Andrew Jackson's acts to decide if he is a people's president

Hello readers,

While the teacher was away for some time due to a conference in Disney World we learned about Andrew Jackson. Our essential question for this unit was is Andrew Jackson’s long standing reputation as a people’s president deserved? Why or why not? This question is important because it helps us think about what makes a people’s person in general and specifically to a president. The question helps us learn about what some of his presidential acts were and how they affected others. To answer the question in the class we were split into six different groups. Each group was either assigned to read and learn about the Bank War, Spoils System, and the Indian Removal. Each group created a video or skit to teach the other groups about their topic and answer the essential question. My group was assigned the Indian Removal.

To answer the essential question for the Bank War it was that Jackson was a people’s president. The National Bank at the time was only serving the wealthy and Jackson wanted to have it serve the less wealthy classes. According to the Spoils System though he was not a people’s president. He bribed people to support him by promising them government jobs. This was not helping the people but only helping himself. The Indian Removal makes Andrew seem like an absolutely cruel president because he pushes the natives out and moves them to a land where they do not have enough resources to survive. Andrew does say he does this to improve the people of European descents lives.

My group did a script for the project on the Indian Removal Act. We had kids speak as Andrew Jackson, Native Americans, and narrators.

Click here for the script.

Here is a prop we used:

Rise of Democracy In the U.S.

Hello readers,

To learn about the rise of democracy and answer the essential questions, how should we define democracy and how democratic was the United States in the 1800s, we looked at many sources and analysed each one as separate groups. After we looked at each source provided by our teacher we created "posters" they could be any form, digital or paper and pen. The "posters" had to have our analysis of each document. Here is my groups digital "poster".

Latin American Revolutions and how race is apart of it all

Hello readers,

Our essential question for the unit Latin American Revolutions was why is it essential to acknowledge human value regardless of race and how are the Latin American revolutions evidence of the social imperative. I believe that this is important to think about because it talks about racism in the past and in the present. We also learn and think more about what the human values are and why we need them. To answer the question in class we split off into groups that were assigned different Latin American countries. The countries were Mexico, Grand Colombia, and Brazil. Each group read an article about the country they were assigned. We then learned about the Latin American social statuses and created a chart including peninsulares, creoles, mestizos, mulattoes, Indians, and African American slaves. After that each group created a timeline about the revolutions that took place in their country. We then split into groups and shared our timelines and answered the essential question for each country. Here is the timeline my group created for Mexico.

When we met into groups we discussed the commonalities and differences between each group’s revolution. They were very obvious commonalities and differences. Our commonalities were that each Latin American country wanted independent from another country and they were fighting against European countries, Spain and Portugal. Mexico, Grand Colombia, and Brazil were fighting respectively against Spain and Portugal. Our differences were not each new country in the end had a constitution, Mexico and Brazil did but Grand Colombia did not, and not each revolution was lead by the same social rank group. Brazil was lead by peninsulares and Mexico and Grand Columbia were lead by creoles. Each revolution was similar because race was involved with each. They all were frustrated with the fact that the lower classes were being repressed by the higher ones.

Race still has a very large impact on decisions in the world and the world in general today. Everyday people are still thinking about race with each decision they make. A very good example of this is the Ferguson case in Missouri. This is a very controversial case because it was a black man and a white cop. We still need to work on not being racist in society and in the law. Everyone should still be educated on how racism is a bad thing and how we need to prevent it.

Thanks for reading,

Julianna O

Toussaint Louverture, a great man who should be remembered but how?

Without leadership nothing can be accomplished, no goal can be reached. A leader needs to have many qualities and skills including political skills, toughness, honesty, compassion, and many others. Without a successful leader who has a great mind and a great heart there can be no successful country. Toussaint Louverture, a great military leader, ruler, and liberator of slaves, of the mid and late 1700s and early 1800s, lived in the French colony known then as Saint Domingue. Toussaint was, at first, one of over 500,000 slaves in Saint Domingue but was later granted freedom. As a free African American man he joined the slavery uprising in Saint Domingue. He later became a great military commander in the fight to abolish slavery and when that was accomplished he was able to become the ruler of Saint Domingue. Before he could see the independence of Saint Domingue, now known as Haiti, Napoleon attacked and tried to reinstate slavery in the French colonies but because of the fight put up by Toussaint’s men Napoleon’s goal was not able to be reached. Toussaint Louverture should be remembered as a military commander, ruler of Saint Domingue, and a liberator of slaves. Toussaint was a great, powerful military commander who would defend his country and put his military skills to greater use over any other skill he had including his skills as ruler of Saint Domingue and his liberator of slave skills.

