Blog 9: Civil Rights

The President’s Stance: Two-Way Street

            Kennedy says he encouraged people to hold demonstrations if they are unhappy with something, but he wants to make sure that the demonstrations are peaceful.  He also states that people and government need to do something to help fix the reasons that people feel that they need to demonstrate in the first place.

The President’s Stance: 180 Million People

            180 million people elected Kennedy and much of the government officials to take care of the problem that is being demonstrated about.  The problem is not just on the day of the march, but is every day.  Kennedy wants people that are concerned to come to Washington and meet or see their congressmen.

The President’s Stance: Essential Matters

            Kennedy says that the government’s stance on civil rights may indeed be harming his political prestige, but he believes that whoever is president should do what they can to protect the rights of every citizen.

After watching these three video clips of Kennedy, I have become fond of his leadership.  It seemed that Kennedy wanted what was best for the citizens of the United States and not what was best for him, as I think a majority of government officials today do what is best for themselves instead of the people.  Kennedy fully accepted the right of citizens to protest peacefully, instead of being worried or ignoring the people.  Kennedy knew he had to do what was right for everyone even if that meant that he lost prestige, he also thought that is what any president would do if and when they are faced with this issue or a similar one.

Abraham Lincoln's Beard

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most well-known presidents to date. When you think of Abraham Lincoln, you probably picture him with a beard, but why did he have a beard and how did that beard affect his presidency?  Lincoln may have been influenced to grow his beard from an unlikely source, an eleven year old girl from New York named Grace Bedell.  The letter from Grace to Lincoln can be seen below along with the transcript of the letter for easier reading.

Letter from Grace Bedell to Abraham Lincoln

 Transcript of the letter from Grace Bedell:

N Y

Westfield Chatauque Co
Oct 15. 1860

Hon A B Lincoln
Dear Sir

My father has just home from the fair and brought home your picture and Mr. Hamlin's. I am a little girl only eleven years old, but want you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you wont think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter. I have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you any way and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you   you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband's to vote for you and then you would be President. My father is a going to vote for you and if I was a man I would vote for you to but I will try and get every one to vote for you that I can   I think that rail fence around your picture makes it look very pretty   I have got a little baby sister she is nine weeks old and is just as cunning as can be. When you direct your letter dir[e]ct to Grace Bedell Westfield Chatauque County New York

I must not write any more   answer this letter right off
Good bye
Grace Bedell

As can be seen in the underlined portion of the letter, Grace, although only being eleven, thinks that a beard would make Lincoln’s face look less thin and at the same time she says that many women like whiskers.  Both of these combined, Grace believes will help Lincoln become president.  Lincoln's reply to Grace’s letter follows:

Transcript for Lincoln’s response to Grace:

October 19, 1860
Springfield, Illinois
Miss. Grace Bedell
My dear little Miss.
Your very agreeable letter of the 15th. is received.
I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughters. I have three sons -- one seventeen, one nine, and one seven, years of age. They, with their mother, constitute my whole family.
As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now? Your very sincere well-wisher
A. Lincoln

            Lincoln’s response shows that Lincoln may be a little weary of growing a beard on account to never having one and that changing his appearing in the middle of running for president may be looked upon weirdly by the people of the United States.  Lincoln did take the time to greet Grace Bedell in person while on his inaugural journey. This letter may or may not have had a great influence on his growth of whiskers, but Grace was not the only person to observe that Lincoln’s face had characteristics that were not always favorable, such as having a skinny face.  Following is two picture of Lincoln, the first being the last beardless photo of Lincoln, the second being a photo of Lincoln ten days before he met Grace Bedell in person.  You can see that the beard does help to make Lincoln’s face look more “full".

On May 19^th, 1860, reporters and artists flocked around Lincoln.  During this time, seventeen new photographs were produced of Lincoln.  The artists soon found out that there was not much that they could do to improve Lincoln’s appearance.  A group of New York Republicans even stated that Lincoln “would be much improved in appearance, provided you would cultivate whiskers and wear standing collars.”  The Charleston Mercury (a newspaper) was appalled to find that Lincoln was “a horrid-looking wretch… sooty and scroundrelly in aspect; a cross between the nutmeg dealer, the horse-swapper, and the night man.” Another observation of Lincoln from a Georgian described him as

“His cheekbones were high and his visage was rough,

Like a middling of bacon, all wrinkled and tough;

His nose was as long and as ugly and big

As the snout of a half-starved Illinois pig;

He was long in the legs and long in the face,

A Longfellow born of a long-legged race….” (Guelzo 246-247).


             Lincoln was probably not just influenced by Grace Bedell’s letter, but by many people, from many areas of society and of many ages. Knowledge of Lincoln’s appearance did not just affect the people of the United States. Photos and paintings of Lincoln that were to be sent overseas were edited to change his appearance. An English engraver, D. J. Pound, who was producing an image of Lincoln for the British public, gave Lincoln an aristocratic appearance. He gave Lincoln rosy cheeks, softened the harsh lines in his face, and abbreviated his mouth (Carwardine 48). 

