This essay was not really all that similar to the first essay that was assigned. Instead of having two-three weeks to do research, we had to get most of our research done in three days. I am not saying that this is a bad thing, however. I feel that it made us pay a LOT more attention to what we were doing, and the content was up to us a lot more than it was in the first essay. I do wish that I had had an additional week to write it, but that is only because I am a perfectionist and hate having anything wrong with my work.
I feel that I did a good job on this essay, and am proud of myself for getting it done not just on time, but actually early, although I did wind up doing some final revisions to the conclusion to make Craig happy. I felt that the four page maximum was quite generous of you, and it served an excellent purpose for me, in forcing me to not put entirely to much flare in my writing. If there is anything I would have to say I could have done better, it would be my research. I had a heck of a time finding anything Delaware specific, and wound up having to take some general information and trying to merge it with slightly more specific information.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
A Story of a Delawarean
-----Twelve years ago, we Americans won independence from our “Mother”, England, in a brutal and bloody war that lasted 8 years, but cost the lives of far too many of our sons. This war that England forced upon us took a terrible tole on us, both economically and spiritually, but we can finally claim to have freedom. No longer will we have to put up with England’s stranglehold on our trade, their oppressive ruler-ship and unjust taxes. Instead we are a continent that cries out in the face of the British tyranny, a place of freedom and fairness, a place where everyone is equal, no one standing above another, with no chance of the corruption of the central government that is so rampant in England. My business can now reach a broader market with Britain’s polices and acts abolished. My fellow Delawareans and I have been ready to rule ourselves for a long time, with our strong economy and healthy government, and we can finally do so.
-----My business of buying the inner colonies’ grain and other produce and selling it to markets across the ocean is flourishing now that we are out from under the cloud that was British rule. We merchants of Delaware have always found a lucrative business in trading with the more inland Americans, and then with the various English merchants (and only the English merchants). Now though, we still have the trade with the inland people, but also with French, and Spanish merchants, who don’t completely control what they pay for our goods and we for theirs. The Navigation Acts that Britain had set were slowly destroying my business, as the English merchants knew that I could not sell my goods to any other people, allowing them to demand absurdly high prices for their goods, while paying only paltry sums for my own. Is that how a Mother should treat her children? Does it seem decent that a country half a world away should be able to so control the economic well-being of so many people, all because a piece of inconsequential paper saying that we could not legally trade with any other sovereign nation? Larry Sawers published the article The Navigation Acts Revisited, which reads, “The Navigation Acts reserved all commerce between the colonists and Europe to British Citizens (which included therefore the colonists themselves). Certain ‘enumerated’ goods bound for Europe from the colonies had first to be landed in a British port and then re-exported. Similarly, ‘enumerated’ imports from Europe had to routed through England. The Navigation Acts also mandated the subsidy of certain commodities in the colonies such as naval stores and indigo, and forbade the manufacture of other goods such as fur hats.” With such stringent rules that made it so that we had to pay England a substantial sum to get our goods to any buyers from other countries, many merchants were having a hard time keeping their money from running out. My business, and that of many of my neighbor merchants required a constant flow of trade between the inner colonies and from that to the English, so when most of the inner colonies’ products that they desired to be sold were being taken as taxes, our business took a turn for the worst. How could I not be proud that I was part of the Revolution that broke us away from England and her constraints?
-----Now, there is no way that one could claim that there were not financial problems that occurred after our bid for freedom and liberty won out. Immediately after the war our economy in the State of Delaware suffered severely, as we had to create our own currency, to further separate ourselves from the British. This combined with many soldiers returning home and demanding their promised land grants deeply scarred our economy, but not irreparably so. We have already started to recover, and the process has been helped with our new found freedom to trade with new countries, countries that until now had been forced to buy our goods at incredibly high prices from England. My business has almost completely recovered, and with the inner colonies once again shipping their surplus food to me for processing and shipping I expect that I will soon be fully back on my feet.
-----Besides our economic situation vastly improving after our break from England, our governmental system is working splendidly. I am told that we were the first colony to develop and implement a State Constitution, one that encompasses our ideals and laws. Part of our Constitution of Delaware has been entirely too long in coming, and including Article 26, which states that “No person hereafter imported into this State from Africa ought to be held in slavery under any presence whatever; and no negro, Indian, or mulatto slave ought to be brought into this State, for sale, from any part of the world.” Slavery has been a stain on our country’s economy and image for entirely too long, and I can only hope that all of our Sister colonies have similar statements in their constitutions. Our own Declaration of Independence stated that all men were created equal, and no matter their skin color, all people are still people. Another right that has been far too long in coming to fruition has been the freedom for every man to choose his own way to worship. This is covered in Article 29 of our Constitution, in the words of, “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another; and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel, of any denomination, shall be capable of holding any civil once in this State, or of being a member of either of the branches of the legislature, while they continue in the exercise of the pastorial function.” It is about time that every man is allowed to worship God in his own way, without the requirement of a Church to dictate how he does so.
-----It has taken twelve years, but we Americans are finally beginning to truly form a nation. It took a war, and has led to many compromises that have displeased many people, but now those who fought for so long are now starting on the upward slope leading to creating a country recognized as more than the bastard son of England. We are succeeding in forming our country because we already had a system of government that could stand without the crutch that was England, and because we gained so many trade options with other countries. Without this, there is no way that our country could have succeeded in our bid for liberty. The citizens of Delaware have been ready to separate from England for a long time, and I am glad that we finally have. It is my hope that our Sister Colonies’ economies will recover as well as ours has, and that their governments will work as well as ours does.
Smith, Barbara. "Food Rioters and the American Revolution." The William and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994): 3-38.
Sawers, Larry. "The Navigation Acts Revisited." Economic History Review XLV(1992): 262-268.
Declaration of Independence, July 4 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp
Thomas Paine, Common Sense: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs http://www.bartleby.com/133/3.html
Constitution of Delaware; 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/de02.asp
The American Promise
-----My business of buying the inner colonies’ grain and other produce and selling it to markets across the ocean is flourishing now that we are out from under the cloud that was British rule. We merchants of Delaware have always found a lucrative business in trading with the more inland Americans, and then with the various English merchants (and only the English merchants). Now though, we still have the trade with the inland people, but also with French, and Spanish merchants, who don’t completely control what they pay for our goods and we for theirs. The Navigation Acts that Britain had set were slowly destroying my business, as the English merchants knew that I could not sell my goods to any other people, allowing them to demand absurdly high prices for their goods, while paying only paltry sums for my own. Is that how a Mother should treat her children? Does it seem decent that a country half a world away should be able to so control the economic well-being of so many people, all because a piece of inconsequential paper saying that we could not legally trade with any other sovereign nation? Larry Sawers published the article The Navigation Acts Revisited, which reads, “The Navigation Acts reserved all commerce between the colonists and Europe to British Citizens (which included therefore the colonists themselves). Certain ‘enumerated’ goods bound for Europe from the colonies had first to be landed in a British port and then re-exported. Similarly, ‘enumerated’ imports from Europe had to routed through England. The Navigation Acts also mandated the subsidy of certain commodities in the colonies such as naval stores and indigo, and forbade the manufacture of other goods such as fur hats.” With such stringent rules that made it so that we had to pay England a substantial sum to get our goods to any buyers from other countries, many merchants were having a hard time keeping their money from running out. My business, and that of many of my neighbor merchants required a constant flow of trade between the inner colonies and from that to the English, so when most of the inner colonies’ products that they desired to be sold were being taken as taxes, our business took a turn for the worst. How could I not be proud that I was part of the Revolution that broke us away from England and her constraints?
