Andrew Jackson

The essential question Is Andrew Jackson's long-standing reputation as "the people's president" deserved? Why? Why not? In a way Andrew Jackson was and was not  “the people's president" . First of all, Andrew Jackson’s Spoil system gave jobs to people who voted for him in the election and these jobs would be given out if he won. Even if this may seem beneficial Andrew had to get rid of 1900 officials to fulfill his claim, which begged the question is it better to support Andrew or to  be good at your job? Second, Andrew Jackson pushed the Native Americans off their land to farther out west so that America could expand. Many people did not like the Natives, but just as many thought that they were peaceful people which started conflict.In addition, the native americans killed some of his family members so this probably had helped to sway Andrew’s mind. Lastly, Andrew Jackson did not support the National Bank because in his eyes it gave more power to the wealthy and further increase the wealth gap. Other politicians thought that Jackson was trying to start a war between classes, while he thought he was protecting the people. This shows from different perspectives Andrew Jackson could be seen as "the people's president" ,but for the most part he did what he wanted to do which is why I don’t believe he deserves it.

Andrew Jackson Skit
Kevin- Andrew Jackson
Squiggly- Indian Chief
Mike- narrator
Mark and Sam- Indian Bystanders
Corey- cameraman
Eric- props
Narrator: In a nation, Andrew Jackson wants to expand the United States, but the Cherokee Indians are in his path. Looks into the distance.
Andrew Jackson rides his mighty steed into the scene.
Indians are mid powwow. (http://youtu.be/ZNuNsKwG1RI)
Indian chief: Hello, Jacksana.
Andrew Jackson: What does that mean?
Indian chief: Devil.
A: Why do you refer to me as such?
I: You try to take our land, demolish our people and move us west, yet before you were loyal to us. Why do you do this?
A: We wish to expand our territory. You shall move voluntarily, or you will be subject to the laws of the United States.
I: We wish to remain on the land of our fathers. We have a perfect and original right to remain without interruption or molestation.
A: Then we will have to use force.
I: The west is a mysterious place. There are other tribes there, who speak different languages. We will not fit in. If staying means dying, then so be it.
A: That is your choice.
I: We are an independent nation, we do not have to abide by your laws.
A: Yes you do.
Andrew Jackson turns to leave, rides away on horse.

The Essential questions were How should we define democracy? How democratic was the United States in the early 1800's?   We learned about the United States and their democracy through reading articles on the time period and then making a poster out of the information.

Latin American Revoultions

The essential questions that were given were “Why is it essential to acknowledge human value regardless of race? How are the events in the Latin American revolutions evidence of this social imperative? We studied the impact of the independence of classes in Latin America by reading over articles that summarized the events that occurred in the countries. After reading the summary timelines were made to show in chronological order the major events that took place while trying to become free of their classes. Each group summarized a different revolution and they each presented their findings so that everyone understood each revolution.

Between all the revolutions there were 2 major differences and commonalities. First of all, all countries were fighting against the same type of government, a monarchy. Also they were all trying to change that monarchy into a different form of government as well. The differences between the countries were that Brazil was mostly peaceful in their revolution, while Columbia was very militaristic, and Mexico was a combination of the two. Race was an issue for all three of the countries through one way or another. In  Mexico, lower groups such as mestizos and slaves revolted due to being less privileged. In  Brazil, the people didn't want their races being undermined by other races in Europe. The  people of other races than Portuguese in Brazil became suspicious when Pedro will only hire people of Portuguese descent. Lastly, in Colombia the people from South America didn't want to be oppressed by the people of  Spanish descent.

