Native American lifestyles in 1800s
"A Census taken among the Cherokee in Georgia in 1825 (reported in Vogel, ed. This Country Was Ours, 289) showed that they owned '33 grist mills, 13 saw mills, 1 powder mill, 69 blacksmith shops, 2 tan yards, 762 looms, 2,486 spinning wheels, 172 wagons, 2,923 plows, 7,683 horses, 22,531 black cattle, 46,732 swine, and 2,566 sheep.' Some Cherokees were wealthy planters, including Joseph Vann, who in 1835 cultivated 300 acres, operated a ferry, steamboat, mill, and tavern, and owned this mansion. It aroused the envy of the sheriff and other whites in Murray County, who evicted Vann in 1834 and appropriated the house for themselves, according to Lela Latch Lloyd" (124).
This quote depicts the lifestyles of Native Americans in the 1800s and illustrates how differently they lived from how stereotypes portray them. Native Americans had many things and adapted to American culture. This imagery shows in detail how they acculturated, but that their status was never secure due to the envy and greed of others.
Lincoln's thoughts
"It may stem from an experience Lincoln had on a steamboat trip in 1841, which he recalled years later when writing to his friend Josh Speed: 'You may remember, as I well do, that from Louisville to the mouth of the Ohio there were on board ten or twelve slaves, shackled together with irons. That sight was continual torment to me, and I see something like it every time I touch the Ohio, or any other slave-border.' Lincoln concluded that the memory still had 'the power of making me miserable.' No textbook quotes this letter" (173).
Lincoln's anti-slavery beliefs may have originated from the influence of his father who moved his family because he did not like slavery and wished to be far away from where it was practiced. Or, as noted above, it may have come from Lincoln's experience on a steamboat. Reading Lincoln's unfiltered thoughts and experiences as he wrote to his friend allows the reader to picture what he saw and more fully understand the man behind the myth in this imagery. It showcases how Lincoln's beliefs were shaped in a way that no paraphrasing or sanitized phrase can. This imagery demonstrates that it is necessary to view historical figures through the lens of their own words that they wrote at that time, not just what posterity has assigned them as.
Class differences
"Poor babies are more likely to have high levels of poisonous lead in their environments and their bodies. Rich babies get more time and verbal interaction with their parents and higher quality day care when not with their parents. When they enter kindergarten, and through the twelve years that follow, rich children benefit from suburban schools that spend two to three times as much money per student as schools in inner cities or impoverished rural areas. Poor children are taught in classes that are often 50 percent larger than the classes of affluent children" (198).
This quote illustrates the class differences that influence the lives of children. Everything from their environment to the attention they receive influences their lives. This description helps the reader understand exactly how that manifests, and how it results in things like higher school dropout rates among poor children.
Effects of humans on surrounding environment
"In terms of spoiling the environment and using world resources, we are the world's most irresponsible and dangerous citizens. Each American born in the 1970s will throw out 10,000 no-return bottles and almost 20,000 cans while generating 126 tons of garbage and 9.8 tons of paniculate air pollution. And that's just the tip of the trashberg, because every ton of waste at the consumer end has also required five tons at the manufacturing stage and even more at the site of initial resource extraction" (252).
This quote uses imagery to show the reader how much people affect their environment, on a grand scale. It allows the reader to more fully realize, through its lists and numbers, just how dire the situation is.