-----Now, there is no way that one could claim that there were not financial problems that occurred after our bid for freedom and liberty won out. Immediately after the war our economy in the State of Delaware suffered severely, as we had to create our own currency, to further separate ourselves from the British. This combined with many soldiers returning home and demanding their promised land grants deeply scarred our economy, but not irreparably so. We have already started to recover, and the process has been helped with our new found freedom to trade with new countries, countries that until now had been forced to buy our goods at incredibly high prices from England. My business has almost completely recovered, and with the inner colonies once again shipping their surplus food to me for processing and shipping I expect that I will soon be fully back on my feet.
-----Besides our economic situation vastly improving after our break from England, our governmental system is working splendidly. I am told that we were the first colony to develop and implement a State Constitution, one that encompasses our ideals and laws. Part of our Constitution of Delaware has been entirely too long in coming, and including Article 26, which states that “No person hereafter imported into this State from Africa ought to be held in slavery under any presence whatever; and no negro, Indian, or mulatto slave ought to be brought into this State, for sale, from any part of the world.” Slavery has been a stain on our country’s economy and image for entirely too long, and I can only hope that all of our Sister colonies have similar statements in their constitutions. Our own Declaration of Independence stated that all men were created equal, and no matter their skin color, all people are still people. Another right that has been far too long in coming to fruition has been the freedom for every man to choose his own way to worship. This is covered in Article 29 of our Constitution, in the words of, “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another; and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel, of any denomination, shall be capable of holding any civil once in this State, or of being a member of either of the branches of the legislature, while they continue in the exercise of the pastorial function.” It is about time that every man is allowed to worship God in his own way, without the requirement of a Church to dictate how he does so.
-----It has taken twelve years, but we Americans are finally beginning to truly form a nation. It took a war, and has led to many compromises that have displeased many people, but now those who fought for so long are now starting on the upward slope leading to creating a country recognized as more than the bastard son of England. We are succeeding in forming our country because we already had a system of government that could stand without the crutch that was England, and because we gained so many trade options with other countries. Without this, there is no way that our country could have succeeded in our bid for liberty. The citizens of Delaware have been ready to separate from England for a long time, and I am glad that we finally have. It is my hope that our Sister Colonies’ economies will recover as well as ours has, and that their governments will work as well as ours does.
Smith, Barbara. "Food Rioters and the American Revolution." The William and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994): 3-38.
Sawers, Larry. "The Navigation Acts Revisited." Economic History Review XLV(1992): 262-268.
Declaration of Independence, July 4 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp
Thomas Paine, Common Sense: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs http://www.bartleby.com/133/3.html
Constitution of Delaware; 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/de02.asp
The American Promise
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
REALLY close to being the last draft. For real this time.
------- Twelve years ago, we Americans won independence from our “Mother”, England, in a bloody war that lasted 8 years, and cost the lives of far too many of our sons. This war that England forced upon us took a terrible tole on us, both economically and spiritually, but we can finally claim to have freedom. No longer will we have to put up with England’s stranglehold on our trade, their oppressive ruler-ship and unjust taxes. Instead we are a continent that cries out in the face of the British tyranny, a place of freedom and fairness, a place where everyone is equal, no one standing above another, with no chance of the corruption of the central government that is so rampant in England. My business can now reach a broader market with Britain’s polices and acts abolished. My fellow Delawareans and I have been ready to rule ourselves for a long time, with our strong economy and healthy government, and we can finally do so.
------- My business of buying the inner colonies’ grain and other produce and selling it to markets across the ocean is flourishing now that we are out from under the cloud that was British rule. We merchants of Delaware have always found a lucrative business in trading with the more inland Americans, and then with the various English merchants (and only the English merchants). Now though, we still have the trade with the inland people, but also with French, and Spanish merchants, who don’t completely control what they pay for our goods and we for theirs. The Navigation Acts that Britain had set were slowly destroying my business, as the English merchants knew that I could not sell my goods to any other people, allowing them to demand absurdly high prices for their goods, while paying only paltry sums for my own. Is that how a Mother should treat her children? Does it seem decent that a country half a world away should be able to so control the economic well-being of so many people, all because a piece of inconsequential paper saying that we could not legally trade with any other sovereign nation? Larry Sawers published the article The Navigation Acts Revisited, which reads, “The Navigation Acts reserved all commerce between the colonists and Europe to British Citizens (which included therefore the colonists themselves). Certain ‘enumerated’ goods bound for Europe from the colonies had first to be landed in a British port and then re-exported. Similarly, ‘enumerated’ imports from Europe had to routed through England. The Navigation Acts also mandated the subsidy of certain commodities in the colonies such as naval stores and indigo, and forbade the manufacture of other goods such as fur hats.” With such stringent rules that made it so that we had to pay England a substantial sum to get our goods to any buyers from other countries, many merchants were having a hard time keeping their money from running out. How could I not be proud that I was part of the Revolution that broke us away from England and her constraints?
------- Now, I am not saying that there were not a few hiccups after our bid for freedom and liberty won out. Immediately after the war our economy in the State of Delaware suffered severely, as we had to create our own currency, to further separate ourselves from the British. This combined with many soldiers returning home and demanding their promised land grants deeply scarred our economy, but not irreparably so. We have already started to recover, and the process has been helped with our new found freedom to trade with new countries, countries that until now had been forced to buy our goods at incredibly high prices from England. My business has almost completely recovered, and with the inner colonies once again shipping their surplus food to me for processing and shipping I expect that I will soon be fully back on my feet.
------- Besides our economic situation vastly improving after our break from England, our governmental system is working splendidly. I am told that we were the first colony to develop and implement a State Constitution, one that encompasses our ideals and laws. Part of our Constitution of Delaware has been entirely too long in coming, and that is Article 26, which states that “No person hereafter imported into this State from Africa ought to be held in slavery under any presence whatever; and no negro, Indian, or mulatto slave ought to be brought into this State, for sale, from any part of the world.” Slavery has been a stain on our country’s economy for entirely too long, and I can only hope that all of our Sister colonies have similar statements in their constitutions. Our own Declaration of Independence stated that all men were created equal, and no matter their skin color, all people are still people. Another right that has been far too long in coming to fruition has been the freedom for every man to choose his own way to worship. This is covered in Article 29 of our Constitution, in the words of, “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another; and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel, of any denomination, shall be capable of holding any civil once in this State, or of being a member of either of the branches of the legislature, while they continue in the exercise of the pastorial function.” It is about time that every man is allowed to worship God in his own way, without the requirement of a Church to dictate how he does so.
------- It has taken twelve years, but we Americans are finally beginning to truly form a nation. It took a war, and has led to many compromises, but now we beginning to start on the upward slope leading to being a country recognized as more than the bastard son of England. We succeeded in forming our country because we already had a system of government that could stand without the crutch that was England, and because we gained so many trade options with other countries. Without this, there is no way that we could have succeeded in our bid for liberty.
Smith, Barbara. "Food Rioters and the American Revolution." The William and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994): 3-38.
Sawers, Larry. "The Navigation Acts Revisited." Economic History Review XLV(1992): 262-268.
