December 22

Today we kind of had a free period. I used it to study for tomorrows test. I'm really hoping I do well on that, I feel like I know most of the information. I can't believe its almost vacation.

December 14

The corruption appears.. I always knew that there was corruption in the government, but it was with the election we learned about today that seemed to start it. Andrew Jackson should have one the election of John Quincy Adams.. That's pretty much undeniable. Yet it is how it is, and personally I think John Quincy Adams was better qualified for the office.

December 13

Today we learned about the Monroe Doctrine. Personally I would think we were going to help the newly developed countries. That way they would definitely not go back to the places they had just seperated themselves from. Yet whatever I seem to think the U.S. should do, doesn't seem to be the right idea, or what they end up doing. Oh well, I'll just figure out how the U.S. ends up handling the Monroe Doctrine tomorrow.

December 9

Today we started off class with watching VTV in Miss Scott's room. After returning to class we finished a worksheet having to do with the powers the government and states have. Then we discussed whether it was a good idea to have a national bank; if it was unconstitutional or not. I think its fine, we have them today. Granted they aren't that common, but that has a lot to do with how our economy has changed. Competiton in buisness' isn't a bad thing. If the state banks were strong enough before the other banks came, why'd they freak when the national banks showed up? They were only trying to help, they made the dollar worth more... Well I guess I have no idea how they felt because I wasn't there to experience it first hand. I'm just starting to realize that we made a lot of mistakes when we first started out, and we still are today. I guess our counrty can almost be compared to a person. They make mistakes and learn from them, and as it gets older it learns more from its mistakes than it did in the beginning.. maybe its a bit far-fetched idea, but to me it makes sense.

December 8

Today is the 69th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. The weird thing is that seems like so long ago, but all of my grandparents were alive that day... I don't know just a weird thought in my opinion. We also talked about the underground railroad. Whenever I think about that, I flash back to being terrified at 6th grade camp when we did the slave trade activity. We were pretending to be slaves trying to escape. We had counselors and teachers chasing us, and we had to hide and sneak out of areas. Yet that was just a game, nothing big... I don't think I could've handled being a slave trying to escape. Trying to put it in perspective just makes me realize more and more, it was never a game for them, it was never a joke. It was life or death, if you make it to the north life potentially, still dangerous but better; if you get caught who knows.. maybe being beaten maybe death, its just known it wouldn't be a good thing. I'm so happy Harriet Tubman and others were there to help the slaves escape, and I feel like that good will is starting to die down when it comes to today. Not neccessarily in the slave trade, obviously thats over. I'm talking about in giving to others. A family friend's house burnt down, and they lost everything. I've mentioned it to a few friends, some have just said "Oh.. well that sucks." Others have responded with, "Can I help in anyway?" There is a large difference between helping somebody recover from that, and from helping a slave to safety. But the underlining tone is the same, the want to help. When I found out, even though I've met the family once, and they are more friends with my parents than me, all I wanted to do was help. I got clothes together for their little girl, and looked around for coats and toys - Christmas is coming up so I figured toys would be useful. I don't understand how people are like Harriet Tubman are able to risk their lives to help others, while other people aren't even willing to donate their old clothes to help somebody out. We have changed a lot as a country over the years, I think some of the values members of the underground railroad had then, of wanting to help others need to be taken more seriously now.

December 6

Today we got into groups and talked about the story of Frederick Douglass. I'm happy he was an educated slave, because he provides a lot of insight to an area a lot of people aren't well informed about. Certain parts of the book it seems like could have been... over-exaggerated. Yet who knows, I never personally knew him and I don't know his complete story so I really can't judge.

December 1

Today we went over some stuff about the mills. Trying to put it together and figure out how many machines we need to run a factory, was difficult. Partly because my group doesn't like to work together... at all. Instead we like to argue and hate on eachother. Kind of getting sick of that. Other than that today was just a normal day of history. I still have to do some reading.. I better catch up on that.