Early Nineteenth Century Reform Movements

The Second Great Awakening pushed people to become morally and socially responsible. It emphasized the family and celebrated the mother as being an important part of society even though women had been treated as second -class citizens to this point. It also contributed to social unity and a greater sense of community for stamping out sin and produced social reform movements, which attacked immoral behaviors like drinking, gambling and prostitution.

The abolitionist movement challenged the most vital component of southern society. This, especially the Dred Scott Case, contributed to major political and social conflict between the north and south, pushing America to the brink of civil war. Women were largely involved in the abolitionist movement, viewing similarities between their oppression and slavery.

The women's movement grew largely out of their involvement in the abolitionist movement. Industrialism called men out of the home to work and left the women in their own domain to run the household and raise the children. They viewed this responsibility as an opportunity to make the world a better place through reform. This spawned the temperance movement, which opposed the consumption of alcohol. Many women believed that drinking alcohol was a way for men to waste money, distracting them from family obligations and inclining them toward violent and abusive behavior. Eventually, women began to make strides in securing their own liberation, working toward suffrage rights and equality.

These movements contributed to long lasting change in America by reinventing politics, which now had to appeal to a more expansive electorate. These movements established the base for today's special interest and lobbyist groups.

Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings-

I know this is kind of a historical side note but it is relevant in the respect that it sheds light on subject of Thomas Jefferson's inner turmoil concerning slavery and racism. Jefferson struggled with the notion of slavery in the context of his time and the story of he and Sally Hemings is one that is still controversial and hotly debated today. Talk about something having legs, this issue has surpassed and outlasted long forgotten scandal of the day. Of late, there have been many studies both scientific and genealogical conducted on the relationship of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings. Many books have been written and it has graced the national news more than once. The story of the two who allegedly had an affair for thirty-eight years is one not to be overlooked. It demonstrates the complexity of its time and the unfaltering viewpoint of Jefferson himself that his racist viewpoint may be wrong.

Jefferson's wife, Martha died in 1782 and Jefferson was devastated by the loss. His appointment in Paris in 1784 during this tumultuous time in his life confounded his grief. An outbreak of epidemic disease in Virginia prompted him to send for his daughter, Maria. Her travelling companion was one of his slaves left to the estate by Martha, Sally Hemings. Sally Hemings was thought to be the youngest half sister of Thomas Jefferson's wife Martha through her father and one of his slaves, Elizabeth Hemings. Upon his death, all of the Hemings family became the property of Martha and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson requested that a companion be sent with the child and since the preferred companion, Isabel had recently given birth, Sally Hemings was to be her substitute. As rumor has it, at some point during her two year stay in France, Sally Hemings became pregnant by Jefferson and under new French law could have petitioned for her freedom and stayed in France instead of returning with Jefferson to the United States and a continued life of servitude for her and her unborn child. The story goes that she refused to return with Jefferson unless he would agree to free her children. Jefferson agreed and they returned to the States where two of Sally's children were "given their time" and five more were freed upon Jefferson's death. For a widower such as Thomas Jefferson, the taking of a slave for companionship was a fairly common practice, at least in the southern states of America during the 1600, 1700 and 1800's.

Unfortunately, during the election of 1804, the Federalist party got wind of the illicit affair (alleged) and did a bit of media mudslinging. The 1804 campaign became known for this juicy tidbit but it had little effect on the election and Jefferson still won by leaps and bounds, carrying fifteen of the seventeen states.

At the end of the day, the story about Jefferson and Hemings is a propos to the great American contradiction, the dichotomy of "all men are created equal" and the peculiar institution on which the life and fortune of Jefferson were built. Almost all Anglo-Saxon people of the day, even the abolitionists, were of the opinion that African-Americans were racially inferior. Jefferson agonized over this and even though he was inclined toward racism, he held out the possibility that he might be wrong. He was a revolutionary in his thinking at that time.

Britain taxes the colonies

 

During the 1600's Britain saw the colonization of the new world as a cash cow, or at least hoped it would be. It had funded much of the exploration and written charters for many of the colonies and territories acquired by the mid 1600's. In return for funding, transportation and land, England expected its share of goods and profits from the British colonies. Colonists depended upon shipments of goods and supplies from Europe to keep them going. Lucrative crops including tobacco, rice, sugar, saltfish, grains and hardwoods coming out of the colonies demanded trade on shipping routes to Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. England controlled this commerce and capitalized on this new found source of income through tariffs and taxes. Before long, the colonists who had put their blood, sweat and tears into the land and producing the goods found a way to circumvent the British rule and began smuggling goods directly to buyers, cutting out the middle man, the Crown. England was pissed, and not in a one-too-many pints sort of way, so they retaliated by passing Acts in Parliament. These included the Navigation Acts whereby restrictions were put on how and who supplied goods to the colonies and how the colonies traded with Europe. England basically established a monopoly on the shipping of goods back and forth from the colonies so they could control the duties they would receive. In the meantime in England, war and conflict with other European countries was rapidly draining the treasury. By the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, England had an enormous debt to pay. Parliament thought that the Colonists should subsidize part of the debt for defending the colonies during this time as well as help pay administration costs incurred by the colonies from London. England had tried to offset some of the costs and regain lost funds through several imposed taxes to this point including the Molasses Act implemented from 1733 through 1763. This forced the colonists to purchase more expensive sugar from The British West Indies, increasing England's profit margin instead of buying it from the French West Indies, which was much less expensive for the settlers in America. Colonists resented this and in 1764 when it was renewed as the Sugar Act by parliament, it caused much unrest in the colonies. In 1765, a further effort to refill the war chest in England by penalizing the colonies through the Stamp Act had begun. The Stamp Act imposed a tax on all official documents as well as newspapers, magazines and land transfers. These and other documents had to be printed on paper produced in England that had the revenue stamp embossed in it and the tax had to be paid in British currency, not paper colonial money. Outrage from the colonists prompted colonial legislatures to petition Parliament to repeal the act, and nine colonies sent delegates to a congress with the purpose of drafting a statement of protest. The Sons of Liberty rallied support for the resistance movement from the public and American merchants organized non-import associations that were designed to hit London merchants right in the wallet and convince them to support repeal. All of these pressures contributed to the repeal of this law in 1766.

