Research Papers / European women's history - comments welcome [2]

I'm turning this in tomorrow, for better or worse, hopefully better. I'm still working on it, and will probably be up all night, I need to close it and make sure its cohessive and addresses the issues. I know it is very last minute but I welcome anyone interested in making comments to feel free, I love input and new perspectives. Help is always welcome and greatly appreciated!!!

Please note that none of my footnotes are going to copy over and I prefer not to in order to avoid issues with plagarism later, I have however referenced all my sources, to the best of my knowlegde, adequately.

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European women's history is a complex subject that has many avenues` that lead to varying theories and conclusions regarding its significance and effects on the overall history of the region. The varying social circumstance and events that occurred throughout the vastly diverse and broad area that was Europe makes it difficult if not impossible to define women's history even within a specific period.

The development of the first wave of the feminist movement occurred in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The initial movement in Europe proved to be difficult for the varying cultures and nations to accept. The women's movement divided into two groups, one that aimed for emancipation based on equality of the two sexes while the other intended on gaining rights and freedoms for women based on the difference between the sexes. In the difference movement, the women had emphasized the importance of their (traditionally accepted) feminine role in society and its contributions. Women campaigned for a broader faculty in society and they utilized and emphasized 'the significance of their traditional and necessary roles' as the foundation for this demand. In this respect, women sought access to public spheres such as participating in the national political process, gaining economic rights, and obtaining recognition as men's "necessary partners."

The difference argument for women's rise in society was presented across Europe with ample success, though not without difficulty. This argument proclaimed that women's participation in social and political decision-making was crucial because of the difference between men and women. Family and the home were considered the rightful place of women and therefore their specialization meant women were best qualified to participate in decision-making regarding issues that affected these aspects of society.

Women's position in society was tied to their reproductive capacities, which in turn dictated their "naturally" prescribed roles. Therefore, women were tied to the home as wives and mothers, catering to their husbands and children, and supposed to possess a "naturally" maternal disposition. The women of the difference movement supported these suppositions of women's "innate" abilities and they pressed that their natural capacities qualified them as experts regarding the home and family.

In the home, women were charged with maintaining a "good home" to keep their husbands comfortable and happy, essentially providing a positive and supportive environment for men at home. Additionally, as mothers, women were charged with nurturing and educating the children in proper social and moral lessons. Therefore, women were natural, if not trained experts of moral and ethical values who served to support and influence the family. The difference movement pressed that by virtue of the female expertise, women's participation was necessary in all social, political, and religious decision-making. The argument essentially proclaimed that women were men's "necessary partners" and should therefore be partners in decision-making as well. This position had a significant impact on the feminist movement as it transcended most cultural and or nationalistic boundaries.

The feminist movement had spread internationally in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Europe experienced periods of rapid, and often times, violent transitions that affected all social domains including political, economic, and domestic. These social changes allowed and often inspired women to become more active both publicly and privately and in this way, women began to gain autonomy and political influence. The first wave of the women's movement thus unfolded in a period of wide spread social disruption and consequently, they joined men in their political discourse and formed their own distinct feminist circles.

The various conflicts that were unfolding throughout the Western World allowed the women's movement to maintain strength. The political domain was saturated with controversial issues that effectively distracted from the development of a steady opposition of a well-organized and established countermovement to feminism. Therefore, women were able, with relative ease and freedom, to penetrate the public spheres of society and gain autonomy in their private spheres.

At times, women successfully achieved recognition, economic rights, and political influence. Other times the abrupt disruptions in the national social political institutions and merging international conflicts thwarted their efforts to solidify their gains. For example, in Britain, World War I caused the suffragettes to curb their efforts and instead, they provided services to support the nations war efforts and filled vacant positions that resulted from the absent men who had left for service. Italy's involvement in the war, alternatively, propelled women to greater social and economic positions in the public sphere that raised women's general spirits regarding emancipation. In Germany, the colonizing efforts by the nation at times provided avenues for enhanced social-political participation of women.

