Equality for All

Recently in class we finished a unit on the Woman’s reform and how in the mid-19th century this movement was started in an attempt to gain equality for women.  our essential questions for this lesson were, How did mid­-19th century  American society react to women's demands for  equality? Does 21st century society still react  differently to men and women?we started our lesson by looking at an image called the sphere or women, and analyzed it highlighting all the jobs of a women were represented in the picture.  We  read, The intimately oppressed to get a better understanding of the rights that women had during the time period. We also read, Laws and practices to get a better understanding of the rights that women had during the time period. Lastly we looked at articles for the Seneca Falls Convention to learn about what action that women took during the movement.  During the woman's reform women were treated differently than men and there were many different views upon equality for women, and their roles in society.

illustration from Godey's  Lady's Book, March  1850 Found at: http:// www.assumption.edu/ whw/workshop/ untitled1.html http://www.edline.net/files/_AIGmX_/90f5674f15c6c9f63745a49013852ec4/Activity_8_-_Lesson_Notes.pdf  acsessed, Febuary 2,

2015

In the mid-19th century women were treated very differently than men. It was believed that it was a woman's job to stay home and take care of the house and family. A women had the responsibilities of taking are of children as well as teaching them, especially daughters for they didn't go to school like young boys did. Along with taking care of any kids a woman also had to take of any pets. She was in charge of making clothes for the family, as well as fixing them. However, if a woman wanted to get a job outside of the house the only one that was available was a teacher, and often times she would get paid significantly less than a man doing the same job. There were many different views and opinions about women's equality, and while some supported woman's equality others believed that women should stick to their specific gender roles. the Oneida Whig states, “If our ladies will insist on voting and legislating, where gentlemen, will be our dinners and elbows?” This quote proves that many were against the woman's reform because they strongly believed that all women should stay home so that they can cook and clean and take care of the family. While some feared what would happen if women didn't stay with their gender specific role, and strongly didn't support the reform, others who did support the expansion of woman's rights. in The National Reformer it states, “They may ridicule, but not reason away the facts and arguments there set forth.” This quote shows that the people who supported woman's rights believed that all women deserve to be treated equally, and that men can ridicule them, and they can believe that don't deserve to be treated equally, but they don't have any good reasons against why women should be equal.

While women role in society today has changed greatly from what it was in the mid-19th century, 21st century society still views women and men very differently. in the Pantene commercial, "Labels Against Women" the different views of men and women are portrayed. while i don't agree with all of the circumstance in the video, i do believe that some of them are common in society today. I agree that a woman working a full time job with a young child and a man doing the same is viewed differently. the women is thought of as selfish because she has a child to take care of and she is staying up late to finish her work, leaving her with less energy to take care of the child, whereas the man is viewed as dedicated because he has a child to take care of and he is still spending time that he could be resting trying to do his job to earn money for the family. one of the circumstances that i don't agree is prevalent in society today is the man and women politician who are viewed as persuasive versus pushy. this commercial does a good job of showing how differently men and women are perceived and how people label them. Although we have come along way on the road to equality for men and women from the mid-19th century men and women are still treated differently in today's society.

 

A Natural Right

The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. "Religion and Social Reform".  The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/first-age-reform/resources/religion-and-social-reform-social- reform. (accessed January 2015).

Horace Mann is writing about public education and he believes that everyone has the right to an education so it should be provided for them. His purpose in producing this document is that he is trying to persuade people that public education is necessary and should be available to anyone. This is a very believable and trustworthy source. It was written in the 19th century, which is the time period in which the education reform took place. It was written by Horace Mann Who was the first person to be elected as the board member of education, and it was accessed from a History data base.

When this document was written the education reform was taking place. The idea of public schools and that everyone could get an education for free was still developing during this time. Horace Mann wanted to make sure that everyone was given the opportunity to get a proper education, and he went town to town observing schools. The schools he was were poorly built, and they had a lack of teachers and supplies. This document tells us that Horace Mann was a very important person during the education reform because he strived to make sure that public education was available, and he wanted to fix all the problems that currently existed within public schools. He super headed the common school movement, ensuring that every child received a basic education that was funded from taxes. He brought better books and supplies into schools to better the students educations as well. While this document does do a good job showing that public schools weren't really available to everyone and that is was Horace Mann was trying to fix, it doesn't show the problems within the schools that existed. It also doesn't tell us anything about how the problem of education was fixed.

