Evolution of Soap

The Evolution of Soap

Soap has evolved greatly since the origins of its invention in every way. The making of soap has been a fickle, changing process from the ingredients, to the prices, to the targeted consumers of it. However, it has remained steadfast in its purpose: hygiene and the cleaning of oneself. Thus, while many important aspects of the soap industry have been unable to remain the same throughout the centuries, the most significant aspect of it has: people's desires to feel clean and the need for hygiene. Thus, keeping the soap industry in business.

Originally, soap was not at all how we think of it today. Until, the 18th century soap was not even attainable to the middle and low class cause it was viewed as such a luxury. It was extremely high priced due to the fact it was produced by small-scale artisans because of a lack of industrial manufacturing. (Stenders) Also, Great Britain imposed a heavy tax and created many restrictions on soap which vastly drove up it's cost. (Chagrin) Thus, making it a symbol of wealth and class. For example, during the Tudor period, rich women would use castill soap daily for cleaning themselves. (Chagrin)

The notion of soap as a luxury item did not begin to change until 1791 when French chemist, Nicholas Leblanc, discovered how to turn common salt, sodium chloride, into soda ash (sodium carbonate), the main ingredient in soap. (Soap History.net) This revelation was so monumental, it completely changed the United States and Europe's view of hygiene as a whole. It put bathing into fashion and made people more hygienic due to the fact soap could now be produced much cheaper. Then, when Gladstone repealed the British tax soap in 1853, soap was reduced in price even more. (Chagrin) The industrial revolution also aided in this complete turnaround by giving the ability for soap manufactures to produce it in mass quantity. And, with the plumbing advances of running water and drainable bathtubs the soap industry flourished and soap started to become a household product. (Open Learn)

With the help of the Industrial Revolution, the soap industry became extremely profitable and soap became a mass consumed product. This is partly in due to greater production efficiency because of Proctor and Gamble's patented soap-making process: the continuos process. (Chagrin) The continuos process was able to decrease production time to less than a day which had never been done before and created the ability to mass produce soap. (Chagrin) Also, chemists could finally add appealing scents to the soap which before did not always smell the best due to ingredients like animal fat. (Soap History) The soap market also flourish in part to the invention of dynamite. Dynamite was made from nitroglycerine, a chemical derived from glycerin, and glycerin is a main product in soap. (Open Learn) Thus, soap producers could see this nitroglycerine to turn a profit because it was a waste product from soap making.

The soap industry as a whole became extremely profitable due to World War 1 which created what we think of as commercial soap. (Open Learn) The mass-scale use of soap as a disinfectant became so prevalent on the battle fields due to war injuries and unsanitary conditions. (Open Learn) This created a certain hygienic standard by which soldiers abided by and then brought home to their families; thus sharing and spreading their adoption of healthy habits. Proctor and Gamble caught onto this trend of the significance of soap and began to dedicate advertisement campaigns all to soap and spent more than $400,000 a year on this (equivalent to $10 million currently). (Realm of History) Soap ads like these had become so prevalent that radio serials were nicknamed "soap operas" because of the soap manufactures sponsoring them. (Realm of History) Thus, by the 20th century commercial soap had become a household necessity due to advertisement campaigns, the readily cheap accessibility of it in stores, the precedent standard of hygiene from WW1, and the ability for it to be mass produced because of the industrial revolution.

Replica of Soap during WW1

A Popular Brand of Soap During WW1

Commercial Soap nowadays

Sources:
Stenders: The history of Soap
Open Learn: The History of Soap Making
Chagrin Valley Soap and Salve: The origin and history of soap
Realm of History: The Short History of Soap
Soap History: The History of Soap

The First Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Misconceptions

Over the centuries the ideal true american Thanksgiving traditions and customs have greatly evolved. I learned from Smithsonian that marketers have played a huge role in this change by using their resources to push their Thanksgiving-esque products on the general public. In addition to this, the NY Times showed me that misconceptions about the first Thanksgiving have become extremely popular, due to history textbooks blurring over the negatives and advertisers creating many wrong beliefs to help sell their products. Overall, the day has gone through many changes from food, to traditions such as dressing up, and beliefs of what really happened on the “first” Thanksgiving due to advertisers and a lack of bluntness in history education. (Huffington Post)

