Current Events: May 2015

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/09/world/global-warming-record-quarter/index.html 

March 2015 is the hottest March globally

Headline: New temperature records highlight global warming's continued rise

Topic: "Extreme" weather places "reverse" in temperature proving global warming continues

Summary:

• 2015 is hottest year since 2010
• Arctic sea ice mileage has decreased significantly
• Antarctic sea ice mileage has increased significantly
• Natural ice is disappearing
• Warming trend reduced water supply in California
• Northern Hemisphere snow coverage 7th lowest on record
• More carbon released, higher temps reach causing mega-droughts
• NASA concludes 80% chance mega-droughts last 20-40 yrs.

Analysis:
It's only May and 2015 has already been called the hottest year on record. With carbon dioxide levels rising with greenhouse gases, Earth won't be relevant anymore. Which means, neither will we. The drought reducing California's water supply has been going on for three years now and NASA concludes it could be another Dust Bowl if it lasts a decade longer. Places that should be cold, like the Arctic, are warming up while the Antarctic gets colder. Earth is our home and the people of this earth are destroying it with their fancy new cars and factories. What I mean is people have gotten lazy and now rely on new technology. Well, some of that new technology increases carbon dioxide. The increase of carbon dioxide levels may be helping us, but its not helping the Earth. As a member of the generation that will occupy this Earth next, this affects my life. The increase of carbon dioxide levels has lead to diseases and respiratory ailments.

Leading to the Civil War

Together, many events ultimately helped lead up to the Civil War.

The Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise in 1820 was one of these events. The Missouri Compromise maintained peace and balance between free and slave sates. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It diffused political and sectional rivalries. The Missouri Compromise excluded slavery (except or Missouri) north of latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes.

Wilmot Proviso

The Wilmot Proviso created this.

The Wilmot Proviso also led to the Civil War. It was designed to eliminate slavery in the new lands gained from the Mexican War. A Pennsylvania congressman, David Wilmot, proposed this as an amendment to a bill President Polk was attempting to negotiate. It was blocked by the South but it inflamed the controversy of slavery and its principle. The Wilmot Proviso widened the sectional break and inspired other politicians to form their own plans for slavery.

The Compromise of 1850 made the U.S look like this.

The Compromise of 1850

The Compromise of 1850 additionally helped lead to the Civil War. The Compromise of 1850 resolved the questions and disputes of what to do with the new lands gained from the Mexican-American War. It created the territories of New Mexico, and Utah, admitted California as a free state, settled a Texas-New Mexico border dispute, ended the slave trade in Washington D.C., and amended the Fugitive Slave Law.

The cover of Harriet Beecher Stowe's UncleTom's Cabin.

The Publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin 

An author and vocal abolitionist, Harriet Beecher Stowe "wrote the book that made this great war [the Civil War]," according to President Abraham Lincoln. Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin depicts the cruelty of  the slave life attracting public attention, especially from the North. Her novel, praised by Northerners and criticized by Southerners, created uproar and more disputes between the two regions. Her novel, unintentionally, pushed the quarreling regions of the U.S to the breaking point.

Kansas-Nebraska Act

The U.S looked like this after the Kansas-Nebraska Act (orange) was passed.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was created by Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln's prime presidential competitor. The bill authorized popular sovereignty in the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska and reversed the Missouri Compromise's latitude boundary. Although the bill was passed by Congress, it failed miserably in what it was trying to achieve. Instead of organizing western territories and unifying the arguing nation, the Kansas-Nebraska Act split two major political parties and worsened North and South relations.

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was an ex-slave who became known as a human-rights leader during the abolition movement with his eloquent speeches.

On July 5,1852 Douglass gave a speech discussing African Americans celebrating freedom and presenting the hypocrisy of America.

I. "The fact is ladies and gentlemen, the distance between this platform and the slavery plantation, from which I escaped, is considerable - and the difficulties to be overcome in getting from the latter to the former, are by no means slight."

Douglass explains that the difficulties to get from the slave plantation to the platform he is currently at were challenging and strenuous.

II. "The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary."

He means that the freedom celebrated on July 4th is white men freedom and other races do not have this freedom to celebrate.

