Analyzing the "People's President"

The essential question for this unit was "was Andrew Jackson's long-standing reputation as "the people's president deserved?  Why or why not?"  This question is an important one because it requires us to go against popular belief and truly analyze the events that occurred, and take a look at them from a present-day standpoint to be able to truly tell if what he did was positive or negative in today's world.  Our group believed that Jackson did not deserve the reputation as the "people's president" for a two reasons- one the Indian Removal Act, and one involving the Spoils System.  But, regarding The Bank War, he did deserve the reputation as the people's president.

The Bank War started when Jackson began to believe that the Second Bank in the U.S. held too much power, and wanted to take down the Second Bank and replace that large bank with many smaller privately-owned banks around the country because the rich were getting all of the benefits of the Second Bank.  His veto of the movement to extend the charter for the bank showed that he did truly have the best interest of the whole country in mind regarding this topic, and that he wanted everyone to be able to control their own money, and remove some of the excess benefits and power only the rich received.  However, Jackson did not deserve his title as the "people's president" regarding the Indian Removal Act.  This act removed about 100,000 people of the Native American tribes Chocktaw, Creek, Cherokee, Chicksaw, and Seminole in the 1830's.  Although Jackson said that his removing them from the land was for their best interest because otherwise, the white settlers would have sent them off or killed them, the Native Americans did not want to leave their homeland on which their forefathers had grown up, and where their heritage was tied to, to go on a march through the cold winter later to be named "The Trail of Tears".  Jackson did not take the needs of all of his people into account, and if he was truly a president for the people, he would have respected the wishes and feelings of all of his people.  Jackson also did not deserve the reputation of the "people's president" in regards to the Spoil System.  The Spoil System is defined as, "when a political party gives government jobs to voters/supporters after an election victory", and is also known as "rotation in office".  Jackson used this system to his advantage, and gave people jobs who supported him, even though he claimed that it was to shake things up and be different.  Jackson was not the "people's president" because he only paid attention to the people's opinions who supported him, not everyone's opinions regardless of their support of him or not.  

Our group's presentation of the Indian Removal Act: 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ydnSUSbjJiIVPG1wlvO96OpIu0InDkpV1TpZsMkMudA/edit?usp=sharing

The Rise of Democracy in America

In our small groups, we were able to analyze the documents that we were given, and use that information to show the rise of democracy as America developed.  It was very interesting because no matter in what way the information was relayed in the sources (graphic, image, quote, etc.), they all portrayed clearly in what way democracy was built upon or supported in the early U.S.

In our poster, we started off with the essential question, "How do we define democracy?  How democratic was the U.S. in the early 1800's?" to outline what the whole poster was going to be about, and what information was going to be included to prove that point and answer that question.  We also included the definition of democracy, because we wanted to make sure that the viewer of the poster would understand fully what we were referring to.  We then used many different sources in order to show what democracy looked like in the 1800's in the U.S.  We used a painting, "The County Election, 1852", to show that democracy in the U.S. was not a completely smooth system, and was slightly corrupted as they first began to want to use it in government.  In the painting, there are voters that are drunk, which would corrupt the votes because their votes that they cast may not have been what they truly wanted.  There's also an issue highlighted in the painting where the voter's vote may have not been cast the way they wanted it to be.  We also included two graphs/graphics which show the progression of men's voting gradually increasing over time.  Finally, we included a document about Dorr's War, in which an attorney named Thomas Dorr tried to change the unfair system in Rhode Island where not everyone had the chance to vote.  We felt it was important to include this detail to show that the idea of democracy was not just planted overnight in the U.S., but took time to really become the key part and ideal of our government.

Racial Prejudice in the Past and Present

The essential question as we studied Latin American Revolutions was, "Why is it essential to acknowledge human value regardless of race?  How are the events of the Latin American Revolutions evidence of this social imperative?"  The essential question is still very important to think about today because racial prejudices are still prevalent in society, and continue to shape peoples' opinions of one another, and societies as wholes.  We were able to see the impact of race firsthand in our studies of Latin American Revolutions when we saw the pie chart of different races which made up Latin American culture and society at the time.  It was made up of 50% Indian peoples, 23% Creoles (White Europeans born in the New World), 11% slaves, 8% Mulattoes and free blacks, 7% Mestizos, and 1% Peninsulares (White Europeans).  The amount in which they catagorized people by their race, and created names based on race shows just how horrifically dependent these societies were on race.  The Peninsulares were the minority, only making up 1% of the population, yet they belittled others and hurt them simplay based on their race, so that they would be able to stay on top and control the 99% of other people within that society.