First, Toussaint Louverture was an expert military commander. Although he was not able to be there for the independence of his country he lead the people to that point, he allowed them to be able to accomplish their independence. He never allowed anyone to get in his way as a military commander. When his nephew, General Moyse, lead a rebellion against Toussaint's wishes Toussaint quickly rushed to the northern region of Saint Domingue where the rebellion took place and stopped the rebellion right away. In Madison Smartt Bell's Toussaint Louverture: A Biography, she writes, "he ordered the mutineer regiments on parade and summoned certain men to step out of the ranks and blow their own brains out..."(E) Toussaint used this as an example of his power and brutality. It was a threat to others to never threaten his powers or go against his wishes. Toussaint even made Moyse give the order to fire for himself to be shot and killed. It was a very good technique and ensured his power. Using his military skills Toussaint was even able to drive Spanish and English forces from the island. Toussaint was also a very social military leader traveling from post to post with great speed ensuring confidence in the people who he commanded. When a fleet landed in Samana to attack and reinstate slavery in Saint Domingue Toussaint gave a power speech to encourage his fighters. Toussaint say, "...that soul, when on e the soul of a man, and no longer that of a slave, can overthrow the pyramids and the Alps themselves, sooner than again be crushed down into slavery." (F). He inspired his people to fight for freedom and to never stop. He gave them hope to win the battles. He taught two very different strategies of battle to the armies under his control. He taught both the European, shoulder to shoulder style, and the guerrilla tactics. (A) This allowed his armies to be very versatile in battles. Before the fleet landed in Saint Domingue, Toussaint had his men burn down the city and flee to the mountains where the Europeans would not be able to reach them. (F). This allowed his men to have a great advantage over the Europeans. Toussaint was able to succeed greatly as a military leader and without his skills and techniques Haiti would not be an independent country.

Toussaint was also a great ruler of Saint Domingue, although the time was short lived. Toussaint Louverture was a very smart ruler of Saint Domingue. Toussaint created The Saint Domingue Constitution in 1801. The constitution outlined a colony that would forever be without slavery but would force the people of the colony to work the same way they had as slaves before; it also supported Toussaint Louverture being a very powerful man, making him head of the army for all of his life. Article 15 states: "Each plantation...shall represent the quiet haven of an active and constant family, of which the owner of the land...shall be the father." (C) Although the free men and women are still working in plantations they would not have the master, slave relationship with the plantation owners they had before. Toussaint tried to create a family atmosphere and relationship between the slave workers at the plantations. Toussaint also made a proclamation after the constitution was written. It talks about how the workers must work on the plantations they were assigned to and start at a very young age, it also discussing the punishments of leaving the plantation the worker works on as well as the breaking of other laws. Toussaint was starting to get harder on the workers because the business of agriculture is the only way the country makes its money. Plantations are needed for the colony to survive. Toussaint states in the proclamation: "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." (D) A vagabond is someone who refuses to work. No one was not allowed to work, everybody was needed to keep the gigantic plantations running smoothly. Although Toussaint was a great ruler of Saint Domingue he had many flaws including his forceful ways of making people work just like they were slaves. Toussaint's skills as a ruler were not his best.

Finally, Toussaint was a liberator of slaves. Toussaint's main goal of the revolution and his control was to end slavery. Although that was not his best accomplishment, it was a great one. He joins the revolt as soon as it starts and took control of many aspects, reflecting on his military commander positions. Toussaint also wrote a letter to the French Directory, he wrote in it about how the people would never be able to calmly become slaves again. He states: "Could men who have once enjoyed the benefits of liberty look on calmly while it is taken from them!" (B) When France first abolished slavery they soon tried to reinstate it but the new free people would not let that happen. Toussaint told the French Directory that they would not stand for it and would try as hard as they could to be free people. Toussaint was the voice of all the slaves in Saint Domingue. He spoke on behalf of them all the encourage the freedom of slaves.

Although Toussaint was best at being a military commander he did succeed at his other roles of being a liberator of slaves and ruler of Saint Domingue. He met his goal of freeing the slaves of Saint Domingue forever as well as eventually having Saint Domingue become an independent country, reflecting on all of his roles he played throughout the revolution. Toussaint used his military skills the best during and after the revolution making it the most memorable aspect of him.