Today society has created stereotypes. This is how we judge people without really ever meeting them and it heavily affects people of different race. An example of race affecting us now is the Ferguson case. This is extremely controversial because a young black man was shot and the police officer was not charged under any account which is extremely upsetting to a large population of the country. I think that race is an extremely important part of society now, but in the wrong way. If we were to stop talking about race is the only way from not being racist because if we keep speaking about race the way we do now then people are going to continue to be racist.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/25/justice/ferguson-grand-jury-decision/index.html

Ferguson news

Toussaint Louverture

Toussaint Louverture

What makes a good leader? Does he/she have to be strong, compassionate or have morals and be politically skilled? The people of Saint Domingue needed a leader and  Toussaint Louverture tried to lead the French colony. The colony is made up of a majority of slaves working on sugar plantations looked over by white landowners. The slaves greatly outweighed the population of the whites on the island and they were tired of being a slave. Toussaint Louverture united the slaves to fight the French and free them from their slavery, and he took control of Saint Domingue. Even though his accomplishments as a  military and a ruler of Saint Domingue are important, his role as a liberator of slaves is much more significant.   

As a military leader Toussaint Louverture was successfully able to untie slaves to fight against the French trying to repress the slaves and stopping them from becoming free. Toussaint Louverture was born a slaved in the island of Hispaniola and as he grew older he became a an overseer of fellow slaves in the fields.  Eventually, he rented a coffee plantation and received some slaves to work them. Later on, when the French were revolting in their own country, the same ideas spread to Hispaniola. The ideas of freedom that these French philosophers were speaking of  greatly influenced the population of slaves on the island to start a rebellion. Toussaint did his best to try and promote the slaves to fight back and in no time he had an army of 4,000 men. He taught his troops both guerrilla style warfare as well as a more traditional European style too. Him and his troops were able to successfully take control of the French Colony, Saint Domingue, but his role as a military commander was not over. Napoleon was now in power in France and he was planning to send of troops to take back the island, but Toussaint had his own problems. Hyacinthe Moyse was angry of the fact that he was using his military power to force  former slaves to go back to working on the plantations. Moyse at the time was also a military commander in Toussaint’s army and when he was given the orders to separate the “ large plantations of the north to smaller holdings” (Doc. E) he decided to revolt. This is what Moyse had done, “On the night of October 29 [1801] a revolt broke out on the Northern Plain- whites were massacred from Fort Liberte to the gates of Cap Francais….The war cry of the rebels was ‘General Moyse is with us-death to all whites” (Doc. E). In response to the revolt  Toussaint made specific people stand out among regiments to be shot, and Moyse was killed by a firing squad. Even though Toussaint in this case is seen as very harsh and cruel his abilities in war must not be overlooked. He was able to stop the most powerful military with the slaves that inhabited the island in Saint Domingue. Just because his decisions may seem unjust the fact that he was able to create an army out of the slaves working on plantations is why he must not be seen as a cutthroat or barbaric commander. However, his role as a leader and liberator of slaves is much more significant than his role as a military leader.  

Toussaint Louverture accomplishments as a ruler were what made Saint Domingue able to make themselves self reliant. WIthout Toussaint the colony would have fallen into shambles, they needed a strong leader to look over them. They needed someone to tell them they had to work on the plantations, even if they didn’t want to. The people needed to keep the sugar fields running if they wanted any chance of being their own nation. Those sugar fields gave them the blood they needed to stay alive through the income that fields provided. If no one were to tell them to work the fields then Saint Domingue economic system would collapse and the dream of an independent nation would crumble underneath them. Toussaint made the hard decisions, even though they seem wrong they were necessary. He said “As soon as a child can walk, he should be employed on the plantation to his strenght in some useful work”(Doc. D) This may seem harsh, but in the situation it was a requirement because to be able to stay independent they needed to have a sustainable economic system. This system was run by the plantations on the island  and they needed all the help they could get. Toussaint also had to keep order on the island and he did this by limiting speech and by punishing those who did not report crimes. He limited speech to hopefully stop a rebellion trying to underthrown him by questioning his means of how he rules. In addition, he set up laws that punished those who did not report crimes. This also was put in place to keep order and to promote people to turn in those who did not follow Toussaint’s laws. Toussaint was able to successfully rule Saint Domingue as well as keep order in the new independent society.

