The Crucible; critique essays

The Crucible; critique essays In the film The Crucible, the character of Abigail Williams conjures up a lie in the hopes that her married boyfriend will leave his wife for her. The lie turns into a disaster when the whole community is sent into mass hysteria of the thought that their holy Puritan society had been invaded by witchcraft. The movie starts out with one of the girls of the colony going off into the woods to join her girlfriends in a midnight dance. They are not witches. Instead they are a group of adolescent girls intrigued by the mystery of the rituals performed by Tituba, a slave of one of the families. The girls dance in the moonlight chanting words that they think will make their love interests have mutual feelings toward them. In particular, Abigail smears her face with blood and prays for revenge on the wife of the man who scorned her, a farmer named John Proctor. They are caught and are arrested for consorting with the devil. This is when the lies begin. The girls make an agreement to name those whom they disliked in the town as witches. John Proctor and Abigail had a love affair that had gone bad, and Abigail was lovesick. Abigail uses the situation created by her lie to advance her position in society and wreak her vengeance on John Proctor. One of the first people Abigail names is Johns wife, Elizabeth. Abigail hated Mrs. Proctor because she was fired by her when she suspected that her husband was unfaithful. The girls begin to show signs that the devil is amongst them. They go into intense convulsions, see things such as birds, hear voices and faint when they are in rooms with those they accuse of being witches. The community responds to this by setting up trials for the people that were accused of being possessed by the devil. When the court, lead by Judge Danforth, declares that the only way to escape being hung is by confessing to being involved with the devil and vowing to expel the e ...

Financial Panics of the 19th Century

Financial Panics of the 19th Century The Great Depression of the 1930s was called great for a reason. It followed a long series of depressions which afflicted the American economy throughout the 19th century. Crop failures, drops in cotton prices, reckless railroad speculation, and sudden plunges in the stock market all came together at various times to send the growing American economy into chaos. The effects were often brutal, with millions of Americans losing jobs, farmers being forced off their land, and railroads, banks, and other businesses going under for good. Here are the basic facts on the major financial panics of the 19th century. Panic of 1819 The first major American depression, the Panic of 1819 was rooted to some extent in economic problems reaching back to the war of 1812.It was triggered by a collapse in cotton prices. A contraction in credit coincided with the problems in the cotton market, and the young American economy was severely affected.Banks were forced to call in loans, and foreclosures of farms and bank failures resulted.The Panic of 1819 lasted until 1821.The effects were felt most in the west and south. Bitterness about the economic hardships resonated for years and led to the resentment that helped Andrew Jackson solidify his political base throughout the 1820s.Besides exacerbating sectional animosity, the Panic of 1819 also made many Americans realize the importance of politics and government policy in their lives. Panic of 1837 The Panic of 1837 was triggered by a combination of factors including the failure of a wheat crop, a collapse in cotton prices, economic problems in Britain, rapid speculation in land, and problems resulting from the variety of currency in circulation.It was the second-longest American depression, with effects lasting roughly six years, until 1843.The panic had a devastating impact. A number of brokerage firms in New York failed, and at least one New York City bank president committed suicide. As the effect rippled across the nation, a number of state-chartered banks also failed. The nascent labor union movement was effectively stopped, as the price of labor plummeted.The depression caused the collapse of real estate prices. The price of food also collapsed, which was ruinous to farmers and planters who couldn’t get a decent price for their crops. People who lived through the depression following 1837 told stories that would be echoed a century later during The Great Depressio n.The aftermath of the panic of 1837 led to Martin Van Buren’s failure to secure a second term in the election of 1840. Many blamed the economic hardships on the policies of Andrew Jackson, and Van Buren, who had been Jackson’s vice president, paid the political price. Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 was triggered by the failure of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company, which actually did much of its business as a bank headquartered in New York City. Reckless speculation in railroads led the company into trouble, and the company’s collapse led to a literal panic in the financial district, as crowds of frantic investors clogged the streets around Wall Street.Stock prices plummeted, and more than 900 mercantile firms in New York had to cease operation. By the end of the year the American economy was a shambles.One victim of the Panic of 1857 was a future Civil War hero and US president, Ulysses S. Grant, who was bankrupted and had to pawn his gold watch to buy Christmas presents.Recovery from the depression began in early 1859. Panic of 1873 The investment firm of Jay Cooke and Company went bankrupt in September 1873 as a result of rampant speculation in railroads. The stock market dropped sharply and caused numerous businesses to fail.The depression caused approximately three million Americans to lose their jobs.The collapse in food prices impacted Americas farm economy, causing great poverty in rural America.The depression lasted for five years, until 1878.The Panic of 1873 led to a populist movement that saw the creation of the Greenback Party. The industrialist Peter Cooper ran for president on the Greenback Party ticket in 1876, but was unsuccessful. Panic of 1893 The depression set off by the Panic of 1893 was the greatest depression America had known, and was only surpassed by the Great Depression of the 1930s.In early May 1893 the New York stock market dropped sharply, and in late June panic selling caused the stock market to crash.A severe credit crisis resulted, and more than 16,000 businesses had failed by the end of 1893. Included in the failed businesses were 156 railroads and nearly 500 banks.Unemployment spread until one in six American men lost their jobs.The depression inspired Coxeys Army, a march on Washington of unemployed men. The protesters demanded that the government provide public works jobs. Their leader, Jacob Coxey, was imprisoned for 20 days.The depression caused by the Panic of 1893 lasted for about four years, ending in 1897. Legacy of 19th Century Financial Panics The economic problems of the 19th century periodically caused pain and misery and it often seemed that the federal and state governments were powerless to do anything. The rise of the progressive movement was, in many ways, a reaction to earlier financial panics. In the first decades of the 20th century financial reforms made economic collapses less likely, yet the Great Depression showed that the problems could not be easily avoided.