The Townshend Acts, named for Lord North Charles Townshend who supported the taxation of the colonies, levied taxes on trade goods. Similar to the Navigation acts, the Townshend Acts taxed paper, tea and glass but the tax was levied on goods imported from Britain instead of foreign trade and some of the revenue would go to pay some officials in the colonies. This meant that the colonies could not put an official in their pocket by directly withholding his pay. Protests came in the form of a circular letter to be discussed in state congresses which was vehemently opposed by English appointed governors who rapidly dissolved their assemblies when colonial delegates voted to reject the recall of the letter and discuss it anyway. This incident reestablished the Sons of Liberty who in retaliation for the Acts lead a campaign to involve the public, men and women, to agree not to purchase British goods. The women organized as well and became a major force in the non consumption movement, hurting the tea, textiles, and foodstuffs. "Buy American" prompted women to spin their own cloth, drink local tea and purchase home grown food. In 1769, imports dropped dramatically.

The Boston Massacre was Britain's answer to the Townshend Acts debacle. 4,000 troops were sent into Boston, a hotbed of colonial opposition. The soldiers competed in an already depleted job market with the populous of Boston. Of course, this sparked angry encounters with the locals and on the fifth of March, 1770, a group of waterfront workers who were pissed (and this time I mean it in the "had way too much whiskey" sort of way) got into a scuffle with nine British soldiers. The mob outnumbered the company of soldiers and one thing led to another before someone in the crowd shouted "fire!" The Redcoats opened fire and five civilians were killed on that day. British troops were then withdrawn from the city and the Townshend Acts were repealed.

After a relatively calm period in Boston after the Massacre, some of the Patriots, including Samuel Adams, felt that the resistance movement might relax. In 1773, Sam Adams found a very good way to fan the flames of a dying ember. Parliament granted a legal monopoly to the East India Company on tea shipment into the colonies. In addition, merchants with loyalist connections had been chosen to distribute the tea, allowing them to undercut the American merchants. The colonists and Patriots were furious and when three cargo ships carrying huge amounts of tea sailed into Boston Harbor, a plan was hatched. On Sixteen December, 1773, a group of men dressed as Indians boarded the three ships and dumped every last case of tea into the harbor.

This series of events paved the way for revolution. In response, Parliament passed a myriad of acts aimed at strangling the colonies into submission. The colonists retaliated by holding the first Continental Congress and formally opposed the Coercive Acts. They also provided for a second meeting if their grievances were not addressed and satisfied by England. They had not yet declared their independence but the ball started rolling in that direction. The Revolution had begun.

The Progression of American Slave Rebellion

Slavery is a big ol' black eye for America. The irony is that if slavery hadn't existed, neither would we. Slavery allowed America to become a global leader in agriculture, provided cash crops like tobacco and cotton for international trade and made the settlement of the southwest possible after the Louisiana Purchase. African slaves were first brought to Virginia in 1607 on ships through the middle passage. The people were chained together in the bellies of ships where it was often devastatingly hot, living for weeks to months at a time in their own excrement with disease- ridden rodents. Many humans did not survive the trip. A speculated one-third of human cargo died from disease or malnourishment. Those who did survive had the unfortunate fate of being scrutinized and sold to mercurial tempered plantation owners and put to work in the fields of the south. Tobacco and cotton crop cultivation was tremendously taxing work. The temperatures in the south were blistering and a workday often lasted from sun up to sun down. Some slaves were whipped, beaten, tortured and outright murdered by their owners. They lived in squalid conditions in small shacks and there might be two entire families in it. Slaves were encouraged to procreate. Thomas Jefferson wrote, "A child raised every two years is of more profit than the crop of the best laboring man (Norton)." Women often died in childbirth due to lack of medical attention and infection. Young girls and women were often raped by white masters producing "mulatto" offspring, which brought shame upon many. A number of slave owners actually took on slave women as mistresses.

One now infamous case of this is the relationship between Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings which has gained notable attention of late. Arguably, though, even with all of the physical violence and violation slave men and women had to endure, the worst part was the mental dehumanization. The psychological effects slavery had on the human spirit were detrimental.

African slaves reacted to this horrid treatment in different ways. Some ran away, some held secret prayer meetings to worship, some revolted. More common was the day to day resistance which alerted to slaves' discontent. Sabotage was a tactic often used according to an article in December 2007 issue of "History Review". Slaves, in reaction to brutal treatment would harm livestock, deliberately break tools, fake illness, or work inefficiently. Some resorted to arson. Women often performed acts of infanticide. One slave woman named Sylvia had given birth to thirteen children whom she promptly murdered explaining that she'd rather have them dead than suffer slavery (Phillips). Another widespread form of resistance was running away. The majority of slaves ran temporarily and returned when danger of punishment had subsided. Cruel and brutal punishment, even death deterred most of the enslaved attempting permanent escape. Well organized slave recovery parties administered these punishments and then the fugitives had to deal with their masters upon return. The stakes were very high for those attempting to flee to northern free states and Canada. Spending a few days away from the plantation hiding out was a more feasible way of negotiating with cruel slave drivers. One former slave who had lived into the 1930's recalled that even though those around him were whipped, he never was because when he thought they were coming for him, he'd run off into the woods.

The owner's men would come after him and tell him to come on back and they wouldn't whip him. Many stories like this are recorded. For the slave, this action established to the master that his stronghold on the enslaved men and women was not absolute. Perhaps one of the most historically infamous slave rebellions was that of Frederick Douglas. After being hired out from a life as a house servant to a cruel master, Douglass endured six months of brutality and beatings. Douglass became fed up and fought back on one instance, which ended with the master, Edward Covey, giving up. After this, the whippings stopped and more importantly, Douglass had an epiphany. Douglass wrote, "The cowardice departed and bold defiance took its place." Douglass went on to escape into New York by disguising himself as a sailor. He was taught to read by the wife of a former master and while working as a laborer in New Bedford, he wrote a book detailing his life as a slave in Maryland. The book, entitled "Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass" was published in 1845 and he became a popular speaker as well as an anti-slavery spokesperson. He fame grew so rapidly that he moved to England fearing that he would be arrested as a fugitive under the 1850 legislature. He Moved back to Rochester, NY in 1847 and began publishing an abolitionist newspaper, "The North Star." Douglass went on to become one of Abraham Lincoln's trusted advisors recruiting soldiers for the union and speaking out for equal pay for equal work for them during the civil war. In 1848, the "North Star" published a letter from Douglass to his former owner where he attacks the horror of slavery and writes, "I intend to make use of you as a weapon with which to assail the system of slavery… I shall make use of you as a means of exposing the character of the American church and clergy- and as a means of bringing this guilty nation, with yourself, to repentance. I am your fellow man but not your slave."

The Underground Railroad was another means of slave revolt in which thousands were able to escape to be free men but often met with another harsh reality, having to take care of themselves with little or no means of doing it. The network of individuals helping slaves escape ran from the south northward. It had two primary stops along the way, one in Philadelphia and one in New York. Most of the "Conductors" who helped the runaway slaves escape into freedom were mainly white abolitionists. Some were former slaves themselves. Harriett Tubman is probably the most remembered. She had been born into slavery in Maryland and escaped to freedom in 1849. She returned hastily to the south to aid other escapees and was personally responsible for saving 300 people on nineteen separate trips. In 1857, she was able to liberate her parents. Tubman later served in the Union army as a cook and a spy and helped to lead an additional 750 slaves to freedom through this work. She was truly an American hero.

Written by Harriett Beecher Stowe, a white preacher, in 1852, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was a shocking wake up call to the injustice of slavery. Kenneth C. Davis writes of the book, "In a time when slavery was discussed with dry legalisms like "States' rights" and "popular Sovereignty," this book personalized the question of slavery as no amount of abolitionist literature or congressional debate ever had." "Uncle Tom's Cabin" was, as one can imagine, controversial and inflammatory but sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide. The book followed the story of a main character, Tom, through much hardship as well as other characters whose lives revolve around him. Although the characters were fictitious, the incidents in the book were documented accounts of actual events. Stowe wrote "A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin" in response to receipt of a package questioning the book's integrity and containing the ear of a slave. Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best- selling novel of the 19^th Century and is credited with helping to fan the flames of the abolitionist movement in the 1850's, spiraling America into the Civil war.

Not everyone agreed with or condoned slavery. The revolutionary thinking concerning slavery was born in the north, where states were far from slave societies. Abolition was gradually making its way through the north. In 1777 Vermont was the first state to ban slavery in its Constitution, Pennsylvania followed in 1780. Additional states north of Maryland followed suit as well in the years to come and this process became known as the First Emancipation. However, there was contradiction in American laws regarding slavery between the North and the South. When Slaves made their way into a free state, northern law granted the entitlement of civil rights to blacks presuming they were free. Southern law assumed them slaves and required their return to bondage. Dr. Benjamin Rush, an American revolutionary leader addressed slavery as being "A vice which degrades human nature (Norton)." In 1793 congress passed The Federal Fugitive Slave Acts or the "blood hound laws" requiring that runaway slaves be returned to their owners. This southern dominated legislation tried to force the hand of authorities in free states to remit renegade slaves to their masters. The law incensed northern abolitionists but was amended and again passed in 1850 as part of the Fugitive Slave Acts. Northerners felt that this was an attack on their principles, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all men. Some northern states in response to the unjustness of this law passed personal liberty laws requiring a jury trial to be held before the alleged fugitive slave could be extradited back to his home state. Starting in the 1830's abolitionists brought suits against slave legislation in the court system and juries refused to convict people who aided slaves escape.

Southern slave owners correlated black resistance and their loss of control with northern abolitionists. This bred bitterness and deeply divided the nation. In 1859, John Brown, a fervent abolitionist, lead an invasion of Harper's Ferry with a small congregation. The raid was not well structured and was quickly quashed, but it certainly heightened the tensions between north and south. Talk of succeeding from the union was a bound. The epidemic of mutiny turned the tide toward war. The outbreak of uprisings gave the pro-secessionists the psychological weapon they needed to launch the Civil War. The black resistance movements ultimately played an instrumental role in causing the conflict that would eradicate slavery for good.