I was shocked to learn from the New York Times that originally, Thanksgiving day was not even named Thanksgiving Day; it was just a celebration of a successful harvest. It was not until the 1830s that New Englanders dubbed the day Thanksgiving which only added to the misconception that the first Thanksgiving was really the first of its kind. (NYTimes) This is very inaccurate because for centuries before the “first” Thanksgiving other cultures (Europeans and Native Americans) were already having celebratory festivals for successful harvests. (NYTimes) Thus not only does the idea of where the holiday came from ring untrue, but also the beliefs of the actual day itself. Most Americans have been taught that the so called “pilgrims” had invited all the Native Americans to come celebrate with them and they all happily joined together to eat turkey, pumpkin pie, and cranberries, thankful for each other and the good harvest. However, this is extremely wrong. First, the pilgrims were not even called pilgrims until 1880, and had named themselves the separatists. (NYTimes) Then, the actual story itself is wrong. Even though Squanto and the Patuxet tribe was present, there is absolutely no evidence of them being invited. (NYTimes) And, the amount of natives that came doubles the amount of pilgrims present which is widely unknown. (NYTimes) There was also most likely not turkey or pie because they did not have the resources to make pie, and turkeys were scarce. Thus, the common knowledge of how Thanksgiving started and the traditions that went with it are almost all incorrect.

Most of the general public, me included, is unaware that most of our traditional foods come from marketers not what the original pilgrims really ate. When reading the Smithsonian article, I found that advertisers have “created, legitimized, and maintained rituals and cultural myths associated with the Thanksgiving meal”. Turkey was most likely not even eaten on the actual day of Thanksgiving and competed against other birds like chicken, duck, and goose until the 1920’s when it became the most popular option. (Smithsonian) Brands are the reason why we now connect pumpkin pie to Thanksgiving or believe cranberry sauce was a dish at the original Thanksgiving. Marketers create our ideals of a Thanksgiving meal almost more than our own familial traditions and customs. (Smithsonian) However, we as the American public have to feed into these beliefs which we do for them to stay relevant. Thus, while marketers have created many of these misconceptions, the American public has maintained them by buying their products.

Sources:
Huffington Post: A forgotten Thanksgiving Custom: Masks, Mischief and Cross- Dressing
Smithsonian:  The Invisible Way That Marketers Set the Menu for Your Thanksgiving Feast

NYTs: Everything You Learned About Thanksgiving is Wrong

12 years a slave

Summary Review 12 Years a Slave

Solomon and the other slaves on the field

In Peter Travers's the Rolling Stone: 12 years a Slave review he strongly praises Chiwetel Ejofor's performance for being completely raw and exposing the true nature of slavery. He applauds the film for being provocative and shocking, and calls out movies like Django and Gone with the Wind for being a watered down version. Travers's believes it is extremely beneficial that the antagonist, Epps, is portrayed as such as horrifying human being because it shows the main theme he believes saying, "the core of a film that shows how slavery dehumanizes the oppressor as well as the oppressed."

Slave Excerpts

Sexual Abuse in Slavery

A "mixed" family of white and black slaves

I researched into the sexual abuse of slaves and the master-slave relationship on the National Humanities Center: Slaveholder's Sexual Abuse of Slaves page. I was just expecting rape of black females to be the full extent, however, I realized just how truly horrific the full extent of sexual depravity was and how it was fully accepted by society. Not only would white male masters rape their black female slaves, they would then sell the offspring of these relations into trafficking. This caused me to beg the question: Did they not care at all for their children, even though the mother was black? I began to read more about this and realized while some had absolutely no innate parental feelings, others viewed selling the children as caring because it removed them from the targeting of the white wife. This made more sense because I expected all the wives to care, however, some willingly married unbothered by this and viewed the mixed offspring as simply more money. Another thing that greatly surprised me was that slave masters would force two of their strong slaves into marriage so they would produce strong offspring that the masters could sell. It did not matter if either partner was already married or in a relationship, and this happened to girls as young as 12. With all this new knowledge, I still wonder how did white plantation wives stomach their husbands raping other women? Also, I think its important to question if the white plantation wives were more involved with all the slave sexual abuse than we think, and that maybe it was not all just their husbands.

