EVERYONE is equal.

Essential Question: Why is it essential to acknowledge human value regardless of race?  How are the events in the Latin American Revolutions evidence of this social imperative?

The essential question is extremely important to think about because racism can have a huge impact on how we perceive people.  Just because someone has a different skin color or ethnicity, it does not mean that they are inferior.  Everyone was created equal and therefore everyone should be treated justly.  Racism has been a problem dating far back into our history and it's a shame that it is still a problem in the world today.  The class studied the impact of race on the Latin American revolutions for independence by analyzing summaries on each of the revolutions and by creating timelines to represent each revolution.

Timeline created for Gran Colombia Revolution:

The commonalities discussed in the jigsaw were that all of the countries had a primary goal of achieving independence, it was in the 1800's, and after declaring independence, the first rulers were not in power for very long.  Also, all of the revolutions were successful.  The differences were that the Brazilian Revolution was not very violent while the others were very violent.   Next, the Gran Colombian revolution for independence resulted in several independent countries while the others resulted in one.  Thinking back to the essential question, race was an issue in all three different routes to independence.  It was an issue in the Brazil revolution for independence because the ruler Pedro only appointed peninsulares to high government offices and the other people saw this as discriminatory against other groups so they began to oppose him.  In the Gran Colombian revolution for independence, the people were unhappy with how the peninsulares treated them so the races came together to fight off the common enemy.  Lastly, in the Mexico revolution for independence the Mexicans of Spanish descent were originally seen as inferior to pure Spaniards and the Mexicans of mixed or pure Indian blood would have lesser rights.  Racism was an issue in all three revolutions despite the different routes they each took to gain independence.  

Today, judgments are still made based on race in society all the time.  Especially in movies and TV shows, people with different ethnicity and skin color are constantly made fun of or looked down upon.  A real life example that happened not too long ago was in Cleveland when a police officer shot a 12 year old colored boy because he had a toy air-soft gun.  The cop made the inappropriate assumption that the boy was twenty years of age.  The article also stated that cops tend to look a black boys as less innocent.  This crime probably would have played out a lot differently if the boy carrying the toy gun was white.  The world really needs to take action and stop making judgments based on racism.  Racism has a serious impact on the way we perceive people and this is just one of the examples of a recent event.              

Andrew Jackson, Good or bad president?

Essential Question: Is Andrew Jackon's long-standing reputation as "the people's president" deserved?  Why?  Why not?

In the History of the presidents' of the United States, Andrew Jackson was remembered for being "the people's president".  This reputation does not make sense considering Andrew Jackson's actions towards the Native Americans.  He does not deserve to be remembered for being "the people's president" because that would mean that he was good to all of the people and did everything on their behalf.  Although that is quite impossible for a president to do, Jackson absolutely did not have to force the natives to move west away from their homes and into a territory where they were easy targets for other tribes in the west.  Jackson made them leave because he wanted to expand the United States.  This is the main reason why Andrew Jackson definitely does not deserve the long-standing reputation as "the people's president."  Here are the major events that occurred during Andrew Jackson's presidency briefly summarized:

 The spoils system was a practice where a political party after winning its elections, it gave the jobs to its supporters so they would keep supporting the party.  Andrew Jackson created the Spoils system and not everyone was a fan of it.  In fact, 919 officials were removed and therefore, the idea of loyalty being better than competence was popular.

Next, there was the event where the Indians were removed from there homes and sent to live in the west with the dangerous threat of the other tribes living there.  Since the white settlers were moving in on their land, and with the command of the president to leave, the Indians had no choice but to venture west.  The trip to the west took place in the harsh winter and 10,000 Cherokee Indians died on the trip.  Many of  the Indians along the way went their own path and the pack grew smaller and smaller.  All of this happened because Andrew Jackson wanted to extend the United states.

Lastly, the Bank War was a  major issue that occurred during the presidency of Andrew Jackson.  The bank was established by congress as a part of the American system.  It gave unfair treatment to the wealthy classes over the poor.  Jackson was strongly against the bank as an institution.  He wrote a letter to congress stating that the bank had too much power and that it was a threat to liberty and independence.  This was one of the good things that Jefferson did to help the unfair treatment of his people.

My group created this fun video describing the Bank War, enjoy!

Toussiant Louverture, a Leader to Remember!

