Tuesday, January 19, 2010

XYZ Affairs and Alien and Sedition Acts

1. The XYZ affairs created more tension between France and America. When the three men that John Adams appointed top negotiate with France traveled to do so, they were forced to communicate through three French agents. Or other known as agents, "X, Y ,Z". This angered Adams very much when he that this had happened, this being one of the first problems he has had to face as president. France then refused to negotiate with the American's in any way unless they paid them a $250, 000 bribe and a very large loan as well. This made the Americans seem much lower in class than France, which created much more tension between them as well. This then led to Adams declaring war as the army was tripled in size, a navy was appointed and 40 war ships were created to take on France. This preparation to go to war with France never ended up turning into a war, John Adams intelligently did not go to war, but congress did stop commercial trade with France.


2. The Federalists were not justified in passing the Alien and Sedition Acts, these acts were a violation to the Constitution. This gave the right to the government to just throw anyone into jail that looked like a threat, that is completely judgemental and wrong. That is not a proper way to punish someone and it should not have been passed.

3. Kentucky and Virginia were very justified in their response to the Alien and Sedition Acts as they disagreed with them. They did not agree with Congress passing these acts in any way as this forced people to move to Thomas Jefferson's republican party. In response to these acts being passed, Jefferson and Madison wrote acts against the acts they then sent their resolutions to all the states. Kentucky and Virginia being two states that had given them positive feedback.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Communist View

1. This text book gives a Communist view of the Constitution to the Soviet students. This view is saying that the Constitution has more power over the people rather than being power for the people. It is also emphasizes the fact that upper class has total domination over the lower class.

2. Two examples of of facts from the excerpt is one, when the article recognizes that the Constitution was supplemented by the Bill of Rights and that this law recognizes the rights of the citizens. Another fact that this excerpt shows is, that the members of the Supreme Court are appointed for life, even if the president is in a different political party than they are in. There are also examples of opinions shown in this excerpt as well. One is, when the article states: "The American Constitution reinforced the domination of the large upper class and slave holders." This meaning the constitution gives more power to the upper class rather than the lower class. One other opinion is when the article states: "So-called bourgeois democracy was established in North America under the name "popular sovereignty" (democracy), but it is actually the rule of the bourgeoisie." This excerpt reflects a bias against the United States because it is saying that our Constitution completely takes advantage of the people and their rights. This says that the upper class has total authority over the lower class, which can be true in some cases, but not completely.


3. I disagree with the communist view of the constitution, I believe the Constitution helps make our government strong and keeps order and rule equal. This communist article was blown out of proportion and I do not agree with a majority of what they say.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Bill of Rights: students

Some students may think that the Bill of Rights is far too much of an important and large document to affect what they do in school, but they are wrong. As far as freedom of expression goes, we are pretty limited as to what students can do once they walk into the doors of the school. As well as with everything else, but at the same time we do have some freedom inside of the school, as long as it is not disruptive in any way. The Bill of Rights may be extremely powerful and seem out of our reach for us, but it affects us and what we are able and not able to do when we are on school grounds. Without the Bill of Rights, schools would not have as much order or organization as far as the rules go. The schools most likely base the rules they make in the handbook off of the Bill of Rights, but on a different level.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

View on the Electoral College

The Electoral College has it's positive and negative effects on the government and the people. Many people debate as to whether we should keep this in our voting system or not, as this seems to have more negative effects to it than anything. This is because it's been around for so long, it's easy to criticize. Some strength's of this system is that it creates balance between the national and state government and is also just one huge vote, instead of a million smaller votes. This also creates influence and power, which is very important because it gives the state power instead of individual power. One other strength is that it is constitutionally based and dismisses popular election. With those many strengths, there are also many weaknesses. One is only a few states get all the attention, preferably the larger states because if one can take 11 certain states, they win the election. Also, one state can change the entire election, which doesn't seem fair and only Maine and Nebraska can split votes which is not fair either. Seeing the the large number of pros and cons, my opinion is that we should keep, but modify the Electoral College. I believe that we should keep it because it's based on our original government document, the constitution. I think we should change that one state can switch around the entire election and also that only Maine and Nebraska can split votes. I think that if two states can split votes, other states should have that opportunity as well. I also think that getting 11 states and winning is unfair, that should be eliminated from the rules. This helps keep balance between the national and state governments, therefore it shouldn't be removed all together, just modified to make more people happier with it.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Liberty, The American Revolution part 2