Paraphrase Practice

Paraphrase Practice
"Lincoln lacked social polish but he had great intelligence and knowledge of human nature. The hallmark of the man, performed so powerfully by Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln," is calm self-confidence, patience and a willingness to play politics in a realistic way. The film focuses on the final months of Lincoln's life, including the passage of the 13th Amendment ending slavery, the surrender of the Confederacy and his assassination." Roger Ebert: Lincoln

My paraphrase of this selected passage:
In the movie "Lincoln", the protagonist, Abraham Lincoln, was wonderfully portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis in a strong emotionally evocative performance. Lewis was able to correctly show Lincoln as the epitome of the ideal man and politician, and elicit his true nature. Lincoln was an incredibly smart man, despite his uncouthness,  due to his strong political manipulation skills and his ability to contently wait and fully believe in himself. "Lincoln," the movie,  portrays the end of his life and presidency by showing his struggle to instate the 13th amendment, the aftershocks of its passage, and the eventual yield of the Confederates when they finally accepted their loss.

"Negro" Education During Reconstruction

Freedman's Bureau class in Reconstruction

"Negro" Education of the Reconstruction Era

The education of African American's in the southern reconstruction states was a very popular topic within newspapers of this time period because of how strong their hateful, criticizing opinions were on it. Everyone within the southern states were outraged in an uproar over not only having black infiltrate their schools, but about having to pay taxes that went to "negro" schools. I thought this was very noteworthy because I did not realize solely negro schools existed and did not realize whites were paying taxes to fund them. It was also extremely interesting that while most whites opposed this taxation, a small few were okay with it and wanted to use it as a bargaining tool. Self-servingly, they were interested in these schools because they hoped to compromise with the radical republicans by allowing these schools if the radicals would not force the Civil Rights Bill on them. I was very surprised about the white kids in school at the time because not only were their parents extremely racist, they were too. For example, one white and one black school was doing a procession together in Williamsburg and the whites were set to proceed behind the blacks. Thus, these young white school-age children rebelled and refused to go due to the racist beliefs ingrained into them from birth.

Sources:

Chronicling America: The Weekly Clarion--August 16, 1866

Chronicling America: Memphis Daily Appeal--July 1, 1874

Time Traveling in the 19th century Newspapers

Reflection

The Daily Clarion, April 11, 1868

Going through old newspaper sources was very much different from reading a text book generalization. The newspapers were a lot more interesting and more informative about how exactly the Southern's believed and thought about the blacks and the radical republicans. Whereas, the textbook talks more extensively about events, amendments, and the results of these that were happening in the time period and glosses over how each side actually really felt and believed. Also, the newspapers were incredibly biased which could influence how people reading them felt about the "negro" issue, whereas, the textbook is completely unbiased allowing the reader to have their own opinion. The newspapers were somewhat similar to what I expected because i assumed they would be very offensive towards blacks and very against freeing them. However, I was not expecting the newspapers to be outright offensive towards the white republicans and criticize them so much; I thought it would be more passive aggressively. I found it interesting and noteworthy that the Michigan people were not all willing to let the blacks be voted free because they didn't want twelve hundred slaves gaining the ability to vote. This was somewhat surprising because Michigan was a republican state. Also, I didn't realize the full scale of the amount of slaves being freed and knowing Michigan's twelve hundred slaves was actually a very small slave population compared to southern states was very important.

Why Did the Reconstruction End?

