Text Analysis - "The Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls Convention, 1848"

The Declaration of Sentiments, Seneca Falls Convention, 1848 is a declaration of independence written by women of the convention who wanted to demand equality for women in the United States.  This document states the feelings of women who at this time had no legal rights in our country.  The right to own property, vote, earn wages, own business, own land and other rights were beyond their reach.  Women of this time were in a difficult position of having to be subservient to their husbands and fathers in their daily lives.  The most influential passage in this document in my opinion is “The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation's on the part of man toward woman, having a direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over her.  To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.”  This passage in the document is worded very strongly to suggest women were objects of mistreatment by man and women were not going to allow this to continue if they could do anything about it.  This document gives a strong argument towards the equality of women in our country by stating the individual injustices and reasons why these injustices are of grave concern to women and how they should be a concern to all.

The authors appeal to logic by stating examples of specific disgraces made towards women and stating the equalities that faced them in the country.  The pathos (emotional quality) is very frank and bitter sounding yet eloquently worded.  The ethos of this document (the writer’s perceived character) is that of women being at their wits end with the way they are had to live their lives with the inequality that affects their family.  The authors argument is very convincing due to the fact it lays out specific examples of the ways women are treated and the rights they are denied in a country ruled basically by men. 

As a woman in this country it makes me very proud to read how our previous generations spoke with such eloquence when even in a situation that must have been very disheartening and difficult to bear.  I cannot imagine the amount of thought and time the women who wrote and signed this document must have taken in order to word it with grace.

Who Rushed for California Gold?

 

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Oneal, Malynda

7/2/2011

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 1.  What impact did the gold rush have on the Native Americans?
The Native Americans were hunted and killed by the forty-niners.  The Indian population declined dramatically between 1848 & 1856.  The forty-niners wanted to eradicate the Indians and the Indians eventually found a remote part of California to basically stay out of the way.

2. What were some reasons the Chinese faced extreme prejudice?

 The Chinese faced extreme prejudice because they were known as devious and were not liked by the Anglo-Americans.  Anglo-Americans feared the Chinese would undercut labor and drive it from our country.  Any Chinese that showed up in mining communities were attacked.  There were even lynchings of Chinese in small mining camps by forty-niners. 

3. How did the gold rush change California?

The gold rush brought many people to California.  The crowds of people that came to California included many nationalities from all over the world.  Businesses sprang up from the new population and also to extact the gold with machines.   California for the first time was becoming populated instead of being a remote place with mostly Indians. 

 4. Did the gold rush cause more harm and debt than it did riches? Was it ultimately good for the development of the western United States or detrimental?
The gold caused more ham than good because very few people became rich.  The gold rush created a very greedy and monster like behavior in people.  The gold rush was good in one way, because it brought a diverse population to California and a large population which was able to then settle this remote area.  The population in some way was harmful as in the mistrust that people had for each other because of the gold rush.  This new population of people was far from a community that could work together but instead a mistrusting group that would to this day create small areas within large cities where they would stick together by nationality. 

CDL:  The Telegraph:  The “Wonder Working Wire”

Samuel F. B. Morse invented the telegraph, or was given the credit for it, because he obtained a patent June 20, 1840.  Samuel combined the ideas of several scientists in order to create the telegraph device.  The telegraph consisted of a code that Morse created where tapping into the device went through wires to another location in the form of dashes and dots.  The dashes and dots that resulted at the end of the wire were then translated from a language named” Morse Code” to create messages and letters.  The device was first tested by the U.S. in an experiment between the Supreme Court to Baltimore, 41 miles away.  This communication tool was so effective that soon there were lines all over the country paralleling the railroad lines.  Fifty thousand miles of telegraph wire were in place by 1861 when the telegraph reached the west coast.  The telegraph was an effective and speedy communication device that changed the way Americans conveyed business, news, and other information. 

Questions:

Why was the telegraph such a successful invention for Americans?

How was Samuel F. B. Morse able to develop the technology for the telegraph?

CDL: Transatlantic Abolition

1.  How/why did Americans view slavery as acceptable during the early decades of the republic?

The African slaves were cheap labor for the Americans on their farms.  Americans viewed slavery as acceptable in the early decades of the republic because they had a view that anyone with darkened skin was a lesser being and therefore could be enslaved.

2. If the end of the slave trade was considered a critical first step in abolishing slavery, why were the southern states in favor of banning the slave trade?

The southern states favored banning the slave trade because it increased the value of the naturally born slaves in the U.S. that were sold and transported west. 