Declaration of Independence, July 4 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp
Thomas Paine, Common Sense: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs http://www.bartleby.com/133/3.html
Constitution of Delaware; 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/de02.asp
The American Promise
------- My business of buying the inner colonies’ grain and other produce and selling it to markets across the ocean is flourishing now that we are out from under the cloud that was British rule. We merchants of Delaware have always found a lucrative business in trading with the more inland Americans, and then with the various English merchants (and only the English merchants). Now though, we still have the trade with the inland people, but also with French, and Spanish merchants, who don’t completely control what they pay for our goods and we for theirs. The Navigation Acts that Britain had set were slowly destroying my business, as the English merchants knew that I could not sell my goods to any other people, allowing them to demand absurdly high prices for their goods, while paying only paltry sums for my own. Is that how a Mother should treat her children? Does it seem decent that a country half a world away should be able to so control the economic well-being of so many people, all because a piece of inconsequential paper saying that we could not legally trade with any other sovereign nation? Larry Sawers published the article The Navigation Acts Revisited, which reads, “The Navigation Acts reserved all commerce between the colonists and Europe to British Citizens (which included therefore the colonists themselves). Certain ‘enumerated’ goods bound for Europe from the colonies had first to be landed in a British port and then re-exported. Similarly, ‘enumerated’ imports from Europe had to routed through England. The Navigation Acts also mandated the subsidy of certain commodities in the colonies such as naval stores and indigo, and forbade the manufacture of other goods such as fur hats.” With such stringent rules that made it so that we had to pay England a substantial sum to get our goods to any buyers from other countries, many merchants were having a hard time keeping their money from running out. How could I not be proud that I was part of the Revolution that broke us away from England and her constraints?
------- Now, I am not saying that there were not a few hiccups after our bid for freedom and liberty won out. Immediately after the war our economy in the State of Delaware suffered severely, as we had to create our own currency, to further separate ourselves from the British. This combined with many soldiers returning home and demanding their promised land grants deeply scarred our economy, but not irreparably so. We have already started to recover, and the process has been helped with our new found freedom to trade with new countries, countries that until now had been forced to buy our goods at incredibly high prices from England. My business has almost completely recovered, and with the inner colonies once again shipping their surplus food to me for processing and shipping I expect that I will soon be fully back on my feet.
------- Besides our economic situation vastly improving after our break from England, our governmental system is working splendidly. I am told that we were the first colony to develop and implement a State Constitution, one that encompasses our ideals and laws. Part of our Constitution of Delaware has been entirely too long in coming, and that is Article 26, which states that “No person hereafter imported into this State from Africa ought to be held in slavery under any presence whatever; and no negro, Indian, or mulatto slave ought to be brought into this State, for sale, from any part of the world.” Slavery has been a stain on our country’s economy for entirely too long, and I can only hope that all of our Sister colonies have similar statements in their constitutions. Our own Declaration of Independence stated that all men were created equal, and no matter their skin color, all people are still people. Another right that has been far too long in coming to fruition has been the freedom for every man to choose his own way to worship. This is covered in Article 29 of our Constitution, in the words of, “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another; and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel, of any denomination, shall be capable of holding any civil once in this State, or of being a member of either of the branches of the legislature, while they continue in the exercise of the pastorial function.” It is about time that every man is allowed to worship God in his own way, without the requirement of a Church to dictate how he does so.
------- It has taken twelve years, but we Americans are finally beginning to truly form a nation. It took a war, and has led to many compromises, but now we beginning to start on the upward slope leading to being a country recognized as more than the bastard son of England. We succeeded in forming our country because we already had a system of government that could stand without the crutch that was England, and because we gained so many trade options with other countries. Without this, there is no way that we could have succeeded in our bid for liberty.
Smith, Barbara. "Food Rioters and the American Revolution." The William and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994): 3-38.
Sawers, Larry. "The Navigation Acts Revisited." Economic History Review XLV(1992): 262-268.
Declaration of Independence, July 4 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp
Thomas Paine, Common Sense: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs http://www.bartleby.com/133/3.html
Constitution of Delaware; 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/de02.asp
The American Promise
This is the best essay ever. Of all time.
Twelve years ago, we Americans won independence from our “Mother”, England, in a bloody war that lasted 8 years, and cost the lives of far too many of our sons. This war that England forced upon us took a terrible tole on us, both economically and spiritually, but we can finally claim to have freedom. No longer will we have to put up with England’s stranglehold on our trade, their oppressive ruler-ship and unjust taxes. Instead we are a continent that cries out in the face of the British tyranny, a place of freedom and fairness, a place where everyone is equal, no one standing above another, with no chance of the corruption of the central government that is so rampant in England. My business can now reach a broader market with Britain’s polices and acts abolished. My fellow Delawareans and I have been ready to rule ourselves for a long time, with our strong economy and healthy government, and we can finally do so.
My business of buying the inner colonies’ grain and other produce and selling it to markets across the ocean is flourishing now that we are out from under the cloud that was British rule. We merchants of Delaware have always found a lucrative business in trading with the more inland Americans, and then with the various English merchants (and only the English merchants). Now though, we still have the trade with the inland people, but also with French, and Spanish merchants, who don’t completely control what they pay for our goods and we for theirs. The Navigation Acts that Britain had set were slowly destroying my business, as the English merchants knew that I could not sell my goods to any other people, allowing them to demand absurdly high prices for their goods, while paying only paltry sums for my own. Is that how a Mother should treat her children? Does it seem decent that a country half a world away should be able to so control the economic well-being of so many people, all because a piece of inconsequential paper saying that we could not legally trade with any other sovereign nation? Larry Sawers published the article The Navigation Acts Revisited, which reads, “The Navigation Acts reserved all commerce between the colonists and Europe to British Citizens (which included therefore the colonists themselves). Certain ‘enumerated’ goods bound for Europe from the colonies had first to be landed in a British port and then re-exported. Similarly, ‘enumerated’ imports from Europe had to routed through England. The Navigation Acts also mandated the subsidy of certain commodities in the colonies such as naval stores and indigo, and forbade the manufacture of other goods such as fur hats.” With such stringent rules that made it so that we had to pay England a substantial sum to get our goods to any buyers from other countries, many merchants were having a hard time keeping their money from running out. How could I not be proud that I was part of the Revolution that broke us away from England and her constraints?
Now, I am not saying that there were not a few hiccups after our bid for freedom and liberty won out. Immediately after the war our economy in the State of Delaware suffered severely, as we had to create our own currency, to further separate ourselves from the British. This combined with many soldiers returning home and demanding their promised land grants deeply scarred our economy, but not irreparably so. We have already started to recover, and the process has been helped with our new found freedom to trade with new countries, countries that until now had been forced to buy our goods at incredibly high prices from England. My business has almost completely recovered, and with the inner colonies once again shipping their surplus food to me for processing and shipping I expect that I will soon be fully back on my feet.
Besides our economic situation vastly improving after our break from England, our governmental system is working splendidly. I am told that we were the first colony to develop and implement a State Constitution, one that encompasses our ideals and laws. Part of our Constitution of Delaware has been entirely too long in coming, and that is Article 26, which states that ““No person hereafter imported into this State from Africa ought to be held in slavery under any presence whatever; and no negro, Indian, or mulatto slave ought to be brought into this State, for sale, from any part of the world.” Slavery has been a stain on our country’s economy for entirely too long, and I can only hope that all of our Sister colonies have similar statements in their constitutions.
