Chapter 19: The Roaring Twenties
The Twenties brought about tremendous change in America.
WWI brought about change:
1. Women got the right to vote.
2. Women went out to work.
3. Many African Americans moved north in the Great Migration.
Immigrants suffered during the war- they were discriminated against and there were quotas placed on them. Fewer immigrants came to America in the twenties.
After the war, the people wanted life to go back to the way it was- to “return to normalcy”. Harding won the presidency by a landslide because he promised just that. He was an awful president, but a nice person. He didn’t have great government skills- he put his friends in office who were crooks, but he didn’t know about it. They were nicknamed the “Ohio Gang”. Harding had a heart attack and died in office.
After Harding’s death, many scandals surfaced:
1. One of them involved the Veteran’s Bureau- an organization that takes care of war veterans. The head was convicted of selling hospital supplies for his own benefit.
2. Teapot Dome Scandal- the secretary of interior, Albert Fall, was accused of accepting bribes from oil companies in exchange for giving them permission to drill for oil in protected lands in Teapot Dome, Wyoming.
Harding died and Calvin Coolidge became president. Coolidge was elected on his own in 1924.
The Coolidge years were called Coolidge Prosperity- the economy was strong. Coolidge had a laissez faire attitude towards business. Coolidge had many pro-business policies:
1. Businesses and the wealthy were helped by the tax laws- gave a tax reduction to businesses.
2. Regulatory agencies helped businesses more than they regulated business.
3. Had a very relaxed attitude toward mergers- allowed businesses to merge and grow strong. By 1929, two hundred companies owned half of the nation’s wealth.
4. Place heavy tariffs on imports so that American businesses would be strong.
The farmers weren’t doing great. Post WWI, the agricultural industry, along with the textile industry slumped. Labor unions also weren’t doing so well, but life was improving for the laborers.
Another flaw in Coolidge Prosperity was the stock market speculation- people bought stocks on margin, which was a little risky.
The twenties was a time of mass consumption. People were now buying and buying.
Three major areas of industry that changed people’s lives:
1. Car- stimulated many businesses such as steel and gas.
a. Automobile industry set off a real estate boom. People now began to move out to the suburbs because they can now drive to work.
b. Produced goods for the cars.
c. More highways and roads.
d. Led to the decline of railroads.
e. Increased social equality because the car was relatively inexpensive. Ford built the car so that it could be affordable to all.
f. The car stimulated installment buying- buy now and pay later.
g. Stimulated the advertising agency.
2. Electric industry- hanged the way we work and live:
a. It changed the home, factory and city.
b. Electricity helped increase production because now there is more time to work.
c. Electric items work quicker and are more efficient. Electric appliances made life so much easier.
3. Radio and movies- erased the regional differences from different areas because everyone listened to the same stations, forcing them all in the same way. The radio also increased people’s expectations and helped popularize jazz and other music. The radio additionally increased our interests in politics, sports and technology.
Together with the new business techniques, this caused a great change in America. Ford and the assembly line that mass produced cars was at the head of the change.
The twenties was also a time of shifting cultural values. Wealth, possessions and fun became the need of the day. These ideas of pursuing fun and lose morals was an idea that was influenced by Sigmund Freud. Freud was a Jewish psychiatrist who said that if you don’t go after what you want, it’ll cause you pain. He began the idea of psychoanalysis.
There was now leisure time for Monopoly, crossword puzzles, theater and board games. People began to idolize movie and sports stars. Games became in style. The new popular woman was known as the flapper. She drank, smoked, wore short dresses and bobbed her hair. Really, flappers basically only existed in the movies, but life for woman definitely did change.
90% of married woman were still home, but there were many changes. Divorce and smaller families now became more accepted. Families now went from a producing unit to a consuming unit. A large family was now a drain because each child was a consumer. There was now more emphasis on the role of a wife than the role of a mother.
In 1921, the Sheppard Towner Act was passed- to improve health care for woman, childbirth and infant mortality. Clinics were opened up to teach woman about their health and discuss health care.
Alice Paul tried to introduce equal rights amendments. It was met with tremendous disagreement. Women’s votes didn’t have a tremendous effect on politics.
Literature reflected the times. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a writer. He wrote about the excitement of the time. Hemmingway was also a writer at this time. He ran away because he said that America is too materialistic.
One of the most cultural experiences at this time was the Harlem renaissance- in Harlem, NY, there was an explosion of black music, art and literature.
Duke Ellington is the father of jazz music. The twenties is sometimes called the Jazz Age.
Langston Hughes was a black poet and writer.
There were many constitutional and legal issues in the twentiess. Some were a threat to our freedoms.
Legal issues:
1. Red Scare- in 1917 was the Russian Revolution- the Russians formed a communist government. America wasn’t happy about this. They were on the lookout for communists in America. Foreigners were the first ones to be suspected. There were events which America blamed on communists, such as:
a. Riots in NY
b. Race riots in many cities
c. Rioting against the Boston police.
Mitchell Palmer was the Attorney General and he began to raid homes without a search warrant- Palmer raids. He raided communist agencies and agencies which he believed were communist. Thousands of people were arrested and many immigrants were deported. Palmer’s actions were extreme and eventually people said that he’s crazy and the raids ended.
2. Saco and Vanzetti Trial- Mr. Saco and Mr. Vanzetti were accused of murder in a bank robbery in Massachusetts. They were anarchists- someone who believes in no government, but in absolute freedom. They stood trial for murder and were found guilty. They felt the evidence about the murder wasn’t strong and they thought they were being accused because of their beliefs. Felt they were killed for their beliefs. In 1972, they were found to be not guilty.
3. Klu Klux Klan- the Klu Klux Klan rose again. They were anti immigrants, Jews and blacks.
4. Scopes Trial- it took place in 1925, in Tennessee. It received nation-wide attention because it placed science vs. religion. As the country modernizes, we’re going to have this fight of science vs. religion. John Scopes was a teacher of biology and he wanted to teach about evolution but it was illegal to teach about religion. He was fined for teaching about evolution. There was a trial and it became a national event. William Jennings Brian was a lawyer in favor of religion. Darrow was in favor of science. Brian was a great speaker but he x speak well in public about this. Scopes was found guilty. Bryan’s confusing speech weakened religion in America.
5. Quotas- during the twenties, quotas were placed on immigrants. Immigrants weren’t allowed into the country from Europe and particularly Asia.
6. Prohibition- the eighteenth amendment was passed. It outlawed the sale, manufacturing and consumption of all alcoholic beverages. The government passed the Volstead Act, which was going to implement the Prohibition. The Prohibition proved to be unenforceable.
Organized crime now began in America- Mafia, Al Capone- famous gangster in Chicago, gangsters. Now, people smuggled- bootlegging. There were thousands of speakeasies (bars) across America.
In 1933, the twenty-first amendment was passed, repealing the prohibition.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
SS- Chapter 18
Chapter 18: World War I
WWI began in Europe in 1914 and lasted until 1918. The US didn’t enter the war until 1917.
Causes for WWI:
1. Nationalism- there was strong nationalistic competition amongst the European nations, in particular after the reunification of Germany in 1871. There was also ethnic unrest- groups of Czechs and Slavs wanted to free themselves from being under Austria-Hungary’s rule.
2. Imperialism- the European nations and the USA were scrambling for colonies in developing war. The fight over colonies was tense.
3. Alliance system- because of the tensions that were building up, little groups of like minded nations joined together:
a. Triple Entente/Allies- France, England and Russia.
b. Triple Alliance- Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
The problem with the alliance system is that when countries are upset with each other, you end up with a huge war instead of the two countries that are upset.
4. Militarism- all the nations began building up their armies, especially Germany.
Why did America enter the war? (As a general, America was neutral)
1. Cultural ties- Americans felt connected to whichever countries they came from. Some felt connected to Germany, many to England- our mother country, and some to France- our old ally.
2. Economic links to these countries- the British blockaded the North Sea and that cut off our trade with Germany, intensifying our trade with England. Now that we had economic ties with England, we wanted to help them. Most Americans felt that trading with the Allies didn’t bridge our neutrality. Wilson won his second term in office in 1916 with the slogan, “he kept us out of war”.
3. Propaganda- the media influences our thoughts. The Allies launched a very successful media campaign- they pictured themselves as agents of democracy and the Triple Alliance as barbarians. Through billboards and news bulletins, they pushed their views.
4. Issue of freedom of the seas and German submarine warfare- in 1915, the Germans tried to use submarine warfare in an attempt to end the British blockade. Germany announced that the waters around England are within a warzone and that their u-boats would be sinking ships that come into these waters. They said that neutral ships also shouldn’t come into these waters. Since submarines are vulnerable when they surface, they decided to ignore the international law that demands that neutral ships be treated differently than war ships. America felt that their freedom of the seas was being abused. The American passenger ship, the Lusitania, was attacked.
Immediate events that led America to enter the war:
1. February 1, 1917- Germany announced unrestricted submarine warfare. The Germans figured that by announcing this it would bring America into the war, but they also figured that the submarine warfare would be so effective that the blockade would be over before America came over. Why did Germany do such a dumb thing? Because they assumed they could outsmart America and they would win before America got across the Atlantic.
2. Zimmerman telegram- German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman sent a telegram to Mexico in which he asked for a military alliance- in case of war, join in an alliance and you’ll get back all the lands that you lost to American in the Mexican- American war. The US intercepted this telegram. It was printed in all the American newspapers and the Americans became angry at Germany for making such a suggestion.
3. March 1917- five American ships were sunk by the Germans.
4. March 1917- the Russian Revolution took place. The Russians overthrew the czar and set up a new government which seemed to be more democratic than the czar was. Wilson felt more comfortable with the new Russia as an ally. Wilson believed that he was entering the war in order “to make the world safe for democracy”.
America entered the war in April 1917. While they were still in a neutral state, they had already been preparing:
1. Nation Defense Act and the Navy Act (1916) - began the expansion of the army and navy.
2. Revenue Act (1916) - began to raise money to pay for the expansion of the army.
The idea of a draft had long been debated. Some people felt that a draft was wrong and that people should join voluntarily out of love for their nation. They felt that forcing people would hurt the poor people because the rich somehow always managed to get out of it. In 1917, Congress passed the Selective Service Act, which was a draft. All males between the ages of eighteen and forty- five had to join. The draft was questioned, but upheld in court. By the end of the war, 4.8 million Americans had served in the army and 2.8 million were draftees.
The US entered the war at a point when the allies were already exhausted. They supplied fresh, excited soldiers to join the weak atmosphere.
In order to get America ready for war, the government took over different aspects of society:
1. Housing
2. Labor relations
The thought behind this was that sometimes, when a country is in a state of wartime, the government takes control of fields that they hadn’t been involved in beforehand.
About sixteen percent of all males were in the military. Woman and African Americans took over their jobs.
The war was a crusade for President Wilson- he was making the world safe for democracy.
Constitutional issues during the war:
1. Opposition to the war- there were pacifists, such as Jane Adams and Robert Lafollette, who were against the war. Their actions sometimes led to reactions by the American government. In 1917, a law was passed which said that no one can come into the country without passing a literacy test. They said that the immigrants are our enemies and are causing trouble.
2. Espionage Act- it’s a crime to interfere with the draft.
3. Sedition Act- the postmaster general can bar treasonous mail.
4. Schenk vs. USA (1919)- Schenk was handing out anti-draft papers, so he was thrown into jail. He sued and when the case reached the Supreme Court, Oliver Wendell Holmes (chief justice) said that during war, freedoms can be abridged if they are presenting a clear and present danger. The example he gave was screaming “FIRE!” in a packed theater.
The war ended on November 11, 1918. America felt that they had a tremendous part in the victory.
Wilson had a dramatic role in the peace making process. He came up with a program called the Fourteen Points:
1. Open diplomacy- everyone will talk to everyone else and there will be no secrets.
2. Freedom of the seas- everyone is going to trade together and there will be no blockades.
3. No trade barriers.
4. Arms reduction.
5. Self determination- let every people decide how they want to live. America themselves had colonies, as they had fought a war in 1848 and got:
a. Guam
b. Cuba
c. Philippines
6. League of Nations- place to get together to discuss all the problems at hand.
Wilson came to Europe and was considered a hero. He was the first American president to leave American soil during his presidency. The European nations didn’t like the Fourteen Points. They wanted to make Germany pay, so they made up their own treaty.
Treaty of Versailles:
1. Germany had to admit that the war was all their fault.
2. Had to pay reparations.
3. Give up their army and colonies.
The only one of the fourteen points that was kept was the League of Nations.
Senate didn’t want to ratify the Treaty of Versailles because:
1. The Republicans were annoyed at Wilson (Democrat) that he didn’t involve them in the decision making. Henry Cabot Lodge was a powerful Republican who fought against it.
2. America wanted to go back to their policy of neutrality. They would only get involved if they wanted to.
Wilson went around the country trying to get people to sign. At this time, he had a stroke and his wife ran the country. America never signed the Treaty of Versailles, however they did sometimes send observers to the League of Nations.
After WWI, America changed from a debtor nation into a creditor nation. They emerged as a superpower.
WWI began in Europe in 1914 and lasted until 1918. The US didn’t enter the war until 1917.
Causes for WWI:
1. Nationalism- there was strong nationalistic competition amongst the European nations, in particular after the reunification of Germany in 1871. There was also ethnic unrest- groups of Czechs and Slavs wanted to free themselves from being under Austria-Hungary’s rule.
2. Imperialism- the European nations and the USA were scrambling for colonies in developing war. The fight over colonies was tense.
3. Alliance system- because of the tensions that were building up, little groups of like minded nations joined together:
a. Triple Entente/Allies- France, England and Russia.
b. Triple Alliance- Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
The problem with the alliance system is that when countries are upset with each other, you end up with a huge war instead of the two countries that are upset.
4. Militarism- all the nations began building up their armies, especially Germany.
Why did America enter the war? (As a general, America was neutral)
1. Cultural ties- Americans felt connected to whichever countries they came from. Some felt connected to Germany, many to England- our mother country, and some to France- our old ally.
2. Economic links to these countries- the British blockaded the North Sea and that cut off our trade with Germany, intensifying our trade with England. Now that we had economic ties with England, we wanted to help them. Most Americans felt that trading with the Allies didn’t bridge our neutrality. Wilson won his second term in office in 1916 with the slogan, “he kept us out of war”.
3. Propaganda- the media influences our thoughts. The Allies launched a very successful media campaign- they pictured themselves as agents of democracy and the Triple Alliance as barbarians. Through billboards and news bulletins, they pushed their views.
4. Issue of freedom of the seas and German submarine warfare- in 1915, the Germans tried to use submarine warfare in an attempt to end the British blockade. Germany announced that the waters around England are within a warzone and that their u-boats would be sinking ships that come into these waters. They said that neutral ships also shouldn’t come into these waters. Since submarines are vulnerable when they surface, they decided to ignore the international law that demands that neutral ships be treated differently than war ships. America felt that their freedom of the seas was being abused. The American passenger ship, the Lusitania, was attacked.
Immediate events that led America to enter the war:
1. February 1, 1917- Germany announced unrestricted submarine warfare. The Germans figured that by announcing this it would bring America into the war, but they also figured that the submarine warfare would be so effective that the blockade would be over before America came over. Why did Germany do such a dumb thing? Because they assumed they could outsmart America and they would win before America got across the Atlantic.
2. Zimmerman telegram- German foreign secretary Arthur Zimmerman sent a telegram to Mexico in which he asked for a military alliance- in case of war, join in an alliance and you’ll get back all the lands that you lost to American in the Mexican- American war. The US intercepted this telegram. It was printed in all the American newspapers and the Americans became angry at Germany for making such a suggestion.
3. March 1917- five American ships were sunk by the Germans.
4. March 1917- the Russian Revolution took place. The Russians overthrew the czar and set up a new government which seemed to be more democratic than the czar was. Wilson felt more comfortable with the new Russia as an ally. Wilson believed that he was entering the war in order “to make the world safe for democracy”.
America entered the war in April 1917. While they were still in a neutral state, they had already been preparing:
1. Nation Defense Act and the Navy Act (1916) - began the expansion of the army and navy.
2. Revenue Act (1916) - began to raise money to pay for the expansion of the army.
The idea of a draft had long been debated. Some people felt that a draft was wrong and that people should join voluntarily out of love for their nation. They felt that forcing people would hurt the poor people because the rich somehow always managed to get out of it. In 1917, Congress passed the Selective Service Act, which was a draft. All males between the ages of eighteen and forty- five had to join. The draft was questioned, but upheld in court. By the end of the war, 4.8 million Americans had served in the army and 2.8 million were draftees.
The US entered the war at a point when the allies were already exhausted. They supplied fresh, excited soldiers to join the weak atmosphere.
In order to get America ready for war, the government took over different aspects of society:
1. Housing
2. Labor relations
The thought behind this was that sometimes, when a country is in a state of wartime, the government takes control of fields that they hadn’t been involved in beforehand.
About sixteen percent of all males were in the military. Woman and African Americans took over their jobs.
The war was a crusade for President Wilson- he was making the world safe for democracy.
Constitutional issues during the war:
1. Opposition to the war- there were pacifists, such as Jane Adams and Robert Lafollette, who were against the war. Their actions sometimes led to reactions by the American government. In 1917, a law was passed which said that no one can come into the country without passing a literacy test. They said that the immigrants are our enemies and are causing trouble.
2. Espionage Act- it’s a crime to interfere with the draft.
3. Sedition Act- the postmaster general can bar treasonous mail.
4. Schenk vs. USA (1919)- Schenk was handing out anti-draft papers, so he was thrown into jail. He sued and when the case reached the Supreme Court, Oliver Wendell Holmes (chief justice) said that during war, freedoms can be abridged if they are presenting a clear and present danger. The example he gave was screaming “FIRE!” in a packed theater.
The war ended on November 11, 1918. America felt that they had a tremendous part in the victory.
Wilson had a dramatic role in the peace making process. He came up with a program called the Fourteen Points:
1. Open diplomacy- everyone will talk to everyone else and there will be no secrets.
2. Freedom of the seas- everyone is going to trade together and there will be no blockades.
3. No trade barriers.
4. Arms reduction.
5. Self determination- let every people decide how they want to live. America themselves had colonies, as they had fought a war in 1848 and got:
a. Guam
b. Cuba
c. Philippines
6. League of Nations- place to get together to discuss all the problems at hand.
Wilson came to Europe and was considered a hero. He was the first American president to leave American soil during his presidency. The European nations didn’t like the Fourteen Points. They wanted to make Germany pay, so they made up their own treaty.
Treaty of Versailles:
1. Germany had to admit that the war was all their fault.
2. Had to pay reparations.
3. Give up their army and colonies.
The only one of the fourteen points that was kept was the League of Nations.
Senate didn’t want to ratify the Treaty of Versailles because:
1. The Republicans were annoyed at Wilson (Democrat) that he didn’t involve them in the decision making. Henry Cabot Lodge was a powerful Republican who fought against it.
