The Failure of Reconstruction

Reconstruction was an overall failure and while some decent attempts to help the South were made, eventually finances and the overall will to help the south faded. The Primary Source given was an excerpt from Albert T. Morgan's Yazoo, Or, On The Pocket Line of Freedom. In this primary source, Morgan, who was a sheriff and a Republican in Mississippi during Reconstruction talked of the environment of the South during Reconstruction. He described his time there as a dictatorship and said that bridges and highways were made or repaired and that poor farms were helped so that the South had better facilities there than ever before. But he said there was a failure to get a railroad through town. He said that the plan to do so failed so bad that railroads didn't even make it to Mississippi. 

In the statistics that were shown it seemed that there was almost no railroad built in the South. While 1,545 miles of railroad were built most of it was built scarcely through large areas. Compared to the North the Southern railroad system was miniscule. There might of been an attempt to create railroads for the South but any efforts didn't last long and the railroad system wasn't enough to reasonably help the South. Railroads were being made and changes were happening as said in the primary document but not enough changes were made to impact the South in a positive enough way as to make Reconstruction a success as seen in both the statistics and the primary document. The statistics do back up the primary source's overall message and paint a picture of the overall failure of Reconstruction.

Both the Primary Document and the Statistics show that overall the Southern's attempts at Reconstruction was a failure. This was due to the fact that the attempts to create a railroad system for the South was an overall failure. While attempts were made to help the South none of them were to the affect that would greatly fix the South and the attempts to create a railroad system were not good enough. These factors were a primary reason in the South's overall failure of Reconstruction. 

Women's Fight for Equality

During the 1800s and into the 20th century women were treated as second class citizens. In this post on how women were treated during the 1800s, there will be exploration into the pressures of women during this time period, ways they rebelled against these things, and who's voices were left unheard in these happenings.

In the 1800s women were pressured to fit into a model that the men of society at the time believed they had to follow. During this time period women were expected to follow four ideals. These ideals were piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. The ideal of piety meant that a women was to be religious and she was seen as a new Eve who was to help destroy sin in the world through her suffering. Purity meant that a women was to keep her virginity until she was married. A women's virginity was seen as her most important gift and without it she was seen as useless and not acceptable in society. After giving up her virginity she was reliant on her husband because with out him she became useless in the eyes of society. The third ideal was submissiveness, women were seen as the quiet bystanders who watched as men and god created the world around them. Women were required to wear tight corsets that would pinch their internal organs and restrict their lungs. These would make a female have a slim figure as well as causing her to have restricted movement which enforced the submissive ideal. The last ideal was domesticity, women's place in the world was her home. Women were to do housework and take care of the children while the husbands worked.  The idea of domesticity lead into the culture of private vs public spheres. The private sphere was the home were women were to work the public sphere was the place for men to work and were the important acts in society took place. Women weren't allowed to talk in public so many of their ideas were squashed and not allowed any footing in society. Domesticity also lead to the overall idea of the cult of domesticity which was the overall four ideals for women and how they were to live their domestic lives.

The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. Women were tired of being treated as second class citizens and wanted to have equal or fairer rights to that of men. The women who took part in the convention created a declaration called The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions (created in July 1848), this document wrote out the rights that women wanted to have, so that they could be more equal to men. This document resembled the Declaration of Independence in its opening and in some of its structure. The document was essentially women's own Declaration of Independence against the rules set forth by society and men. The most controversial subject that women asked to change was suffrage. Women had not been allowed the right of suffrage because male politicians believed women would have to vote the same their husbands, thus giving two votes per a political candidate instead of one. Of all the other subjects that were put into the women's declaration only suffrage wasn't unanimously chosen to be put onto the declaration. Suffrage only marginally made it onto the declaration because the women at the convention believed that if it was included their cause would seem outrageous to men or supporter's of their cause.

Even though the Seneca Falls Convention was created to help create better opportunities for women and create a more gender equal society, many women were given no voice in this convention. Only white middle to upper class women were allowed to go to the convention. This means that women of less economic class or of different race were still not given the same rights to speak. In class we were assigned different classes of women who were not included in the convention. These classes included women of African American heritage and of Mexican descent. The group that I was assigned was the New Mexican women; they wanted to have more equal economic opportunities to that of white men. Due to women of different social classes not being included many of the problems that didn't effect white middle class women, but effect those of the non-included classes remained unresolved.

Of all of the different rights that women were trying to get the most important still seems to be the right to vote. Once women were able to achieve the right to vote the finally got an equal say in the political matters of society. This was extremely important in women finally being of equal social standing in society and that they were finally given equal opportunity,.

Russia vs. The Ukraine

In the Ukraine there is an ever present threat of being taken over by Russia. Russia is trying to overtake the Ukraine and right now there is controversy over what other countries should do to help stop this.

In the article, which is from the Washington Post, talked about different ways that this controversy could be resolved in a peaceful way. These suggestions spanned from sending troops and weapons to the Ukraine to help it defend itself to allowing Russia to take over part of the Ukraine. Many of the ideas on how to settle it where viable ideas that with some negotiation could end up resolving this issue.

If the Monroe Document was still in place this issue would likely be ignored by the United States. This is because the Monroe Document said that as long as the country wasn't invading the west and wasn't affecting them directly the issue would be ignored. But because this issue does involve one country ruling another country there is a chance that while this document was in place the United States may of gotten involved.

Overall there is a good chance this issue would of been ignored had this occurred during the Monroe document but if it was to escalate past this state the States may of gotten involved.

"Crafting a Win-win-win for Russia, Ukraine and the West." Washington Post. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. 07 Dec. 2014.