Toussaint Louverture’s most impressive feat is by far his abolition of slavery in the western part of Hispaniola. Slavery is one of the worst things a human has created. Forcing someone to work for you against their will is horrible. Toussaint was able to stop this practice by encouraging the 500,000 slave population to revolt against the 32,000 whites controlling the island. This act gave the slave population control of the island as well as making the slaves free from the whites. Toussaint Louverture lifted the spirits of 500,000 men and took and smashed their binds connected them to the whites of Saint Domingue. This freedom gives the former slaves the ability to do something with their lives, and even to make them happy. Toussaint has given them lives in which they can do what they want. They are not binded to slavery anymore. He has given freedom to the slave population and that is one of the greatest things someone can do in a lifetime. Toussaint should be most remembered for his liberation of slaves because giving freedom to 500,000 people is better than being a good military commander or a good leader. Effecting that many people so positively is by far the best way we can remember Toussaint and it gives his life the most justice. As Toussaint Louverture wrote “But today, when they have left it, if they had a thousand lives, they would sacrifice them all rather than to be subjected again to slavery” (Doc. B). This shows how important it was for these people to be unslaved. They would sacrifice a thousand lives before they would be in slavery again, which proves how much it meant for Toussaint and for the slaves to be free from their “owners”. Louverture’s most important contribution in his life is his liberation of slaves in Saint Domingue and he should  be remembered for his efforts in fighting against slavery.

Although Toussaint had major contributions as a military leader and a ruler of Saint Domingue his abolition of slavery in the French colony should be what he is most remembered for. He has done  great in his life and his harsh ruling and military commandment should not overshadow the magnificent things he has done in his life. Toussaint should not be remembered as being cruel, but as a man who freed 500,000 men, women, and children from slavery.

Document E- Madison Smartt Bell, Toussaint Louverture: A Biography, 2007

Document D- Toussaint Louverture, “Proclamation, 25th November 1801.”

Document B- Toussaint Louverture, “Letter to the French Directory, November 1797.”

Revolutions in Europe

The essential question that our class had to discuss was were the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 really failures as many historians have concluded.  The essential question is asking if any of the revolutions in Europe were a success, and the people rebelling gained something they were seeking by rebelling. To learn about the different revolutions we read through articles regarding each revolution. Groups were made for each revolution and in every group quizzes were made so that we could understand each revolution.

   The Revolution that I covered was the Frankfurt Revolution. The people of Germany were trying to create a constitutional monarchy, some of the more radical revolutionists wanted a constitutional monarchy. This Revolution occurred in 1848 and was a failure because the people revolting got almost nothing out of it. Since the King was a conservative (Fredrick William IV) he refused requests that didn't agree with his own thinking of trying to create less of an imbalance between the upper and middle classes. The Prussian military also posed a huge threat to the revolution itself and  when the King refused their offer many moved to other countries. Others were killed in the act of revolting and many went to prison. King Frederick said  at the opening of the First United Landtag in Prussia(in 1848) “No Piece of Paper Will Come between Myself and My People,” This statement shows how he was not going to budge on any of the new ideas by those who were revolting.This is a poem is by Ernst Moritz Arndt "Where is the German's fatherland? Then name, oh, name the mighty land!" The poem shows how the revolutionists want a more unified Germany that is not separated by the classes and is more balanced between the middle and upper classes.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8RRSV9X

I believe that the revolutions in Europe were a for the majority a failure. The Hungary, Decembrist revolts and the  Frankfurt assemble were failures. The Decembrist revolt wanted Constantine as king, but he did not take the thrown so instead Nicholas took over the crown. The people did not like him because he was not the liberal leader they wanted. They people got oppressed by Nicholas and no positives came out of the revolution. Next, The Hungary revolution was another failure. Even though they took control of Budapest for a short amount of time Austrian and Russian forces took Budapest back over and many were imprisoned, executed or forced into exile. The Frankfurt revolution was already explained and that too was a  failure which is why I believe that the European were a failure.