2. America wanted to go back to their policy of neutrality. They would only get involved if they wanted to.
Wilson went around the country trying to get people to sign. At this time, he had a stroke and his wife ran the country. America never signed the Treaty of Versailles, however they did sometimes send observers to the League of Nations.
After WWI, America changed from a debtor nation into a creditor nation. They emerged as a superpower.
SS- Chapter 16
Chapter 16: The Progressive Era
By 1900, the US was a powerful, wealthy nation. Urbanization, immigration and industrialization had made it so. Together with these changes came a slew of problems, and the Progressive Era was going to change these problems.
Problems:
1. Huge monopolies in business
2. Violence in the labor movement
3. Poverty and crime in the cities
4. Increasing gap between the rich and the poor
5. Political corruption
6. Abuse of natural resources
The Progressive Era (1900- 1920) wasn’t one group of people, it was many groups of people. They all had one basic similarity- they were middle class Americans with some extra time and money to do good. In America, it was easy to spread a movement because of the forms of communication:
1. Telephones
2. Railroads
3. Mail
Movements:
1. Muckrakers- a group of progressives who worked toward a social and economical change-. They were all journalists who wanted to expose different evils of society- wanted to dig up the “muck”.
Five Muckrakers:
a. Frank Norris- he wrote “The Octopus”. This book discusses the monopolies of the railroads in California and how the workers were mistreated.
b. Ida Tarbell- she wrote “History of Standard Oil”, which exposed the evil practices of Rockefeller- he was a thief.
c. Lincoln Stephens- he wrote “Shame of Cities”- exposed the corrupt city practices.
d. Jacob Riis- he was a photographer and wrote a photoplay “How the Other Half Lives”. He exposed the horrible living conditions of the poor in the cities. This had an impact on reform in the city. One of the goals was to improve the sewage in the city. They also wanted codes and licensing for building.
e. Upton Sinclair- he wrote “Jungle”. This book exposed the horrors of the meat packaging industry. As a direct result, two laws were passed:
i. Pure Food and Drug act
ii. Meat Inspection act
2. Peace movement- Lillian Wald and Jane Adams led the Woman’s Peace Party- against war. They were pacifists. As a result of her efforts as a pacifist, Jane Adams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.
Jeanette Rankin was the first female senator. She voted against our entry into WWI and WWII. She was a pacifist.
3. Temperance Movement and Prohibition- felt that it could produce better citizens if it was alcohol free. Under the leadership of Francis Willard, the temperance movement took a turn- it began to advocate for the Prohibition. The Prohibition would be an amendment to the constitution stating that alcohol consumption, selling, manufacturing and drinking is illegal. Willard formed the WCTU (Woman’s Christian Temperance Union) to stop the sale of alcohol. In 1920, the eighteenth amendment was passed, in which it stated that the sale, consumption and manufacturing of alcohol was illegal. This amendment was a big mistake and was later repealed.
4. Child Labor-the progressives worked to limit child labor. In 1912, the Federal government formed the Federal Children’s Bureau:
a. To investigate child labor
b. To pressure states to set a minimum wage
c. To pressure states to set maximum hours
5. Woman’s Rights movement- woman’s rights movements began way back in 1848. As time progressed, they decided to make suffrage their main goal.
Susan B. Anthony made it her life’s goal. Susan was very strong in her stand on woman’s rights. Lucy Stone and her husband, Henry Blackwell were more moderate in their goals. Their group joined with SBA and ECS and was called NAWSA. Susan B. Anthony died in 1906. Carrie C. Catt took over NAWSA and worked for suffrage. Alice Paul was a member of NAWSA. She was a militant and was kicked out of NAWSA.
Historians feel that it was the united efforts of woman during WWI who got the nineteenth amendment to be passed in 1920. This amendment gave woman the right to vote.
Another sign of improvement was education for woman- by the end of the 1800s, many women’s colleges had opened. By the early 1900s, a third of the people attending college were woman. Female colleges:
a. Vassar
b. Wellesley
c. Smith
Soon, co-ed colleges were started.
Another woman’s issue was the campaign for birth control. Margaret Sanger formed the Planned Parenthood Organization (aka American Birth Control League). She went into inner city homes and advocated limiting children in a family. She was jailed very often.
6. Jewish groups formed the ADL- fought against anti-Semitism.
7. Progressive efforts in the government- the government was corrupt. They wanted to end the political machines and didn’t want a mayor. They worked on a few main ideas to make the government closer to the people, and that would minimize corruption:
a. Secret Ballot- no one should know who you are voting for. This would end the intimidation of the party bosses.
b. Initiative- the voter could petition to get a law passed.
c. Referendum- voters decide whether a law should be passed. This is direct democracy.
d. Recall- people can be removed from office.
e. Direct primary- you choose the person you want to represent you.
f. Direct election of senators- the seventeenth amendment was passed, which allowed for this to happen.
All these ideas were presented by the Populist Party, but weren’t passed until now.
The state of Wisconsin was used as a role model for progressive reform under their governor Robert Lafollette. Wisconsin enacted many progressive reforms. They passed laws to:
1. Regulate railroads
2. Correct banks
3. Stop corruption
Lafollette was nicknamed “Fighting Bob”.
Other states copied and tried to bring change:
1. California under Hiram Johnson
2. New York under Teddy Roosevelt
The first three presidents of this century were all progressives:
1. Roosevelt
2. Taft
3. Wilson
Roosevelt became president in 1901. He was elected as vice president in 1900, but when McKinley was killed, he became president. Roosevelt was a proactive person. He was the first president in history who was heavily involved with the people. Today, presidents are extremely involved with the people.
He was heavily involved in social and economic reform. He promised every American a Square Deal- a fair chance that they should be serviced in this country. It was under Roosevelt that the Pure Food and Drug act and the Meat Inspection act were passed.
Roosevelt was heavily involved in regulating business. He wanted to strengthen the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) - set up to regulate business. In order to do this, he passed the Elkins and Hepburn Act- force railroads to set formal rates. They made it illegal to give out free passes to friends. The ICC also regulated ferries, bridges and pipelines later on.
Roosevelt was known as the “Trust Buster”- he checked into trusts. If they were good trusts that benefited the city, they could remain, otherwise not.
He convinced Congress to set up the Bureau of Corporations- division of the department of labor. The bureau would investigate trusts and let the public know what they doing wrong. They would bring the trusts to court if they were doing something wrong.
Two major trust busting cases:
1. Northern Security vs. USA- broke up the railroad monopoly, so the court ruled against it.
2. Swift and Co. vs. USA- it was a meat packaging company. The court ruled that the monopoly had to be crushed. This case was a clear deviation of EC Knight vs. USA because then, the court ruled in favor of the monopoly.
In this time period, America was moving away from laissez faire.
Roosevelt also worked to help labor unions grow. In 1902, the Pennsylvania coal miners went on strike but the owner refused to do anything. Roosevelt called them down to the White House to talk with them and force them to work with the labor unions. This is called arbitration. This was the first time that the government got involved with the unions to favor the worker.
Roosevelt passed the Employer’s Liability Act- bosses need some form of insurance in case the workers get hurt on the job.
Lockner vs. NY- limiting the work hours.
Roosevelt was a conservationist- he loved the outdoors. Roosevelt was influenced to set aside land by:
1. John Muir
2. Pinochet
National parks were built now and the National Reclamation Act was passed- took money from the sale of public land and used it for irrigation and to fix things. The National Forest Reserve Act was also passed- set aside land for forests.
Roosevelt organized the Conservation Convention- a meeting of many governors of many states to discuss conservation issues.
In 1908, Roosevelt decided not to run for a third term, and told Republicans to vote for Taft. Taft won the presidency.
Taft was a progressive and there were many reforms under Taft:
1. Trust Buster- busted many trusts, even more than Roosevelt. Standard Oil Co. vs. USA- felt that they were violating the Sherman Anti Trust Act- the Supreme Court used the rule of reasoning- look deep into the trust and see if it’s illegal.
2. Man Elkins Act- gave more power to the ICC.
Taft ran into a money problem and he wasn’t politically capable. He made two mistakes:
1. As the progressives wanted to lower the tariff, he promised to. However, not all the members of his party were progressives. In fact, many of the Republicans wanted to raise the tariff. The tariff was indeed raised. The Payne Aldrich Tariff raised the tariff. Many people didn’t agree.
2. Taft fired the head of the forest department- Pinochet. Taft fired him because Taft’s friend Balinger had been taking land for business and Pinochet said that he’s doing the wrong thing. People were upset that Taft fired him.
Election year of 1912- Roosevelt said that he’s going to run for a third term, but the Republican Party nominated Taft because people don’t like change.
Roosevelt formed the Bull Moose Party- to take care of things on his own. Now, the Republican Party was split. This paved the way for the democratic victory which occurred. Woodrow Wilson now became president. Wilson was also a progressive. “New Freedom” was Wilson’s slogan- he wanted to change finance in the city.
Reforms:
1. Underwood Tariff- lowered the tariff. This was the first time the tariff was lowered since the Civil War. It also added a provision to the sixteenth amendment that was passed at the end of Taft’s term. The sixteenth amendment started an income tax. Now, a provision was added- Graduated Income Tax- the amount was based on an individual percent of income.
2. Federal Reserve System- reshaped the banking system in America. Wilson divided the USA into twelve banking districts. In each of the sections, he placed a Federal bank. All these banks had to answer to a Federal Reserve Board, which regulated the banks. The Federal Reserve Board issued new currency and made all the decisions for the banks. The main goal of the Federal Reserve Board was to regulate interest rates- raise of lower according to what the economy needs.
Wilson made two business regulations:
1. Federal Trade Commission- to investigate unfair business tactics.
2. Clayton Anti Trust Act- was stronger than the Sherman Anti Trust act. It controlled business and was against unfair business practices. It tried very hard to end the practice of using anti-trust laws against labor unions. In an effort to crush unions, the trusts stated that unions are trusts, therefore they have to be crushed. The Clayton Anti Trust Act still busts trusts until today.
By 1900, the US was a powerful, wealthy nation. Urbanization, immigration and industrialization had made it so. Together with these changes came a slew of problems, and the Progressive Era was going to change these problems.
Problems:
1. Huge monopolies in business
2. Violence in the labor movement
3. Poverty and crime in the cities
4. Increasing gap between the rich and the poor
5. Political corruption
6. Abuse of natural resources
The Progressive Era (1900- 1920) wasn’t one group of people, it was many groups of people. They all had one basic similarity- they were middle class Americans with some extra time and money to do good. In America, it was easy to spread a movement because of the forms of communication:
1. Telephones
2. Railroads
3. Mail
Movements:
1. Muckrakers- a group of progressives who worked toward a social and economical change-. They were all journalists who wanted to expose different evils of society- wanted to dig up the “muck”.
Five Muckrakers:
a. Frank Norris- he wrote “The Octopus”. This book discusses the monopolies of the railroads in California and how the workers were mistreated.
b. Ida Tarbell- she wrote “History of Standard Oil”, which exposed the evil practices of Rockefeller- he was a thief.
c. Lincoln Stephens- he wrote “Shame of Cities”- exposed the corrupt city practices.
d. Jacob Riis- he was a photographer and wrote a photoplay “How the Other Half Lives”. He exposed the horrible living conditions of the poor in the cities. This had an impact on reform in the city. One of the goals was to improve the sewage in the city. They also wanted codes and licensing for building.
e. Upton Sinclair- he wrote “Jungle”. This book exposed the horrors of the meat packaging industry. As a direct result, two laws were passed:
i. Pure Food and Drug act
ii. Meat Inspection act
2. Peace movement- Lillian Wald and Jane Adams led the Woman’s Peace Party- against war. They were pacifists. As a result of her efforts as a pacifist, Jane Adams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.
Jeanette Rankin was the first female senator. She voted against our entry into WWI and WWII. She was a pacifist.
3. Temperance Movement and Prohibition- felt that it could produce better citizens if it was alcohol free. Under the leadership of Francis Willard, the temperance movement took a turn- it began to advocate for the Prohibition. The Prohibition would be an amendment to the constitution stating that alcohol consumption, selling, manufacturing and drinking is illegal. Willard formed the WCTU (Woman’s Christian Temperance Union) to stop the sale of alcohol. In 1920, the eighteenth amendment was passed, in which it stated that the sale, consumption and manufacturing of alcohol was illegal. This amendment was a big mistake and was later repealed.
4. Child Labor-the progressives worked to limit child labor. In 1912, the Federal government formed the Federal Children’s Bureau:
a. To investigate child labor
b. To pressure states to set a minimum wage
c. To pressure states to set maximum hours
5. Woman’s Rights movement- woman’s rights movements began way back in 1848. As time progressed, they decided to make suffrage their main goal.
Susan B. Anthony made it her life’s goal. Susan was very strong in her stand on woman’s rights. Lucy Stone and her husband, Henry Blackwell were more moderate in their goals. Their group joined with SBA and ECS and was called NAWSA. Susan B. Anthony died in 1906. Carrie C. Catt took over NAWSA and worked for suffrage. Alice Paul was a member of NAWSA. She was a militant and was kicked out of NAWSA.
Historians feel that it was the united efforts of woman during WWI who got the nineteenth amendment to be passed in 1920. This amendment gave woman the right to vote.
Another sign of improvement was education for woman- by the end of the 1800s, many women’s colleges had opened. By the early 1900s, a third of the people attending college were woman. Female colleges:
a. Vassar
b. Wellesley
c. Smith
Soon, co-ed colleges were started.
Another woman’s issue was the campaign for birth control. Margaret Sanger formed the Planned Parenthood Organization (aka American Birth Control League). She went into inner city homes and advocated limiting children in a family. She was jailed very often.
6. Jewish groups formed the ADL- fought against anti-Semitism.
7. Progressive efforts in the government- the government was corrupt. They wanted to end the political machines and didn’t want a mayor. They worked on a few main ideas to make the government closer to the people, and that would minimize corruption:
a. Secret Ballot- no one should know who you are voting for. This would end the intimidation of the party bosses.
b. Initiative- the voter could petition to get a law passed.
c. Referendum- voters decide whether a law should be passed. This is direct democracy.
d. Recall- people can be removed from office.
e. Direct primary- you choose the person you want to represent you.
f. Direct election of senators- the seventeenth amendment was passed, which allowed for this to happen.
All these ideas were presented by the Populist Party, but weren’t passed until now.
The state of Wisconsin was used as a role model for progressive reform under their governor Robert Lafollette. Wisconsin enacted many progressive reforms. They passed laws to:
1. Regulate railroads
2. Correct banks
3. Stop corruption
Lafollette was nicknamed “Fighting Bob”.
Other states copied and tried to bring change:
1. California under Hiram Johnson
2. New York under Teddy Roosevelt
The first three presidents of this century were all progressives:
1. Roosevelt
2. Taft
3. Wilson
Roosevelt became president in 1901. He was elected as vice president in 1900, but when McKinley was killed, he became president. Roosevelt was a proactive person. He was the first president in history who was heavily involved with the people. Today, presidents are extremely involved with the people.
He was heavily involved in social and economic reform. He promised every American a Square Deal- a fair chance that they should be serviced in this country. It was under Roosevelt that the Pure Food and Drug act and the Meat Inspection act were passed.
Roosevelt was heavily involved in regulating business. He wanted to strengthen the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) - set up to regulate business. In order to do this, he passed the Elkins and Hepburn Act- force railroads to set formal rates. They made it illegal to give out free passes to friends. The ICC also regulated ferries, bridges and pipelines later on.
Roosevelt was known as the “Trust Buster”- he checked into trusts. If they were good trusts that benefited the city, they could remain, otherwise not.
He convinced Congress to set up the Bureau of Corporations- division of the department of labor. The bureau would investigate trusts and let the public know what they doing wrong. They would bring the trusts to court if they were doing something wrong.
Two major trust busting cases:
1. Northern Security vs. USA- broke up the railroad monopoly, so the court ruled against it.
2. Swift and Co. vs. USA- it was a meat packaging company. The court ruled that the monopoly had to be crushed. This case was a clear deviation of EC Knight vs. USA because then, the court ruled in favor of the monopoly.
In this time period, America was moving away from laissez faire.
Roosevelt also worked to help labor unions grow. In 1902, the Pennsylvania coal miners went on strike but the owner refused to do anything. Roosevelt called them down to the White House to talk with them and force them to work with the labor unions. This is called arbitration. This was the first time that the government got involved with the unions to favor the worker.
Roosevelt passed the Employer’s Liability Act- bosses need some form of insurance in case the workers get hurt on the job.
Lockner vs. NY- limiting the work hours.
Roosevelt was a conservationist- he loved the outdoors. Roosevelt was influenced to set aside land by:
1. John Muir
2. Pinochet
National parks were built now and the National Reclamation Act was passed- took money from the sale of public land and used it for irrigation and to fix things. The National Forest Reserve Act was also passed- set aside land for forests.
Roosevelt organized the Conservation Convention- a meeting of many governors of many states to discuss conservation issues.
In 1908, Roosevelt decided not to run for a third term, and told Republicans to vote for Taft. Taft won the presidency.
Taft was a progressive and there were many reforms under Taft:
1. Trust Buster- busted many trusts, even more than Roosevelt. Standard Oil Co. vs. USA- felt that they were violating the Sherman Anti Trust Act- the Supreme Court used the rule of reasoning- look deep into the trust and see if it’s illegal.
2. Man Elkins Act- gave more power to the ICC.
Taft ran into a money problem and he wasn’t politically capable. He made two mistakes:
1. As the progressives wanted to lower the tariff, he promised to. However, not all the members of his party were progressives. In fact, many of the Republicans wanted to raise the tariff. The tariff was indeed raised. The Payne Aldrich Tariff raised the tariff. Many people didn’t agree.
2. Taft fired the head of the forest department- Pinochet. Taft fired him because Taft’s friend Balinger had been taking land for business and Pinochet said that he’s doing the wrong thing. People were upset that Taft fired him.
Election year of 1912- Roosevelt said that he’s going to run for a third term, but the Republican Party nominated Taft because people don’t like change.
Roosevelt formed the Bull Moose Party- to take care of things on his own. Now, the Republican Party was split. This paved the way for the democratic victory which occurred. Woodrow Wilson now became president. Wilson was also a progressive. “New Freedom” was Wilson’s slogan- he wanted to change finance in the city.
Reforms:
1. Underwood Tariff- lowered the tariff. This was the first time the tariff was lowered since the Civil War. It also added a provision to the sixteenth amendment that was passed at the end of Taft’s term. The sixteenth amendment started an income tax. Now, a provision was added- Graduated Income Tax- the amount was based on an individual percent of income.
