having competition was forbidden. The downside to this, the weaker business was brutally attacked (as you can see).



This cartoon is making a mockery of the idea that people like Cornelius Vanderbilt were the protectors of the American industry. There was such a vast difference between the capitalist businessman's salary and the typical worker's salary, that people began to question the rights of the worker and employer. Here, the businessmen are sitting on bags of "millions", while the workers slave away and earn about $6 to $11 weekly.



This cartoon is dramatically showing that with the new health care reform, the price for medical procedures will increase. People are just as worried (if not more) about the price of treatment than getting better. Also, it's implying that if you can't pay for it, then don't bother getting the procedure.