The Reconstruction ended in 1877 because of the Compromise if 1877 where the Republicans compromised if the South would vote Rutherford Hayes into presidency they would withdraw the rest of their troops from the southern states and would let the republican governments that still lasted in the south completely fall.

Sources:
AP US History Notes: The End of Reconstruction  

Library of Congress: The Daily Clarion

Lincoln movie response

Political cartoon from civil war era showing Lincoln's struggle with slavery

1. Lincoln was uncompromising because he was very forceful about getting the 13th amendment passed and would not back down from this position. He also did not let anyone's view of it not being successful stop him and stuck with his belief slavery was wrong because everyone was equal. Thaddeus Stevens was uncompromising because he also wanted slavery abolished but would not admit he thought them all equal in humanity. He just said he wanted them all equal under the law. They were able to compromise on ending slavery, but wouldn't compromise on their own beliefs.

2. The movie shows us how Lincoln's views on abolishing slavery morph from unsure into complete necessity like the letters. This is shown because in the beginning of the movie he is unsure to end it when talking to the soldiers and his wife because he does not know if it will work or not. Then, he slowly changes his mindset into one that believes it most be ended to stabilize the union. This is shown because he begins to dedicates all his time into ending it and when he angrily runs out of patience about the last votes.

3. He believed it was essential because if slavery was not abolished the union would fall apart and his number one goal was to keep the union together and end the war.

4. It complicated the union and confederate peoples views on slavery because it showed they were not clear cut black and white. For example, it showed how some of the republicans did not want slavery to end because they did not think slaves were equal to them and were scared they would outnumber them.

5. The people resisted the abolishment of slavery because they were scared. The whites feared that if the slaves were freed and made equal they would create a rebellion against the whites and outnumber them. They were also worried that they would have the same power as them in government and voting. They did not resist it because of "property rights."

Civil War Letters

The underlying, overarching theme: Honor

Letter 1:

Sayles's letter to his wife.

Captain James A. Sayles was a union soldier fighting in Bottoms Bridge, Virginia near the Chickahominy river. He is writing to his wife, Florence Lee, on June 11, 1864 about how he was highly thought of, how excited he was to go work in General Wilson’s army, and sharing his anxiety over some of his fellow soldiers getting sick because his unit was camping near the river. Letter 2:

Ballou's letter to his wife

Major Sullivan Ballou was a union soldier who fought in the First Battle of Bull Run in Manassas, Virginia. He is writing on July 14, 1861 in Camp Creek to his wife Sarah about the upcoming battle because he knows he may perish, so he wanted to give her closure. He shares how much he loves her and their 2 boys, but not to mourn him because they will meet again. He was not anxious or worried about dying because he loved his country so much, believes he should if God wills it, and wanted to follow in the footsteps of the revolution soldiers because he respected them greatly.
Letter 3:

Scott's letter to his wife

Captain Charles M Scott was a union soldier writing to his wife, Anna, on April 7, 1862 from the Pittsburgh Landing. In the letter he was telling her about the losses of his fellow beloved soldiers in the Battle of Shiloh. He is also explaining how some of the men tried to swim away and he thought them to be the greatest of cowards because they were not willing to fight for their country and their fellow soldiers. Letter 4:

Squire's letter to his parents

Capt. Watson Squire was a union captain writing to his parents on May 21, 1861 in Elmira, NY. He was telling them how he thought war was very necessary and defeating the Confederacy was an even more important cause then the Revolutionary War. He believes this because he sees the Civil War as defending the “doctrine of self-government” and even if they lose would rather have tried to fight it in honor. He is telling his parents not to worry about him because he is happy with the honorable path he chose, but will try to come home even though he accepts and is okay that he may not.

Letter 5:

Grant's letter to his sister

L.A. Grant was a union soldier writing to his sister, E.G. Sayles, on July 8, 1864 from the 1st Vermont Brigade. He is writing to her to tell that her son was captured by the confederacy, but he may be alive so not to assume the worst. He also emphasizes how honorable he was and that when he was captured he still conducted himself with bravery.

