Essay #2

War is becoming a unnecessary example of human fault. People are beginning to become way to greedy and stubborn and just keep on sending more and more people out to fight when they could be coming up with a solution on how they can actually end it. All of the wars that have happened have last like forever and they just need to learn when to end and and try to stop what is going on. Wars happen because they are fighting for something and are trying their hardest to get it, but it just takes a while to do. I think that everything that they are doing they are doing for a reason, I just wish that it wasn't taking so long for them to do it.

War I think is necessary because you are fighting to get something, I just think that it shouldn't take as long as it is doing. Some people think that fighting is a big joke and war is, but it really isn't. War has it's good and bad sides but everything they are doing is for a reason, they are fighting for the freedom of our country and are making it so much easier on people that are at home. The soldiers have to a duty that they have to fulfill and do what they gotta do to win this war.

The war that is going on in Iraq has been happening for quite some time now. I think that they need to understand what is going on and stop sending out as many people that they are because the more they are sending out the harder it is for everyone that is home, that are related to them and what is happening to them. If they came up with a conclusion and realized what what actually happening out there then it would have ended a while ago. But I have no say in these because I have no clue what happens out there, all I know is that people have been coming and going and coming back a different person then they were. The war has been going on for too long now and someone needs to stop it.

Alexander Hamilton Report

Alexander Hamilton was born on January 11, 1755 in Charleston on the West Indies island of Nevis. He was born out of wedlock to Rachel Faucitt Lavien and James Hamilton, who abandoned the family in 1765. Hamilton was so frustrated and angered Aaron Burr that he challenged Hamilton to a duel. The two men fought at Weehawken, N.J., on July 11, 1804. Hamilton had fired into the air then Burr took aim. Hamilton fell wounded and died the next day in New York. He also doesn't like Samuel Chase. He was buried in Trinity churchyard, New York City. Alexander represented the state of New York. He attended school in Elizabethtown NJ, but by 1773 he went to Kings College. He was a mature young man, who knew a lot about political issues with a working knowledge of British and American government. He was only 17 at the time that he had entered college.

When he was only 20 years old Washington recognized Hamilton's leadership abilities and his writing ability. Hamilton's military reputation won the interest of General Nathaniel Greene. General Greene introduced the young Captain to General Washington with a recommendation for advancement. He was an advisor to Washington, as well as an innovator of military designer. He designed reports on the defects and how they could be improved in the military.Hamilton was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and made his aide-de-camp on March 1, 1777. Hamilton had a four and a half year career as a military secretary. During this time his political thoughts and theories began to grow. During his education years, he founded a volunteer military company. Hamilton spent the winter of 1777-1778 with Washington and the Continental Army at Valley Forge. After the death of George Washington, the leadership of the Federalist Party became divided between John Adams and Hamilton. It was during this winter that Brigadier General Horatio Gates tried unsuccessfully to incriminate Hamilton during the Conway Cabal.

Hamilton's personal life and social position in the new nation took a decisive turn in December 1780, when he married Elizabeth Schuyler who was the daughter of a wealthy and influential General Philip Schuyler. This connection placed Hamilton in the center of New York society. In 1782, shortly after leaving the army, he was admitted to legal practice in New York and became assistant to Robert Morris, who was superintendent of finance. He spent a year in Congress from 1782-1783 and then spent time working as a lawyer in New York. Hamilton resigned at the end of January in 1795 because he realized he couldn't live off of his $3,500 salary, he returned to the practice of law.

At the Convention in Annapolis, Maryland in 1786, he made a draft of a report which ended up becoming the Constitutional Convention a year later. He also made more than half of the Federalist papers, while being an advocate for a strong central government and working towards seeing the Constitution approved. He became an important member of the first Cabinet of the first President as the first Secretary of the Treasury in 1789-1795. The people that were involved in the cabinet are President Washington, Secretary of War Henry Knox, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, and Attorney General Edmund Randolph. The financial situation of the country after the Revolution was the primary problem facing the new nation, and Hamilton developed the "Hamiltonian system". He became a leader in the Federalist Party.