2. Federal Reserve System- reshaped the banking system in America. Wilson divided the USA into twelve banking districts. In each of the sections, he placed a Federal bank. All these banks had to answer to a Federal Reserve Board, which regulated the banks. The Federal Reserve Board issued new currency and made all the decisions for the banks. The main goal of the Federal Reserve Board was to regulate interest rates- raise of lower according to what the economy needs.
Wilson made two business regulations:
1. Federal Trade Commission- to investigate unfair business tactics.
2. Clayton Anti Trust Act- was stronger than the Sherman Anti Trust act. It controlled business and was against unfair business practices. It tried very hard to end the practice of using anti-trust laws against labor unions. In an effort to crush unions, the trusts stated that unions are trusts, therefore they have to be crushed. The Clayton Anti Trust Act still busts trusts until today.
SS- Chapter 15
Chapter 15: Immigration and Urbanization
From 1870 to 1920, a new wave of immigrants came to the US. Many different types of immigrants came:
1. Asian- they looked different. They came through Angels Island, which is in California.
2. Eastern Europeans- they came through Ellis Island. They also looked different. The eastern European immigrants came from Russia, Czechoslovakia…
To get through these immigration centers, they had to pass through a series of tests: literacy and a physical exam. They had to have an address of wear they were going, at least twenty five dollars, and be able to prove that they would be an asset to the country.
Once they finally got through, the immigrants experienced a culture shock. They would often live in ghettoized areas. The children got accustomed much quicker than the adults. This led to difficulties for the parents because there was now a gap between them and their children.
Sociologists have different theories on how Americans blended in this country:
1. Melting Pot- immigrants came and all their cultures blended and formed the new Americans.
2. Assimilation- when you totally blend.
3. Pluralism (Salad Bowl) - when an immigrant comes and they don’t give up on their culture, living happily, side by side with other cultures. Some times, some cultures rub off onto another, but the original culture is still highly visible.
There was an extreme reaction against immigrants because they dress and act differently:
1. Chinese- Yellow Peril. They felt that little, yellow men had descended upon their country. Americans weren’t welcoming. In 1882, after much pressure from California, the US issued the Chinese Exclusion Act, which didn’t allow for any more Chinese immigrants.
2. Japanese- the Japanese complained that they were being discriminated against. The Japanese government complained that the Japanese weren’t being treated nicely. Japan said, we modernized just like you, so the US government passed the Gentleman’s Agreement in 1907. It said that Japan won’t send anymore immigrants, but those that already in the US will be treated very nicely.
In 1921, they passed the Emergency Quota Act- sharply limited the amount of immigrants that the US was willing to take in.
In 1924, the National Origins Act was passed, stating that especially from eastern Europe immigrants shouldn’t be allowed in.
Immigrants built this nation.
Urbanization-
The cities exploded over night because of:
1. Flood of immigrants
2. Factories drew people from the south and from the farms
The cities exploded over night. Immigrants flooded the cities. The factories were in the cities so they got jobs and made money. Blacks and farmers came to the cities in search of jobs.
Who lived in the cities?
1. The poor- they had a hard life. They lived in slums and worked in factories with horrible conditions. They could hardly enjoy the benefits of the city.
2. Middle class- they were able to benefit. They were the doctors, lawyers, teacher… Some of the middle class were able to own their own homes and have appliances. The middle class had some leisure time to enjoy the benefits of the city.
3. Wealthy- lived very well.
This period in history is sometimes called the Gilded Era. It looked like America was getting very rich. Really, there were many poor people and the gap between the rich and poor was widening.
Cities offered a lot in the way of culture. They had:
1. Concert halls
2. Libraries
3. Music halls
4. Parks- Fredrick Olmstead designed Central Park.
The cities offered better education. There were high schools, colleges and philosophers. John Dewey was an educator and philosopher who wanted to improve education.
Cities had:
1. Subways (elevated train)
2. Streetcars
3. Skyscrapers
4. Electricity
5. Street lights
There were many problems in the cities:
1. Housing- there were now so many people. The middle class lived in row houses. If they moved out, seven immigrant families would move in. The government tried to help these families by building apartment buildings called tenements. They were built with many windows for air. The tenements were good, but they weren’t great.
2. Sanitation issue- there was no formal system of disposing of waste. Now there was much more garbage because of new objects such as tin cans.
3. Water- now was the start of indoor plumbing, but there wasn’t enough water.
4. Fires- there was no fire department. Almost every city experienced a fire at this point, but there were no firemen or water to put out the fire.
5. Crime- cities were full of crime. Little children without parents watching them led to crime. Poverty also leads to crime. There was no official police dept at this time. There were some reformers who tried to minimize crime and improve the situation. They set up community centers which served lunch and taught people how to read. Two community centers:
a. Hull House- settlement house in Chicago that was set up by Lillian Wald.
b. Henry Street Settlement House- in NYC. It was set up by Jane Adams.
6. Political machines- an organized group of men that control the activities of a political party. Every city had at least one political machine. At the head of the political machine is the party boss. This group of men controlled the city by being very in touch with the people, especially the poor. If there was a problem, they were on the scene helping and they would tell people to remember them and vote for them. The poor were very loyal so they voted for them. They got the vote and they had the power. Once you have power, it leads to corruption.
“Boss” Tweed was a very powerful party boss in NYC. He controlled the city and was corrupt. He built a town hall- Tammany Hall- headquarters of the party. He rebuilt the headquarters on NYC tax dollars. He taxed people tons to build the town hall and he pocketed the extra money. This is one example of the types of corruption that occurred. Graft means to steal money.
Eventually the political machine was destroyed. A cartoonist by the name of Thomas Nast helped destroy the political machines by writing many of cartoons showing how corrupt the political machines were. The government made little effort to improve corruption.
President Cleveland tried to pass laws to minimize corruption, but he was killed in office and didn’t manage to pass the law. Vice president Chester Arthur managed to pass the act. The Pendleton Act ended the spoils system and began the implementation of the civil service exams- tests that had to be taken before working in the government. This helped corruption in general but not the political machine issue.
America felt that now, at the end of the 1800s, the frontier was closed. Fredrick Jackson Turner wrote an essay,”The Significance of the American Frontier”. He said that the frontier made America into the powerful nation that it will become.
During these yrs, America changed majorly from farm life to city life. America shifted to fads and styles. They went from making things on their own to shopping in department stores. Even people still living on the farms could get whatever they needed by ordering from catalogs.
Blacks didn’t benefit much from the change. They were still poor and discriminated against. In the south, they were extremely discriminated against and in the north, they were discriminated against too.
People who helped blacks:
1. Ida B. Wells- worked to fight against lynching- a method of killing blacks by hanging them, which took place in the south.
2. Marcus Garvey- a black man. He formed the United Negro Association- for blacks to form their own economic community. The blacks don’t need the whites- they can be self sufficient.
3. Booker T. Washington- He felt that all blacks should learn a vocation- a skill. He opened up a vocational school, Tuskegee Institute. He felt that if you establish yourself on an economic level, you’ll have money and you’ll be ok. He felt that education was the key to African success.
4. W.E.B. Dubois- felt that being educated will lead to success. He encouraged people to get a formal education- go to college, universities… He formed the Niagara Movement- spoke about his ideas of education. An outgrowth of this movement was the NAACP, a powerful black education which helps blacks until today. Provides them with services when in need.
From 1870 to 1920, a new wave of immigrants came to the US. Many different types of immigrants came:
1. Asian- they looked different. They came through Angels Island, which is in California.
2. Eastern Europeans- they came through Ellis Island. They also looked different. The eastern European immigrants came from Russia, Czechoslovakia…
To get through these immigration centers, they had to pass through a series of tests: literacy and a physical exam. They had to have an address of wear they were going, at least twenty five dollars, and be able to prove that they would be an asset to the country.
Once they finally got through, the immigrants experienced a culture shock. They would often live in ghettoized areas. The children got accustomed much quicker than the adults. This led to difficulties for the parents because there was now a gap between them and their children.
Sociologists have different theories on how Americans blended in this country:
1. Melting Pot- immigrants came and all their cultures blended and formed the new Americans.
2. Assimilation- when you totally blend.
3. Pluralism (Salad Bowl) - when an immigrant comes and they don’t give up on their culture, living happily, side by side with other cultures. Some times, some cultures rub off onto another, but the original culture is still highly visible.
There was an extreme reaction against immigrants because they dress and act differently:
1. Chinese- Yellow Peril. They felt that little, yellow men had descended upon their country. Americans weren’t welcoming. In 1882, after much pressure from California, the US issued the Chinese Exclusion Act, which didn’t allow for any more Chinese immigrants.
2. Japanese- the Japanese complained that they were being discriminated against. The Japanese government complained that the Japanese weren’t being treated nicely. Japan said, we modernized just like you, so the US government passed the Gentleman’s Agreement in 1907. It said that Japan won’t send anymore immigrants, but those that already in the US will be treated very nicely.
In 1921, they passed the Emergency Quota Act- sharply limited the amount of immigrants that the US was willing to take in.
In 1924, the National Origins Act was passed, stating that especially from eastern Europe immigrants shouldn’t be allowed in.
Immigrants built this nation.
Urbanization-
The cities exploded over night because of:
1. Flood of immigrants
2. Factories drew people from the south and from the farms
The cities exploded over night. Immigrants flooded the cities. The factories were in the cities so they got jobs and made money. Blacks and farmers came to the cities in search of jobs.
Who lived in the cities?
1. The poor- they had a hard life. They lived in slums and worked in factories with horrible conditions. They could hardly enjoy the benefits of the city.
2. Middle class- they were able to benefit. They were the doctors, lawyers, teacher… Some of the middle class were able to own their own homes and have appliances. The middle class had some leisure time to enjoy the benefits of the city.
3. Wealthy- lived very well.
This period in history is sometimes called the Gilded Era. It looked like America was getting very rich. Really, there were many poor people and the gap between the rich and poor was widening.
Cities offered a lot in the way of culture. They had:
1. Concert halls
2. Libraries
3. Music halls
4. Parks- Fredrick Olmstead designed Central Park.
The cities offered better education. There were high schools, colleges and philosophers. John Dewey was an educator and philosopher who wanted to improve education.
Cities had:
1. Subways (elevated train)
2. Streetcars
3. Skyscrapers
4. Electricity
5. Street lights
There were many problems in the cities:
1. Housing- there were now so many people. The middle class lived in row houses. If they moved out, seven immigrant families would move in. The government tried to help these families by building apartment buildings called tenements. They were built with many windows for air. The tenements were good, but they weren’t great.
2. Sanitation issue- there was no formal system of disposing of waste. Now there was much more garbage because of new objects such as tin cans.
3. Water- now was the start of indoor plumbing, but there wasn’t enough water.
4. Fires- there was no fire department. Almost every city experienced a fire at this point, but there were no firemen or water to put out the fire.
5. Crime- cities were full of crime. Little children without parents watching them led to crime. Poverty also leads to crime. There was no official police dept at this time. There were some reformers who tried to minimize crime and improve the situation. They set up community centers which served lunch and taught people how to read. Two community centers:
a. Hull House- settlement house in Chicago that was set up by Lillian Wald.
b. Henry Street Settlement House- in NYC. It was set up by Jane Adams.
6. Political machines- an organized group of men that control the activities of a political party. Every city had at least one political machine. At the head of the political machine is the party boss. This group of men controlled the city by being very in touch with the people, especially the poor. If there was a problem, they were on the scene helping and they would tell people to remember them and vote for them. The poor were very loyal so they voted for them. They got the vote and they had the power. Once you have power, it leads to corruption.
“Boss” Tweed was a very powerful party boss in NYC. He controlled the city and was corrupt. He built a town hall- Tammany Hall- headquarters of the party. He rebuilt the headquarters on NYC tax dollars. He taxed people tons to build the town hall and he pocketed the extra money. This is one example of the types of corruption that occurred. Graft means to steal money.
Eventually the political machine was destroyed. A cartoonist by the name of Thomas Nast helped destroy the political machines by writing many of cartoons showing how corrupt the political machines were. The government made little effort to improve corruption.
President Cleveland tried to pass laws to minimize corruption, but he was killed in office and didn’t manage to pass the law. Vice president Chester Arthur managed to pass the act. The Pendleton Act ended the spoils system and began the implementation of the civil service exams- tests that had to be taken before working in the government. This helped corruption in general but not the political machine issue.
America felt that now, at the end of the 1800s, the frontier was closed. Fredrick Jackson Turner wrote an essay,”The Significance of the American Frontier”. He said that the frontier made America into the powerful nation that it will become.
During these yrs, America changed majorly from farm life to city life. America shifted to fads and styles. They went from making things on their own to shopping in department stores. Even people still living on the farms could get whatever they needed by ordering from catalogs.
Blacks didn’t benefit much from the change. They were still poor and discriminated against. In the south, they were extremely discriminated against and in the north, they were discriminated against too.
People who helped blacks:
1. Ida B. Wells- worked to fight against lynching- a method of killing blacks by hanging them, which took place in the south.
2. Marcus Garvey- a black man. He formed the United Negro Association- for blacks to form their own economic community. The blacks don’t need the whites- they can be self sufficient.
3. Booker T. Washington- He felt that all blacks should learn a vocation- a skill. He opened up a vocational school, Tuskegee Institute. He felt that if you establish yourself on an economic level, you’ll have money and you’ll be ok. He felt that education was the key to African success.
4. W.E.B. Dubois- felt that being educated will lead to success. He encouraged people to get a formal education- go to college, universities… He formed the Niagara Movement- spoke about his ideas of education. An outgrowth of this movement was the NAACP, a powerful black education which helps blacks until today. Provides them with services when in need.
Monday, February 22, 2010
SS- Chapter 14
Chapter 14: The Industrial Age
Post Civil War, technology changed the nation for three basic reasons:
1. The discovery and the uncovering of resources.
2. Burst of inventions.
3. Move to the cities- the city people wanted more products.
Resources:
1. Kerosene- in 1840, a Canadian geologist discovered that you could use kerosene to light lamps. Kerosene is a byproduct of oil. Edwin Drake used the steam engine to drill for oil. Oil refineries were now cropping up in many places. Oil produced another byproduct- gasoline. They used to chuck it, but with the invention of automobiles at the end of the 1800s, gas became a hot commodity. Because of this, oil became an even hotter commodity.
2. Coal- was cheap and easy. Fuel and coal mines opened up across the country.
3. Iron- was around and used, but it wasn’t so flexible. Realized that if you remove the carbon from iron, you get steal. It was hard and costly to remove the carbon from the iron until Henry Bessemer made the Bessemer process- it was an efficient way of removing the carbon from the iron. Steal was used for myriad of things such as:
a. Farm tools
b. Railroads
c. Cans for preserving food
d. Skyscrapers
Inventions:
1. Thomas Edison- he invented many things. He was nicknamed the Wizard of Menlo Park. He was a tinkerer. Edison didn’t event the light bulb, but got credit for it. Edison did invent the phonograph.
2. George Westinghouse- made electricity available to the average person. He harnessed it so that it was safer and less expensive. Electricity revolutionized the world- factories no longer had to be near water because electricity is now portable. This changed people’s lifestyles tremendously- people could now work even if it was dark outside. This also caused the invention of many appliances. The streetcar expanded the cities.
Inventions that changed woman’s lives:
1. Typewriter- was invented by Christopher Sholes. This brought woman into the offices.
2. Alexander Graham Bell and the telephone- brought woman into the work force. The switchboard connected the people.
By 1910, 40% of the office workforce was woman. People all over the world enjoyed the benefits of these inventions.
Inventions had a positive effect in the cities:
1. More leisure time because machinery could now produce quicker.
2. Inventions made life easier and more exciting:
a. Camera
b. Washing machine
c. Iron
d. Phonograph
Age of the railroads-
In 1869, the transcontinental railroad was completed. Over the next year, more and more rails were added. By 1890, there were 200,000 miles of track across the country. Railroads made it easier for travel and shopping. It linked the nation and also made long distance travel possible.
The railroads were built at the expense of the poor laborers.
The problem of the railroad- scheduling was difficult. Every city had different times because time was set by the sun. There was no organized time across the country. Professor Dowd organized time by dividing the country into twenty four time zones. Four out of these twenty four zones are located in the US:
1. Eastern
2. Central
3. Mountain
4. Pacific
This idea was instituted by railroads because they wanted a standard time. At first, many people were against it but eventually the entire world accepted time zones and there was now organization in clocks.
Railroads affected the way we travel and many businesses- they needed steel, coal, glass and oil so it impacted on many industries. Railroads also brought about new towns:
1. Stops along the way- once the railroad moved through an area, it was able to be lived in.
2. In 1850, George Pullman invented the sleeping car. This is a train car that can be slept in during travel. They built an entire town around the factory that made them. At first, Pullmantown was really nice, but over the course of many years, the workers felt that Pullman was controlling them. There were strikes against Pullman.
One of the most famous scandals was the Credit Mobilier scandal. The railroads offered opportunities to make money. Often, when there is an opportunity to make money, there is an opportunity for corruption. The Credit Mobilier scandal was an example of such corruption. The Union Pacific formed a construction company called the Credit Mobilier. They then went ahead and made fraudulent bills of how much the construction would cost. The Union Pacific gave the Credit Mobilier a contract to lay track at double the cost. They then pocketed the extra money. The Credit Mobilier scandal is one of the scandals that took place during the Grant presidency.
Farmers and the railroad-
People were unhappy with the railroads because:
1. They felt that the railroads were abusing them because they were charging insane prices to ship goods.
2. The farmers felt that the railroads were cheating the government- the government gave land to build railroads on, but they were selling the land to the people.
The Grange movement tired to fight the railroads politically and they were successful. They got some local official in to fight for the farmers. On a local level, farmers managed to pass laws to control the railroads. The railroads weren’t happy with these laws. They wanted to fight this so they went to the Supreme courts in Munn vs. Illinois, in 1877, the railroad said that a state can’t tell them what to do with business. The court ruled that private business can be regulated for the public good. The farmers won.
Ten years later, there was a new ruling in Wabush, St. Lois and Pacific Railroad vs. Illinois, they ruled that a state can’t control the railroad, only the Federal government can regulate the railroads now.
This set the stage for the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) - a federal commission which regulates railroads. In 1893, when there was a panic, many railroads lost business and were taken over by huge firms. There were only about seven companies that controlled the railroads.
Big business emerges-
America is now moving into big business. Now, Americas is becoming a country of businessmen, no longer a country of farmers and shopkeepers.
There are many ways to have a big business:
1. Corporation- when a private business goes public. They sell shares of stocks. People then invest in you and they make money when you make money.
2. Trust- many corporations held together by a group of trustees. They control the business and divide the money.
3. Holding company- a corporation that does nothing but buy stocks in other companies.
Different entrepreneurs:
1. Andrew Carnegie- came to this country as a pauper. He moved up the social ladder by doing smart things. Eventually, he owned the Carnegie Steel Company. He had a process by which he grew rich:
a. Vertical integration- owns all raw products that are needed for your business.
b. Horizontal integration- own all your products.