             Once foreign (French) artists heard of Lincoln’s new beard, they were eager to use the new images of Lincoln over the older beardless ones (Boritt 164). Artists also started superimposing beards onto prints of Lincoln after news of his beard was heard because images did not exist yet (Borrit 63).

            Lincoln’s appearance surely had an effect on his presidency because many people did not like his original beardless appearance.  The beard covered up much of his facial flaws which may have increased people’s liking of Lincoln.

Blog 8: World War I

Harry Lamin, born in England, joined the military to fight in World War 1 in 1917 at age 29.  Harry married Ethel in 1914 and had two sons, one in 1916 named Willie, the other Arthur who died as an infant.  These were just before he joined the war.  He wrote and received letters during his deployment where he talks about what is happening in his life and asks the recipients what is in theirs.

            The conditions that Harry lived through during his time in World War I was remarkably treacherous.  It seems as if so many of his fellow soldiers were dying around him and Harry did not seem like it affected him as much as one would expect.  You would think that if you saw a scene like the one below that you would be hysterical or something similar, but as the caption to the picture says “… Many soldiers developed a defensive callousness after seeing such sights frequently,  and blotted these images out of their conscious minds forever” (A World War I Photo Essay).  This would make sense on how Harry was able to talk about the loss of life around him while making it seem like it is nothing at all.

            Harry’s letters to his family shows a lot about him.  In nearly every letter he either says he hopes that the person is doing well or says that his is glad that they are doing well.  I think this shows that he cared much about his family.  In some of the letters he does “small talk” for example about how Willie likes the mug he got, which is spoken of in a few letters.  This may have been used to take his mind of the war and to think about stuff he would if he was home.  Many times Harry talks about how they have to live, such as the amount of food they get.  He says that they receive very little rations, but that it does not really mind him.  He also speaks about how other people get medals, but he has not, and may not, but he is fine with that also.  I wonder if he said he was fine with the amount of food he received to make his family feel better so they did not worry as much about him or if he truly did not mind the small rations.

Sources:

"A World War I Photo Essay." A World War I Photo Essay. Department of English, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014.

Blog 7: Wealthy Industrialist

               As a wealthy industrialist of the late nineteenth century I hire many immigrants to work in my factory.  I pay them as little as possible and require them to work long hours and most days of the week.  Some of the workers say they should get paid more for less hours, but that would cost me more money and I would not be able to compete with my competitors.  I also sustain their lives and the workers should be thanking me for giving them jobs.  The reason that many immigrants are in poverty is because they do not work hard enough or never came up with a great idea like me to make a lot of money in such a booming marketplace. 

Blog 6: Manifest Destiny

I believe manifest destiny is saying that we Americans are bound to conquer all the land west of the Mississippi all the way to the Pacific Ocean.  We need to spread our economy and political system to the rest of "our" territory, no matter what stands in our way.  My family will be able to explore the western lands and acquire free land.  We will be able to grow our family and prosper, of course after we make the long trip. 

I think that the newly settled territories in the west should do away with slavery and have free labor.  Free labor brings about more prosperity, more equality, and more independence.  Even though without slavery, there is more white class distinctions, that is mainly due to individuals inability or unwillingness to work as hard as other people (the richer).  I would argue against slavery further by saying that it removes the risks of slave rebellion and increases available jobs for our growing nation.  This means that my children and their children will always have jobs in farming or industry because slaves will no be in those positions.

Blog 5: Anti-Federalists

                As an anti-federalists, we believe that the constitution will give too much power to a central government.  With this power, the central government may try to take away the states’ powers or interfere with individual’s liberties.  We also think that since the central government will be relatively far away from much of the population, it could easily become corrupt.  The only connection that we would have was one representative for every thirty thousand people, which was a much greater proportion than with the current state confederation.  That one representative could never know the wants and needs of that many people.  With this representative so far away from the people he represented, it would be tough for him to actually know what is going on in the place that he represents.  This is unlike the current situation where the representatives only have to travel short distances and are with his “subjects” often.  We anti-federalists are most fearful of losing state power and personal liberty to a more powerful central government.

Blog 4: Stamp Act Project

Stamp Act Project

Read this background information about the Stamp Act (secondary source): http://investigatinghistory.ashp.cuny.edu/m2a.html

1)     Why did the British believe it was necessary to tax the colonists?

2)     What legal rights did colonists believe were being violated through the British government’s program of taxation?

3)     How did the colonists protest these taxes? 

        The British needed income to pay back war debts from the French and Indian War and mainland Britain already had high taxes.  They also wanted to tax products that were not British to raise their prices so colonists would be more likely to buy cheaper British products.  The new Sugar Act changed people’s trials to have a paid British Justice instead of a local “peer” jury.  The British had also never taxed the colonies and they thought that they should be exempt from taxes.  The colonists made petitions, distributed pamphlets to the public about the taxes, and boycotted the taxes by not buying the goods that were taxed. 

Now read excerpts of the Stamp Act: http://investigatinghistory.ashp.cuny.edu/m2b.html

(primary source)

4)     What was the Stamp Act and what was taxed? 