Another right that has been far too long in coming to fruition has been the freedom for every man to choose his own way to worship. This is covered in Article 29 of our Constitution, in the words of, “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another; and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel, of any denomination, shall be capable of holding any civil once in this State, or of being a member of either of the branches of the legislature, while they continue in the exercise of the pastorial function.” It is about time that every man is allowed to worship God in his own way, without the requirement of a Church to dictate how he does so.
It has taken twelve years, but we Americans are finally beginning to truly form a nation. It took a war, and has led to many compromises, but now we beginning to start on the upward slope leading to being a country recognized as more than the bastard son of England. We succeeded in forming our country because we already had a system of government that could stand without the crutch that was England, and because we gained so many trade options with other countries. Without this, there is no way that we could have succeeded in our bid for liberty.
Smith, Barbara. "Food Rioters and the American Revolution." The William and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994): 3-38.
Sawers, Larry. "The Navigation Acts Revisited." Economic History Review XLV(1992): 262-268.
Declaration of Independence, July 4 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp
Thomas Paine, Common Sense: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs http://www.bartleby.com/133/3.html
Constitution of Delaware; 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/de02.asp
The American Promise
My business of buying the inner colonies’ grain and other produce and selling it to markets across the ocean is flourishing now that we are out from under the cloud that was British rule. We merchants of Delaware have always found a lucrative business in trading with the more inland Americans, and then with the various English merchants (and only the English merchants). Now though, we still have the trade with the inland people, but also with French, and Spanish merchants, who don’t completely control what they pay for our goods and we for theirs. The Navigation Acts that Britain had set were slowly destroying my business, as the English merchants knew that I could not sell my goods to any other people, allowing them to demand absurdly high prices for their goods, while paying only paltry sums for my own. Is that how a Mother should treat her children? Does it seem decent that a country half a world away should be able to so control the economic well-being of so many people, all because a piece of inconsequential paper saying that we could not legally trade with any other sovereign nation? Larry Sawers published the article The Navigation Acts Revisited, which reads, “The Navigation Acts reserved all commerce between the colonists and Europe to British Citizens (which included therefore the colonists themselves). Certain ‘enumerated’ goods bound for Europe from the colonies had first to be landed in a British port and then re-exported. Similarly, ‘enumerated’ imports from Europe had to routed through England. The Navigation Acts also mandated the subsidy of certain commodities in the colonies such as naval stores and indigo, and forbade the manufacture of other goods such as fur hats.” With such stringent rules that made it so that we had to pay England a substantial sum to get our goods to any buyers from other countries, many merchants were having a hard time keeping their money from running out. How could I not be proud that I was part of the Revolution that broke us away from England and her constraints?
Now, I am not saying that there were not a few hiccups after our bid for freedom and liberty won out. Immediately after the war our economy in the State of Delaware suffered severely, as we had to create our own currency, to further separate ourselves from the British. This combined with many soldiers returning home and demanding their promised land grants deeply scarred our economy, but not irreparably so. We have already started to recover, and the process has been helped with our new found freedom to trade with new countries, countries that until now had been forced to buy our goods at incredibly high prices from England. My business has almost completely recovered, and with the inner colonies once again shipping their surplus food to me for processing and shipping I expect that I will soon be fully back on my feet.
Besides our economic situation vastly improving after our break from England, our governmental system is working splendidly. I am told that we were the first colony to develop and implement a State Constitution, one that encompasses our ideals and laws. Part of our Constitution of Delaware has been entirely too long in coming, and that is Article 26, which states that ““No person hereafter imported into this State from Africa ought to be held in slavery under any presence whatever; and no negro, Indian, or mulatto slave ought to be brought into this State, for sale, from any part of the world.” Slavery has been a stain on our country’s economy for entirely too long, and I can only hope that all of our Sister colonies have similar statements in their constitutions.
Another right that has been far too long in coming to fruition has been the freedom for every man to choose his own way to worship. This is covered in Article 29 of our Constitution, in the words of, “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another; and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel, of any denomination, shall be capable of holding any civil once in this State, or of being a member of either of the branches of the legislature, while they continue in the exercise of the pastorial function.” It is about time that every man is allowed to worship God in his own way, without the requirement of a Church to dictate how he does so.
It has taken twelve years, but we Americans are finally beginning to truly form a nation. It took a war, and has led to many compromises, but now we beginning to start on the upward slope leading to being a country recognized as more than the bastard son of England. We succeeded in forming our country because we already had a system of government that could stand without the crutch that was England, and because we gained so many trade options with other countries. Without this, there is no way that we could have succeeded in our bid for liberty.
Smith, Barbara. "Food Rioters and the American Revolution." The William and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994): 3-38.
Sawers, Larry. "The Navigation Acts Revisited." Economic History Review XLV(1992): 262-268.
Declaration of Independence, July 4 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp
Thomas Paine, Common Sense: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs http://www.bartleby.com/133/3.html
Constitution of Delaware; 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/de02.asp
The American Promise
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Rough Draft with a "conclusion"
Twelve years ago, we Americans won independence from our “Mother”, England, in a bloody war that lasted 8 years, and cost the lives of far too many of our sons. This war that England forced upon us took a terrible tole on us, both economically and spiritually, but we can finally claim to have freedom. No longer will we have to put up with England’s stranglehold on our trade, their oppressive ruler-ship and unjust taxes. Instead we are a continent that cries out in the face of the British tyranny, a place of freedom and fairness, a place where everyone is equal, no one standing above another, with no chance of the corruption of the central government that is so rampant in England. My business can now reach a broader market with Britain’s polices and acts abolished. My fellow Delawareans and I have been ready to rule ourselves for a long time, with our strong economy and healthy government, and we can finally do so.
My business of buying the inner colonies’ grain and other produce and selling it to markets across the ocean is flourishing now that we are out from under the cloud that was British rule. We merchants of Delaware have always found a lucrative business in trading with the more inland Americans, and then with the various English merchants (and only the English merchants). Now though, we still have the trade with the inland people, but also with French, and Spanish merchants, who don’t completely control what they pay for our goods and we for theirs. The Navigation Acts that Britain had set were slowly destroying my business, as the English merchants knew that I could not sell my goods to any other people, allowing them to demand absurdly high prices for their goods, while paying only paltry sums for my own. Is that how a Mother should treat her children? Does it seem decent that a country half a world away should be able to so control the economic well-being of so many people, all because a piece of inconsequential paper saying that we could not legally trade with any other sovereign nation? Larry Sawers published the article The Navigation Acts Revisited, which reads, “The Navigation Acts reserved all commerce between the colonists and Europe to British Citizens (which included therefore the colonists themselves). Certain ‘enumerated’ goods bound for Europe from the colonies had first to be landed in a British port and then re-exported. Similarly, ‘enumerated’ imports from Europe had to routed through England. The Navigation Acts also mandated the subsidy of certain commodities in the colonies such as naval stores and indigo, and forbade the manufacture of other goods such as fur hats.” With such stringent rules that made it so that we had to pay England a substantial sum to get our goods to any buyers from other countries, many merchants were having a hard time keeping their money from running out. How could I not be proud that I was part of the Revolution that broke us away from England and her constraints?
Now, I am not saying that there were not a few hiccups after our bid for freedom and liberty won out. Immediately after the war our economy in the State of Delaware suffered severely, as we had to create our own currency, to further separate ourselves from the British. This combined with many soldiers returning home and demanding their promised land grants deeply scarred our economy, but not irreparably so. We have already started to recover, and the process has been helped with our new found freedom to trade with new countries, countries that until now had been forced to buy our goods at incredibly high prices from England. My business has almost completely recovered, and with the inner colonies once again shipping their surplus food to me for processing and shipping I expect that I will soon be fully back on my feet.
