Goodbye cruel world!

Yes, I am leaving blogger.:( But I am joining Wordpress.:) The link to it is http://thegoodthebadthecurious.wordpress.com/ Happy Reading!
EDIT: Okay, nevermind. Worpress was too difficult for me to understand.;P So, I'm staying on this site...if you guys have any comments about the design, let me know.

History Test; Part Three

     “And I hereby further declare all indented servants, Negroes, or others (appertaining to Rebels) free, that are able and willing to bear arms, they joining His Majesty's Troops, as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing the Colony to a proper sense of their duty, to this Majesty's crown and dignity.”

     -- Lord Dunmore's Proclamation

     Whoa whoa…wait a minute. Lord Dunmore? Lord Dunmore was appointed as a Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia…meaning, he was on the side of the British. But, the British were the bad guys and were against freedom. America was the “Freedom Fighter” giving freedom to colonists and slaves alike…right? Haven’t we been told, in history textbooks, school and movies that America was the one who offered to free slaves? After all, America is “land of the free”.

     “A few American slaves, for their service to the rebels were rewarded with liberty, but the operative word is few. For the most part, slaves who fought for the rebels remained the property of their masters. Anglo Americans were fighting for their freedom, but not for the freedom of their slaves. Those who sided with the British were told, more or less, that they were manumitted and would be given land and self-government. They had a better hope for freedom with the British than they had with Americans.” (History.org)

     Their were a few slaves who join the Continental army, and some were blessed with freedom once the war was over, but not many.

     In the movie, “The Patriot” a slave by the name of ‘Occam’ enlists in the Continental army in place of his master, Benjamin Martin. Later, as Occam is waiting at the camp, he spies a notice posted up for all to see:

     “By order of GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON and the CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, all bound SLAVES who give minimum ONE YEAR SERVICE in the CONTINENTAL ARMY will be GRANTED FREEDOM and paid a bounty of FIVE SHILLINGS for each month of service.” (The Patriot)

     For those of you who were unaware of this, the idea that George Washington (a man wise beyond his years) and the Continental Congress (made up of many intelligent men) would offer freedom to slaves so early in our nation’s beginnings, is a stupid and foolish idea. Think about it; America, an infant nation at war with Great Britain, decides to free all slaves if they join the continental army, hoping, that just maybe, slave and plantation owners would NOT get upset and rebel? Uh…no.

     “Had Washington and the Continental Congress truly offered freedom for a single year of service…slaves by the tens of thousands would have rushed to sign up. This would have seriously disrupted Southern society…” (Raphael, pg 177)

     Another problem; who would pay the slave owners? I mean, if the Continental Congress was offering freedom to slaves, didn’t that mean slave owners should be compensated for those lost workers?  

      “It has been estimated that between the years 1775 and 1783 the state of South Carolina was robbed of twenty-five thousand negroes, valued at twelve million five hundred thousand dollars.” (Raphael, pg 179-180)

     My math skills are pretty bad, but that estimates about five hundred dollars PER SLAVE. Imagine if slaves really had been offered freedom and had left their masters. Lets see…in 1775, an estimated 450,000 slaves were in the 13 colonies. So if each slave was about 500 dollars, the Continental Congress would have had to reimburse slave owners a total of 225,000,000 dollars. America, in the beginning, could not afford to pay slave owners for their slaves.

    “…but to free slaves without compensating their masters would surely have provoked an outright rebellion among Southern whites. The union would have collapsed at the very beginning had Washington and the Continental Congress followed the plot line of ‘The Patriot’.” (Raphael, pg 177)