Gran Colombia 

Timeline-

• April 19, 1810- a junta expels Spanish governor of the province of Venezuela and takes control 
• July, 1811- National Assembly in Caracas formally declares Venezuela's independence 
• July, 1812- Spanish authorities rally and recover a military initiative, regaining control of the entire province 
• 1813- Simón Bolívar returned to Venezuela and won 6 successive engagements against Spanish forces 
• August 6, 1813- entered Caracas and took dictoral control and power 
• July, 1814- Bolívar lost Caracas again, then headed to Bogotá and recaptures it from Spain temporarily 
• 1817- back in Venezuela, built an army on Orinoco River, deciding there that he will strike the capital city of New Granada
• 1819- Bolívar's small force of 2500 men crossed a succession of flooded tributaries of the Orinoco, followed by a mountain crossing where a significant number of his men died
• August 7, 1819- the Spanish army surrenders in an engagement at Boyocá
• December 17, 1819- the republic of Colombia is proclaimed, covering the region of modern Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela
• June 24, 1821- "The Liberator" wins a battle at Carabobo in Venezuela, giving him Caracas.  
• May 24, 1822- Bolívar's favorite general, Antonio José de Sucre, wins a battle at Pinchicha, Ecuador, bringing the patriots into Quito.  
• May, 1830- Bolívar resigns and later dies of tuberculosis
• September, 1830- Ecuador and Venezuela formally secede from Gran Colombia

Our group's timeline outlines the main events of the revolution in Gran Colombia.  When we did a jigsaw and shared out what we discovered with other groups, we found that our similarities with Brazil and Mexico were that there were wars and battles fought during all of the revolutions, and that all of the oppositions to the revolution were European powers at the time.  The difference was that the battles were fought in all different countries.  Race was an issue in all three revolutions.  In Gran Colombia it was an issue because the Spanish governor of Venezuela that was overthrown, and originally ruled Gran Colonbia may have brought Spanish ideas about racial inequality over to Venezuela with him, and people within the society were being treated differerently because of Spain's control, so they wanted to be independent to escape the unequal treatment by that government.  Race was an issue in Mexico because there were racist royals who took land from the Indians and Mestizos, who Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla fought against.  Finally, race was an issue in Brazil because workers in mines became angry because they were working a tireless job they didn't want to do simply, based on their skin color.

The issue of race is still very apparent in the world today.  Just recently, think about the Ferguson, Missouri case, in which supposedly, an unarmed Michael Brown was shot by white police officer, Darren Wilson, of the Ferguson Police Department, showing how racial prejudice is still occuring in our law enforcement today.  Trayvon Martin is another example of racial prejudice, where he was shot to death in Sanford, Florida by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman, because Trayvon "looked suspicious", when in reality all he was carrying was juice and skittles from a local convenience store.  These two are only a few of the examples of how racial prejudice is still very apparent in our culture in the U.S. today, as well as worldwide.

The Many Legacies of Toussaint Louverture

Toussaint Louverture possessed a multitude of important qualities in being a liberator of slaves, a military commander, and a ruler of Saint Domingue, leading to his success in making Saint Domingue an independent country not under French rule, and in ending slavery in Saint Domingue.  However, the most important role that he played in his life was a liberator of slaves- his actions in abolishing slavery in Saint Domingue, and in leading the slaves in an uprising to their freedom was the origin of all of the other important steps he took in other areas, both governmental and military.

Louverture’s inspiration for  his role as a liberator of slaves may have began when Louverture was a young slave,"...he served as a herder, then a coachman, and later, an overseer of fellow slaves in the field," (Background Essay). Louverture's past as a slave may have helped him to be able to understand the slaves' situations, feelings, and desires for freedom, leading him to rise up as a leader against the system of slavery. The slaves began to rise up against slavery because of the Declaration of the Rights of Man when, "1789: The French Revolution begins," (Document A).  However, having said that, a few years later the French Directory became the government that ruled France between 1795 and 1799, and Louverture was worried that they would reinstate slavery.  Louverture wrote them a letter advising them not to, saying, “Could men who have once enjoyed the benefits of liberty look on calmly while it is taken from them!  They bore their chains when they knew no condition of life better than that of slavery,” (Document B).  Thankfully, the French Directory did not reinstate slavery, and Louverture continued in building a new society which did not involve slavery of any kind.  He signed the Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801, in which it says in Article 3, “There cannot exist slaves in this territory, servitude is therein forever abolished.  All men are born, live and die free and French,” (Document C).

Louverture was also a crucial military leader at the time of the Haitian Revolution.  Louverture took the reins as leader and steered the 4,000 man rebel army into battle, fighting against French troops on the island in 1793.  He not only possessed military intelligence but also inspiration for his troops, some of his famous words before battle being, “Here come the enslavers of our race.  All France is coming to St. Domingo, to try again to put the fetters upon our limbs; but not France, with all her troops of the Rhine, the Alps, the Nile, the Tiber, nor all Europe to help her, can extinguish the soul of Africa,” (Document F).  By successfully fighting the French forces there on the island of Saint Domingue, the French government abolished all slavery in the colonies in 1794, accomplishing his goal of freeing the slaves of the island.  However, Louverture also had to make some very tough decisions regarding his military leadership as well.  After slavery was abolished in Saint Domingue, there was a group of rebels who did not agree with having to do the same work under the same master that they did when they were enslaved, although they were being paid.  This reminded them too much of their past work as slaves, and they wanted to experience their freedom more fully.  This group of rebels was led by Hyacinthe Moyse, Louverture’s nephew, and he led a rebellion on October 29, 1801, “...whites were massacred from Fort Liberté to the gates of Cap Français.  The new insurrection swept all over the Northern Department within two days… The war cry of the rebels was ‘General Moyse is with us- death to all the whites,” (Document E).  This enraged Louverture, causing him to order some of the rebels to step out of the ranks and kill themselves, as well as set his own nephew up for execution by a firing squad.  This shows just how strong-willed Louverture was, that he had to put what he thought was the  actions that were for the good of the country ahead of family.

