Spreadsheet Models Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Spreadsheet Models - Essay Example The concept of an electronic spreadsheet was first outlined in the 1961 paper "Budgeting Models and System Simulation" by Richard Mattessich. A spreadsheet program is planned to carry out general computation tasks using spatial relationships rather than time as the primary organizing principle. Many programs designed to perform general computation use timing, the ordering of computational steps, as their primary way to organize a program. A well defined entry point is used to determine the first instructions, and all other instructions must be reachable from that point. In a spreadsheet, however, a set of cells is defined with a spatial relation to one another. It is often convenient to think of a spreadsheet as a mathematical graph, where the nodes are spreadsheet cells, and the edges are references to other cells specified in formulas. This is often called the dependency graph of the spreadsheet. References between cells can take advantage of spatial concepts such as relative position and absolute position, as well as named locations, to make the spreadsheet formulas easier to understand and manage. Spreadsheets usually attempt to automatically update cells when the cells on which they depend have been changed. The earliest spreadsheets used simple tactics like evaluating cells in a particular order, but modern spreadsheets compute a minimal re-calculation order from the dependency graph. Later spreadsheets also include a limited ability to propagate values in reverse, altering source values so that a particular answer is reached in a certain cell. Since spreadsheet cells formulas are not generally invertible, though, this technique is of somewhat limited value. Many of the concepts common to sequential programming models have analogues in the spreadsheet world. For example, the sequential model of the indexed loop is usually represented as a table of cells, with similar formulas. [02] Small and Large Business Businesses, large or small, depend significantly on spreadsheet models. Small businesses depend more on them due to the basic fact that they do not have enough resources to install and maintain a heavy infrastructure for an ERP system. Therefore, their dependence on spreadsheet models is very large. In comparison, large scale businesses have resource allocation for ERP systems. Not only the large scale organizations have more resources, but they also have high set of standards maintained by them. This is also one of the reasons that large scale organizations do not reply heavily upon spreadsheet models for perfect decision making. However, these large scale business organizations do use some of the interim formats and their procedures are taken care of using a spreadsheet model. Financial planning is a critical activity for every business irrespective of its age and size. For new enterprises, the preparation of financial projections is integral to the business planning process.

Requirement Analysis Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Requirement Analysis - Assignment Example The task at hand is to present a comprehensive requirement analysis and select the most appropriate paradigm(s) for preparing the requirement analysis. The task also aims to be an effective exercise in information gathering. This section targets at presenting various requirement analysis models present in literature. Various models will be scrutinized and the most relevant strategy chosen to proceed towards the analysis development 2. The basic idea of the behavior-oriented approach is to study the behavior, the decision-making style, and the data used by the pertinent personnel to extract information for the development of a critical information framework for the generation of requirement analysis. Background analysis is necessary to understand a particular problem, only then the designer can forward. Backward analysis helps to determine if the personnel were faced with a similar situation earlier in time. This helps to gain an insight into how similar problems had been solved in the past. The top executives are then interviewed to determine the main causes of the new problem prior to gathering of detailed information about the problem and summarizing the problem. This sort of model finds best application while developing an executive information systems or top-level decision-support system. ... The top executives are then interviewed to determine the main causes of the new problem prior to gathering of detailed information about the problem and summarizing the problem. This sort of model finds best application while developing an executive information systems or top-level decision-support system. The prime hurdles impeding in the efficiency of this model is the inability to quantify executive behavior and overlooking the needs of over-looking the needs or middle managers, supervisors, and operational personnel because they are usually the primary users of an information system. Information-Oriented Model The information-oriented model approach of specifying the requirement analysis focuses primarily on the information system products that will actually be used by the supervisory and the middle level managers. Investigating the information needs of the management gives a bottom-line compared to which the requirements might be given priority or their association with a new problem or opportunity assessed. The requirement analysis generated as a result of employing the information oriented model helps the designers to come with a comparatively more functionally useful system. The reason, as discussed earlier, is the focus on how the information technology will be utilized by the major users of the system. However, special attention to the middle management and supervisory ignores the needs of operational personnel. Industry Analysis Model The industry analysis model is based on one basic principle depicting that survival in the marketplace demands the development of an information system that is at least comparable in terms

