Women's Rights Movement

“Human rights are women’s rights, and women’s rights are human rights.” - Hillary Clinton.  In the 1800s, women did not have the same rights as men. They had a specific role that they were to follow. The men in their community had complete control over them, and the women were supposed to follow the characteristics of the “perfect” woman.

According to the Lavender article, the four characteristics of an ideal woman of the 1800s include piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity. Piety allows a woman to have complete devotion to her faith. Religion was thought to be a good quality in women. Purity allows a woman to be free of all her sins. A woman's greatest treasure is her virginity. If she was not pure, she would be punished by God and not allowed to be associated with any other woman. Submissiveness was the most feminine virtue. It says that every woman, if they wanted to be perfect, should devote to God, her man, and their role in the society. The last characteristic of an ideal woman was domesticity. All women were expected to stay in their house and do things around the home for the well being of her family, most importantly, her husband.

Domesticity can relate to the private sphere and the public sphere. The private sphere is the world inside the home, mostly made for a woman. The public sphere was the world outside the home, mostly made for men. Women did everything in the house. In the outside world, a man did whatever he needed to do to be successful and support his family. The Cult of Domesticity took a closer look at this. They made sure that women of the middle class knew their role was in the home, and only in the home. They were not to get involved with the public sphere what so ever. A woman’s role was to care and comfort her children and husband, and to work around the home.

The Seneca Falls Convention took place in July of 1848, and it was the first women’s rights convention. It was organized by those who were involved in the temperance movement, specifically women but men were also involved. It was designed to point out the unfair treatment of women and give them more rights to they were almost equal to men. The document created at the Seneca Falls Convention in July was called the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. It was created by both men and women. Here, they bring up resolutions to the issue with women’s rights. The wording and format in both documents are extremely identical. The Declaration of Independence was presented in July of 1775, and 73 years later, the declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions was presented in July of 1848.

Women’s suffrage was also talked about in this convention.  This topic dealt with woman and the right to vote and many people said it was controversial.  Some people said that although women wanted the right to vote, it was not an essential right. The other rights, such as the right to own property, and freedom of speech, were considered to be more important that voting rights. The trail taken to get voting rights to a long time because of the disagreement of the importance of the right. If something happened last minute and they decided not to be in favor of it, the other rights would not be lost.

Men and women were at the convention, but some people were left out and their voices were unheard. People who were African American and Native American, (especially native women) include those who were left out. In our history class, we made resolutions for women of different ethnicity and economic class. As the groups presented, we found that most groups, even though the women were different, had the same goals, while there were goals that people had that were different from the rest. As an example, my group was the Cherokee women and we decided that a woman should be able to own land without it under her husbands name. They should be equal. In the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, this was one of the resolutions created. Since this resolution was made in class, and it appears in such an important part of history, it must be important.

Out of all the resolutions we discussed, I think the most important is men and women being equal. In our society today, women aren’t fully as equal as a man is. We certainly have made progress since 1848, but we still have a while to go. Men and women can both file for a divorce and vote, unlike it was in the 1800s. Sometimes in todays society, a woman may get a lower wage than a man does, and they may not be able to get certain jobs. Men believe that whatever they do, it is done better than a woman could do it. Some people say that since a man runs the country, that men are better than women. Religions possibly unconsciously, say that men are better than women. Only a man can be a catholic priest, women have no rights to become a leader of a catholic church.

It is good to know that the Seneca Falls Convention and the Women’s Rights Movement has changed 2015 so much from the 1800s. It is important that a woman can do just about anything a man can do, just ten times better.

Monroe Doctrine in Today's World

In the world we live in today, many problems occur daily. Sometimes, countries get involved with the problems to help try to solve them. People want peace and they will do anything they can to get the problems to come to an end. In James Monroe’s “Monroe Doctrine”, three lasting concepts were produced. One of those concepts was separating spheres of influence, meaning stay in your own region. The next was non-colonization in the Western Hemisphere, meaning that the US will not dominate or rule over other countries. The last concept was non-intervention , meaning that the US will not interfere unless they are affected directly. The three principles in the Monroe Doctrine can relate to the United States foreign policy.

