Thanks Giving Tower Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Thanks Giving Tower - Essay Example It shows a symbol of economic prosperity and its design and general layout can be used to tell a lot about the political as well as the economic position of the country during its construction. The building has underground tunnels that are owned by the city of Galls and the other parts of the building belong to major private companies and personalities. The structure as its name suggests acts as both a centre of thanks giving, and as major economic activities. This paper critically looks at some of the designs of the building, the influence that the environment at that particular time of construction had on the building and how the building has been able to transform over the years to the present time. The contributions of the architect Philip Johnson are also discussed in detail and how his life influenced the construction of such a marvelous structure. The Thanks Giving square has undergone a lot of transformation over the years and each time reflecting the type of technology at th at particular period of time. This particular building can be used as a tool for comparing modern buildings and technologies from post modern buildings and technologies. The thanks giving square is mainly used for religious as well as social services. This can be used to show that the society at this particular time was religious and observed religious events. For this reason, Philip decided to design a large building that could be used for religious functions. This building can therefore be used to justify the fact that the society of the 70’s was religious and that the designer as well as the owners were religious persons. The building can also tell us a lot about the culture that existed at that particular period of time (Welch 17). At the time of its construction, the US had a lot going on. There was need for unity amongst people from various states and the cold war was still a major problem. During this period, the US government being an anticommunist society wanted to p rove to the rest of the world that it had the best technology. This led to the invention of many products that were to be used in homes and other places. At this particular period, the US was present in Vietnam and there were a lot of questions about their actions. The thanks giving square can present a lot of things about the US during its construction. With its complicated design and nature, this is one of the architectural designs that were used to sell the US to the outside world. It acted as a symbol of economic prosperity, and a technological advancement. The actual services that the building provided the people, acting as a social service and religious centre showed the value that the US gave to social as well as religious activities a neglected thing in the communist states. Philip Johnson designed one of the most beautiful buildings at that particular time not only to show out his mastery of architecture but to also sell the US to the world as a successful state that was be tter than the USSR and other communist states (Jacobson 47). The building of this glamorous building also shows the characteristic of the building technologies that were present at the moment of its construction. This was the era when various skyscrapers erupted to prove to the world that the US was a superpower and that no other nation could be able to compare with it. As time goes by from the 70’s to the 21st century, a lot of changes have been seen and new technologies have emerged. The thanks giving square has been able to transform with time and hence acquire new technology and shape that reflects on the technology of that particular time. In order to be sustainable all through time, there are various changes and transformations that have been implemented in order for the building not to

America's Post-Civil War Growing Pains Research Paper - 1

America's Post-Civil War Growing Pains - Research Paper Example Lincoln gave out his plan of giving out amnesty to all the southerners who will support slave’s emancipation and then later proclaim loyalty to the union this was because he wanted to drain the support of the confederacy and shorten the war. Presidential reconstruction started in the year 1965 whereby Johnson became the president after the death of Lincoln. He then unveiled his master plan of Reconstruction which was to create loyalty oath that should be taken in the southern so that they could receive a pardon for their rebellion participation, and doing away with the â€Å"40 acres and a mule plan† that had been suggested in the charter of the Freedmen’s Bureau. At this time, many of the southern states brought back confederate leaders to political power and then later created the â€Å"black codes† that had been modelled on the slave codes that was in existence due to the civil war. Johnson did not do anything to prevent the south from imposing these co nditions to the black population. This saw the beginning of the Radical Republican party which was made up of the northerners because the southerners were still in the congress (Colains & Marler, 2008). The Racial Republican then took the initiative of passing important Civil Rights Acts that counteracted the new black codes of the south. In 1865-1915, there was the second historical event which was named industrial Revolution. At this time, US tried to evolve from a low economic backwater to be the most powerful economic country in the world. The nation’s main energy source which was mainly powered by humans and animals changed to mechanical power (Roberts, 2010). The railway industry expanded at this time from 30,000 miles of track to around 250,000 miles. These improvements lead the movement of goods and products to be easy, reliable and cheap. In addition to this; the steel industry was the main contributor of the massive expansion of railroads (Mckenzie, 2007). In case J ohn Wilkes would have not assassinated President Lincoln, many things could have changed, and one of the issues that could have changed drastically is Reconstruction. First, in the case of Lincoln, he could have tried to be more diplomatic to the south this was not the case with President Johnson because his main interest was to punish the southerners. Lincoln was more guided in favour of diplomacy and compromise (Selden, 2010). Secondly, the Radical Reconstruction could have been different from what happened. Those people who were radical thought that Lincoln was much softer to the south and could have revolutionized the southern institutions, habits and manners; they all wanted the south to be reconstructed according to the new order. They were mainly idealists whereby they were mostly driven by religious views, these Republicans were not for the idea that the blacks were low-grade and consequently, they requested that complete social, political, and civil privileges for slaves to be administered and respected. The Radical Republicans dominated in congress and they clashed with President Johnson often (Mckenzie, 2007). Johnson policies were on how to carry out reconstruction according to Lincoln, but the motives were not the same with those of Lincoln. The industrialization and urbanization revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries generally changed the urban life of many Americans and gave them chance to improve on their living standards.