# A Lack of Trust

In American History we can see the lack of trust, in the affairs between the Whites and the Native Americans. Throughout the dealings with Native Americans, the Whites have made no effort in trying to preserve the treaties signed by both sides of the group. Many times the Whites gave the N.A. no option except ti sign the treaties, as the N.A. didn't wanted to maintain peace. Many Native American chiefs have had to face the obstacles in living in lands that the Whites wanted, Chief Black is good example. Shortly after Black kettle signed a treaty that relocated his people to a reserve where they would be safe, the Americans discovered gold under the reserve. General Armstrong Custer was put in charge of ridding the reservation of the Cheyenne people. So, in 1868, General Custer killed Black Kettle and the rest of his people. It seems as though the treaties were created to convince the Native Americans to move off the land they were currently living on and go elsewhere. However, if the Americans found something the wanted where the Native Americans were, they would create another treaty to push them off again. In the end, the Natives would get the land the Americans didn't want or ended up dead. Although many of the Native Americans knew that the Whites couldn't be trusted, they were given no choice but to sign the treaties even though later it led to their own destruction. After the attacks on Black Kettle and his people, many powerful chiefs like Sitting Bull and Crazy never trusted another White again and refused to surrender, in any form, to the Whites. Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull became known for their courage to fight for their land, way of like and people. Even on land that originally belonged to the Native Americans, many Whites believed they had a right to take it away from the Natives because they were “uncivilized”.

#Fight for what you Believe in or.....Not???

They say that if you believe in something so strongly, than you should fight for it. We see countless people in history who did just that; Martin Luther King Jr., slaves, Gandhi, and JFK. It’s interesting to see how the passion someone has towards a specific topic, thing, person, or idea can push them to past the boundaries of right and wrong. If fighting for what you believe in means harming the lives of others, if so then why do tell you to fight for what you believe in? Why is there no specification? The Ku Klux Klan was formed in December of 1865. The essence of the Ku Klux Klan was to ensure the imbalance between Blacks and Whites. They hated Blacks and sympathetic Whites. In 1871, The Ku Klux Klan killed a republican judge for having sympathy on three Black men. Right after a mutiny ensued, the Ku Klux Klan killed 50 men who had already surrendered to the Klan. Shortly after the Klan dispersed and then resurfaces and became known as redshirts. According to the quote earlier discussed the actions of the Klan were justified. Even after the civil war the Ku Klux Klan still fought for slavery. The Klan’s actions although seem somewhat justified the way their actions were wrong. So, I believe that it all depends on how the fight is taken out, if it doesn’t put anyone in harm’s way then it’s fine. However, if it does, like the Ku Klux Klan, than it definitely isn’t okay.

#Why Poetry

       I think what draws people to write poetry rather than novels, is the emotional appeal. In poetry, the main chunk of analysis falls under diction and syntax. It seems that in poetry each word is chosen for a specific reason, so that it can spark a certain emotion or bring upon an easier understanding to the overall message. Poetry tends to be able to translate the words chosen into a specific emotion or a mix of them more effectively than a novel can. For a novel it is required to come up with a plot, characters, setting, POV etc. However, poetry lets you write straight from the heart and in that sense can be easier from some people to write than others. For some people poetry can be a resolution to inner struggle. Being able to understand their struggles can help them come to a resolution or at least acknowledge it and move forward. Emily Dickinson, unfortunately, was surrounded by death all throughout her life. Dealing with so many deaths must have been hard and so poetry may have been her way to come to terms with it as so many of her poems speak about death. You may be able to give the same message in a novel, but a poem is carefully structured and crested to give the message but can come off a lot stronger than a novel. This doesn’t have to the reason all poets prefer poetry; some might do it just because they prefer it. 

#Was death worth the Liberty???

When learning about the civil war it is important to address the question of whether, the civil war was worth it or not??? However to answer this question you must analyze the different battles that took place during the Civil War, and the battle of Gettysburg was by far the worst. The battle took place over a span of three days and was the bloodiest with 51,000 casualties. The North and the South both took their armies to face each other head to head in Pennsylvania. Both sides of the battle did not plan for the war; however it was a result of the south trying to sneak behind the mountains and take control of Pennsylvania, to gain leverage so the North leaves them alone. The South got cutoff and from there took off the battle of Gettysburg. Over the course of the three days the North and South fought from dusk to dawn and neither side would give up easily because they knew the cost of this war. They knew that whoever was to win this battle would undoubtedly, win the war. The south realized that they lost the war when Picket said to General Lee said, “I have no division to form.” To commemorate the lives lost in the battle on the North side, the first National cemetery was built on November 19, 1863. Lincoln also made the speech of the Gettysburg address this day. Although the battle of Gettysburg was a bloody one, it was worth it because Lincoln said something along the lined of, that God would make every man pay for the lashes of the slaves with a slash of the sword. It was worth it because of the nation that America became today.