Bibliography:

(A) Document A, Timeline of Abolition in Saint Domingue, Created from various sources

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

(C) Document C, The Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801. Signed by Toussaint Louverture in July 1801

(D) Document D, Toussaint Louverture, “Proclamation, 25 November 1801.”

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

(F) Document F, William Wells Brown, “A Description of Toussaint Louverture,” from The Black Man, His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements, 2nd edition. Engraving of Toussaint Louverture, 1802.

Revolutions of 1830 and 1848, successes, failures, or neither?

Hello readers,

In my history class the last few weeks we have learned about the revolutions of 1830 and 1838. This included the Decembrist Revolt, the Hungarian Revolution, the Frankfurt Assembly, France in 1830, and France in 1848. The question that we were asked was, were the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 really a failure as historians have said? The question is really asking if the revolutions were total failures, partial failures, neutral, partial successes, or total successes. Many historians believed that all of these revolutions were total failures but at further look you can see that some of revolutions did have partial successes. To start to learn about the revolutions and how to answer the question we started with a class look at the quote of Alexis de Tocqueville, “We are sleeping on a volcano. Do you not see that the Earth trembles anew? A wind of revolutions blow, the storm is on the horizon.” We also looked at the map below to see how the map would explain the quote. We took away from that activity that the people are starting to get upset with the governments and therefore starting revolutions and then the ideas are spreading, like the wind. After that we defined what a revolution is. As a class we decided that it was the oppressed rising up against the people who were doing the oppressing. After that we then looked at the quote by Klemens von Metternich, “When French sneezes, Europe catches a cold”. We then decided that he meant that when French would start revolutions the rest of Europe soon would follow. The last thing we did with our normal class groups was create a failure/success scale. We had to decide what the definition was for each one and then create a scale in our notes. After that each group got assigned a revolution to read and create a chart about. The chart was based as follows, country, date, goals, opponent, outcome, and reasons for success/failure. After creating this chart and finding evidence for goals, opponent, and outcome, we then had to decide if our revolution was a complete failure, a partial failure, neutral, partial success, or total success. After we have finished deciding and figuring it all out we created a “Survey Monkey”. A Survey Monkey is an app that allows you to create surveys and questions. We used that to then quiz each other group on the revolution while they had the sources we used to create the questions.

My group was assigned the Frankfurt Assembly to learn and read about. Before reading our primary sources we read the opening article to learn some facts. From the chart we learned that the country it took place in was Germany and it happened in 1848. The goal of the revolution was to create a new constitution that was more fair, like a republic or a more mild monarchy. It was also to decide if they should include Austria or not. The main focus was for more liberal reforms and to have national unity. The opponent in the end was Prussia’s Frederick William IV. At first he was not the opponent and was even offered the crown but he refused. In the primary source Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, Proclamation of 1849, he states, “they offered the crown upon condition that I would accept a constitution which could not be reconciled with the rights of the German states.” The quote is showing that he did not want the crown because he did not like the constitution that he was told he must accept to be the king. We found that he also rejected the crown not just because he didn’t like the constitution but because it was not written by German princes, it came from the people, or as Frederick Williams IV said, “from the gutter”. The outcome of the offer and the rejection was that troops were sent into Germany from Prussia so that Frederick could create his own constitution. Thousands of Germans fled and many who stayed were either killed or sent to prisons for their radical ideas. In the Frankfurt Assembly written by Karl Marx he states that, “this revolt of the whole people, is unlawful, then this assembly places itself outside the law, it commits high treason.” He is saying that the revolt was unlawful because it went against the king and the law therefore making it was high treason. The reason that the revolt was a failure was because the rebels did not have a final goal and were not united. The middle class reformers and workers started to clash, making them not unified. This was a perfect opportunity for the conservative forces to swoop in and kill the rebellion, leading the revolution to be a partial failure. The revolution ideas were able to keep the ideas flowing through the rest of Europe even though it was ended there. Our group created our own Survey Monkey with questions based off of these primary reading. Click here for the Frankfurt Assembly Survey Monkey created by my group and here for the results.