  

In this document Horace Mann claims that everyone has the right to an education, and he says that it is important that they do so because it will effect their future and better their society. He uses the reasoning  that Massachusetts always solves their problems instead of trying to prevent them, and that if they provide public education the knowledge the children gain from their education can help solve problems. He believes that if everyone got an education it would encourage them to be good, and to do good for their society. He uses words such as great, immortal, and describes education as a natural right to prove that education truly is important not only to the children themselves but for the greater good of society, and therefor it is a necessity.

 

Recently in class we learned about 7th president of the United States, Andrew Jackson, who was the first to be elected through the democratic process. the three main parts of his presidency that we focused on were the Indian removal, Spoils system, and Bank War. After splitting into groups and analyzing documents and watching videos about one of the three specific topics, each group created a short video project to answer our essential question, Is Andrew Jackson long-standing reputation as “the people’s president” deserved? my group was assigned the Bank War, and we created our video on goanimate.com, using speaking avatars to discuss the topic.  

Andrew Jackson Project by ma.staffier on GoAnimate
The bank war was Jackson effort to destroy the second national bank because he believed that it was gaining too much power all in the hands of few people and that the bank was a threat to their independence and liberty. The rich and powerful were bending the rules for their own benefit which is a threat to the whole system, and Jackson believed that the bank was giving the wealthy people and unfair advantage. The bank had the power to control peoples lives and the political system and because of this Jackson wanted to get rid of it, however people thought that Jackson’s plan to blow up the bank was insane. By getting rid of the Bank Jackson believed he was looking out for the middle and lower classes, and at the same time doing the opposite for the upper class. He didn't really deserve his title based on the bank war because he wasn't doing good for everyone just a group of people.  

The Indian removal was a plan created by Jackson where he had to the goal of moving the native Americans off of their land, and push them to the west so that he could expand leaving more room for white settlers. The Indians didn't want to move because they feared what would happen if they did. A law was passed in congress that made it possible for them to subject the Indians with their own laws. While forcing natives off their homeland may sound very harsh Jackson claimed that by him relocating the Indians that he was actually helping them and that if he set land aside for them it would forever be theirs and they would be safe from the white setters. the Indian removal act resulted with a total loss of 10,000 Cherokee Indians. From the point of view of the white settlers in the situation of the Indian removal Jackson deserved his title because he is doing good in their favor, however from point of view of the Indians he didn't because he pushed them off of land that was rightfully theirs and caused many deaths.  

Lastly, The Spoils System was a system developed by Jackson where after a political party won an election all of the supporters would be given jobs in order to keep them supporting that party. because of this system Jackson ended up firing 919 officials, and gave a job that was a government position to a criminal because he was a supporter , and 1.2 million dollars ended up being stolen from the government. Because of The Spoils System Andrew Jackson doesn't deserve his title because he made bad decisions that ended up hurting more than it helped.

Rise of Democracy

Most recently in history class we learned about the rise of Democracy and how it was adopted in the United States. Our essential questions for this topic were, How should we define democracy?and, how democratic was the United States in the early 1800s? To answer these questions we first came up with our own definition of what we though democracy is. The definition that we came up with was, a democracy is a political system in which the people vote for their rulers, and sometimes the laws, that will make their community and nation a better place. Then we analyzed 6 documents that had to do with democracy in the U.S. We took notes on these documents and used those notes to answer the essential questions as well as create a presentation about democracy in the 1800’s that explained each one of the documents. My group used Prezi to present our information.  