Finally, Louverture’s role as a ruler of Saint Domingue was also an important part of his legacy.  Louverture began to take the form of the leader of the newly free Saint Domingue, and wrote many legal documents in making an effort to reform the society after such a drastic change in it occurred, the abolition of slavery.  Louverture outlined many ideas about new forms of work, adn rules regarding it, in the Proclamation on November 25, 1801, such as, ”As soon as a child can walk, he should be employed on the plantation according to his strength in some useful work…” (Document D).  By Louverture’s involvement and power in the government of Saint Domingue, he was able to reshape the social structure and society as a whole, because of how dependent Saint Domingue’s whole societal structure originally was on slavery.

Although all of the roles that Louverture played in the Haitian Revolution, liberator of slaves, military leader, and ruler of Saint Domingue alike, liberator of slaves is the most important, and is the way he should be remembered.  Not only was this role the most important and the most formative for the island of Saint Domingue and for the fight towards the abolition of slavery as a whole, but it was also what created his other roles in the Haitian Revolution as well.  If he had not been a liberator of slaves, he would have never been a military leader in the fight against slavery, and he never would have been a ruler of Saint Domingue because he never would have had a chance to reshape and form the government without the abolition of slavery.

European Revolutions of 1830 and 1848

The essential question for this unit was "were the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 really failures as many historians have concluded?"  In order to truly be able to answer this question, we focused on five different, crucial revolutions between 1830 and 1848, the Decembrist Revolt, the French Revolution of 1830, the French Revolution of 1848, the Frankfurt Assembly, and the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.  In order to really understand what the essential question was asking of us, and to ensure that we would answer the essential question accurately, we outlined in small groups what a scale of success would look like.  Our group's scale included five benchmarks- nothing changes at all based on the revolution (complete failure), the fighting leads to destruction and small governmental change (partial failure), only half of the country is satisfied with the changes (neutral), the majority of the country is happy with the changes (partial success), and the government changes for the better and all the people of the country in general are happy (complete success).  Creating this scale allowed us to be able to more clearly define which revolutions were successful and which were not, answering the essential question.  We then broke up into different, smaller groups, each group receiving one revolution to learn all information about our specific revolution.  Each group then took notes based on articles that we received about each revolution.  We defined the basics of the revolution first, which country it took place in, when it took place, what the goals were, who the opponent was, what the outcome was, and the reasons for success or failure.  We then categorized each source as goals, opponent, or outcome, determined where our revolution fit on the scale of success, and then created a SurveyMonkey survey for the rest of the class to take after reading the documents provided about each revolution.  

Our group's revolution was the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.  This revolution took place in Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic in approximately 1848.  The revolution began in Austria, causing Metternich to flee, and spread to Hungary where Louis Koussouth led the HUngarian nationalist movement wanting an independent government, an end to serfdom, and a written constitution.  The Czechs made similar demands as the Hungarian nationalists in Prague.  According to the intro document, "Overwhelmed by events, the Austrian government agreed to the reforms.  The gains were temporary."  The document also states, "Austrian troops soon regained control of Vienna and Prague.  With Russian help, Austrian forces also smashed the rebels in Budapest.  Many were imprisoned, executed, or forced into exile."  One final loss of the revolutionaries was that many of the revolutionary leaders fled, specifically Koussouth.  Using this information, as well as other information from the other primary sources, we created our SurveyMonkey: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/TDY99M2

One question about the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 included in our SurveyMonkey

Another example of a question included in our SurveyMonkey survey

I think that historians are wrong, and that in general the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 were more successes than they were failures.  The only true failure was the Decembrist Revolt in which the rebels got nowhere, and many were killed and jailed, as declared by Nicholas I, "“The leaders and the instigators of the conspiracy will be dealt with without pity, without mercy.  The law demands retribution and, in their cases, I will not use my power to grant mercy.  I will be unbending; it is my duty to give this lesson to Russia and to Europe,” (Decembrist Revolt Document).  However, all of the other revolutions involved some element of success, even if not completely successful or permanent, there was still a small change, and most importantly, the possibility for change to occur again in the future.  For example, the Hungarian Revolution was not very successful, the revolutionary leaders fled, and many rebels were jailed or killed, but at one point in time they were able to dissolve the Diet, "We dissolve the Diet by this our Decree; so that after the publication of our present Sovereign Rescript, the Diet has immediately to close its Session," (Hungarian Revolution Document- Imperial Manifesto Appointing Baron Joseph Jellachich Royal Lieutenant and Civil and Military Commissary of Hungary).  Another example of a partially successful revolution was the French Revolution of 1848.  Although their new president Louis Napoleon I ended up not doing a good job in leading the country, the road that the French took to get there by getting Louis Phillipe to abdicate his throne, and "... the National Assembly, dominated by members who wanted to restore order, issued a constitution for the Second Republic. It created a strong president and a one-house legislature. But it also gave the vote to all adult men, the widest suffrage in the world at the time. Nine million Frenchmen now could vote, compared with only 200,000 who had that right before," (French Revolution of 1848 document).  Although none of the revolutions were complete successes, they allowed for some small changes to occur, which helped ignite the spark for more successful revolutions in years to come.