Race is Still an Issue Today

In the Gran Colombia Revolution, race was the driving factor in Gran Colombia's fight for freedom from Spain. The Revolution started when Simón Bolívar was part of a plan to overthrow the Spanish Governor of Venezuela. In 1811 Bolívar declared Venezuela's independence, which was then reversed in 1812 by Spain. In 1813 Bolívar as the head of an army won six battles and on August 6 1813 he entered Carcas and took over as a political dictator. But in July 1814 Carcas is won back by Spain, and after a few unsuccessful attempts to create a new capital city he fled to Jamaica and Haiti. In 1817 he returned to Venezuela to create a new army, in 1819 after a deadly travel through horrendous conditions Bolívar and his army captured Boyacá. Three days later his army had taken over Bogotá and on December 17 the Republica de Colombia was created. After expansion to Ecuador Bolívar resigned as ruler in 1830 while his republic was under great distress due to revolts. The Revolution was fueled by the country's drive to free itself from the Spanish rule, and although it was a successful revolution the republic was still fighting among itself for years after it was formed. The Colombian people wanted to be recognized as its own country and its own people which was what ultimately lead to their fight and victory for freedom.


In Ferguson Missouri the topic of race has effected the community in an immense way. In the New York Times article What Happened in Ferguson? the authors create a clear timeline of what happened in the fatal shooting of the 18 year old Michael Brown. Michael Brown, who was African American was fatal shot by a white police officer, Darren Wilson after an altercation that turned physical. From this and Officer Wilson's dismissal from criminal charges the town has been a hotbed of violence and riots. The issue of race is a driving factor in the unrest, in which many are upset that the white officer killed a black teenager. The riots have swept across the nation, which shows that even though our society has grown past the prejudices of our past, we still haven't truly grown enough as we should on the issue of race. The civil unrest and the continuous prejudice against people of color in our nation still plagues us to this day and is a constant reminder of how our society still isn't where it should be in this matter. This issue isn't one that will end overnight but I believe that someday our society will truly be an integrated one where the issue of race won't be the deciding factor in issues like these.


Various. "What Happened in Ferguson?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Aug. 2014. Web. 29 Nov. 2014.

Congress of Power

The Congress of Vienna changed the entire post Napoleon landscape of Europe. But because of this radical transformation of the continent a major question is raised; What should people in power do when their power is threatened? In small groups during class we created small "congresses" where we had to decide what to do in a given situation that was related to the congress of Vienna.


One of the major things that the congress of Vienna created was the "Principal of Intervention" this was the idea that gave the major powers the right to send troops into other countries to stop revolutions. The idea of this was that if a group of people in a country started to revolt then the major powers could immediately stop it before it gained traction. This idea was one of the major ideas that was discussed in our groups and there was a big divide over wether it was ethical to not let people in a country revolt against what they saw was wrong; without being slaughtered in the name of the safety of power. The leader of the congress of Vienna, Metternich of Prussia used the concept of Principal Intervention to strike fear into potential revolters as well as to crush revolters. By doing this there was a small amount of Revolutions and turmoil in Europe for a long period of time. The concept of Principal Intervention strongly helped countries keep their power from being taken over and was a big reason why Europe remained peaceful for a long period of time. The Conference of Vienna was a huge turning point in the start of a new European age.

Metternich,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klemens_von_Metternich

The Conference of Vienna made crucial and controversial choices in their pursuit to retain power. By doing this they helped shape Europe into a more peaceful place while still letting countries retain all of their old power. While I do agree with the overall idea of trying to create a more peaceful place instead of having constant huge scale revolutions; the overall idea of letting the huge world powers retain all of their power didn't sit with me well. There should of been a better way of handling revolutions instead of immediately extinguishing them before they could get out of hand. People should have the human right of fighting for what they believe is right without being massacred for their beliefs. Power easily could of been managed better had the world powers agreed to allow power to be dispersed equally instead of letting the world powers keep their insane power, even if in the end it led to relative and long lasting peace.

Link to Nationalism Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEayxhN6XrQ&feature=youtu.be

The Changer of the 1800s Globe

By: Ian Ballou

Napoleon Bonaparte was military genius who's vision of becoming the ultimate ruler changed more things then just the boundaries of France. Napoleon's impact has effected generations of social, political, and economic happenings throughout Europe. While some of these things can be viewed as negative, Napoleon's overall footprint on 19th century society was a large and a mostly positive one.

Napoleon impacted French society by regaining the order and unification of France which hadn't happened for decades. He believed in everyone having an equal chance at success, himself coming from humble beginnings. By trying to create a more fair system of government he also helped create a better overall economy. The French army would overthrown nobility and serfdom in nations they conquered and by doing so made a more equal middle class while wiping out the high class and the lower class. This lead to more industry and fairer chance then there had been before in these countries. Napoleon also created a bank of France in which he used to help create more public programs that helped the French society as well as the economy. Napoleon's philosophy of doing something new at least every three months made him an eccentric ruler who was sometimes inconsistent in his ideas and actions during his time as ruler. He was also a great war tactician who out smarted his enemies and was cunning enough to take over vast amounts of land with the idea that the world would be his. While these were mostly good things that helped society and economy
 Napoleon had his fair share of negative impacts.

Napoleon's political ideals were sometimes shady and immoral. He would appoint relatives and friends to high positions in the countries he would overthrow. He drew a map of Europe in which Britain was the only country not included in his empire, that shows his overall want to take over any and every country. In his later years he viewed himself and his country as immortal which lead to some of his bad decisions such as invading Russia. He was also a dictator who was at times ruthless in how he handled his country.

Although Napoleon had some negative impacts on his country overall he was a great leader who made France a world power, by helping create better social, economic, and political impacts on his country. He had an overall positive impact on his country and helped make Europe a better place, socially, economically, and politically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon