French Revolution Slogan

The name of the author of our slogan poster is Léopold Delafose. He is 25 years old and is stuck working as a wheat farmer. Léopold is unable to sell his crops for a sufficient amount of money because of government restrictions. He believes in this slogan because he feels he deserves to earn money for his hard work. With all of these restrictions he is unable to gain anything, while upper class members live a lavish lifestyle.

The Shays and Whiskey Rebellion

After learning about the Revolutionary War and the events afterwards, it is important to answer the essential question. Is rebellion ever necessary or acceptable? How should the government respond to rebellion? The two best examples to look at are Shays’ Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion. What was different and what was similar? Were the rioters justified?

The first incident was in 1786, “Shays’ Rebellion”. Farmers were growing angry because they were being asked to repay the debt from the war through taxes. However, the farmers were being taxed for so much that most of them had to sell everything they owned They were upset because they believed they should be rewarded for fighting for the government to exist. They grew so angry that Daniel Shays collected a fair group of farmers to fight and rebel against the government. At the time, the citizens were under the Articles of Confederation rather than the Constitution. The government only raised a small army against him, as they were not allowed to use the military.

In 1794, there was a 25% sales tax put on liquor by George Washington. Of course there were citizens upset with this, so a large group of people banded together, tarring and feathering revenue officers. At this time the U.S. citizens were under the Constitution, so Washington raised about 13,000 men to subdue the rioters.

The essential question was “is rebellion ever acceptable, and how should the government react?” My conclusion is rebellion depends on the situation. If it is a serious issue that needs to be changed, then rioting may be acceptable to be able to give a strong message to the government. However, the government should be able to respond with just as much force as the rioters to be able to subdue them and prevent further damage. The government will be able to learn and understand that their citizens feel very strongly about what they need and want and will make a change.

Saratoga through Yorktown

From the Battle at Saratoga to the Siege of Yorktown, there were many battles that tested the Colonist’s morale and their physical strength. The question is, which was more important, maintaining a high morale or winning big military victories?

First, we  should look at Battles that possibly helped boost the colonists morale. The first example is surviving Valley Forge. Although it was an extremely difficult time for the colonists, they were able to use their survival skills and tactics to survive. They faced many, many difficulties, the most common due to starvation, freezing, disease, and the lack of hospitals. This horrible and enduring trip through the winter bonded the colonists together in many, many ways because they felt as if they could survive many things together. Overall, it was a very bonding experience that brought them closer together.

When looking at the battles of the war that were considered huge military victories for the colonists. One standout example is the battle of Saratoga. The battle of Saratoga was considered a turning point in the American Revolution, but primarily because it was such a huge turning point in the war’s outcome. When the British surrendered to the Americans, that was when the war turned around, because the ragtag group of colonists had managed to defeat the great army of the British.

After looking through the evidence for both sides, I believe that it was mostly large military victories that helped the colonists win the war the most. It was because of the big victories that their morale increased, and without the victories their spirits may have been very low. It was important for them the maintain high spirits, but the big battles that they won were more important.

Washington's Leadership

          A good leader is motivational, experienced, a hard pusher, and brave. George Washington was the captain and leader of the American army during the Revolutionary War. I believe that he was a good leader during the events of the war.

          During the Battle of Trenton, there were many moments where Washington was acting like a good leader. He helped to motivate the men when he rode in between both lines and ordered the men to fire. This was a good example of leadership because not only did he bring reinforcements for his men, but he achieved lots of motovation and drove the men forward.

          There was also moments when Washington did not show good leadership. Over the winter, the officers and generals were being fed well, whereas the other soldiers were not. Macaroni Jack was caught for some minor offense, and his punishment was a few lashes from a whip. Before his lashes, he said "brothers, won't you help me?" Washington wanted to prevent any form of mutiny immediately and decided to execute men as punishment. This is not good leadership because instead of disciplining his men, or feeding them, he executed the offenders and cracked down with harsh discipline on the men. They were forced to obey him rather than obey him willingly.

          Overall, after reviewing the first half of the war, I believe that George Washington was a good leader. I believe this because although he was very harsh over the though winter, he was very motivational to the men and used lots of skillful tactics to achieve victories with each coming battle. 

Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence could be considered a break-up letter because, in a way, it was America breaking up with Britain. King George believed that what he was doing in America was a way of protecting the colonies, whereas the colonists saw it a different way. They felt as if they were being controlled against their will and were being oppressed and repressed.

The preamble is similar to the Enlightenment philosophy because it mentions the unalienable rights -- Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. It also mentions consent of the governed and the people’s safety and happiness.

A grievance is “a real or imagined wrong or other cause for complaint or protest, especially unfair treatment.” The Americans decided to include them in the Declaration of Independence because it included their claims of the poor behavior they had been receiving from the British. One example of a grievance is when King George forbid them to pass laws until he accepts, and he sometimes became lazy. This was upsetting to the Americans because they had no ability to pass laws on their own. One last grievance is when King George dissolved representative houses against the rights of the people.

          The Enlightenment helped fuel the American Revolution in many different ways because Thomas Paine, with his release of "Common Sense", had many convincing and interesting points about how complete independence is the only solution from the British.

          However, many of the colonists were not ready for a revolution. Many of them rejected him, and very strongly disagreed with his views and what he presented to the colonists. Because of this his plans had an impact, but it was not one that impacted the world for the better in any way.

A social contract is when a group, or groups of people exit the State of Nature, and voluntarily give up some of their rights in order to protect their natural ones. Thomas Hobbes believed that social contracts were necessary, because otherwise, the world would be in a constant State of War. There would be no government, and no rules, therefore a social contract would be the only way to definitively solve the problem. John Locke believed in social contracts because, although people will not resort to murder, a social contract is needed to keep people’s natural rights protected.

What is easy about creating a social contract that people are willing to follow is that you are going to have many followers, and they are willing to have their rights protected, such as life, liberty, and property. However it can be difficult because not everyone who agrees to have their rights protected may agree to your contract rules, so getting people to abide by your rules could prove difficult.

There were some changes I made based on my classmates’ feedback. One thing I changed was my third rule. It was originally “our main priority is to survive, not to be friends.” After receiving some feedback, I realized the rule was not very clear. So, making it more clear, I changed it to “Our main priority is survival because friendship can sometimes be a distraction.” I think it makes our reasoning a little more clear. It is not completely ruling out friendship, but it is merely suggesting it can be distracting when surviving. I also changed the fourth rule to “Weapons are only used by those who have shown worth. Worth is shown by trials; weapons are not allowed inside the walls of the community.” I changed it to this because it shows who is read to have a weapon, and who is not.