He also worked to make business run efficiently.
2. Rockefeller- owned oil. He had a huge oil trust.
3. JP Morgan- was a banker and also owned railroads.
4. Vanderbilt- owned railroads.
The success of these entrepreneurs led to an intellectual movement called Social Darwinism- Darwin believed in the survival of the fittest. Social Darwinism is the economical survival of the fittest- if I have to crush you along the way up, so be it. These people live by their strength. Many Rags to Riches movies came out. This was the culture of the day.
Two views on entrepreneurs:
1. They’re robber barons- they are nothing but robbers
a. You’re a robber
b. Your workers are being crushed.
2. Philanthropists- big charity givers. They built libraries and museums.
Many institutes were named after these philanthropists. They felt that it was benevolent to give money and would be a crime to die rich.
Eventually, to help curve monopolies, the government passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. This outlawed trusts. This act set a precedent- more of an understanding that government should control business more than it really did. Courts didn’t back the act. In the case of USA vs. EC Knight, the court said that EC Knight (sugar business) isn’t a trust- said that certain businesses are exempt. Businesses themselves fought the law. They instead formed holding companies.
Unions form-
Industrialization had a nasty little effect on the poor little worker- now they could work and had to work sixteen hours a day and horrible working conditions. No one cared about the worker, just the output. They had a tremendous lack of identity. People used to have important jobs and now they were left turning screws.
Unions that formed:
1. National Labor Union formed in 1866. It was made up of about 300 smaller labor unions. They managed to get an eight hour work day. They formed a political party called the Labor Reform Party. They even nominated someone for president in 1872.
2. Knights of Labor- Terrance Powderly formed this union. Everyone was allowed to join this union- the skilled and the unskilled workers, the black and the white.
As the union movement grew, two types of unions formed:
1. Trade and Craft Union. One had to have the skill to join this union. This fell under the umbrella of the American Federation of Labor. It was led by Samuel Gompers- was a Jew. The AFL’s tactic was called collective bargaining- union bosses were the mediators between the factory owners and the workers. Gompers campaigned for bread and water unionism- they wanted basics such as an eight hour workday and pay.
2. American Railway Union- led by Eugene Debs. He believed in allowing everyone in regardless of race, gender, skilled and unskilled. Debs felt the problem wasn’t the rich people, rather in how our economic system is set up. He said that a system of private ownership and competition allows for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. He said that Americans should lean towards socialism because if the government owns business, then everyone is equal and everything is perfect.
A radical union that formed: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) - it was founded in 1905. They advocated for extreme socialism, almost to the point of communism.
One of the major tactics all unions used was striking:
1. Great Railway Strike- took place in 1876. It was so powerful, the B and O (Baltimore and Ohio) railroads were shut down. President Hayes sent the workers back to work.
2. Haymarket Riot- took place in Haymarket Square, Chicago. The Knights of Labor organized a rally in Haymarket Square to protest the death of a fellow striker. They are unsure how it happened, but suddenly a bomb exploded. There was a riot. Strikers were displayed as violent groups. Within a few years, the Knights of Labor shut down.
3. Homestead Strike- Homestead, Pennsylvania in the Carnegie steel plant. He gave the workers of a pay cut so they went on strike. Carnegie hired scabs to take the place of the striking workers. Fights broke out between the workers and managers. Seventeen people ended up dead. When the strike was over, fewer than 25% of the strikers got their jobs back and there was no more striking in steel plants for the next twenty years.
4. Pullman Strike- the workers of Pullmingtown went on strike and the government forced them back to work.
5. Lawrence Textile Mill Strike- in 1912. Led by the IWW. They were successful.
Two women that helped unionize:
1. Mary Harris Jones- she was nicknamed Mother because she was a mother to all children. She helped unionize them. She took the children on a march before the White House. She also helped unionize mine workers.
2. Pauline Neuman- she helped unionize other woman in the garment industry- most of the woman were Jewish and Italian immigrants. No one listened to her about the plight of woman as she described the terrible factory conditions until there was a fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911. 150 women died. When this went to the judge, the factory owners were found to be guilty. The bosses didn’t agree- said that a fire is a natural disaster. This started a new awareness and a trend toward improvement.
Three cases that show that judges sided with big businesses and one that showed improvement:
1. Hammer vs. Dagenhardt- was against child labor laws. Child labor laws had begun to be passed. Business men apposed child labor laws. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of business. They said that child labor laws are unconstitutional because they are denying children their rights.
2. Lockner vs. New York- in 1905. The Supreme Court ruled that you can’t limit a work day. This ruling was also in favor of businesses.
3. Muller vs. Oregon- somewhat overturned. Women were working in a bakery for very long hours. Woman sued for a shorter work day. Their lawyer named Brandice proved scientifically why a woman’s workday should be cut and he was successful.
With all the improvements, the government is now moving slowly toward change, and the businesses were continuously fighting. Some even forced yellow dog contracts on people- if you want to be employed by them, you can’t join a union.
Post Civil War, technology changed the nation for three basic reasons:
1. The discovery and the uncovering of resources.
2. Burst of inventions.
3. Move to the cities- the city people wanted more products.
Resources:
1. Kerosene- in 1840, a Canadian geologist discovered that you could use kerosene to light lamps. Kerosene is a byproduct of oil. Edwin Drake used the steam engine to drill for oil. Oil refineries were now cropping up in many places. Oil produced another byproduct- gasoline. They used to chuck it, but with the invention of automobiles at the end of the 1800s, gas became a hot commodity. Because of this, oil became an even hotter commodity.
2. Coal- was cheap and easy. Fuel and coal mines opened up across the country.
3. Iron- was around and used, but it wasn’t so flexible. Realized that if you remove the carbon from iron, you get steal. It was hard and costly to remove the carbon from the iron until Henry Bessemer made the Bessemer process- it was an efficient way of removing the carbon from the iron. Steal was used for myriad of things such as:
a. Farm tools
b. Railroads
c. Cans for preserving food
d. Skyscrapers
Inventions:
1. Thomas Edison- he invented many things. He was nicknamed the Wizard of Menlo Park. He was a tinkerer. Edison didn’t event the light bulb, but got credit for it. Edison did invent the phonograph.
2. George Westinghouse- made electricity available to the average person. He harnessed it so that it was safer and less expensive. Electricity revolutionized the world- factories no longer had to be near water because electricity is now portable. This changed people’s lifestyles tremendously- people could now work even if it was dark outside. This also caused the invention of many appliances. The streetcar expanded the cities.
Inventions that changed woman’s lives:
1. Typewriter- was invented by Christopher Sholes. This brought woman into the offices.
2. Alexander Graham Bell and the telephone- brought woman into the work force. The switchboard connected the people.
By 1910, 40% of the office workforce was woman. People all over the world enjoyed the benefits of these inventions.
Inventions had a positive effect in the cities:
1. More leisure time because machinery could now produce quicker.
2. Inventions made life easier and more exciting:
a. Camera
b. Washing machine
c. Iron
d. Phonograph
Age of the railroads-
In 1869, the transcontinental railroad was completed. Over the next year, more and more rails were added. By 1890, there were 200,000 miles of track across the country. Railroads made it easier for travel and shopping. It linked the nation and also made long distance travel possible.
The railroads were built at the expense of the poor laborers.
The problem of the railroad- scheduling was difficult. Every city had different times because time was set by the sun. There was no organized time across the country. Professor Dowd organized time by dividing the country into twenty four time zones. Four out of these twenty four zones are located in the US:
1. Eastern
2. Central
3. Mountain
4. Pacific
This idea was instituted by railroads because they wanted a standard time. At first, many people were against it but eventually the entire world accepted time zones and there was now organization in clocks.
Railroads affected the way we travel and many businesses- they needed steel, coal, glass and oil so it impacted on many industries. Railroads also brought about new towns:
1. Stops along the way- once the railroad moved through an area, it was able to be lived in.
2. In 1850, George Pullman invented the sleeping car. This is a train car that can be slept in during travel. They built an entire town around the factory that made them. At first, Pullmantown was really nice, but over the course of many years, the workers felt that Pullman was controlling them. There were strikes against Pullman.
One of the most famous scandals was the Credit Mobilier scandal. The railroads offered opportunities to make money. Often, when there is an opportunity to make money, there is an opportunity for corruption. The Credit Mobilier scandal was an example of such corruption. The Union Pacific formed a construction company called the Credit Mobilier. They then went ahead and made fraudulent bills of how much the construction would cost. The Union Pacific gave the Credit Mobilier a contract to lay track at double the cost. They then pocketed the extra money. The Credit Mobilier scandal is one of the scandals that took place during the Grant presidency.
Farmers and the railroad-
People were unhappy with the railroads because:
1. They felt that the railroads were abusing them because they were charging insane prices to ship goods.
2. The farmers felt that the railroads were cheating the government- the government gave land to build railroads on, but they were selling the land to the people.
The Grange movement tired to fight the railroads politically and they were successful. They got some local official in to fight for the farmers. On a local level, farmers managed to pass laws to control the railroads. The railroads weren’t happy with these laws. They wanted to fight this so they went to the Supreme courts in Munn vs. Illinois, in 1877, the railroad said that a state can’t tell them what to do with business. The court ruled that private business can be regulated for the public good. The farmers won.
Ten years later, there was a new ruling in Wabush, St. Lois and Pacific Railroad vs. Illinois, they ruled that a state can’t control the railroad, only the Federal government can regulate the railroads now.
This set the stage for the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) - a federal commission which regulates railroads. In 1893, when there was a panic, many railroads lost business and were taken over by huge firms. There were only about seven companies that controlled the railroads.
Big business emerges-
America is now moving into big business. Now, Americas is becoming a country of businessmen, no longer a country of farmers and shopkeepers.
There are many ways to have a big business:
1. Corporation- when a private business goes public. They sell shares of stocks. People then invest in you and they make money when you make money.
2. Trust- many corporations held together by a group of trustees. They control the business and divide the money.
3. Holding company- a corporation that does nothing but buy stocks in other companies.
Different entrepreneurs:
1. Andrew Carnegie- came to this country as a pauper. He moved up the social ladder by doing smart things. Eventually, he owned the Carnegie Steel Company. He had a process by which he grew rich:
a. Vertical integration- owns all raw products that are needed for your business.
b. Horizontal integration- own all your products.
He also worked to make business run efficiently.
2. Rockefeller- owned oil. He had a huge oil trust.
3. JP Morgan- was a banker and also owned railroads.
4. Vanderbilt- owned railroads.
The success of these entrepreneurs led to an intellectual movement called Social Darwinism- Darwin believed in the survival of the fittest. Social Darwinism is the economical survival of the fittest- if I have to crush you along the way up, so be it. These people live by their strength. Many Rags to Riches movies came out. This was the culture of the day.
Two views on entrepreneurs:
1. They’re robber barons- they are nothing but robbers
a. You’re a robber
b. Your workers are being crushed.
2. Philanthropists- big charity givers. They built libraries and museums.
Many institutes were named after these philanthropists. They felt that it was benevolent to give money and would be a crime to die rich.
Eventually, to help curve monopolies, the government passed the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. This outlawed trusts. This act set a precedent- more of an understanding that government should control business more than it really did. Courts didn’t back the act. In the case of USA vs. EC Knight, the court said that EC Knight (sugar business) isn’t a trust- said that certain businesses are exempt. Businesses themselves fought the law. They instead formed holding companies.
Unions form-
Industrialization had a nasty little effect on the poor little worker- now they could work and had to work sixteen hours a day and horrible working conditions. No one cared about the worker, just the output. They had a tremendous lack of identity. People used to have important jobs and now they were left turning screws.
Unions that formed:
1. National Labor Union formed in 1866. It was made up of about 300 smaller labor unions. They managed to get an eight hour work day. They formed a political party called the Labor Reform Party. They even nominated someone for president in 1872.
2. Knights of Labor- Terrance Powderly formed this union. Everyone was allowed to join this union- the skilled and the unskilled workers, the black and the white.
As the union movement grew, two types of unions formed:
1. Trade and Craft Union. One had to have the skill to join this union. This fell under the umbrella of the American Federation of Labor. It was led by Samuel Gompers- was a Jew. The AFL’s tactic was called collective bargaining- union bosses were the mediators between the factory owners and the workers. Gompers campaigned for bread and water unionism- they wanted basics such as an eight hour workday and pay.
2. American Railway Union- led by Eugene Debs. He believed in allowing everyone in regardless of race, gender, skilled and unskilled. Debs felt the problem wasn’t the rich people, rather in how our economic system is set up. He said that a system of private ownership and competition allows for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. He said that Americans should lean towards socialism because if the government owns business, then everyone is equal and everything is perfect.
A radical union that formed: Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) - it was founded in 1905. They advocated for extreme socialism, almost to the point of communism.
One of the major tactics all unions used was striking:
1. Great Railway Strike- took place in 1876. It was so powerful, the B and O (Baltimore and Ohio) railroads were shut down. President Hayes sent the workers back to work.
2. Haymarket Riot- took place in Haymarket Square, Chicago. The Knights of Labor organized a rally in Haymarket Square to protest the death of a fellow striker. They are unsure how it happened, but suddenly a bomb exploded. There was a riot. Strikers were displayed as violent groups. Within a few years, the Knights of Labor shut down.
3. Homestead Strike- Homestead, Pennsylvania in the Carnegie steel plant. He gave the workers of a pay cut so they went on strike. Carnegie hired scabs to take the place of the striking workers. Fights broke out between the workers and managers. Seventeen people ended up dead. When the strike was over, fewer than 25% of the strikers got their jobs back and there was no more striking in steel plants for the next twenty years.
4. Pullman Strike- the workers of Pullmingtown went on strike and the government forced them back to work.
5. Lawrence Textile Mill Strike- in 1912. Led by the IWW. They were successful.
Two women that helped unionize:
1. Mary Harris Jones- she was nicknamed Mother because she was a mother to all children. She helped unionize them. She took the children on a march before the White House. She also helped unionize mine workers.
2. Pauline Neuman- she helped unionize other woman in the garment industry- most of the woman were Jewish and Italian immigrants. No one listened to her about the plight of woman as she described the terrible factory conditions until there was a fire in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911. 150 women died. When this went to the judge, the factory owners were found to be guilty. The bosses didn’t agree- said that a fire is a natural disaster. This started a new awareness and a trend toward improvement.
Three cases that show that judges sided with big businesses and one that showed improvement:
1. Hammer vs. Dagenhardt- was against child labor laws. Child labor laws had begun to be passed. Business men apposed child labor laws. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of business. They said that child labor laws are unconstitutional because they are denying children their rights.
2. Lockner vs. New York- in 1905. The Supreme Court ruled that you can’t limit a work day. This ruling was also in favor of businesses.
3. Muller vs. Oregon- somewhat overturned. Women were working in a bakery for very long hours. Woman sued for a shorter work day. Their lawyer named Brandice proved scientifically why a woman’s workday should be cut and he was successful.
With all the improvements, the government is now moving slowly toward change, and the businesses were continuously fighting. Some even forced yellow dog contracts on people- if you want to be employed by them, you can’t join a union.
SS- Chapter 13
Chapter 13: Changes on the Western Frontier
The Native Americans lived on the Great Plains. Horse and buffalo were their way of life- the horses were used for hunting and the buffalo was used for its food, bones, and skins to make homes with.
After the Civil War, Americans began to move onto the Great Plains for different reasons:
1. Gold
2. Opportunities
3. Congress passed the Homestead Act in 1862, which promise 160 acres of land to any family that would settle the land.
African Americans also moved West after the war. They were nicknamed the Exodusters.
As Americans began to move west, they met up with Indians. They often clashed over land and resources:
1. Sand Creek Massacre- in 1864. The Cheyenne Indians that were in the Colorado territory were pushed to the Sand Creek reserve. Life was difficult for them there and they began to raid nearby American camps. The Americans sent troops over to control the Cheyenne. These troops slaughtered 200 Cheyenne, mostly woman and children.
2. Custer’s Last Stand- at the border of Wyoming and Montana, whites and Native Americans clashed. The Sioux Indians were living here. Some settle and made treaties with the Americans, but the Sioux leader, Sitting Bull, wouldn’t make treaties. In 1870, gold was discovered right in the middle of the Colorado hills. The government offered to buy the land, but Sitting Bull said that he’s not going to sell the Black Hills. The Americans sent over Custer, a strategist, to force the Sioux to give up their land. Sitting Bull together with Crazy Horse fought the Americans and the Indians defeated the American army- they killed Custer. Soon after, America regrouped and killed out the Sioux.
In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act- Americanize the Indians. It wasn’t successful and the Indians resented it. It destroyed their way of life. The Indians were given the poorest farm land so they didn’t succeed at being farmers. But what really destroyed the Indians’ way of life was the destruction of the buffalo. By the 1900s, the buffalo were almost all wiped out because:
a. Railroads split the herds.
b. It was a sport to shoot buffalo from railcar windows.
3. Battle of Wounded Knee- the Sioux were losing all their land and the buffalo- their way of life was being totally destroyed. Their last effort at maintaining their culture was by gathering together to dance the ghost dance- this was a ritual which they believed would bring back their land and buffalo. The Americans were frightened by this strange act and tried to arrest Sitting Bull. During the arrest, Sitting Bull was killed. The American forces rounded up about 350 Sioux. They took them to Wounded Knee Creek and the army ordered them to give up their rifle. A shot was fired and 300 people were massacred. This was the last battle.
Books were written to show how the Americans mistreated the Indians. They portrayed the Americans as villains:
1. Dee Brown wrote a book called “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”. It talked about how the Americans mistreated the Sioux.
2. Helen Hunt Jackson wrote “A Century of Dishonor”. It discussed the hundred years of pain that the Americans inflicted upon the Indians.
Growth of the cattle industry-
As the herds of buffalo on the Great Plains disappeared they were replaced by cattle. As the demand for beef grew, so did the cattle industry. Cattle ranching now became a big business from Texas to Kansas.
In the beginning, most of the cattle were long horns. This is a hearty breed. They were sturdy and could forge food on their own. They also took care of themselves. During the winter, they were allowed to roam somewhat free. They were frisky animals.
The men who took care of the cattle were known as cowboys. The cowboy way of life was developed by the Spaniards in Mexico. The Spanish influence can be seen in the cowboy’s vocabulary (lasso is a Spanish word), food and mode of dress- wore bandanas and special pointed boots to fit in the stir ups. They carried a six shooter- gun that could soot six shots before reloading. This came to be the symbol of the old west.
Cattle business didn’t really take off until it reached the west because they had no way of getting to the east. Between 1866 and 1886 there were about 1,500 cowboys- about 12% were Mexican and 25% were African American.
