The Electric Chair and how it is related to Progressivism

What were you able to discover, learn, and understand about the electric chair by examining primary source evidence in the newspaper archive? What did this topic have to do with Progressivism as a movement in the late 19th century/ early 20th century America?

Newspaper Links:
- Summary of Electric Chair 
- Wheeling Register- West Virginia, Wheeling, May 04, 1890 “ A New Era in Capital Punishment”

  New York Herald- New York, New York, July 24, 1889 "A Fight between Two Electrical Companies" 

     In my earlier research, I learned that the progressive era was the era of progress. It was a time when multiple economic and social issues were being debated and industrialization was being introduced to America. Many new reforms were made that affected people's everyday life. Some were happy with these changes and some were not. New technology was also being presented during this time period to make life easier for Americans. The telephone, the light bulb, and many more new inventions were rapidly being introduced to Americans in order to advance their lives in a positive way. However, some of these inventions were very controversial and not everyone saw them as a positive change. One of these inventions were the electric chair. The electric chair relates to progressivism because it was a new form of technology and was controversial throughout America. 

     The electric chair came to be in the late 19th century. Before then, most executions were done by hanging those who were deemed guilty. If one correctly, hanging someone was relatively painless and quick. However, if done wrong, it took a long time and was very painful for the rope's victim. Many Americans saw it as torture and wanted to find a new way to execute that seemed more humane. In 1886, the state of New York created a commission to do this. They researched and tested many methods but decided on electricity because it seemed the quickest and the least painful. In 1888 they passed the law that replaced hanging with electricity. This is how the idea of the electric chair came to be. Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse came up with two different methods in order to make this work. Eventually everyone came into agreement that Westinghouse's method was the cheapest and most efficient. Westinghouse came up with a new form of technology that had two alternating currents that would send multiple volts of electricity through them. I began to want to know more about the construction of the electric chair so I looked at the Wheeling Register on the article entitled " A New Era in Capital Punishment". This article gave a pretty good description of the chair. The chid was designed to look like a recliner. It had a footstool like a barber shop chair and a cap on it, similar to hair dryers in salons today, that had wires in it. Along the back of the chair was more wires that sent thousands of volts through it. It was a single chair in a cell that was made out of hardwood. It also contained multiple leather straps. This chair was a new form of technology because not only did it contain the two alternating currents but i was a quick process to end ones life that seemed the most humane to many people. However, there were some who did no think that was the case.

     The electric chair's first victim was a murderer named William Kemmler. The first time they placed him in the chair and flipped the switch it took 15 seconds for the electricity to fully pass through his body. They thought he was dead but then he started breathing again. They had to try another time in order to end his life. Their predictions of a fast and painless death had not been right. Many began to wonder if this was humane. People began to dislike the electric chair and many articles were written about the electric chair that made it seem very bad. After rethinking the technology the electric chair is still around today but is not the most popular or liked form of execution because many thought that it was torture. 

A photo of William Kemmler facing his death as the first victim of the electric chair

The first ever electric chair

William Kemmler

2nd Semester Reflection

Because the first semester of US History went well for me, I was feeling very confident going in to the second semester. So far we have been doing a lot of reading and have taken a test. I wish to improve my test scores even more as the semester progresses. In order to improve my test scores I will read over all of the material. I have been pretty consistent with my homework so I would love to keep that up as well. In the future, I plan to read a lot more closely so my reading questions are a lot more accurate. I loved studying documentaries because one of my favorite things to do is analyze film. I enjoy doing this because it gives me a better understanding of the story and also the director/ actors's intensions for the film. I hope to continue to do this as we move on in the semester because I find it very interesting.

Progressive era

1. Progress is the development and growth of something in a positive way.
2. The progressive era is between the 1890s and 1920s . According to gwu.edu, "Progressivism is the term applied to a variety of responses to the economic and social problems rapid industrialization introduced to America. Progressivism began as a social movement and grew into a political movement." That is why this time period is considered the progressive era. 
3. Progressive Era Goals/issues: 

• Outlaw the sale of alcohol 
• regulate child labor and sweat shops
• scientifically manage natural resources
• insure pure and wholesome water and milk
• women's suffrage
• race equality 

4. The thing that each one of these things have in common is that they help different types of people in large ways and has a huge impact on everyday life. 