The Congress of Vienna

The essential question of the class was, what should people in power do when power is threatened? This question was asked in connection with the Congress of Vienna which was formed to solve problems between countries in Europe. To inform ourselves of the Congress, we read a background reading about what happened during the meetings of the great powers in Europe and who was represented. We also looked at a map of Napoleon's conquered land and there was another reading about the new problems each empire would have to face, and their goals they would like to accomplish. 

What should people in power do when power is threatened? The Congress of Vienna sought out to retain their power of their nation and wanted to stop revolutions from happening. For one, they devised the Holy Alliance. This said that monarchs had a divine right and any revolution was treason and against god. In the 1800's religion had even more of an impact than it had today, and by saying that if you were to go against the monarchy then you would be going against god. This was a very big deal, and frankly still is which is why this was put in place to hopefully stop threats against their power. By having the major powers (except for England, Protestant) partake in this meant that anyone going against the monarchy would be condemned to hell, which in theory stop the people from an uprising. 

I don't think it was the best thing for the Congress of Vienna to create the Holy Alliance because I feel that it would only make the people madder. If I was revolting and they told me that if I went against the monarchy I would be going against god I would rebel even more. Just because you have royal blood doesn't mean that if I go against you that I should go to hell. I feel that a better way to react was to give the people what they want so that they listen to you more after you have fulfilled their wants. I think the powerful should be willing to sacrifice some of their own power in most circumstances if it makes sense, if that's what is needed to help the people. 

Napoleon Bonaparte

What was Napoleon's impact on the social, economic and political systems of Europe? This question has been asked after going over Napoleon, the leader of France. The question asks what was Napoleon’s impact of the systems of Europe. This question can easily be asked as “What did Napoleon do to change Europe?” In class we went over articles regarding Napoleon, and also we watched a movie about his life.

Napoleon had a very large impact on the economic, political and social systems of Europe and other conquered nations. Economically Napoleon did a lot to improve and try to boost France's income. France controlled the prices of goods and encouraged trading. By doing this other countries had to compete with this economic powerhouse  which changed the way each country had to trade and interact with other countries. Also the Bank of France was established  and the budget was balanced, and public work programs were made, which introduced the idea of work programs into Europe in a bank.. Napoleon even brought in an entirely new Social system called 'meritocracy'. This system rewarded people based on their skill rather than their social class. More of the population were also given the right to own property and education had become more accessible.

My opinion of Napoleon is that I generally liked him. I think that he is more interesting than other men of history. His ideas of helping the lower class and making life more fair by introducing meritocracy into France. The fact that social class was based more on skill was a great idea in my book. Also Napoleon seemed like we wasn’t just some war mongering villain. He had purpose for his conquering which was to make France as powerful as he could. This in fact, is why I like him. Trying to make his country the best it can be, not a personal mission to control the world.  His improvements of France as a country is just staggering and he became a truly powerful leader.

http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/biographies/c_historians.html

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-oK-JYgd0OkCH6_EvUHHIfuDvbIAQ_pEjBk3yxtOq8jJt4UTRcGnt52f0iXSZRq5gK7T8PhY3Sc1MzoDtsU5ACV_YKuU3qa0Mqb_E4Hs9id0lDPtQcPVIIInSAUvQjFvjT-kU4ATLUXkK/s1600/Napoleon-Bonaparte.jpg

Socialism and Communism

In class each student was given chocolate. This chocolate was meant to represent the total amount of wealth earned in each type of economic system. In capitalism for example a majority of students got 3 chocolate, but some students received 10. After the candy was handed out every student has to play Rock Paper Scissors. If you won your game you got chocolate, but if you lost you had to give the victor one of your pieces. When you ran out you sat down. However, in Socialism you didn't have to play like in capitalism, and  if you did lose all your candy you were supplied with more. The game was fun because I goo eat chocolate. It was also frustrating though because  other people may have had an unfair advantage compared to you which became annoying.