The proponents for women's social progression because of their difference to men had different motives for turning to this argument. Some activist believed in its relevance and validity from the start of their movement while other women turned to this argument as a moderate alternative to their failed attempts to promote emancipation because of equality, finding that it was too radical for some to accept which instead created more animosity towards the women's movement.

The 19th Century: Women's Social-Political Culture
The 19th and early 20th centuries represent a period of mass political and economic reorganization for the European Nations and the United States. Certain events affected the political culture of these areas. The Enlightenment supported the development of science, reason, and egalitarian political thought; while Romanticism formed as countermovement that, with further analysis appears to have merged with the Enlightenment and influenced the development of Nationalism, which followed soon after. The Industrial Revolution greatly affected the economies of the nations and their relations with one another. Additionally, wars and various crises in the region divided Europe and created an uneasy atmosphere in the realm of international politics while strengthening nationalistic ideals.

The influence of previous social political movements coupled with the effects of the Industrial Revolution and its effect on international relations created a unique political culture. The spread of literature and the greater regard for education also helped to create a more politically active middle-class.

Following the Age of the Enlightenment theories regarding the relationship between the governed and the governing institutions emerged. There was a new focus on progress and science probably influenced by the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, and new scientific developments such as Darwin's Evolution. The development of nationalist and ultra-nationalist ideals was brought about, in part, by the various conflicts that brewed throughout Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries.

These issues, coupled with the nature of international relations and the global economy fostered a race for progress that spilled over into a colonization effort. The aforementioned issues affected the nature of evolving political theories and the distinct political cultures of varying European Nations; some of which had newly formed and/or reformed. The conditions of the colonization efforts were brought about through the need to develop and solidify the nation as a strong sovereign entity and the theories of race that were rationalized by the science of that era.

The development of nationalism, science, and philosophical and political social theories influenced, and likely, inspired a strong feminist movement throughout Europe and the United States. Motivated by a sense of political duty and national pride various political groups emerged and the women's movements were able to attach themselves to these campaigns. Some women emphasized the significance of their gender in the society and culture of the nation.

Germany and Italy had recently become united in the late nineteenth century and were in the process of creating their political culture as nation-states. Similarly, France had developed a strong sense of national pride following the French Revolution. The three nations were in the process of building, or in the case of France, re-building following their defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, a national government.

The history of the region and recent international developments contributed to the culture of feminism in Europe and the United States. Egalitarian beliefs inspired women to join men in the political arena and nationalistic attitudes gave them a sense of righteousness in their pursuits, as it would also be for the greater good of the nation. At this point women throughout Europe and the United States involved in feminist or other political movements resolved to develop their arguments for equal or partnered participation in government. Women therefore began to establish the identity and roles of their gender in society.

German Women for Empire: Women's Stake in Colonialism
During the late nineteenth century, Germany, as well as the rest of Europe and the United States, was suffering from economic instability and decline. At the time, German men looking to improve their condition joined the colonization efforts. Similarly, women viewed colonialism as a new political arena that provided them the opportunity to improve their condition.

Women presented several arguments for their political activity and participation in the colonization effort. The arguments that best served these women were arguments that claimed their necessity was due to their specifically feminine nature. Women succeeded publicly when they agreed with men regarding their roles and made it understood that it was because of these specifically female roles that they were needed.

Nursing and motherhood were two of the main ventures that took German women to the colonies. As nurses, women could work outside the home, gain financial independence, without losing respectability and status in society. As wives and mothers, women provided support for men, preserved-or protected German culture, and transferred that culture by bringing the family to the colonies.

Initially, both men and women occupied nursing positions however; it eventually became a distinctly feminine career. In nature, nursing was nurturing and therefore, women's demeanor was thought the best suited for it. Doctors supported this theory and added that women were also much more compliant than male nurses. Nursing became an accepted public space for women and was especially important to unmarried women since it provided them with an income. It had support from men and developed into a political space where women became organized, recruited members, raised funds, and developed an agenda that at times spilled into men's political spaces.

