That's Interesting My U.S. History Flashcards
The gold rush of 1849. 30,000 people traveled to California by wagon train. What disease struck many of them down along the way?
1,500 of them died from Cholera.
Source: Ken Burns, the West
In the California gold rush, what was the miner count in 1849 and then in 1850?
1849 had 5,000 miners. One year later there was 40,000 miners. vastly overcrowded.
During the 1849 Gold Rush, San Francisco grew and housing went sky high. How much did the housing go up in three years?
1849 San Francisco house average house cost was $16.50. Three years later same houses sold for $45,000.
Source: Ken Burns. The West, episode #4.
Trump:
During Trump’s 2016 campaign, 70% of the Trump statements reviewed by PolitiFact were false, 4% were entirely true, 11% mostly true.
REF: Time mag. Nancy Gibbs, Editor May 2017
Trump: Get the votes and support of West Virginia coal miners to restart the dirty coal mines again. What is the intelligence and standing of this state compared to the rest of the United States?
West Virginia ranks 49th in per capita income, 50th in educational attainment and 49th in life expectancy.
Should the world listen to these people who are stuck in the “Way Back” machine before modern technology.
America’s real independence day is not July 4th.
The actual day is July 2, 1776. The reason it is celebrated on the 4th, is because the paperwork took two days to get from the Continental Congress to the printer. It arrived at the printer on July 4th, and that is why July 4th appears at the top.
Also Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4th, 1826 and this further enshrined that date in American memory.
Vietnam: Helicopters flew over 36 Million sorties.
20 Million gallons Agent Orange were sprayed in Vietnam.
June 1973. Congress halts troops and all war funding set for August 15th. Only Congress has the power to start it up again. (Congress was strongly influenced by American consensus!
Out of the top ten percent of the world’s oldest people half of them live in California. They eat organic food and exercise. Gertrude is 112!
At the start of the ball game, we stand up for our Nation Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner. This is an interesting ritual.
HOW DID WE GET TO HERE?
Would you believe Napoleon?
Well, as you know, one thing leads to another and this is the story. I figured it out myself, very original.
The CHAOS theory/effect shows how a butterfly can cause a Typhoon thousands of miles away. The same Chaos effect makes history in thousands of ways.
In this instance I am focused on Napoleon’s actions. For example we got the Louisiana Purchase because Napoleon had a slave uprising in the Caribbean, so he needed money to hire troops. Plus he desperately needed money for his wars in Europe, so America doubles its size from Napoleon’s troubles.
Unfortunately for Napoleon, he loses the war and has to surrender. Since Napoleon surrenders, this frees up the British troops to come to America and attack Fort McHenry in the war of 1812.
During the battle, Francis Scott Key get captured by the British and is a prisoner on a ship. He hears cannons firing and massive explosions all through the night. At day break, looking through the ship’s window, Francis can see the stars and stripes of the flag still standing over the bombed out Fort. Francis is inspired the fort is still there and he decides to jot down a sonnet about his experience of joy seeing the flag still standing!
Later, congress likes the sonnet and is inspired to make it our National Anthem.
Patriotism grows with the nation growing.
Now, 200 years later, we stand before the ball game begins with our hand over our hearts and sing the National Anthem.
So, if Napoleon didn’t go broke and lose the war, we wouldn’t have the Louisiana purchase or our National Anthem.
CHAOS theory. You got to love it!
Why was Lincoln shot by John Wilkes Booth?
Because right after he freed the slaves, he gave the right to vote to Negro males that could read. This made Booth extremely angry and he publicly stated that was the last law Lincoln was going to make.
Booth shot lincoln in the back of his head with a derringer, then jumped down on the stage and broke his leg. Ref: PBS “Reconstruction after the Civil war”, 2019 Netflix or Prime forgot which one.
[MN: Beware of pissing off people. They feel justified in killing you if you emotionally upset them. Road rage, take their parking space, different religious beliefs, etc.]
REF: Breakthrough: The Car. KETC 1009. 5/8/19
By the 1890’s in NYC, horses expelled 60,000 gallons of urine per day. There were 200,000 horses in NYC.
Horses also expelled 2.5 million pounds of poo per day on NYC streets. Roads became blocked and so vacant lots got filled with piles of poo, six stories high in some cases.
All this poo and urine made people sick. 20,000 deaths per year were blamed on flies eating the manure.
In 1898 a symposium on the urine and manure problem convened. It took a man from Michigan named Henry Ford to come up with a solution.
In 1896, Ford builds his first car but it is too large to go through the door. So ford knocks down the wall to get the car out.
By 1912, ford cars replaced most horses in NYC.
