Imagine

Last week, our Honors History class learned about the Latin American revolutions.  They occurred in the early 1800's.  In class, we broke into groups and were given the social structures of the revolutions.  We had to fill in a pie chart with the percent of each rank on the social pyramid.  Then, we analyzed the Casta Art painting.  It was a grid frame that showed how people were separated based on a person of one rank marrying one of another.  It also showed how people of mixed races intercourse resulted in a certain race of the newborn.  Then, 2-3 groups were assigned a revolution to study.  Each group would create a timeline for the three major revolutions; Brazil, Mexico, and Gran-Columbia.  After that, members from each group went to a certain station and shared their timeline with the other revolution group members.  Each new group had to find two commonalities and two differences between each revolution.  Then, as a class we formed a jigsaw among all of the revolutions.


Our group's country was Brazil.  After John VI fled from Portugal at the spite of Napoleon by invasion, he made Brazil his kingdom but had to return to Portugal as a constitutional monarch.  In return, his son Pedro inherited the throne.  He then started a conflict with Argentina while at the same time declaring independence from Portugal.  But, his conflict with Argentina led to a defeat and a flee back to Portugal.  After the groups discussed the entire class found commonalities and differences among all three revolutions.  One of the the commonalities among the three is that all three leaders did not stay in power and/or had to flee or abdicate to somewhere else.  In Brazil, Pedro fled back to Portugal in 1831 because of his policies with race after the revolution.  In Mexico, the leader Iturbide was declared emperor of Mexico but that was short lived as republican leaders Santa Anna and Guadalupe Victoria deposed Iturbide and set up a republic, with Victoria as it's first president.  In Gran-Columbia, Simón Bolívar was all over the place.  He was the ruler of Venezuela when they declared for independence.  The Spanish invaded and he escaped to Cartegena.  In 1813, he returned to Venezuela and won six successive engagements against the Spanish and took political control.  But the next year, the Spanish recaptured it and he fled to Bogotá making it his capital city and recapturing it again making it his base.  Then, he is invaded again and flees to Jamaica and Haiti.  He then comes back in 1817 and tries to take 2500 men to make an attack on New Granada through a considered impossible route through a waterlogged river and over the Andes.  The surprise held and he once again took over Gran until he passed away in 1830 due to Tuberculosis.  Now, the second commonality is that all three countries were successful in breaking ties with Europe.  Pedro of Brazil declared independence, Iturbide was declared as emperor of Mexico, and Simón Bolívar was able to recapture the joined forces but not in complete control.  One of the main differences among the three revolutions is that the Brazilian Revolution was not at all that violent while the other two were of extreme violence.  Pedro had declared independence and Portugal recognized it.  The only real violence was the Cisplatine War in 1827 where Brazil was defeated by Argentina.  In Mexico, the occupation of Spain of Napoleon led to revolts all across Spanish-America.  Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla "the father of Mexican independence"launched the Mexican rebellion with his "Cry of Delores," and his populist army came close to capturing the Mexican capital.  Defeated at Calderón in January 1811, he fled north but was captured and executed.  He was followed by other peasant leaders, however, such as José María Morelos y Pavón, Mariano Matamoros, and Vicente Guerrero, who all led armies of native and racially mixed revolutionaries against the Spanish and the Royalists.  In Gran-Columbia, the were a number of revolts by the Spanish and by Simón Bolívar.  There multiple revolts by both.  Although, Bolívar never gave up when he was gone, and continuously fought back just to get in power (which is what the Spanish were doing but were more powerful). This lead to fighting all across the nation until his death and the people got what they wanted which I am going to explain next.  The last difference is that the revolution of Gran-Columbia resulted in a few different counties and the other revolutions resulted in one country.  Brazil and Mexico both declared themselves independent countries while Gran-Columbia broke off into Ecuador, Venezuela, and Gran-Columbia as separate countries.