Besides our economic situation vastly improving after our break from England, our governmental system is working splendidly. I am told that we were the first colony to develop and implement a State Constitution, one that encompasses our ideals and laws. Part of our Constitution of Delaware has been entirely too long in coming, and that is Article 26, which states that ““No person hereafter imported into this State from Africa ought to be held in slavery under any presence whatever; and no negro, Indian, or mulatto slave ought to be brought into this State, for sale, from any part of the world.” Slavery has been a stain on our country’s economy for entirely too long, and I can only hope that all of our Sister colonies have similar statements in their constitutions.
Another right that has been far too long in coming to fruition has been the freedom for every man to choose his own way to worship. This is covered in Article 29 of our Constitution, in the words of, “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another; and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel, of any denomination, shall be capable of holding any civil once in this State, or of being a member of either of the branches of the legislature, while they continue in the exercise of the pastorial function.” It is about time that every man is allowed to worship God in his own way, without the requirement of a Church to dictate how he does so.
Our great Revolution and separation from England can only lead to bigger and better things for our budding nation. Now that we have open trade routes to nations other than England, we can begin to actually diversify our economy, and bring in new ideas and wares. Not only that, but we have already started governing ourselves, and are doing so in a way that is both untested and frowned upon by so many nations, which just gives me more confidence. I did not come to be one of the head merchants of Delaware by not taking risks.
Smith, Barbara. "Food Rioters and the American Revolution." The William and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994): 3-38.
Sawers, Larry. "The Navigation Acts Revisited." Economic History Review XLV(1992): 262-268.
Declaration of Independence, July 4 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp
Thomas Paine, Common Sense: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs http://www.bartleby.com/133/3.html
Constitution of Delaware; 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/de02.asp
The American Promise
My business of buying the inner colonies’ grain and other produce and selling it to markets across the ocean is flourishing now that we are out from under the cloud that was British rule. We merchants of Delaware have always found a lucrative business in trading with the more inland Americans, and then with the various English merchants (and only the English merchants). Now though, we still have the trade with the inland people, but also with French, and Spanish merchants, who don’t completely control what they pay for our goods and we for theirs. The Navigation Acts that Britain had set were slowly destroying my business, as the English merchants knew that I could not sell my goods to any other people, allowing them to demand absurdly high prices for their goods, while paying only paltry sums for my own. Is that how a Mother should treat her children? Does it seem decent that a country half a world away should be able to so control the economic well-being of so many people, all because a piece of inconsequential paper saying that we could not legally trade with any other sovereign nation? Larry Sawers published the article The Navigation Acts Revisited, which reads, “The Navigation Acts reserved all commerce between the colonists and Europe to British Citizens (which included therefore the colonists themselves). Certain ‘enumerated’ goods bound for Europe from the colonies had first to be landed in a British port and then re-exported. Similarly, ‘enumerated’ imports from Europe had to routed through England. The Navigation Acts also mandated the subsidy of certain commodities in the colonies such as naval stores and indigo, and forbade the manufacture of other goods such as fur hats.” With such stringent rules that made it so that we had to pay England a substantial sum to get our goods to any buyers from other countries, many merchants were having a hard time keeping their money from running out. How could I not be proud that I was part of the Revolution that broke us away from England and her constraints?
Now, I am not saying that there were not a few hiccups after our bid for freedom and liberty won out. Immediately after the war our economy in the State of Delaware suffered severely, as we had to create our own currency, to further separate ourselves from the British. This combined with many soldiers returning home and demanding their promised land grants deeply scarred our economy, but not irreparably so. We have already started to recover, and the process has been helped with our new found freedom to trade with new countries, countries that until now had been forced to buy our goods at incredibly high prices from England. My business has almost completely recovered, and with the inner colonies once again shipping their surplus food to me for processing and shipping I expect that I will soon be fully back on my feet.
Besides our economic situation vastly improving after our break from England, our governmental system is working splendidly. I am told that we were the first colony to develop and implement a State Constitution, one that encompasses our ideals and laws. Part of our Constitution of Delaware has been entirely too long in coming, and that is Article 26, which states that ““No person hereafter imported into this State from Africa ought to be held in slavery under any presence whatever; and no negro, Indian, or mulatto slave ought to be brought into this State, for sale, from any part of the world.” Slavery has been a stain on our country’s economy for entirely too long, and I can only hope that all of our Sister colonies have similar statements in their constitutions.
Another right that has been far too long in coming to fruition has been the freedom for every man to choose his own way to worship. This is covered in Article 29 of our Constitution, in the words of, “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another; and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel, of any denomination, shall be capable of holding any civil once in this State, or of being a member of either of the branches of the legislature, while they continue in the exercise of the pastorial function.” It is about time that every man is allowed to worship God in his own way, without the requirement of a Church to dictate how he does so.
Our great Revolution and separation from England can only lead to bigger and better things for our budding nation. Now that we have open trade routes to nations other than England, we can begin to actually diversify our economy, and bring in new ideas and wares. Not only that, but we have already started governing ourselves, and are doing so in a way that is both untested and frowned upon by so many nations, which just gives me more confidence. I did not come to be one of the head merchants of Delaware by not taking risks.
Smith, Barbara. "Food Rioters and the American Revolution." The William and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994): 3-38.
Sawers, Larry. "The Navigation Acts Revisited." Economic History Review XLV(1992): 262-268.
Declaration of Independence, July 4 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp
Thomas Paine, Common Sense: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs http://www.bartleby.com/133/3.html
Constitution of Delaware; 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/de02.asp
The American Promise
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Rough Draft minus a conclusion
----Twelve years ago, we Americans won independence from our “Mother”, England. The war that England forced upon us took a terrible tole on us, both economically and spiritually, but we can finally claim to have freedom. No longer will we have to put up with England’s stranglehold on our trade, their oppressive ruler-ship and unjust taxes. Instead we are a continent that cries out in the face of the British tyranny, a place of freedom and fairness, a place where everyone is equal, no one standing above another, with no chance of the corruption of the central government that is so rampant in England. My business can now reach a broader market with Britain’s polices and acts abolished. My fellow Delawareans and I have been ready to rule ourselves for a long time, with our strong economy and healthy government, and we can finally do so.
----My business is flourishing now that we are out from under the cloud that was British rule. We merchants of Delaware have always found a lucrative business in trading with the more inland Americans, and then with the various English merchants (and only the English merchants). Now though, we still have the trade with the inland people, but also with French, and Spanish merchants, who don’t completely control what they pay for our goods and we for theirs. The Navigation Acts that Britain had set were slowly destroying my business, as the English merchants knew that I could not sell my goods to any other people, allowing them to demand absurdly high prices for their goods, while paying only paltry sums for my own. Is that how a Mother should treat her children? Does it seem decent that a country half a world away should be able to so control the economic well-being of so many people, all because a piece of inconsequential paper saying that we could not legally trade with any other sovereign nation? Larry Sawers published an article reading, “The Navigation Acts reserved all commerce between the colonists and Europe to British Citizens (which included therefore the colonists themselves). Certain ‘enumerated’ goods bound for Europe from the colonies had first to be landed in a British port and then re-exported. Similarly, ‘enumerated’ imports from Europe had to routed through England. The Navigation Acts also mandated the subsidy of certain commodities in the colonies such as naval stores and indigo, and forbade the manufacture of other goods such as fur hats.” With such stringent rules that made it so that we had to pay England a substantial sum to get our goods to any buyers from other countries, many merchants were having a hard time keeping their money from running out. I am glad that I was part of the Revolution that broke us away from England and her constraints.