The Glamorous Congress of Vienna

Dealing with people in power is extremely difficult because of all of their individual egos, wants, and needs for themselves as well as the needs of their countries.  Throughout class, we were able to learn about each specific member of the Congress of Vienna, which helped us to answer the essential question, what should people in power do when their power is threatened?, by showing us what each of their motivations and decisions was.  We started off by outlining the basics of the congress, and the members who attended it.  Klemens von Metternich of Austria hosted the congress, and met with Napoleon because of Napoleon's desire for peace based on his loss of troops in Russia.  Metternich agreed to have peace, but only if Napoleon would give up his conquest and return to the original boundaries. Napoleon refused and responded by threatening to destroy Vienna if Austria waged war on France; he escaped exile and did just that, returning to Paris and continuing his conquest until his final defeat on June 18,1815 at the Battle of Waterloo.  Following Metternich's encounter with Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna was called to order on September 1, 1814.  As a class, we had to put ourselves in the shoes of the representatives and make decisions regarding the future of France and other countries following the end of Napoleonic domination.  After we put in our best educated guess about the decision they would have made, and stated a reason why we believed they would have made that decision, we found out what they really decided to do.  The Congress of Vienna, made up of Prince Klemens von Metternich of Austria, Prince Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand of France, King Frederick William III of Prussia, Viscount Castlereagh of England, and Czar Alexander of Russia, decided to return the original boundaries to how they were prior to the expansion, restore the lawful monarchs, and issue a statement against the slave trade, and civil rights protections for Jews.  Although the Congress of Vienna's decisions they made helped to keep war between the five major powers of Europe (Russia, Prussia, England, France, and Austria) at bay up to 1853, there were many revolutions including the revolutions of 1848 in which Metternich lost power and fled Vienna.  

Video of a recreation of the meeting between Napoleon and Metternich:  

One crucial principle introduced by members of the Congress of Vienna was the Holy Alliance.  The Holy Alliance was initiated by Czar Alexander of Russia, and said that monarchs had the divine right to rule, and that any revolution was treason and against God.  All of the countries that partook in the Congress of Vienna also partook in the Holy Alliance, except for England.  The Holy Alliance allowed the representatives who held and lost a lot of power to regain it because it ensured that "another Napoleon" would not come into power, considering that Napoleon was an illegitimate leader because he was not an heir to the French throne.  Keeping only rightful, blood-related leaders in power who followed specific rules and stuck to the traditional monarchy system, would avoid any issues with the one ruler gaining too much power because of all of the experience they had with monarchs in all of the countries in the past.  

I believe that all-in-all, the Congress of Vienna made the right choices in order to get all of the countries united and calmed down once again after all of the chaos caused by Napoleon.  In some situations, the representatives were able to put aside their personal feelings and do what was right, for example, not punishing the French people because they saw Napoleon as the enemy, and providing restitution for countries damaged by Napoleon's conquest.  But, I believe that the representatives could have focused more on the task at hand, than having an enjoyable, fun time at the conference, which according to one of the articles that we read in class (The Congress of Vienna Decisions Making Process), they clearly did.  The article says, "The Vienna peace conference soon degenerated into a glittering vanity fair: masked balls, medieval-style jousts, and grant formal banquets- a "sparkling chaos" that would light up the banks of the Danube," (2).  This excerpt shows how richly they indulged in themselves, when the conference should have been focused on the people of struggling countries and their needs.  

Throw-Down of Ideologies

The major political ideologies of the 19th century were conservatism, nationalism, and liberalism. Although all very different, they were all of the methods in which people wanted to have their countries be run and supported.  Conservatives were people who didn't support the change of reform of their government; they wanted to stick to tradition.   Nationalists believed in the importance of bringing together nations through shared language, customs, and history. Liberals supported individual liberties and the god-given rights of people, and wanted governmental and societal change and reform. In order to better understand all of the different political ideologies of the 19th century, we discussed in groups what we thought each ideology meant without any background information in order to get rid of all past biases and preconceptions we would have had.  We then were split up into groups, two groups for each ideology, and created our own one-minute presentations to present at the "throw-down" between the two teams with the same ideology. 