#Surviving is not Living

     Life after independence affected many inhabitants of America. It made life pleasurable for the whites, but exceedingly scarring for Blacks and Native Americans. The lives of Native Americans were impacted so much their fruitful lives in Africa or in the case of Native Americans their territories in America became lives of merely working to survive. In the case of the Blacks, ships went to Africa and took them from their homes and decided to enslave them because they needed people to work the plantations. White men of America made their selves rich over the bleeding backs of Blacks. People like Frederick Douglas realized that their lives were worthless in the eyes of the White men. They thought the Blacks were objects they could buy, sell and abuse beyond limits. Douglas discerned that his life could be more he wasn't truly living he was merely living his life through the orders of another. Roger B. Taney shows his perspective on the rights that Blacks have, and that in his eyes are NONE. Like most Whites he believes that slaves are meant to be under/inferior to Blacks. Hearing about the opinions that Graham and Johnson give us an insight in the ruling that was made in the court, about how the Native Americans should be treated. They knew it was unfair to treat humans like that making them migrate to areas like the dust bowl in which there was no way they could thrive or even survive. The Native Americans were less than surviving they were dying. However, before they died they did their best to survive. Some of the larger Native American tribes like the Cherokee, tried to hold their ground but eventually they were also pushed out. The preposterous treatment given to Native Americans and Blacks caused them to stop living their lives as humans and merely try to survive without the liberties they deserved. However, one way or another they all realized that surviving was not living.    

#Tension Rising

          The idea of secession at some point did linger in the minds of the Americans. However, it was first spoke of when the Free soil party proposed that all states from that point on would be free salve states. The proposal was passed in the House of Representatives but rejected in the senate. This is when the south said that if the proposal was passed then they would secede from the nation. When the Compromise of 1850 was passed it angered the North and South even more, revealing the great tension between the two. The Compromise presented itself in five different parts. The first part allowed California to come into the state as a free slave state; this was unsettling for the South because California was a power house. Part two says that the federal government will pay for the debts of Texas. Part three gives New Mexico and Utah the choice to be slave states or Free states. This angered the North because they thought the Missouri Compromise was the last say in which states became free or slave states. Part four explain that Washington D.C. is making slave trafficking illegal. The last part of the Compromise is the Fugitive state law. The law states that if any white man claims that any black person is a slave of theirs that ran away and provide any proof, the federal court will deem the black that man’s slave. The law also states that if a man claims to another man that a man is his slave. The man has an obligation by law to help apprehend the “slave”. The North hated this law because it forced them to help blacks become slaves even though the North became anti-slavery. At this point the North and South have had enough of each other and at that point everyone new that the civil war would soon be upon them.

# What about the Women

       Recently in American Studies we have been talking about Abigail Adams and the Mill girls. In the video we watched called John Adams and there was a part in which Abigail and Adams spoke about the work of congress. Abigail expressed her opinion of the lack of women in the congress. She also writes to John Adams in collection of letters letting her husband know that if they ignore the rights that women deserve that they have in turn have the right to rise up and fight for their rights. Later history we do see that they ignore the warning of Abigail Adams and women do rise up to earn their rights like, voting. We do see similar inequality between women and men in the Lowell Mills. Women like Sarah Rice and Sarah Begley complain about the horrible working conditions to their family members. Begley says that she is furious that men have better salaries and working conditions. While establishing America’s independence the men on the congress, in my opinion, were focused on having freedom for themselves. Since there are no women or people of other races among the congressmen they didn't have any reason to think about others in that situation. They most likely forgot about the women and slaves.  

# 9th and 10th grade class comparison

       I noticed this year that the way Mr.Hoffman runs his American Literature Classes are similar to Mrs.Schreiber's World Literature class and American Studies classes are a little different to the way things were run last year in Mr.Ezekiel's World Studies class. However, even though the classes may be different, I really do enjoy Mr.Hoffman's classes. In American Studies class, i really like the lectures we have. Last we just covered HW in class and talked about it and either we did an activity to take notes afterwards. In my opinion the lectures give me an opportunity to really sink in the information, by hearing it, and then writing it. It also gives me a chance to engage into what the teacher is saying. In American Literature class, last year our graded discussions were run similar to the way we run our discussions in Mr.Hoffman’s. What I like about graded discussions is that it allows me to be able to bounce ideas off the rest of my classmates. It also gives us the opportunity to argue our ideas and support it with evidence, allowing us to see the different view of the story that we may not have realized existed. Even though, there are some similarities and difference between my Studies and Literature classes last year and this year, I really like the way Mr.Hoffman runs both his classes.