Response Questions

I was very happy about my topic and book I chose for this project. The reason is because the revolution fascinates me and being able to understand what the founding fathers went through was a great was to get a new perspective for me. I found the part about the Boston tea party to be the most intriguing because I knew about how they dressed and the main points but I really didn’t know about Francis Rotch or his purpose in the story and I gave me a new perspective on what happened leading up to the Boston tea party and why they were so angry. I feel that I learned more about how our Constitution was written, the Bill of rights and the amendments and the struggles the men who wrote them went through while they were writing this away from their families. I also learned how to use a blogging website. I liked the book and learned that sometimes what we hear when we are young (like 8^th grade and 11^th grade American history) isn’t always the entire story or maybe I didn’t always listen but now I know a lot more about it then I did before. The most enjoyable part of the project for me would have been being able to connect what was in the book with an old television show I used to watch on PBS kids named Liberty’s kids (even though it was animated and probably not always correct with details). The reason being that it was more enjoyable since I am more of a visual learner and I have to have thing visually explained to me in able to understand them better. The most difficult part of the project honestly had to read that huge book because before the only big books I have ever read were twilight, but it was very good and as I nick named it the “spark notes to all the American History text books”.

the council of war and Washington

Washington Crossing the Delaware Painting

George Washington called for a Council of war to discuss exactly how they would be able to fight this war. They were outnumbered by a lot and the British were better trained than the American soldiers. This was the plan to take the opposition down at Trenton. This is where we get the picture of Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas night. These men were passionate about their freedom and would not let anything get in their way. Washington was a great leader and was also a great president. He knew how to lead an army because he and been a part of it before and also had the will to want to win this war and the freedom that came along with it. This was to be a surprise attach and was kept that way even though only one part of the army meant to fight made it across and they won.

The Declaration of Independence

The declaration of Independence was written on July fourth 1776. On this day every year we celebrate our freedom form Brittan but it really isn’t the day we were free it was just the day all the members of the continental convention signed the Declaration of independence.  This document was written by Thomas Jefferson and was signed by all the members in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. The beginning of the Declaration states that “all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator certain inalienable rights” (the Declaration of independence, Thomas Jefferson 1774). The framers certainly wanted to declare those rights which they felt they hadn’t had since they were colonist because of British rule and power. They had been mad at England for all the things that had been happening and all the acts they were passing that they had to state what they thought they should defiantly have as human beings if one day they were to be free to have their own country. Also they had been mad for the reason that they couldn’t be free to be their own people or even to just have representations so that they would at least understand why they were paying the taxes they were paying. These are the rights we have today as American citizens thanks to Thomas Jefferson and all the other men who signed this Declaration.

The Constitution: Slaves

Every little kid when they think of America being free they think EVERY PERSON was free after that point in time( at least I did). Slaves were a big part of society at that time and were not free during or after the revolution. These slaves were later counted as three fifths of a person for voting rights but were not allowed to vote. I think that that is cruel not to let someone you are counting as part of the population to vote. How they counted them as 3/5^ths of a person) was mean also. These people were bought and sold as property during this time and their owners were not going to give them up any time soon. The constitution even stated this much in its words and that no person should steal another’s property (which included slaves). The men that wrote our constitution and our declaration of independence were also slave owners and many were in favor for counting them as so that way they would have a bigger representation and mostly the southern countries who believed in it more than the northern ones.

The Virginia Plan

The Virginia plan was to have representation based on population with only one branch. This would later end up being what our House of Representatives would be based on.  This scared the smaller states simply because they were afraid that they would not have representation and they would eventually become the back burner and the bigger states would run them. This came up because they were discussing the new amendments and how they would run the legislation and their powers. This was a big deal and as the author of the book says “The conversations must have been intense”. I agree because first of all these were people who were representing all the people back home in their states and another reason being that they had just come out of a government that gave them no representation and taxed them high amounts for everyday products like tea. They added more and more to this plan and many smaller states sat around to hear what were happening knowing that this would affect them as well. Many of the things that they talked about are not known to us now but I think it would have been cool to sit in and listen to this happening and I wonder if they ever thought that many people would look up to them one day.

The New Jersy Plan

            New Jersey was a small colony and opposed the Virginia plan, which I will discuss later; because it helped the larger states have more power than others would have. The reason for this being was that they believed that all should have equal representation. The main reason that they were angry with Brittan during the revolution was because of no representation but they were still getting taxed and this is what the smaller colonies were facing no equal representation. This New Jersey plan was written and proposed by William Patterson who was from New Jersey. This plan consisted of every one having and equal vote and equal representation in at least one house. This was argued that this should happen mainly because everyone was equal and all should be equal. This plan required only one House and was turned down. But later as time went on we see that some of the plan was taken into consideration and we have the Senate with each state being equally represented. Madison was against this mainly because this contradicted what he liked and talked about and if the small states that followed him were to go on board with this he could possible loose his plan.

The Necessary and Proper clause

The necessary and proper clause was put into action to allow the people running the government what actions they could make. The necessary and proper clause includes how the governmental powers are to be distributed and how they are to be used. Also on how they should be within reason and not just because. The reason for this was so that no one could over use power given to them or so that they could not abuse these powers. It also allows for people to be punished and sets up guidelines to be followed on how to deal out the punishment. It also set up a Supreme Court and the other legislative branches. It set up rules on how to set up banks and how to regulate money and coin money. It also set up rules on how to set up courts and court presiding.