Map of Revolutions in Europe, 1830 and 1848. Edline Notes

Frankfurt Assembly Survey Monkey Questions

I believe that revolutions were both failures and successes. The historians were neither incorrect or correct. Although in every revolution many people died, in all but one of the revolutions ideas were able to be spread and the people were able to get something out of it. The Decembrist Revolt was a complete failure. The rebellions were unable to create any better of a life for them. The government took in even greater of control over the people. Thousands were killed and the government was even stricter, no one supported the rebels. In the Hungarian  Revolution the people were able to get rid of Metternich and the revolution was able to spread to other parts of the country. Although the reforms by the Austrian Emperor were not able to stay, they still were there for some time giving hope to others. The French Revolution of 1830 had many successes. The people in the July Revolt were able to create a constitutional monarchy. The new king Louis Philippe was known as the “citizens” king. He made lots of changes although mostly to the wealthy. Although it was only for a little while they were able to get a taste of the good life which would make the people want a better government even more. I think they although many people got hurt because of the revolutions, ideas were able to spread and people would eventually get what they want even if it’s not for a while.

Julianna  

Congress of Vienna, Solutions to One Big Disaster

Hello readers,

The essential question for this unit was what should people do when their power is threatened? This question is to allow students to think about what happens when the government power is threatened by revolutions or another power. An example would be when Napoleon tried to take control of countries all over Europe. A more specific example of this would be Napoleon trying to take control of Austria and Austria’s prince Metternich deciding that he will not stand for it. We watched a video on Metternich’s and Napoleon’s meeting. To answer this question we looked at the Congress of Vienna. The Congress of Vienna was a meeting healed after Napoleon had fallen from power to figure out what they were to do next.. We read a background reading on the Congress of Vienna and learned about how they had to figure out how the governments were going to be rule and what the country lines were going to be, as well as who was representing each country involved in Napoleon’s conquest. We then read problems that Metternich had to face when he was resolving the issues of the country lines, government leaders, and what they were to do for future revolutions. We then discussed and took notes on what the solutions would be to figure out the issues. We learned about Holy Alliance, Principle of Intervention, Principle of Legitimacy, and the Balance of Power. It was a great way to learn about how the powers of the time would solve revolutionary problems.

Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, 1815 http://www.emersonkent.com/historic_documents/congress_of_vienna_1815.htm

To prevent future revolutions when the Congress of Vienna was held they came up with the idea of Holy Alliance. The idea was initiated by Czar Alexander of Russia. The Holy Alliance was based off of, as you can guess, the idea that the government powers were under God’s control and appointed by God. It meant that the monarchs had divine right to rule. This would mean that whoever decided to revolt against the monarchs was not just treason but was also against God. At the time almost everyone believed in God and that he was the most powerful being ever to exist. No one went against God. This would prevent people from lashing out in the future because they would not go against God’s wishes. In the future revolutions would have gone against God when they were revolting which was hard to do because they would not be able to get as many on their side as they needed to succeed. The Congress of Vienna was important in this way because they were able to help prevent future revolutions by coming up with many ideas on why people should not revolt.

I believe that the Congress of Vienna made a good decisions to help themselves at the time. I think that they did a great job deciding how to prevent revolutions like Napoleon’s and others. I think that they could have made better decisions to improve the lives of their people. They should make it okay so that the people of each country could have a say in what happens with the government. I think that they should not have been so absolute with their absolute monarchies. The powerful should sacrifice some of their power to improve the lives of their people they rule over. The governments for the people would be much better and revolutions would be less likely to occur.

Thanks for reading,

Julianna

Ideologies Influences on Political and Social Issues

Hello readers,

The last week we learned about political ideologies of the 19th century and how they influenced social and political actions. To learn about this though we first had to understand what we were trying to learn about. We first had to define what an ideology was to understand what the question was. An ideology is a system of ideas and ideals, especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theories and policies. It can also be defined as the ideas and manner of thinking characteristics of a group, social class, or individual. Three examples that we focused on was conservatism, liberalism, and nationalism. We then wanted to learn how each of these ideologies, conservatism, liberalism, and nationalism, affected the political and social actions of a government. To start the learning process each group gave their own definition, classified as the modern definitions, of a liberal, conservatism, and nationalism. After working together as a class to give each a more exact definition, we learned about our project to keep expanding our knowledge of conservatism, liberalism, nationalism. The project was to create a one minute project to explain our assigned word and give an example in the project at the impact the words had on political and social issues. To learn even more about our words each group got an article to read on their own word. After we reading the article and coming up with an explanation of how conservatism, nationalism, or liberalism influenced social and political actions we then had to come up with how to do our project. We had complete freedom of what we did as long as it was interesting. One group chose to do a live skit, three other groups chose to animate a picture, others chose to make a video of drawings and speak over it, my group chose to use Educreations and create images and then speak over them. After watching each other's groups video we came up with definitions and explanations on how the other words impacted social and political actions.

