Document Based Question - Toussaint Louverture

Toussaint Louverture was the leader of the Haitian Revolution in the 17-1800s.  Inspired by the French Revolution, he fought for abolition in what was then the French colony of Saint Domingue.  He later became the ruler of Saint Domingue and fought for independence.  Louverture was captured before Saint Domingue gained independence, and he died in a French prison.  He made some controversial decisions, but is primarily remembered as an abolitionist, a ruler, and a military commander.

When the French Revolution began in 1789, ideas like liberty and equality spread to France’s colonies.  The slaves of Saint Domingue began to revolt until the new French government abolished slavery in all of its colonies.  When France was taken over by Napoleon, he sent troops to Saint Domingue to reinstate slavery, but Toussaint and his rebel army fought Napoleon’s forces to keep their freedom.  France’s government in 1795 became more conservative than the rebellion’s government, and many feared that they would try to reinstate slavery in the French colonies.  Louverture told this new French Directory that the former slaves of Saint Domingue would willingly fight and die to keep their freedom now that they knew what freedom was like.  Louverture signed the Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801, which stated that while slavery was abolished, the economy of Saint Domingue would remain plantation-based, and that workers would now be paid and have better conditions.  

In the Saint Domingue Constitution of 1801, Toussaint Louverture was made the dictator of his colony for life.  He also decided to keep the plantation-based economic system, which led to revolts against Louverture’s new government.  In order to maintain order, Louverture felt that he had to reinstate policies very similar to those that existed before slavery was abolished.  There was no free speech, people had to have security cards on them at all times, and any workers who ran away from their plantation would be arrested.  Anyone who harboured a runaway worker would be imprisoned.  Louverture was willing to be unpopular in order to secure what he thought was right.

Part of Toussaint Louverture’s role as leader of Saint Domingue was as a military commander.  His nephew, Hyacinthe Moyse, led a revolt in the Northern Department of Saint Domingue.  He believed that the plantations should be parceled out in individual farms, and that plantation workers were free in name only.  A very violent revolt broke out, and white people were massacred in the Northern Department, which Moyse was the commanding general of.  Louverture forced some of the rebels to shoot themselves, and arrested Moyse and sentenced him to death by firing squad.  Not all of his military ventures were quite so cruel, however.  He was a good military strategist and was able to defeat Napoleon’s troops by burning the port cities where the troops landed and fleeing to the mountains where the rebels had always had the upper hand.  He also conquered the Spanish side of the island.

Althought Toussaint Louverture made some questionable moves while ruling Saint Domingue, he was primarily an abolitionist and a liberator of slaves.  He was also a military commander.  He was a great military strategist, and ruled Saint Domingue, protecting the liberty of its citizens.

1830, Time for a Revolution

In class recently, we've been learning about the revolutions that happened in Europe in 1830 and 1848, especially whether or not they were failures.  To determine the level of success of each of the revolutions, the class split off into groups and each group was assigned a different revolution.  Then each group made a SurveyMonkey about their revolution for the rest of the class to take.

Our group was assigned the Decembrists' Revolt, which took place in Russia.  Our SurveyMonkey is here with a few extra questions here.

When Tsar Alexander died, many citizens wanted Constantine for the throne.  However, he abdicated, and Nicholas was made tsar in his place.  Those who wanted Constantine for tsar revolted, and when Nicholas retaliated, it became very bloody very quickly.  He was initially reluctant to spill the blood of his own people, but felt that it was the only thing he could do, and soon became quite obsessed with crushing the revolution and teaching a lesson to not only Russia, but the rest of Europe as well.  The people of Russia were also angry about the terrible, slave-like living conditions there and their miserable poverty.  After Russia was conquered by Napoleon, they saw what better, more democratic living conditions were like, and they wanted those better conditions back when Napoleon was defeated and Russia's conditions became horrid again.

The Decembrists' Revolt was the only revolution that was a complete failure.  It resulted in a military crackdown on the people of Russia, and they ended up with even fewer rights and freedoms than they had originally.  The Hungarian Revolution of 1848 was a partial success because it caused Metternich to flee Austria.  Metternich was the primary voice of conservative ideals in Europe at that time.  The revolt was eventually oppressed, but they did accomplish this victory.  The French Revolution of 1830 was also a partial success, because they got rid of Charles X, who revoked their constitution and freedom of the press, but France became a constitutional monarchy again, and conditions for the poor were not improved.  France had another revolution in 1848.  The revolutions of 1830 and 1848 were not complete failures (except for the Decembrists' Revolt), but they definitely weren't successful.

Political Ideologies of the 19th Century

In the 1800s, three major political ideologies existed: liberalism, conservatism, and nationalism.  To learn about these ideologies, we split off into groups and each group was assigned an ideology to make a one-minute video on.  Our group was assigned to make a video on conservatism.  19th century conservatism is based on the idea that in order to have peace, we should look to the past, because old traditions are tried and tested and kept the peace for years.  Liberalism idealised progress.  Liberals were more interested in the good of the many than individual rights.  Nationalism was the sense of pride in one's nation and belief that all people with the same culture and language should be unified.

