alpalinski – American History to 1877

April 30, 2014

C.S.A. – An Analysis

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In the film Confederate States of America, the director imagines an alternate history in which the Confederate Army won the Civil War. The film begins with the Confederates beating the Union Army and searching for the escaped Abraham Lincoln. From here it accurately follows the historical timeline of events into the modern era. Significant changes are made in the history of the United States to represent a change in the ideology of the nation.

I agree with the author of the post “Changes to the Original” in her belief that the movie is extremely stereotypical in regards to its portrayal of the South. Most of the film’s humor is derived from stereotypical references to Southern culture and racism. “Country” music is played in the background throughout the movie, and actors with Southern accents are prominent as well. Typical southern cuisine is mentioned throughout the film to great effect. This is prominently shown in a commercial with references to fried chicken, as well as the testimony of the South American man forced to eat stereotypical southern food.

I found the commercials in between clips of the documentary to be one of the most jarring aspects of the film. In particular, the slave-tracking device advertised on TV resonated with me in a severe fashion. At first glance, these commercials appeared funny to me, and I found myself chuckling as I watched them. However, when I considered a world where overt racism was this prominent in society, I found myself cringing. Perhaps it was because these commercials were so similar to ones I’ve seen advertised on television, just tweaked slightly towards a different subject matter. In any case, I found myself thinking that I wouldn’t want to live in a society where such bigotry was displayed out in the open on a day-to-day basis.

Ultimately, I feel as if the film is successful in its attempt to portray a Confederate United States. I felt as if it was extremely imaginative, and well thought out in regards to actual historical events. The director tweaked history just enough to make it somewhat plausible. Although at times the film was extremely stereotypical, and poked a great deal of fun at the South, I feel as if the film succeeded in highlighting the modern day issue of discrimination.

April 13, 2014

Ask A Slave: A Commentary

In the YouTube web series Ask a Slave, the creator Azie Dungey comically portrays a slave living on George Washington’s plantation in the late 18^th century. Using her historical knowledge of the time period, and an extremely dry wit, she sarcastically answers real questions posed to her by individuals she encountered while working as an historical reenactor at Mt. Vernon. Azie, under the alias of the slave Lizzie Mae, admirably illustrates with humor the shocking lack of knowledge that many Americans possess about early American history.

Dungey’s video really highlights a collective ignorance in America about slavery in the United States. Many of the questions posed to Azie where simply shocking to me. Some of the more outrageous questions and statements included the following: “Slavery wasn’t that bad!,” “Do you have any white friends?,” and “What does George Washington think about Abraham Lincoln freeing all of his slaves?” In my opinion, the questions posed to Azie are just absurd. Moreover, It’s disconcerting to me that people would still think that “slavery isn’t that bad,” particularly because it still exists as an underground institution in today’s society. I found myself wishing that the person who made this statement could face the conditions that early slaves did, if only for a couple of days. Perhaps this would allow them to see what a deplorable, degrading, and dehumanizing practice slavery is.

I feel as if the author of the post Ask a Slave’s Critique of the American Education System made an extremely important point when stating that we cannot let Azie’s message get lost in her humor. Azie’s comedic influence in her work is certainly valuable. It makes her videos more accessible and interesting to her audience, and I feel it is a major factor in why they have achieved such recognition and success. However, it’s all too easy to allow ourselves to just take that humor at face value, instead of looking past it and trying to understand why Azie actually made these videos. I don’t think Azie is just making her videos because these questions are ridiculous or funny. She’s purposely illustrating a rather shocking and sad ignorance about our nation’s history among the general populace

Overall, I feel as if Ask a Slave is an important web series. Dungey’s videos are witty, sarcastic, and supremely funny. More important, however, is the fact that they highlight a real lack of knowledge about the early history of the United States. I feel that we as Americans have a responsibility to learn about the history of our country. While this country is certainly one of the greatest on this earth, many mistakes were made along the way to reach the point where we are now. It’s important to learn about them. We don’t want them to happen again.

April 7, 2014

The Rise of American Democracy: Chapter 17

In Chapter 17 of The Rise of American Democracy, Wilentz focuses primarily on discussing parties. In particular, he details carefully the “big” names that associated themselves with the Whigs and the Democrats, and discusses how these people influenced the early American party system, as well as early American politics in general.

Wilentz gives a fair amount of attention to the surprising ascendency of John Tyler to President of the United States. This makes sense, as Tyler’s presidency threw the political system into confusion and turmoil. Tyler ran with Harrison under the banner of the Whig Party, yet it soon became clear after Tyler gained the Presidency that he had no qualms with resisting popular Whig policy.

Tyler quickly fell into dispute with Henry Clay, previously a political ally, over the re-chartering of the national bank. A personal war soon broke out between them. When it became apparent that Tyler would not support a national bank, much like President Jackson, Henry Clay cut all ties with Tyler and isolated him entirely from the Whig party. This type of political squabbling is a theme throughout this chapter of The Rise of American Democracy. Wilentz does a good job of describing the cutthroat elements of American politics at this time. He notes all the scheming, strategizing, and manipulation of early American politicians in great detail, and the reader leaves with a real sense of how cruel and ferocious early American politics could be.

