Socratic Seminar

In the socratic seminar the participants started debating about facts that each one says. They started talking like if they were at court. I liked the way each person defended his/her ideas. Our teacher helped the dialog forward by asking us more question to reflect on. He gave us more complex situations to think about rather than the simple examples that we gave. When there was disagreement between two people the seminar would lapse into a debate/discussion.

Fortunately, the group was very mature in handling this because they took turns sharing their ideas and supporting them with details. There was almost no interruption in the seminar. People were listened too most often. Jehanne Aghzadi and Yousra Bouftas dominated the conversation because they knew a lot about the cause and effects of societies and they did further research to learn more about them. This means they had true facts that they based their ideas on. Though Jehanne and Yousra somehow dominated the conversation there was no interference of why they talked a lot and said what they said. They were listened to very well.

Evidence that I saw of people building up on other's ideas is that they didn't repeat what someone else said. They listened well to other people's ideas and developed them by giving new accurate suggestions. My understanding of each EQ has changed after listening to what people said in the seminar because they had great facts that influenced my ideas. This lead me to think and reflect differently on each EQ. Some of my opinions were changed by real life situations that the people in the seminar gave as examples. They strongly supported their ideas and this is what lead my to change various of my opinions.

The best part of the seminar was when you won the argument with your good supportive reasons. You felt smart after that. The worst part of the seminar is that we were sitting in the sun and it was getting too HOT because some of us were wearing black. This made it hard for us to concentrate. What I would like to do differently as a participant the next time I am in a seminar is to have the questions that we will talk about before hand in order to investigate furthermore on them specifically.

Current Event: Haiti Disaster

On the 12th of January 2010, an earthquake stuck Haiti with a magnitude of 7.0. This was a deadly earthquake that caused numerous deaths, and destruction of houses and infrastructure. Fully eighty percent of the haiti population lives under the poverty line. Three million survivors are affected and will require emergency aid. Emergency aid is required because Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere and therefore cannot afford healthcare. Emergency aid is given by the help of all countries around the world who are sending medicine and covers for the poor population.

This is politically important because other countries get to help Haiti and in the future Haiti will support them when they are in need of support. This is exactly why Morocco is helping Haiti when it has many starving and poor people on the streets in need of the same care as the people in Haiti.

Reconstructon Successes & Failures

　

Successes

1. Union is restored.
2. The South's economy grows and new wealth is created in the North.
3. Fouteenth and Fifteenth amendements guarantee African Ameican the rights of citizensship, equal protection under the law, and suffrage.
4. Freedmen's Bureau and other organizations help many black families obtain housing jobs and schooling.
5. Southern states adopt a system of madatory education.

Failures

1. Many white southerners remain bitter toward the federal government and Republican Party.
2. The South is slow to industrialize.
3. After federal troops are withdrawn, southern state government and terrorist organizations effectively deny African Americans the right to vote.
4. Many black and white southerners remain caught in a cycle of poverty.
5. Racist attitudes toward African Americans continue, in both North and South.

I disagree with the compromise of 1877 because President Hayes getting rid of the federal troops in the South was not advantageous to the African Americans. This is because the federal troops were the ones who defended them and made oppositions to give them their rights.

However, I do noit disagree with it completely because the southerners were going to regain their politics, and have new railroads. This will enhance their economy. Furthermore, this ended the Reconstruction. This is a significant change because the Reconstruction was mainly between the white southerners and the freed slaves. Fortunately, this ended and the thirteenth and fifteenth amendments remains and guaranteed African Americans the rights of citizenship, equal protection under the law, and suffargae. This means the white southerners couldn't try to treat them poorly because now they were equal!

Congressional Reconstitution

Johnson's Reconstruction Plan:
His plan was to pardon the southerners who swore allegiance to the Union. He allowed each state to hold a constitutional convention. The states were required to recognize the secession as not being valid. Then the states could hold elections and join the Union.

Black Codes:
Black codes were laws that restricted freedman's rights. They established virtual slavery with laws such as these:

1. Black people had curfews and they could not meet after sunset.
2. Freedmen with no work could be fined, whipped or sold for a year's labor.
3. Freedmen had to sign a contract in January for a year of work. Those who quite in the middle of the contract lost the wages they had earned.
4. Freedmen could only rent land or homes in rural area. Otherwise they were forced to live on plantations, which most of them did.

14th Amendment:

It said that all the people born in the USA are citizens of the USA and of the State where they reside. No state can make or enforce any law which will put down the priviliges of citizens of the USA; nor can any state stop any person from living, liberty, or property, without any process from the law; nor deny to any person within its juridiction the equal protection of laws.