Foreignpolicy.com posted an article about US and Iran’s nuclear discussion titled, “U.S. and Iran Put More Time on the Clock in Nuclear Talks.” The United States and Iran have been talking for a long time about Iran’s nuclear problem. They have yet to come to an agreement on what to do, and they have missed the most recent deadline. The two countries have come to an agreement to talk about the nuclear problem until June, and make a final decision then. John Kerry tells the press that the people have made substantial progress in Vienna over the last few days and that they have big goals for the months to come. Iran’s economy, once the negotiating comes to an end, will see much needed relief and they will now have an opportunity to make relations with the West. On the American side, the solution to this problem would give Barack Obama the ability to argue that he changed the relationship between the United States and Iran, and ended threats to his country's security without starting a war. There has been some tension in the negotiation process, and things have not gone as smoothly as people have wanted them too and there are still some things that need to be worked on. Kelsey Davenport says, "There are still gaps on some of the major issues, particularly the size of Iran’s uranium enrichment program and the sequence of sanctions relief." Each country needs to give a little to get what they both want. Changing the relationship between the United States and Iran can have an affect on the whole rest of the world, and President Obama feels that making thing good between the two countries is extremely important because of this. Of course, there are positive and negative things that follow a problem, and the United States and Iran are aware of what bad things may occur after they come to a deal.

In this case, I believe that the United States should follow the non-colonization principle. They got involved with this problem because they were directly affect, and separating spheres is not going to help them. They want to solve the problem in Iran, but they cannot dominate Iran when doing this. They cannot have all the power in this situation and in order to get what they want, they need to share the power with Iran. They cannot have it all if they want to see an improvement in the world. Once the problem comes to an end, the United States cannot have anymore power over any other country. This will cause new problems, and bring the United States back to where they started.

The Monroe Doctrine can still be used in today's world to solve large problems. The United States hopes to come to a conclusion soon in order to be peaceful with Iran. If they do not overpower Iran and let go of some of their power in this problem, they will see a fast change. Also, it will help them avoid problems that may lead to more fighting later on.

Groll, Elias. "U.S. and Iran Put More Time on the Clock in Nuclear Talks."Foreign Policy US and Iran Put More Time on the Clock in Nuclear Talks Comments. ForeignPolicy.com, 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 05 Dec. 2014.

Race and Identity in Latin American Revolutions and Today's World

On April 19th of 1810, a young officer in Caracas by the name of Simón Bolívar joined the conspiracy of the Juntas. He immediately expels the Spanish Governor of Venezuela. A little over a year later, Caracas declares independence for Venezuela. This was soon changed around when the Spanish regained control of the providence. Bolívar then created the Manifesto de Cartagena which later expelled the Spaniards. In 1813, Bolívar won six consecutive battles against the spanish which allowed him to ender Caracas as a liberator with power. Slowly, Bolívar loses his power and the Spanish gain control once again. In 1819, Bolívar and his small force cross the Orinoco and the Andes mountains. Their surprise attack on the Spanish army forced the Spanish to surrender In December of 1819, the Republica de Colombia is officially proclaimed and in 1830 it became a free republic. In 1830, Bolívar resigns and eventually dies of tuberculosis. Later that year, Ecuador and Venezuela secede formally from Gran Colombia. In this revolution, Bolívar tried to unite everyone no matter what the color of their skin was. He cared more about identity than anything else. Everyone he was working with was very different from each other but they all shared one thing. None of them were European which Bolívar believed that this was the most important thing.

Issues with race and identity are still happening in todays world. In Philadelphia, according to an article called “Racism and the underfunding of Philadelphia schools” by Betsey Piette on November 24, 2014, cuts are being made to the school system due to the high rate of African Americans and Latinos in the system. They make up about 72% of the system. Philadelphia took a hit when 25%  of Pennsylvania's education funding cuts were directed towards them.  The budget that one elementary school was given to provide books and materials to 400 students was $160. Thats about what a family spends at the grocery store every week, which is certainly not enough to cover the cost for 400 student’s materials. Teachers and students have been fighting to get their education system back where it needs to be. Some people say that striking would get the message across and it seems to be the most effective in the past. They are fighting to get education to be a priority in the eyes of Pennsylvania. This article reflects that racism against a minority in the education system of our country still exists. The racism in Philadelphia is causing the school system to lose money which prevents students from getting the materials they need to do their best work.  It is a problem not only in Philadelphia, but also in other public schools around the nation. Our nation needs to fight racism and give people equality, not just in schools.