This imagine is the first imagine in our project on conservatism. The King is on his death bed and the son is about to become king when someone suggests a new idea. In the next slide you see what happens to the man. Here is the link to my group's video.  

To see the video that my group has created on conservatism click here! For my groups project we got the word conservatism. We read the article provided by our teacher on Edline. To read each article you may click here. We then gave our definition of what conservatism really was based on the article. Our project consists of the all powerful, very common monarchy, a king and his son, and what would happen in a conservative ideology if someone suggestion a non-conservative idea. Conservatism meant, like I said in the video, that only time-tested traditions were the only solutions to social and political problems. We showed a man suggesting a new idea which was immediately rejected. We learned that conservatism did not allow room for expansion and improvements in the government so the social and political issues were solved with the same thing always, time-tested traditions, like aristocracy and monarchy. The video explains and portrays conservatism because it shows that conservatism is about monarchy and old ways, it shows that there is no room for revolutions.

After watching the other groups’ projects on liberalism and nationalism as well as reading the articles everyone in the class was able to define and understand how they influenced political and social issues in the 19th century. We defined liberalism as the opposite of conservatism. It was a newer way of ruling in the 19th century that was based on merit, freedom, and rights for the middle class. The main focus was allowing the middle class to participate in the social and political issues. Many countries and people believe now that liberalism works wonders although back in the 19th century it was not as popular. Nationalism was defined as either countries or people that have bonds that connected them, like similar cultures, uniting to better themselves or prevent against intruders. Allies are perfect examples of this, they work with other countries to defend their country and the other country against an intruder. Another example of this would be how countries united to defend themselves against Napoleon. The three ideas are all very different and they all have their pros and cons to their influence on political and social issues.

Thank you for reading!

Julianna

Napoleon's Social, Economic, and Political Impacts

Hello readers!

Everyone in their school career has or will learn about the powerful ruler Napoleon Bonaparte. Many people love him but many people also hate him. He was a very amazing leader and ruler. He accomplished many things in his lifetime, including overtaking many other countries. But the question is what was his impact on the social, economic, and political systems of Europe?

Portrait of Napoleon via the BBC website
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bonaparte_napoleon.shtml

Napoleon had a very large social impact on the rest of Europe and France. Marshal Michel Ney speaks of Napoleon's social impact. He says, taken from Napoleon Review, "the times are gone when the people were governed by suppressing their rights". Napoleon gave his people rights and options. He allowed the people he ruled over to get an education. Napoleon established a meritocracy to create jobs and standings based on the skill a person had, not on their father's name. Napoleon also abolished serfdom and nobility. Napoleon created a fair way for his people to live their lives and have opportunities.

Napoleon created a very successful economical system amongst Europe. He had full control over the prices of objects. Napoleon encouraged industry throughout his countries. He put a lot of money towards new roads and canals to improve trade routes. He also established a budget and the Bank of France. He had an understanding of money and how to improve France. Although he did take money from the countries he overthrew he put that money to good use in France.

Napoleon's political impact may be the greatest of them all. Napoleon led by war. He led his armies into countless of successful and unsuccessful takeovers. Madame de Staël sums his method up well in Napoleon Review, "he would like to persuade men by force and by cunning, and he considered all else to be stupidity or folly...". Although she may not be his biggest fan what she says is true. Napoleon would get men on his side exactly by that. It's how he took control of his armies and other's armies. It's how he took control of many countries. In the document The Lost Voices of Napoleonic Historians they describe how smart of an army leader he was. Napoleon ruled all of the countries he overthrew the same way. He allowed them to have some of their own laws and work their own way as long as they follow his main guidelines and laws. Napoleon also got rid of the directory in France; that group unjustly killed people. He also reduced the church's power.

Napoleon had huge impacts on Europe at the time he ruled. These also translate over to now. Roads are still taken care of, industry is encouraged, and more. Napoleon was a magnificent ruler, in both the good and the bad sense. To learn a bit more about Napoleon click here for a five minute overview.

Thanks for reading,

Julianna

How to run a country, what is the right way?

Hello readers!

