History Essay: March 2015

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Birmingham Civil Rights Trip

What I learned on this trip is there is two people in this world that world that want the most of me, and that is my mother and my teacher. The difference is when you get to see the church where the bombing actually occurred it makes you realize how real everything really was. No this did not change my view, I say this because before even going down there I knew how bad everything was, so in a way I guess you could say it made me more sympathetic because it made you realize people actually had to live through these tragic events.
It is important to go on this trip because when you get to see something in person it creates a much stronger connection then just looking at a screen. If you get to see, touch, and feel the site or object were it happened it makes the whole experience much more memorable. If I was just to watch the video you showed during class then I would've enjoyed it, and thought it was a powerful topic. Since we actually got to go and see everything that was in that video I feel as it is something I will never forget. If civil rights ever get brought up in a discussion I will now be able to say that I have been to the infamous "Bombingham" and seen 16th street baptist church. I feel as the field trip created a strong, personal, and intimate connection with the topic.

Monday, March 2, 2015

Annotated sources

Navy

I used this source when I referred to when the soldiers came into the harbor in Australia with over 250,000 people there to see the Fleet. This helped to give a specific example on how the Fleet was more of a tourist attraction than a war fleet.

United States History GWF

This source was used to give specific numbers and details about the voyage. It helped to clarify how incredible and vigorous the voyage was.

Great White Fleet- Voyage of the Great White Fleet

Even Though I did not use this source much, I still had a note card from it which listed all of the 16 different battle ships. This was important because It let you know the names of all of the Ships in the Fleet.

The Cruise of the Great White Fleet

I used this source to gain details of the itinerary of the great white fleet. It has a map that lays out every stop the fleet made. It was helpful to see a visual representation of the voyage.

Topics in Chronicling America

This source was helpful because it gave a list of important dates from the voyage. The date I used from this source was the departure date.

TextBook

To be honest the only reason I used the text book as a source is because it was mandatory, there was maybe 2 lines in the entire book about The Great White Fleet. The book was useless.

In-Class

Jake Teachey

March 2, 2015

US History B

Great White Fleet

I pledge

The Great White Fleet was an Armada of 16 ships that Theodore Roosevelt commenced in 1907. There were many reasons why Theodore Roosevelt decided to send a convoy around the world, but one of the most widely known was to show the world that America was not lacking in the navy department, and that the other nations did not need to mess with the United States Navy. The Great White Fleet symbolized power for the United States.

The name “The Great White Fleet” was not assigned until after the ships had sailed their course. One of the more obvious reasons on why this name was chosen is because the ships were white in color. The crew on the Great White Fleet felt famous in a way. The fleet turned into more of a sight seeing tour than a defense mechanism. For example, August 15 1908 the fleet arrived in Australia, and when the ships arrived in port they were greeted by more than 250,000 people who had stayed up the entire night before waiting on the arrival of these famous white ships. The following 8 days after arrival the citizens of Sydney Australia threw a 8 day non-stop party for the crew members of the fleet.

The fleet launched on December 16, 1907 to serve as a symbol of strength and power for the United States. Roosevelt claimed that the purpose of the fleet was to have a fleet of military ships circumnavigate the globe. Despite what Roosevelt claimed everyone knew that the main purpose of the fleet was for intimidation. The fleet served more as a parade of intimidation sailing around the world from country to country to show the world we weren’t to be messed with. This tactic of intimidation was actually remarkably successful because word spread about this “great white fleet” around the globe and put a sense of fear into nations hearts.

The Great White fleet is arguably one of the biggest most successful things that have ever happened to the US navy. With that being said it was not all sunshine and rainbows in the end. The construction of the ships was not as good as they looked. From the out side the ships looked grand and almost majestic in a way, but there were areas that lacked interest on the inside. An example of this is two of the 16 ships did not complete the voyage due to major mechanical malfunctions, but that also could be because not all of the ships were brand new ships. From 1904 to 1907 the United States built 11 brand new ships, meaning 5 out of the 16 ship in the fleet were refurbished battle ships.

The journey these ships went on is as great as the ships themselves. Over 14 months these ships said 43,000 nautical miles around the globe. The voyage included over 20 stops in 6 different continents. The fleet was the first United States navy vessel to navigate around the entire globe. This is proof that the boats were really just used as a parade to show off to the world how “big and bad” the States Navy was.