----Now, I am not saying that there were not a few hiccups after our bid for freedom and liberty won out. Right after the war our economy in the State of Delaware suffered severely, as we had to create our own currency, to further separate ourselves from the British. This combined with many soldiers returning home and demanding their promised land grants deeply scarred our economy, but not irreparably so. We have already started to recover, and the process has been helped with our new found freedom to trade with new countries, countries that until now had been forced to buy our goods at incredibly high prices from England. My business has almost completely recovered, and with the inner colonies once again shipping their surplus food to me for processing and shipping I expect that I will soon be fully back on my feet.
----Besides our economic situation vastly improving after our break from England, our governmental system is working splendidly. I am told that we were the first colony to develop and implement a State Constitution, one that encompasses our ideals and laws. Such things as Article 26, “No person hereafter imported into this State from Africa ought to be held in slavery under any presence whatever; and no negro, Indian, or mulatto slave ought to be brought into this State, for sale, from any part of the world,” and Article 29, “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another; and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel, of any denomination, shall be capable of holding any civil once in this State, or of being a member of either of the branches of the legislature, while they continue in the exercise of the pastorial function.” Both of these have been a long time in coming to fruition as law, as they were originally halted by the ‘oh-so-devout-Royal-Governor’, who was not willing to allow for other modes of thinking than his, which in his ‘oh-so-devout’ mind were our ideals as well. What’s more, it is not only us of Delaware that were ready to govern ourselves. Seven of our Sister Colonies developed and put into mandate their own Constitutions in 1776, and the other five of our Sisters had theirs prepared within a scant two years. Two years! Who would have thought that we would go from a nation of scared kittens to self-reliant countries in a mere two years? Surely not the English, but I think that even most Americans thought that the war was only going to re-establish the status quo, no make us our own nation.
----My business is flourishing now that we are out from under the cloud that was British rule. We merchants of Delaware have always found a lucrative business in trading with the more inland Americans, and then with the various English merchants (and only the English merchants). Now though, we still have the trade with the inland people, but also with French, and Spanish merchants, who don’t completely control what they pay for our goods and we for theirs. The Navigation Acts that Britain had set were slowly destroying my business, as the English merchants knew that I could not sell my goods to any other people, allowing them to demand absurdly high prices for their goods, while paying only paltry sums for my own. Is that how a Mother should treat her children? Does it seem decent that a country half a world away should be able to so control the economic well-being of so many people, all because a piece of inconsequential paper saying that we could not legally trade with any other sovereign nation? Larry Sawers published an article reading, “The Navigation Acts reserved all commerce between the colonists and Europe to British Citizens (which included therefore the colonists themselves). Certain ‘enumerated’ goods bound for Europe from the colonies had first to be landed in a British port and then re-exported. Similarly, ‘enumerated’ imports from Europe had to routed through England. The Navigation Acts also mandated the subsidy of certain commodities in the colonies such as naval stores and indigo, and forbade the manufacture of other goods such as fur hats.” With such stringent rules that made it so that we had to pay England a substantial sum to get our goods to any buyers from other countries, many merchants were having a hard time keeping their money from running out. I am glad that I was part of the Revolution that broke us away from England and her constraints.
----Now, I am not saying that there were not a few hiccups after our bid for freedom and liberty won out. Right after the war our economy in the State of Delaware suffered severely, as we had to create our own currency, to further separate ourselves from the British. This combined with many soldiers returning home and demanding their promised land grants deeply scarred our economy, but not irreparably so. We have already started to recover, and the process has been helped with our new found freedom to trade with new countries, countries that until now had been forced to buy our goods at incredibly high prices from England. My business has almost completely recovered, and with the inner colonies once again shipping their surplus food to me for processing and shipping I expect that I will soon be fully back on my feet.
----Besides our economic situation vastly improving after our break from England, our governmental system is working splendidly. I am told that we were the first colony to develop and implement a State Constitution, one that encompasses our ideals and laws. Such things as Article 26, “No person hereafter imported into this State from Africa ought to be held in slavery under any presence whatever; and no negro, Indian, or mulatto slave ought to be brought into this State, for sale, from any part of the world,” and Article 29, “There shall be no establishment of any one religious sect in this State in preference to another; and no clergyman or preacher of the gospel, of any denomination, shall be capable of holding any civil once in this State, or of being a member of either of the branches of the legislature, while they continue in the exercise of the pastorial function.” Both of these have been a long time in coming to fruition as law, as they were originally halted by the ‘oh-so-devout-Royal-Governor’, who was not willing to allow for other modes of thinking than his, which in his ‘oh-so-devout’ mind were our ideals as well. What’s more, it is not only us of Delaware that were ready to govern ourselves. Seven of our Sister Colonies developed and put into mandate their own Constitutions in 1776, and the other five of our Sisters had theirs prepared within a scant two years. Two years! Who would have thought that we would go from a nation of scared kittens to self-reliant countries in a mere two years? Surely not the English, but I think that even most Americans thought that the war was only going to re-establish the status quo, no make us our own nation.
Delaware Outline v1.3
Smith, Barbara. "Food Rioters and the American Revolution." The William and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994): 3-38.
sawers, larry. "The Navigation Acts Revisited." Economic History Review XLV(1992): 262-268.
Declaration of Independence, July 4 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp
Thomas Paine, Common Sense: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs http://www.bartleby.com/133/3.html
Constitution of Delaware; 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/de02.asp
The American Promise
Character background: Profession/class: merchant, well off. Angry at only being able to trade with England.
Perspective: A man looking back on the American Revolution in the 1780s.
Thesis: The people of Delaware are ready to rule ourselves, because we have a stable economy and a system of government.
I. The Economy in the northern colonies was very established, and may not have been able to survive such a large switch from a local trade to one where England was taxing them.
--A. Many Northern Colony farmers grew food primarily for their own families and neighborhoods
----i. “Violating expectations of mutuality among neighbors may well have appeared oppressive, in part because it required a position of advantage to violate them with impunity. For most inhabitants of a locality, maintaining a reputation for probity and fairness mattered; those who outraged their neighbor’s ideas of equity might face private admonition from clergy or other notables or feel pressure to submit to the judgment of three respectable local men. Such institutions helped some Americans translate for fair dealings into assumed and even ordinary practice. One Delaware farmer used a revealing shorthand to denote the numerous exchanges carried on between to families: the households “neighborhood”. Narrow economic terms do not adequately describe their transactions.”
------a. The British Parliament was trying to implement taxes that would have thrown off the accepted balance of trade in America. Tax collectors might have tried to get into the market of the more isolated communities, and that would have thrown off the balance, possibly to an unrecognizable level
--B. “The Navigation Acts reserved all commerce between the colonists and Europe to British Citizens (which included therefore the colonists themselves). Certain ‘enumerated’ goods bound for Europe from the colonies had first to be landed in a British port and then re-exported. Similarly, ‘enumerated’ imports from Europe had to routed through England. The Navigation Acts also mandated the subsidy of certain commodities in the colonies such as naval stores and indigo, and forbade the manufacture of other goods such as fur hats.”