     But...why? What was the purpose behind this myth? I think Samuel Johnson, English writer and dictionary writer, answers our question very well with his own question,
     "How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of Negroes?"
    It seems ironic, that the colonies, who were fighting so adamantly for freedom and liberty, didn't want to let the slaves go. That was a generalization; a logical fallacy. Excuse me and let me amend my previous statement; not everyone wanted to keep slaves 'slaves'. The reason it wasn't put in the constitution in the very beginning, was because many of the founding fathers were unsure whether slavery was morally right or wrong and knew that, by freeing these workers, they would face great southern economic hardship.
     Today, slavery is viewed as "the epitome of evil" and is a pretty touchy subject to be discussing. (Slavery, contrary to what many believe, is not wrong. I will discuss this in a later post.) So why would we want to tell our children about America's daring fight for freedom and but also tell them about the hundreds of slaves still in bondage? Does that make sense? No...so, instead of telling our future generations what really happened, why don't we tell them a fabrication of what we wished happened. Does that make sense? Uh...no.

Bibliography

Dobyns, Lloyd. "Colonial Williamsburg." Fighting... Maybe for Freedom, but Probably Not : The Official History Site. History.org, 2007. Web. 20 May 2012. http://www.history.org/foundation/journal/autumn07/slaves.cfm.

Raphael, Ray. Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic past. New York: New, 2004. Print

Happy Mother's Day!

     Dad asked me to write a poem for church about a week ago. Of course, I procrastinted and put it off, saying, "Oh, I've got time. I can do this. Don't worry." It wasn't until two days ago that I actualy started writing it. *blushes*Anyway, happy Mother's Day to my mom and all the wonderful mom's I know. (You know who you are)

Mothers sometimes frown at kids,

They dislike how they play,

“These children do not appreciate,

How we put our dreams away.”

“They do not care for us one bit,”

The mothers snort and huff,

“They do not know how much we work,

They do not care enough.”

Mother’s, if you ever thought,

Such disruptive things, then STOP!

Let me put those fears to rest,

And bring our “Thank You”s to the top.

Who said you don’t have value?

Who said we didn’t care?

We treasure every gentle kiss,

Upon our tousled hair.

We thank you for the rough nights,

When you refused to leave our side,

We thank you for the strange times,

When we made you mortified.

God bless you for the trials,

And hardships you endure,

You helped me make it through those times,

And always reassured.

Though we would have our hissy-fits,

When we couldn’t have our sweets,

You never gave up hope in us,

Did not accept defeat.

When you were faced with darkest night,

That never seemed to end,

You spat in it’s face and vowed to all,

That you would never bend.

Your faith, it kept me going,

Your strength it held me up,

Your humor made the bad days good;

You laughed at life’s hiccups.

You taught me the important things,

From history to math,

What it means to be a winner,

What it means to really laugh.

You taught me how to clean my room,

And how to cook a pie,

You taught me how to clean a wound,

And how to care for Sty eye. (which is really gross...believe me, I had it once)

You always read the best of books,

To us when we were young,

You always red us one more page,

Though you could hardly feel you tongue.

But the greatest thing you’ve taught me,

Wasn’t about math or books or pie.

It’s the example you have been to me,

Praising the Lord on high.

You have shown me what is wisdom,

How to be prudent with my words,

To listen first before I speak,

And to be strong when hurt.

Without a doubt, I would be lost,

If it weren’t for you,

God bless you for the things you’ve done,

And everything you do.

We love your smile and laughter,

We hate to see your tears,

We love it when you love us back,

We love you, mother dear.

     Anyway, that was a bomb of a poem, but at least we can make up for it with these strawberries.

Sherri's Berries.com (Picture couresy of them)

     Don't those look so good? I know she'll like them. These strawberries came from Sherri's Berries.com if anybody is interested. We could also attach a card...for free! Booyah!
Dear Mother,
     We promise we will not ask for one teensy, weensy little bite of you deliscious, big strawberries.
Sincerly,
     Your beloved Spawn.

Happy Mother's Day!

History test; Part Two

“Give me liberty or give me death!”