This is a depiction of Smith's Invisible Hand which appears in the group video.

https://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/liberlism/25528786/?s=fMuzU5&ref=app

Our group created an EduCreations video with the slides explaining the ideology itself, who founded it, and all of the different effects it had on society at the time.  We included pictures, as well as words and audio, to enhance the viewer's understanding from an auditory and visual standpoint.  John Locke and Adam Smith were known as the forefathers of liberalism, supporting the ideal that the task of government was to promote individual liberties.  Many liberals found traditions to be superstitious and vowed to change them.  Their push for change led to their support of the Scientific Revolution, and all of the technological innovations that were created as a result of that revolution.  Liberals also promoted constitutional monarchy over absolutism, which allowed them to be able to reduce Church and aristocratic privileges.  They also supported meritocracy, and middle-class participation in government, values which we still hold dear today in the U.S.  

The other ideologies were also extremely important during the 19th century, and in shaping society and history at the time.  Nationalists' ideas allowed for countries to be less liable to be attacked by larger military powers, and helped to create a sense of peace between countries.  For example, after Napoleon took over Germany and Italy realized that their disunity made it far easier for Napoleon to take over the countries, and decided to unite together in order to avoid future invasions and other ways of having their power seized.  Conservatives believed in the power of tradition, and for that reason, supported the Church and keeping the monarchies.  Conservatives did not support change or reform of government in most every way, resulting in the stopping of revolutions because of bloodshed and chaos, and continuing to keep tradition and not change the way the government was run. 

A Military Genius and Legendary Leader

Napoleon had an immense impact on the social, economic, and political systems of France, although those impacts were both positive and negative. Napoleon was a military genius, as well as being a completely dominant and powerful leader of a country. He was the perfect choice in a leader at the point in France's history, as William Milligan Sloane summarized in his biography about Bonaparte in Century Magazine in 1894 by saying, "The Jacobins needed a man, they found him in the unscrupulous Bonaparte; the Directory needed a needed a man, they found him in the expert artillerist; France needed a man, she found him in the conqueror of Italy." 

One of Napoleon's most important influences on the social system in France was his choice to establish a system of meritocracy, getting a job based on your skills, not just based on connections. This choice allowed people who were truly qualified for a specific job to be able to get that job and not be beat out by other competition simply because they were more wealthy or higher up in social standings. This not only benefited those people, but also benefited the country as well because the jobs were done better and at a higher standard/quality because the people who were doing those jobs were more qualified and prepared for them. Under Napoleon's rule, citizens also had the rights to a formal education, and could own property. This helped people to be more independent and feel as though they had more control over their own lives by being able to own their own property. Giving all citizens education also allowed the country to benefit because the more educated the population was, the more inventions were created, and the better people would be at doing their own specialized jobs. 

Napoleon had a huge impact on the economic system of France as well. Napoleon controlled trade as an emperor, so that allowed France's economy to continue to grow because of the constant importing of different items not able to be obtained in their native France, and the exportation of goods to countries outside of France which France received profit from. Napoleon also encouraged new industry which was beneficial to France's economy because there were more jobs for people to do, which created many new sources for income for the people of France. Napoleon also built many new bridges and canals which improved the flow of trade and gave the country more means of importing and exporting goods, therefore improving the economy.  Finally, Napoleon stole many riches from Italy when he conquered it, which gave France much more wealth. 

The area which becomes more controversial and hard to define success-wise for Napoleon and his leadership of the country is regarding the political systems in France and how he changed them, because there are more negatives involved in his political changes.  To begin, Napoleon intended to overthrow the Directory, the leaders of France at the time who abused their power for their own benefits.  They discovered his intentions to overthrow them, and in 1799, the five members of the Directory resigned.  The resignation of the members of the Directory allowed Napoleon to form his own form of government in which the people of France had more rights and freedom, as stated by Marshal Michel Nay, an officer of the French army, in his speech to his fellow troops in 1815, "Liberty triumphs in the end, and Napoleon, our august emperor, comes to confirm it." However, some people, particularly the nobility because Napoleon stripped them of their power and privileges, believed that Napoleon was selfish in becoming emperor and took over the country without taking into account the rights and desires of the people.  One particularly vocal former noble, Madame de Staël, represented the majority of the nobles' view of Napoleon's way of ruling in her book Ten Years of Exile, saying, "His system was to encroach daily upon France's liberty and Europe's independence... By alternating between cunning and force he has subjugated Europe."

Although some of Napoleon Bonaparte's ways of running France were questioned by some members of French society, Napoleon was an amazing leader and military genius, failing in the end only based on exhaustion.

Napoleon Bonaparte. Painting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon#mediaviewer/File:Jacques-Louis_David_-_The_Emperor_Napoleon_in_His_Study_at_the_Tuileries_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Real Life Rock-Paper-Scissors

We were able to do a fun activity which really helped me to better understand the concept of capitalism in comparison with communism, and socialism.  In class, we were each given a specific amount of Hershey Kisses chocolates, and some people were given more than others.  At first we were not sure what to do with them, or what they were going to be used for to tie into the lesson.  Then, Mrs. Gallagher told us to get up and walk around the room playing rock-paper-scissors with different people, and if we won we would receive one of the loser's chocolates.  This game was very frustrating for me the first round that we played because I lost every single piece of candy I had and I was one of the first people out of the game.  It was also frustrating because some people were given more candy than everyone else; Abby and Travis were each given 10 pieces.  But, it was also very fun because I got to try again later and I won much more candy that time.  In the end, everyone's candy was collected and we were all given three pieces.  The purpose of this lesson was to really help us be able to understand the different sides and why people supported capitalism, socialism, and communism.  The uneven playing field with some people being given more candy than others represented unequal opportunity, with some people starting out with more advantages than others they're competing against (capitalism).  The aspect of competition and being able to compete with others for your "riches" also represented capitalism, the winners and losers of rock-paper-scissors representing the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.   Communism was represented when Mrs. Gallagher, representing the government regulating the economy, took all of our candy and spread it evenly throughout everyone, similarly to how the government took the money from the people under a communist government, and spread it out evenly among their people.

