Social Reforms: Transcendentalism

Here are two paragraphs taken from the essay “Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being. And we are now men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny; and not minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, redeemers, and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort, and advancing on Chaos and the Dark.
What pretty oracles nature yields us on this text, in the face and behaviour of children, babes, and even brutes! That divided and rebel mind, that distrust of a sentiment because our arithmetic has computed the strength and means opposed to our purpose, these have not. Their mind being whole, their eye is as yet unconquered, and when we look in their faces, we are disconcerted. Infancy conforms to nobody: all conform to it, so that one babe commonly makes four or five out of the adults who prattle and play to it. So God has armed youth and puberty and manhood no less with its own piquancy and charm, and made it enviable and gracious and its claims not to be put by, if it will stand by itself. Do not think the youth has no force, because he cannot speak to you and me. Hark! in the next room his voice is sufficiently clear and emphatic. It seems he knows how to speak to his contemporaries. Bashful or bold, then, he will know how to make us seniors very unnecessary."

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Self-Reliance." Ralph Waldo Emerson- Texts. Accessed January 12, 2015. http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a big creator and supporter of Transcendentalism. In the essay, Self Reliance, Emerson speaks of his beliefs based around Transcendentalism. He believes that it is a great way to live your life and the only way people should be living their lives. His purpose for publishing this essay was to have people read his ideas and put them to use in their own lives. This is a great trustworthy source as I have read the exact same one in my English class.

The essay gives mainly Emerson's opinions and views on Transcendentalism. He talks nothing of the event effecting other people at the time. This essay teaches us what Emerson believes is the basis of Transcendentalism, Self Reliance. Emerson talks about how to be happy and to be with God and nature people must rely on themselves and not others. People must be independent and come up with their own ideas and ways of life. Emerson speaks about how society has become very conformed so no one is an individual creating new ideas. He also talks about how the young seem to have the right idea in the beginning. The children speak out without much thought and are very honest; Emerson admires that about children. Throughout the essay he seems to be trying to convince you that this way is the right way.

Thanks for reading,

Julianna O

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