The cowboy’s way of life was difficult. They worked between ten and fourteen hours a day. They worked the hardest in the spring and summer. In the winter, there wasn’t so much work to be done so they either lived off of their savings or did odd jobs. Cowboys that we see in movies or shows such as Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hitchcock aren’t really cowboys and they don’t display the true life in the Wild west. In the spring, the cowboys had to gather up the cattle and they started the Long Drive- a walk from Texas to Kansas. This took about three months. In Kansas, they were shipped in cattle cars. These three months were the heat of their work. The Long Drive was a very difficult journey- they had to swim across rivers with their cattle. After the cattle were delivered, the cowboys went back down south.
Eventually, the era of the open range came to an end. There were a series of natural disasters such as droughts and blizzards which killed the cattle during the winter months. The cattle ranchers moved away from long horns to other breeds of cattle. These new breeds produced better meat and needed more care. The ranchers began to fence in their cattle. Barbed wire was a new invention at this time- it helped close in the open range. It was invented by James Glidden.
Settling of the Great Plains-
More and more people moved onto the Great Plains. As railroads were built, people were moving out west. The American government encouraged the building of the railroads. From 1850 to 1871, the government gave huge chunks of land to the railroad companies to encourage them to build railroads.
The two major railroad companies were:
1. Central Pacific- started in California and built east.
2. Union Pacific- started in Nebraska and built west.
They hired mostly immigrant workers such as the Chinese and Irish. African Americans and Mexican Americans also worked on the railroads.
In 1869, the tracks met at Promontory, Utah- they put a gold spike at the meeting point. America now had a transcontinental railroad.
Railroads brought many people west. Railroad companies also sold some of their lands to foreigners- this attracted people. The Homestead Act also brought people out west. The government passed many laws to get people to move out west. A lot of land went to miners and ranchers.
The west was lonely and building homes was challenging. People lived in:
1. Soddies- houses made out of mud.
2. Dugouts- houses dug out of the hills.
The prairie land was tough so it was hard to work. Woman worked with the men, while at the same time being responsible for their womanly jobs.
Inventions that helped farmers:
1. Steel plow
2. Reaper
3. Barbed wire- kept other wild animals away.
4. Windmill- helped water from down under the earth.
The government also tried to help farmers- the US government passed the Morill Land Grant Act. This act gave money to farmers to set up universities that would teach farmers new techniques in agriculture.
To buy machinery was very costly, so the farmers had a lot of debt. In order to minimize the debt, the farmers would farm huge tracts of land- bonanza farms. These farms generally grew cash crops. Over the years, there were a series of droughts in the Midwest. This hurt some of the farmers so that they now had huge debts. In addition, shipping the crop was very expensive so the farmers were really not doing well. In addition to this, after the Civil War, the dollar was very strong. This was great for the consumer but terrible for the farmer. The farmers felt that the strong dollar hurt them because they do more selling then buying and it’s lousy for their debts. They felt that they were choking and were ready for reform.
Oliver Kelly started the Grange movement. At first, this was a social movement- get together to talk and ease the loneliness. This quickly changed into a political movement. They spent most of their energy fighting the railroads.
The Farmer’s Alliance was an outgrowth of the Grange movement. All kinds of people joined, not only farmers. People realized that if they wanted change, they needed political clout. They formed the Populist Party, which wanted to give people a greater voice in government. Some of their ideas were:
1. Direct election of senators.
2. Secret ballot
Many people felt that the Populist Party was radical however in the national election, they won about ten percent of the votes. On a local level, many of their party members were elected. From this we see that the Populist Party was a real political force.
In 1893, the economic wheel turned and there was the Panic of 1893. During the presidential election of 1895, so during that year, it was a hot topic. There were two different opinions:
1. Gold bugs- let’s restore the dollar’s strength by making sure that it’s only backed by gold as opposed to silver.
2. The farmers didn’t want a strong dollar. They were therefore nicknamed the silverites. They wanted the dollar backed by silver. Their official term was bimetallism- mostly silver and a little bit of gold.
The presidential campaign was an interesting one:
1. Democrats and Populist Parties nominated William Jennings Bryon. A was a fabulous speaker and was a very dynamic person. He made a famous speech called the Cross of Gold. He spoke to the nation, telling them that they need their farmers because everyone needs to eat. He said that if they down the gold peoples’ businesses, nothing will happen, but if you shut down farms, grass is going to grow in the city because people need food. He said that gold shouldn’t be so important that you’ll kill people for it.
2. Republican Party- nominated William McKinley. He looked like a person who could be counted on. He wasn’t a good speaker so his campaign manager didn’t let him go out to speak; his manager would bring people to him and he would speak to them. Because of this, he was nicknamed the Front Porch Campaigner. He stood for the idea that the dollar shouldn’t lose its value.
McKinley won and the Populist Party died. Down the road however, all the Populist reforms did become laws.
The Native Americans lived on the Great Plains. Horse and buffalo were their way of life- the horses were used for hunting and the buffalo was used for its food, bones, and skins to make homes with.
After the Civil War, Americans began to move onto the Great Plains for different reasons:
1. Gold
2. Opportunities
3. Congress passed the Homestead Act in 1862, which promise 160 acres of land to any family that would settle the land.
African Americans also moved West after the war. They were nicknamed the Exodusters.
As Americans began to move west, they met up with Indians. They often clashed over land and resources:
1. Sand Creek Massacre- in 1864. The Cheyenne Indians that were in the Colorado territory were pushed to the Sand Creek reserve. Life was difficult for them there and they began to raid nearby American camps. The Americans sent troops over to control the Cheyenne. These troops slaughtered 200 Cheyenne, mostly woman and children.
2. Custer’s Last Stand- at the border of Wyoming and Montana, whites and Native Americans clashed. The Sioux Indians were living here. Some settle and made treaties with the Americans, but the Sioux leader, Sitting Bull, wouldn’t make treaties. In 1870, gold was discovered right in the middle of the Colorado hills. The government offered to buy the land, but Sitting Bull said that he’s not going to sell the Black Hills. The Americans sent over Custer, a strategist, to force the Sioux to give up their land. Sitting Bull together with Crazy Horse fought the Americans and the Indians defeated the American army- they killed Custer. Soon after, America regrouped and killed out the Sioux.
In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act- Americanize the Indians. It wasn’t successful and the Indians resented it. It destroyed their way of life. The Indians were given the poorest farm land so they didn’t succeed at being farmers. But what really destroyed the Indians’ way of life was the destruction of the buffalo. By the 1900s, the buffalo were almost all wiped out because:
a. Railroads split the herds.
b. It was a sport to shoot buffalo from railcar windows.
3. Battle of Wounded Knee- the Sioux were losing all their land and the buffalo- their way of life was being totally destroyed. Their last effort at maintaining their culture was by gathering together to dance the ghost dance- this was a ritual which they believed would bring back their land and buffalo. The Americans were frightened by this strange act and tried to arrest Sitting Bull. During the arrest, Sitting Bull was killed. The American forces rounded up about 350 Sioux. They took them to Wounded Knee Creek and the army ordered them to give up their rifle. A shot was fired and 300 people were massacred. This was the last battle.
Books were written to show how the Americans mistreated the Indians. They portrayed the Americans as villains:
1. Dee Brown wrote a book called “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”. It talked about how the Americans mistreated the Sioux.
2. Helen Hunt Jackson wrote “A Century of Dishonor”. It discussed the hundred years of pain that the Americans inflicted upon the Indians.
Growth of the cattle industry-
As the herds of buffalo on the Great Plains disappeared they were replaced by cattle. As the demand for beef grew, so did the cattle industry. Cattle ranching now became a big business from Texas to Kansas.
In the beginning, most of the cattle were long horns. This is a hearty breed. They were sturdy and could forge food on their own. They also took care of themselves. During the winter, they were allowed to roam somewhat free. They were frisky animals.
The men who took care of the cattle were known as cowboys. The cowboy way of life was developed by the Spaniards in Mexico. The Spanish influence can be seen in the cowboy’s vocabulary (lasso is a Spanish word), food and mode of dress- wore bandanas and special pointed boots to fit in the stir ups. They carried a six shooter- gun that could soot six shots before reloading. This came to be the symbol of the old west.
Cattle business didn’t really take off until it reached the west because they had no way of getting to the east. Between 1866 and 1886 there were about 1,500 cowboys- about 12% were Mexican and 25% were African American.
The cowboy’s way of life was difficult. They worked between ten and fourteen hours a day. They worked the hardest in the spring and summer. In the winter, there wasn’t so much work to be done so they either lived off of their savings or did odd jobs. Cowboys that we see in movies or shows such as Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hitchcock aren’t really cowboys and they don’t display the true life in the Wild west. In the spring, the cowboys had to gather up the cattle and they started the Long Drive- a walk from Texas to Kansas. This took about three months. In Kansas, they were shipped in cattle cars. These three months were the heat of their work. The Long Drive was a very difficult journey- they had to swim across rivers with their cattle. After the cattle were delivered, the cowboys went back down south.
Eventually, the era of the open range came to an end. There were a series of natural disasters such as droughts and blizzards which killed the cattle during the winter months. The cattle ranchers moved away from long horns to other breeds of cattle. These new breeds produced better meat and needed more care. The ranchers began to fence in their cattle. Barbed wire was a new invention at this time- it helped close in the open range. It was invented by James Glidden.
Settling of the Great Plains-
More and more people moved onto the Great Plains. As railroads were built, people were moving out west. The American government encouraged the building of the railroads. From 1850 to 1871, the government gave huge chunks of land to the railroad companies to encourage them to build railroads.
The two major railroad companies were:
1. Central Pacific- started in California and built east.
2. Union Pacific- started in Nebraska and built west.
They hired mostly immigrant workers such as the Chinese and Irish. African Americans and Mexican Americans also worked on the railroads.
In 1869, the tracks met at Promontory, Utah- they put a gold spike at the meeting point. America now had a transcontinental railroad.
Railroads brought many people west. Railroad companies also sold some of their lands to foreigners- this attracted people. The Homestead Act also brought people out west. The government passed many laws to get people to move out west. A lot of land went to miners and ranchers.
The west was lonely and building homes was challenging. People lived in:
1. Soddies- houses made out of mud.
2. Dugouts- houses dug out of the hills.
The prairie land was tough so it was hard to work. Woman worked with the men, while at the same time being responsible for their womanly jobs.
Inventions that helped farmers:
1. Steel plow
2. Reaper
3. Barbed wire- kept other wild animals away.
4. Windmill- helped water from down under the earth.
The government also tried to help farmers- the US government passed the Morill Land Grant Act. This act gave money to farmers to set up universities that would teach farmers new techniques in agriculture.
To buy machinery was very costly, so the farmers had a lot of debt. In order to minimize the debt, the farmers would farm huge tracts of land- bonanza farms. These farms generally grew cash crops. Over the years, there were a series of droughts in the Midwest. This hurt some of the farmers so that they now had huge debts. In addition, shipping the crop was very expensive so the farmers were really not doing well. In addition to this, after the Civil War, the dollar was very strong. This was great for the consumer but terrible for the farmer. The farmers felt that the strong dollar hurt them because they do more selling then buying and it’s lousy for their debts. They felt that they were choking and were ready for reform.
Oliver Kelly started the Grange movement. At first, this was a social movement- get together to talk and ease the loneliness. This quickly changed into a political movement. They spent most of their energy fighting the railroads.
The Farmer’s Alliance was an outgrowth of the Grange movement. All kinds of people joined, not only farmers. People realized that if they wanted change, they needed political clout. They formed the Populist Party, which wanted to give people a greater voice in government. Some of their ideas were:
1. Direct election of senators.
2. Secret ballot
Many people felt that the Populist Party was radical however in the national election, they won about ten percent of the votes. On a local level, many of their party members were elected. From this we see that the Populist Party was a real political force.
In 1893, the economic wheel turned and there was the Panic of 1893. During the presidential election of 1895, so during that year, it was a hot topic. There were two different opinions:
1. Gold bugs- let’s restore the dollar’s strength by making sure that it’s only backed by gold as opposed to silver.
2. The farmers didn’t want a strong dollar. They were therefore nicknamed the silverites. They wanted the dollar backed by silver. Their official term was bimetallism- mostly silver and a little bit of gold.
The presidential campaign was an interesting one:
1. Democrats and Populist Parties nominated William Jennings Bryon. A was a fabulous speaker and was a very dynamic person. He made a famous speech called the Cross of Gold. He spoke to the nation, telling them that they need their farmers because everyone needs to eat. He said that if they down the gold peoples’ businesses, nothing will happen, but if you shut down farms, grass is going to grow in the city because people need food. He said that gold shouldn’t be so important that you’ll kill people for it.
2. Republican Party- nominated William McKinley. He looked like a person who could be counted on. He wasn’t a good speaker so his campaign manager didn’t let him go out to speak; his manager would bring people to him and he would speak to them. Because of this, he was nicknamed the Front Porch Campaigner. He stood for the idea that the dollar shouldn’t lose its value.
McKinley won and the Populist Party died. Down the road however, all the Populist reforms did become laws.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Perek Gimel
א watch יצר- ינצר-
מ''ד בני- speaking in the name of ה'. He’s saying that you are as dear to me as a child is to his
father. He’s warning that you shouldn’t forget His תורה.
מלבי''ם לימוד התורה =תורתי אל תשכח and קיום המצוות =מצותי יצר לבך.
What is included in a man’s חיוב of לימוד התורה? Even דינים that will never be done by
some people, like מצות הקרבנות. Why would a man learn these הלכות? There is a מצוה of לימוד התורה- ''והיגית בו יומם ולילה''. One has to learn לשמע, not necessarily to come out with any הלכות.
What else is included in ''תורתי''? The stories in the תורה that are the cornerstones of our אמונה, for example we get the יסוד of נבואה from our אבות and the יסוד of יצ''ם from the מכות. We are warned not to forget them. We should learn and remember until we come to a point that we won’t forget. By the מצות, it’s not enough to know them, we also have to keep them.
(Not inside) What is the ל' of ''לבך''?
1. The לב is the command center of the body and it rules over all the אורים.
2. ''רחמנא ליבא באי''- ה' wants the כונה that’s in our hearts.
All מצות can be divided into three parts:
1. חובות האורים- done with the body, for example:
a. צדקה
b. לולב
2. חובות הלבבות-
a. יראת ה'
b. גדלות ה'
c. אמונה
d. חשבון הנפש
e. ''לא תחמד''
3. חובות האורים and חובות הלבבות together- a prime example would be תפילה.
By חובות האורים, you don’t need כונה the whole time to be יוצא, just initially. But like this you aren’t doing it the right way. Really, the right way would be to have כונה the whole time. חובות האורים and חובות הלבבות together needs to be backed up by כונת הלב. We know that ''תפילה בלי כונה כגוף בלי נשמה''- it’s like a peel without the fruit inside. משל- servant who prepares food for the king, but leaves. נמשל- תפילה can be compared to the food, and we send our lips to serve Him. ה' wants our hearts and our minds. חובות הלבבות is an area in עבודת ה' that is often overlooked. They are really חיובים and must be learnt so that we could do them properly. -משל servant with field duties and house duties. נמשל- the field duties are equal to חובות האורים and the house duties are equal to חובות הלבבות.
ב This פסוק is a תוצאה of פסוק א. If you keep פסוק א, they you’ll have ארך ימים, שנות חיים
and שלום.
מצודת דוד -ושנות חיים The years that a person lives will be quality years when good things will happen.
גר''א -שלום שלום is the כלי that holds all the other ברכות in place. Without שלום, there is no point in ארך ימים or שנות חיים. ארך ימים and שנות חיים are תוצאות of קייום המצוות. שלום is the תוצאה of לימוד התורה. שלום is that which holds all the other ברכות in place, so we can say that שלום is equal to all the other ברכות. שלום is a fitting result from לימוד התורה which is equal to all the other מצוות.
The תורה and the מצוות are מלמד זכות on someone, so that ה' gives him ארך ימים and שנות חיים.
We can’t always see how פסוק ב is a תוצאה of פסוק א because we don’t know the חשבונות of ה'.
ג מצודת דוד -אל יעזבך Don’t allow yourself to be without them.
ג קשרם-קשר אותם
גרגרתיך- הצואר שלך
מצודת דוד -קשרם You should constantly talk about them and think about them.
ר' יונה sheet חסד includes most מידות טובות. אמת includes מעלות in a person’s דעות and שכליות. חסד is to put all of your energy and desires into another’s happiness. A true בעל חסד is someone who is דורש שלמם וטובתם- wants other to be happy and is anxious to do what’s best for them. We usually define someone as a בעל חסד if they do חסדים for others. But that alone isn’t such a big deal- you don’t have to go against your nature because by a Jew, his nature is to be a גומל חסד and likes to be on the giving end. Such a person is an עשות חסד. But a real בעל חסד is someone with אהבת חסד- this is a much higher level. Why? By nature, we want ourselves to have and others not to have and to be above. When we don’t have and be happy for others and want them to have good, this goes against our nature and is much harder. When someone is a true בעל חסד, the bad מידות that are in a person’s nature are removed from him, such as:
1. אכזריות- opposite of this because he wants harm for others.
2. כילות- stinginess- he has a hard time giving things up because he doesn’t want good for others. This doesn’t mean he’s a miser, but many of us can be like this. We often have a hard time giving to those that aren’t close to us. But as soon as a בעל חסד feels that each person is an extension of himself, he doesn’t have a hard time giving.
3. שנאה- he hates people and doesn’t want good for them. Sometimes, there’s something about someone that you just can’t stand. But a בעל חסד sees everyone as an extension of himself, so he doesn’t hate people.
4. קנעה- he’s jealous of something someone has, but a בעל חסד sees everyone as an extension of himself so he isn’t jealous.
5. תאוה- he’s self centered and doesn’t care for the good of others.
6. גאוה- he feels that he’s better than anyone else.
Someone who is an אוהב חסד will inevitably do חסד, (but someone who does חסד isn’t necessarily an אוהב חסד). He will do גמ''ח even if he doesn’t have money for צדקה. He will do ביקור חולים, ניחום אבילים…
ה' demands from us to try to be an אוהב חסד. How can one become an אוהב חסד? The חיצוניות is מעורר the פנימיות. So why doesn’t help us to become an אוהב חסד if we do חסדים? Because we must realize that there’s a פנימיות and try to be מכון to want to help others, and not do it because of ulterior motives.
Why was the II בית destroyed if they had תורה and גמ''ח? Because they had שנאת חינם. So even though they had גמ''ח, there wasn’t an אהבה for people, so there was no אהבת חסד. We need to be מתקן it.
אמת isn’t considered something bad to be good or good to be bad. The בעל אמת isn’t scared to say that something is bad or good. He doesn’t flatter people and has קנאות- zealousness to stand up for good.