Marx and Smith both had very different ideas to help the poor, but in theory do their job. Marx's idea is that through the changes to capitalism to socialism and finally to communism will improve the lives of the poor. Communism allows the people to all have equal pay which for the poor would be perfect. This would give them a boost in society and even the playing field so that the rich nobility is the same of the commoners. However, Smith's idea is very different. His idea is to let the invisible hand help the poor. The invisible is allows wealth to be distributed evenly over the course of time. It allows businesses  to compete with each other   so that the people can get the best quality and price for what they want. This allows economy to regulate itself.

In my opinion I think that Smith's is the best way because I feel that it is more natural approach to helping the poor. I think that Marx's ideas lead to a too fast paced change which would intern lead to worse living conditions. Even though Smith's may take longer it would help better in the long term, and would create better lives for the poor than Marxism.

MOSI Chat

Before the chat with Jamie we had done some activities so that we could be prepared for the conversation. For one, we made some questions we would like to ask him. This questions ranged from the hours of work of the mills to the dangers they might face. We also went on to their website, but we also saw an video of Jamie before the actually chat. Vocab was also learned so that we could understand the 'lingo' surrounding the cotton mills.

The chat with Jamie was very interesting. I never would have thought just how dangerous it was for people to clean and to work with the machines. The picture below is a shuttle, it would shoot fibers across the loom. This could malfunction and shoot out and potentially kill a worker. While cleaning some of the machines girls and children could be scalped if their hair got caught and they could get seriously injured by the moving parts of the machines. By seeing Jamie talk about the machines helped me to understand his job as the curator. I knew that he had to understand a lot about the topic he is talking about, but I never really realized the amount of dates and information he had to his memory. He knew everything about each machine he talked about to the year it was made to who made it. For families the looms were a way of getting income, but I felt that they relied to heavily on it. I think that there was probably another way they could have received money other than for making cloth. This made the loom both a positive and a negative for me because it both helped and hurt families.

I feel that I learned more from a outside expert. I think this because by talking to an outside expert it gave me another perspective to look from which can make it easier to understand the information. I didn't really dislike anything from the chat beside the quality of the chat, because if there was another way to have voice chats that were not as staggered that would the chat so much better. I would definitely want it to do it again with other experts for other topics.  

The Lowell Mills

The Lowell Mills tried a new strategy. They focused on getting women to work for them in the mills. For one the corporation had an obedient and cheap labor force. Girls were taught to be obedient their whole and this idea takes advantage of this. Also,  the women didn't have as high of wages and men so they could be them less in the mills. A large part that boys were not used for the factories is that they had to work the farms, so girls were a perfect candidate. The girls also got a lot of benefits. They could buy clothes with their earnings for working and they gained a lot of independence because they lived in worked away from their families. The fathers of their daughters also had help paying for their mortgage, less mouths to feed and also gave more opportunists to them. Opportunities for women reflected on how they are viewed in that they  didn't have a lot of choices, but they did have lots of obligations. Lots of things they should do, but not a lot of things they could choose. They were also usually controlled by their father or a corporation of were they worked, which made a life about being controlled by others. The women did though stand up to the corporations when prices became too low and the women went on strike. This show how the women working in the mills would stand up to themselves, but if they were the ones who started these strike or acted too much like men they would most likely be fired from the mill.

Daughters of Free Men Website:
http://ashp.cuny.edu/ashp-documentaries/daughters-of-free-men/

Projects of the Industrial Revolution

My group came up with my title by coming up with something catchy and that represented our information.
My exhibit describes the problems of child labor and the increase of use of children in factories. Pictures show working conditions of the children and also the affects of working long hours almost everyday. The sources that were used are all documents from the 1790's up to 1900's. Each document describes the life of a child from a letter or observations from an outside source. I hope that people learn about how hard it was for families to live during the industrial revolution. Families were so poor that they had to send their kids to work all day so that the family could receive more money.




My Group ^



I learned that without steam engines transportation of goods would not be possible over long distances. Also, I learned that steam engines were a very important part of transportation and allowed trains to be possible.