Throughout the Revolution alliances made a huge impact on the success of the two sides. The British had the German's on their side from the beginning which made them stronger than they were before. The German's helped Britain with supplies, soldiers and any other important necessities they needed for the war. Unlike the British the American's did have the brilliant Benjamin Franklin, without him they would not have ended up with France as an alliance. With the French on their side it helped them reach the large number of the British army which was greater than 8000 plus 400 of the greatest Natives.

Natives had decided to take side of the British as well, because they had been trying to protect their land against the American's. The Natives not only knew the land very well, but they also knew the best places to hunt and hide. Having the Natives on their side gave the British even more of an advantage and caught the American's off guard.

At this point it seemed the British were leading the war, until a British woman, Jay Mcray was brutally murdered by an unknown suspect. These hostile actions were blamed on a Native. This action frightened the colonist's very much as it made them think about what the Natives would do to them. Therefore this pursued many American's to join the army to protect not only themselves, but their families.

The murdering of this women lead to the American army growing larger and larger, which was quiet unfortunate for the British. After the American's surprise attack on the British, they start to use their great number to their advantage since the British were out-numbered 2:1. Burgoyne had then began to panic and sent a frantic notice to General Howe in New York. Although Howe had taken Philadelphia, the American army began to get stronger and win more battles. There was many lost on both side after the win at Brandywine Creek as well. That was one of the British army's last wins over the American's for a while. At Freeman's Farm the American's won taking Burgoynes army hostage, this was only the beginning of the American armies success.

Liberty, The American Revolution

Before the war even started, it was quiet obvious that the American's had a tough battle ahead of them. England, being much more prepared and ready to fight than the American's have set off the largest sea bound attack in the 20th century. One soldier has said it's like all of London was approaching them with their 30,000 troops, 10,000 sailors, 300 supply ships, and 30 battle ships containing 1,200 cannon's. The British army has also recruited already trained German soldiers or in other words, the Hessian's for 7 pounds a head. At this point it did not look like the American's had much of a chance in this war.

On the opposing side, the American's George Washington the head general had only 1500 soldiers when the British had attacked Long Island. The British out-numbered them 2:1, therefore leaving the American soldier's with one choice, to flee for their lives as the British army nearly slaughter them. Round 1 of the war had then gone to the British. The American's have now crossed the Hudson River and Washington has realized that his troops are cowardly.

Battle after Battle just means defeat after defeat for the American's. Washington has asked congress for troops that are eligible to fight over and over again, yet they cannot give them to him. Left with cowardly troops Washington has to bring his knowledge to the fight if they want to survive and have any chances of winning. The number of soldiers is dwindling as the American's move on and General Howe has given Washington one more chance to surrender, although New Jersey has gone to the hands of the British Washington denies this offer.

The British army is the largest empire in the world, not only that, but they were also relentless. Washington is now in his own personal battle for survival along with the other troops as they suffer without food and blankets. The fate of the United States now rests in the hands of Washington and his 6,000 troops. Thomas Paine, a brilliant writer helps put hope behind the troops after he writes the "American Crisis" and all troops around America read it. Washington then uses his great knowledge and comes up with a brilliant, but very risky plan. Because he is going to be left with just about no army on December 31st, on the night of Christmas him and his troops have crossed the half-frozen Delaware River to set a sneak attack on the drunk and confused British. They make the almost impossible cross and their attack is successful as they kill commander Raul and take 1,200 troops prisoner. That was only the beginning of the American's success over the British.