Ralph F. Young's Voices That Shaped A Nation: Dissent In America

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Studying history allows individuals to witness the cruel actions that have been placed on the “minorities”. If a person was not white nor a male they were never granted many rights. But people who fell into those categories would not be walked over, instead they wanted to take initiative and start movements which lead to change. Change like the People’s Party during the nineteenth century, this ensured many farmers of the midwest and South that their voices would be heard when it came to the government making national decisions. Even activists like Ida B. Wells- Barnett and Jane Addams generated change through their relentless fighting. The People’s Party was used as a device that allowed the “other” people to share their opinions. They set out rules that would benefit them since the other political parties weren’t helping them like they wished they would. In Ralph F. Young’s Voices that Shaped a Nation: Dissent in America, in the platform declared it states, “Second.- Wealth belongs to him who creates it, and every dollar taken from industry without an equivalent is robbery. ‘If any will not work, neither shall he eat.’”(Young, 199) The people knew what …show more content…

In Ralph F. Young’s Voices that Shaped a Nation: Dissent in America, it states, “We have witnessed for more than a quarter of a century the struggles of the two great political parties for power and plunder, while grievous wrongs have been inflicted upon the suffering people…. They propose to sacrifice our homes, lives, and children on the altar of mammon; to destroy the multitude in order to secure corruption funds from millionaires.” (Young, 198) Power is intangible yet as dangerous as a weapon, since it can lead to destruction. Power is something people fight; for and against, however when they finally receive the power it does no good. Once the taste of power has been acquired it cannot be