Overview of Domestic Violence in the UK

Overview of Domestic Violence in the UK Domestic violence is very real and common in the UK, and indeed internationally In the UK domestic violence accounts for a quarter of all crime, despite these figures it is recorded that only 5 per cent of recorded cases of domestic violence end in conviction, less than 20 per cent of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police, and less than 6 per cent of rapes result in conviction. Wells points out as a comparison, the number of women that are in prison, and the seemingly trivial reasons for there incarceration. There are now over 4,500 women in prison, an increase of 194 per cent in the last ten years. Most women are convicted of non-violent offences, such as shoplifting. One woman out of 12 judges in the House of Lords, 5 women out of 43 police Chief Constables, 18 women out of 42 Chief Officers of Probation, 7 women out of 42 Chief Crown Prosecutors, 31 women out of 138 Prison Governors. There was evidence of sexual harassment and discrimination experienced by women working in the system. Domestic violence is not discriminatory and occurs between people of all social classes, amongst all racial and religious groupings and in all age groups. Crime and other statistics can only provide us with a taster of the real picture. The nature and extent of the suffering which is endured by families behind closed doors is very much something that is kept private. Victims of domestic assaults often do not complain of violence, either through fear of being further assaulted, or because they are too embarrassed and ashamed to reveal their plight to professionals who might be able to assist them. Although the traditional perspective is that victims of domestic violence are predominately women, this is not always the case, men, children and the elderly are vulnerable to domestic violence too. This said there is an abundance of evidence to show that it is women and children who are the main victims. Children who themselves suffer violence at the hands of a parent are in the main protec ted by the state though child protection procedures. The remedies provided by the civil law are therefore generally used to obtain protection for an adult victim. As Subedi points out There are several causes of violence against women. These range from historical unequal power relations between men and women to cultural perceptions, womens sexuality, inaction on the part of the agents of the State to the traditional perception in law and practice that matters within the family and between a husband and wife are basically private matters in which outside or State involvement should be kept to a minimum. Unlike other forms of crime, the problem with domestic violence has been that even the law itself is not well- developed and the law that is there on this issue has not been enforced as vigorously as possible. It is from this premise that efforts have been made in the recent past both at national and international level to strengthen the law on traditional patterns of violence and to expand the scope of the law to cover new forms of violence. While the problem often encountered in this process at national level is the doctrine of privacy and the concept of the sanctity of the family, the dichotomy of the public/private sphere is the problem at international level. In the UK, domestic assaults are criminal offences and a man who attacks his wife can be prosecuted for his actions. He may be charged with one or more of various offences against the person included the offence of rape. The Protection From Harassment Act 1997 introduced strong measures to assist those who are victims of a course of conduct, which amounts to harassment and made such conduct a crime. However, victims of domestic violence and harassment may be reluctant to become involved in the prosecution process for a number of reasons. These include the realisation by the victim that the matter is no longer under her control once she has reported an attack to the police. It will be up to the police to decide whether and how they wish to investigate her complaint, and it will be the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service whether or not to go ahead and press charges. This loss of control acts as a disincentive to women to report incidents of violence, as they may well fear the consequences of their action if the police and Crown Prosecution Service fail, as they see it, to respond in an appropriate fashion. In the past the police have been unwilling to intervene in cases of domestic violence, and to prosecute offenders. This perception of the police as unwilling to come to the assistance of victims of domestic assaults is still evident today, even though domestic violence is taken much more seriously by the police than in the past, and even though police practices in many areas have changed radically in favour of the victim. Figures from British Crime Surveys suggest that domestic violence forms the largest single category of violent crime. In a survey carried out by Davis and Gretny revealed that of a total of 448 assaults, all of which were referred to the CPS, there were 243 (54 per cent) non-domestics and 205 (46 per cent) domestics. If the British Crime Survey finding that domestic violence comprises 20 per cent of all assaults can be believed, and if the Bristol police files that they surveyed can be taken to be representative of the current position, it would appear that domestic assault is significantly more likely to be prosecuted than is assault in other contexts. This is remarkable given the widely accepted picture of domestic violence as a crime both under-reported and under-recorded. In such situations a victim of domestic violence, may apply for an injunction under the Davis G Cretney A, (1996) Prosecuting Domestic Assault, Criminal Law Review Mar 162 174 or a non- molestation order under s42 of the Family Law Act 1996. The statutes have