Sign:

This collection of letters from various Union soldiers, Capt. Sayles, Major Ballou, Capt. Scott, Capt. Squire, and L.A. Grant, displays an overwhelming theme of Honor. These letters compellingly evidence that we can presume the majority of Union soldiers felt a consuming love of their country and had extreme patriotism, shown through their willingness to fight. They believed in their cause and would die fighting for it. Thus, in their view any man who would not was the worst kind of dishonorable coward. This led to a strong sense of camaraderie, developing within all the soldiers due to their shared belief that the honorable way was to fight for their country and fellow men. Do you believe Americans in today’s time would heed this call to fight because of their honor? And, if not, then why do you think so many have willingly joined the Army? Hopefully, these impactful, ardent soldiers can inspire us now through their legacy to posses and display a great sense of honor, patriotism, and bravery. Would you stand strong for a cause you wholeheartedly believed in even in the face of death?

13th amendment

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction" (Primary Documents in American History)
The 13th amendment was ratified on December 6, 1865.
The emancipation proclamation only freed slaves living in non-union states, whereas the 13th amendment freed all slaves in the US. (PBS: Emancipation Proclamation)

13th amendment political cartoon depicting Lincoln ending slavery

The US Flag

America's Symbol of Freedom and Rights: the Flag 

The flag symbol originated in 1775 on American ships in New England water flying a liberty tree flag.

The flag has evolved greatly to change the colors used because the colors represent things, to include all 13 colonies, and to have all the states symbolized. One of the first flag changes was in 1775 when red and white stripes were added to the original tree flag. Then in 1776 Betsy Ross made a red and white striped flag with a blue corner that had 13 stars. After this template was created each time a state was added a new stripe and star were too so this happened in 1795, 1818, 1819, 1820, 1822, 1836, 1837, 1845, 1846, 1847-48, 1851, 1858-59, 1861, 1863, 1865, 1867, 1877, 1890, 1891, 1896, 1908, 1912, and 1959-60. The flag has not undergone any major changes since this because no new states have been added.

There are many purposeful design elements chosen on the flag such as colors, stripes, and stars. The stripes represent the 13 colonies and the stars represent the 50 states. The colors are also symbolic with red meaning valor, blue meaning justice, and white meaning purity.

The American flag represents freedom, unity, liberty, and unalienable rights. I think this meaning is overall very widespread and viewed as a positive symbol because many schools and other establishments, sport games, etc all say the Pledge of Allegiance together in unity and with pride.

Our flag has been nicknamed Old Glory, Stars and Stripes, or Star-Spangled Banner. These nicknames. These nicknames have usually originated from soldiers or art pieces such as poems or songs. For example Star Spangled Banner originated from a Francis Key poem and Old Glory came from a war veteran. This shows our culture at the time highly valued veterans and art forms such as writing or music.

You could learn that the flag represents freedom and that our country has extreme patriotism to the flag though the country genre. Some of these songs include, “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue”, “American Soldier”, “It’s America,” etc.

I can tell our flag is very respected because it is used to honor the dead by flying at half mast, it is praised by all American people, it represents our veterans and their bravery, and it has a song dedicated to it that is sung throughout the entire US.

The flag itself does not represent any controversy, however, there are many controversial, disgraceful ways to use it. For example, when laid flat the union stars should be left, on top. When the flag is raised or lowered everyone should face it with their right hand over their heart, and the flag should never be touching anything below it or pointed at something.

Sources

PBS, History of the American Flag

From this source i got one of the nicknames i mentioned above, the colors symbolism, and the appropriate customs of how to handle and respect the flag.

US History, Flag Timeline

From this source i learned and saw all the different flags the US has been through and all the changes to it. I also got all the dates I used from this source for answer #2.

Washington County Pilot, American Flag, a Symbol

I learned about what morals and values the flag represents and that one can legally do whatever they want to a flag because it represents freedom and your rights.