3. What were some future consequences of banning the importation of slaves into America?

One positive consequence was that the ban of slaves into America was a cooperative effort with multiple nations.   One negative consequence was that the southern slave owner were profiting with an increased value for natural born slaves being sold and transported west. 

This was a very big step in equality in America and even though it would take decades for all U.S. citizens to have equal rights it was a step in the correct moral direction for our country. 

How Did Washington, D.C., Become the Federal Capital?

1.     Why was not an existing city like Boston, NYC, or Charleston chosen for the national capital?

An existing city was not chosen due to the fact there were jealousies, problems with access, private interests.  The decision to put the capital in place that was not within a state avoided all of those issues.

2. How did political struggles of the time--the "assumption bill" debate--influence the decision to place the capital on the Potomac?

The assumption bill votes were the trade off for the votes to put the capital on the Potomac River.  Hamilton went to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison and the three agreed to the deal.  Madison rounded up enough votes in the southern states for assumption in exchange for the Potomac River site which was closer to those southern states and that is what they were interested in.

3. What was significant about the location chosen for Washington, DC?

The location of Washington D.C. was significant because it was located on a site which was rural and the land could be purchased from Maryland farmers.  The location was strategic to the rivers and mountains in the area.  George Washington also liked the site because of his own interests being located near it. 

4. Explain George Washington’s obvious conflict of interest over the site for the capital. Why didn’t this conflict of interest raise any concerns back in the 1790s?

George Washington owned the Potomac Company which built canals and he was the president and principal investor who would benefit the Potomac River site for the capital.  Washington owned an extensive amount of land near this site.  This location for the capital could be potentially a great investment for the President.  This probably did not raise any conflict of interest concerns because he was the first President and there was no previous history of this sort of problem and because George Washington was very well liked no one thought it was any problem. 

CDL: France, England, & Women’s Rights in the 1790s

1.        What reasons did the people have against women’s rights in this time period?

Women did not have many rights in this time period.  Women had a duty to their husband and were deemed to be not intelligent enough to have positions of authority or vote.  Women were to take care of the home and the children and be submissive to their husbands.

2.        Why did Mary Wollstonecraft call marriage legalized prostitution?

Mary Wollstonecraft called marriage legalized prostitution because women had to marry a man in order to survive financially.  The wealthier the potential husband the better so that the wife could be taken care of.

3.        Why was the idea of having rights to a formal education so important to women who supported feminist ideas?  How could having a formal education give women a better sense of equality?

Rights to a formal education were important to the women who supported feminist ideas be the education would open the door to positions of authority.  Women with education would be more intelligent and there would be more respect from men which would make them feel like they are more equal to men. 

4.        Why did most women of the 1790’s prefer a moderate stance rather than an influential stance when it came to Women’s Rights?

Women wanted a more moderate stance on Women’s Rights because they wanted it to be more family focused.  Most women wanted to not have a radical stance like the French with situations like single mother living situations.  Women wanted the family unit to stay intact but in addition to their role within the home they wanted to be heard politically and to be able to share and express their ideas. 

CDL: Was the New United States a Christian Country?

1. Why did Madison want the Constitution to say little about religion, and how did people react to it?

 Madison wanted the Constitution to say little about religion because he did not want the government to have the power to choose for the people one religion over another.  Madison wanted to take the ideas of Thomas Jefferson in that people had the right to choose their religion.  Some people were very confused that the constitution did not use language of religion and at one point Alexander Hamilton said jokingly that they had just forgotten it. 

2. Why does the first amendment grant equal rights to all religion?

 The first amendment grants equal rights to all people that they can be free to choose their choice of religious belief and the U.S. Government would not be able to force citizens to a specific religious following.

3. If a substantial majority of the individual states had constitutions that assumed the primacy of Protestantism why doesn't the Constitution of the United States invoke Christianity as the State Religion?

 Invoking Christianity as the state religion would take away the religious free right of the people to have faith in whichever they choose and this would cause the U.S. Government to meddle in the private affairs of citizens and they needed to be concerned only with governing not religious views.

4. The first amendment says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof...” Why did the founding fathers feel they needed to enumerate Freedom of religion. (In addition to speech, press, peaceable assemble, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.)?

The founding fathers probably had in mind the religious bickering that had occurred over the years between the British .The founding fathers also I am sure thought of the people that had settled in the U.S. and of the many different religious faiths. The founding fathers wanted a government that was not about religion but that was about maintaining laws and freedoms which could include all people of all faiths and backgrounds equally.