...Kolchin’s claims of slavery being an unviable method. Whitney presents his reasons for inventing a machine to gin cotton in a letter written to his father in the same year, where he states that this machine ‘would be a great thing both to the Country and to the inventor… It makes the labor fifty times less, without throwing any class of people out of business.’ This letter shows Whitney’s intent for helping to create a better and more efficient economy through his invention, which would decrease the amount of effort and labour need to pick, separate and clean cotton before sending it to cotton mills then to overseas trading. However, by stating that his invention would not put ‘any class’ out of work presents Whitney’s belief that slavery is a viable method of producing cotton and that making the Cotton Gin was by no means a replacement for slave labour but an extension of it....
Words: 559 - Pages: 3
..."As much as Americans like to think that we invented democracy, liberty, and freedom in the modern world, the reality is that almost every good idea of the founding period was stolen from European, and especially British, sources. Thus, America's founding ideas are really just the ideas of the English 'country party' put into action in British colonies. This is an achievement, to be sure, but it is in no way an especially or exceptional American achievement." There are many sources of influence for America’s ideals of liberty, freedom, and democracy in the modern world. Such as Democracy of ancient Greece, The Republic of ancient Rome, and the writings of Baron de Montesquieu. Many of these sources are distinctly English such as English common law, The Magna Carta. In regards to the specific comment above we look at the ‘Country Party’ and ‘The Cota Letters’. As an American I would like to think that our founding fathers’ have created something new and completely unique in t our country, however my readings have lead me to the understanding that the founding fathers had several sources of inspiration as to how to form and what kind of government to form in these states, united. The “Country Party” as mentioned in the quote above, is of particular importance to the ideas of Democracy, liberty, and freedom. The Country Party was especially inspired by political theorist, writer and philosopher Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke. Bolingbroke’s ideology was that of opposing...
Words: 1060 - Pages: 5
...poems, novels, essays drama and other American works from America’s best writers. According to Hewitt (p.4), during its initial history, the US was a British colony especially on the east-coast of the present US. In reference to Hewitt (p.6), therefore, its literary traditions borrow heavily from the British. Nevertheless, its distinct features and the depth of its production make it to be viewed as its own entity. In reference to Hewitt (p.60), who American was and what America had become was the dominant theme of literature as the first outlines of modern American life took shape. Earliest forms of American Literature In reference to Selcer (p.52), many American authors turned to letter writing as an idealized genre through which to consider through the challenges of American democracy. According to Selcer (p.51), by examining the literature of slavery and race before the civil war many authors demonstrate how the slavery crisis became a crisis of philosophy that exposed the breakdown of national consensus. According to Hewitt (p.45), in contemporary early American literature, poetry novel, essays,...
Words: 1391 - Pages: 6
...The Willie Lynch letter was a speech delivered by Willie Lynch will the purpose of teaching slave owners like himself, methods of enslavement. The letter emphasize, if done correctly slavery will endure for a minimum of 300 years, which is the year of 2012. Three centuries has passed, and the letter still affected in our society today. The letter is demonstrated through systemic racism, which is structured racism into our social and political institutions, which is executed deliberately in contradiction of cultural groups. Similarly, the letter objective was to create internalized racism, where two individuals from the same background have hatred towards one another. The methods used centuries ago were to keep us living in a white male predominance society, in which they are depicted as the superior. One of the methods that systemic racism is manifest is by the implantation of drugs in the urban communities. The implantation of drugs in the urban communities typically results in the incarceration of a black descent male due to the tracking of drugs or the usage of drugs to execute themselves. The high level of government surveillance in the cities are for the solely purpose to...
Words: 799 - Pages: 4
...the etiquette and ideological platforms of both sides proved to be The old world charm of the South was encapsulated by John Mosby and his revenge against a Union trooper killing a young child in front of the child’s mother. Mosby exclaimed that revenge was not a primary, or even a secondary motivation. He honestly believed that he had to kill in order to stop the killing (Civil War Times, 31). This etiquette and honor displayed during the bloodshed was in contradistinction to the crass and needless killing committed by the Union soldier. This shows how oftentimes ideologies can mask the deeper, truer feelings and sentiments of people. The Union exhibited regard for the abolition of slavery and expanded human rights, to a degree, however The Confederacy’s ideological platform was viewed as rigid and hateful though the actions of Mosby show that they exhibited warmth, pride and humanitarian principles on a personal level. Abraham Lincoln’s general, George McLellan,...