 

Works Cited

Davis, Kenneth C. Don't Know Much About History. New York: Harper Collins, 2008.

Kay, Anthony E. "Neighborhoods and Nat Turner: The Making of a Slave Rebel and Unmaking of a Slave Rebellion." Journal of the Early Republic (2007): 705-720.

Many. Wikipedia. <www.wikipedia.com>.

Norton, Sheriff, Katzman, Blight, Chudacoff, Logevall, Bailey. A People & A Nation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008.

Phillips, Gervase. "Slave Resistance in the Antebellum South." History
(2007): 6.

 

 

Privacy in America; A thing of the past?

Even as an inventor, Ben Franklin could not have conceived of an SLR camera to record images on film let alone an HD video camera mounted on a red light on a city street to take photographs of car license plates for the purpose of issuing tickets to those that run them. Our founding fathers could not have possibly imagined how modern technology would affect the right to privacy granted to Americans by the fourth amendment to the Constitution. Technology has come a long way since 1791 and the means used by the American Government to surveil its citizens ether openly, as in body scanners recently installed in airports or inconspicuously through such means as wire tapping, etc., have become more abundant. Through the decades, our right to privacy has been gradually eroding. Are we the frog in the pot not noticing the water warming up? To understand individual privacy rights in America we must examine the Constitution and ask what the founders of our country intended it to mean. We must also look at how it has been and is currently interpreted today.

It was the intention of the colonists to live as free men. They wished to practice the religion of their choice without persecution and preside over their real estate without the impeding hand of the crown and the regulation of the Monarchy. Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" published in January of 1776 reaffirmed this notion with its incredible popularity and helped to start a revolution in which the dreams of common Englishmen would be realized (Davis). They desired to self govern but were leery of instituting a system by which all the power was in the hands of an individual. They felt that power could not be trusted to the good intentioned benevolence of one. James Madison wrote, "If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary" (Madison). In drafting our founding documents Madison and Jefferson referred to the philosophy of John Locke, a 1600's English Philosopher who held that all people had certain inalienable rights including life, liberty and property which should not be tread upon by the formation of governance (Patterson). The influence of John Locke weighed heavy on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and others. They insisted upon the addition of ten amendments to the Constitution safeguarding these freedoms. Our Constitutionals Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791. Included in the collection of rights is the implied right of individual privacy which has evolved in its interpretation over the years pursuant to the subsequent evolution of technology.

The Fourth Amendment reads: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no Warrants shall issue but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." (Fathers). The word privacy is not specifically written in the Bill of Rights it is merely implied. James Madison included language in the Ninth Amendment clarifying that even though some rights were implicit, that did not mean people had forfeited those rights (U.S. Department of state).

The right to personal privacy as an individual in this country began in its modern capacity by the debate over birth control and abortion, a hotly contested issue in America still today. A law in the state of Connecticut prohibited persons either married or not from obtaining and using any form of birth control. Additionally, it provided that any persons educating, distributing or aiding in the distribution of information or devices used to prevent pregnancy could be fined $100.00 and jailed. In 1965, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Griswold v. Connecticut, in which appelant Estelle Griswold, a director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut and appelant Buxton, a licensed physician and professor of medecine at Yale had been accused, tried and found guilty under Connecticut law and fined each $100.00 for distribution of contraband.

Chief Justice Story, Justice Goldberg and Justice Brennan unanimously concluded that connecticut statute was unlawful because the government had no right to interfere with a married couple's choice on family planning, it violated their privacy as a married couple (Griswold v. Connecticut). This case paved the way for the famous Roe v. Wade ruling in 1973 concerning a woman's decision to choose abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy.

The Supreme Court however, does occasionally rule against a person's individual freedoms as demonstrated in physician assisted suicide cases in the 1990's. In New York and Washington States, laws were upheld by the Supreme Court that make it criminal to medically assist suicide. The Court left the legislation up to the states though and the states may decide to ammend or repeal those laws at any time as Oregon has done. Of this decision, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote the following statement concerning physician assisted suicided as it affects individual and family privacy: "Every one of us at some point may be affected by our own or a family member's terminal illness. There is no reason to think that the democratic process will not strike the proper balance between the interests of the terminally ill, mentally competant individuals who seek to end their suffering and the state's interest in protecting those who might to seek to end life mistakenly or under pressure."(Biskupic).

With respect to most rights of a medical nature, when challenged, the Supreme Court does a very good job of interpreting and defending our right.

In recent years, where national security has been challenged in the age of information, one can clearly see evidence of Orwellian nature seeping into society. The September 11^th 2001 terrorist attacks on American soil changed our nation dramatically. It stripped us of our sense of security. This event has opened the door to a whole host of arguable privacy violations like racial profiling, red light cameras, facial recognition cameras at public beaches and stadiums during sporting events like the Super Bowl and roving wire taps. The government is eager to spoil potential terrorist attacks with up-to-the-minute technologies that watch, listen and people's movements. Do these constitute reasonable search and seizure as stated in the fourth ammendment? Some Americans are terrified into believing so, welcoming technology found detrimentally invasive in the months leading up to September 11^th. Our obsession with privacy has gone into rapid haitus. Previously inflammatory issues including medical data mining and other avenues used for amassing personal data seemed to have been forgotten. This greatly worries civil liberty interest groups like the ACLU who fight diligently to protect our rights from encumberances by new legislation.

