Assignment Due 12-3

Woodrow Wilson

"The most corrupting thing in this country has been this self-same tariff.....The working men of America are not going to allow themselves to be deceived by a colossal bluff any longer. One of the corporations in the United States which has succeeded in mastering the laborer and saying to him, "You shall not organize; you shall not exercise your liberty of cooperating though we employ you are using the power of organization to the outmost point of absolute control"

I chose this passage because I found it very interesting that the issues of this time period is reflected in today's current political issues. The idea or working men and women being taxed had always been and in my opinion will always serve as a major political issue as long as it remains a requirement to be paid. Employers took advantage of their employees at the current time frame. Not allowing employees to take breaks, or even vacations. It was as if the larger corporations goals were to pay its employees as cheap as possible and get the most work from each employee. This is an issue we also see in today's times with larger corporations. Larger corporations want to make the highest profit possible. It is evident that employers.



The Great Depression in the United States

"What was truly novel about the New Deal, however, was the speed with which it accomplished what previously had taken generations. In fact, many of the reforms were hastily drawn and weakly administered; some actually contradicted others. And during the entire New Deal era, public criticism and debate were never interrupted or suspended; in fact, the New Deal brought to the individual citizen a sharp revival of interest in government."

I chose Thai particular passage because it exhibits the youth of the system of government and it implements how many people have tried to create a system if government that was successful in many aspects. It also provides a comparison of the government then and now and it shows that we are still in the same predicament. 







This picture represents the larger employers over working and "killing" their employees. This picture represents what is being discussed in class because this is why labor laws and other employee safety laws was implemented. The government intervened and seen that the working man was being over worked and in some cases it resulted in the loss of a life due to inadequate working situations.

Assignment Due 12-03

The Gettysburg Address (1863)

"With deportation, even to a limited extent, enhanced wages to white labor is mathematically certain. Labor is like any other commodity in the market---increase the demand for it, and you increase the price of it. Reduce the supply of black labor, by colonizing the black laborer out of the country, and by precisely so much, you increase the demand for, and wages of, white labor.

 
My Interpretation  

This particular portion of the Gettysburg Address highlights the idea that by deporting African Americans from this country is a guaranteed strategy that will result in enhancing wages for "whites". By empowering and influencing white labor the best way is to decrease the supply of black workers. If there are no black workers left to work the demand for white workers will increase tremendously. I chose this particular portion of the speech because I found it interesting that this was actually being appealed as an option. Instead as viewing both "white" and "black" workers as valuable and equally the only other result that was being promoted was getting rid of the black worker all together.

Assignment Due (11/19)

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

“We as a class, are tired of one kind of protection, that which leaves us everything to do, to dare, and to suffer, and strip us of all means for its accomplishment. We would not tax man to take care of us. No, The Great Father has endowed all his creations with the necessary powers for self-support, self-defense, and protection. We do not ask man to represent himself. So long as the mass of men spend most of their time on the fence, not knowing which way to jump, they are surely in no condition to tell us where we had better stand. In pity for man we would no longer hang like a mill-stone round his neck. Undo what man did for us In the dark ages, and strike out all special legislation for us; strike the words “white male” from all your constitutions and then, with fair sailing, let us sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish together”

What I believe Stanton is trying to say here is Women are tired as a whole being responsible for everything such as taking care of their husbands, their children, and working hard and not being recognized for it and not being respected for their feelings or opinions. God or the creator of all things has already embedded certain aspects with every person such as ability to gather certain necessities for self support, self-defense and protection. Men in comparison to women should not be allowed to control women because the majority of men lack a since of direction without the woman’s influence. The way this passage relates to the theme of the lecture is Stanton was addressing the people in order to bring about change for women. She was trying to not only resolve the issues of women being inferior to men but she was also helpful in abolishing slavery. I chose this passage because it shows both sides of what Stanton was standing up for, the rights of women and slaves.

Frederick Douglas

“He should place himself, as it were, in the position of the slave, and advocate those principles and measures which, judging from his stand-point, he would deem just and advisable. Now we hold that there is but one class of men and women in the land, who stand upon the slaves platform, and advocate the principles and measures which he would had the opportunity. Abolitionism in this country is a sort of heterogeneous compound. It is composed, too of certain elements the one for the other and the lack of homogeneousness must in some way be supplied before a perfect fusion, or commingling of the elements can be effected.”

I believe that Douglas is trying to say that slave owners should look at what is happening from the slaves point of view in hopes that there is a group of people that will stand up for slaves other than the slaves themselves. The process of abolishing slavery seems like nothing is working out. He compares it to a heterogeneous compound where in chemistry it is a compound that appears uniform but it is actually different at the microscopic level. Slavery seemed like a normal way of life but when you look deeply into how the slaves are being treated by their masters it is another story. This passage relates to the theme of the lecture because Douglas points out what is really going on during slavery and paints a picture in the readers mind that things does not look the way it seems. Slavery needed to come to an end and in order for that to happen a group of people other than the slaves has to support them. I chose this passage because it pointed out a good idea that everyone needed to come together in order for slavery to be abolished and it should not only be the slaves. 