One thing for sure, slavery is never coming back to this nation.  But, based on the way society is today, racism will be something that is always viewed.  No one would ever come out and say that they are racists and believe in slavery because our country has strong unity against it as a whole.  The country as a whole is viewed as a nation that strictly enforces the abolition of slavery and free men and women every day no matter what race you are.  However, there are many people who have strong opinions and beliefs about racism.  Many are still fighting the civil war as I like to say.  However, there are others that do not actually see what is wrong with slavery because they were born to believe in it or they were not educated properly on it.  No one can change anyone's beliefs.  You are entitled to your own opinion.  However, if you actually believe slavery is a good thing and that there is nothing wrong with racism, then make sure that your opinion actually is your own and keep it to yourself because no one would want to hear someone publicly say he or she believes in racism.  The world is so open now but still has its ups and downs.  A breaking story right now is what has transpired in Ferguson, Missouri.  The main headline is that a black teenager was shot and killed by a police officer.  He was shot six times.  There ware many different stories and witnesses.  Although, I don't believe that a kid who was running away and then put his hands up surrendering deserves to be shot six times in which four out of the six are to make sure he is dead.  Another experience, the last two years with the Trayvon Martin case.  The main headline was that he was in his town house neighborhood walking to get skittles and iced tea and go back to his house to watch an NCAA Men's Basketball playoff game.  A night security guard named George Zimmerman took him as suspicious and started following him.  He then called police and reported him.  They specifically said not to follow him.  Of course he did and allegedly said (these are words from the recording of the call and do not follow my own personal words) "these n*****s, they always get away with it".  Then, Trayvon Martin was shot and killed.  Zimmerman's alibi was that it was self defense and that Martin assaulted him while on top of him meaning Zimmerman's back was on the ground.  How could he then reach under himself and pull out a gun?  It possible theoretically but not realistically in my opinion.  Just based on his quote, how does racism not tie into that?  And lastly, just this year on a Los Angeles freeway as they call it, apparently a highway patrol officer saw a woman walking down it and ordered her to stop.  She was a black grandmother.  When she kept walking, he ran up on her and tackled her.  She then put her arm in his direction and he punched her in the face which can be understood if the officer was threatened.  However, after she put her hand over her face like a normal human instinct, he preceded to punch her over and over while she was lying there helpless.  He continued to punch her and then arrested her.  And, to think that L.A.P.D. would release a statement, but instead, they made it their rookie training video.  Isn't that despicable?  But again, just the way racism is viewed in this country is based on how the media presents it.  None of the three incidents would have been the main headlines if racism wasn't a factor.  But also, maybe, just maybe these incidents would not have even happened had racism not been tied into them in the first place.  All of these cases just prove the point that racism is still a huge issue in this country.  All men are created equal.  Are blacks not considered men then if racism exists?  I hope that in the near future, someday we can all stand as one and put the issues like racism aside.  Imagine what that would make us as a country.  Imagine the future. 

   

Shown here is the L.A.P.D. officer who repeatedly punched a helpless woman in the face.  As you can see like I said before, she has her hands protecting her face.  There's no rationale for the cop.  Is she supposed to let the cop punch her in the face multiple times without protecting herself which does not affect the cop?  Is the cop thinking I keep punching because she won't let me get at her face completely, even though I'm a cop and she is helpless on the ground.  This is just truly disgusting. 

Image Citation: Mail Online. Associated Newspapers. Web. 26 Nov. 2014. <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1103467/Cop-filmed-repeatedly-punching-woman-head.html>.