To start off learning about different government ideas and techniques we did a very fun activity in class about Socialism, Communism, and Capitalism. It was very informative but the best part was that we got to eat the activity. So to learn about each idea we were given Hershey Kisses. To start some people got two Hershey Kisses while others were given more. We then had to play Rock Paper Scissors with different people until we ran out of Kisses. That was Capitalism. I of course lost mine right away. We then demonstrated Socialism. Each student was handed two Hershey Kisses. Then we demonstrated Communism by us all having two Hershey Kisses and every student refusing to play Rock Paper Scissors so we would all have an equal number of the candy. It was a very good way to learn about each thing. Although it was frustrating to have to lose a lot and not have a say in what we did it was a great demonstration and put us in the position of the people. We then continued to take notes on Marx's ideas and Smith's ideas.

Marx had a theory that society would progress through these three systems, Capitalism, Socialism, and Communism. Capitalism was when there was private ownership of industries which allowed them to have private commerce thus creating unequal economic classes. This all of course led to class struggles which caused the workers to revolt.  Capitalism then led to Socialism because of the class struggles and revolts. The goal for Socialism was to create an equal society without classes. To achieve the goal of Socialism the government must own all the industries. Finally, for Marx, there was Communism. Communism was created following Capitalism and Socialism. This was a lot like Socialism but the goal of a classless society was achieved and no government was even needed. Marx published all of these ideas in the Communist Manifesto. Here is a place you can access the document, click here. Another man named Adam Smith also had very good ideas before Marx published his. He published his idea in a book called Wealth of Nations. You can access the book by Smith by clicking here. The Invisible Hand was the government and it's role. The idea was that the government should leave people alone so people could compete with people on their own. They would be able to buy and sell goods without government interest. This would then make it so people would only buy lower priced, high quality goods. It would cause the economy to grow by itself. It would also help allow the poor to become part of the economy because the prices would be low.

After thoroughly examining the two options I believe that Adam Smith's idea is the best option. Although the process would take a long time and some would suffer from the time in the long run it will create a great economy. It would allow the poor to get involved which limits the amount of people in the lower class. It would create a fair "playing ground" for everyone. Marx's idea has too many steps to it that not all of them may be able to work. Too many things like the monarchy and the people would have to put into several different places. For example one day the government would have total control and the next they would have none. I don't believe we have many other options than these two. There may be a happy medium that I can't see but I would think that is unlikely.

Thank you for reading!

Julianna

Why Woman Would Work in the Cotton Factories

Hi Readers!

We are still learning about the Cotton Mills in history class and now we are focusing on the woman workers in the Cotton Industry. We have learned all about the reasons why the woman went to work in the mills in Lowell. We also learned about why the girls might not want to work there but why they stayed anyways.

The girls wanted to work in the mills for many reasons. One reason was that the girls didn't want to stay in one place, on the farm, forever. Another thing that motivated the woman to go to Lowell is the excitement to go to a new place and buy new things. It was be a completely different place than the farm most of the woman were used to. In the video we watched in class about a girl and her journey as a mill worker she got to Lowell with the other girls and they gasped and squealed with excitement. They also loved the fact that they would be able to provide for themselves and their families. In the video the girl begged her father to let her go and in trying to do that she said she will be able to send back money for the family. They also got an education when they were working there which was probably more than what they would have gotten staying at the farm. They weren't just taught to be book smart there too they were also taught to be street smart. They were taught to be street smart because of all of the cons of working in the mills.

There were also a lot of cons to working at the mills. The conditions were very bad at the mills. Injuries were very common and deaths would also occur. Although pay first came off as a great thing it was soon not enough for them to send any back to their family. They also were probably not able to pay for anything special for them like they thought they were able to do. I think that this taught them all to stand up for themselves, how they feel, and what they want. In the video the woman workers protested until they got the pay they wanted.

The woman of the 1800's were absolutely looked down upon at the time. Although they did get payed their pay was restricted compared to what many men got. The fact that the girls were only given enough money for board and food also showed how they were thought less of. In addition, the woman were also given the dangerous jobs of working in the mills. This makes it seem that the woman were useless and disposable.

Thanks for reading,
Julianna O

MOSI Live Google Hangout on the Cotton Factories

Hello readers!