The Democrat-Republican Party, more commonly known as the "Republicans", were their opponents, which was led by Thomas Jefferson. After this, Hamilton's career was not very famous. Hamilton was guilty of telling the Cabinet secrets to Major George Beckwith from Britain. Hamilton was very misleading and dishonorable in his dealings with other government officials, discrediting some of his contemporaries in order to see that his plans, ideas and policies were successful. The ideas of other visionaries like Thomas Jefferson were doomed to failure as a result. Other people involved in the affair were Senator William Samuel Johnson of Connecticut and Philip Schuyler, Hamilton's father-in-law from New York. James Madison, John Jay and Alexander Hamilton wrote the Federalist essays.

Personally, I think that he does deserve recognition for everything that he accomplished. He founded something was actually worked and was worth finding. He designed reports on the defects and how they could be improved in the military. His leadership was recognized so that obviously meant something and he was a good leader. He was seventeen years old and was already have a successful life and knew exactly what he wanted to do and how he was going to do it, and he did it. He made a slip up and told the Cabinet a secret that he knew that he wasn't suppose to tell anyone and soon people lost trust for him. He resigned because of the money but while he was in it he made good judgements and good things to benefit the positions that he was in. He was in many positions and in each position he did what he was suppose to do and knew exactly what he was doing and how everything was going to play out. I believe that he deserves recognition because he did his job and did what he was suppose to do and didn't have a problem with any of it.

http://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/hamilton.html

Nickel and Dimed- Book Portfolio

I. Introduction
A. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich, 2001
B. Barbara wonders if single mothers with Welfare, depend on what they can make at low-wage jobs if they will be able to survive financially. To answer this question, she decides to survive on low wages in three cities in America.
C. You never realize what you have until it's gone.
D. This theme is important because once you have something you don't realize what it actually is until it's gone. You begin to realize that you like it and it's what you want.

II. You never realize what you have until it's gone.
A. You never realize that you have until it's gone.
B. Barbara works at a hotel and doesn't get much money at all.
C. She tries to work at two different restaurants but still doesn't get much money at all.
D. She couldn't find any housing so she moves into a hotel and lives there.
E. If you have something good and then you let it go, you wish that you have what you had back.

III. You never realize what you have until it's gone.
A. Often times in history you don't value what you have until you don't have it anymore and it's gone.
B. They used to have so much oil in the past and they would just give it away and now you have to pay so much to get it.
C. In the past, everything was so easy to get and now you have to work for it and actually try to earn it.
D. In the past you used to have so many trout and now we don't have very many because they can't survive in the water pollution.
E. You also wish that you had something back no matter where you are or what year you are in it just always happens when you don't want it, and sometimes you can't get it back

IV. Conclusion
A. You never realize what you have until it's gone.
B. If you have something good and then you let it go, you wish that you have what you had back.
C. You also wish that you had something back no matter where you are or what year you are in it just always happens when you don't want it, and sometimes you can't get it back
D. Barbara did a good job of showing the theme but I think that she could of done it a different way.
E. You need to understand what this theme is because it's going to happen to us all the time and you want to rethink something before its gone and you can't get it back.


In the book Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich which was published in 2001, Barbara wonders if single mothers with Welfare, depend on what they can make at low-wage jobs if they will be able to survive financially. To answer this question, she decides to survive on low wages in three cities in America. The theme of this book is you never realize what you have until it's gone. This theme is important because once you have something you don't realize what it actually is until it's gone. You begin to realize that you like it and it's what you want.

Barbara works at a hotel and doesn't get much money at all. She tries to work at two different restaurants but still doesn't get much money at all. She couldn't find any housing so she moves into a hotel and lives there. She tried really hard to try and get a job but it wouldn't work and it was very hard for her. If you have something good and then you let it go, you wish that you have what you had back.