The influence of nationalistic ideals and the new developments in science, such as Darwin's theories of evolution and eugenics, proved useful to the women's movement. The promotion of pronatalist ideology and race purity became an acceptable political platform for feminist activism.

Women publicly asserted that their roles were vital to German society and these contributions could only be made by German women. One such contribution was the preservation and protection of the German race. The women protested that men in the colonies longed for the company of women and should not turn to African women; only German women should fill this void.

German women could help men solidify the empire by infusing the new lands with true German culture through the establishment of the family. Therefore, only German women should satisfy men's want for the companionship of women and, in this way, prevent the contamination of the race. Wildenthal quoted the wife of a German doctor in Samoa who stated, "And what would be better suited for permeating a new land with our nationality [Volkstum] than rooting the German family?" Women exploited the growing racial concerns and then popular nationalist ideology to create a highly esteemed, and highly political, feminine culture.

Nationalism and the conditions of colonial society aided the women's movement based on difference. The relationship between the women's movement and nationalistic ideology was however, very complex and volatile even. Nationalism potentially supported the removal of women from the public spheres of society as well and could send women back to the home as political activity could interfere with these duties. It was the woman's national duty to carry out the traditionally prescribed, yet vital roles as wives and mothers; and politics would potentially distract from this.

Frieda von Bülow a highly outspoken and independent woman also became conflicted by the implications of women's freedom and its relation to radical nationalistic ideals. Wildenthal notes, "The plots of her colonial novels suggest that radical nationalism was not only a struggle shared by men and women, but also a struggle between them." Bülow use of fictional works to explain her political beliefs and often times they reflected some of her personal circumstances. Bülow's heroines are often highly independent and resolute characters however, some of them inevitably bend to the will of men and succumb to their duties as wives and mothers.

According to Bülow, a woman should be assertive and defy her husband if he is impeding upon her motherly duties. One of her fictional characters foolishly obeyed her husband "not to breast-feed her baby in order to preserve her looks, and then deserts the newborn to accompany him on a trip (the baby dies in her absence)." Probably a result of her personal struggles with indecision regarding women's freedoms and failures in her personal relationships, Bülow resolves that nationalism is the most important political goal and women must obediently serve the nation and at times by default the male heads of household. Therefore, women's political goals and freedoms are only justified when they serve the greater good of the nation by helping women carry out their duties as wives and mothers.

Women emphasized German patriotism and naturally connected the nation's roots to the family, and in this way, German women were able to gain political voice in the colonization efforts. However, Wildenthal noted,

"Colonialist women did not want to repudiate the roles of marriage and motherhood to which the debate over race mixing had drawn attention. However, they did want to build on those roles in order to claim a larger social and, for the more feminist of them, political role for women. But essentialism about women's reproductive capacity always structured procolonial women's activism..."

The effects of the German women's efforts remained, however, indirect since governments and institutions continually redirected women away from political sphere and back to the home.

The resonance of nationalism in the period before WWI was so strong in political activism that many women would push aside feminism to comply with their nationalistic ideologies.

How Fascism Ruled Women: Women's Duties To The Nation & State Feminism The women's movement in fascist Italy seems imaginary since in its rhetoric, what was called a women's movement was apparently a campaign to do away with feminism and women's activism. In fact, in this way, women were able to occupy public space and be a part of the attempts to identify and solidify their roles in society. This was made possible by cooperating with the Fascist party and the Church, that were in fact entities that intended to limit women's roles and have them submit to patriarchal rule.

There was a mutual understanding between the Fascist party and the organizations of the women's movement, that each was a powerful political force. The women's organizations may not have presented a serious threat to the Fascist regime; yet, "the Fascist party acknowledged that, in some form or another, the modern state had to satisfy women's desire for social engagement." It was to the benefit of the Fascist party to absorb some of the women's organization and thereby further their political support. The women's organizations were threatened by the regime and "with the hope that fascism would enable their own charitable enterprises to survive and perhaps prosper," thereby maintaining a space in the public sphere, "they redefined the purposes of their networks with respect to the state..."

