James Madison

As a young man, I was in the Virginia Legislature under the watchful eye of Thomas Jefferson, at the time I had worked with Baptist ministers in order to allow them to operate without a license of the Anglican Church. This helped me establish my beliefs about religious tolerance in the United States Constitution.Madison was elected a second time to the Virginia House of Delegates, serving from 1784 to 1786 in the new years of independence. During these final years in the House of Delegates, I grew increasingly frustrated with what he saw as excessive democracy. I criticized the tendency for delegates to cater to the particular interests of their constituents, even if such interests were destructive to the state at large. In particular, I was troubled by a law that denied diplomatic immunity to ambassadors from other countries, and a law that legalized paper money. To replace the Articles of Confederation, I contributed tot the United States Constitution, while I heavily supported the Federalists, I was able to rise and become the Fourth President of the United States. But don't rely on this cruddy biography, go and watch the video above! Au revoir!

The Great Awakening

Well, the great awakening promised many individuals the freedom to believe in God however they pleased, opening new doors to them beyond the Puritan or Anglican beliefs.Being a Puritan usually associated being wealthy to divinity, and it was a religion that did not usually benefit the poor. If any impoverished individuals or families followed the Puritan belief, it was because they were pressured to do so by their community, a community that was not tolerant of those who did not feel similarly to God as they did. But when the Great Awakening came, suddenly things started to get better for the poor, men such as Jonathon Edwards made them hope for a belief in God that would not hold them back or exclude them from holy divinity. If one were tot examine the groups of people the Great Awakening influenced the most, it would probably have to be the poor families, who blindly followed what some preachers said. This may seem like a negative idea, but it whatever the consequences, the Great Awakening had a huge effect on America today.

As for the group, I felt they could have prepared a lot more. I awarded them generously for managing to pull together what they did, but hopefully next time each member will work a little harder on their information. I did learn a few more things about the Great Awakening, but most of the facts came from Ms. Ramirez, which should have not been the case. The (unedited) thesis was, " During the 1730s and the 1740s, the mother country went through a series of revolutions that fought for religious freedom and therefore caused social, political, and economic change. The Great Awakening had a major impact to the New England colonies and shaped their society and caused many colonies to create war."

Think You can make an improvement? Comment Below. :)

The Atlantic Slave Trade

          The Atlantic Slave Trade began around the mid-fifteenth century when Portuguese interests in Africa moved  gold to an available commodity, slaves. By the seventeenth century the trade was reaching a peak towards the end of the eighteenth century. It was a trade which was especially successful since every stage of the journey could be profitable for merchants -- the infamous triangular trade. Well the Triangular Trade was actually an interesting topic, and I was glad that the groups presentation had a bigger focus on the effect it had and the inhumane treatment of slaves. Being stacked up on in a small boat for there weeks is terrible, and it can make a person start to contemplate how cruel so individuals are willing to become. I was also interested that slaves were the equivalent of products such as molasses or sugar, and it had gotten me quite angry. Early Slavery is not a common topic many focus on, but I was glad that I had the opportunity to learn about it and realize that it was a long-lasting issue. I could not believe that it took about two hundred years to realize that the Atlantic Slave Trade was nefarious and incredibly small-minded.

The Glorious Revolution

Well as a member of the presentation, I have to admit the Glorious Revolution was a difficult topic to focus on.My question involved connecting the Glorious Revolution to the acts established in the American Colonies by British rule right before the American Revolution. As you can see the connection was not easily established, and to be frank my group and I had no idea what we were going to do. Thankfully, Ms, Ramirez came in to save the day and we were actually able to pull together something pretty decent. The one document that tied our whole entire presentation together was the English Bill of Rights which were established during the Glorious Revolution. I had a difficult time fixing our thesis and i could tell the members of my group did too, but I know that is perfectly fine. We actually made a huge improvement though and I was happy that I was able to get it over with. The Glorious Revolution is actually pretty interesting!!!! If anyone is interested in learning more about the English Bill of Rights or Prince William of Orange go to......
http://westerncivguides.umwblogs.org/2009/12/03/britains-glorious-revolution/