----ii. Stamp Act and the Navigation Acts
------b. These were taxes designed to limit and control the colonists economy, even though Britain was a world away.
--II. King George III had not done anything to help us when we sent petitions requesting the taxes that Parliament implemented be revoked, and what’s more, he seemed to completely ignore our pleas for peace when the British sent a military brigade to Boston.
----A. Info from history book.
----B. Text Analysis documents will be helpful.
------i. Declaration of Independence
--------b.” He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.”
----ii. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense/The Crisis
-------c. “ I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former connexion with Great-Britain, that the same connexion is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce, by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe.”
--III. I have heard that the British offered freedom to slaves that helped them fight in the South. Although I don’t agree with the practice of slavery, this is just another time where the British tried to take our goods.
----A. History book reference.
------IV. The people of Delaware have a governmental system already in place, and it was easily adapted to a system where Britain was out of the loop, proving that we did not in fact need Britain.
----A. Constitution of Delaware
------i.
----B. Declaration of Independence
------i. “We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
--------b. Not only Delaware, but the colonies as a whole have a working system of government.
sawers, larry. "The Navigation Acts Revisited." Economic History Review XLV(1992): 262-268.
Declaration of Independence, July 4 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declare.asp
Thomas Paine, Common Sense: Thoughts on the Present State of American Affairs http://www.bartleby.com/133/3.html
Constitution of Delaware; 1776. http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/de02.asp
The American Promise
Character background: Profession/class: merchant, well off. Angry at only being able to trade with England.
Perspective: A man looking back on the American Revolution in the 1780s.
Thesis: The people of Delaware are ready to rule ourselves, because we have a stable economy and a system of government.
I. The Economy in the northern colonies was very established, and may not have been able to survive such a large switch from a local trade to one where England was taxing them.
--A. Many Northern Colony farmers grew food primarily for their own families and neighborhoods
----i. “Violating expectations of mutuality among neighbors may well have appeared oppressive, in part because it required a position of advantage to violate them with impunity. For most inhabitants of a locality, maintaining a reputation for probity and fairness mattered; those who outraged their neighbor’s ideas of equity might face private admonition from clergy or other notables or feel pressure to submit to the judgment of three respectable local men. Such institutions helped some Americans translate for fair dealings into assumed and even ordinary practice. One Delaware farmer used a revealing shorthand to denote the numerous exchanges carried on between to families: the households “neighborhood”. Narrow economic terms do not adequately describe their transactions.”
------a. The British Parliament was trying to implement taxes that would have thrown off the accepted balance of trade in America. Tax collectors might have tried to get into the market of the more isolated communities, and that would have thrown off the balance, possibly to an unrecognizable level
--B. “The Navigation Acts reserved all commerce between the colonists and Europe to British Citizens (which included therefore the colonists themselves). Certain ‘enumerated’ goods bound for Europe from the colonies had first to be landed in a British port and then re-exported. Similarly, ‘enumerated’ imports from Europe had to routed through England. The Navigation Acts also mandated the subsidy of certain commodities in the colonies such as naval stores and indigo, and forbade the manufacture of other goods such as fur hats.”
----ii. Stamp Act and the Navigation Acts
------b. These were taxes designed to limit and control the colonists economy, even though Britain was a world away.
--II. King George III had not done anything to help us when we sent petitions requesting the taxes that Parliament implemented be revoked, and what’s more, he seemed to completely ignore our pleas for peace when the British sent a military brigade to Boston.
----A. Info from history book.
----B. Text Analysis documents will be helpful.
------i. Declaration of Independence
--------b.” He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.”
----ii. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense/The Crisis
-------c. “ I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former connexion with Great-Britain, that the same connexion is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce, by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe.”
--III. I have heard that the British offered freedom to slaves that helped them fight in the South. Although I don’t agree with the practice of slavery, this is just another time where the British tried to take our goods.
----A. History book reference.
------IV. The people of Delaware have a governmental system already in place, and it was easily adapted to a system where Britain was out of the loop, proving that we did not in fact need Britain.
----A. Constitution of Delaware
------i.
----B. Declaration of Independence
------i. “We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
--------b. Not only Delaware, but the colonies as a whole have a working system of government.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Outline of Delaware v1.2
Character background: Profession/class: Whitesmith, well off. Angry at only being able to trade with England.
Perspective: A man looking back on the American Revolution in the 1780s.
Thesis: The people of Delaware are ready to rule ourselves, because we have a stable economy and a system of government.
I. The Economy in the northern colonies was very established, and may not have been able to survive such a large switch from a local trade to one where England was taxing them.
A. Many Northern Colony farmers grew food primarily for their own families and neighborhoods
i. “Violating expectations of mutuality among neighbors may well have appeared oppressive, in part because it required a position of advantage to violate them with impunity. For most inhabitants of a locality, maintaining a reputation for probity and fairness mattered; those who outraged their neighbor’s ideas of equity might face private admonition from clergy or other notables or feel pressure to submit to the judgment of three respectable local men. Such institutions helped some Americans translate for fair dealings into assumed and even ordinary practice. One Delaware farmer used a revealing shorthand to denote the numerous exchanges carried on between to families: the households “neighborhood”. Narrow economic terms do not adequately describe their transactions.”
a. The British Parliament was trying to implement taxes that would have thrown off the accepted balance of trade in America. Tax collectors might have tried to get into the market of the more isolated communities, and that would have thrown off the balance, possibly to an unrecognizable level
ii. Stamp Act and the Navigation Acts
b. These were taxes designed to limit and control the colonists economy, even though Britain was a world away.
II. King George III had not done anything to help us when we sent petitions requesting the taxes that Parliament implemented be revoked, and what’s more, he seemed to completely ignore our pleas for peace when the British sent a military brigade to Boston.
A. Info from history book.
B. Text Analysis documents will be helpful.
i. Declaration of Independence
b.” He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.”
ii. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense/The Crisis
c. “ I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former connexion with Great-Britain, that the same connexion is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce, by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe.”
III. I have heard that the British offered freedom to slaves that helped them fight in the South. Although I don’t agree with the practice of slavery, this is just another time where the British tried to take our goods.
A. History book reference.
IV. The people of Delaware have a governmental system already in place, and it was easily adapted to a system where Britain was out of the loop, proving that we did not in fact need Britain.
A. Constitution of Delaware
i.
B. Declaration of Independence
i. “We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
b. Not only Delaware, but the colonies as a whole have a working system of government.
Perspective: A man looking back on the American Revolution in the 1780s.
Thesis: The people of Delaware are ready to rule ourselves, because we have a stable economy and a system of government.
I. The Economy in the northern colonies was very established, and may not have been able to survive such a large switch from a local trade to one where England was taxing them.
A. Many Northern Colony farmers grew food primarily for their own families and neighborhoods
i. “Violating expectations of mutuality among neighbors may well have appeared oppressive, in part because it required a position of advantage to violate them with impunity. For most inhabitants of a locality, maintaining a reputation for probity and fairness mattered; those who outraged their neighbor’s ideas of equity might face private admonition from clergy or other notables or feel pressure to submit to the judgment of three respectable local men. Such institutions helped some Americans translate for fair dealings into assumed and even ordinary practice. One Delaware farmer used a revealing shorthand to denote the numerous exchanges carried on between to families: the households “neighborhood”. Narrow economic terms do not adequately describe their transactions.”
a. The British Parliament was trying to implement taxes that would have thrown off the accepted balance of trade in America. Tax collectors might have tried to get into the market of the more isolated communities, and that would have thrown off the balance, possibly to an unrecognizable level
ii. Stamp Act and the Navigation Acts
b. These were taxes designed to limit and control the colonists economy, even though Britain was a world away.