On October 6^th, 2001, President George W. Bush signed a bill into law that has become know as The U.S.A. Patriot act. The purpose of the act is to "Deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes." (US Congress).

The Patriot act was designed to give the government more freedom to survail and gather information through phone, e-mail, medical, financial and other records under the guise of rooting out terrorism. It eases restrictions on FISA in the US; gives law enforcement a wider wake in which to detain immigrants; expands the authority of the Treasury office to regulate financial transactions involving foreigners and their accounts and also redefines terrorism adding the act of domestic terrorism. The expanded definition of terrorism gave license for law enforcement to legally perform some acts which they had not previously been able to do. An example of this is the "sneak and Peek" searches in whereby law enforcement agents can search and individual's home, car or business without the owner's knowledge or consent. The act also provides for intercepting phone calls as well as electronic communications,financial, business and library records to name a few.

The Patriot Act passed both House and Senate votes with Senator Russ Feingold (D. Wisconsin) the sole opponent of the act. He found the antiterrorism bill to be "troubling"and in his address to congress as to why he opposed the bill he made it clear that he was not oblivious to the great danger we face as a nation and acknowledged the enormous responsibility of keeping the country safe but perhaps he said it best when stating "Preserving our freedom is one of the main reasons that we are now engaged in this new war on terrorism. We will lose that war without firing a shot if we sacrifice the liberties of the American people." (Feingold).

The Patriot Act was supposed to have had a "Sunset" clause in which it would have expired on December 31, 2005. With that date rapidly approaching, the law's supporters pressed to have it made permanent and its opposers wanted very much to to have the language changed so as to improve civil liberty safeguards. Substantial edits were made in the Senate and it approved a reauthorization bill in July of 2005. The House however reauthorized it keeping it mostly original. The Act was sent to a reconcilliation committee who promptly removed most of the Senate's added language and was passed through congress on March 2^nd, 2006. President George W. Bush again signed the Act into law on March 10^th, 2006.

Through the Act's metamorphasis, privacy matters continue to be a hotly contested and debated law in America. The Constitutionality of the Patriot Act has come into question quite frequently in recent years. In 2007, a federal court heard a case (Mayfield v.United States of America) arguing that some parts of the Patriot Act were unconstitutional namely the ammendment of the FIS Act of 1978 for directly violating the Fourth Ammendment. The Claimant, Mr. Brandon Mayfield, an attorney practicing in Oregon,was accused and arrested for alleged involvement in the Madrid train bombing in 2004 based on the match of a latent fingerprint. The FBI broke into Mayfield's offices and pulled a 'sneak and peak'search. They searched his client files, copied his business and personal computer hard drives and waretapped his work phones and bugged his home. Judge Ann Aiken acknowledged that the Fourth Ammendment requires that the individual being searched is required to be notified and that the governing authority also demonstrate probable cause meaning that before a search warrant can be issued, authorities must say where they are looking and what they are looking for. Based on this fact, she opressed the two provisions of the Patriot Act used to defend this case saying that they were in violation of the Fourth Ammendment and therefore unconstitutional. In her decision she wrote "The Constitution contains bedrock principles that the framers believed essential. Those principles should not be easily altered by the expediencies of the moment. It is critical that we, as a democratic nation, pay close attention the the traditional fourth ammendment principles. TheFourth Ammendment has served this nation well for 220 years, through many other perils." (Aiken) All too often Americans have been too quick to cast their civil liberties to to the wayside in favor of invasive practices executed by the government under the guise of keeping us safe.

The most life altering invention of the twentieth century and possibly one that will go into the history books rivaling the importance of the cotton gin is the internet. The internet was conceptualized during the cold war by Paul Baran of RAND to act as a means of redundant information exchange to be used in time of emergency by the military. It was supposed to be an indestructible means of communication. It was ultimately developed by ARPA, a division of the United States Department of Defense, using the design of British physicist Donald Davies. ARPANET augmented military communications and eventually discarded its military trajectory, developing into today's version of the internet (Campbell).

The evolution of the internet has brought up many opportunities for debate about privacy. Internet privacy and security is a very controversial issue and is being debated and ruled upon all the time. John Ashcroft said in his article entitled 'Keep Big Brother's Hands Off the Internet' "The protections of the Fourth Amendment are clear. The right to protection from unlawful searches is an indivisible American value. Two hundred years of court decisions have stood in defense of this fundamental right. The state's interest in effective crime-fighting should never vitiate the citizens' Bill of Rights." (Ashcroft). The internet is a whole new frontier. Not only does it provide the vehicle for one to be able to connect with millions of others on the planet willfully with social networking sites, it also allows unwanted millions into our homes. The internet is a portal directly into our living rooms. Any time you make a purchase online or check your bank account, you are at risk of a privacy breach.

At a pivotal point in history, it is easy to understand how we want to depend upon our government to protect us as individuals. It is also impossible to understand how anyone might think that that should be accomplished by readily giving up our civil liberties which are a fundamental and unifying doctrine of what this great, free country was founded on. When I started this project, I felt that we were definitely loosing our freedoms. In doing my research, I have faith in the Constitution and the folks that uphold it. Although at first glance it may seem that we are rapidly loosing our privacy, it is the opinion of this author that some privacies are occassionally encroached upon but, Americans will not ever completely lose their guranteed right to privacy as long as we uphold the United States Constitution in its intended governance. It would seem that just about everywhere where some portion of government has tried to take bits and pieces of our right to privacy away, the Judicial branch has done a good job of disallowing any act that removes our right to privacy without probable cause.