To view our presentation and learn more about conservatism, check out our video here!

Our presentation clearly defines 19th century conservatism and gives some reasons as to why people would have these ideals.  Conservative ideals rooted in the past accounted for the repression of revolutions during the 1800s.  Conservatives felt that the old monarchies and government systems should remain in place, as opposed to liberals who thought that Europe needed new governments in order to move forward.

Liberals were behind the revolutions of the 1800s, as they wished to move forward.  Nationalists also fed the fire of revolution, saying that people should feel unified instead of divided by class structure.

Napoleon

There is and always will be debate over Napoleon Bonaparte and whether his actions were beneficial or damaging.  His actions affected social, political, and economic systems in Europe and all over the world.

http://www.mrodenberg.com/category/corsica/

Napoleon conquered almost all of Europe, and destroyed class distinctions between serf and noble, washing away classist titles.  While this was good for the poor peasants of Europe, the former nobles and royalty did not like these changes and felt that their rights were being taken away.  He undertook huge public works programs, which again benifited the poor.  Under Napoleon, Europe was a less classist and separated society.

Napoleon allowed the countries under his rule to function as usual, just reporting to him.  Instead of many absolute rulers, there was only one who controlled all of Europe.  The rulers of conquered countries did not like having their power diminished, but the poor enjoyed better conditions.

Napoleon also encouraged industry and built up the infrastructure of the countries he conquered.  The gap in wealth between the upper class and the lower class shrank as a result of Napoleon's economic changes.

While many of Napoleon Bonaparte's actions were controversial, his affect on the countries he ruled was mostly positive.

Lowell vs. London

During the Industrial Revolution, workers in America and Britain had bad working conditions, like low wages, long hours, and no breaks for meals.  However, in each country, a different set of working conditions was created because of the differing economic and social situations of the two countries.

Britain had had a recent population boom, and they had limited land space.  There were lots of poor children who could be employed in terrible conditions with low wages because their families needed the money.  America, meanwhile, was expanding.  They had a small population which was moving westward.  Factory owners would have to provide a much more attractive workplace with higher wages in order to have parents send their girls there.

As a result of this, Britain's mill working conditions were much worse than those in America.  In England, children were beaten if they did their work wrong.  Their days started earlier (5:30) and they only got one short break for lunch.  In America, however, mill workers were paid higher wages, given more free time, and breaks for meals.  In both countries, however, it was very dangerous to work in the mills.  Accidents with the machinery were common, and often near-fatal.  Nearly half of children working in British mills were disabled in factory accidents.  People could be caught in the leather belts of the machines, or catch their fingers in spinning bobbins, or be crushed by falling bales of cotton.

While both countries did not exactly have stellar working conditions, British mill workers were definitely worse off.

MOSI Google Hangout

In class recently, we did a live Google Hangout with a textile museum in England, the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI).  We made lots of preparations for the video chat in the days beforehand.  First, we explored MOSI's website.  Our guide was Jamie, an Explainer at the museum.  We watched a video tour of the museum with him explaining the functions of the machines.  This video had some new terms for different machines and wool that we looked up the definitions to using our internet searching skills gained in previous activities.  We also drafted a few questions to have ready to ask during the Google Hangout.

We learned a lot about the textile making process.  We learned about all of the different machines and their functions, like the hopper feeder scutcher, which cleans raw cotton and combines the fibers into a fleece.  We also learned about the working conditions in the mills.  Jamie told us about some of the accidents that mill workers could get into.  Some of the machines had very tight leather straps which, if they snapped, could whip a person or even catch them and carry them up into the machinery.  Workers could get cancer or other diseases from the cotton fibers getting stuck in their lungs.  We learned that Richard Arkwright, who patented the water frame, did not actually invent the water frame, merely took others' ideas because he was already rich enough to patent his 'invention.'  We also learned that many common words and phrases come from the textile industry, like the word heirloom.  Back then, a loom was the most valuable thing a family owned, and so they passed down the loom to their heirs - hence the word heirloom.

Overall, this was a really cool experience.  It was very interesting to make contact with people in a completely different part of the world from us.  It was also very educational and fascinating.  I would definitely want to do something like this again in the future.

Curating a Museum

For this project, we worked with a group to create a poster of a museum exhibit about the Industrial Revolution.  We were given topics within the overarching theme of 'innovations and drawbacks of the Revolution.'  My group's exhibit had to do with the steam engine.

Cutting a Railroad Line

This project was very interesting and helpful.  It was fun to learn about the Industrial Revolution while creating a visual presentation of the information we were learning.  We learned about Robert Fulton and his invention of the steam engine, and how this impacted the world - and is still affecting us today.  We also got to learn about other topics when each of the groups hung their posters up and we walked around to look at them.  A couple of the exhibits I looked at had to do with the mechanisation of the spinning wheel and pollution as a result of the revolution. 