Words: 3276 - Pages: 14
...Abraham Lincoln praised himself in American history by the role that he played in abolishing the institution of slavery, but he arrived at this distinction only after a long career of opposition to abolitionism. This at first seems paradoxical, for he had always actively disliked slavery, and he came into national prominence as a politician by strenuously opposing its extension into the territories. However, in the 1850s, with the breakup of the Whig Party, Lincoln parted ways with some of his oldest political associates by deciding to make common cause with anti-slavery activists in the newly formed Republican Party. Lincoln was always aware that slavery, though morally wrong in his eyes, was allowed by law, and he acknowledged that the rights of slave owners, both to retain their slaves and to have fugitive slaves returned, were clearly guaranteed in the Constitution. Before the outbreak of civil war, he advocated nothing that would directly challenge those rights. This position sharply distinguished him from abolitionists, many of who were actively involved in supporting runaway slaves, and all of whom viewed the returning of fugitive slaves as unconscionable, whatever the Constitution might dictate. The most radical abolitionists openly condemned the Constitution for its protection of slavery and rejected its authority. Lincoln never put his hatred for slavery ahead of his allegiance to the Constitution. He admitted privately that he hated to see slaves “hunted down, and...
Words: 1127 - Pages: 5
...injustices. Thoreau wrote his essay “Civil Disobedience” to express his views on the role of government. Thoreau also expressed his ideas about what men should do to stand up to a government that sought to suppress its citizens. King started reading Thoreau during his school years and adopted his non-violent ways of protest. He molded his actions around Thoreau’s essay and fought for equal rights for the African American community. Both authors sought peaceful means to protest against things they deemed social injustices. In Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and King’s “Letters from a Birmingham Jail” they present the problems with current societies and a peaceful way to bring those problems to the forefront. Thoreau and King both show their selflessness when they sacrificed their personal freedom for an issue. Thoreau was thrown in jail for not paying a poll tax. He refused to pay the tax because; he did not support slavery and the Mexican America war. Although Thoreau’s views in “Civil Disobedience” were his own and he was not trying to push them on anyone, they obviously had a profound impact on Martin Luther King. Writer Michael Mink of Investors Business Daily said this about King, “He was fascinated by the idea of refusing to cooperate with an evil system, he was so deeply moved that he reread the work several times. King became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good” (Pa 1). King was inspired by Thoreau and wanted...
Words: 928 - Pages: 4
...McPherson thoroughly examines the ongoing question of why the North and South fought, and their reasons behind the mindset of blue and grey men – whether their motives be different or not. With this in mind, McPherson then moves on to address the severed feeling of patriotism then finally in chapter three, accords the conclusion of the brutal contest over slavery. Finally, a comparison between an interviewed veteran of the modern day will be used in contrast to the mindset of soldiers during the Civil War. “It is better to spend our all in defending our country than to be subjugated and have it taken away from us.,” (12) says a historical document according to McPherson. This belief that the Southerners, “prefer...
Words: 862 - Pages: 4
...Project: Romans: Romans is a letter from Paul to the church of Rome. Paul had not ever been tovisit this church but had met some of the members in his travels. I tells of his plan to visit the church. He wrote this letter durning his third missionary trip in 57 A.D. In this letter he explains that God’s sa,vation plan is for everyone, Jews and Gentiles. Belief and acceptance in Jesus and his sacrifice is the only requirement for salvation. All now have the same access to Jesus, the messiah. Paul filled the letter with directives to handle many things like daily living for Christ. He covered righteousness in Jesus, justification, sanctification, spiritual growth and God’s sovernghty over all people, not just the Jews. He writes to explain that Jesus Christ is the savior and redeemer whose death on the cross made it possible for all of that. In the very beginning of the book Paul identifies himself as a servant or slave to Jesus and that Jesus Called him to be his apostle and set him apart for this purpose. (Romans 1:1) He later explains in The second chapter Paul explains how all, Jews and Gentiles are under the chains of sin and only Jesus can set us free through our faith in his ability to set us free. In chapter six he explains that because of Christ’s freedom from sin that we now must become slaves to God’s purpose for our lives. In this we make ourselves a sacrifice that lives out the death everyday to our selfish nature and the former slavery to our old life in sin....
Words: 810 - Pages: 4
...plays, poetry, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works, producing 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books. In these works, he was known to be trenchant towards intolerance, religious doctrine and the French institutions of his day. LIFE The youngest of five, in which only 3 survived, François Arouet became a notary who was a minor treasury official, his wife, Marie Marguerite d’Aumart, came from a noble family in the province of Poitou. Voltaire received his education at the Collège Louis-le-Grand in 1704-1711 where he learned Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and English—becoming fluent in all five languages. In the time Voltaire left school, he came to the conclusion that becoming a writer is what he wanted, which was against the wishes of his father who wanted him to become a notary. Despite his father’s will, he spent most of his time writing poetry—when his father discovered this, he sent Voltaire to school to study law in Caen, or Normandy. Regardless, he continued with his passion of writing: constructing essays and historical studies. Voltaire had trouble with the authorities for even mild critiques of the government and religious bigotry. These activities were to result in numerous imprisonments and exiles. “VOLTAIRE” THE NAME François adopted his pen name, Voltaire, in 1718, it’s an anagram of Arovet Li, a translation of his surname, Arouet, and the initial letters of le jeune which means the younger. The...