somewhat differing aims although both statutes do aim to prevent harassment and can be compared and this will be discussed. Only associated persons can apply under the FLA 1996; anybody can apply under the PHA 1997. There are wider remedies available under the FLA 1996, including the power to make occupation orders. Damages can be awarded only under the PHA 1997. This is an important point. Domestic violence/harassment knows no social boundaries and therefore an award of damages can be a salutory lesson. It can also be an important remedy for those who are scared to report, for fear of financial hardship. Such damages can, of course, if not promptly paid, be enforced in all the usual ways including execution, attachment of ear nings or a charging order on land if necessary followed by an order for sale. Presently, a power of arrest can be attached to FLA 1996 orders but not to PHA 1997 orders. However, although the power of arrest is retained for occupation orders it is to be abolished for non-molestation orders. A warrant of arrest can be issued under either statute. Breach of an injunction under s 3 of the PHA 1997 is an offence breach of a non-molestation order is made an offence by s 42A of the FLA 1996.(7) District judges have full jurisdiction under both statutes to make orders, issue warrants and deal with contempt of court proceedings for breach of orders. Applications under the FLA 1996 are family proceedings governed by the Family Proceedings Rules 1991 and must be issued in a family proceedings court, a divorce county court, family hearing centre, care centre or in the Principal Registry or Lambeth Shoreditch or Woolwich County Courts.Applications under the PHA 1997 are civil proceedings governed by CPR 1998 Part 65 and can be issued in the High Court (Queens Bench Division) or in the county court for the district in which either the claimant or the defendant re sides or carries on business. Exceptionally, concurrent proceedings under both statutes are appropriate. They should be consolidated and tried together. A person arrested and brought before the court pursuant to the FLA 1996 can be remanded in custody or on bail. There is no power to remand a person arrested and brought before the court pursuant to the PHA 1997. Punishment for contempt of court under either statute is subject to the maximum of 2 years imprisonment provided by the Contempt of Court Act 1981. The sentence must be proportionate to the seriousness of the contempt. Conviction for breach of an injunction under s 3 of the PHA 1997 or for breach of a non-molestation order under s 42A of the FLA 1996 both carry a maximum sentence of 6 months and/or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum on summary conviction, and a maximum sentence of 5 years and/or fine on conviction on indictment. Both statutes provide that a person cannot be both punished for contempt of court and prosecuted in respect of the same incident. The PHA 1997 also creates offences (ss 2 and 4) not dependant on a civil injunction; the FLA 1996 does not. By s 1 of the PHA 1997, a person must not pursue a course of conduct which amounts to harassment of another and which he knows or ought to know amounts to harassment of another. By s 7(3) a course of conduct must involve conduct on at least two occasions and by s 7(4) conduct includes speech. Section 7(3A) was inserted by the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 and provides: A persons conduct on any occasion shall be taken, if aided, abetted, counselled or procured by another: (a) to be conduct on that occasion of the other (as well as conduct of the person whose conduct it is); and (b) to be conduct in relation to which the others knowledge and purpose, and what he ought to have known, are the same as they were in relation to what was contemplated or reasonably foreseeable at the time of the aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring. The phrase course of conduct has caused difficulty. In R v Hills held that assaults in April and October 1999 were not a course of conduct, particularly since the parties had been reconciled in the interim. In Lau v Director of Public Prosecutions quashed a conviction on the grounds that two incidents 4 months apart were not a course of conduct. The fewer the number of incidents and the wider the time lapse between them, the less likely that they give rise to a course of conduct. On appropriate facts, a charge of assault should be preferred. Indeed, many cases justify both a charge of assault and of harassment. The definition of harassment (and assault) is the same in civil and criminal proceedings, and thus arguments on whether or not there was a course of conduct can arise in both civil and criminal courts. In civil cases, where they may be doubt on whether there is a course of conduct then, as in crime, where appropriate, assault can also be alleged. In June 2003 the Home Office published a consultation paper setting out proposals to tackle domestic violence. The paper indicated the Governments strategy was based on three elements: to prevent domestic violence occurring or recurring; to increase support for victims; and to ensure improved legal protection and justice for domestic violence victims. This led to the enactment of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 which came into force in March 2005. DVCVA 2004 closely links the civil and criminal processes through new police powers, and through a new criminal offence of breach of a non-molestation order. It also creates a new offence of causing or permitting the death of a child or vulnerable person. It also requires the adoption of a code of practice and a victims fund, to be financed by surcharges on fines and some fixed penalties. It creates the power for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to recover money from offenders, and makes a variety of other changes to criminal procedure, powers and sentencing. Non-molestation or occupation orders are key tools in providing protection for those who fall within