Ranker, Country Songs about America

I needed songs to list as examples and this website was very helpful and provided me with hundreds of songs about the American flag and patriotism.

Annotated Bibliography

An annotated bibliography is an alphabetically organized list of sources that includes the author's comment about each reference used under the source listed. The authors comment under each source could be about examples of other sources with same opinions, how the author used it, or if they would recommend it.

Purdue/Owl: What is an annotated bibliography

From this source I got an understanding of what an annotated bibliography is and the general length of it. I also learned what the difference between a regular, abstract, and annotated bibliography are. I would recommend this source because it explained it very well.

University of Maryland: Examples of Annotated Sources

I used this source to understand what annotated sources looked like and what information they include in different forms of writing like APA or MLA. 

Articles of Confederation Post

Confederation Map

Articles of Confederation is located in chapter 6 page 187.

The term “The Articles of Confederation” is a main heading itself.

The text is discussing this topic as a main headed topic because the Articles were very important and paved the way for the Constitution to later come. The Articles were part of the larger event of the Patriots creating a central government.

I learned more about why it was created: to create a central government with limited powers.

I learned more what the goal of it was: to create a union where each state can keep its sovereignty, freedom, and independence. I learned more what its powers were: declare war, make treaties, borrow and print money, adjudicate disputes between states, and take funds from states for common defense. And, i learned it was ratified in 1781.

America's History Book 

This blog post is about learning more about Articles of Confederation within historical context and learning how to use the book and hyperlink.

Bibliography

1. Nicole Laurel
   

   

   https://mrdavidfox.weebly.com/annotated-bibliography.html

   1. He states the last name of the source author, and then if he has already stated a source he will say ibid under that which refers to the previous source. If the quote has come from a book that quoted it also, he will say “Quoted in…”. If the source is from an online article, he will state the slide number first, then the title, and the link last. If the source is from a certain page or chapter of the book, not the general whole, he will state the page number or chapter last.
2. He includes annotations in his bibliography to say why he chose a source, what he did/didn’t like or left out about a source, his own opinion on a source previously stated, to offer the reader more sources with his same arguement,  or to give credit to a person who has given him information or their personal experiences.
3. There are sources in the notes that are not mentioned directly and explicitly in the text itself. One source is Rene Girard. Bess did not physically read the book himself so he couldn’t cite it. However, he did read Milgram’s book which talked about Girards book. So Bess is following the rule that if you don’t read the physical book yourself, then you can’t cite it, you have to use “ibid”
4. He credited the sources in text by putting their words in quotations and mentioning them in the sentence, paraphrasing their opinion and mentioning their name again, or by inserting their longer quote without quotations in a smaller font with lines spaced on top and under the quote with the last name in brackets if not already mentioned. In the text he is literally naming and identifying the sources he used.
5. Bess’s argument is original because unlike Browning he does not only focus on the negative side of human choices. In Ordinary Men, Browning only gives examples of how people will submit to obedience or peer pressure and ignore their morals, making the bad choice. This implies Browning believes humans are immoral, easily impressionable creatures by nature and are able to justify their wrongdoings. Whereas, Bess creates a contrast to this by including the Le Chambon story, showing people can make good or bad choices depending on the morals built in them. Thus, Bess is saying that humans can be good but they have to put in the effort of making a positive, moral, and responsible society.

Why Yoga is the Best Activity

   

https://www.yogajournal.com/practice/not-all-yoga-is-created-equal

      Yoga is the best activity because it offers so many physical and mental health benefits.  During yoga classes, their is lots of stretching which helps to tone muscles and stay in shape. The stretching also helps you to become more flexible so you are less likely to pull a muscle and be injured. But, it is not to strenuous because their are lots of calming positions like downward dog that help you to not get to tired. It is great for mental health too because it teaches you steady, deep breathing which is a very good calming technique. Also, it is very slow-paced which helps to create a relaxing vibe. Therefore, yoga is a great activity because it helps in so many different ways.