Although Marx and Smith both wanted to help the poor in creating their theories about how the economy should be run, they had very different ideas about how to get there.  Karl Marx, the man who created the ideals behind socialism/communism, wanted to help the poor by trying to create a classless society.  He believed that the poor would benefit by having a classless society because they would be given the same opportunity as everyone else, and the playing field would be more even.  However, Adam Smith took a different approach, and his theory of the "invisible hand" said that the flow of commerce and trade would help the poor because it provided them with higher quality goods at lower quality prices, giving them the opportunity to buy things they wouldn't have had the chance to before.

Embedded is a link to Karl Marx's biography which may help explain why Marx wanted to create the ideals for communism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16IMc5mhbZk&feature=youtu.be

I believe that Smith's "invisible hand theory" is the best.  It allows people to be able to work for their wealth, and not have all that they've worked hard for taken from them.  But, it also gives people who wouldn't have the opportunity in other cases the chance to be able to succeed and have options in what they buy and how they spend their money.

Explanation of the "Invisible Hand Theory": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulyVXa-u4wE&feature=youtu.be

Taking the Risk

There were many pros and cons when it came to young girls deciding to take the risk and go to the Lowell Mills.  Deciding to leave their homes, families, and everything they knew was extremely nerve-wracking and took quite a lot of courage.  For the girls who decided to accept the challenge and go to work in the mills, they felt as though the benefits outweighed the doubts that they had.  Although there were definitely benefits to leaving home to work in the mills, there were some issues that also came along with being brave enough to try.
I, as well as any other teenage girl, well know that independence is something that is extremely sought after during the time of teenage years, and the biggest draw to leaving home for the mills was to try and find just that.  For most of the girls, going to Lowell allowed them to feel as though they were seeing the world for the first time, because most of them lived in small towns in the countryside and knew nothing but rolling hills, their families, and the next door neighbors.   If the girls did not leave the farm, they would most likely live on a farm of their own in the future, and be married off to a husband they did not choose- going to the mills allowed a girl to take charge of her own destiny.  However, the family also benefited from the girls' choice by being able to have their daughters send a portion of their earnings back home to help with paying the bills; many families needed this extra help at the time, and most were poor or poorer than before because the economy was changing so rapidly based on the rise in numbers of machines and factories.  The girls could also keep some of the money for themselves, giving them the capability to use the money leftover from paying for board to buy nice new clothes and other similar items that they could not obtain back home on the farm.  Besides their hard work at the factories, the girls were given breaks at the end of the day, and did not have to work at all on Sunday, allowing them to make a living but also focus on passions of their own that they could pursue in the future.  The mills' education of the girls, and their acceptance of the girls moving on once they were about 20 years old and to be married off, changed the view of women at the time, showing how strong women were and still are, and how they could and can be in charge of their own destiny.
Although the mill girls began to change the common perception of women at the time, they were still treated unfairly by the overseers simply because they were women.  Overseers could be cruel to the girls working in the mills, but it was expected that the girls would not talk back because their societal role at the time taught them to be quiet and obedient.  The machines that these girls worked at with the overseers watching close by were very dangerous, and many girls were scalped because of a loose piece of hair getting caught in the machines.  Although most girls did not have to go through the immense pain of being scalped, many broken fingers and limbs were common considering how quickly the machines were working and how fast the girls were required to do their work.  Keeping in mind how dangerous the work was that the girls did, especially with far less safety precautions than we have today, they should have been paid much more than they were.  Most girls were paid very little, and most of their wages would go towards the cost of boarding at the mills, leaving them with usually one to two dollars to spend as they pleased.  While they walked around town and shopped using that money, they were not allowed to talk to men under any circumstances for fear of losing their job.
It was hard to tell whether the positive parts of going to work in the mills outweighed the negatives, but it is evident that mill girls started to change the way society viewed women at the time of the Industrial Revolution.