the category of associated persons. Prior to the enactment of the DVCVA 2004 eligibility extended to those living together as man and wife (cohabitants), or former cohabitants, and those who live or have lived in the same household (except if they are employees, tenants or boarders, or a lodger). DVCVA 2004 extends the category of associated person to include cohabitants in a same-sex relationship living in an equivalent relationship to that of husband and wife. The power to attach a power of arrest to a non-molestation order is removed by this act. Instead, common assault becomes an arrestable offence under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and breach of a non-molestation order becomes a criminal (arrestable) offence. If, for whatever reason, no prosecution is mounted, perhaps because of the wishes of the victim, that does not prevent an application to the civil court to commit for breach of the order. Nothing prevents the commencement of civil proceedings while criminal proceedings are pending, following arrest, though arguably a family court should await the determination of the criminal process. A new criminal offence is created under s42A will be punishable on conviction on indictment by a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years, or a fine, or both, and on summary conviction by a term of imprisonment not exceeding 12 months, or a fine not exceeding the statutory minimum, or both. The prosecution will need to prove the existence and terms of the order; the fact that the defendant was aware of the order; conduct that amounts to breach of that order, provided the breach is relevant only to sentence and not to guilt or innocence; and the lack of reasonable excuse. Minor changes are made to occupation orders under the DVCVA 2004 these require a court, in proceedings for an occupation order, to consider whether or not to make a non-molestation order. Other changes include changes to reflect cohabitation as opposed to marriage. Nothing in the new Act removes the right of the court to attach a power of arrest to an occupation order. This may cause some difficulties where a court makes both a non-molestation order and an occupation order, particularly if a court has attached a radius clause, for example not to come within a specified distance of the applicants home. Restraining orders under PHA 1997 form an integral part of the machinery for the protection of victims of domestic violence. DVCVA 2004, s 12, will extend the courts power to make a restraining order under s 5 of PHA 1997.Under s 5, when a court is sentencing or otherwise dealing with a person who is convicted of an offence under s 2 or s 4 of that Act, then as well as sentencing him or dealing with him in any other way, it may make a restraining order. The restraining order is particularly useful, as it provides for the continued safety of the victim but can only be made in cases where a conviction had been obtained for a s 2 or s 4 offence. As Wells points out: A vignette of current concerns suggests that much has changed in the last few decades. There is a ministerial group on domestic violence headed by Home Office minister, Baroness Scotland. The Solicitor General, a woman, has made tackling domestic violence a policy priority. She has talked to the President of Family Division, a woman. The Law Commission has recommended the abolition of the partial defence of provocation for reasons largely to do with its differential impact on male and female partner killers. The psychological trauma associated with rape and other forms of sexual harassment has been acknowledged, much attention has been given to improving police practices, and the offences themselves have been reconfigured around the concept of trust. It is difficult to believe that these changes would have come about without the influence of feminism in general and feminist legal commentators in particular. These changes also fit into a much wider pattern in which victims have moved very much centre stage along with the associated restorative justice movement. Internationally moves are being made to improve the situation for women. There have been international efforts to strengthen womens rights. This perception has contributed to the reluctance on the part of many countries to adopt either a protocol to CEDAW providing for individual petition or a protocol on violence against women with similar remedies for women. Moreover, the perception of States towards certain types of violence seems to be different in developed Western countries from that of certain developing countries. While widespread dissemination of pornographic material and use of women as sex objects by the media has been viewed as violence against women by women in certain developing countries, the same does not necessarily hold true in certain Western countries such as the Netherlands and the United States, which opposed the inclusion of this type of violence in the definition of violence in the draft UN declaration on violence against women. This type of activity cannot be violence for those women who voluntarily allow themselves to be used as sex objects by the media. But it may be seen as a psychological violence against women in general by those who disapprove of such treatment of women by the media. The protest campaigns organised recently by grass-root womens groups in India against the world beauty competition in Bangalore is an example of such differences of opinion. So is British law sufficient? Does it protect women adequately? There is generally are much greater awareness of domestic violence, and the criminality and culpability has increased some what over the last decade. Awareness has been heightened, although it can be argued that the piece meal legislation is unacceptable and there needs to be some joined up thinking insofar as this area of law is concerned. Whilst the new legislation is a move in that direction, it is a wasted opportunity as it is certainly desirable that the law on domestic violence should be consolidated.