Particular interesting to me was Wilentz’s description of the Dorr Warr. Dorr and his fellow reformers attempted to push through a new constitution with the use of a state convention in Rhode Island. Angered, the conservative government already in power began to arrest Dorrite leaders. Violence ensued between the two parties, and the episode culminated with the arrest of Dorr. Legally, this incident is fascinating because it tested whether the majority in a state had a right to overthrow the government as stated by the Constitution. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled that Dorr and his supporters had no right to attempt a revolution.

This chapter, while not focused on the abolition movement, does highlight some progress in the department of racial equality. As mentioned by the authors of the blog posts The Connection Between Women’s Rights and Abolition and Ask a Slave, during this time period abolitionists were actually making headway with regards to racial equality. We finally start to see the North developing into a hotbed for the abolition movement. Women’s rights activists begin to sympathize with African-Americans, and people in general were more open to discussing the abolition of slavery than ever before. Thus, the conservative constitution in Rhode Island during the Dorr War “enfranchised black males who met the same minimal taxpaying requirements as native-born whites.” I personally was shocked by this, because this constitution legally viewed African-Americans as having the same rights, at least with regards to voting, as whites. Here we clearly start to see an example of the decline of the pro-slavery movement in the North.

March 31, 2014

The Rise of American Democracy: Chapter 13

In chapter 13 of The Rise of American Democracy, Wilentz touches up a variety of issues. In particular he focuses in on the Second Bank of the United States, the abolitionist movement, and Unions. Moreover, Wilentz highlights how the Jacksonian administration handled these particular issues, and rationalizes how these events set the stage for the emergence of a new type of American democracy.

I found it particularly interesting that abolitionists were targeted with violence in the North as well as the South. I had previously imagined the North as the primary breeding ground for abolitionism, and found it shocking that abolitionists were subjected to angry mobs and official repression by the government. Apparently, at least towards the beginnings of our nation, abolitionists were treated with the same disdain and concept in the North as they were in the South.

Wilentz made a good point when examining the Second Bank of the United States, and Jackson’s response to what he considered an impending crisis. Removing government deposits from the bank was a certainly a bold move, and gave Henry Clay and his rivals ample ammunition to use against him. His opponents could certainly construe his actions in a negative light, and ultimately were able to portray Jackson as a tyrannical despot who was overreaching the executive powers given to him. Previously, Wilentz had shown a certain bias for Jackson in his writing, yet I feel in this chapter he does a good job of highlighting both the good and the bad aspects of his character. In particular, he calls out Jackson for failing to enforce the 1836 Post Office Law, which left in question the relationship between national and state government.

The author of the post “Early 1800 Politics,” made a good point in his piece last week when he discussed the still developing system of American politics. Both national and state government officials were still trying to determine the appropriate balance of power in the recently formed government. In light of this, Jackson’s failure to uphold the 1836 Post Office Law is even more egregious. Jackson supposedly supported the notion of federal supremacy, and yet allowed states to violate the Post Office Law. Here Jackson contradicts himself, and sets a dangerous precedent. Instead of clarifying the relationship between national and state governments, he violates his own principles simply because it was easier to do so, and threw into question the power of the federal government.

Ultimately, I feel as if Wilentz does an exceedingly good job with chapter 13 of The Rise of American Democracy. In particular, I feel he rids his writing of a certain bias for Jackson that had shown up in previous chapters. In chapter 13 Wilentz does an excellent job of portraying both the good and the bad aspects of Jackson’s administration.

February 16, 2014

Britain’s Rise To Power

In Chapter 18 of American Colonies, Taylor focuses on Britain’s conflicts and wars, particularly with the French and Spanish. He clearly outlines Britain’s ascent to power in the New World, paying particular attention to their dominance of the trade industry with the native peoples. As Taylor states, the British simply offered superior goods to the French and Spanish at extremely fair prices. While the French treated the native people with more respect, tribes were forced to barter with the British in order to procure their superior merchandise.

I feel as if the post “Colonial Origins of the American Dream,” does a good job on focusing in on Taylor’s main argument in this chapter. Throughout the narrative, Taylor clearly highlights the rise of British dominance in the New World. After the 7 years war with the French, the British clearly set themselves apart from the French and Spanish as the premiere colonial power. Ultimately, the British invested the most capital into establishing a firm base of colonies in North America, and inevitably they reaped the rewards. Their trade industry flourished and their capital increased, which allowed the British army and navy to reach a new level of dominance.

Taylor does a particularly good job of highlighting the role of Native Americans in Chapter 18. I found the change of their allegiances to the British and the French fascinating, as well as their eventual decline in power. Previously, I failed to realize how much the Native Americans played the British and the French off of each other in order to maintain relevance in North America. As Taylor shows, the Natives played a key role in advising the French and British military leaders. Moreover, although many Native Americans shifted their allegiance to the French, without the expertise of native guides the British never would have mastered warfare in North America. However, with the defeat of the French, Native Americans lost much of their power, as they now relied solely on the British for trade opportunities. Something the British ruthlessly exploited to their benefit.