Words: 1430 - Pages: 6
...educational reform movement often referred to as Renaissance humanism. This American nationalism focused on the expression of modernism, technology, and academic classicism. Renaissance technological advancements include wire cables supporting the Brooklyn Bridge in the State of New York, along with cultural advancements found in the Prairie School houses, Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in architecture and sculpture. The political heir of American nationalism evolved with the Gilded Age and New Imperialism school of thought. The American Renaissance produced major influential literary works from some of the most brilliant minds in U.S. history, including Ralph Waldo Emerson's the "Representative Man (1850)", Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlett Letter (1850)" and "The House of Seven Gables (1851)," Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick," Henry David Thoreau's "Walden (1854)," and Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass (1855)." American Renaissance Literary Masterpieces The American Renaissance, a literary and cultural period circa extending from 1820 to the mid-1860s, gained inspiration from the unresolved issues of the American Revolution. The American Renaissance literary style was coined as "Romanticism," an international philosophical movement that redefined the perceptions of Western cultures, and seldom refers to the preconceived notions of love. Some important authors arising out of this era include: James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Jacobs, Emily Dickinson, Ralph Waldo...
Words: 1178 - Pages: 5
...living in a democratic, free society today. In The Union War, Gallagher “offers a companion volume that extends his manifesto against hindsight, what Gallagher calls the ‘Appomattox syndrome,’ to histories of the Union” (Gallagher, 79). According to Gallagher, researchers who work backward from emancipation and Reconstruction have expanded northern devotion to race, slavery, and abolition while complicating loyal Americans’ major war aim, the Union. The above quote stated by Gary Gallagher is one of the main causes as to why the North won the Civil War because with the joining of citizens who wanted to fight for their democratic government, it gave the Union more soldiers that wanted to fight than the Confederates. They won the Civil War simply because they had more people. The North won the Civil War they were on the right side of human ethical issues. They had their best interest in helping the morals of humans and this alone helps citizens be able to trust the Union’s tendencies and this can also make a citizen loyal. The North clearly had more men to fight for them and there were more people that wanted to end slavery, consisting of slaves themselves. The North managed to enlist many people for the war. Superior leadership is often seen as the main reason for Union victory. Yet, in many respects, the Confederacy was well led. While President Lincoln’s dominance to Jefferson Davis might seem self-evident, Lee could think of no one in the South who could have done a better job than...
Words: 3526 - Pages: 15
...this country from when they were slaves until modern day America. An Installation Artist by the name of Kara Walker has tried to document these changes in her artwork, which will be seen later on throughout the piece. Something unlike the images that you have seen to describe African-American culture through the years, her images contain a sense of brutally honest ethnically charged art that is famous worldwide. Kara Walker...
Words: 1006 - Pages: 5
...focuses on a key moment in American history to ask readers to reassess the definition of “civilisation”, freedom, justice and social responsibility. Published in 1884, the novel relates to the pre-civil war years when the controversy over slavery corrupted America. Twain set his novel in 1860 prior to the abolition of slavery in order to criticise racist attitudes and uses the Mississippi River as the centre point of his novel. It symbolises the route toward freedom and escape for Huck and Jim providing the setting for the growth of both a young boy and a country struggling to understand definitions of freedom, individualism and civilisation. Salinger, however, uses his protagonist Holden to explore the materialistic, conformist society he saw developing after WW2. The first extract I chose is from chapter 22 of Catcher in the Rye where Phoebe accuses Holden of hating everything and everyone. Holden reveals here his fantasy of becoming ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ protecting children from falling into the adult world. This links with chapter 31 of Huckleberry Finn where Huck decides to write a letter to Tom Sawyer to tell Miss Watson where Jim is. He soon realises that Miss Watson would sell Jim either way. He resolves to “steal Jim out of slavery.” The theme of rejection is evident in both extracts because Huck rejects conforming to the values of a society filled with hatred a racism and Holden rejects adulthood and conforming to a ‘phony’ society. This leads to both protagonists...
Words: 1956 - Pages: 8
...Charles Alston Birth and Death Charles Alston was born November 18, 1907 and he died on April 27, 1977. He was born in Charlotte, North Carolina {which was segregated in his time]. He was 69 when he died. He died of cancer. Childhood Charles Alston’s nickname spinky when he growing up and sometimes he would get teased for it. His father Rev. Primus Priss Alston was born into slavery and went to divinity school right after emancipation; he died when Charles was only three. His mother married Harry Pierce Bearden, an uncle of artist Romare Bearden {who later became one of Charles’s students}. He was the youngest of the 5 Alston children, but he was the one who showed artistic ability at a young age, making sculptures of red clay found all over North Carolina. His family finally moved to New York in 1913. Education Alston went to New York’s DeWitt Clinton High school; there he realized he had artistic talents by winning a school art prize. When he graduated from high school he became encouraged to study art, so he enrolled at Columbia University New York, Alston graduated in 1929. During his student years he was influenced by Alaine Cock who told black artists to express the African-American experience. He stated at Columbia for graduate work until 1931. Career Alston then met the Mexican Mural School including Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco...
Words: 373 - Pages: 2