Works Cited

Aiken, Justice Ann. "Mayfield v. United States of America Ruling." Decision. 2007.

Ashcroft, John. "USIA Electronic Journal, Vol. 2, No. 4, October 1997 ." 1997. Northern Kentucky University http://www.nku.edu/~longa/clippings/gj-7.htm.

Biskupic, Joan. "Unanimous Decision Points to Tradition of Valuing Life." The Washington Post 27 June 1997: A01.

Campbell, Virginia. "How RAND Invented the Post War World." American Heritage Summer Volume 20 Issue 1 2004.

Davis, Kenneth C. Don't Know Much About History (Revised Edition). New York: Harper Collins, 2004.

Fathers, Founding. "The United States Constitution." The Bill of Rights. USA, 1791.

Feingold, Russell. "On the Anti-Terrorism Bill ." Speech from the Senate Floor. Washington, DC: http://feingold.senate.gov/speeches/01/10/102501at.html, 25 October 2001.

Griswold v. Connecticut. No. 479. US Supreme Court 381. 7 June 1965.

Madison, James. "Federalist Paper." #51.

Mayfield v.United States of America. No. 72 F. 186. 26 9 2007.

Patterson, Thomas E. We The People. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2009.

U.S. Department of state. America.Gov; Engaging the World. 24 2 2010 http://www.america.gov/st/democracy-english/2008/June/20080630222008eaifas0.9629573.html

US Congress. "USA PATRIOT Act." Washington, DC, 26 October 2001.

Bubonic Plague Epidemic in Europe

Bubonic Plague

    The Bubonic Plague is a bacterial infection of the lymphatic system caused by Yesinia Pestis bacilli. It is characterized by high fever, chills, pain, extreme exhaustion and swollen lymph glands called buboes. There are three types of the plague; Bubonic, Systemic and Pneumonic. Bubonic Plague is transmitted through the bites of fleas who have fed on infected rodents and small mammals. Systemic plague occurs when symptoms are not caught immediately and left untreated; it spreads throughout the blood stream. Pneumonic Plague occurs when the bacteria invade the lungs and are accompanied by frothy bloody sputum. Pneumonic plague has the highest death rate with the shortest incubation time, usually between one and three days and can be spread person to person through airborne droplets during coughing or sneezing of an infected person. The death rate for someone infected with the Yesinia bacteria is about 1 in 7.

    In the 1330's in China's Gobi Desert, an outbreak of the Bubonic Plague emerged that would impact the course of history and decimate the world population. The Plague rapidly spread along the Silk Road and other trade routes first through China and into India, it then moved west into Egypt and Asia Minor into the Black Sea. In about 1345 C.E., a group of Italian merchants were expelled from their trading post in the Iranian city of Termeh and took refuge in Caffa on the Black Sea. The Italian Christian traders soon fell into conflict with Caffa's Muslim residents and war broke out between the two. The Muslims looked to their local Mongol prince for help in laying siege on the Italians within the city walls. About a year into the conflict, the Plague broke out within the Muslim army. The world was soon to witness the first example of germ warfare as one by one, the Mongol prince had the bodies of plague infected dead soldiers loaded into catapults and launched into the city. Within days the plague erupted and Caffa's citizens started to die. The Italian Merchants rapidly loaded their ships and fled Caffa sailing toward their Italy. Little did they know, amid their cargo were infected rats which had climbed up the mooring ropes and into the belly of the ship. By the time the merchant ships had reached Messina, half of the sailors were dead. The harbormaster tried to isolate and quarantine the ships, but the rats had made their way back down the mooring ropes and into the city of Sicily. This kicked off the greatest pandemic the world has seen. Between 1347 and 1351, over 20 MILLION people were dead.

    Cities in the middle ages were very unsanitary and had most people living in very close proximity to each other. Rats and other pests were in close contact with the human population. This allowed the disease to spread like wildfire. In the beginning of the epidemic, bodies of the dead were stripped of their clothes before burial. Fleas clung to the clothing which was either sold or passed on to family members or friends. This allowed the Plague to infect even more citizens. Eventually, there were so many bodies piling up in cities that people fled to the countryside and spread the disease there.

    Without knowledge of medical science, people assumed that the disease was divine punishment for sin. People turned to God and spiritual advisors. Pope Clement tried to prevent the spread of the Black Death by encouraging a new sect of religious belief in which its members were known as flagellants. Flagellation is a means of self punishment by whipping or flogging one's self. The belief was that by self imposed pain and suffering, you could appease God and he would lift his curse. There were some people that held the Jews responsible for the outbreak of the plague, blaming them for poisoning the drinking water. Thousands of Jews were slaughtered for this "crime". People were afraid, and rightly so. No one knew what caused the plague and there was no cure. To contract the plague was a death sentence.