The first exhibit had to do with the spinning wheel.  Spinning wool into yarn was usually done by the women in the family,who would then weave it into clothing.  When the spinning wheel became more and more mechanical over time, spinning travelled from households to factories.  This resulted in the textile mills of the industrial revolution.  These mills in turn made textile production much more efficient.  Many people moved from the country to the city, and both populations and jobs within cities skyrocketed.  Mill workers were treated very badly though.  Children as young as five years old worked in the mills, and they worked very hard.

The next exhibit was about pollution and people's reactions to it.  The inventions of the revolution greatly increased production speed and made life easier, but they also polluted the surrounding world.  Most of them ran on coal, and water and air pollution, especially in cities, was entirely too common.  I was surprised that from a description on the group's poster, it seemed as though the rivers were at least as polluted as they are today, if not even more so.  Even in the very beginning of industrialization, people were questioning whether it is right to damage our planet like we are.  One question that remains for me is - if we know that it's wrong and have for a long time, why haven't we found a way to stop pollution?

Stepping Stones

Hard as it may be to believe in today's world, 5 miles an hour in a boat was, at one point, considered revolutionary.  In class recently, we discovered why the Industrial Revolution was so revolutionary.  It is widely considered to be the revolution that changed more than any other revolution in history.  It changed many aspects of life for the whole world, and paved the way for all of the technology and transportation that was to come.

During the Industrial Revolution, steam power was invented.  This invention still powers much of today's transportation and technology.  Originally used for steamboats, the steam-powered locomotive came next.  People built more railroads for easier transportation, including the famous Trans-Continental Railroad.  Steam power eventually led to the creation of many modes of transportation such as cars, trains, and planes. 

Steam power also led to other forms of technology.  This was the beginning of modern technology.  Everything we have now stems from the creation of steam power during the Industrial Revolution.  It is always during times of wealth that invention stems, because people have the time and money to engage in pursuits other than farming.  Improved transportation and farming made the distrubution and acquisition of food easier, so fewer people needed to farm.  People got better-paying jobs and therefore had the extra wealth to spend on inventing things.  Public education was also invented during the Industrial Revolution, so people were smarter in general and more able to make their ideas come to fruition.

The Industrial Revolution is the reason we have cars and cell phones and even refrigerators.  It was the beginning of modern technology, and has improved people's lives in more ways than we can possibly imagine.

Do Octopuses Really Live In Trees?

In class recently, we did some activities to learn about web literacy.  We discovered how to search effectively with Google a Day, and learned about good sources to use when doing research.

Google a Day

A Google a Day is a new daily puzzle made by Google.  Once you start playing, it will give a series of three very obscure questions and start a timer.  You have to search for the answers to these questions (in the special search bar given by Google a Day, regular Google has spoilers and that's no fun) in a race against the clock. 

The questions given were very random, which made searching for them interesting.  The last question asked which modern clade or evolutionary group birds belong to, which seems like it would have a very straightforward answer, but each site we found seemed to have a different opinion, none of which turned out to be correct.  I learned some very entertaining and random facts from using Google a Day.  I also learned about effective searching and how sometimes, you have to search for one bit of information in order to find another.

Finding Good Sources

• Accuracy - is the information correct?
• Authenticity - is the source what it claims to be?
• Reliability - is the source created by an expert?

 We also practised finding out if sources were credible and appropriate for use in a school project.  The site about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, for instance, is definitely not a good source.  It was created by Lyle Zapato and details the characteristics of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, a ficional endangered species.  The site has none of the above characteristics - it is inaccurate as the Tree Octopus does not exist, it is inauthentic because it claims to describe a species that is nonexistent, and Lyle Zapato is not an expert on the Tree Octopus as there is nothing to be an expert on.

zapatopi.net

It's Time to Take Chances, Make Mistakes, and Get Educated!

      Hello all!  This blog is going to be my chronicle of this year's history class.  This is the first time I've been in a paperless classroom, and I'm excited to see how it goes.  This past week we watched a couple of videos in class - a video about what makes a good teacher, and a Youtube video by John Green about public education and why we should be more grateful for it:

The first video talked about the importance of first impressions in teaching, and what makes a really great teacher.  I think that great teachers are the ones who can explain things so that all of their students can understand it.  If one way of explaining a concept isn't working for someone, a great teacher can come up with another way to help the student understand.  I find that interactive learning strategies help me to learn best, so it's always good to have a teacher who uses activities, technology, or other tools that are more interactive than a lecture. 
     
      In the second video we watched, John Green talked a lot about the student's duty to use their education to improve the world.  I think that because we students have been given the privilege to get an education, we should use that education to the best of our ability to make the world a better place.  I don't enjoy struggling through seemingly endless hours of homework, but if that's what I have to do to get the most out of my education, then that's what I'll do, and I hope that it will help me to get good grades and develop a good understanding of everything I learn this year.