The stamp act was a tax imposed on the American colonies that was meant to help offset the cost of positioning British troops in the colonies for protection.  The stamp act required the taxation of most printed goods and papers (ex. newspapers, diplomas, cards, wills, etc).

http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/makingrev/crisis/text3/stampactresponse1765.pdf  (primary source)

Read page 5 which is an excerpt of Benjamin Franklin’s testimony before the British Parliament about the Stamp Act: 

5)     What is Franklin’s explanation for the Americans’ resistance to the Stamp Act tax?  (Explain the difference between an external and an internal tax, according to Franklin.)

6)     What is the overall message Franklin conveys to Parliament?  

           Franklin, and most everyone else in the colonies, believed that the British could not internally tax the colonies because the colonies did not have representation in Parliament.  The colonies accept the external tax that is laid on them by the British because that is an import tax that is added the products coming into the colonies, and if they think that it makes the product’s price to high, they can just not buy it.  An internal tax however is very different.  An internal tax taxes the trades that occur in-between colonist without goods entering the colonies.  Franklin’s overall message to Parliament is this.  The people greatly disagree with the Stamp Act and if it is not repealed, they will be willing to fight for their freedom to tax themselves and not by someone else.

Read page 8 (primary source)

7)     What is this source? (Provide the name of the source, give the date and report the type of source it is.) 

8)     Provide the dates and describe the five (5) incidents this source reports.

9)     How did common, everyday people seem to be affected by the Stamp Act? 

            The Public Protests Against the Stamp Act: North Carolina article was part of North Carolina’s newspaper, North Carolina Gazette.  The article was published on November 20^, 1765 and is a primary source on the Stamp Act.  The article entails the following instances of protests.  On October 19^th, five hundred people hung a statue of a man that was in favor of the Stamp Act and they then burnt the statue with tar barrels that were lit on fire.  On October 31^st, a group of people put an effigy of liberty into a casket and was about to bury it, but they then marched it back to the bonfire, set it in a chair, and rejoiced that liberty still existed in the colonies.  November 16^th brought about another protest.  When a distributer of stamps entered into a town, a crowd of people surrounded him and made him sign a resignation so he would not disperse stamps anymore.  Later that night, the only people that were on the streets had the word LIBERTY on their hats.  They cheered for liberty while drinking around a bonfire.  In Newborn, an effigy was made of Doctor William Houston.  They put it on trial, condemned it, and then hung it and burnt the effigy.

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Read page 10  (primary source)

10)  Who is the author of this source and who do you think his intended audience is?

11)  Describe two incidents that the author relates.

12)  What is the perspective of this author?

                Peter Oliver was a British loyalist (colonist still loyal the Britain) that feared for his safety.  I think the document was aimed toward the British people to help them understand what was happening in the colonies.  Oliver relates to an instance where a seventy year old clergy man in Boston told the people to “Fight up to your Knees in Blood.”  Another instance he states is when the secretary of the province (the Stamp Master) was brought to the Tree of Liberty and his house was damaged.  He was forced to resign from his office or face death by the colonists. 

Read pages 13 & 14  (primary source)

13)  Who do the colonial assemblies seem to be targeting as their audience for their “resolutions and boycotts.” 

14)  Provide an overview of what the colonial assemblies are stating in these documents.

           

               The colonial assemblies were targeting the British government by stating what they believe and their rights in formal documents.  All the colonies are stating that they have the same rights as British citizens, meaning that they can only be taxed by themselves or by representing officials and not by a government where they do not have representation. 

Read page 16 (primary source to us, secondary source when written)

15)   In what ways does this source (even today) serve as a secondary source?  Give an example.

16)   In what way does it serve as a primary source? 

           I think this source is a primary source to us because it was written from a person who lived during the time that the Stamp Act was active.  It was a secondary source to the people of his time because he was compiling information that others had already written about.

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17) Individual Question:  After conducting your analysis of the Stamp Act, what is the new information you learned about the issuance of the Stamp Act, the colonists’ and Loyalists’ response to it.  Did reading primary sources change or broaden your perspective on this time period?  If so, describe that change.    (Write 200-300 words.) 

               This project widened my knowledge of the Stamp Act greatly.  I knew the general information about the Stamp act, but reading many primary sources and secondary sources on the subject has increased my knowledge of it.  The detailed protests included in this reading was a great way to understand how strongly the colonists resented the Stamp Act and anyone who favored it.  I learned that Ben Franklin went in front of Parliament to voice the opinion of the colonies against the Stamp Act and even warned them that the colonist would most likely fight for their freedom from internal taxation.  The whole time I was reading this part I was thinking how amazing Franklin knew the colonies and how that helped him predict the future if things did not change.  It was also nice to read about this time period from the point of view of a British loyalist.  We are able to see how they perceived the situation compared to that of the colonists.  I also learned that most colonist wanted to be a British colony if they received the freedom that they believed they were entitled to and that they would have probably stayed with the British if it were not for the internal taxes.