Often times in history you don't value what you have until you don't have it anymore and it's gone. They used to have so much oil in the past and they would just give it away and now you have to pay so much to get it. In the past, everything was so easy to get and now you have to work for it and actually try to earn it. In the past you used to have so many trout and now we don't have very many because they can't survive in the water pollution. You also wish that you had something back no matter where you are or what year you are in it just always happens when you don't want it, and sometimes you can't get it back

You never realize what you have until it's gone. If you have something good and then you let it go, you wish that you have what you had back. You also wish that you had something back no matter where you are or what year you are in it just always happens when you don't want it, and sometimes you can't get it back. Barbara did a good job of showing the theme but I think that she could of done it a different way. You need to understand what this theme is because it's going to happen to us all the time and you want to rethink something before its gone and you can't get it back.

Valley Forge Letter

February 18^th 1777

Dear Melinda,

War has been so hard and we haven’t won a battle yet. Just thinking that we haven’t won anything makes me feel like we can’t do anything and it is a waste of time. I have to sleep in a 12 men hut that is 16 by 14 feet long with walls that are 6 and a half feet high. It is so uncomfortable and I barely get sleep at night. Transportation is so horrible. The roads are horrible to get around and it is very difficult to recruit Wagoner’s. Quartermaster General Thomas Mifflin who is in charge of out transportation hates his job. Mifflin was a very wealthy Philadelphia merchant who wanted to be on the battlefield not as the head of transportation. He would ignore his job which did no good for us.

It is so cold here and it is so hard to keep warm and to keep my mind on what is going on knowing that you and the baby are home without me there but this is what I’m suppose to be doing for my country. The temperature has been around 20 and 30. We have had 13 days of rain during the first 2 weeks that we got here, it is nothing like California. Things began to improve, we started to get wagons full of clothing of food and they started a baking company that was gingerbread. We would cook our good over a fire normally. No one knew how to march or walk on the battlefield so that was very hard for us to work with. Orders stopping gambling, fighting, selling Army equipment and wandering away from the site was ignored.

Everything started to change once Baron von Steuben arrived. He served in the Prussian Army of Fredrick but only made it as a captain. He was a very good leader and knew what he was doing. We all loved his manner and his cursing in broken English and his hands on style of demonstrating every move personally. He wanted the officers to drill with their men. So many men tried to take charge that weren't suppose to and it was getting on my nerves.

This war so far has had it's up and downs and I just wanted you to know that I can't stop thinking about you and Abby. I hope that you are doing very well and I can't wait to see you and hopefully I will be back very soon. I love you.

Love forever,
James Pedone
xoxoxo

Common Sense Essay

1. Explain what right the colonies have to rebel against Britain
2. Detailed reasons why the colonies should rebel
3. What do you (as historical writer in 1776) see as the future in America

Boston Massacre

Gentlemen of the Jury, I stand here before you because Captain Preston and his men are not guilty. Captain Preston did not say "fire" when it came to the shooting. What had happened was that someone got shot and they heard a gun shot so the rest of the soldiers heard a gun shot and the rest of them shot thinking that they were suppose to fight. Several people have stated that they did not see or hear him say fire because they were so close to him. When someone shot it was there fault on why they fired because they were trained to do it and they had no choice. Many people got shot and they couldn't control it. Captain Preston never did say fire. Only one person that I know of said that he did and the rest of the people said that he didn't. So I think that he is guilty and he shouldn't get put into jail or anything. These men should go free and if we let them go then people would be mad but I believe that this is the right thing to do. If you do this then you are doing the right thing because I have many witnesses saying that he didn't say fire.

Revolution and War Notes

Battle of York Town


1763—Proclamation Act
It was a imaginary line that seperated the Native Americans land from the colonists land.


1764—Grenville Acts (direct tax)
These taxes were the result of a strategy by Grenville to make him more popular in Britian by lowering the taxes.

Sugar (molasses, wine)
Stamp
Quartering
Currency

Virtual/ Direct Representation

1765—Stamp Act Congress

The act required colonists to pay a little extra for legal documents, diplomas, almanacs, broadsides, newspapers and playing cards.