The Fascist regime was focused on increasing the population while some women's groups were focused on aiding "unwed mothers and abandoned infants." The two goals could become interchangeable and, in this way, some of the women's organizations were able to, for a period, continue to exist. In this way, the Fascist regime and the varying women's organization accommodated each other.

The women were able to bond and unite for causes that were appropriate to their "sex." The motives for their political involvement were altered to suit the state and maintain the patriarchal hierarchy as highlighted in De Grazia's comment regarding Olga Modigliani,

"Now when she spoke of Italian women's accomplishments in the field of social work... she presented service as a self-abnegating duty rather than as an empowering act. Service was to be performed with the same selfless zeal that Italian mothers allegedly displayed as they carried out household and family tasks; it was practiced not for purposes of professional fulfillment nor to render social justice, but to demonstrate Italian women's capacity to fulfill their assigned functions within the fascist state"

Women now occupied significant and public roles in society that were acknowledged and valued by their "Chief," however, they needed to address their motives delicately in order to still maintain the state's approval. Therefore, Italian women recreated feminism and separated themselves from the "the emancipationist legacy of the early-twentieth-century Italian women's movement." The Fascist Italian women's movement united women's traditional roles, state goals, and proud patriotic "womanhood"; and in this way, women's social status was uplifted. The women were subordinated under the new Latin Feminism and yet they were empowered by making it a unifying force for women as a source of pride and camaraderie.

(the following is a work in progress)
Married Love: Women, Marriage, Sexuality, & Individuality
[Personal Note: In the initial reading of this text, I found it almost too cooperative and mistakenly overlooked important aspects of the text that referred directly to women's emancipation. Possibly because I judged the constant insistence that marriage is an ideal goal for both men and women as an aim outside of feminism and considered it, in this respect, too traditional.]

The feminist movement called for a change in gender

Research Papers / using 'at the turn of the century' [4]

I'm writing about the period in between late 1800s and early 1900s (late 19th and early 20th centuries) can I use 'at the turn of the century and how so. The paper is regarding the feminist politics that evolved in this period and I want to express it in a way which conveys the significance of the continuity of time and the evolution of the ideologies.

Research Papers / 18 and 19 century - revolutionary social, political, and economic changes research paper [4]

Still working on it... I'm currently double checking that all is cited... I can't stand the thought of reading this over again!!!
Help me I need a new perspective any help and feedback is greatly appreciated of course!! :-))

The 18th and 19th century was an era of revolutionary social, political, and economic changes that circulated throughout the western world, including Europe, the United States, and European colonies in foreign lands. The women's movement was one among the varying conflicts that struggled to gain strength, support, and more importantly direction. Women were troubled by their current social condition and sought to improve upon it, however, their movement for change became increasingly complex or, conversely, increasingly versatile. It took on two different approaches, one that championed equality of the sexes, and the other that embraced and defended the significance of the difference between them as the reason to improve their condition.

The two approaches to the women's movement have converse supporting arguments, yet it is their opposing arguments that unite them to form the feminist movement because it is that opposition what has allowed the two approaches to feed off each other. It created an ultimatum for society since the opposition to one placed them in support of the other. This effectively caused the two approaches to overlap in that where one approach found obstacles the other could gather support.

Section 1: The Salonnieres, Difference & Equality Explored

The conversation salons, initiated in early to mid-seventeenth century Paris by Catherine de Vivonne, developed into the arena for debate on religious, philosophical, and social political issues. These salons grew in significance during the Enlightenment in 18th century Europe as the key philosophes began to oppose the Ancien regime. The topics of conversation began to take a more egalitarian tone supporting education as a means for progress and reject traditional and often superstitious beliefs.