חניפה- flattery is a form of שקר, but it’s also an אסור within itself. It’s one of the כתות that can’t be מקבל פני השכינה. The four כתות:
1. חניפים
2. שקרנים
3. בעלי ל''ה
4. לצים
So what’s חניפה? Flattering someone who’s doing an עבירה by telling them that is was right or fine. During the תקופה before II בית, the Romans appointed a goyish king over the Jews- אגריפס. He tried to be מקיים the מצוות and once did הקהל and read the פסוק that said that ב''י shouldn’t have a goyish king, and he started to cry. ב''י were scared of the repercussions so they told him that it’s fine because he’s considered to be ''אחינו''. By doing this, not only weren’t they giving תוכחה but they were also being מחזק his resolve to be חוטא.
If one’s in a position to give תוכחה and doesn’t, that’s also considered חניפה. If you’re sitting among people who are doing something wrong, and you know that they won’t listen to your תוכחה, you have to do something because otherwise people will think you’re expressing your approval. So either give תוכחה or get up and leave.
A בעל אמת is willing to go against the flow, but it’s very difficult. Story- Rabbi Brown and מחיצה.
Someone who is a בעל אמת is happy when צדיקים receive כבוד and when רשעים are lowered because it’s אמת, and even thought he knows, he’s happy that everyone else should see.
A בעל אמת, at the time when he’s judging won’t show favoritism and he’ll give an honest verdict. We pass judgment all the time on other people. We shouldn’t show favoritism to ourselves or someone close to us. We tend to judge with a double standard- we judge others very quickly, but when it comes to judging ourselves, we come up with excuses to justify our actions.
A בעל אמת is מודה על האמת- admits. It’s a difficult thing to do, but it’s אמת. We tend to say that we’re never going to convince the other person so he should just forget it, but that isn’t אמת. When someone gives us מוסר, we should accept it. A בעל אמת has a firm commitment to אמת, so he’s open to hear.
A בעל אמת is someone who isn’t מקבל ל''ה and doesn’t believe everything he hears, lest he believes something untrue. A בעל אמת checks out to see if a rumor or story is true before he believes its and repeats it.
Someone who’s a true בעל אמת will turn away from crooked דעות and השקפות that may be displayed under the banner of Yiddishkeit. A בעל אמת will investigate in order to see what’s the אמת, because he’s scared to let שקר come into his heart. He won’t let go until he comes to the truth.
The מעלות of חסד and אמת are so great that we can’t even comprehend the greatness of someone who reaches שלמות in these מעלות. Someone who is at the other extreme is among the רשעים who are despised in the eyes of ה'- ''אדם בליעל איש און... שנא ה' ''. With everything that we do, were moving one step closer to שלמות and one more step away from the opposite extreme.
שלמה talks about these מידות so that our עבודת ה' should be desired and accepted by ה'. Two פסוקים to prove this:
1. ''חדשיכם ומועדיכם שנאה נפשי''- as long as כלל ישראל don’t get rid of certain faults, ה' hates when they come to the בהמ''ק.
2. ''נירו לכם ניר ואל תזרעו אל קוצים''- it’s useless to plant seeds on top of thorns. First, remove the thorns, then you can plant beautiful seeds.
ר' יונה -קשרם על גרגרתיךWhy is it important for us to talk about these מידות?
1. It helps him and he can have a constant reminder to be נזהר in these מידות- when you hear yourself talking, it makes an impression.
2. Other people can also learn from you, even if you aren’t שלם. They’ll learn to praise and think highly of בעלי אמת- someone who’s always praising good מידות and putting down bad מידות.
3. ''מצרף לכסף וכור לזהב ואיש לפי מהללו''-in order to test gold and silver’s purity, put it through a furnace. In order to test the essence of a person, see what he praises and what he constantly talks about.
-כתבם על לח לבך this is the עבודה of ''וידעת הום והשיבותה אל לבבך''. This is lifetime goal. Why is it necessary to write it in our heart? Because it’s our heart that is responsible for our actions. We have to take what is in our mind and put it in our heart, because without putting it in our heart we won’t get anywhere. Possibly the longest journey of our life is the journey from the head to the heart. How do we do this?
מכתב 1. Repetition- if you repeat something out loud enough times, you can’t help it but it’ll
מאליהו have an influence because repetition goes into your subconscious. Make yourself a
Sentence about what you want to get into your heart and it’ll help.
2. כח ציור- imagination. When you hear or see something, it doesn’t affect your subconscious, but if you imagine it, it’ll penetrate. You should picture the עונש and it will stop you from doing a חטא.
ד פסוק ד is תוצאה of פסוק ג.
מ''ד -ומצא חן through the מידות of חסד and אמת, we’ll find favor and it will be known before
ה' and others that he has שכל טוב.
ר' יונה ומצא חן → חסד
and גר''א שכל טוב → אמת
Someone who is a בעל חסד will find חן in the eyes of ה' and others and someone who is a
בעל אמת will find אמת in the eyes of ה' and other people.
ר' יונה Why will a בעל חסד find חן in the eyes of ה'? ''כל המרחם על הבריות הבריות מרחמין עליו מן
השמים''- when ה' sees us treating His children with compassion, it’s מעורר a tremendous amount of רחמים from ה'. It’s like a key that unlocks good for us in שמים. Why will a בעל חסד find חן in the eyes of other people? A בעל חסד wants to always help others, so it’s
obvious that he will find favor in the eyes of others.
גר''א -חן it comes from the שרש of חינם because חן is a מתנת חינם from ה'. We always see a ל' of מצא before חן because someone who has חן isn’t deserving of it, it was just found. A
בעל חסד gives others more than they deserve, so ה' sometimes gives him more than he deserves. חן is inner qualities that shine forth to the outside. Not everyone who is a בעל חסד gets חן- it is very rare and given out randomly, but ה' likes to give it to בעלי חסד. It may seem that it’s a reward for a בעל חסד and not a מתנת חינם. It can be compared to someone paying $100 for a gorgeous diamond- it’s really a מתנה. ה' also likes to give חן to ענוים- ''לענוים יתן חן''. Besides for חן, מידות טובות also cause have a person to have a shine.
ר' יונה Someone who is a בעל אמת will be known for his שכל טוב- people will respect him. When we stand up for the אמת, in the long run we will be respected for it.
גר''א שכל טוב= הצלחה. Someone who has שכל טוב will be מצליח in what he tries to do. This is not a שכר, rather a תוצאה.
מאירי This פסוק is a צווי- commands us to do מעשים in a way that will find favor in the eyes of both ה' and other people. There is another פסוק with a similar צווי- ''והייתם נקיים מה' ומישראל''- when ראובן, גד, חצי שבט מנשה came before משה and asked to settle מעבר לירדן, משה said that they had to fight first so that it shouldn’t seem like they only wanted to settle there so that they wouldn’t have to fight, and then they’ll be נקיים. It isn’t enough that ה' knows that our actions are done for the right reason, others must know too.
An עיר הנדחת would be an example of this. An עיר הנדחת is a city where everyone serves ע''ז. Everyone must be killed and the spoils must be burnt. It seems that בעל תשחית is being done, but it’s more important that people should understand the reason why it was done was (to justify a wrongdoing, and not to get spoils) than to do בעל תשחית because it could cause a חלול ה'. Also, if people see you doing something wrong, they might copy. Story- ר' משה and tea. In our society, everyone contributes. If you do something that appears to be wrong, the esteem of that thing will be lowered in the eyes of society. If there’s no way to justify an action that seems wrong but is really right, rather don’t do it. If we see someone doing something wrong, we have to be דן לכף זכות, but we also can’t put ourselves into a situation where others will have to be ךן us לכף זכות.
But we can’t take this concept too far, that everything we do is done in the hope of finding favor in the eyes of others. A גנב is someone who steals secretly. A גזלן is someone who commits an armed robbery publicly. A גנב is scared only of ה'. A גזלן isn’t scared ה' or others. A גנב is worse because he’s concerned about what others think about him, but not what ה' thinks about him. We see the severity of a גנב that he has to pay back four times. Even if we’re doing everything right, we can still be like a גנב if we’re doing it because of what others will think about us. Sometimes, there’s a conflict between finding favor in the eyes of ה' and finding favor in the eyes of other people. Obviously, we have to find favor in the eyes of ה', but someone who lives their whole life to impress other people will have a very difficult time when faced with this נסיון. Story- Rabbi Rosenberg and the O-U. We have to always keep in mind and ask ourselves- what would ה' think about it? If He wouldn’t approve, don’t do it.
The idea of being such an approval seeker connects to בטחון- an approval seeker thinks that people run the world and if he makes the right impression on the right people, he’ll get places. This shows a total lack of בטחון.
ה בטח- צריך לבטח
בכל לבך- בלב שלם, בלי שום ספק
תשען- תסמך
מ''ד -אל תשען when you plan something out so carefully and use your חכמה, don’t think that it’ll automatically work out because everything is dependant on ה', not on חכמה.
ר' יונה sheet The שלמות of בטחון is that a person believes only in ה' and not in his own strengths, שכל or other people, therefore the פסוק says, ''ואל בינתך אל תשען''. Why does the פסוק specify not to rely only on חכמה? One can’t rely on anything accept for ה'!
1. Because it’s a mistake that’s most commonly made- people feel that חכמה is something that could be relied on. Don’t make that mistake!
2. It also includes not to trust in anything else. A person thinks that he could trust in other things because his שכל tells him. Don’t trust your שכל when it tells you to rely on other things because everything is dependant on יד ה' and not on anything else. There are פסוקים that come to prove that nothing is dependant on anything other than ה':
a. ''משיב חכמים אחור ודעתם יסכל''- ה' can and sometimes does take away a person’s חכמה. חכמה isn’t in your control. Sometimes, everything just flies out of your brain- shows that חכמה is in ה'’s control.
b. ''רבות מחשבות בלב איש ועצת ה' היא תקום''- a person makes plans and strategies and thinks that things will turn out according to his plans. Really, everything works out according to ה'’s plans.
c. ''אם ה' לא יבנה בית שוא עמלו בוניו בו''- you could work on building a house for days, but if ה' doesn’t want it to stand it won’t.
d. ''כי כל מעשינו הבל''- all our actions are nothing and are for nothing. Actions are nothing in that it’s not our actions that’ll determine what’ll happen to us- ה' does.
e. ''כי לא לקלים המרוץ...''- a race isn’t necessarily won by the fastest person. Whoever ה' wants to win will win- it’s totally in His hands.
f. ''לאדם מערכי לב ומה' מענה לשון''- a person plans out what he’s going to say and how he’s going to say it, but it’s up to ה' how his words will come out. ר' יונה learns out a קו''ח from here- if even our speech isn’t up to us, how could we think that our actions are in our control?
ר' בחיי sheet A wealthy person or a fast person shouldn’t think that it’s because of his talent- ''כי לא
לקלים המרוץ ולא לגבורים המלחמה וגם לא לחכמים לחם וגם לא לנבונים עשר וגם לא ליודעים חן כי עח ופגע יקרה את כלם''- ה' set up the world that it looks likes the fastest win the race, but we see enough exemptions to realize that it isn’t like that. A person shouldn’t put
his hope in his השתדלות, he should place his hope in ה'. ''אף לאלקים דומי נסשי כי ממט תקותי'' – only hope to ה' because the only hope is from ה' and not from השתדלות.
In theory, we agree and believe it, but do we live our lives like that? No. The primary reason for this is because ה' set up the world according to cause and effect. Usually, if you put in effort, you get the desired effect. It seems to us that because one works he gets פרנסה. If we want the desired result, we’ll do the cause. ה' is THE CAUSE- סיבת כל הסיבות. The מכתב מאליהו gives two משלים:
1. משל- the dog fetches the stick in order to get the meat. To the dog, it seems that fetching the stick sends forth meat, but really it’s the owner. נמשל- things we do seem to bring us the desired results. Really, this is a narrow perspective- we have to see that ה' is in control.
2. משל- a man is looking into a room through a keyhole. He sees a pen written on its own. Really if he would just open the door, he would see that someone is controlling the pen. נמשל- our perspective of this world is necessarily limited. From our limited perspective, we think that medicine heals a person, that work brings פרנסה… - really it’s ה'. We have to open the door= get בטחון, and see that everything is ביד ה'.
When we do השתדלות, we thing that it’s doing something. משל- a child on a ride where a car runs on its own, but the child thinks that by turning the wheel they’re moving the car. נמשל- the connections between our השתדלות and what actually happens in no different than the child thinking that he’s controlling the car. Let’s say that the amusement park made a rule that the ride operator can’t start the ride until each child spins the wheel three times- ה' made a גזירה that things don’t happen without השתדלות. We have to do the necessary השתדלות to set the ride in motion. How much money a person makes was נגזר on ר''ה and that’s how much money he is going to make, no matter how much השתדלות he puts in.
Why do we have to do השתדלות? משל- a man has a millionaire friend. He sees this man’s son working in a store. He comes up with many reasons why this boy is working, but know that it isn’t for money. נמשל- ''לי הכסף ולי הזהב''- ה' tells His children that if they want money, they have to work for it. Every single aspect of every single bit of our lives is completely in His control. ה' tells us that if we want something, He will give it to us in the normal way. But know that the reason it works isn’t because of our effort.
If ה' controls everything, why do we have to do השתדלות? Because of the חטא of אדם הראשון. It used to be that there was no טבע in this world, but then אדם was חוטא and a set of curses came upon this world. Among them was the curse of ''בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם''. This was the introduction of טבע into the world. When ה' gives a punishment, it’s not נקמה, rather it’s מכ''מ. Our job is to be מתקן- the חטא of אדם הראשון was in a tiny way showing a lack of belief in יחוד ה'. To be מתקן it, we have to believe that ה' is the only power. We were thrust into a world of טבע and we must see past the טבע and see the יד ה'. If we do this, we can be מתקן the חטא of אדם הראשון. משל- a person is told to break a barrel but not to let the wine spill. This is a very difficult נסיון.
The מסילת ישרים says that one thing that stops a person from מידת החסידות is worries in עניני עוה''ז. What stops those worries? Having בטחון- completely relying on ה' because you know that you have nothing to worry about. ה' gives you what He decided with or without your השתדלות. But,מועיל אלא שהשתדלות מוכרח'' ''לא שהשתדלות- it doesn’t help but rather it’s necessary. השתדלות is a tax. After you have paid the necessary tax, now you’ll get what you need. So who pays extra taxes? No one! So just fill your חיוב and you’ll be finished with it, because you’ll only get what ה' wanted.
What is the minimum amount of השתדלות? There’s a כלל that the amount that you’re required to do is dependant on your מדרגה in בטחון. Someone who is still just learning בטחון has to do what the world considers normal השתדלות. What’s considered more than normal השתדלות? If you live normally but want to live luxuriously, work more hours or change professions. In this case, you won’t gain anything but you’ll lose time for עבודת ה'. We don’t want to be on the level of just learning השתדלות; assuming that we are on a higher level and keep telling ourselves that it’s not our work that’s doing this but rather ה', then our השתדלות that is necessary is minimized.
How do we know if we’re ready for that? Ask yourself, “What would happen if I didn’t do this השתדלות and I didn’t achieve my goal? Would I regret that I didn’t do it or would I accept it?” If you wouldn’t regret it then you’re on that level. But if you’re not on that level yet, don’t minimize your השתדלות so that you won’t be regretful of a מצוה. The highest level is not really anyone’s level today but it’s total, one hundred percent trust in ה' and one doesn’t need to do any השתדלות.
חובות הלבבות If you do too much השתדלות and rely too much on it, then ה' will leave you and won’tbe משגיח on you. He’ll leave you in the hands of your own השתדלות. That’s the worst situation to be in in life. What about someone who thinks that he could rely on both his בטחון and his השתדלות? One can’t trust in both ה' and his השתדלות. If he does, he’ll lose the little amount of בטחון that he does have.
We also have a special weapon- תפילה. If we concentrate on what we were saying, we would realize that it isn’t השתדלות, rather ה' that gives us all of our needs. For example, if someone was sick and they said ''רפאנו'', they would realize that ה' is the One who heals.
What is בטחון? A בעל בטחון is tranquil and knows in his heart that he can rely on ה', that everything that ה' does for him is for his good. The basis for this is
1. ה'’s יכולת
2. ה' knows that which is good for us.
משך חכמה Tells us that we have to believe that:
1. ה' is constantly looking out for His creations and giving us everything that we need. He is also looking to protect us from any lacks such as sickness or misfortune.
2. He has the ability to do good.
3. He knows everything that’s inside of us and what’s good for us.
What comes out from here then is that ה' is looking our for our good and feels our good more than we ourselves do. A person will have מנוחת הנפש and won’t do more השתדלות than necessary because he knows that ה' will give him what’s good for him. If we don’t get what we want, obviously it’s not for our good.
Seven qualities that if a person has, you can trust him completely:
1. If a person cares about you and loves you, he is מרחם on you.
2. He doesn’t forget about you for a second- he’s constantly looking out for you and looking to see what good he can do for you.
3. Has the ability to do whatever is good for you.
4. Has to know what’s good for you on a fundamental level, not just on a superficial level.
5. Has to be with you from when you’re born until the day you die.
6. No one can do anything to you besides for this entity.
7. This entity has to be the ultimate בעל חסד- not only on those who are deserving but also on those who aren’t deserving.
No person has all seven qualities, only ה' does. It’s impossible that something can happen to you that’s bad. Everything is covered by one of the seven qualities. We have to internalize all these principles and once we have integrated them, we’ll be able to submit to ה' completely. ''כוס ישועות אשא ובשם ה' אקרא'', ''צרה ויגון אמצא ובשם ה' אקרא'' because we know that everything that ה' does is good for me.
Our עבודה in בטחון-את עצמו לרשותו'' ''וימסר- submitting ourselves to ה'’s control. This is very hard because everyone wants to feel that they’re in control of their lives. בטחון means to realize that everything is being controlled by ה' who only wants that which is good for us. ה' controls everyone, even those that don’t submit. Every breath is dependant on ה'- ''על חיינו המסורים בידך''. What difference does it make if we submit or not- ה' is controlling anyway?!
1. When we do succeed in submitting, it brings a feeling of tremendous מנוחת הנפש. The difference between one who submits and one who doesn’t is a life of מנוחת הנפש or a life of stress. As long as someone feels that he’s in the driver’s seat, every obstacle makes him worried and scared. If you know that ה' is in the driver’s seat and you’re just the passenger, you don’t have to worry.
2. When someone submits, ה' will lead him with extra special השגחה פרטית because ''ה' צלך''.
Often, בטחון can bring about ישועות because of the extra השגחה פרטית he has. Sources:
1. ''הבוטח בה' חסד יסובבני'' –תהלים
2. ''ובוטח בה' ישוגב'' –משלי. ר' יונה says that ישוגב מן הצרה שכר הבטחון- אע''פ שהצרה ראוי' לבוא עליו ישוגב מן הצרה בשבר הבטחון
3. אוה''ח in בשלח- ב''י find themselves in a difficult situation. They davened to ה' and ה' told משה not to daven, but to go into the ים סוף. Why did ה' say not to daven? Sometimes, a person can be in such a strong צרה that even with תפילות he can’t be helped because of the testimony against him. Only בטחון will help.