    Around 542 C.E., an outbreak of the plague spread north from Egypt into Byzantium and killed about 25 Million people by the time it had run its course. Called the Plague of Justinian, it is thought that massive imports of grain into Constantinople from North Africa housed in huge granaries nurtured the rat and flea population. Procopius, a Byzantine historian reported that the plague was killing up to 10,000 people a day in the Capital city of the Holy Roman Empire. This was the first recorded plague pandemic. The second pandemic being the 14^th Century European plague discussed earlier in this paper. The third pandemic of Bubonic Plague surfaced in Burma in 1894 and rapidly spread to China, through Hong Kong and into North America. In 1907, 167 cases of the plague were identified and recorded. Today, cases of the plague are still reported to the CDC. About 10-20 people each year in the US contract the plague from culprits like ground squirrels, rats, prairie dogs and chipmunks. Most of these cases occur in the south western United States, mainly Arizona and New Mexico. The CDC website (CDC Plague)reports that "The last rat-borne epidemic in the United States occurred in Los Angeles in 1924-25." The World Health Organization reports between 1,000 and 3,000 cases of Bubonic Plague globally each year. The majority of these cases are reported in Southeast Asia. Brazil also reports a high number of cases. In 1994, an eruption of the plague killed 56 people and incited widespread panic.

    Due to the advancement of modern medicine and our ability to identify and treat the Yesinia Pestis bacilli, it is highly unlikely that a massive plague pandemic will decimate global population as it has in the past. Bubonic plague can be treated and cured with antibodies such as streptomycin and gentamycin provided it is identified early enough. Although we probably will not battle this particular plague again, we are always on the verge of the next killer pandemic.

United States Freedom of Information Act

 

United States Freedom of Information Act

 

The United States Freedom of Information Act was signed by Lyndon B. Johnson on the 6^th of September, 1966 it went into effect the following year. The FOIA applies to federal records only states regulate their own information. This law allows American citizens access to government information and documents that were previously withheld unless proof of "need to know" was established. The enactment of this law removes the burden of proof from the individual and now requires that the government demonstrate good reason why something must be kept classified. This law has been amended several times most recently by President Barack Obama to "ensure an open Government." The FOIA requires government agencies to aid in allowing the public access to information by processing requests for that information quickly and being proactive to ensure the information is available.

Most information is available by request according to the FOIA. There are however, nine exemptions which allow some federal agencies to deny access to information. The nine exemptions seem to be common sense and aid in the protection of some of our civil liberties. They include to date; (1) National defense and foreign relations information, (2) internal agency operating procedures,(3) information determined by another federal law to be kept confidential,(4) trade secrets and financial information that are confidential,(5) inter or intra- agency communications protected legally,(6) information pertaining to matters of personal privacy ,(7) information relating to the supervision of financial institutions, (8) geological information on the location of wells and (9) Law enforcement records that could interfere with- privacy, the right to a fair trial, witness protection, procedural information that could inhibit investigations, information that could endanger the life or physical well being of an individual.

Making a request for documents or information is quite simple however, the DOJ requests that you go to the website of the specific entity that you are seeking information from to make sure that records you are looking for are not already available digitally. Some records are readily available without a request such as how to apply for a grant, identify a "most wanted Criminal," case highlights and more. If the information you want is not available on the website, you should request information from the appropriate component of the DOJ that you think have records you are interested in. The listing of department components can be found at http://www.justice.gov/oip/04_4.html. Many of these records do not require formal request and there is no specific form that the DOJ requires to request information but it should be in writing. Your request should be specific about which information you are after. Some components of the DOJ will accept electronic requests and faxes. Federal agencies are required to respond to requests within 20 business days and the time begins when the request is actually received. Under some circumstances though, the time period can be extended for 10 days. If additional time is required to fulfill your request, you will be contacted in writing. Usually there are no fees assessed for making requests. A few exceptions apply concerning search time and document duplication. You should include the amount you are willing to pay for services or the DOJ will assume you are willing to pay possible fees up to twenty five dollars for servicing records. If fees will be over this amount, you will be notified in writing.

In the interest of protecting your individual privacy when requesting your own personal records, you must fill out DOJ form 361, have your signature on your written request witnessed by a notary or include the following statement above your signature-"I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct. Executed on [Date]." (Justice). Additionally, if you request information about another that may invade their privacy in any way you must have their written, witnessed consent or record of death.

More information is available at the Department of Justice homepage located on the web at www.usdoj.gov/foia.

 

 

Works Cited

 

Justice, Department of. Department of Justice Freedom of Information Act Reference Guide, January 2010. January 2010. 29 March 2010 <http://www.justice.gov/oip/referenceguide.htm#intro>.

 

Leonardo DaVinci; Writings from his undated manuscripts

Leo DaVinci was brilliant. Perhaps most famous for the "Mona Lisa" which hangs in the Lourve in Paris and the fresco entitled "The Last Supper" C.1495-1498 that is painted over the door in the Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, he was a painter, sculptor, engineer, musician, architect, and always a scientist. Leonardo was born in 1452 in the town of Vinci in the Tuscan region of Italy. He was taken from his mother at the age of 5 and was also left handed. He wrote backwards probably because he was left handed. He trained under Verrocchio as an apprentice painter in his Florence workshop. He was constantly curious of the hman body and frame and even observed and participated in Autopsies which were outlawed by the Catholic Church at the time. DaVinci created many great works throughout his life and travels. He was truly and literally a "Renaissance Man." Probably a little less know were some of his sketch journals and writings. Amongst his sketches of the human body and figure, were studies of flowing water, rocks, war machines and UFOs. Thanks to patrons like Bill Gates who recently paid $35 Million USD for one of Leonardo's notebooks, we, the general public are able to see some of these on display.