MOSI Google Hangout

In order to thoroughly prepare for our chat with Jamie, a historian at the MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry) in Manchester, England, our class had to do a bit of research to thoroughly understand and appreciate all of the new information we would receive during the live video chat.  We started off by taking some basic notes on the "textile gallery" website, and learned some basic but important facts about the textile industry, how it changed, and who and what was crucial in making it a success.  For example, my group and I discovered that weavers used different techniques and methods to create textiles such as braiding and weaving, and that there were many different designers in creating the textile designs, like Jacob Dimoldenberg, Harry Rodwell Prince, Randall Paine, and George Ainscow.  We also learned a bit more about the Arkwright water frame, and found out that it produced 100% cotton cloth, opening up new markets for cotton fabrics.  After taking these notes from the website, we watched a video that Jamie created which outlined for us what each machine did in the process of creating cloth, and how the machines are related to each other.  We wrote down all of the important vocabulary terms that he brought up (hopper feeder scutcher, carding engine, etc.) and looked up what they meant on Google after the video was finished.  Finally, we thought of questions to ask Jamie that were relevant to either the museum itself, or different aspects of the textile industry; for example, one of my group's questions was, "How long did it take to produce cloth?"

I learned so much more about the textile industry by being able to personally talk to a professional in the area.  Overall, the textile industry changed quite a lot over the time of the Industrial Revolution.  In the beginning of the revolution, most families each owned a hand loom which they used to create all of their own clothing; looms were so important that they were passed down from generation to generation, they were the most important and expensive item families typically owned.   As factories started to take over and home hand looms were no longer needed, men, women, and children alike began to work in the factories.  Working in the factories was "piece work", meaning that the more cloth the workers produced, the more they were paid.  Jamie elaborated more on the different jobs within the factories, and what he told us was shocking.  The only people in the factories who were paid were the spinners (men), many women worked as piecers, having to walk up to 20 miles per day to complete their duties, and many children were scavengers, who crawled under the machines and cleaned underneath them.  This is just one representation of how badly some children were treated in the factories, because the littlest children were given the jobs that required the least amount of skill, but were extremely dangerous, such as cleaning the belts.  Many children got stuck on the metal studs used to repair the belts, and were carried up, usually resulting in severed limbs or completely mangled bodies.

Drawing of a piecer and a scavenger at work in the factories

I believe that I learned a lot from having an outside expert teach us about the topic.  Being able to personally communicate with him was also very important, because we could ask any question that we wanted to, and he would be able to answer it very descriptively and precisely.  One problem that we faced which became frustrating at times was the problems with internet connection, which made us have to take a longer time to actually look around the factory and be able to communicate with Jamie.  I would love to be able to do a similar live video chat later in the year with another expert!

Becoming a Museum Curator

During the past few classes, we've had the opportunity to become like a museum curator by being given information about the Industrial Revolution, and then having a to research, organize, and make an eye-catching display about our topic.  My group was given many different articles and sources about the transportation at the time of the Industrial Revolution, and had to arrange them in a certain way.  Our group decided to organize them chronologically, in order of which inventions came first, and which were most important at what times.  We started with a general timeline regarding transportation and the evolution of it, then moved on to information about the canals in Britain, followed by information about  the steam engine, railroads, and the controversy over the building of railroads, finally ending with the invention of the steam boat.  We also made the theme of the display about Thomas the Tank Engine from childhood books and television, because it connected directly to the theme of transportation and the steam engine, and also would interest young children if we were creating the display for a real museum.  We thought that it was very important for visitors to take away the idea of the evolution of transportation and how much it changed over time and improved in such a small amount of time, which is why we started off with a general overview of the changes in transportation, and went in order from the earlier inventions to the later ones to show how much more advanced they got.

I learned many important pieces of information about different topics through observing and taking notes on all of the other groups' displays.  Based on the "Spinning Wheels to Power Looms" poster, I learned that people had looms in their own homes and made their own clothes before the power looms were created.  This must have really affected the local economy because people would have had to pay much more for clothes from factories than from creating them with their own materials.  From the "Living in Filth" poster, I not only learned that the factories were seriously polluting the cities in which they were located in, the people working in them were also paid far less than what they were supposed to.  This is extremely important in showing how hard it must have been to break the poverty cycle at that time because people couldn't make enough money to pay for their everyday necessities and still be able to save up money for the future and other purposes.  Based on the "Broken Children" poster, I learned that most parents refused to send their children to factories originally, but poverty forced parents to send their children there to work and make more money.  This shows just how desperate the families' situations must have been to make them send their children to such horrible and dangerous conditions.  Finally, I learned from the "More Cotton, More Slaves, Less Freedom" display, that after the textile industry took off, the rate of slavery climbed rapidly too.  This shows just how hard it was for the people in that time period to have a successful economy without increasing slavery because with more product produced, there was more work required to produce it.
As you can see, there were many ways in which the Industrial Revolution changed America a lot, in some situations for better, and in some, for worse.

The Beginning of Modern Day Technology

The Industrial Revolution was truly revolutionary, not only for the time period that it took place in, but also by today's standards considering how much the inventions from the time still affect us today.  In class we were split up into groups and given an informational article about a specific branch of inventions or important areas of innovation at the time of the Industrial Revolution, and took notes on the article to learn more about that topic.  Once all of the groups had their information gathered, we went around to each group and every group presented, while the other groups took notes on the information.
One extremely important aspect of the Industrial Revolution was the improved transportation.  The steam locomotive was a crucial piece of new technology which helped improve the quality of life for people at the time.  The steam locomotive was a steam-powered train that pulled carriages across land, and was extremely important in trade so that people could send goods across long expanses of land.  This invention allowed people to be able to outsource and receive materials they needed or wanted from other areas, and allowed small towns to be less dependent on one another for all supplies.  Similarly to the steam locomotive, the steam boat was also created and served the same purpose as the steam locomotive but in water.  The steam boat was not only better for long distance travels across the ocean, but also was able to carry much more weight in goods than wooden ships could (10-20 times the wooden ships' amount).