II. King George III had not done anything to help us when we sent petitions requesting the taxes that Parliament implemented be revoked, and what’s more, he seemed to completely ignore our pleas for peace when the British sent a military brigade to Boston.
A. Info from history book.
B. Text Analysis documents will be helpful.
i. Declaration of Independence
b.” He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.”
ii. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense/The Crisis
c. “ I have heard it asserted by some, that as America hath flourished under her former connexion with Great-Britain, that the same connexion is necessary towards her future happiness, and will always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We may as well assert that because a child has thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that America would have flourished as much, and probably much more, had no European power had any thing to do with her. The commerce, by which she hath enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market while eating is the custom of Europe.”
III. I have heard that the British offered freedom to slaves that helped them fight in the South. Although I don’t agree with the practice of slavery, this is just another time where the British tried to take our goods.
A. History book reference.
IV. The people of Delaware have a governmental system already in place, and it was easily adapted to a system where Britain was out of the loop, proving that we did not in fact need Britain.
A. Constitution of Delaware
i.
B. Declaration of Independence
i. “We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these colonies solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”
b. Not only Delaware, but the colonies as a whole have a working system of government.
Outline of Delaware
Thesis: The people of Delaware are ready to rule ourselves, because we have a stable economy and a system of government.
I. The Economy in the northern colonies was very established, and may not have been able to survive such a large switch from a local trade to one where England was taxing them.
A. Many Northern Colony farmers grew food primarily for their own families and neighborhoods
i. “Violating expectations of mutuality among neighbors may well have appeared oppressive, in part because it required a position of advantage to violate them with impunity. For most inhabitants of a locality, maintaining a reputation for probity and fairness mattered; those who outraged their neighbor’s ideas of equity might face private admonition from clergy or other notables or feel pressure to submit to the judgment of three respectable local men. Such institutions helped some Americans translate for fair dealings into assumed and even ordinary practice. One Delaware farmer used a revealing shorthand to denote the numerous exchanges carried on between to families: the households “neighborhood”. Narrow economic terms do not adequately describe their transactions.”
a. The British Parliament was trying to implement taxes that would have thrown off the accepted balance of trade in America. Tax collectors might have tried to get into the market of the more isolated communities, and that would have thrown off the balance, possibly to an unrecognizable level
ii. Stamp Act and the Navigation Acts
b. These were taxes designed to limit and control the colonists economy, even though Britain was a world away.
II. King George III had not done anything to help us when we sent petitions requesting the taxes that Parliament implemented be revoked, and what’s more, he seemed to completely ignore our pleas for peace when the British sent a military brigade to Boston.
A. Info from history book.
B. Text Analysis documents will be helpful.
i. Olive branch petition/ Declaration of Independence
III. I have heard that the British are offering freedom to slaves that help them fight in the South. Although I don’t agree with the practice of slavery, this is just another time where the British are trying to take our goods.
A. History book reference.
IV. The people of Delaware have a governmental system already in place, so we can support ourselves even without Britain.
A. Constitution of Delaware
i.
B. Declaration of Independence
i.
b. Not only Delaware, but the colonies as a whole have a working system of government.
Smith, Barbara. "Food Rioters and the American Revolution." The William and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994): 3-38.
I. The Economy in the northern colonies was very established, and may not have been able to survive such a large switch from a local trade to one where England was taxing them.
A. Many Northern Colony farmers grew food primarily for their own families and neighborhoods
i. “Violating expectations of mutuality among neighbors may well have appeared oppressive, in part because it required a position of advantage to violate them with impunity. For most inhabitants of a locality, maintaining a reputation for probity and fairness mattered; those who outraged their neighbor’s ideas of equity might face private admonition from clergy or other notables or feel pressure to submit to the judgment of three respectable local men. Such institutions helped some Americans translate for fair dealings into assumed and even ordinary practice. One Delaware farmer used a revealing shorthand to denote the numerous exchanges carried on between to families: the households “neighborhood”. Narrow economic terms do not adequately describe their transactions.”
a. The British Parliament was trying to implement taxes that would have thrown off the accepted balance of trade in America. Tax collectors might have tried to get into the market of the more isolated communities, and that would have thrown off the balance, possibly to an unrecognizable level
ii. Stamp Act and the Navigation Acts
b. These were taxes designed to limit and control the colonists economy, even though Britain was a world away.
II. King George III had not done anything to help us when we sent petitions requesting the taxes that Parliament implemented be revoked, and what’s more, he seemed to completely ignore our pleas for peace when the British sent a military brigade to Boston.
A. Info from history book.
B. Text Analysis documents will be helpful.
i. Olive branch petition/ Declaration of Independence
III. I have heard that the British are offering freedom to slaves that help them fight in the South. Although I don’t agree with the practice of slavery, this is just another time where the British are trying to take our goods.
A. History book reference.
IV. The people of Delaware have a governmental system already in place, so we can support ourselves even without Britain.
A. Constitution of Delaware
i.
B. Declaration of Independence
i.
b. Not only Delaware, but the colonies as a whole have a working system of government.
Smith, Barbara. "Food Rioters and the American Revolution." The William and Mary Quarterly 51 (1994): 3-38.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Crisis, Thomas Paine, Text Analysis
Facilitator prep sheet
--Who is writing? Thomas Paine, who was a revolutionary…and I am tempted to say anarchistic.
--Who is the audience? The Colonists of America or at least those who feel oppressed by England’s tyranny. It is also referring to the English government, but only as a target.
--Who do the writers represent? Thomas Paine feels that he was representing the interests of the American Colonists. At the same time however, he was representing his own personal views over any others.
--What is being said, argued and/or requested? Thomas Paine is saying a lot, so here is a list of what I noticed:
The colonists should have declared independence 8 months earlier
That God was behind the colonists cause
That the King of England was a thief
That some guy named Howe was a bad person? (I assume reference is made to this figure in earlier installments of Common Sense)
That Paine served or at least followed the colonial forces.
That General Washington had been blessed by God.
That, “Every Tory is a coward; for servile, slavish, self-interested fear is the foundation of Toryism; and a man under such influence, though he may be cruel, never can be brave.”
Say not that this is revenge, call it rather the soft resentment of a suffering people, who, having no object in view but the good of all, have staked their own all upon a seemingly doubtful event.
--How is it being said, argued and/or requested? He aggressively denounces England, and berates Americans for not calling for independence earlier. He talks of Gen. Washington with reverence. His speaking towards the end almost sounds like he is pleading with the people of America.
--What proof and/or justification is being used to legitimize the request? He makes references to Joan of Arc, to support his claim that God would aid the colonists in rebellion. “the same remark may be made on General Washington, for the character fits him. There is a natural firmness in some minds which cannot be unlocked by trifles, but which, when unlocked, discovers a cabinet of fortitude; and I reckon it among those kind of public blessings, which we do not immediately see, that God hath blessed him with uninterrupted health, and given him a mind that can even flourish upon care.”. “I call not upon a few, but upon all: not on this state or that state, but on every state: up and help us; lay your shoulders to the wheel; better have too much force than too little, when so great an object is at stake. Let it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet and to repulse it”
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