Complex Man in Complicated Time

Adolf Hitler, one of the most evil men to ever walk on the face of this Earth had a goal to kill every Jew that walked on this planet.  Although he was evil, he had ways of influencing and captivating others to join his mission.  He killed over 6 million Jews.  He was a great public speaker and he spoke with eloquence and had influential speeches to persuade people to follow him.  There were many men like this; Martin Luther King Jr., who convinced the blacks being discriminated against by his famous "I Have a Dream" speech to arise as one to end discrimination.  Alex the Great was the military commander of Egypt influenced his men to follow his leads and ended up winning the major battles he took part in.  Then came Toussaint L'Ouvreture.  He was a former slave who worked as a herder and then became a coachman leading to be an overseer of slaves.  He then was granted freedom from his owner and rented a small coffee plantation and acquired one dozen slaves of his own.  Eventually, he became frustrated with the treatment of slaves and started to lead rebellions against landowners. Then, he became the ruler (for life) of Saint Domingue.  While in power, he was able to put down revolts from Napoleon trying to bring back slavery and from the slaves whom he stood on the side of when his policies for their work were enforced.  Hereby, we should remember Toussaint L'Ouvreture as a liberator of slaves, the ruler of Saint Domingue, and as a military commander.  

One way we should recognize Toussaint L'Ouvreture's past life is a liberator of slaves.  The French Revolution had just began in 1789 (Doc. A).  Free men of color in Saint Domingue had proclaimed themselves Frech citizens which gave they full civic rights (Doc. A).  This lead to a slave revolt in Northern Saint Domingue (Doc. A).  In 1791, Toussaint and joined the revolution and served as a doctor to the troops while also commanding a small detachment of slave soldiers (Doc. A).  With non-stop revolts occurring, the French Government under Maximilien Robespierre abolished slavery in 1794 in France and all of its colonies in which Toussaint stopped their revolts and now supported the French because he was supporting any side against slavery (Doc. A).  In 1797, he wrote a letter to the French Directory who was the government at the time (Doc. B).  "He states "But today when they have left it, if they had a thousand lives, they would sacrifice them all rather than be subjected to slavery again" (Doc. B).  He then was the ruler of Saint Dominque capturing Santo Domingo which was the Spanish portion of the island in 1801 (Doc. A).  Prior to that, he put down a revolt against the British whom were worried that the movement would spread to their colony of Jamaica (Doc. A).  However, he was able to put it down.  He also in 1801 assembled Saint Domingue's Constitution (Doc. C).  It states that "all men are born, live, and die free" (Doc. C).  Also, it states that the workers will be paid for their work that benefits the economy (Doc. C).  In 1802, Napoleon sent 21,000 troops to Saint Domingue to reinstate slavery (Doc. A).  To counter them, he burned the down a small city and they waited in the mountains.  Napoleon withdrew from Saint Domingue but he withdrew with Toussaint after he was able to trick him into a negotiation meeting and they captured him and sent him by ship to France (Doc. A).  But in the end, Saint Domingue was victorious over Haiti and declared independence (Doc. A).  Now, all of these events are individual achievements that was all for the great purpose of the abolition of slavery.  He did all of this work just to set everyone else who was enslaved free.  Now, the letter he wrote to the Directory basically said it would be impossible to reinstate slavery because the people had gone through it once and would not go through it again.  He said that the people would fight to the death to prevent slavery from being reinstated and that he would do everything in his power to keep it abolished.  Lastly, the Constitution of Saint Domingue of 1801 promised that all men were born, live, and die free.  It encourages agricultural work because it would help grow the island's economy.  Without that work being done, the economy would collapse just based on where they are located and why their products are valuable especially sugar.  Each worker would share the revenues equally which is fair to all.  All of the acts and beliefs brought up by Toussaint L'Ouvreture benefited all whom he supported, while being a strong liberator of slaves. 

