#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.