Elbow Room Research Paper

Words: 693
Pages: 3

In 1976 the short films called “Schoolhouse Rock” aired on ABC network. The episode “Elbow Room” appears to want to paint a legitimate and happy picture over one of the country's darkest times. The producers of this children's program wanted it to appear like the U.S. government never did anything wrong and promoted the blind following of it because of its “great track record.” The 4 minute cartoon is misleading and very brief. These short films had catchy tunes but missed a lot of important information that got this country where it is today.
From 1807 when Fulton and Livingston travel from New York City up the Hudson river to Albany, to 1912 when the last piece of conquering and organizing the American west had been achieved America was not ideal. The production of cotton had become everything. This obsession brought mass supplies of labor slaves including women and children. In “elbow room” the word cotton or anything referring to slavery is not present. Another problem during the Jacksonian era was racism. White men did not like the idea of free black
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Also in the video it is said that the purchase of the Louisiana territory had no fuss, when in fact the federalist party argued to purchase the land would be unconstitutional. Another misleading aspect of this cartoon is the ending, at the time life on the moon was still being discovered even with that in mind realistically if the moon could be up for grabs it would cause chaos over who could claim the land. “moon or bust” is fun and activates the imagination but “moon or Canada” would be more realistic if the population overtook the 2.436 billion acres the United States has to