 

Another way we should remember Toussaint L'Ouvreture is the Ruler of Saint Domingue.  In 1801, he signed the Saint Domingue Constitution (Doc. C).  While its citizens were all free, it still remained a colony of France (Doc. C).  There are three titles provided in the document that were the most important.  Titles II is "Of the Inhabitants", Title VI is "Of Culture and Commerce", and Title VIII is "Of the Government" (Doc. C).  To be more specific than I explained it before, the work encouraged by the island is agricultural work as it states "The colony being essentially agricultural work cannot suffer the least disruption in the works of its cultivation" (Doc. C).  "Each plantation shall represent the quiet haven of an active and constant family, of which the owner of the land shall be the father" (Doc. C).  "Each cultivator and each worker is a member of the family and is entitled to share the revenues" (Doc. C).  The father and family are just fancy names for land owner and cultivator.  Article 28 states "The Constitution nominate citizen Toussaint L'Ouvreture,....he is entrusted the direction thereof for the remainder of his glorious life" (Doc. C).  This made him the governor or ruler of Saint Domingue for life.  Now, also included in 1801 was the Proclamation 25.  It states "As soon as a child can walk, he should be employed on the plantation according to his strength in some useful work" (Doc. D).  Now, the two most important statements are these; "Any manager or driver of a plantation upon which a foreign cultivator shall have taken refuge shall denounce him to the captain or commander of the section within 24 hours under penalty of one week in prison" and
"Vagabond cultivators arrested....shall be taken to the commander of the quarter, who will have sent them to the gendarmerie on their plantation" (Doc. D).  Now, the constitution have the landowners the rights to run the plantations but each worker would share the revenues.  Now, the support of the slaves gives an advantage to L'Ouvreture being governor for life.  However, if he is governor for life, he has to stay for life and can't change if he wants to.  Now, the reason why Toussaint made the Proclamation is because workers were refusing to work on their plantations.  The reason for that is because although they are not treated like it and they are getting paid, they are doing the work that they did when they were slaves.  So, they still feel like slaves.  The word 'free' was also getting to their heads because they thought that they didn't have to work because they were free but Toussaint originally said you will be free but you still have to work to support the economy.  Now, he has to enforce it.  The time span between these two primary sources is 4-5 months.  Both show how he set certain policies and enforced them on the people.  The constitution is the policies that are set and the proclamation now truly enforces them.  Therefore, we should remember Toussaint L'Ouvreture as the Ruler of Saint Domingue.

The last way we should remember Toussaint L'Ouvreture is a military commander.  In the fall of 1801, L'Ouvreture's nephew Hyacinthe Moyse became a focal point of a gathering of discontent with Toussaint's draconian labor policies (Doc. E).  There was also suspicion of friendliness with the white painter class (Doc. E).  Toussaint appointed Moyse as commander of the all the Northern Department and he planned to have allow the plantations in the North to be parceled out into small holdings (Doc. E).  Then, on October 29th, a revolt broke out in the Northern Plain (Doc. E).  Whites were massacred from Fort Liberté to the gates of Cap Français and the war cry was "General Moyse is with us-death to all whites" (Doc. E).  This made Toussaint so furious that he ordered certain men to step out of the ranks and commit suicide and he had Moyse arrested and had him confined in the fort of Port de Paix (Doc. E).  Then, he was brought to a firing squad and was executed on his own order (Doc. E).  At this point, there was still uncertainty among Toussaint and the slaves but the entire island soon had to come together as one.  Great Britain and Spain were worried about the spread of the abolition of slavery spreading to their colony of Jamaica by using his genius and surpassing activity while raising the reputation of the army (Doc. F).  "Toussaint, by his superior knowledge of character of his race, his humanity, generosity, and courage, had gained the confidence of all whom he had under his command" (Doc. F).  Napoleon sent 21,000 troops to Saint Domingue in an attempt to reinstate slavery.  So, when Toussaint saw the ships coming towards the city of Samana, he burned the city to ruins and fled to the mountains and waited (Doc. F).  The attempt was to draw the troops to the mountains and it worked (Doc. F).  The French entered the mountains and were defeated by an onslaught by Toussaint's army.  Now, the reason why the slave revolts were breaking out in the North like I said before was because the workers were doing the same work when they were slaves so they still felt like they were being enslaved.  They felt restricted because they could not leave a plantation without permission.  And, rumors of conspiracy with white landowners was started by Moyse.  So, a revolt broke out but it would not have happened had Toussaint listened to his people and tried to make it better instead of enforcing new policies.  The workers needed to do that work for the economy but Toussaint did not make an attempt to try to resolve things and make compromises which led to the rebellion.  He learned his lesson the hard way.  However, he did make ends meet and he was able to get all of the island on his side to defeat the French and help carry out his plan.  He knew the French were coming to enslave them so burning the city which they would arrive and fleeing to the mountains worked because the people of the island knew the mountains and were familiar with them and knew the ins and outs of them.  Not only that, but Toussaint's traits of his courage, generosity, humanity, race, and most importantly confidence and superior knowledge show the strength of an army's commander and the effect he has on his army.  We should remember Toussaint L'Ouvreture as a military commander.                             

