LAD # 37: Brown V. Board

Summary of Brown V. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas -

In 1951, Kansas' District Court held the case involving a young African American who wanted to attend a school for white children.  This girl's father, Oliver Brown, requested the NAACP's help to forbid segregation in public schools.  The Board of Education said that this segregation in schools was to prepare the children for future segregation as adults.  The Board won, but then Brown appealed to the Supreme Court where they ruled in favor of Brown.

LAD #36: Truman Doctrine

Summary of the Truman Doctrine -

President Truman addressed Congress on March 12, 1947.  He declares that Greece has a desperate need for economic aid to stay a free country.  Turkey is another country in need of American aid.  The U.S. is the only democratic country able to help out and provide support.  It is in America's best interest to air so that totalitarianism does not spread any further.  Otherwise "we may endanger the peace of the world... and the welfare of our own nation."

LAD #35: FDR's Executive Order #9066

Summary of Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 -

Executive order 9066 gave the Secretay of War the right to create military areas.  He says that to be successful in times of war, every protective action is necessary.  This order includes providing medical aid, food clothing, transportation, etc.  This also allowed for the Japanese-Americans to be ushered into internment camps.  This order is not to be modified due to a previous proclamation that created regulations in regard to alien enemies

LAD #34: FDR's Declaration of War Speech

Summary of FDR's Declaration of War -

Roosevelt delivered his Pearl Harbor Address the day after the tragic event occurred.  It is a day that will live in infamy, he states.  He discusses the peace that was once between America and Japan and the peace that can no longer exist due to the deliberate, vicious attack.  He incites hope and faith into Americans, and he asks Congress for a Declaration of War due to the unprovoked attack.

LAD #33: FDR's First Inaugural Address

Summary of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address -

In 1933, FDR gave his first inaugural address in which he discusses the problems that America was facing.  Roosevelt believes that the nothing to fear is fear itself, so he will deal with these issues honestly.  He talks about the high level of unemployment in the country and to remedy that, the government must he come involved.  He says that everyone must work together to bring the U.S. back to its once prosperous state.  They must 'declare war' on The Great Depression.

LAD #32: Kellogg-Briand Peace Pact

Summary of the Kellogg-Briand Pact

On July 24, 1929, this pact renounced war as an instrument of national policy for all countries that signed it.  This pact was originally between the U.S. and France, but the Secretary of State, Frank Kellogg, opened this pact to all who wanted to sign.  Notable countries that signed this pact were Britain, Italy, and Germany, to name a few.  This treaty sought to deal with countries through peace rather than war.

LAD #31: Wilson's Fourteen Points

Summary of Wilson's 14 Points -

President Woodrow Wilson delivered his fourteen points of his peace policy to Congress.  The fourteen points are as follows:
1. All diplomatic negotiations will be public knowledge.
2. Freedom of the seas.
3. Equal trade between all nations.
4. Reduction of arm numbers.
5. Have an open mind and impartiality towards colonial claims.
6. Leave Russia and allow them to be self ruling.
7. Belgium is also to be evacuated and freed.
8. France regains its territories and Alsace-Lorraine.
9. Clearly establish Italy's borders.
10. Allow Austria-Hungary the chance to self rule.
11. Balkan states must have established lines between them and independence.
12. Turkey gets its sovereignty and Dardanelles remains open for all.
13. Poland is to be established as an independent country with freedom of the seas.
14. An association of nations (League of Nations) is to be created to assure freedom of the seas and independence of smaller countries.

LAD #30: Schenk V US

Summary of the Schenk V. US case -

In 1919, the Supreme Court ruled the case in favor of the United States.  The case had to do with the Espionage Act of 1917 that was put into place due to The Great War.  Charles Schenk mailed brochures about the draft being a ridiculous monstrous thing.  The Supreme Court had to decide whether the freedom of speech protected his actions or not.  In wartime, the same things are not as tolerable as they are during peace.

LAD #28: Wilson's First Inaugural Address

Summary of Woodrow Wilson's First Inaugural Address, 1913 -

President Wilson commences his First Inaugural Address on March 4, 1913 by stating that the success of a party occurs when a nation uses it for a large, important purpose.  America is a great country that has built itself and its industrial achievements up, but the costs it had on the people were forgotten.  Now, the evil must be corrected; justice is the current motto.  Wilson promises not to fail men in his goal to establish balance and fulfill hopes.

LAD #27: Clayton Anti-trust Act

Summary of the Clayton Anti-trust Act -

The purpose of this act was to supplement existing laws such as the Sherman Anti-trust Act.  It states that is is illegal to discriminate prices so that competition decreases.  Sales can not be made under the condition that the consumer promises not to purchase from other competitors.  Additionally, there can be no mergers not acquisitions that could promote trusts or monopolies.

LAD #26: "I Have a Dream" speech

Summary of Martin Luther King Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech -

MLK Jr's speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, starts by talking about the hope that the Emancipation Proclamation gave to the millions of slaves.  However, the blacks are not truly free as they still face discrimination and poverty.  It is now that America must end segregation and follow through with its promise of democracy.  His dream is that freedom will ring all across America, a great country.  "Thank God Almighty, we are free at last".

LAD #25: Dawes Severalty Act

Summary of the Dawes Act of 1887 -
The Dawes Act is "an act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the territories over the Indians, and for other purposes."  This act, approved by Congress, authorized the President to survey Indian land and divide it up for individual Indians.  The head of the family would receive 160 acres, an individual or an orphan minor would receive 80 acres, and minors would receive 40 acres.  If the Indians abandoned their tribes for the allotted land, they would gain U.S. citizenship.

LAD #24: Cross of Gold Speech

Summary of William Jennings Bryan's Cross of Gold Speech -
William Jennings Bryan delivered this speech on July 9, 1896 during the Democratic National Convention.  The topic discussed was the whether or not to endorse the free coinage of silver at the ratio of silver to gold, 16:1.  If this was enforced, the indebted farmers would be aided due to the increase in money circulation.  Bryan advocates for a monetary system called bimetallism in which the new currency would equal a set amount of gold and silver.  Putting this system into place would benefit the country and end deflation.

LAD #23: The Populist Party Platform

Summary of The Populist Party Platform -
The Populist Party emerged in the 1870s and 1880s, but in the 1890s they became a possible viable third party.  This party opposed banks and big businesses as well as industrialism.  The platform states the horrible working conditions for the common laborer.  To solve this the Populists declare the institution of permanent labor unions.  The party also demanded that the government should create a safe national currency, own railroads, telegraphs, and telephones.  Populists are also in favor of a free ballot, abolition of mercenary armies, shorter hours, and initiative and referendum.

LAD #22: McKinley's War Message

Summary of McKinley's War Message -
President McKinley kept the United States out of the in Cuba for three years until 1898 when we told Spain to end all fighting.  He sums up four reasons to go to war in his message to Congress.  First, it is their duty to humanity to end the miseries taking place.  Second, the citizens in Cuba deserve protection and compensation.  Third, the war is damaging to commerce, trade, and business.  Finally, the situation in Cuba is a threat to peace and a huge cost to the government.  Overall, "In the name of humanity... the war in Cuba must stop"

LAD #29: Keating-Owen Child Labor Act

Summary of the Keating - Owen Child Labor Act -

In the 1900s, approximately 2 million children held jobs in harsh conditions.  Reformers worked to expose the effects the work had on the children's' health and welfare.  In 1916, this act banned the sales of goods produced by children as well as limited their work hours.  This act was the first child labor bill and it spurred on many more reforms.