Cry the Beloved Country Movie versus Film Essay -- compare contrast

Cry, the Beloved Country is a moving story of the Zulu pastor Stephen Kumalo and his son Absalom. They live in an Africa torn apart by racial tensions and hate. It is based on a work of love and hope, courage, and endurance, and deals with the dignity of man. The author lived and died (1992) in South Africa and was one of the greatest writers of that country. His other works include Too Late the Phalarope, Ah, but Your Land Is Beautiful, and Tales from a Troubled Land. The book was made into a movie starring James Earl Jones and Richard Harris. The book takes you to South Africa, where the land itself is the essence of a man. It as if the mountains, soaring high above the clouds, are the high moments in life, and the valleys are those low and suffering times. Next, you will take a journey to a place called Johannesburg. While reading the pages, the reader begins to envision Johannesburg being a polluted, very unkind, and rushed city. The setting is more of an emotional setting than a physical setting. As I stated, it takes place in South Africa, 1946. This is a time where racial discrimination is at an all time high. The black community of this land is trying to break free from the white people, but having little success. It is this so called racism that is essential to the setting of the story. Without it, the book would not have as much of an impact as it does. This film, the second adaptation of the book, has little room for hatred or anger. Ins tead, its underlying tone is one of a profound grief that the title hints at. Taken as a whole, Paton's novel promotes healing and understanding, and it speaks as powerfully to audiences today as it did when it was first published, fifty years ago. The book ends with a tone of ... ...ing message and provide an emotional punch to equal the book's resonance, which would have probably made a longer film, but added to the continuity if the film. Although the film is slow, it takes on surprising power from the dignity of its performances and the moral strength of its ideas. The book is the same way except you are being fed more of the characters emotion through words than through pictures. Not every moment of the film is as potent as the book (which is noted for passages of passion and impassioned eloquence), but as I said before overcomes its own limitations to become a glorious tribute to the workings of a faith that does not blind but opens up the human spirit (Douglas 25). Alan Paton's novel of apartheid in 1940s South Africa receives a sanitized and overly sentimental treatment in this film, a little trivializing to the book's relentless power.

Taking Mobile Computing to the Skies While Keeping the Mobile Workforce Connected

1. Are many of Lufthansa’s challenges identifies in the case similar to those being experienced by other businesses in today’s global economy? Explain and provide some examples?While the specifics of each challenge are particular to Lufthansa’s situation, many are shared by other global organizations. Examples could include: Provide a mobile workforce with equipment that fits their needs while it does not get in the way of accomplishing their objectives (not only technical specifications, but also upgrades and updates, stability, etc) Distribute training and other non-directly value-adding activities during non-productive periods both to maximize efficiency and reduce downtime.Provide adequate support to mobile operations while keeping a tight lid on cost and being able to justify the investment. Redefine processes to accommodate new mobile technologies and needs of a distributed workforce – including communication, meeting and decision making practices2. What other tangible and intangible benefits, beyond those identified by Lufthansa, might a mobile workforce enjoy as a result of deploying mobile technologies. Explain.Examples could include: Increased, all-around, communication, both with the organization and with personal relationships (family, friends, etc). Especially important for a highly mobile workforce such as airline pilots. Remote access to corporate applications, important since increasingly more of the employee’s interaction is self-managed (payroll systems, expense reports, etc.). More productive time spent at customer locations and streamlined order taking and processing.Ability to timely collect and report data on the competitive environment, both for the own organization and competitors (prices, volume, advertising, etc)

Expanding Nation Essay