Although Toussaint in 1803 was tricked into a negotiation meeting and captured in the battle against the French and then died in a French jail, we should still remember Toussaint L'Ouvreture as a liberator of slaves, the Ruler of Saint Domingue, and a military commander.  His success on this island is incredible.  The letters, pep-talks, prepping for battles, revolts, and battle plans for defeating whoever stood in front of them all show Toussaint's willingness, passion, and dedication to fight for the greater cause really shows you what he is made of and how he can use his knowledge and gain support to fight for what he truly believed in; all men and women are viewed as equals.



Bibliography:  

Document A: Created from various sources
Document B: Toussaint L'Ouvreture, "Letter to the French Directory, November 1797."
Document C: The Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801. Signed by Toussaint L'Ouvreture in July 1801.
Document D: Toussaint L'Ouvreture, "Proclamation, 25 November 1801."
Document E: Madison Smartt Bell, Toussaint L'Ouvreture: A Biography, 2007.
Document F: William Wells Brown, "A Description of Toussaint L'Ouvreture," from The Black Man, His Antecedents, His Genius, and His Achievements, 2nd edition, 1863.  Engraving of Toussaint L'Ouvreture, 1802.

 

"Why Can't We All Be Friends"?

Prior to last week, our Honors History class studied the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848.  There were many revolutions in that time period.  The revolutions' each had separate purposes and were to achieve something.  Our class broke into groups and each group took a revolt or separate revolution.  There were five in total.  Before we did that, we learned the statement "When France sneezes, Europe catches a cold" to help us understand how all of these revolutions and revolts occurred.  In the statement, France sneezing is the French Revolution.  Europe catching a cold is when France's military lead by Napoleon invades the surrounding countries of Europe.  They are spreading the cold around.  Each group then was assigned their own revolution and had to complete four steps.  Step One was charting the basics where we had to read the primary source for our revolution and find the country, date of the revolution, the goals of it, the opponents, the outcomes, and the reasons for a successful or a failure revolution.  Step Two was to find evidence from the primary sources and put it into the categories of goals, opponents, or outcomes.  Step three was to determine whether or not the revolution was a success or a failure.  The final step was creating our Survey Monkeys where we made questions about our revolution into a quiz format and the other groups took the quiz using the primary sources for the topic.  Then, each group went over the answers and all of the surveys showed that each student individually learned about the revolutions pretty well.