III. "What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a the reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim."

To a slave, the 4th of July is day emphasizing and remembering the cruelties and injustices they face every day concerning their skin color.

IV. "The Fugitive Slave Law makes MERCY TO THEM, A CRIME; and bribes the judge who tries them."

Douglass points that the justice system of America is controlled solely by money. He is appalled that a country so dedicated to equality and freedom like the U.S bribes their justice system.

V. "I, therefore, leave off where I began, with hope."

Douglass ends his speech by hoping America will see its corrupt ways and fix its hypocritical justice system.

Abolitionist and Women's Rights Movements

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass's speech from July 5, 1852 and the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions from 1848 are very similar, despite their different audiences. Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott promoted the first Women's Rights Convention. In their speeches, Stanton, Douglass and Mott discuss the hypocrisy of the U.S. Douglass, Stanton and Mott additionally discuss how their audiences were denied all the "natural" rights that white men were granted and their treatment. They also discuss how their audiences were denied the money they were supposed to earn. They mention the struggle and fight their audiences had with freedom.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucertia Mott

Current Events: Antarctica Warm Up

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/01/travel/feat-antarctica-highest-temperature-ever-recorded/index.html

Headline: Antarctica hits 63 degrees, believed to be a record

Topic: 63.5 degrees was recorded in Antarctica on March 24, 2015.

Summary:

• The temp. was recorded at Argentina's Esperanza Base
•  The World Meteorological Organization will collect relevant evidence
• The World Meteorological Organization will check equipment to make sure:

                  a. it was in good working condition

                  b. the correct monitoring procedures were followed

                  c. it was placed in correct place

                  d. temp. matches corresponding results from other weather station

• Researchers are carefully watching the weather changes in Antarctica

Analysis:

If Antarctica is 60 degrees, there is a serious problem. Antarctica should never reach 30 degrees, let alone 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The warm up of Antarctica just screams global warming. The overuse of polluting agents in our normal everyday lives has gotten out of hand. There is a serious problem now. The Earth's atmospheric temperature is changing because of the polluting agents of car, bus and factory exhaust. Our laziness is changing the Earth both geographically and atmospherically. The warm up of Antarctica is only the beginning of Earth's change. Soon, the Earth will warm up and books like The Maze Runner and the rest of its series will no longer seem so far-fetched; they will be our reality whether we except it or not.

Transcendentalism

The transcendentalism movement was a religious and philosophical movement protesting the general state of spirituality, the state of  intellectualism, and the doctrine of the Unitarian church. The core beliefs included inherent goodness of both people and nature. Transcendentalists' believe that society and its institutions corrupt the purity of an individual.

"Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world."~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
In this quote Emerson is saying that being true to yourself is the only important thing in life. If you face truth on its own terms you will discover genuineness and courage within yourself. He is saying that going with the tide and the flow is wrong because you are not your own person then. He is saying to be your own person because no one can do that for you.

This quote inspires people to go their own ways.

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Here, Emerson is saying to be your own person and to go your own way. He is saying that everyone is unique and many people in society go with the flow and follow others. He is saying to go your own way and show the uniqueness inside. This is saying to go against the norm and stand out in crowds.

This quote by Gary Low tells people to take control
of their own life because it's theirs.

"Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine."~ Henry David Thoreau
In this quote Thoreau is comparing a machine to society, saying to be yourself and stop the judging nature of society. Society comes together, like a machine, to judge and discriminate others. Society is generally a fixed "machine" doing one job, that isn't particularly helpful in this case. By being yourself you can stop society's unhelpful "job" of judgmental and discriminating views and comments.

"If a plant cannot live according to nature, it dies; and so a man."~ Henry David Thoreau
Here, Thoreau is comparing a plant with a man, saying that if a plant or man cannot live naturally than it is basically dead. If a living thing cannot live as it should, without restrictions than it is lifeless and meaningless. He is saying that being unique and your own individual is nature and natural. If you are not being yourself, and natural than you are inanimate and insignificant.