      Everyone has heard this phrase, even if they haven’t read the whole speech. The speech can be heard or listen to it hear:
http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/133/historic-american-documents/4956/patrick-henrys-speech-to-the-virginia-house-of-burgess-richmond-virginia-march-23-1775/. (I would advise your read it or at least skim over it)

     In the year 1805, 30 years after Patrick Henry gave his memorable speech, an attorney by the name of William Wirt decided to write about the life (and speech) of Henry. This would be a difficult task, however. Even though Henry was widely popular during his time, there were no copies of any of the speeches that he made. In 1815, William Wirt wrote to his friend, discussing the difficulties of chronicling Henry’s life,

     “It was all speaking, speaking, speaking. Tis true he could talk- Gods how he could talk! But there is no acting the while…And then, to make matters worse, from 1763 to 1789…not one of his speeches lives in print writing or memory. All that is told me is, that on such and such occasion, he made a distinguished speech….[T]here are some ugly traits in H’s character, and some pretty nearly as ugly blanks. He was a blank military commander, a blank governor, and a blank politician, in all those useful points which depend on composition and detail. In short, it is, verily, as hopeless as a man could well desire.” (Raphael, Pg 147)

     But Wirt continued and in 1817, he published his book, “Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry”. His purpose, in writing this book, so that “The present and future generations of our country can never be better employed than in studying the models set before them by the fathers of the revolution.” (Raphael, pg 148)…and in selling books.

     42 years after the actual speech, and 18 years after Patrick Henry’s death, his speech was now known to America. But how accurate is Wirt’s rendition of the famous speech? And how did he get his information if, as he wrote earlier to his friend, there were no actual copies of Henry’s speeches?

     Wirt spoke with many men who had been there that memorable day of March 23, 1775, but only thanked one for his help on “remembering” the speech; Judge St. George Tucker.

     Here is how I explained it to my family:

     Left index finger is Patrick Henry. He made his famous “liberty or death” speech, but nobody had written anything about it…or if they had, nobody knew about it.

     Now Mr. Thumb over here is William Wirt, who decided to write about Patrick Henry’s/left finger’s speech. But he needed help.

     So he recruited the help of Judge St. George Tucker to help. (he’s the right index finger) Unfortunately, Tucker didn’t write the speech down either or take any notes, so he could only go off of memory.

     I don’t know about you, but I can hardly remember President Obama’s State of the Union Address that he gave last year. Imagine trying to remember it…30 years after it happened! Unless your, I don’t know, GOD, you wouldn’t be able to remember the speech word for word. You might be able to remember parts of it, but the whole speech? Nope. Even Tucker commented that he didn’t fully remember what was said.

     “In vain should I attempt to give any idea of his speech.” (Raphael, pg 149)

     Anyway, Wirt collaborated with Tucker to write Patrick Henry’s speech. Then, out of the blue-

      POOF! In walks James Parker, (pinkie) a person who was there and actually wrote out what Henry said…while he was saying it;

     “In a letter dated April 6, 1775, James Parker wrote to Charles Stewart, ‘You never heard anything more infamously insolent the P. Henry’s speech; he called the K--- a Tyrant, a fool, a puppet, and a tool to the ministry. Said there was no Englishmen, no Scots, no Britons, but a set of wretches sunk in Luxury, that they had lost their native courage and (were) unable to look the brave Americans in the face…This creature is so infatuated, that he goes about I am told, praying and preaching amongst the common people.’” (Raphael, pg 150)

     But why the change? What was the purpose behind this change? Well, let's compare the two speeches. One, the very opitome of patritism. The other, the ranting of an angry, oppressed man. Which sounds more appealing? Remember, Wirter wanted to write something that would inspire generations to come. If Wirter had written exactly what Patrick Henry said (if he had KNOWN what he had said) would it be as famous as the "liberty or death" alternative? Would we still be teaching this speech in schools today? Would people write books or papers on the speech? Most likely not.

     It's like a quote I once heard, "If you don't like the news, get out and make your own". If we don't like the history, the stories of our beginings, why not change it?

Bibliography

Raphael, Ray. Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic past. New York: New, 2004. Print