5. Essential Goals worth striving for/ Necessary changes: child labor laws, race equality 

Good Goals: Women's suffrage, conservation of natural resources, pure water/milk

Strange Goals: outlaw the sale of alcohol 

Not a good Idea: outlaw the sale of alcohol 

Progress Classwork

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16444966

http://www.visualnews.com/2012/01/17/scary-accurate-predictions-from-over-110-years-ago/

http://weburbanist.com/2013/05/08/future-past-7-wonders-predicted-100-years-ago/

After doing much research on predictions of the future made one hundred years ago, I found out a lot of interesting information. The predictions made consisted of things like tubes that would shoot hot meals and clothing to homes, flying taxis, the extinction of insects and letters in the alphabet, and also things involving the evolution of humans. In my opinion, the majority of theses predictions seemed to be a "wish list" for those in the past. Many of them such as fishing for seagulls under water and aviary police seemed a bit bizarre, however, some predictions did come true. One of these were being able to talk to humans and not be in the same place but being able to see them. This is what we call FaceTime in todays time period. Also, more accurate predictions include wireless telephones, tanks, the rising height of Americans, pre prepared meals, and much more. There were also many patterns throughout these articles. The most recognizable pattern between each article was that most of the predictions had to do with technological advances. Also, advances in our everyday life such as food and transportation. In the future I see more technological advancement. I believe that we do have some control over the future. There are some things that we cannot control but there are many that we can. The role we play in the future is how to positively advance it and by doing all we can to make it better.

Eddie Aikau Documentary

     The filmmakers named this documentary Hawaiian, The Legend of Eddie Aikau because they wanted him to be recognized as a Hawaiian because a big part of his story was his Hawaiian heritage and culture and how it shaped him. The topic or subject of this film was Eddie Aikau, the focus of this film was the Hawaiian identity and surfing career of Eddie Aikau, and the angle or argument that the film was trying to get across was that Eddie Aikau was the kind of man who believed in keeping Hawaiian culture alive and also believed in protecting the lives around him before protecting his own. I also believe that the film was mainly trying to get across that Eddie Aikau was a man of great honor. Because this film was made as part of ESPN's programming, i think that they filmmakers tried to really put emphasis on the popular Hawaiian sport. This is why they had a lot of facts about the surfing competitions and tied it into how they effected Eddie. If this film was made on a more history based program, I feel that the filmmakers would have put more of a emphasis on Hawaiian culture as a whole rather than just surfing competitions.

"How do you Analyze a Political Cartoon"?

     After looking at a guide about analyzing political cartoons, i was familiar with most of the strategies. The ones that I already knew were to look for symbolism, exaggeration, and labeling. The few that I was not aware of included looking for analogy and irony. Going forward, my strategy for viewing political cartoons will remain fairly the same, however, with a few moderations. I will first look at the big picture and then look at the smaller less noticeable things that the author puts in the cartoon. I will then ask questions such as why the author put this there and the importance of each thing. By observing different things, I feel that my analysis will be much stronger.


My Cartoon Analysis:

This first cartoon was made to show the author's viewpoints on how he felt about the Filipinos gaining independence. The characters are carrying American flags but are clothing that indicates that they are cuban or from the Philippines. I think that they are carrying American flags because America gained independence on the same day and the author wanted to draw attention to the irony of that. This is because this cartoon questions the idea of celebrating the same day as America because sharing a national holiday isn't really independent.


This cartoon is to represent the Philippine conflict. In this picture I see a Filipino running away from Uncle Sam with a gun in his hand and Uncle Sam chasing him with no weapon in hand. And in the back of the picture is a group of Europeans observing the chase. This picture shows the Americans trying to gain control over them while the Europeans are looking over their shoulder.


This cartoon is also about the Philippine conflict. The picture shows Uncle Sam welcoming foreign guests into the Philippines after America gained control. The author labels the gates as the Philippines but has Uncle Sam welcoming people as if it were an American thing and not a Filipino thing.

Phrenology Research

Provenance: the place of origin or earliest known history of something.

Today in class we were presented with an "artifact". Our teacher wanted each of us to observe it and then research our observations in order to find information about the artifact and its origin. The artifact was a bust that had the word phrenology on it. My task was to just record the way my group was researching but I learned a lot just by listening to them.. They researched keywords that were written on the bust such as L.N. Fowler and phrenology, and the different things written on the bottom of the bust in order to find out its place of origin. After researching, we found out that phrenology is a study used in earlier times of the brain. After understanding the definition, my group continued their research by looking up things about the author, L.N. Fowler. While during this research they came across a lot of ads which caused them to speculate if this "artifact" was an actual antique or if it was just a recreation. They eventually learned that it was in fact a recreation of an object used earlier in history by scientist on order to find out more about the brain. Something interesting about the bust was how it was divided. It was divided by using words such as "selfishness" and "love" and other words similar to emotions. Because of this, my group started to wonder why they believed this practice and if this was still practiced today. They found out that it might be possible that it is still practiced in the world but the closest thing the phrenology that is used to day is the study of psychology. This is where my group ended their research.  Because I got to observe, I learned a lot about how many students research in order to find something and the importance of paying close attention to details.