When a yid is in a difficult situation, בטחון dictates that he should:
1. Think that it’s from ה'. If it’s from ה' it must be good for him. Sometimes, depending on the level of the situation, this alone might be enough. Sometimes the reason a person is put in a situation is to test him to see how he handles it.
2. A person hopes and prays to ה'. He asks ה' that it should be good in a way that he can see that it’s good= ישועה. Also included is trusting that ה' could bring about the ישועה in an instant. In a difficult situation, one must be afraid of ה' and of his חטאים- by יעקב, it says ''וירא יעקב מאד''- he was afraid because of his חטאים. Despite this, we have to have בטחון though.
Why תפילה?
1. The world is often set up in a way where ה' has something that’s waiting for you, but you have to daven, like by אדם.
2. We daven for ourselves- to strengthen our בטחון, to remind and drill into ourselves that everything is from ה'.
3. If we believe that a צרה is good for us, why are we davening that it should be taken away? AS a result of our תפילה and בטחון, sometimes we will then have achieved the point of our צרה.
When in a צרה, one should always daven, but תפילה must come with an amendment- if as a result of my shortsightedness and foolishness, please don’t give me what isn’t good for me. What You with Your ultimate בחירה choose for me is far better than what I could choose for myself.
The final מדרגה in בטחון is to leave ourselves in ה'’s hands, just like דוד said in תהלים, ''אם לא שוויתי ודוממתי נפשי כגמל עלי אמו''- I imagine myself as a nursing infant in its mother’s arms. Why is this the ultimate symbol of בטחון? Because he is secure and has nothing to worry about. We have to feel secure in ה'’s arms and accept that everything that he gives us is for our good.
ו דעהו- דע אותו
יישר ארחתיך- יעשה שדרכים שלך יהי ישרים
ח''זל tell us about this פסוק that one of the חכמים asked, ''איזהי פרשה קטנה שכל גופי
התורה תלוין בה?''. The קיום of the whole תורה is dependant on our קיום of this פסוק.
ר' יונה sheet How does it connect to בטחון? Any endeavor of yours, you have to remember and have
תקוה toward ה' that he’ll help you because it isn’t in your hands. What does this פסוק come to add? There could be someone who has בטחון- he has reached שלמות in פסוק ה- a very high level. Something could still be missing though- when it comes to little details, he doesn’t think about בטחון. This פסוק is telling us בכל דרכיך- in every detail of everything that you’re doing, no matter how small, you have to have בטחון.
When someone is in a big, risky situation, he knows that he needs ה'’s help and turns to Him. Whey don’t we ask ה' to help with the small things?
1. ע''פ טבע it works out.
2. Very often, we don’t care if it works out or not, and why should we bother ה' with such small things? Some also feel that if they ask for help with small things, they’ll use up their זכותים that they want for the bigger things.
משל- rich man and poor man- ''השלך על ה'...''. Who do you think is doing all the small things and taking care of details? He does it anyway, so we should acknowledge that we need ה'’s help. When it comes to small things, you don’t have to worry about using up your זכותים. If ה' has to change טבע for you, then you could worry. When you turn to ה', you get more זכותים. This פסוק tells us that we have to learn to turn to ה', even by small things. There is no such thing as something happening on its own- it’s חסד ה'.
Since this is true down to the smallest action, we are מחויב to turn to ה'. When it’s a question of whether or not we should turn to ה', it turns into something much bigger. Whether or not your cake flops isn’t such a big deal, but whether or not you turn to ה' is a big deal. By not acknowledging ה', you’re shortchanging your עבודת ה'. If you did turn to ה' before, it doesn’t matter because it’s a small thing but it does matter because you strengthened your בטחון and you get tremendous שכר.
This פסוק is the key of our בטחון and therefore the key to our entire קיום המצוות- שכל גופי התורה תלוין בה. Our entire relationship with ה' is dependant on this פסוק- a constant hint to remember ה'. It’s a high מדרגה, but it’s not so hard to do.
If you’re מקיים the first half of the פסוק, the second half will be fulfilled- there’s a much greater chance that you’ll succeed when you remember that it’s only through ה' that you’ll be successful.
Two practical ways to bring it into our lives:
1. שפתי חיים recommends three times a day to turn to ה' with a small request. If it does work out, realize that it’s from ה' and thank Him.
2. Think about what you’re saying when you say ב''ה, בע''ה, ע''ה.
מ''ד -בכל דרכיך In everything that you do, ask yourself how it’ll bring a benefit to your עבודת
ה', and you’ll be מצליח.
רמב''ם It shouldn’t be in a person’s heart that he’s working to make money or eating because he’s hungry, rather he’s doing everything so that he’ll be able to serve ה'. The highest level is that everything you do should be לשם שמים. A person who does this, it comes out that he’s constantly serving ה' no matter what he’s doing- ''וכל מעשיך יהיו לש''ש''.
מאירי ''ואהבת את ה' אלקיך בכל לבביך''- with your יצה'ר and your יצר הטוב. How does someone do this? Things which we think would be in the domain of the יצה'ר, have כונה that you’re doing it לש''ש and it’s like you’re serving ה' with his יצר הטוב.
ח''ח A person who’s מקים this will get שכר for the גשמיות. Why? משל- Master has to pay his servant for travel time. נמשל- if we have the right כונה, we’re actively serving ה' so we get שכר.
We tend to think that life is divided into two:
1. רוחניות- עבודת ה'
2. Everything else.
This פסוק is telling us that we have to have one goal in life and everything falls under that category- עבודת ה'. We don’t’ have to think the whole time that we’re going in the way of ה' so long as our goal is עבודת ה' and you don’t get sidetracked. Also make sure that it doesn’t go against the רצון ה'.
In life, two people can be doing the exact same thing however one will be doing עבודת ה' and one won’t.
Someone that ה' blessed him with שכל should use it by getting into his heart that ה' sent us on a mission in this world- to be מקים his תורה and מצוות- dot the רצון ה'. The highest level in עבודת ה' is someone who doesn’t make a move unless it gets him to his goal. He’ll get the ultimate joy in עוה''ב. משל- we’re like a servant of ה'. If we are faithful, we will be thinking about the mission the whole time. נמשל- At the end of one’s life, he should be able to say that he carried out his mission faithfully.
I’m missing a little bit at the end… I’ll have it a lil l8r, im just running out… if u want it, call me and I’ll gladly fax it 2 u.. my number is 362.5844. Good Luck studying and enjoy!!
מ''ד בני- speaking in the name of ה'. He’s saying that you are as dear to me as a child is to his
father. He’s warning that you shouldn’t forget His תורה.
מלבי''ם לימוד התורה =תורתי אל תשכח and קיום המצוות =מצותי יצר לבך.
What is included in a man’s חיוב of לימוד התורה? Even דינים that will never be done by
some people, like מצות הקרבנות. Why would a man learn these הלכות? There is a מצוה of לימוד התורה- ''והיגית בו יומם ולילה''. One has to learn לשמע, not necessarily to come out with any הלכות.
What else is included in ''תורתי''? The stories in the תורה that are the cornerstones of our אמונה, for example we get the יסוד of נבואה from our אבות and the יסוד of יצ''ם from the מכות. We are warned not to forget them. We should learn and remember until we come to a point that we won’t forget. By the מצות, it’s not enough to know them, we also have to keep them.
(Not inside) What is the ל' of ''לבך''?
1. The לב is the command center of the body and it rules over all the אורים.
2. ''רחמנא ליבא באי''- ה' wants the כונה that’s in our hearts.
All מצות can be divided into three parts:
1. חובות האורים- done with the body, for example:
a. צדקה
b. לולב
2. חובות הלבבות-
a. יראת ה'
b. גדלות ה'
c. אמונה
d. חשבון הנפש
e. ''לא תחמד''
3. חובות האורים and חובות הלבבות together- a prime example would be תפילה.
By חובות האורים, you don’t need כונה the whole time to be יוצא, just initially. But like this you aren’t doing it the right way. Really, the right way would be to have כונה the whole time. חובות האורים and חובות הלבבות together needs to be backed up by כונת הלב. We know that ''תפילה בלי כונה כגוף בלי נשמה''- it’s like a peel without the fruit inside. משל- servant who prepares food for the king, but leaves. נמשל- תפילה can be compared to the food, and we send our lips to serve Him. ה' wants our hearts and our minds. חובות הלבבות is an area in עבודת ה' that is often overlooked. They are really חיובים and must be learnt so that we could do them properly. -משל servant with field duties and house duties. נמשל- the field duties are equal to חובות האורים and the house duties are equal to חובות הלבבות.
ב This פסוק is a תוצאה of פסוק א. If you keep פסוק א, they you’ll have ארך ימים, שנות חיים
and שלום.
מצודת דוד -ושנות חיים The years that a person lives will be quality years when good things will happen.
גר''א -שלום שלום is the כלי that holds all the other ברכות in place. Without שלום, there is no point in ארך ימים or שנות חיים. ארך ימים and שנות חיים are תוצאות of קייום המצוות. שלום is the תוצאה of לימוד התורה. שלום is that which holds all the other ברכות in place, so we can say that שלום is equal to all the other ברכות. שלום is a fitting result from לימוד התורה which is equal to all the other מצוות.
The תורה and the מצוות are מלמד זכות on someone, so that ה' gives him ארך ימים and שנות חיים.
We can’t always see how פסוק ב is a תוצאה of פסוק א because we don’t know the חשבונות of ה'.
ג מצודת דוד -אל יעזבך Don’t allow yourself to be without them.
ג קשרם-קשר אותם
גרגרתיך- הצואר שלך
מצודת דוד -קשרם You should constantly talk about them and think about them.
ר' יונה sheet חסד includes most מידות טובות. אמת includes מעלות in a person’s דעות and שכליות. חסד is to put all of your energy and desires into another’s happiness. A true בעל חסד is someone who is דורש שלמם וטובתם- wants other to be happy and is anxious to do what’s best for them. We usually define someone as a בעל חסד if they do חסדים for others. But that alone isn’t such a big deal- you don’t have to go against your nature because by a Jew, his nature is to be a גומל חסד and likes to be on the giving end. Such a person is an עשות חסד. But a real בעל חסד is someone with אהבת חסד- this is a much higher level. Why? By nature, we want ourselves to have and others not to have and to be above. When we don’t have and be happy for others and want them to have good, this goes against our nature and is much harder. When someone is a true בעל חסד, the bad מידות that are in a person’s nature are removed from him, such as:
1. אכזריות- opposite of this because he wants harm for others.
2. כילות- stinginess- he has a hard time giving things up because he doesn’t want good for others. This doesn’t mean he’s a miser, but many of us can be like this. We often have a hard time giving to those that aren’t close to us. But as soon as a בעל חסד feels that each person is an extension of himself, he doesn’t have a hard time giving.
3. שנאה- he hates people and doesn’t want good for them. Sometimes, there’s something about someone that you just can’t stand. But a בעל חסד sees everyone as an extension of himself, so he doesn’t hate people.
4. קנעה- he’s jealous of something someone has, but a בעל חסד sees everyone as an extension of himself so he isn’t jealous.
5. תאוה- he’s self centered and doesn’t care for the good of others.
6. גאוה- he feels that he’s better than anyone else.
Someone who is an אוהב חסד will inevitably do חסד, (but someone who does חסד isn’t necessarily an אוהב חסד). He will do גמ''ח even if he doesn’t have money for צדקה. He will do ביקור חולים, ניחום אבילים…
ה' demands from us to try to be an אוהב חסד. How can one become an אוהב חסד? The חיצוניות is מעורר the פנימיות. So why doesn’t help us to become an אוהב חסד if we do חסדים? Because we must realize that there’s a פנימיות and try to be מכון to want to help others, and not do it because of ulterior motives.
Why was the II בית destroyed if they had תורה and גמ''ח? Because they had שנאת חינם. So even though they had גמ''ח, there wasn’t an אהבה for people, so there was no אהבת חסד. We need to be מתקן it.
אמת isn’t considered something bad to be good or good to be bad. The בעל אמת isn’t scared to say that something is bad or good. He doesn’t flatter people and has קנאות- zealousness to stand up for good.
חניפה- flattery is a form of שקר, but it’s also an אסור within itself. It’s one of the כתות that can’t be מקבל פני השכינה. The four כתות:
1. חניפים
2. שקרנים
3. בעלי ל''ה
4. לצים
So what’s חניפה? Flattering someone who’s doing an עבירה by telling them that is was right or fine. During the תקופה before II בית, the Romans appointed a goyish king over the Jews- אגריפס. He tried to be מקיים the מצוות and once did הקהל and read the פסוק that said that ב''י shouldn’t have a goyish king, and he started to cry. ב''י were scared of the repercussions so they told him that it’s fine because he’s considered to be ''אחינו''. By doing this, not only weren’t they giving תוכחה but they were also being מחזק his resolve to be חוטא.
If one’s in a position to give תוכחה and doesn’t, that’s also considered חניפה. If you’re sitting among people who are doing something wrong, and you know that they won’t listen to your תוכחה, you have to do something because otherwise people will think you’re expressing your approval. So either give תוכחה or get up and leave.
A בעל אמת is willing to go against the flow, but it’s very difficult. Story- Rabbi Brown and מחיצה.
Someone who is a בעל אמת is happy when צדיקים receive כבוד and when רשעים are lowered because it’s אמת, and even thought he knows, he’s happy that everyone else should see.
A בעל אמת, at the time when he’s judging won’t show favoritism and he’ll give an honest verdict. We pass judgment all the time on other people. We shouldn’t show favoritism to ourselves or someone close to us. We tend to judge with a double standard- we judge others very quickly, but when it comes to judging ourselves, we come up with excuses to justify our actions.
A בעל אמת is מודה על האמת- admits. It’s a difficult thing to do, but it’s אמת. We tend to say that we’re never going to convince the other person so he should just forget it, but that isn’t אמת. When someone gives us מוסר, we should accept it. A בעל אמת has a firm commitment to אמת, so he’s open to hear.
A בעל אמת is someone who isn’t מקבל ל''ה and doesn’t believe everything he hears, lest he believes something untrue. A בעל אמת checks out to see if a rumor or story is true before he believes its and repeats it.
Someone who’s a true בעל אמת will turn away from crooked דעות and השקפות that may be displayed under the banner of Yiddishkeit. A בעל אמת will investigate in order to see what’s the אמת, because he’s scared to let שקר come into his heart. He won’t let go until he comes to the truth.
The מעלות of חסד and אמת are so great that we can’t even comprehend the greatness of someone who reaches שלמות in these מעלות. Someone who is at the other extreme is among the רשעים who are despised in the eyes of ה'- ''אדם בליעל איש און... שנא ה' ''. With everything that we do, were moving one step closer to שלמות and one more step away from the opposite extreme.
שלמה talks about these מידות so that our עבודת ה' should be desired and accepted by ה'. Two פסוקים to prove this:
1. ''חדשיכם ומועדיכם שנאה נפשי''- as long as כלל ישראל don’t get rid of certain faults, ה' hates when they come to the בהמ''ק.
2. ''נירו לכם ניר ואל תזרעו אל קוצים''- it’s useless to plant seeds on top of thorns. First, remove the thorns, then you can plant beautiful seeds.
ר' יונה -קשרם על גרגרתיךWhy is it important for us to talk about these מידות?
1. It helps him and he can have a constant reminder to be נזהר in these מידות- when you hear yourself talking, it makes an impression.
2. Other people can also learn from you, even if you aren’t שלם. They’ll learn to praise and think highly of בעלי אמת- someone who’s always praising good מידות and putting down bad מידות.
3. ''מצרף לכסף וכור לזהב ואיש לפי מהללו''-in order to test gold and silver’s purity, put it through a furnace. In order to test the essence of a person, see what he praises and what he constantly talks about.
-כתבם על לח לבך this is the עבודה of ''וידעת הום והשיבותה אל לבבך''. This is lifetime goal. Why is it necessary to write it in our heart? Because it’s our heart that is responsible for our actions. We have to take what is in our mind and put it in our heart, because without putting it in our heart we won’t get anywhere. Possibly the longest journey of our life is the journey from the head to the heart. How do we do this?
מכתב 1. Repetition- if you repeat something out loud enough times, you can’t help it but it’ll
מאליהו have an influence because repetition goes into your subconscious. Make yourself a
Sentence about what you want to get into your heart and it’ll help.
2. כח ציור- imagination. When you hear or see something, it doesn’t affect your subconscious, but if you imagine it, it’ll penetrate. You should picture the עונש and it will stop you from doing a חטא.
ד פסוק ד is תוצאה of פסוק ג.
מ''ד -ומצא חן through the מידות of חסד and אמת, we’ll find favor and it will be known before
ה' and others that he has שכל טוב.
ר' יונה ומצא חן → חסד
and גר''א שכל טוב → אמת
Someone who is a בעל חסד will find חן in the eyes of ה' and others and someone who is a
בעל אמת will find אמת in the eyes of ה' and other people.
ר' יונה Why will a בעל חסד find חן in the eyes of ה'? ''כל המרחם על הבריות הבריות מרחמין עליו מן
השמים''- when ה' sees us treating His children with compassion, it’s מעורר a tremendous amount of רחמים from ה'. It’s like a key that unlocks good for us in שמים. Why will a בעל חסד find חן in the eyes of other people? A בעל חסד wants to always help others, so it’s
obvious that he will find favor in the eyes of others.
גר''א -חן it comes from the שרש of חינם because חן is a מתנת חינם from ה'. We always see a ל' of מצא before חן because someone who has חן isn’t deserving of it, it was just found. A
בעל חסד gives others more than they deserve, so ה' sometimes gives him more than he deserves. חן is inner qualities that shine forth to the outside. Not everyone who is a בעל חסד gets חן- it is very rare and given out randomly, but ה' likes to give it to בעלי חסד. It may seem that it’s a reward for a בעל חסד and not a מתנת חינם. It can be compared to someone paying $100 for a gorgeous diamond- it’s really a מתנה. ה' also likes to give חן to ענוים- ''לענוים יתן חן''. Besides for חן, מידות טובות also cause have a person to have a shine.
ר' יונה Someone who is a בעל אמת will be known for his שכל טוב- people will respect him. When we stand up for the אמת, in the long run we will be respected for it.
גר''א שכל טוב= הצלחה. Someone who has שכל טוב will be מצליח in what he tries to do. This is not a שכר, rather a תוצאה.
מאירי This פסוק is a צווי- commands us to do מעשים in a way that will find favor in the eyes of both ה' and other people. There is another פסוק with a similar צווי- ''והייתם נקיים מה' ומישראל''- when ראובן, גד, חצי שבט מנשה came before משה and asked to settle מעבר לירדן, משה said that they had to fight first so that it shouldn’t seem like they only wanted to settle there so that they wouldn’t have to fight, and then they’ll be נקיים. It isn’t enough that ה' knows that our actions are done for the right reason, others must know too.