Piette, Betsey. "Racism and the Underfunding of Philadelphia Schools." Workers World. N.p., 24 Nov. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. <http://www.workers.org/articles/2014/11/24/racism-underfunding-philadelphia-schools/>.

Congress of Vienna 1814

In my history class we discussed the Congress of Vienna in 1814. At the Congress of Vienna, men from all over Europe discussed how they were going to redraw the map. This needed to be done because Napoleon was defeated and changes needed to be made to the map. They needed to talk about what they were going to do when the power that the had was in trouble. What would you do if your power was threatened? There are four ways that the European powers reacted to their threatened power. In class, we were given multiple scenarios and we had to chose the option that seemed like it would work the best and make everyone in Europe happy.

Men are consulting at the Congress of Vienna in 1814
http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=255

One of the ways that the people of Europe were able to keep their power but also keep the people in Europe in line was a balance of power. When redrawing the map, Metternich made sure that the 5 strongest countries, Russia, Austria, Prussia, Britain, and France, all had a balance of power. This prevented one country from dominating all the others. Land was redistributed between these 5 countries, which ensures that the power was balanced for the allies in case of any later French expansion. He brought back the original French territory, expanded the Prussian territory, made the Kingdom of the Netherlands a stronger border state, and gave Russia and Austria additional territory because they were extremely hurt by Napoleon. In a sense, he reserves the changes of Napoleon's conquest.

The people at the Congress of Vienna made a semi right choice with their decisions. They prevented a war within Europe. This saved them a lot of money and damage to the countries. But, they did not please everyone with the decisions they made. Sometimes, people need to sacrifice their power to make people happy.

What Did Napoleon do?

"As long as genius that grandly dares- and fails- has power to lift the mind of man to high endeavor, so long will Napoleon be worthy of his page in the records of history. " (George Gordon Andrews- "The Lost Voices of Napoleonic Historians"). Napoleon was an extremely influential man of the 1800s in Europe. Most people remember him for his negative and positive impact on the social, economic, and political systems in Europe.  He has made his impact in many different ways, many of which are further explained here.

Napoleon influenced Europe's political system in more ways than one. Political influences are those that deal with the government.The first way he influenced it was when he redrew the map of Europe. The finished map showed that British remained outside of his empire. This is a political influence because it had to do with Napoleon taking control of many of the countries in Europe including Spain, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Austria, and many more. By redrawing the map, he created a negative and positive influence on the world, but more specifically in Europe. Obviously, it was good for Napoleon because he was redrawing the territory that he took control of. Also, it is impressive to draw a map of the world, the way people thought the world looked like was influenced because of him. On the flip side, it was negative because he was taking over the land that people already claimed and they were losing what they owned to Napoleon. All of the countries would now be under one control, and may not be the best thing for so many people to be under one control. Another example of how Napoleon influenced the political system is that he reorganized the government in Egypt when he invaded it. Also, while invading, he invented the Institute of Egypt. This is a political influence because it has to do with Napoleon changing the government and inventing something to change the study of ancient Egypt. Many people would agree that this is a positive influence because Napoleon is bettering the government in Egypt by reorganizing it. He also changed the way people looked at the way people looked at ancient Egypt forever. He invaded Egypt and did something beneficial with it. The last and final reason why Napoleon influenced the political system is that he intended to overthrew the Directory, and the give members resigned. The Directory was the system of government in France at the time. Since this issue is dealing with the government in 1799, it is a political influence. This influence is negative because members of the Directory resigned their position and because of Napoleon, the Directory no longer existed. France no longer had a system of government after Napoleon.

