Early Democracy in the U.S.

Essential Question: How should we define democracy?  How democratic was the united states in the early 1800's?

      Democracy is defined as a system of government that arose in the United States in the early 1800's.  It is defined as a system of government in which the people have a say and they vote for the rulers and the laws.  To learn information about democracy in the U.S. in the 1800's, we began by looking at a painting which takes place in the center of town where all the people gather to vote.  In the picture, one of the men running to be leader is trying to get more votes by bribing people with booze.  Even though everyone supposedly has the right to vote in a democratic government, the women and colored people were not allowed to.  Therefore, to answer the second part of the essential question, the United States was not entirely democratic in the early 1800's, since not everyone was able to vote.  Also, since alcohol was a HUGE problem for the people of that time(it still is today), it made it a lot harder for the best man running for president to be actually elected since most of the people went for the man running that was bribing them with alcohol.  My groups thoughts on democracy are shown in the video we created.  Click the link and enjoy!      

Prison Reform

“…The great evil of our present Insane Asylum System lies in the fact, that insanity is there treated as a crime, instead of a misfortune, which is indeed a gross act of injustice…” —Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard, The Prisoner’s Hidden Life, p. iii.

Parsons Ware, Elizabeth Packard. Opinionated Wives, to the Asylum: The Case of Elizabeth Packard. http://www.ushistoryscene.com (January 12, 2015)

The author, Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard, was sent to live at an asylum for a very unjust reason, as were many of the other people that were admitted to asylums during the 19th century.  Packard was sent to the asylum because her husband, who was a minister, got angry when she disagreed with many of his teachings.  This shows that people were sent to asylums for extremely unnecessary reasons.  Packard wrote a novel called The Prisoner's Hidden Life, which described what really went on in the asylums and how unjust they were.  The source above was obtained from her story.  The source is believable because Elizabeth Parsons Ware Packard seemed to have been a normal 19th century woman for the most part because everyone is entitled to their own opinion and she wasn't afraid to stand up for what she believed in.  Therefore the source is trustworthy because she had no reason to lie about the way she felt toward asylums and the unjustness since she had personal experience with them.  During this time, there were other people who saw the cruelty of the asylums as well as Packard.  For instance, Dorothea Dix was a woman who lived during the 19th century and she visited many asylums and jails to investigate and observe the treatment of the people there.  She would then make reports to legislatures in hopes of improving the treatment of the people.  This shows that other people during this time also felt wrongly towards the asylums.  Although the source is limited to a small portion of the book it was obtained from, it still gives an overlook on what the rest of the story entails.  The author claims that it is evil for the insane people to be treated as though they have committed a crime for being who they are.  Although there is no reasoning to support Packard's statement in this source, the evidence of her having to live in an asylum for time is enough.  Packard was trying to convince people to stop treating the mentally insane as though they are bad people and to be treated fairly.  In conclusion, this source is very reliable when studying the prison reform.