Steam locomotive.  Black and white picture.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_locomotive_class_IS

People were also a central piece of the Industrial Revolution and allowed it to succeed and thrive as much as it did.  The farming was far improved during this time period for many reasons, one of them being that the Dutch made earthen walls to reclaim the land from the sea, resulting in more food.  The farmers also utilized techniques like fertilizer to make more food per farmer.  However, many farmers eventually started using the enclosure which took over and fenced off peasant farmers land, forcing them to move to the cities, making the cities much more populated, but allowing the creation of machines to flourish by having many people working in the factories.
As you can see, many factors contributed to the success of the Industrial Revolution, and their contributions allowed the possibility of technology and ideas of innovation to translate into today's world.

The Importance of Accurate Information

Many say that learning by doing is the most effective way to learn different material, and today in history class, we did just that.  In order to truly understand how to find sources that are accurate, authentic, and reliable, we did different activities and visited different websites which helped us to be able to identify scholarly resources and which signs to look for in a website which may show that they are not reliable.  Using information that fits the three different criteria of being accurate, authentic, and reliable, is crucial in doing research because if you have inaccurate or unauthentic information, not only will you get a poorer grade, you'll also be spreading that false information on to others.

A Google A Day is a website which gives you different questions to answer using the Google search engine that is timed, making it in a game style.  It's very useful in practicing effective ways of searching the Internet to get the correct information, and the most detailed information on the topic you're looking for.  There's even a tips and tricks section which helps teach you about different techniques on searching the Internet and gives you examples so that you can better understand how to apply the tricks into your future search endeavors.  You can even visit the website yourself and try playing as well at http://agoogleaday.com/#game=started

Accuracy, authenticity, and reliability are the three important criteria which we use in identifying if a source is scholarly to use, and are all extremely important.  Accuracy is the quality of the information and if it's all correct and true.  Authenticity is if the website is what it claims to be about.  Reliability is if the source is certified or trustworthy in the area that the have published the information about.  We visited a website in history class about the "Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus" http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/, and discovered that it would not be a website we would be able to use for a school related project or paper.  Although the website is technically authentic because it is all about the "Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus" as it said, it is not accurate because the information is all untrue, and is not reliable because the creator the webpage is not knowledgeable in wildlife or ecology at all. 

Trying New Things

My name is Regan Lynch, and as a high school student, I feel as though the most effective way for teachers to teach is in finding a balance.  Balance is crucial in teaching, especially in high school, because you have a far larger amount of work so having said that, you must be motivated to complete all the various tasks you're given.  In my experience, if the teacher gives their students a large amount of work, but the work doesn't interest the students, the work quality will be lower, and the students will be far less likely to do it and do it well.  But, on the contrary, if a teacher never buckles down and makes their students work, the students will never be prepared for the larger amount of work to come in the future.  So, in order to give the students enough work so that they're prepared and hard-working, but still are interested in the work they're doing, the teacher must maintain a good balance between fun and work.  In Honors History 10 this year, I feel as if it will be really helpful to me to do all of the different projects that you've planned using technology, because it's more fresh and interesting to do projects with lots of different materials and in different ways.
I completely agree with John Green's philosophy about my duty to use my education for the greater societal good, which reminds me a lot of the idea that I've recently heard,"to whom much has been given, much is expected."  I completely believe that I have an obligation to help change the world with the information I have been given throughout my education, and to give back to society for giving me the opportunity to have such a great education.  Academically this year, I really hope to strive to get all A's in all of my classes.  Even if I don't meet this goal, I want to know that I worked as hard as I possibly could have to receive that grade.  I want to work extremely hard, and make sure to stay motivated throughout all of my academic ventures this year and make sure that I don't take the easy way out.  I want to continue to try and get my homework and projects done ahead of time to continually stop my habit of procrastination. Sports-wise, I reached my goal of being on the JV volleyball team here at RMHS, but I want to further my goal-setting by striving to become a leader and captain on the team.  I also want to continue my work in the Drama Club by trying out for the winter and spring shows. Regarding clubs, I may want to join Model UN again for my sophomore year, or audition for Improvosaurus, the school's improvisational theatre group. In order to achieve any of these goals regardless of what categories they may fall into, forcing myself to go outside of my comfort zone is going to be what allows me to reach them.  In academics, that may mean staying after and having to ask for help and becoming proactive regarding my learning.  In sports, I'll have to communicate a lot and take control of the court, even though that can be intimidating.  In extra-curricular activities, that will mean that I will have to force myself to try out for something although that can be scary; if you never try, you'll never give yourself the opportunity to do something that could become a life-changing experience.  I will apply the exact same attitude to this upcoming year in Honors History 10, and I can't wait to learn and try lots of new things!