Blog

“To understand political power…we must consider what estate all men are naturally in, and that it is a state of perfect freedom to order their actions and dispose of their possessions…within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave, or depending upon the will of any other man… “Whosoever therefore out of a state of nature unite into a community must be understood to give up all the power necessary to the ends for which they unite into society, to the majority of the community…And this is done by barely agreeing to unite into one political society…And thus that which begins and actually constitutes any political society is nothing but the consent of any number of freemen capable of a majority to unite…And this is that…which did or could give beginning to any lawful government in the world.”-John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 1690How is the topic of Locke’s writing similar to most writing in the colonies in the 18th century?

“Though we have had war, reconstruction, and abolition as a nation, we still linger in the shadow and blight of an extinct institution.  Though the colored man is no longer subject to be bought and sold, he is still surrounded by an adverse sentiment… In his downward course he meets no resistance, but his course upward is resented and resisted at every step of his progress… “If liberty, with us, is yet but a name, our citizenship is but a sham, and our suffrage thus far only a cruel mockery, we may yet congratulate ourselves upon the fact that the laws and institutions of this country are sound, just, and liberal.  There is hope… But until this nation shall make its practice accord with its Constitution and its righteous laws, it will not do to reproach the colored people of this country.”-Frederick Douglass, Speech, September 24, 1883Which of the following would in part cause Douglass’ view that for African Americans, “citizenship is but a sham?”

“11. That Kansas should, of right, be immediately admitted as a state under the Constitution recently formed and adopted by her people, and accepted by the House of Representatives. “12. That, while providing revenue for the support of the general government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imposts as to encourage the development of the industrial interests of the whole country… “13. That we protest against any sale or alienation to others of the public lands held by actual settlers… and we demand the passage by congress of the complete and satisfactory Homestead measure which has already passed the House. “14. That the Republican Party is opposed to any change in our Naturalization Laws, or any State legislation by which the rights of citizenship hitherto accorded by emigrants from foreign lands shall be abridged or impaired… “16. That a Railroad to the Pacific Ocean is imperatively demanded by the interests of the whole country; that the Federal Government ought to render immediate and efficient aid in its construction.”-Republican Party Platform, 1860The Republican Party platform of 1860 was an indication that the party

“Many people in both North and South sometimes faltered in the face of the war’s terrible cost in lives and resources.  But…the war continued for four long years, ending only when Southern resources and Confederate armies had been so eviscerated that they were no longer capable of fighting… Both sides were willing to sustain such punishment and keep fighting because the stakes were so great:  nationality and freedom. If the Confederacy lost the war, a clerk in the Confederate War Department declared in 1863… [they would] ‘lose their property, country, freedom, everything…’ But [Northerners]…believed [that if they were defeated] they would no longer have a country worth of the name.”-James McPherson, The Civil War Remembered [2012]Which of the following pre-War developments led Southerners to believe that defeat would result in the loss of “everything”?

“It being desirable for the peace, concord, and harmony of the Union of these states to settle and adjust amicably all existing questions of controversy between them arising out of the institution of slavery upon a fair, equitable, and just basis… “We are told now…that the Union is threatened with subversion and destruction… If the Union is to be dissolved for any existing causes, it will be dissolved because slavery is interdicted or not allowed to be introduced into the ceded territories, because slavery is threatened to be abolished in the District of Columbia, and because fugitive slaves are not returned…to their masters… “I am for staying within the Union and fighting for my rights.”-Henry Clay, resolution on the Compromise of 1850, 1850Which of the following parts of the Compromise of 1850 was the most appealing to the South?

“We apprehend that as freeman and English subjects, we have an indisputable title to the same privileges and immunities with His Majesty’ other subjects who reside in the interior counties…and therefore ought not to be excluded from an equal share with them in the very important privilege of legislation…We cannot but observe with sorrow and indignation that some persons in this province are at pains to extenuate the barbarous cruelties practiced by these savages on our murdered brethren and relatives…by this means the Indians have been taught to despise us as a weak and disunited people, and from this fatal source have arisen many of our calamities…We humbly pray therefore that this grievance may be addressed.”-The Paxton Boys, to the Pennsylvania Assembly, “A Remonstrance of Distressed and Bleeding Frontier Inhabitants,” 1764The basic concern voiced in the above excerpt is with the conduct of which of the following?

“For a nation thus abused to arise unanimously and to resist their prince, even to dethroning him, is not criminal but a reasonable way of vindicating their liberties and just rights; it is making use of the means, and only the means, which God has put into their power for mutual and self-defense… “To conclude, let us all learn to be free and to be loyal… But let us remember…government is sacred and not to be trifled with.  It is our happiness to live under the government of a prince who is satisfied with ruling according to law… Let us prize our freedom but not use our liberty for a cloak of maliciousness.  There are men who strike at liberty under the term licentiousness.  There are others who aim at popularity under the disguise of patriotism.  He aware of both.  Extremes are dangerous.”-Jonathan Mayhew, church minister, “On Unlimited Submission to Rulers,” 1750According to Mayhew, the people should be willing to challenge abuses by the

“And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after the first day of April, which shall be in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred sixty-one, no sugars, tobacco, cotton-wool, indigoes, ginger, fustic, or other dyeing wood, of the growth, production, or manufacture of any English plantations in America, Asia, or Africa, shall be shipped, carried, conveyed, or transported from any of the said English plantations to any land, island, territory, dominion, port, or place whatsoever, other than to such other English plantations as do belong to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, or to the kingdom of England or Ireland or principality of Wales, or town of Berwick upon Tweed, there to be laid on shore…”Excerpt from the Navigation Acts, 1660-1696The above act was part of a British attempt to

“Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as commander in chief…and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion do…order and designate as the states and parts of states wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States the following… “I do order and declare that all persons, held slaves within said designated states and parts of states are, and henceforward shall be, free… “And I further declare…that such persons of suitable condition will be received into the armed service of the United States… “And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon military necessity.”-Abraham Lincoln, The Emancipation Proclamation, 1863To issue an Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln felt that he needed which of the following?”

“Now we all found the loss of Captain Smith; yea, his greatest maligners could now curse his loss. As for corn provision and contribution from the savages, we had nothing but mortal wounds, with clubs and arrows… “Nay, so great was our famine that a savage we slew and buried, the poorer sort took him up again and ate him; and so did diverse one another boiled and stewed with roots and herbs… “This was that time, which still to this day, we called the starving time.  It were to vile to say, and scarce to be believed, what we endured; but the occasion was our own for want of providence, industry, and government, and not the barrenness and defect of the country…For till then in three years, for the numbers were landed us, we have never from England provision sufficient for six months.”-John Smith, description of “starving time” in Virginia, 1607-1614According to the excerpt, which of the following was the primary cause for the starving at Jamestown?