Initially, women's role in the salon was to facilitate the development of conversations and ensure the ambience remained pleasant and friendly. Invitations to a salon were sent and prepared by women. The discussions could lead to passionate debate and women were there to serve as intermediaries, "the hostess's role was to encourage and mediate discussion," therefore their participation though limited, was accepted, this allowed women to exchange their ideas with men. The question arises, why women, because the female role in society was acquiescent it meant that their ability to politely divert the conversation and/or appease the participants was part of their characteristics. It is important to also note that women were expected to ask questions because they would not be looked down upon as ignorant, it was understood that women were less intelligent than men, this allowed less knowledgeable men to obtain an explanation for something without making it none to the other men in the room that they lacked the knowledge or understanding. Women were educated and bred to be pleasant, polite, well mannered, capable of diffusing heated situations, as well as humble, and naturally having an inferior aptitude than that of men, therefore, non-threatening, non-confrontational, and non-intimidating, all of which are friendly to the dominant and superior male ego.

The passive role of women in the salons exposed them to the semi-egalitarian thought and planted the seed of self-awareness that would sprout and become the beginnings of the women's movement. Discussions regarding human rights, intellectual capacity, and the significance of the individual allowed them to apply these theories to their own condition in society. The philosophers that attended the salons discussed how "to overcome ignorance and superstition, and to help advance humankind through education." Significant figures whose work was closely tied to the salons were considered encyclopedistes. These were men whose philosophical work would serve and contribute to Diderot's and d'Alembert's 28 volume Encyclopedie. It must be noted that such discussions must have caused those women present to consider their situation and the effect of such reflection must have been their believing in their potential and the beginnings of their realizing their intellectual equality to men. Mme. Geoffrin confirmed, "that it was from the serious discussions in her salon that she received her entire education."

The intellectual salons seem to have sparked the women's movement of the 18th and 19th century, rather than being only one of the venues for the movement. The women's role in the salons was still that of a subordinate or complement to men; a secondary and ornate participant. Conversely, their inclusion in the salons served to expose women to the liberal and radical egalitarian thought of that period which in the past was reserved for the highest male strata in society also kept from other males who did not belong to the upper strata. As the salons grew in popularity, reputation, and significance, the role of female hostesses also progressed and became a more substantial with time. According to _______, the salonnieres controlled their establishment by: determining a list of preferred guest whom were scrutinized by the hostess, selecting the topics for discussions, as well as, monitoring the discussions. This role empowered the salonnieres with status, reputation, and authority. The Enlightenment was the outset for logical decision-making, evaluating issues and people based on educated and rational thought. Although it initially began with the application of egalitarian philosophies to only a select few, it served to revolutionize the views of stratification in western society.

The transition from the Age of Reason to the Age of Enlightenment can be understood by following the development of the European salons, in particular the Parisian salons that became "a serious working space, where new ideas were generated and profound changes in society were proposed by guests who believed in equality and whose intellectual abilities were unquestioned." The international popularity of the salons helped spread the growing perspectives of human equality and the significance of education throughout Europe and the Western world.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the life of equality, independence, and liberation

The daughter of an English Earl , Lady Montagu was privileged to receive a fine education, which her father encouraged, and furthered her studies with support from her family, conditions that were not common to women in her lifetime. Her posh pedigree and unusually extensive education may have been the primary cause of her radical independence in an era that held most of society in a form of servitude excepting few nobility and royalty. She readily defied her father and eloped with Edward Wortley Montagu whom she had corresponded with frequently and consequently had fallen in love with.

Lady Montagu traveled abroad with her husband and noted the different customs of women in Turkey making intelligent observations about their dress and lifestyle. She maintained correspondence with many aristocratic contemporaries of her time and exchanged opinions freely with some highly educated men as well. While abroad she stumbled upon the practice of inoculation against smallpox and attempted to introduce it at home.

Lady Montagu's independent nature led her to leave her husband and continue traveling and socializing with the intellectuals of her time. It is obvious that her privileged upbringing, vast education, travel abroad and extensive communications with key intellectuals of her time fed her self-determining lifestyle. Her audacious defiance of male figures and her autonomy made her one of the few truly free feminist of the 18th century.

The struggles for rights, freedoms, and/or equality.