Race Issues in Latin America

The unit that we have just recently finished in class was about the Latin American Revolutions, and was based off of the questions, Why is it essential to acknowledge human value regardless of race?, and how are the events in the Latin American Revolutions evidence of this social imperative? These questions are important to think about when learning about the Latin American Revolutions because they help us look at how race affected and played a role in each of the  revolutions. To begin learning about the Latin American revolutions so that we could answer our essential question we split into groups and each group had one of the three revolutions, either Brazil, Gran Colombia, or Mexico. We then color coded a pie chart to look at the race populations, and then created a timeline of the revolution that our group was assigned.

This is the pie chart that we color coded as part of our lesson,

My group was assigned Brazil, and looking at a summary of the events that happened in the time period of the revolution we compiled a timeline of some of the important events. This is my timeline for Brazil,

Two similarities that we found between Brazil and the other revolutions was that they all revolted against the country that controlled them, and the leaders of the revolts created strong armies that help them to succeed. One difference that we found was, Brazil had help from other countries which were Spain and Portugal and the others did not. Another difference between the revolution was that Gran Colombia conquered many other cities of Latin America, and the other two revolution in Brazil and mexico only conquered the country that they were revolting against. All three of these revolutions had their differences, however race was an issue to all three. For mexico the leader of the revolution was openly saying that he was fighting racial equality, and they had the lower class people fighting in their revolution. For Brazil, their new king was discriminating against who could keep government positions and who could not, and that is why they revolted.  lastly, for Gran Colombia, the leader, Bolivar who was a creole, was advocating discrimination based on birthplace, and the people were interested in dumping the social status structure. People who were of low social class were fighting to get rid of the Castas system.  

Today judgments are still made all the time about races in our society. People create stereotypes for specific races, and believe that any  person of that race has a quality based on that stereotype, for example, someone may think someone is very smart or very poor just based on their race. One specific example of a race issue in society today is when a cop shot a boy who was dark skinned, because he thought he was suspicious looking, and made conclusions based on his race. I believe that it is important that we address the race issues in society today because everyone should be treated fairly and equally no matter what race they may be.  

Toussiant Louverture; A Liberator of Slaves

A leader is a person who commands a group, organization, or even a country, however they are also much more than just that. A leader is someone who  is looked up to and acts as a role model , and sets examples for those that they lead. A good leader possess the qualities of moral leadership, and honesty, as well as compassion, commitment, and confidence. A leader can be anywhere from the president who has the job to command everyone in the country, to a parent or relative who’s job it is to be someone who can be looked up to as a role model, to set good examples for their loved ones. Toussaint Louverture is a historical figure who can also be thought of as a leader. Toussaint Louverture was born in the 1740’s , and was once a young slave of the large Caribbean island, Saint Domingue, now known as Haiti. After he had been freed from slavery, Toussaint Louverture lead the Haitian revolution with the goal of abolishing slavery.  He encouraged slaves of Saint Domingue to fight for their freedom, and his good leadership skills helped Saint Domingue into gaining their independence. Being a military commander, and the ruler of Saint Domingue are two aspects of Toussaint Louverture's legacy, however being remember as a liberator of slaves is the most important because without his leadership the slaves wouldn’t have been freed, and Saint Domingue may not have gained its independence.

The main aspect of Toussaint’s legacy that he should be remember him for was being a liberator of slaves. While Toussaint may have been switching back and forth between the two sides of the revolution, he always represented the side that supported the abolition of slavery. In the Timeline of Abolition in Saint Domingue is states that in 1791 Toussaint Louverture played the role as a doctor to the troops during the slave revolt as well as the commander of a small detachment of slave soldiers.( Document A) He was leading the slaves to fight for their freedom. However, the document also states that in 1794 the french government abolished slavery in France and all of its colonies, and because of this Toussaint and all the troops in which he was leading stopped their revolt and supported the french. ( Document A) Toussaint switched from revolting against the french, to supporting the french because they had now abolished slavery. Toussaint was doing whatever he could to lead the slaves to their freedom, and when Napoleon sent 21,000 soldiers to the island to reinstate slavery after the slaves had already been freed he had to stand up for what he believed was right. In Toussaint Louverture’s “Letter to the french Directory” he states, “Could men who have once enjoyed the benefits of liberty look on calmly while it is taken from them!...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.” (Document B) The people have already been freed, and they would do anything to prevent slavery from being restored to Saint Domingue. They won't just stand there watching their freedom that they just earned being taken right from them, and they are willing to fight to the death to prevent that. Another reason in which Toussaint Louverture should most importantly be remembered as a liberator of slaves is because he helped to write the Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801. Toussaint assembled and headed the commission that created this document that clearly stated the rights of the freed slaves. the constitution states, “There cannot exist slaves in this territory, servitude is therein forever abolished. All men are born, live and die free and french.” (Document C ) In this document Toussaint is making it clear that every man, whether they are freed slaves or not has equal rights and freedom. Because Toussaint did everything in his power to fight with the slaves of Saint Domingue to gain their independence, he really should be remembered as a liberator of slaves. While he was also a military commander, he cared more about freeing the slaves than he did actually fighting with the french, and his overall goal was to abolish slavery in Saint Domingue which is why being a liberator of slaves is the most important aspect of his life  that he should be remembered for.