Our group had the Frankfurt Assembly of 1848.    There was turmoil in the German states.  University students demanded national unity (nationalism) and liberal reforms.  Times were tough economically and a potato famine had occurred.  This brought workers and peasants to a serious struggle.  As a result, workers destroyed the machines which they worked on and peasants burned down the homes of the wealthy land owners.  It was not just the German states that were having these problems.  It was also occurring in Prussia.  There were liberals forcing King Frederick William IV to a constitution written by an elected assembly.  However, the assembly was dissolved within a year and preceded to write his own constitution which kept the power in his own hands or those of the upper classes.  Throughout 1848, delegates from the German States met in the Frankfurt Assembly.  One great leader even said "We are to create a constitution for Germany, for the whole land."  Many topics were discussed such as having a monarchy or a republic and whether or not to include Austria in a united German state.  However, the conservative King Frederick IV rejected the crown of a united Germany.  Liberals clashed but conservative forces rallied dousing the revolt.  Hundreds were killed and imprisoned.  Thousands more left Germany.  Most of those thousands went to the United States because the young nation had promised a democratic nation and economic opportunity.  Now, King Frederick IV rejected the crown but many wondered why.  A picture (which Blogger is refusing to allow to appear) shows King Frederick William IV slamming the door in the faces of the liberals who want the reforms.  He has a soldier helping him shut the door which symbolizes that he has the support of the army as well but not his people.  "No Piece of Paper Will Come between Myself and My People," stated by King Frederick.  He believed that God had given him the right to rule the way he was and he was not going to let a piece of paper ruin it.  At that point, the representatives of the assembly were not getting anywhere with change.  Now, King Frederick William (Friedrich Wilhelm) had rejected the crown but he was not the only one who was not in favor.  Karl Marx wrote a cologne on November 22, 1848 after the King's refusal to accept the crown.  He said that the acts had destroyed the Frankfurt Parliament and that anyone who protested the government and its acts such as taxes would be committing treason which was unlawful because it was going against God.
Now, on the scale of success or failure, this revolution was a partial failure.  It failed because the liberal reforms were not passed and resulted in deaths, imprisonments, and people leaving the country.  However, it is only partial because this movement was recognized in and was used as an example for reforms that came in later generations so it was not a complete failure.

Many historians have said that the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 were failures.  The Decembrists revolt was suppressed by Tsar Nicholas I in 1825 which took place in the Senate Square in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Nicholas who took over the throne for his brother Tsar Alexander I who had died yelled "Holt" but the Decembrists replied "We're for Constantine" (who had not taken the throne).  They walked by Nicholas I who knew bloodshed would occur had he not yelled right then "Fire" at the Russians who were enslaved and who's revolt was defeated.  There was also the revolt of France in 1830.  Now, this was not necessarily a failure at all.  This was a partial success as a matter of fact.  The Congress of Vienna declared Louis XVIII as the King of France.  Louis had the support of ultraroyalists who were high clergy and émigré nobles were strong supporters of the King.  They despised constitutional monarchy and wanted to restore old regime.  However, factions who were liberals wanted more rights for the middle class.  Louis XVIII had created a Charter of French Liberties which gave more constitutional rights.  However, even though he tried to avoid absolutism, he still retained much power.  After his death, his cousin Charles X inherited the throne.  He was a strong believer in absolutism and he rejected every idea of the Charter.  However, the liberals and radicals barricaded the narrow streets of France firing at soldiers.  The rebels had controlled Paris within days and the French tricolor flew from the towers of Notre Dame "And could be seen from Miles Away!!  Charles X fled to England.  Then, his cousin Louis Philippe inherited the throne and gave the rights back to the middle class at the expense of workers and the fact that many still could not vote.  This was not a complete success but the liberals and radicals made a huge gap in former policies.  Lastly, the revolution of Hungary in 1848.  This could be taken as a partial success and partial failure.  Metternich who was the Austrian Emperor who had dominated Austrian politics for over 30 years was taken by surprise when a revolt broke out in Vienna.  Students took the streets of Vienna.  He tried to calm them, but when workers supported the students, Metternich fled in disguise.  Revolution then spread throughout the empire to Budapest and Prague.  Hungarian nationalists demanded an independent government and for an end to serfdom and they called for a written constitution to protect one's basic rights.  Czechs made similar demands and overwhelmed Austrian government agreed.  However, these were temporary gains as Austrian troops took back control of Vienna and Prague.  They also smashed rebels in Budapest with Russian help.  Many were imprisoned, executed, and forced into exile.  The reforms were accomplished but at the expense of lives of protesters which is why it is partial success/partial failure. 



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