Napoleon also influenced the economic system of Europe just as much as he influenced its political system. Influences in the economic system have to do with things that deal with the economy and money. Napoleon built roads and canals, encouraged new industry, and controlled prices to help the economy in Europe prosper. This is one of his positive impacts because by doing this, the economy is Europe was doing well after being poor for so long. Napoleon helped Europe out by doing this. Also, he spread artwork around Europe by taking precious artworks from Italy. This can be seen as a negative and positive influence. It may be negative because he took things from Italy, which would have been bad for Italy. But, this may be seen as a positive thing because Napoleon was able to spread artwork to other places of the world, which spread new ideas. Another example of his influence is idea to sell the Louisiana Territory. This sale was worth multimillion dollars, and doubled the size of the United States, the land it was sold to. This is a positive influence to the United States because it lead to the expansion of the land in America. This also negatively influences France because they lost the land they they owned in another part of the world.

Finally, Napoleon influenced the social system of Europe in many ways. Social influences are those that deal with the people. One way he influences the social system was by having the French Directory using him to accomplish their goals. This means that Napoleon was a smart man and that the government of France wanted him to help them further their goals. He made a positive influence on the members, and they now want him to help them do what they need. But, you should not use someone to further your goals, which makes part of this influence negative. Since it has to do with the people in France, it is an influence in the so social system. Another thing Napoleon did he established a meritocracy. This meritocracy said that all people were to be rewarded based on their skills, rather than the social class that they were born into. This is a positive influence on the social system because how well people should do should not matter if they were born into a good or bad class. If a poor man has the potential to do well, he shouldn't be restricted because he was born into a low class. By Napoleon creating this system, he gives everyone the potential to do well, no matter what class they belong to.

Napoleon's decisions in his years of ruling had a big influence on Europe, especially the social, economic, and political systems. Although the influences were both positive and negative, they still impacted these three systems greatly. He essentially influenced the way peoples lived they're love in the 1800s because of all the things he did to Europe.

Capitalism, Socailism, or Communism?

In history class, we played a game to show how capitalism, communism and socialism worked. At the start of class, the teacher handed out starburst to each of the students. Some people got 2 or 3 starburst and others got more. In Capitalism, this represents private ownership of industry with inequality. Each student started with their own candy and some got more than others. As class was getting started, the teacher told the class that we would be able to gain to lose candy by playing a game of rock, paper, scissors with other students in the class. This is an example of freedom of competition. We were able to decide who to play with and how many candies we were going to give away or gain. Most people got up and started to play the game. The "rich" people in class were worried about losing their candy, and when they lost a lot of candy, they stopped playing. The "poor" people in the class wanted to become part of the rich class. They were not afraid to play the game and win candy. They did not want to lose all their candy, so they were careful about playing. But, after they lost all their candy, they were eliminated from the game. After the game was finished, the class took a poll on who lost candy and who won candy. Most people lost candy, but some people gained candy. This is an example of results in unequal economic classes in Capitalism. The people who win would be known as the bourgeoisie. The people who lost would be known as the proletariat. While the game was being played, people were complaining about the game. Some said it was not fair, and others complained about playing the game in general. This would be known as class struggle in Capitalism. People were arguing during the game about fairness, and the people who were eliminated were "cheating" to try to find a way to get back into the game. This would be known as workers' revolt in Capitalism. People tried to go against the rules and fight about them. Once everyone said their complaints at the end of the game, the teacher collected all the candy. In Socialism, this would be classified as government ownership of industry. Once the candy was collected, everyone in class was given the same amount of candy, which is the goal to bring economic equality in Socialism. Now that each student had the same amount of candy, socialists would call that the aim for a classless society. Although the game ran smoothly, some people argued during it.  When the students refused to play and wanted to keep their candy, it was an example of communism. In communism, this would be known as the achieved go of a classless society. Also, an example of communism was shown when the teacher backed off from the game and did not supervise the candy distribution. This is known as no government needed in Communism. I enjoyed this game, and I thought it was a clever way to show how communism, socialism, and capitalism worked. I was frustrated during the game since I was not one of the rich people during the game. I was worried about playing the game and losing all my candy, but I wanted to play because I wanted more candy. Being rich would have been easier because I would not have had to worry about getting more candy if I started with a lot. You needed luck to get more candy in this game rather than skill. Overall, I enjoyed playing the game and enjoyed getting starburst at the end of the game.