Toussaint  Louverture may have be a leader of the slaves in fighting for their freedom, but he also held the leadership position of being a military commander. While it may not be the most significant and important part of his legacy it is also something that he should be remembered for. Toussaint had a large impact on the success of the Haitian revolution. In a Timeline of Abolition in Saint Domingue, it says that in 1792 as a military commander toussaint gained a reputation for running an orderly camp and for training his men in both guerrilla tactics and the European shoulder to shoulder style. ( Document A ) Toussaint was a well known intelligent military leader who prepared his men to use an ambush and surprise technique that would be unexpected by the opponent, as well as the tactic of their opponent so they would be prepared for anything.  One example of this guerilla style tactic which was unfamiliar to the french is in an excerpt from The black Man, His Antecedents, Genius, and His Achievements, when it states, “The French however [landed], but they found nothing but smoldering ruins, where once stood splendid cities. Toussaint and his generals at once abandoned the towns and betook themselves to the mountains, those citadels of freedom in st. Domingo where the blacks have always proved too much for the whites. ” ( Document F) Toussaint and his army had burned down the city, and retreated to the mountains causing the French army to follow so that when they arrived they could use the guerrilla style warfare, which was not at all expected by the French. Toussaint Louverture had great military skills and used them to benefit him and his army making him a very successful military leader. Toussaint was a strong leader who was also very tough for when his own nephew rebelled against him, he knew that he had to treat him as he would any other person. In an expert from Toussaint Louverture: A biography, it states, “ Toussaint ordered Moyse’s arrest and had him confined in the fort of Port De paix...Brought before a firing squad, Moyse himself gave the order to fire.” ( Document E ) Because the slaves were now freed and no longer could be owned to work the plantations, Toussaint had to force the former plantation slaves to do the labor, and when the Moyse who was the leader of the Northern department started a revolt against Toussaint and his new policies, Toussaint knew he had to do whatever needed to be done to stop the revolts. All of Toussaint great military achievements were all done in an attempt to gain the independence of saint Domingue as well as to keep the independence of the freed slaves that lived there, which is why he should be remembered as a military leader.

Lastly, Toussaint Louverture should be remembered as  a ruler of Saint Domingue, which was also a leadership position that he held. As well as being a way to show that he was a liberator of slaves, The Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801 that was signed by Toussaint, shows that he held an important position in the government of the nation. Title Viii: Of the Government, Article 28 states, “The constitution nominate citizen Toussaint-Louverture, Chief General of the army of Saint-Domingue and… he is entrusted the direction thereof for the remainder of his glorious life.” ( Document C) This is saying that until his death Toussaint shall be the ruler of Saint Domingue. As a ruler Toussaint tried his best to protect the rights of his citizens, and he also took risks to pursue what he believed was right for everyone. In Toussaint Louverture’s Proclamation, 25 November 1801, he proclaims, “Any individual… tending to incite sedition [actions against the authority of the nation]  shall be brought before a court martial [military court] and be punished in conformity with the law.” and, “Vagabond cultivators arrested… shall be taken to the commander of the quarter, who will have them sent to the gendarmerie [local police] on their plantation.”  (Document D) Throughout this proclamation Toussaint is trying to keep order to the nation and to do so he must enforce laws and punishments if  those laws are broken. He has the best interest for the greater population in mind, and he is willing to be unpopular and disliked as a leader and as a person to do what he feels is the right thing to do. Both the Constitution of 1801, and Louverture’s proclamation of 1801 are trying to get the same message across, they both have the same purpose, however, the constitution wasn't working and people werent following it so, Louverture felt as though he had to word it more strongly and harshly to get his point across better to the citizens that he was ruling. His proclamation was a more harsh way of saying what was being stated in the constitution. While Toussaint may have come across as a mean and harsh ruler, he was doing what he was for the benefit of Saint Domingue, and for the citizens of it. Toussaint Louverture should be remembered as a ruler because even though he may have not been well liked, he was trying to keep everything in order in saint Domingue and he tried his best to avoid violence.    