        Ray Kroc once said, "The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves."  The leader and ruler of the western half of the large Caribbean island, Hispaniola, went by the name of Touissant Louverture.  Louverture was a former slave.  The western half of the island was called Saint Domingue but renamed to Haiti in 1804.  Saint Domingue was one of the richest colonies in the world while under French control.  It was producing 40 percent of the world's sugar, and more than half of the world's coffee in the 1780's.  Of course, the people behind all of this hard, successful work were 500,00 slaves.  Everything changed for the people of Saint Domingue when word of the French Revolution spread across the island in 1789.  Shortly after hearing the word, in 1793, Touissant assembled an army of slaves to fight the French.  Touissant ruled from then on and eventually in 1804, Haiti became an indeendent nation.  Touissant Louverture should be remembered for his roles of being a liberator of slaves, a military commander, and being the ruler of Saint Dominque.

         First, Touissant should be remembered for his most important role of being a liberator of slaves.   When he grew up, he was freed and strangely he had slaves of his own doing all sorts of work for him on the plantation.  This was how his life went on for sometime.  Then, in 1789, word spread across the island of the French Revolution and when the slaves heard, they became interested in revolting themselves with encouragement from Touissant.  The slaves achieved freedom for some time after they revolted.  However, in 1797, when the French Directory was looking to reinstate slavery, Touissant demonstrated his commitment to being a liberator a slaves in a letter he wrote to the French Directory.  He stated in the letter,"Could men who have once enjoyed the benefits of liberty look on calmly while it is taken from them!" (Document B).  Touissant argued in the letter that it was totally not fair for the men who had just gained freedom to have to lose it and become slaves again.  In the end of the letter he even set up a threat to the French to show that the slaves will put up a fight to preserve their freedom.  This shows Touissant's determination as the liberator of slaves to keep the slaves free forever.  Another example that shows how much Touissant cared about liberating the slaves is in the Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801.  Although the slaves were free, they still needed jobs to make a living and unfourtunately they were still working for the same bosses as when they were enslaved.  Touissant made sure that the Constitution stated that all men were equal and that the former slaves will get their pay and be treated like a big family who works on the plantation with the owner of the plantation being like the father.  Clearly Touissant's role as being a liberator of slaves is something he definitely should be remembered for.

         The second most important quality that Touissant should be remembered for is being a military commander.  In 1802, Napoleon sent troops to Saint Domingue in hopes of gaining control over the island again and reinstating slavery.  Touissant demonstrated his great military commanding skills by having every one abanon the towns and hide in the mountains to wait for the French to arrive.  The French had no idea what guerrilla war style so Touissant cleverly told his men to use that method of war to totally confuse and surprise the French.  Athough this example of Touissant's role as a military commander showcases greatness, there was also something he did as a military commander that indicated otherwise.  In 1801, the colored people were so fed up with being forced to work all day for the same cruel bosses as when they were slaves that they revolted and massacred whites from Fort Liberte.  When Toussaint heard of the revolt, he was so enraged that he ordered his men to fire at the colored people.  This shows that Touissant had a different harsh way of commanding the military.  Even though Touissant did things that were bad there were also a number of good things he did as a military commander and that is why his role of being a military commander is the second most important quality he should be remembered for.

         The third most important quality that Touissant should be remembered for is his role as being ruler of Saint Domingue.  Touissant did everything he could to keep order among the people of Saint Domingue.  Being a ruler, Touissant had to make extremely tough decisions to keep the people in order.  In the Procamation written in 1801, Toussaint stated," All male and feale citizens must obtain a security card.  Such card shall contain the family name, address... age and sex of the person who bears it."  This statement and rule was to ensure that everyone could be identified.  Another example that shows how good of a ruler Touissant was is in the Constitution of Saint Domingue.  This goes along with his role of being a liberator of slaves but it also has to do with his ruling.  Touissant made sure that all of the people he ruled over were treated equally and that there would be NO unfair treatment or slavery existing among them.  It is very important for rulers to ensure that all of the people will be treated fairly and Touissant did a great job in doing so.  Therefore, Touissant should be remembered for his role of ruling Saint Domingue.

        In conclusion, Touissant should be remembered for his roles of being a liberator of slaves, a military commander, and the ruler of Saint Domingue.  His role as being a liberator of slaves is most important because he did so many things to make sure there was an end to slavery.  Next, Touissant's role as being a military commander is important because he made a lot of good moves but also a few bad one's.  Lastly, his role of being the ruler of Saint Domingue is important to remember because he went out of his way to make sure the people were treated fairly and that there was order among them.  When looking back in the world's history, Touissant Louverture should definitely be remembered for the roles of being a liberator of slaves, a military commander, and the ruler of Saint Domingue!