• Sons of Liberty
• Samuel Adams
• Paul Revere
• John Hancock
• Propaganda
• Boycotts
• Lobsters (Lobster-backs, Thomas Lobster)
  

1766—Declaratory Act

The Declaratory act made is so that parliament had full power to make laws in any case they wanted.

1767—Townsend Acts (indirect tax)

The townsend act was named after Charles Townsend. These laws placed new taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea.

• Charles Townsend
• Writs of Assistance (search warrants)
• Revenue used to pay Royal officials in the colonie
• Tea Act (glass, paper, paint) support British East India Company

1770—Boston Massacre

The Boston Massacre only killed 5 people but it got so famous just to get at the king. It was a fight between Britian and the colonists.

• March 5, 1770
• Local reaction (primarily)
• 5 dead colonists
• John Adams defends British soldiers/5 exonerated-2 convicted
• Convicted men discharged and thumbs branded

1773—Boston Tea Party

The Boston Tea Party was where they dumped 342 crates into the water in response to a parliamentary act which had restrictions on the purchase of tea in the colonies.

• November 30, 1773--Dartmouth sails into Boston Harbor
• December 16, 1773--Tea dumped into harbor
• 340 chests of tea dumped (value of 10,000 British pounds)
  

1774—Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts in Britain)

The Intolerable Acts was an American label for the laws sponsored by Lord North's ministry and enacted by the British Parliament in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party.

• Close the port of Boston
• Shut down Provincial and Town Governments
• All offices appointed
• Named General Thomas Gage as Governor
• Gave all western lands north of the Ohio R. to Quebec, allowed Catholic Church to practice
  

1774—1^st Continental Congress

The First Continental Congress brought together representatives from each of the colonies, except for Georgia, to discuss what they thought of the British Intolerable Acts.

• September to October (7 weeks)
• Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia
• New England—John Adams, Paul Revere, Silas Deane
• Virginia—Washington, Patrick Henry, Peyton Randolph, Richard Henry Lee
• Pennsylvania—John Dickenson, Joseph Galloway (Plan for American council under Parliament, to avoid war)
• New York—John Jay, James Duane
• Maryland—Samuel Chase (future Supreme Court Justice), Charles Carroll (richest man in Maryland, Catholic)
• Declaration of Rights—rejects Parliamentary authority over internal colonial affairs, colonies manage own defense, united aid to Boston if Intolerable Acts continue, absolute boycott of British goods to be enforced rigidly
  

1775— January

• William Pitt urges Parliament to withdraw troops from America because the idea of managing the colonies through force was “too ridiculous to take up a moment of your lordships’ time

1775—April 19 Lexington and Concord

This was the battle of Lexington and Concord. The British wanted to march to Concord because the Americans had stockpiled weapons there. There was a shot heard around the world.

• Gen. Gage sends 700 men to Concord to seize the powder supplies
• Paul Revere and William Dawes raise alarm the night before
• Town of Lexington is on the way to Concord
• Minutemen are assembled on the town common
• “Shot heard round the world”
  

18 colonials killed and the rest run away

• British march on to Concord and find the munitions were moved overnight
• Minutemen ambush the British the whole way back to Boston
• 430 Redcoats make it back to Boston
• 30,000 Colonists surround Boston
  

1775—May

• Gen. Howe, Gen. Clinton, Gen. Burgoyne
• 5,000 British troops
• Ethan Allen, “Green Mountain Boys” seize Fort Ticonderoga
• Henry Knox uses canon to lay siege on Boston
• Benedict Arnold (Connecticut) takes Fort Crown Point to impede an invasion from Canada

1775—May 10, 2^nd Continental Congress

The Congress met to talk about the past two battles. Another thing the Congress discussed was if they were going to print paper money.

• Sam Adams pushes for Independent
• John Dickenson (Penn.) urges restraint
• Agree to form Colonial Army
• Delegates unanimously agree to Washington as Commander of Continental Army (John Adams suggestion)

1775—June 17, “Battle of Bunker Hill”

The major part of the engagement was actually fought on Breed's Hill nearby. The place for this battle was in Charlestown, Massachusetts across the Charles River from Boston.