Overall, I feel as Taylor does a fantastic job of describing Britain’s ascent to prowess in the New World. Although, as mentioned in other posts, he forsakes his previous style of a social narrative for more of a direct military history in Chapter 18, I find the change of pace refreshing. He clearly allows the reader to understand how economics, native relations, and social policy played a role in Britain’s domination of North America. Additionally, in this chapter he does a good job of foreshadowing colonial independence, paying particular attention to taxes and the free spirit of the 13 colonies.

February 12, 2014

Chapter 15: Religious Revival

In Chapter 15 of American Colonies, Taylor describes the resurgence of religion in colonial America during the 18^th century. Known as “The Great Awakening,” widespread religious revival spread across the colonies in response to sweeping religious reform. Religious institutions began to become widespread across the colonies, and many adopted a more compelling form of preaching. Moreover, the evangelists in particular promoted a more “equal” society that accepted all classes of people, and attempted to further the rights of the individual.

As mentioned in the previous post “Religious Awakening in the Colonies,” Taylor does a particularly good job of painting a clear picture of the religious diversity in the colonies. His use of numerical statistics, particularly the number of churches in each specific region, clearly demonstrates the power and prominence of religion within the colonies. Taylor’s decision to discuss religion in a regional context is particularly effective. He discusses religion separately in the northern, southern, and middle colonies, allowing the reader to clearly understand the diverse and various religious differences in each of these geographic regions. By discussing the impact of religion on each separate region, Taylor allows the reader to grasp how religion uniquely impacted the social and political hierarchy of the colonies.

I found religion’s role within the colonies particularly fascinating. Having just discussed the ideas of tolerance and certain freedoms within social class, it was interesting to see that religion was being used to better the colonists lot in life. As Taylor notes, religion allowed women to have a voice that was previously denied to them in the colonies. The Quakers in particular, valued the voice of women in their service. Moreover, the Baptists and other evangelists began to become interested in including African slaves and Indians in salvation, allowing them to attend service and worship as equals with the other members. However, fearful of the Africans unifying under a singular identity, the Anglicans soon put an end to the baptism of slaves. A pattern we see continued from earlier readings.

Overall, I feel as if Taylor has done an exceedingly good job in portraying religion in the colonies. He discusses each religion separately, and narrates a compelling story about the role of each early religion. My one complaint with Taylor comes early in the chapter. Taylor writes that it is a myth that “English colonists fled from religious persecution into a land of religious freedom” (339). However, I feel as if in previous chapters, religion was portrayed by Taylor as a major factor in the emigration of the early English colonists. While he made it clear that economics certainly played a role in people flocking to the new world, I feel as if he almost perpetuates the very myth that he warns us against earlier in our readings.

January 29, 2014

State of the Union: A Commentary

In President Obama’s State of the Union Address, he touches upon a variety of issues critical to the future of the United States of America. The cornerstones of Obama’s administration were all mentioned, including lengthy periods of space dedicated to discussing pressing issues such as economic growth, technology, unemployment, energy, immigration, healthcare, and equality.

However, underlying every issue discussed was a central message from President Obama. This message was simple. The citizens of the United States need to come together collectively, as an American people, in order to achieve a successful future. The volatile arguments between the various political powers in the United States have to stop, or at least subside to a point where at least some progress can be made. To put it bluntly; America must become unified again.

This in my opinion is a fair and fascinating argument. In class, we’ve been studying the very beginnings of this nation. The foundational building blocks of the United States of America. At this point in our studies, the United States has yet to form into a cohesive nation. We’re reminded that the land where we now live was founded, colonized, and made inhabitable by a variety of different nations that we are no longer affiliated with. And yet, somewhere between the beginnings of this nation, and where we find ourselves now, an American identity was formed. A variety of people with different backgrounds managed to come together to forge this nation through a great deal of bloodshed, sweat, and toil. I feel as if we sometimes take this fact for granted.

Obama is also quick to point out that “those at the top have never done better.” Moreover, he states that “inequality has deepened,” and that “upward mobility has stalled.” In light of our recent studies, I found Obama’s statements particularly meaningful. The initial colonizers came to North American for a variety of different reasons, mainly religious and economic ones. The ability to climb the social latter in England and other parts of Europe had stalled, and people came to the New World looking to improve their fortunes. Thus this nation was at least partially founded on the basis that through hard work and dedication, one could improve their social standing in life. However, in recent times, it appears as if this notion is fading. Poverty has risen at alarming rates, and as Obama mentioned, the ability for Americans to improve their lot in life has increasingly become more difficult. I find it somewhat startling to see that this nation is possibly regressing once again in regards to social mobility.

Overall, I found Obama’s speech extremely compelling. The historical parallels that could be drawn to our lessons in class were extremely interesting, and helped deepen my understanding and appreciation for many of Obama’s arguments.