The popularity of the salons and the free and radical life of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu gives the impression of a general intellectual acceptance of the women's movement. This is a false representation that does not reflect the violent struggles of the movement. Olympe de Gouges, a female revolutionary that fell victim to the guillotine, is a prime example of the dangers and difficulties of the feminist movements during the "Enlightenment." She was a notable author in France during the era of the French Revolution and possibly motivated but the struggle she consequently wrote Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Citizen. In this work she addressed the rights of women, designed as a sort of counterpart to Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, unfortunately the public was not open to accepting the remote possibility of equality between the sexes and subsequently she was taken to the guillotine. Jone Johnson Lewis qouted from a report of her execution which read as follows, "it seems the law has punished this conspirator for having forgotten the virtues that belong to her sex."

Women's equality to men was a difficult platform for both sexes accept because the idea of being equal was also equated with being identical mentally, emotionally, as well as physically or biologically. This concept was attacked by both men and women because it was thought to cause confusion and to corrupt the "natural" way of life that was delineated in religious text and/or understood scientifically. For example, women bearing children logically connected them to nurturing them and other tasks that were connected or related to children. If women did not want to have children or be the nurturing mother that "God" and/or "Nature" intended that made them either sinful or demented and in that respect they lost their connection to society and/or humanity because they did not fit. A woman that does not want to be or even act as women "should" has no purpose in society except to be a ridicule, disgrace, and even a corruption of the society.

This argument against women's equality inadvertently gave support to women's movement on the reason of difference between the sexes. The Difference approach to women's liberation and suffrage aimed at people's sympathy to gain support. This approach embraced women's expected gender roles as mothers, wives, caregivers, and champions of morality and ethics, however, it argued that because of the significance of their roles and participation in society they were entitled to vote, express themselves, become educated, and even to exert themselves and make decisions.

Women looking for social change in favor of improving their condition in society found effective arguments, that were not so easily refuted by men, through embracing the expected feminine roles in society and emphasizing the importance of women's responsibilities in society. In German Women For Empire, women sought more active roles in society on the basis of their natural abilities in particularly important fields. Though many feminist still found it too limiting to support, many advocates for the women's movement found this approach more effective, as men also made statements that indicated some support. "Advocates of female nursing never tired of aserting was itself the main qualification for a nurse as one doctor put it "even more than knowledge and experience a whole woman with a brave heart and a loving disposition is needed.""

Ourika is an example of a defense for women right's through difference. As a young girl, Ourika was educated to be an ideal female companion. Only after her realizing that her skin color would never permit her to be accepted within the French upper class and that her turning to men of African descendant would remove her from the culture she knew best did she realize that she needed an alternative.

Equality in the 18th and 19th century may have been too radical for society, including some women, to accept or even consider.

Essays / Revision Help in Miami; economic success and cultural and industrial diversity in Florida [NEW]

is there a place I can go to where I can discuss my work with someone professional. I have a 4000 word research paper and I don't think it's fair to post something so lengthy and extensive. I have one on feminism in Tokyo and the influence of the urban space on the movement, another on Bruegel, 16th century painter and interpretting his work in relation to the reformation and the religious political movements in Antwerp where he lived for a while.

Here's my final draft, hows it look?

How's the flow and conclusion?
the help is very much appreciated!! :-)

(all sources are cited in my copy.)
The economic success and cultural and industrial diversity that exists today in Florida is due to the investments made in the late 19th and early 20th century by the great robber barons of that period. Many key players were involved in the development of certain cities in Florida and the state itself. As fate would have it, Henry Morison Flagler would live long enough to carry Florida far enough economically and socially to become what in my opinion it is today, one of the nation's modernized, highly developed, and diversified states. His vision for a winter getaway in Florida set into motion a chain of events that made the state the prosperous and diverse place it is today.

Mr. Flagler did not come from a wealthy family. His father did not make enough money to support the family and Flagler left home early to work and contribute. A firm work ethic and determination carried him far in life. Flagler's exemplary efforts soon became apparent to one of his first employers and as a result his pay rate was raised from $5 per week to $12 per week in only ten months!