Assignment Due 10-29

The Anti-Federalist paper I chose was #7.

“Of all the plagues that infest a nation, a civil war is the worst. Famine is severe, pestilence is dreadful; but in these, though men die, they die in peace. The father expires without the guilt of the son; and the son, if he survives, enjoys the inheritance of his father. Cities may be thinned, but they neither plundered nor burnt. But when a civil war is kindled, there is then forth no security of property nor protection from any law. Life and fortune become precarious. And all that is dear to men is at the discretion of profligate soldiery, doubly licentious on such an occasion. Cities are exhausted by heavy contributions, or sacked because they cannot answer exorbitant demand.”

My interpretation/What it means to me:

A civil war is considered to be one of the worse events that can happen to a nation. It is so bad even in comparison to a deadly plague a sickness that affects a great mass of people, a civil war is still considered worse. Men lose their lives in no regards to what they leave behind in hopes of fighting for a better future of what they left behind. Property during a civil war is not off limits. Anything can be destroyed during a civil war. People fight for a cause and will not stop until their demands are met under any circumstances. I would consider this passage as the highlight of the Paper. This passage means a lot in comparison to the entire paper. A civil war was considered to be so bad that when it’s compared to a plague a civil war is still worse. People fought for change in America and they fought any way that they knew how in hopes of creating a better tomorrow. This Passage highlights these facts. This passage also creates a picture of what a civil war was like. There was no area that was safe by security, or law during a civil war. People fought and stood up for what they believed in anywhere they decided to go.

Federalism:

The difference between horizontal and vertical federalism is the power that each types of federalism contains. Horizontal federalism can be viewed as placing limitations on power, and vertical delegates the direction of power. Vertical federalism provides services such as public and foreign policy while horizontal decides exactly who and how many people get to participate. 

Assignment Due 10-22-13

Madison 
"If a faction consists of less than a majority, relief is supplied by the republic principal, which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by regular vote. It may clog the administration, it may convulse the society; but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence under the forms of the Constitution. When a majority is included in a faction, the form of popular government, on the other hand, enables it to sacrifice to its ruling passion or interest both the public good and the rights of other citizens."

Faction is a small organized dissenting group within a larger one especially in politics. If  faction consist of less than the majority James Madison states that relief is supplied by the republican principle. Republican principle are principles that are incorporated by the government which helps to fight against tyranny for both the majority and the minority being represented. When the majority is accounted for in a faction the government functions as it normally would towards the interest of all of its citizens. I found this portion of James Madison's essay intriguing because he points out that the government will only support something when the majority of its people are agreeing upon the same ideas. The minority will always be left out and unrepresented.

Hamilton
"This is the melancholy situation to which we have been brought by those very maxims and councils which would now deter us from adopting the proposed Constitution; and which, not content with having conducted us to the brink of a precipice, seem resolved to plunge us into the abyss that awaits us below. Here my countrymen, impelled by every motive that ought to influence an enlightened people, let us ,ale a firm stand for our safety, our tranquillity, our dignity, our reputation. Let us at last break the fatal charm which has too long seduced us from the paths of felicity and prosperity."

The sadness and depression atmosphere is a result of the insufficnett American Confederation. They are detering us from the path that the American government is capable of being on and are hendering the American governemt of adopting the proposed Constitution. It is now time to take a stand, and fight for justice. Its time to empower one another amungst  ourselves and enlighten the people.  I found this portion of Hamilton essay interesting because the situation was not as bad as he made it out to be in his essay. He made it seem as though the American people needed to take a stand right away and as though the confederation was causing depression amongst the people however it was not the case.

Assignment #2

 

Assignment (Due 9/24): Choose a quote from Chesterton and write it out on your blog. Under that write your interpretation of what you think the author is trying to say. Then, after that write out your own explanation of the meaning of this passage and why you chose this specific quote.

 “The realities are quite another matter, and we shall consider in its place the question of whether the ideal will be able to shape the realities or will merely be beaten shapeless by them. The ideal is besieged by inequalities of the most towering and insane description in the industrial and economic field. It may be devoured by modern capitalism, perhaps the worst inequality that ever existed among men. Of all that we shall speak later. But citizenship is still the American ideal”

I came across this passage and thought it was an essential aspect to point out. Chesterton portrays the idea that America was founded based upon certain ideals that separated America from other parts of the world. It was built based upon the idea that America was this great place where no matter who you were as long as you were willing to work hard, you could make a great living, and start a brand new life but the reality of it Chesterton points out that we have to question ourselves weather if this ideal will shape reality in being successful or will it backfire and have reality overrule the ideal.

Chesterton differentiates between whats reality, and whats the projected ideal America was suppose to implement and become based upon, but he provides the notion that the ideal may not work for the greater good for all especially in  the field of economics. Chesterton states that the economic make up of America is being taken over by modern capitalism how ever despite these differences that causes inequalities citizenship still remain the true American ideal.