In the 1830’s and 40’s the westward movement of population left the valley of the Mississippi behind and penetrated the Far West all the way to the Pacific. Pioneers pursued fertile land and economic opportunity beyond the existing boundaries of the United States and thus helped set the stage for the annexations and international crises of the 1840’s. Some went for material gain, others for adventure, and a significant minority sought freedom from religious persecution. But whatever their reasons for migrating, they brought American attitudes and loyalties into regions that were already occupied or at least claimed by Mexico or Great Britain. Whether they realized it or not, these pioneers were the vanguard of American expansionism. The domestic controversies aroused by the Mexican War and the propaganda of Manifest Destiny revealed the limits of the mid-nineteenth century American expansionism and put a damper on additional efforts to extend the nation’s boundaries. Concerns about slavery and race impeded acquisition of new territory in Latin America and the Caribbean. Resolution of the Oregon dispute clearly indicated that the United States was not willing to go to war with a powerful adversary to obtain large chunks of British North America, and the old ambition of incorporating Canada rapidly faded. After 1848, American growth usually took the form of populating and developing the vast territory already acquired. The expansionists of the 1840’s saw a clear link between acquisition of new territory and other forms of material growth and development. In 1844 Samuel F. B. Morse perfected and demonstrated his electric telegraph, a device that would make it possible to communicate rapidly over the expanse of a continental nation. Simultaneous, the railroad was becoming increasingly important as a means of moving people and goods over the same great distances. Improvements in manufacturing and agricultural methods led to an upsurge in the volume and range of internal trade, and the beginnings of mass immigration were providing human resources for the exploitation of new areas and economic opportunities. After gold was discovered in newly acquired California in 1848, a flood of emigrants from the East and several foreign nations arrived by ship or wagon train, their appetites whetted by the thoughts of striking it rich. The gold they unearthed spurred the national economy, and the rapid growth of population centers on the Pacific Coast inspired projects for transcontinental telegraph lines and railroad tracks. When the spirit of Manifest Destiny and the thirst for acquiring new territory waned after the Mexican War, the expansionist impulse turned inward. The technological advances and population increased of the 1840’s continued during the 50’s. The result was an acceleration of economic growth, a substantial increase in industrialization and urbanization, and the emergence of a new working class (Billington, 1956). The first movement west aimed not for the nearby plains but for California and Oregon on the continent’s far shore. It started in the 1849 Gold Rush to California and in the next three decades perhaps as many as half a million individuals made the long journey. Some walked; others rode horses alone or in small groups. About half jointed great caravans, numbering 150 wagons or more, that inched across the 2000 miles between the Missouri River and the Pacific Coast. More often than not men made the decision to make the crossing. Wives either went with their husbands or faced being left behind. Four out of five men on the overland trail had picked up stakes and moved before, some of them several times. People moved west for many reasons. Some sought adventure; others wanted to escape the drab routine of factory or city life. Many moved to California for their health. What ever the specific reasons most people moved west to better their lot. On the whole their timing was good, for as a nations population grew, so did the demand for the livestock and the agricultural mineral and lumber products of the expanding West. Opposite to older historical views the West did not act as a major safety valve or an outlet for social and economic tensions. The poor and unemployed did not have the means to move there and establish farms. Most people moved West in good times, in periods of rising prices, of expanding demand, when the prospects for making money from this new land looked brightest; and this aspect characterized the whole pattern of settlement and greatly improved the whole of the economic growth for the U. S. In the last three decades of the nineteenth century a flood of settlers ventured into America’s newest and last west (Jones, 1960). The West became a great colonial empire, harnessed to eastern capital and tied increasingly to national and international markets. Western economies depended to an unusual degree on the federal government, which subsidized their railroads, distributed their land, and spent millions of dollars for the upkeep of soldiers and Indians. Regional variations persisted and Westerners remained proud of their hardy, individualistic traditions. Yet they imitated the East’s social, cultural, and political patterns. By the 1890’s the West of the buffalo and Indian was gone, and instead there were cities and towns, health resorts, Paris fashion and the latest magazines. The frontier line had reached the edge of the timber country of Missouri by 1840. Beyond lay an enormous land of rolling prairies, parched deserts, and rugged, majestic mountains. Emerging from the timber country, travelers first encountered the Great Plains. These lands were treeless, nearly flat, and an endless sea of grassy hillocks. The Prairie Plains, the eastern part of the region, enjoyed rich soil and good rainfall; it included parts of present day Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. To the west