Toussaint Louverture possess many of the qualities that make up a great leader. He had moral leadership, toughness, determination, commitment and confidence, and he showed these values through his leadership positions as a liberator of slaves, a military commander, and the Ruler of saint Domingue. While Toussaint should be remembered as being a liberator of slaves and a military commander it is truly most important that we remember him as a liberator of slaves, for he led the slaves to fight and win their freedom, something that couldn't have been done without him, and is one of the most important parts of his impact on Saint Domingue.  

Success or Failure

We recently did a unit about the revolutions of 1830 and 1848. To answer our essential question, and decide whether or not each revolution was a failure or not, we split into groups and were each assigned one of the revolutions. After reading an introduction as well as primary source documents about our assigned revolution we answered a few questions such as, where and when the revolution took place, the goals, opponent and outcome of the revolution, and whether it was a success or a failure. Then after learning about our revolution we made a survey with a few questions for our classmates to complete. My group's revolution was the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.

The Hungarian Revolution took place in Austria in 1848. The goals of this revolution was to make Hungary an independent country from Austria,and to write a constitution to protect national rights. "Our task is to found a happier future on the brotherhood of all the races in Austria For a union enforced by bayonets and police spies let us substitute the enduring bond of a free constitution.” In this quote the author is telling the Austrians his ideas, and what the goals of the revolution are.The nationalists of the revolution were led by Louis kossuth. The opponents of these nationalists were the Austrian empire, Russian troops and Metternich. The outcome of this revolution was that thier gain was temporary until Austrian troops regained controll of Vienna and Prague. With Russia's help they destroyed Budapest, many were imprisoned, killed or exiled."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." This quote describes the events of the revolution, and the outcome in which it caused. Overall the revolution was a partial success and a partial failure. It was partially a failure because their gain only lasted temporarily. However it was also a partial success because they defeated Budapest. Our survey asked questions about many of these ideas, and overall the class learned from it, for the majority of the class got most of the questions correct. this is one of the questions that everyone answered correctly. the question asked, “who led the Hungarian nationalists in Budapest?” the answer to this question was, Louis Koussouth.

This next question was  a true or false question that asked that stated, “The declaration of Hungary was unanimously adopted by the Hungarian parliament.” The correct answer was true and all but one person answered this question correctly.

I think that the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 were all complete failures as historians have concluded. Out of all the revolutions, only one, the Decembrist revolt, was a complete failure. Each of the other revolutions were mostly successful and only partially a failure, or mostly a failure but also partially a success. one revolution that was partially a success was the 1830 French revolt. when king Louis xviii died his younger brother, Charles x , inherited the throne, however the citizens disagreed with his beliefs. Charles the x fled, and Louis Philippe was now king. Louis phillipe got along well with the citizens and he did a lot to benefit his people, for example expanding suffrage. the goal to expand the rights to vote were achieved, however only for some people, not all.  Another revolution that was also a partial success was the Frankfurt assembly. delegates at the assembly debated whether germany should be a republic or a monarch, and whether or not to include Austria in the united German state. Germany became united, however Prussia’s Frederick William refused to take the throne.  Overall, historians believe that the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 were all together failures, however many of them each had some positive outcomes.