Self Portrait (1512)
Leonardo wrote about many different topics, truly a "Renaissance Man". Paragone was a common subject in High Renaissance Scholarship. The following writings are from some of his undated manuscripts containing sketches of studies of the human form, the way water relates to rock as it falls over the edges of it, architectural drawings along with musings on how he saw the world around him.

WRITING FROM AN UNDATED MANUSCRIPT

He Who Depreciates Painting Loves Neither Philosophy nor Nature

If you despise painting, which is the sole imitator of all visible works of nature, you will certainly be dispising a subtle invention of all forms -- Sea and land, plants and animals, grasses and flowers-- which are enveloped in shade and light. Truly painting is a science, the true-born child of nature. For painting is born of nature; to be more correct we should call it the grandchild of nature, since all visible things were brought forth by nature and these, her children, have given birth to painting. Therefore we may justly speak of it as the grandchild of nature and as related to God.

Of the Sculptor and Painter

The sculptor's art requires more physical exertion than the painter's. That is to say, his work is mechanical and entails less mental effort. Compared with painting, there is little scientific research; for the sculptor's work consists only of taking off from the same material, while the painter is always putting on a variety of materials. The sculptor gives all his attention to the lines that circumscribe the material which he is carving and the painter studies these same lines, but he has besides to study the shade and light, the color and the foreshortening. With respect to these the sculptor is helped throughout by nature, which supplies the shade and light and the perspective. While the painter has to acquire these by dint of his ingenuity and has himself to play the part of nature, the sculptor always finds them ready made.

~Leonardo Da Vinci (1452- 1519)

Renaissance Humanist Movement

 

 

Humanism is an intellectual philosophy based on the study of the classic literary works of Greece and Rome. Humanists study the liberal arts, grammar, history, rhetoric, poetry, moral philosophy; all based on the writings of Greek and Roman antiquity. The new thought process emerging from the study of the humanities was that God gave humans the gift of freewill, creativity and intellectualism to be used to the fullest extent that an individual sees fit to use it. During the middle ages, Europe was dominated socially and politically by clergy and aristocrats. The Great Schism did much to promote the birth of the Humanist Movement. The division of the church and the two popes, both of whom declared the other to be the anti-Christ, caused the people to lose their faith in the church leaders. It also caused the church to lose its temporal power and the papacy to lose its moral prestige. Humanism began as a drift away from Christianity in its medieval pious format. During the Renaissance it concerned a cultural and intellectual shift in focus from religion to the self and mankind's place in nature. It placed a great emphasis on art and denoted a swing toward virtue and value as an acceptable path to God instead of the biblical value of humility and introspection seen predominantly in the European thought process in previous centuries. A new view of human beings emerged as people began to emphasize individual ability. This high regard for individual potential gave rise to a new social ideal of the well rounded person who was capable of achievement in many areas of life. The Humanist Movement during the Renaissance essentially invited people to lead the good life.

 

Artists during the Renaissance sought to imitate nature in their works. Their search for naturalism became a tool to persuade the audience of the reality of the object, person or event they were trying to portray. New developments in technique such as one point linear perspective, scientific perspective and a more realistic relationship between figures and the landscape gave art a more realistic style. This caused people to look at art in a way they hadn't before, as a pragmatic continuation of their own world. Renaissance found man in a sort of purgatory between faith and reason where human beings were emerging as the center and measure of all things. Fifteenth century Florentine artists had spent time mastering the techniques for scientific observation of the world around them and were moving toward applying these new forms of creative expression in their paintings, sculpture and architecture.

 

. The Humanist Movement changed Europe socially and politically as well. The Renaissance marked a recovery from the perilous catastrophes of the plague and famine in the 14^th Century. Europe also underwent vast economic changes during this time. The shift to an economy based on trade and manufacturing as opposed to the agrarian based economy of the medieval period moved people into more urban settings where ideas were freely exchanged. As a result, the urban middle class grew and gained greater status which in turn provided disposable income. This transformation of social structure promoted literacy through the advent of new technologies like the printing press which changed European culture significantly. New political leaders emerged as urban leaders consisted of the middle class, not the clergy. The Church's role as a temporal mediator had been challenged. Wealthy families like Florence's Medici were gaining social and political influence which in turn greatly influenced many aspects of life including art. The Church continued to commission art but in contrast, society's new elite also became patrons. Civic humanists began to change the scope of political thinking. Bruni and Alberti argued for a republic style government based on the Florentine model in which every citizen would be responsible for themselves and one another. In addition, citizens were expected to uphold their civic duty to the city-state which further threatened the power of the Church.

 

Globally, much was changing that would form the boundaries of modern Europe and pave the way to the west. The Hundred Years War came to an end and the War of the Roses began. The Iberian Peninsula was united by the marriage of Isabelle and Ferdinand and much of Western Europe was developing a monarchial authority versus the existing papal rule. Further, maritime trade was becoming quite advanced. Commissioned exploration ended the isolation of peoples in the western hemisphere and led to the creation of the first truly global network of trade which naturally promoted the exchange of cultural and ideas.

 

The development of Humanism was a gradual process that started in the eleventh century with scholasticism and evolved throughout the Renaissance. It was the catalyst for political and social advancement in Europe for over 300 years led to a huge shift in the art world. The world as we know it would be very different today without the Humanist movement for it was during the Renaissance Humanist movement that independent expression and opposition of power was introduced and ultimately became a fundamental part of the western intellectual belief.

Do You Remember Ike?

Gosh, I sure wish that all presidential campaigns were still like this instead of the mud slinging slander that they are now.