covering Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona were called the High Plains. They were rough, semiarid, rising gently to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains (Faragher, 1979). The original incentive to mechanize northern industry and agriculture came in part from a shortage of cheap labor. Compared with the industrializing nations of Europe, the United States of the early nineteenth century was a labor-scarce economy. Since it was difficult to attract able-bodied men to work for low wages in factories or on farms, women and children were used extensively in the early textile mills, and commercial farmers had to rely heavily on the labor of their family members. In the face of such limited and uncertain labor supplies, producers were greatly tempered to experiment with labor saving machinery. By the 1840’s and 50’s industrialization had reached a point where it could readily absorb a new influx of unskilled workers. Factories required increasing numbers of unskilled operatives, and railroad builders needed construction gangs. The growth of industrial work opportunities helped attract a multitude of European immigrants during the two decades before the Civil War (Fishlow, 1965). Between 1820 and 1840 an estimated 700,000 immigrants arrived in the United States, mainly from the British Isles and German-speaking areas of continental Europe. During the 1840’s this substantial flow suddenly became a flood. No less than 4,200,000 crossed the Atlantic between 1840 and 1860, and about 3 million of these arrived in the single decade between 1845 and 1855. This was the greatest influx in proportion to total population that the nation has ever experienced. The largest single source of the new mass immigration was Ireland, but Germany was not far behind. This massive transatlantic movement had many causes; some people were pushed out of their homes, while others were pulled toward America. The great push factor that caused a million and a half Irish to forsake the Emerald Isle was the great potato famine. Escape to America was made possible by the low fares then prevailing on sailing ships bound from England to North America. The million or so Germans who also came in the late 1840’s and early 50’s were somewhat more fortunate. Most of them were also peasants, but they fled hard times rather than outright catastrophe. What attracted or pulled most of the Irish, German and other European immigrants to America, was the promise of economic opportunity (Jones, 1992). By 1860 industrial expansion and immigration had created a working class of men and women who seemed destined for a life of low paid wage labor. This reality stood in contrast to America’s self image as a land of opportunity and upward mobility. Wage labor was popularly viewed as a temporary condition from which workers were supposed to extricate themselves by hard work and frugality. According to Abraham Lincoln in 1850 of the North’s free labor society, â€Å"there is no such thing as a freeman being fatally fixed for life, in the condition of a hired laborer. This ideal still had some validity in rapidly developing regions of the western states, but it was mostly myth when applied to the increasingly foreign born industrial workers of the Northeast. Both internal and external expansion had come at a heavy cost. Tensions associated with class and ethnic rivalries were only one part of the price of rapid economic development. The acquisitions of new territories became politically divisive and would soon lead to a catastrophic sectional controversy. From the late 1840’s to the Civil War, the United States was a divided society in more than one sense, and the need to control or resolve these conflicts presented politicians and statesmen with a monumental challenge (Gutman, 1976). Many have searched for the underlying causes of the crisis leading to the disruption of the Union but have failed to agree on exactly what they were. Some have stressed the clash of economic interests between agrarian and industrializing regions. But this interpretation does not reflect the way people at the time expressed their concerns. The main issues in the sectional debates of the 1850’s were whether slavery was right or wrong and whether it should be extended or contained. Disagreements over protective tariffs and other economic measures allegedly benefiting one section or the other were clearly secondary. It has never been clear why the interests of northern industry and those of the South’s commercial agriculture were irreconcilable. From a purely economic point of view, there was no necessity for producers of raw materials to go to war with those who marketed or produced them. The critical period of Civil War diplomacy was in 1861 to 1862 when the South was making every effort to induce foreign powers to recognize its independence and break the Union blockade. The hope that England and France could be persuaded to involve themselves in the war on the Confederate side stemmed from the fact that these nations depended on the South for three quarters of their cotton supply. In the case of Britain, the uninterrupted production of cotton textile appeared essential to economic prosperity (Stampp, 1950).