Aboshadi 1

Zizo Aboshadi
03/06/2022
Mr. Allare

Reflection Response #1

This reflection response will cover 3 main ideas. What challenges does America face

during the reconstruction? How powerful were either industrialists (Titans) or inventors

during the late 19th and earlier 20th Centuries? And what caused American

imperialism?

Firstly I will talk about the challenges America had to face during the

reconstruction period. These challenges during the reconstruction era were

reincorperating the freed black population into the union, and having blacks living with

whites in a non slave society. The south didn’t approve of the reconstruction though,

and the KKK was something that came to the surface during this period that aimed to

reverse the changes of the reconstruction. White supremacy from the south was one of

the main challenges in this time. The KKK became political and social terrorists, which

was not good for these newly freed slaves. The black codes were established as a type

of way to restrict these free african american slaves. If black codes were broken they

could face being fined, arrested, or even forced into unpaid labor (slavery) again.

Secondly, there was a spike in Inventors as well, and the inventions were

quite profound. For example, the late 19th century saw the inventions of the escalator,

the zipper, the motor driven vacuum cleaner, radar, mechanical cash register, and toilet

paper just to name a few. In some way shape or form, we still use these inventions

today, for some in everyday life. The inventions during this time were not like any other.

Some historians call it an “energetic” era of inventions, along with industrial

Aboshadi 2

developments. The growth from this period led the United States to look at outside

markets to sell its products, or better known as American Imperialism.

Lastly, the economic, political, and cultural authority America had internationally

was great, and they really began to expand. A good example is when America bought

Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million in 1867. William Stewart the secretary of state at the

time thought this would help the U.S. to acquire Canada. America aimed big when it

came to expanding their power and authority elsewhere. Since there was a lot of growth

from the innovations, and the impact they had on the economy, this led them to set

greater goals, and increase their competitive nature for the future especially when it

came to trade with raw materials, and expansion for other lands.

References:
1

1
https://study.com/learn/lesson/american-imperialism.html
https://www.thoughtco.com/inventions-nineteenth-century-4144740
https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction
https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/exhibit/aopart5.html