In class earlier this week we did a live Google hangout, a video chat, with an "Explainer" from MOSI, Museum of Science and Industry, in England! I was sadly not able to attend it as I was sick but I have learned a lot from the videos of the Google hangout. To prepare for the chat we did a few things the day before. We first looked at the MOSI website and read a few articles on the machines used in the cotton mills as well as learning a bit more on the life of someone working in a cotton mill. We also watched a video our "Explainer", Jaime, had sent to us the took us on a tour of some of the machines they had a the museum. This allowed us to see what they really looked like. While we watched the video we wrote down some vocab on the machines, like names and tools. It was very interesting to hear how they were pronounced, although with his thick British accent it was a bit hard to understand what he really said. After we wrote down the words we researched them using Google to see what they meant. Many of them were just the names of mechanisms and when we researched the words we were able to learn even more about how they worked. We then all tried to come up with some questions to ask Jaime during the Google hangout. This allowed us to prepare for the chat so we knew we would always have a question and a topic to talk about!

Watching the videos from the Google hangout on Edline, provided by my teacher, I learned a lot about how hard the working conditions were for the factory workers. The machines were very loud at the time and many of the workers would go deaf especially because there were so many machines in the factories. This was a big problem and hardship faced by the workers. In the clips I also learned about some of the protesters called the Luddites. They were protesting because the increase in cotton factories made them lose their jobs. They were also violent protesters that participated in burning houses down and other violent rituals. In another clip I learned about how many of the very dangerous jobs were given to orphans the factory owners had "adopted". The owners would go to orphanages and tell the people that they were going to take orphans for an apprenticeship till they were 18. The orphanage workers of course agreed because the orphans got free food and board. Sadly, many of the orphans died or got permanent injuries because of the dangerous job. By watching the clips I learned even more about how dangerous and horrendous a place the factories were.

As I was not there for the live event I of course would like to do another one so I could experience it first hand. I think it is a very interesting way to learn things and it allows not to listen to a teacher or the people in our class for yet another class period, not that we don't love learning from teachers and students! I think it is a great way to get some more information on a topic we know a bit about. It is also very interesting to be able to see the objects we were learning about right there. It is a great new way of learning things!

Thanks for reading!
Julianna

Creating Our Own Museums on the Industrial Revolution Cotton Industry

For this project each group learned about one part of the Industrial Revolution and the cotton industry. Here is an imagine of my groups project.

The title of our project helps us understand the impact that cotton had on slavery during the time. The cotton industry made slavery very popular at the time. They needed labor in the mills and they used slavery to get the labor. I thought it was very surprising to see how popular it was in the north sense most people think that slavery really only took place in the south. One of the charts states that there were more slaves in the north than there were in North Carolina. I believe that the most important thing you can take away from our project is that slavery is everywhere and can happen at any time. With new, great things comes old, terrible things. In 1820 the United States slave population greatly increased because of the industrial revolution. In the south there was a need for slaves to grow and harvest cotton for the factories in the north to spin the cotton.

Another groups project was titled Condemning the Innocent: child labor during the industrial revolution. During the Industrial Revolution there was need for more labor and children were the best option when it came to the hard jobs. The children worked in textile mills and in mines pulling loads to get money for their family.

Pollution of the Revolution was the title of another project. The pollution caused by the revolution was terrible, rivers were low with bad smells and disgusting colors such as muddy browns. The revolution was not good for the environment surrounding it; town streets were being flooded with polluted water and waste.

Steam Powered Transportation: Now we're getting somewhere was the title of another group's project. The title explains it all. When the steam engine was invented transportation speed and ability increased. The railroad was invented and boats ran faster and more efficiently.

The final group created a project called Spinning a City. The revolution in spinning looms created jobs for men and woman. The Spinning Jenny allowed rates to increase by allowing more thread to be spun at oonce. This was then put to use in textile mills everywhere.

The Industrial Revolution: What was really revolutionary?

Hello,

In class a few days ago we started to learn about the Industrial Revolution. We used articles to take notes on specific parts of the Industrial Revolution, the revolutionary aspects. These aspects are technology, people, resources, and transportation. Each group took notes on each aspect and then we shared what we learned with each other group.

People. They are the start of everything. We humans start everything. In the Industrial Revolution they improved farming, started to improve the use of land, and the death rate started to decline. To improve farming they built dikes to shelter the land from the sea and water sources. They also made the soil better by fertilizing it with livestock manure, mixed the soil with other soil, and rotated their crop to let the soil rejuvenate. They also used the land more efficiently by planting the seeds in rows instead of randomly. They started to create pastures for livestock by gaining more land from peasant farmers and putting it use for their farms. The peasant farmers are then forced to work in the city so the people in the city can get laborers. By increasing farming rates and producing better and more food the death rate then decreases. Without any of these improvements we wouldn't be able to produce any of the food we produce now.