An עיר הנדחת would be an example of this. An עיר הנדחת is a city where everyone serves ע''ז. Everyone must be killed and the spoils must be burnt. It seems that בעל תשחית is being done, but it’s more important that people should understand the reason why it was done was (to justify a wrongdoing, and not to get spoils) than to do בעל תשחית because it could cause a חלול ה'. Also, if people see you doing something wrong, they might copy. Story- ר' משה and tea. In our society, everyone contributes. If you do something that appears to be wrong, the esteem of that thing will be lowered in the eyes of society. If there’s no way to justify an action that seems wrong but is really right, rather don’t do it. If we see someone doing something wrong, we have to be דן לכף זכות, but we also can’t put ourselves into a situation where others will have to be ךן us לכף זכות.
But we can’t take this concept too far, that everything we do is done in the hope of finding favor in the eyes of others. A גנב is someone who steals secretly. A גזלן is someone who commits an armed robbery publicly. A גנב is scared only of ה'. A גזלן isn’t scared ה' or others. A גנב is worse because he’s concerned about what others think about him, but not what ה' thinks about him. We see the severity of a גנב that he has to pay back four times. Even if we’re doing everything right, we can still be like a גנב if we’re doing it because of what others will think about us. Sometimes, there’s a conflict between finding favor in the eyes of ה' and finding favor in the eyes of other people. Obviously, we have to find favor in the eyes of ה', but someone who lives their whole life to impress other people will have a very difficult time when faced with this נסיון. Story- Rabbi Rosenberg and the O-U. We have to always keep in mind and ask ourselves- what would ה' think about it? If He wouldn’t approve, don’t do it.
The idea of being such an approval seeker connects to בטחון- an approval seeker thinks that people run the world and if he makes the right impression on the right people, he’ll get places. This shows a total lack of בטחון.
ה בטח- צריך לבטח
בכל לבך- בלב שלם, בלי שום ספק
תשען- תסמך
מ''ד -אל תשען when you plan something out so carefully and use your חכמה, don’t think that it’ll automatically work out because everything is dependant on ה', not on חכמה.
ר' יונה sheet The שלמות of בטחון is that a person believes only in ה' and not in his own strengths, שכל or other people, therefore the פסוק says, ''ואל בינתך אל תשען''. Why does the פסוק specify not to rely only on חכמה? One can’t rely on anything accept for ה'!
1. Because it’s a mistake that’s most commonly made- people feel that חכמה is something that could be relied on. Don’t make that mistake!
2. It also includes not to trust in anything else. A person thinks that he could trust in other things because his שכל tells him. Don’t trust your שכל when it tells you to rely on other things because everything is dependant on יד ה' and not on anything else. There are פסוקים that come to prove that nothing is dependant on anything other than ה':
a. ''משיב חכמים אחור ודעתם יסכל''- ה' can and sometimes does take away a person’s חכמה. חכמה isn’t in your control. Sometimes, everything just flies out of your brain- shows that חכמה is in ה'’s control.
b. ''רבות מחשבות בלב איש ועצת ה' היא תקום''- a person makes plans and strategies and thinks that things will turn out according to his plans. Really, everything works out according to ה'’s plans.
c. ''אם ה' לא יבנה בית שוא עמלו בוניו בו''- you could work on building a house for days, but if ה' doesn’t want it to stand it won’t.
d. ''כי כל מעשינו הבל''- all our actions are nothing and are for nothing. Actions are nothing in that it’s not our actions that’ll determine what’ll happen to us- ה' does.
e. ''כי לא לקלים המרוץ...''- a race isn’t necessarily won by the fastest person. Whoever ה' wants to win will win- it’s totally in His hands.
f. ''לאדם מערכי לב ומה' מענה לשון''- a person plans out what he’s going to say and how he’s going to say it, but it’s up to ה' how his words will come out. ר' יונה learns out a קו''ח from here- if even our speech isn’t up to us, how could we think that our actions are in our control?
ר' בחיי sheet A wealthy person or a fast person shouldn’t think that it’s because of his talent- ''כי לא
לקלים המרוץ ולא לגבורים המלחמה וגם לא לחכמים לחם וגם לא לנבונים עשר וגם לא ליודעים חן כי עח ופגע יקרה את כלם''- ה' set up the world that it looks likes the fastest win the race, but we see enough exemptions to realize that it isn’t like that. A person shouldn’t put
his hope in his השתדלות, he should place his hope in ה'. ''אף לאלקים דומי נסשי כי ממט תקותי'' – only hope to ה' because the only hope is from ה' and not from השתדלות.
In theory, we agree and believe it, but do we live our lives like that? No. The primary reason for this is because ה' set up the world according to cause and effect. Usually, if you put in effort, you get the desired effect. It seems to us that because one works he gets פרנסה. If we want the desired result, we’ll do the cause. ה' is THE CAUSE- סיבת כל הסיבות. The מכתב מאליהו gives two משלים:
1. משל- the dog fetches the stick in order to get the meat. To the dog, it seems that fetching the stick sends forth meat, but really it’s the owner. נמשל- things we do seem to bring us the desired results. Really, this is a narrow perspective- we have to see that ה' is in control.
2. משל- a man is looking into a room through a keyhole. He sees a pen written on its own. Really if he would just open the door, he would see that someone is controlling the pen. נמשל- our perspective of this world is necessarily limited. From our limited perspective, we think that medicine heals a person, that work brings פרנסה… - really it’s ה'. We have to open the door= get בטחון, and see that everything is ביד ה'.
When we do השתדלות, we thing that it’s doing something. משל- a child on a ride where a car runs on its own, but the child thinks that by turning the wheel they’re moving the car. נמשל- the connections between our השתדלות and what actually happens in no different than the child thinking that he’s controlling the car. Let’s say that the amusement park made a rule that the ride operator can’t start the ride until each child spins the wheel three times- ה' made a גזירה that things don’t happen without השתדלות. We have to do the necessary השתדלות to set the ride in motion. How much money a person makes was נגזר on ר''ה and that’s how much money he is going to make, no matter how much השתדלות he puts in.
Why do we have to do השתדלות? משל- a man has a millionaire friend. He sees this man’s son working in a store. He comes up with many reasons why this boy is working, but know that it isn’t for money. נמשל- ''לי הכסף ולי הזהב''- ה' tells His children that if they want money, they have to work for it. Every single aspect of every single bit of our lives is completely in His control. ה' tells us that if we want something, He will give it to us in the normal way. But know that the reason it works isn’t because of our effort.
If ה' controls everything, why do we have to do השתדלות? Because of the חטא of אדם הראשון. It used to be that there was no טבע in this world, but then אדם was חוטא and a set of curses came upon this world. Among them was the curse of ''בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם''. This was the introduction of טבע into the world. When ה' gives a punishment, it’s not נקמה, rather it’s מכ''מ. Our job is to be מתקן- the חטא of אדם הראשון was in a tiny way showing a lack of belief in יחוד ה'. To be מתקן it, we have to believe that ה' is the only power. We were thrust into a world of טבע and we must see past the טבע and see the יד ה'. If we do this, we can be מתקן the חטא of אדם הראשון. משל- a person is told to break a barrel but not to let the wine spill. This is a very difficult נסיון.
The מסילת ישרים says that one thing that stops a person from מידת החסידות is worries in עניני עוה''ז. What stops those worries? Having בטחון- completely relying on ה' because you know that you have nothing to worry about. ה' gives you what He decided with or without your השתדלות. But,מועיל אלא שהשתדלות מוכרח'' ''לא שהשתדלות- it doesn’t help but rather it’s necessary. השתדלות is a tax. After you have paid the necessary tax, now you’ll get what you need. So who pays extra taxes? No one! So just fill your חיוב and you’ll be finished with it, because you’ll only get what ה' wanted.
What is the minimum amount of השתדלות? There’s a כלל that the amount that you’re required to do is dependant on your מדרגה in בטחון. Someone who is still just learning בטחון has to do what the world considers normal השתדלות. What’s considered more than normal השתדלות? If you live normally but want to live luxuriously, work more hours or change professions. In this case, you won’t gain anything but you’ll lose time for עבודת ה'. We don’t want to be on the level of just learning השתדלות; assuming that we are on a higher level and keep telling ourselves that it’s not our work that’s doing this but rather ה', then our השתדלות that is necessary is minimized.
How do we know if we’re ready for that? Ask yourself, “What would happen if I didn’t do this השתדלות and I didn’t achieve my goal? Would I regret that I didn’t do it or would I accept it?” If you wouldn’t regret it then you’re on that level. But if you’re not on that level yet, don’t minimize your השתדלות so that you won’t be regretful of a מצוה. The highest level is not really anyone’s level today but it’s total, one hundred percent trust in ה' and one doesn’t need to do any השתדלות.
חובות הלבבות If you do too much השתדלות and rely too much on it, then ה' will leave you and won’tbe משגיח on you. He’ll leave you in the hands of your own השתדלות. That’s the worst situation to be in in life. What about someone who thinks that he could rely on both his בטחון and his השתדלות? One can’t trust in both ה' and his השתדלות. If he does, he’ll lose the little amount of בטחון that he does have.
We also have a special weapon- תפילה. If we concentrate on what we were saying, we would realize that it isn’t השתדלות, rather ה' that gives us all of our needs. For example, if someone was sick and they said ''רפאנו'', they would realize that ה' is the One who heals.
What is בטחון? A בעל בטחון is tranquil and knows in his heart that he can rely on ה', that everything that ה' does for him is for his good. The basis for this is
1. ה'’s יכולת
2. ה' knows that which is good for us.
משך חכמה Tells us that we have to believe that:
1. ה' is constantly looking out for His creations and giving us everything that we need. He is also looking to protect us from any lacks such as sickness or misfortune.
2. He has the ability to do good.
3. He knows everything that’s inside of us and what’s good for us.
What comes out from here then is that ה' is looking our for our good and feels our good more than we ourselves do. A person will have מנוחת הנפש and won’t do more השתדלות than necessary because he knows that ה' will give him what’s good for him. If we don’t get what we want, obviously it’s not for our good.
Seven qualities that if a person has, you can trust him completely:
1. If a person cares about you and loves you, he is מרחם on you.
2. He doesn’t forget about you for a second- he’s constantly looking out for you and looking to see what good he can do for you.
3. Has the ability to do whatever is good for you.
4. Has to know what’s good for you on a fundamental level, not just on a superficial level.
5. Has to be with you from when you’re born until the day you die.
6. No one can do anything to you besides for this entity.
7. This entity has to be the ultimate בעל חסד- not only on those who are deserving but also on those who aren’t deserving.
No person has all seven qualities, only ה' does. It’s impossible that something can happen to you that’s bad. Everything is covered by one of the seven qualities. We have to internalize all these principles and once we have integrated them, we’ll be able to submit to ה' completely. ''כוס ישועות אשא ובשם ה' אקרא'', ''צרה ויגון אמצא ובשם ה' אקרא'' because we know that everything that ה' does is good for me.
Our עבודה in בטחון-את עצמו לרשותו'' ''וימסר- submitting ourselves to ה'’s control. This is very hard because everyone wants to feel that they’re in control of their lives. בטחון means to realize that everything is being controlled by ה' who only wants that which is good for us. ה' controls everyone, even those that don’t submit. Every breath is dependant on ה'- ''על חיינו המסורים בידך''. What difference does it make if we submit or not- ה' is controlling anyway?!
1. When we do succeed in submitting, it brings a feeling of tremendous מנוחת הנפש. The difference between one who submits and one who doesn’t is a life of מנוחת הנפש or a life of stress. As long as someone feels that he’s in the driver’s seat, every obstacle makes him worried and scared. If you know that ה' is in the driver’s seat and you’re just the passenger, you don’t have to worry.
2. When someone submits, ה' will lead him with extra special השגחה פרטית because ''ה' צלך''.
Often, בטחון can bring about ישועות because of the extra השגחה פרטית he has. Sources:
1. ''הבוטח בה' חסד יסובבני'' –תהלים
2. ''ובוטח בה' ישוגב'' –משלי. ר' יונה says that ישוגב מן הצרה שכר הבטחון- אע''פ שהצרה ראוי' לבוא עליו ישוגב מן הצרה בשבר הבטחון
3. אוה''ח in בשלח- ב''י find themselves in a difficult situation. They davened to ה' and ה' told משה not to daven, but to go into the ים סוף. Why did ה' say not to daven? Sometimes, a person can be in such a strong צרה that even with תפילות he can’t be helped because of the testimony against him. Only בטחון will help.
When a yid is in a difficult situation, בטחון dictates that he should:
1. Think that it’s from ה'. If it’s from ה' it must be good for him. Sometimes, depending on the level of the situation, this alone might be enough. Sometimes the reason a person is put in a situation is to test him to see how he handles it.
2. A person hopes and prays to ה'. He asks ה' that it should be good in a way that he can see that it’s good= ישועה. Also included is trusting that ה' could bring about the ישועה in an instant. In a difficult situation, one must be afraid of ה' and of his חטאים- by יעקב, it says ''וירא יעקב מאד''- he was afraid because of his חטאים. Despite this, we have to have בטחון though.
Why תפילה?
1. The world is often set up in a way where ה' has something that’s waiting for you, but you have to daven, like by אדם.
2. We daven for ourselves- to strengthen our בטחון, to remind and drill into ourselves that everything is from ה'.
3. If we believe that a צרה is good for us, why are we davening that it should be taken away? AS a result of our תפילה and בטחון, sometimes we will then have achieved the point of our צרה.
When in a צרה, one should always daven, but תפילה must come with an amendment- if as a result of my shortsightedness and foolishness, please don’t give me what isn’t good for me. What You with Your ultimate בחירה choose for me is far better than what I could choose for myself.
The final מדרגה in בטחון is to leave ourselves in ה'’s hands, just like דוד said in תהלים, ''אם לא שוויתי ודוממתי נפשי כגמל עלי אמו''- I imagine myself as a nursing infant in its mother’s arms. Why is this the ultimate symbol of בטחון? Because he is secure and has nothing to worry about. We have to feel secure in ה'’s arms and accept that everything that he gives us is for our good.
ו דעהו- דע אותו
יישר ארחתיך- יעשה שדרכים שלך יהי ישרים
ח''זל tell us about this פסוק that one of the חכמים asked, ''איזהי פרשה קטנה שכל גופי
התורה תלוין בה?''. The קיום of the whole תורה is dependant on our קיום of this פסוק.
ר' יונה sheet How does it connect to בטחון? Any endeavor of yours, you have to remember and have
תקוה toward ה' that he’ll help you because it isn’t in your hands. What does this פסוק come to add? There could be someone who has בטחון- he has reached שלמות in פסוק ה- a very high level. Something could still be missing though- when it comes to little details, he doesn’t think about בטחון. This פסוק is telling us בכל דרכיך- in every detail of everything that you’re doing, no matter how small, you have to have בטחון.
When someone is in a big, risky situation, he knows that he needs ה'’s help and turns to Him. Whey don’t we ask ה' to help with the small things?
1. ע''פ טבע it works out.
2. Very often, we don’t care if it works out or not, and why should we bother ה' with such small things? Some also feel that if they ask for help with small things, they’ll use up their זכותים that they want for the bigger things.
משל- rich man and poor man- ''השלך על ה'...''. Who do you think is doing all the small things and taking care of details? He does it anyway, so we should acknowledge that we need ה'’s help. When it comes to small things, you don’t have to worry about using up your זכותים. If ה' has to change טבע for you, then you could worry. When you turn to ה', you get more זכותים. This פסוק tells us that we have to learn to turn to ה', even by small things. There is no such thing as something happening on its own- it’s חסד ה'.
Since this is true down to the smallest action, we are מחויב to turn to ה'. When it’s a question of whether or not we should turn to ה', it turns into something much bigger. Whether or not your cake flops isn’t such a big deal, but whether or not you turn to ה' is a big deal. By not acknowledging ה', you’re shortchanging your עבודת ה'. If you did turn to ה' before, it doesn’t matter because it’s a small thing but it does matter because you strengthened your בטחון and you get tremendous שכר.
This פסוק is the key of our בטחון and therefore the key to our entire קיום המצוות- שכל גופי התורה תלוין בה. Our entire relationship with ה' is dependant on this פסוק- a constant hint to remember ה'. It’s a high מדרגה, but it’s not so hard to do.
If you’re מקיים the first half of the פסוק, the second half will be fulfilled- there’s a much greater chance that you’ll succeed when you remember that it’s only through ה' that you’ll be successful.
Two practical ways to bring it into our lives:
1. שפתי חיים recommends three times a day to turn to ה' with a small request. If it does work out, realize that it’s from ה' and thank Him.
2. Think about what you’re saying when you say ב''ה, בע''ה, ע''ה.
מ''ד -בכל דרכיך In everything that you do, ask yourself how it’ll bring a benefit to your עבודת
ה', and you’ll be מצליח.
רמב''ם It shouldn’t be in a person’s heart that he’s working to make money or eating because he’s hungry, rather he’s doing everything so that he’ll be able to serve ה'. The highest level is that everything you do should be לשם שמים. A person who does this, it comes out that he’s constantly serving ה' no matter what he’s doing- ''וכל מעשיך יהיו לש''ש''.
מאירי ''ואהבת את ה' אלקיך בכל לבביך''- with your יצה'ר and your יצר הטוב. How does someone do this? Things which we think would be in the domain of the יצה'ר, have כונה that you’re doing it לש''ש and it’s like you’re serving ה' with his יצר הטוב.
ח''ח A person who’s מקים this will get שכר for the גשמיות. Why? משל- Master has to pay his servant for travel time. נמשל- if we have the right כונה, we’re actively serving ה' so we get שכר.
We tend to think that life is divided into two:
1. רוחניות- עבודת ה'
2. Everything else.
This פסוק is telling us that we have to have one goal in life and everything falls under that category- עבודת ה'. We don’t’ have to think the whole time that we’re going in the way of ה' so long as our goal is עבודת ה' and you don’t get sidetracked. Also make sure that it doesn’t go against the רצון ה'.
In life, two people can be doing the exact same thing however one will be doing עבודת ה' and one won’t.
Someone that ה' blessed him with שכל should use it by getting into his heart that ה' sent us on a mission in this world- to be מקים his תורה and מצוות- dot the רצון ה'. The highest level in עבודת ה' is someone who doesn’t make a move unless it gets him to his goal. He’ll get the ultimate joy in עוה''ב. משל- we’re like a servant of ה'. If we are faithful, we will be thinking about the mission the whole time. נמשל- At the end of one’s life, he should be able to say that he carried out his mission faithfully.
I’m missing a little bit at the end… I’ll have it a lil l8r, im just running out… if u want it, call me and I’ll gladly fax it 2 u.. my number is 362.5844. Good Luck studying and enjoy!!
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