• Actually fought on Breed’s Hill
• Gen. Howe leads assault without canon support (his canon had been matched with wrong-sized cannonballs [Amherst at Ticonderoga])
• Militia waited to within 30 yards (some say 15 yards)
• Militia target British officers
• Militia ran extremely low on ammunition
• On the third assault, led by Gen. Howe, British troops overtake the colonial position
• Britain losses almost 1000 men (about half the attacking force)
• Colonials lose about 500 men

1776—January, Common Sense

It challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy.

• Gen. William Howe evacuates Boston
• July 2, lands in Staten Island, New York (Loyalist base)

1776—Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence is the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument.

• June 7, Richard Henry Lee (Virginia) introduces legislation to declare independence from Britain
• Before voting on Lee’s proposal Congress appoints five-man committee to draft a formal Declaration of Independence (Thomas Jefferson, 33, does most of the writing)
• June 28, Declaration presented to Congress
• July 2, Congress approves Lee’s legislation to declare the United States of America independent of Great Britain
• July 4, Congress officially adopts the Declaration of Independence

The Declaration intended to:

1. Undermine loyalty to King George III
2. Outline basic principles of representative government
3. Establish the “right” of rebellion
   
   War

1776—August, Brooklyn Heights, New York

1. Largest Naval group Britain will launch until the 20^th century
2. British victory, city falls to England
3. As winter came “sunshine patriots” left the American Army
4. Initial colonial enlistments due to expire

1776—December, Battle of Trenton
It was a crucial victory for the Amercian forces in the American Revolution.

• Howe believes war almost won
• 1,400 Hessians stationed at Trenton
• Colonel Rall (Hessian) builds no fortifications
• Washington “Crosses the Delaware” Christmas night
• 2,500 men; 18 artillery guns
• Surprise attack at dawn
• 106 Hessians killed, 918 capture
• No colonial casualties
• Washington retreats in secret to avoid Gen. Cornwallis counter-a
  

1777—January, Princeton

During the Revolutionary War about 200 British troops took refuge in Nassau Hall after being repelled by Washinton's troops on Princeton Battlefield, there miles south of the campus.

• Washington ambushes British troops
• Colonial victory establishes this will not be a quick war for Britain

1777—September-October, Saratoga

The battles of Saratoga were decisive American victories resulting in the surrender of an entire British army of 9.000 men invading New York from Canada during the Revolutionmary War.

• Gen. Burgoyne plans a three-prong attack on colonials at Albany
• Plan does not consider the terrain, forcing British troops to march through swamps, lakes, hills and forests full of rebels
• Two of the three “prongs” never arrive (Howe goes to Philadelphia instead, St. Leger retreats to New York afraid of Benedict Arnold)
• Sept. Burgoyne crosses Hudson River
• Oct. 17, Burgoyne surrenders
• Establishes American Army as real threat
• Helps secure open French Alliance
• Turning Point of the War
• 1777-1778—Winter at Valley Forge

Under-funded troops

• Low morale
• 10,000+ troops
• 4,000 troops listed as “unfit for duty” due to poor supplies (boots, blankets, coats, etc.)
• 2,500 troops die of disease (typhus, typhoid fever, dysentery, pneumonia)
• George Washington mentioned a lack of shoes so severe that the men's "marches might be tracked by the blood from their feet”
• Local farmers would sell produce to Brits who could pay cash

1779—February, Vincennes


1780—August, Camden

1780—October, Kings Mountain

1781—October, Yorktown

• British Gen. Cornwallis
• American Gen. Washington (also “Mad” Anthony Wayne, Baron von Steuben)
• French Gen. Rochambeau (also Marquis de Lafayette)
• Essentially a French Naval victory
• Last significant battle of the war

1783—Sept. 3, Treaty of Paris

• Britain recognizes American independence
• America gets all land from Atlantic coast to Miss. River, Great Lakes to Florida
• Fishing rights to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and off the coast of Newfoundland
• America must pay debts to Britain
• American congress would “earnestly recommend” all Loyalist property returned (States ignore this request)