Extension Master Gardener http://blogs.extension.org/mastergardener/2013/04/23/exploring-our-roots-a-short-history-of-extension-and-the-master-gardener-program/ 

Transportation isn't something we think about everyday now. We just hop in our cars and go where we need to go. But before the Industrial Revolution they had almost no means of transportation. During the revolution the steam engine was invented. The steam engine allowed people to not depend on only water transportation. The steam engine was faster than any other transportation machine at the time so they were able to move more items faster. By laying down tracks they didn't have to rely on water anymore and the steam powered boats made it so they wouldn't have to worry about the weather conditions as much as they did before. The steam engine is the basis of every single vehicle we have today, especially today's train.

The Open Door Web Site http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/028.html 

Thank you for reading!
Julianna

Teaching students how to really use the Internet

Hello!

A few days ago in class we started to learn about how we should search and research on the internet responsibly. To learn to do so we did a few activities. We first used Google A Day. Google A Day asks you to figure out an answer to a question without using any spoilers. This helps teach us how to search for things using the correct phrases to find an answer. The second activity we did was go over website accuracy, authenticity, and reliability. This second activity helped us identify good websites to use for research and searching to find good information.

So the first activity we did was Google A Day. The link to this website to learn even more is right here: http://www.agoogleaday.com/#game=started. Google A Day is a website, obviously run by Google. It works by asking you a question and you have to find the answer without using any spoilers. Surprisingly it is very hard! It was a lot of fun because we got to work together in groups and it was like we were all on a mission. Plus we had a bit of a competition going with other groups. It was a bit frustrating because some of the questions asked were hard to understand and therefor hard to find answers to. We learned a lot of good things from this activity including what were good phrases to research and what reliable websites were to use for the answers.

Accuracy, authenticity, and reliability are three key words to think about when looking at a website and trying to find reliable sources. Accuracy according to Google definitions is "the quality or state of being correct or precise" so for a website this would mean it had correct information on it. Authenticity, also according to Google definitions, is "the quality of being authentic" but what is authentic? Authentic is genuine, true, and real. Authentic for a website doesn't just mean the information is real but you have a good author of the website. Now reliability according to dictionary.com is "...depended on, as for accuracy, honesty, or achievement". This would mean for a website that the source is able to be depended on for the information given. It means that it is true, up to date, and usable. Now many people have heard of the website for the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. This website is all about the FAKE tree octopus that someone has made up. The information seems accurate and authentic and reliable but it is not true. You can't use it as a school website because it reaches none of the words listen above. To learn more about the FAKE Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus go to this website here: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/.

Julianna  

What do students really think about their education?

Hello readers!

I am Julianna, a sophomore at Reading Memorial High School and this is my Honors History blog. This is where we will be asked to write about topics in our history class.

Thanks for reading!

Many teachers think they are great teachers or at least on the right track but do they ever ask what the students think? Students have their own ideas of what would make a great teacher for them. A great teacher to me needs to have a few mandatory qualities; sense of humor (especially for high schoolers), a desire and passion for teaching, caring and a desire to learn. Without these things a teacher will never be great. They must want to do the job they are doing or they will never do it well. And lets be honest now high schoolers like to have fun and joke around and we want teachers who will do it with us while also teaching us the things we need to learn. This may be a tall order but being a great teacher is something to really strive for. I have only had three or four great teachers in my 10 years as a student. Now I have had a good amount of teachers in these years, too many to count actually. These three or four great teachers had a desire to help students learn. They also had a desire to learn and enjoy their job. As long as my future and current teachers have a positive attitude and a desire to teach and learn then the school year should go well. I look forward to learning with everyone this school year.

This is the John Green Video from Youtube addressing Students

An Open Letter to Students 

John Green, the author of  A Fault In Our Stars and many educational youtube videos, has this idea that students have a duty to put their education to use and do great things. I completely agree with this! We all have our own idea of what it means to put something use and what it means to do great things but as long as we reach our own idea of those things than that is what matters. This school year I hope to do great things. I hope to improve my research skills and my understanding skills as a student. I also hope to improve my horseback riding this school year as well as getting better at balancing school and my barn time. Hopefully I will make more friends and also keep my current ones as well! To reach my goals I will keep doing what I have been doing as I have been succeeding in reaching my goals the way I am now before.

Have a great school year!