Marx says that eventually socialism would lead to communism. This means that the government would not be needed and the people would govern themselves. Also, that the money in the economic system would be equal between everyone because it is equally distributed. The poor are helped in this system because everyone is equal. Everyone in the system has the same amount of money since the government evenly distributes if. On the other hand, Smith said that the "invisible hand" would be how the government worked. The invisible hand says that the government is only affective in public works. It stays out of business and lets the people figure it out. The poor are helped in this system because the market creates job openings. This makes it easier for a poor man to find a job and make money. Also, the low prices of things allow a man with less money to buy what they need. They do not have to worry about buying things if they have a job that makes them money and low prices which allow them to buy things with that money.

In my opinion, Smith's theory is the best. I believe that the poor are benefited the most in this system, and more opportunities are opened for them. The poor still has to work for their money, rather than the government just handing it to them. I think that if you want to have money then you must work for it. It feels better knowing that the things you have are products of hard work rather than just sitting there and having the products being handed to you. For now, I do not know if there is a third alternative. Eventually, another idea of how to help the poor may be introduced.

Stop the Luddites

The Luddites were a group of skilled weavers, mechanics, and other artisans who lived in

England. At the time of the Industrial Revolution, they protested technology by destroying

machines and sometimes the whole factory. This group of people protested economic hardship, class warfare, and the man in charge of the factory. They wanted people to appreciate the skills of the artisans. The Luddites did not like how the new technology in the Industrial Revolution was being used. They felt that the big factories were not being used correctly. By protesting against technology, the Luddites wished to be payed more fairly. They were always found to be fighting with employers, magistrates, food merchants, and the government soldiers. The citizens of England were constantly worrying if Luddites were right about technology, and if it was really going to tear apart their society. Following is a letter written by a young girl who just starting working in the factories with Luddites around her.

The picture above depicts what the Luddites were all about. They destroyed the machines in the factories because they were against the way it was being used. (heinakroon.com)

Sourcing of the letter: Emily Fiorenza, a young girl working in the cotton mill in Lancashire, England. (October 6th, 1812)

Dear Katie,

I hope everything is going well for you back at home. I really miss you! I got a job in

Lancashire, England at one of the cotton mills about 2 months ago. The conditions in the factory are horrifying, but I am making a decent amount of money. My father sent me to work here because our family could really use the money. A lot of my good friends are working with me and I enjoy seeing them everyday. I send money home to help support the family, but I also keep a little to myself so I can spend it on the things I want. I am very nervous about losing my job though. A group of people in England are not reacting well to all the change going on around them. This group of people call themselves the Luddites. The Luddites are a group of skilled weavers and artisans who protest the factories and machines we work with because of unfair employment and wages. They may have the power to ruin my workplace and take my job away from me. The workers around me are always talking about the Luddites, and sometimes I think some of them are secretly going along with the Luddites. I am constantly hearing them talk about ruining the machines they are working with, and the word fire comes up at lot in their conversations. If they talk about things that seem like something the Luddites would do, they must be with the Luddites. They always are talking about a plan that has a code name so that no one will know what they are talking about. Since I have been hearing them talking about it all the time, I am starting to catch on to their plan. I think the Luddites are not doing the right thing. If they burn down this mill I will lose my job. My family is dependent on the money I make and I cannot let them down. I will not allow the Luddites to burn down this building and ruin things for my family back at home! I have to stop them before things get worse. I plan on becoming friends with them, and allowing them to think that I am on their side. I will say things about how much I hate my job and how much I wish I could leave the mills. If they think I am going along with their thoughts and the plan they have created, they will have to tell me all the details. Hopefully I will be able to find out the date of this plan. Once I get all the details from them, I will secretly go see the factory owner, Mr.Smith, and tell him everything that is going on in his factory. He is in charge and will hopefully be able to put a stop to the problem so I will be able to keep my job and support my family. Do you think it will work? Tell everyone at home I said hello. I miss you all very much and I hope to see you all soon. Write back when you can! Wish me luck, I am going to need it!!

Love,

Emily