15th Amendment:

It stated that no citizen could be stopped to vote "by the USA or by any State no matter the race, color or previous condition servitude."

Radical Reconstitution:

A small group of Radical Republicans saw themselves as moderates (someone who supports the mainstream views of the party, not the more extreme positions). They disagreed with Johnson's Reconstruction policies, black codes, and favored the expansion of the republican party in the South. They wanted to give African Americans their civil rights, such as voting and equal treatment.

Carpetbagger:

The Northern Republicans who moved to the South after the war were known as the carpetbaggers. The southerners gave them this insulting name which referred to them as a cheap suitcase made of carpet rags. This name meant that the northerners had taken a few clothes put them in a carpet bag and ran to the south to take advantage of the southern misery, so they can prosper.

Scalawags:

Southerners had an insulting name for the white southern Republicans as well which was the scalawags. This was a word meaning "scrawny cattle." Some scalawags were passed Whigs who had opposed secession. Some we small farmers who resented the planter class. Still others were former planters. Overall most of the scalawags were poor, but not all.

Newspaper: Reconstruction of the South

When the freed slaves went back to their homes they weren't expected by their families. Most of their families were hopeless and moved. Therefore, most of them ended up homeless, jobless, and afamished. From these some decided to continue working in their previous slave plantations and others decided to look for their families. There weren't many family reunions, but many joyful reunions did occur.

The South was completely destroyed. Two thirds of its shipping industry was destroyed. Almost all its farming economy was devoured, as well as roads. Factories, ports, and cities lay smoldering. The value of southern farm property had decreased by about 70%. There were countless men and young ones that died. Children became orphans, and brides became widows.

The South had three major groups of people after the war: The black southerners, plantation owners, and poor white southerners. The black southerners were starting their new lives in poor economic situations. The plantation owners lost their slave labor worth $3 billion, and the poor white southerners couldn't find jobs because of the new job competition from freedmen.

Though Lincoln created a reconstruction plan it was useless because he was dead. Now that the Vice President, Andrew Johnson took over he slightly modified the reconstituton plan:
1. It pardoned southerners who swore allegiance to the Union.
2. It permitted each state to hold a constitutional convention (without Lincoln's 10% allegiance requirement).
3. States were required to void secession, abolish slavery, and repudiate the Confederate debt.
He didn't include the pardons to all Confederate leaders but he gave them to those who asked for it personally. In 1865 alone, he pardoned 13,000 southerners.

Freed people wanted the federal government to give them the land that slaves were entitled and cleared for generations. In 1865, Union general William Sherman set up a land distribution experiment in South Carolina. He divided the taken coastal lands into 40 acre plots and distibuted them to the black families. Unfortunately, this didn't last for long because President Johnson eventually returned most of the land to its original owners, forcing the freedmen out.

Nearly 90% of black adults were illliterate because most southern states had banned education to slaves. Now freed slaves really wanted to learn and have education. White teachers went to the south to start schools, thirty African American colleges were made, and some taught themselves and one another.

A Freedmen's Bureau was created to help southerners adjust to freedom, prior to Lincoln's death. Itpovded clothing, medical supplies, and millions of meals to both black and white war refugees. More than 250,000 African Americans recieved their education from bureau schools.

PHOTO: http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/sespics/08064.jpg

http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/images/Andrew_johnson.jpg

Effects of War

War keeps people from obtaining food and water:

• This causes starvation and thirst.
• Thirst can cause people to drink from dirty places and get sick.
• This then causes the spread of diseases.
• Which then causes a high deathrate.

War causes people's families to have to go to battle & they do :

• This then gets many families to separate from each other and die, which causes many miseries.
• This can cause the destructed families to start chaos and theft in the country because they have no place to stay or no family to stay with.
• High death rate/ Decrease of population.

War causes destuction of houses and it is hard to rebuild:

• This causes people to stay without houses, which can cause them to freeze to death in winter situations.
• High Death Rate

War causes people to feel unsafe in their homes:

• This causes people to rebel and start fighting against each other because they have no government to keep them safe.
• Also this causes people to start a revolution which can cause chaos in the government.

Ken's Burn Civil War Video (What I learned)

The civil war took place in 10000 places and more than three million people participated in it. Three percent of the population died in it. It made some rich and others poor. Women were second class citizens, and Lincoln became the president. Harriet tuman wanted forbid slavery in Washington, but Southerners asked for a more efficient fugitive slave law. Slaves were maltreated and sometimes executed them when they were found. Therefore Harriet started the Underground Railroad which helped get slaves to the north and free them. The underground railroad was a series of safe houses stations where a slave went to hide and the next day the slave would go other 20 km to reach another safe house until the slave reached the north. It was rare for a slave to arrive to the north they were generally caught and punished.