Having adapted quickly to the commercial world Flagler soon began taking steps to build his empire. Through the course of his life, he was able to learn business strategies that would make him a major mogul of the 19th and early 20th century. He built significant business connections with highly successful men and saved money for his future investments. At only 22 years of age, he was already a partner in Harkness and Company. He built a great business reputation for astuteness and ingenuity that preceded him and secured his place and status in the business world.

Flagler was fortunate enough to suffer from unsuccessful business decisions very early in his career. The business world was then, and still is today, a forever-shifting domain. Experience and knowledge are among some of the important attributes needed to succeed. Flagler attempted to enter the salt business and invested a significant amount of money in it. Unfortunately, this venture failed and left him indebted to his family, who paid a large sum to cover his loses. Taking with him the knowledge he acquired from these experiences he persevered in nearly every business venture and never again suffered any significant losses like that of his failed salt venture.

After recovering from the loss and paying all his debtors he continued, no more wisely, to take up new projects. Collaborating with John D. Rockefeller and Samuel Andrews, Flagler made his fortune in the oil business and soon after reorganized their company to the Standard Oil Company, monopolizing the industry under their combined leadership. He was an aggressive business man, admired by his peers for his success and abilities.

Flagler had not intended on conquering Florida, he was satisfied with his established businesses, and came in 1878 only to escape the harsh northern weather and help with his wife's health. That would change, because following a second visit, this time to St. Augustine with his second wife (his first wife had passed), he found the accommodations there unsuitable for a person of his caliber. The following year, "in 1885 he began construction of the Ponce de Leon Hotel which would become the flagship of a chain of luxury hotels along the east coast of Florida."

Initially, Flagler intended to create suitable lodging that he and his peers could enjoy while visiting the state in the winter. This was the beginning of Flagler's Florida; he would soon take over the state's east coast and name his business empire after its geographic location, the Florida East Coast companies. His business empire consisted of prized, luxury hotels and the latest technological advances in railroad lines that transported his "wealthy winter clientele from the North."

At first, Florida government, under the governorship of Bloxham, was supportive of Flagler and afforded him preferential treatment. The Internal Improvement Board (IIB) was created in 1851. In 1855 the Internal Improvement Fund was created to replace the IIB and it was given more legislative authority. The IIF gave incentive to railroad companies, giving them 3840 acres for each mile of completed railroad tract. Following the Civil War came the financial ruin of many of the railroads that were deep in debt. Due to such financial difficulties affecting Florida's economy the state government at the time was happy to accommodate someone like Mr. Flagler, who could put much needed moneys back into the failing business systems in Florida.

Unfortunately, the cordial business relationship between Mr. Flagler and the state's government would not last. He had many difficulties with a corrupt government. One person in particular, Governor William Sherman Jennings (in office 1901-1905), made it his purpose in office to undo and prevent any of Flagler's business ventures in the state. He had to outsmart some highly influential individuals and organizations in Florida who were adamantly apposed to Flagler's plans for the state. Entrepreneurs who felt threatened by him created barriers and intended to manipulate the state's government against Mr. Flagler. Furthermore, the state's government was complex, inefficient, ineffective, and lacked direction.

Always prepared to meet a challenge, Mr. Flagler quickly put his trusted lieutenant, James E. Ingraham, to work on some of the legal issues involving the acquisition of land. The IIF continuously attempted to thwart Flagler's efforts and denied him the deeds to lands that had been promised to him. The State Attorney General, Park Trammell, ruled in favor of Flagler and the IIF was forced to give 67,000 acres that had been owed to him and 210,000 acres of land for other claims. Additionally, Flagler had been obtaining lands "through other corporate identities" and in this way, he was able to take his railroad to the southern most point of Florida, Key West. He continued with other business ventures in transportation and hotels, most notably the various Florida East Coast companies. Henry Morison Flagler accomplished nearly every objective he intended in the state, making Florida's east coast a vacation getaway with all the most luxurious conveniences available, and forever improving upon the state economy.