I never knew that the spinning process was so inefficient, and that it took and large amount of time to use the wheel. I also thought that the loom was relatively unchanged and i never thought many people improved upon it.




I never knew how much slavery increased, looking at the graph you can see a large increase in slave populations. I also learned that there was a correlation between the number of slaves in America and the demand for cotton.

The Industrial Revolution

In class we went over some of the most important components of the industrial revolution. We read through text that explained the importance of many parts of the revolution. The essential question we had was what was revolutionary about the industrial revolution.

Looking deeper I think that the Technology and Transportation that was invented during this time is the most important. First off all,  lots of technology was created during this era. For one, Anesthesia was created in that time period and without it we would not have a very effective pain killer that is used in dentistry and also in hospitals.The photograph was also invented during the Industrial Revolution as well as the steam engine,food canning, spinning jenny and also a way to mine iron. New transportation was also devolved. Boats, trains and cars are the most recognized and well known transportation  that came out of the revolution. The steam engine was also used to revolutionize train engines and there are even some trains today that still use steam for power.The Diesel engine was also invented to try to improve the original car engine.


http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/inventions/5-industrial-revolution-inventions.htm#page=6
This is a diagram showing how a  steam engine works.

Keywords and Website Authenticity

In History we looked at both the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus website and a Google a Day.The Google a Day really made you think outside the box and think carefully about what you were typing. It also made you choose your words wisely because one wrong word could throw you off.

http://www.agoogleaday.com/

A Google a Day was a pretty interesting website. I found searching for an answer to a question through Google surprisingly fun. It felt similar to a scavenger hunt and you had to find the answer somewhere deep in the internet. Frustrating is an understatement to this "game" though because the minute you see that "Sorry, wrong answer"  more that 5 times that's when  it starts to become a pain. I learned that it is much more important to choose your keywords wisely than to just put a bunch of words into the search bar to hope that you will get lucky.

Accuracy is the use of right information that connects to what the website was advertising. Authenticity is how accurately it displays what it supposed to do and does it well. The website does what it meant out to do. Reliability is about the writer of the website  specifically in that the author must be a good source of information and is not a Historian writing about the science behind the Big Bang theory. The Tree Octopus website could not be used in school because even though it is authentic it is not reliable or accurate information (no such thing as a tree Octopus).

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

The Student and the Teacher

               Hello, my name is Sam Mathewson and I am a Sophomore that is currently going to Reading Memorial  High School. This is the first blog for my History 10 course, and is the first time that my teacher has gone paperless. I am looking forward to not have to carry a binder to my class and not have to worry about having paper. I think that  going electronic has greatly improved how a classroom works in that there is less to forget and information is much more accessible making learning easier.

  A teacher that is great is one that listens to their students, explains the curriculum well and is available for extra help frequently. If a teacher is able to listen to their students they are able to get feedback on how well they might be teaching something or what could be improved upon in the lesson. This also creates a better teaching environment because it connects the student and the teacher better than if a teacher did not listen. Second, if the curriculum was explained well by the teacher almost no student would be confused. This would be a very good class because you would hardly ever be confused about the class.Lastly, if a teacher is available for extra help a lot then it clears up a lot of questions you might have because you would be able to see the teacher after school for extra help which would be very beneficial if you were confused.Two great teachers that I had in the past were Mr. Downes and Mr.Smith. They both were great at explaining the lessons and they both were able to be asked questions after school on a daily basis. Something specific that could be done to help me is to explain the lessons very well.

I agree with what John Green said about the duties of a student to do amazing things from their education. I agree with this statement because the purpose of school is to do a job you love, but also to give back to society because they were the ones that get an education in the first place. This intern will improve our society in two ways because people will invent new things to help us while the population gets smarter. My academic goals this year is to do well in all my classes and to play sports that I want to play during the year. I am going to achieve my goals by working hard in school and try to succeed at what I am doing.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x78PnPd-V-A&feature=youtu.be