Trail of Tears

Trail of Tears

In 1830 President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act. The Indian Removal Act gave the federal government the power to exchange Indian land east of the Mississippi for land west in Indian Territory, present-day Oklahoma. Native American tribes that did not vacate the land mentioned in the act were forcefully removed by the American government. The Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole were known as the Five Civilized Tribes that were forced on the Trail of Tears. The Cherokee were a Native American tribe that resided in parts of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and North Carolina. In Illinois the Sauk tribe realized that their enemy was the white people flocking onto their land. The leader of the Sauk tribe, Black Hawk, grew increasingly angry and began to prepare for war. 

Black Hawk

The Black Hawk War began when U.S troops met Black Hawk at disputed territory lines and a truce bearer was killed. The war lasted fifteen weeks resulting in mostly Indian casualties and Black Hawk's surrender before reaching the Mississippi. The Second Seminole War was a brutal conflict involving various Native American tribes in Florida and the U.S government from 1835 to 1842. Native American chiefs Osceola, Alligator, and Micanopy organized roughly 3,000 warriors while the U.s government regulated roughly 30,000 troops. Osceola was captured and died later in prison causing a disbandment of the tribes.

James R. Bradley's Contention and Desired Freedom

Patsey upon arriving back at Epps' plantation.

In his letter to Lydia Marie Child, James R. Bradley mentions that slaves desired freedom yet kept it to themselves to avoid hasher treatment. The film “12 Years a Slave” supports this contention since it comes up several times throughout the film. One instance in which this contention is brought up and supported in the film is between Solomon and a fellow slave on a boat. In this instance, the slave tells Solomon that he must keep his wish and desire to be free secret if he wishes to live. As a former slave, the man gives insight into the treatment of slaves who told about their desire to be free. A second instance in which Mr. Bradley’s contention is supported is when Solomon is first sold to Mr. Ford. Several weeks pass on Mr. Ford’s plantation in which Solomon finally talks to a weeping mother. In the discussion Solomon mentions that he wishes to be free and with his family once more. He mentions this only to her on Mr. Fords’ plantation since she can relate. He knows that if anyone else knows about his desire to be free and with his family again, he will be treated harsher by his master and the overseers on the plantation. A third instance in which this contention is supported is with Patsey, a fellow slave on Epps’ plantation. On the Sabbath Patsey goes to the Shaw plantation to get soap to bath since she is not provided with it on Epps’ plantation, and Epps’ thinks she has run away. Upon arriving back at Epps’, Patsey reveals that she wanted the soap to bath since she has not in weeks. Patsey’s visit to the Shaw plantation is a slight representation of the freedom she desires and for this desire, she is whipped.

Solomon and the man on the boat.

Role of Violence in the Slave Society

Solomon whipping Patsey.

In the slave society violence from the owners was a way of disciplining the slaves. It was also a way of showing the slaves who was in charge and how they were to behave. The violence in the slave society was a way to create and instill fear into the slaves. The violence from the slave owners was a way to get the slaves to do what they were supposed to do and how they were supposed to do their tasks. The owners used violence to keep their slaves in line and to show how the work was to be done. Several examples of the violence used on the slaves were whipping, beating and lynching. The more a slave was whipped, the more it feared its master. For instance, while a slave for Epps, Solomon, or Platt, was forced to work in the fields picking cotton. The average amount of cotton that a slave in the field should be able to pick is 200 pounds and when Solomon only picked 140 pounds, he was whipped so he would learn to pick faster and more. Another example from the movie about the violence in the salve society was when Patsey was whipped. Patsey, another slave of Epps, went to get soap for herself from another plantation. When she returned Epps was looking for her and when he found her, he forced Solomon to whip her. Another case of violence was when Solomon was almost hanged. At his first plantation, Solomon disobeyed an overseer, called Tibeats, during construction. Tibeats later came back and attempted to hang Solomon but was stopped by another overseer.

Tibeats attempt to hang Solomon.

Ownership Changes and Slave Lives

Mr Ford (center), Solomon (left) and Tibeats (right).

Mr. Ford and Solomon.

Working and living conditions changed and/or were affected with or by ownership. Different slave owners had different beliefs. All slave owners had different expectations. Because different slave owners had different beliefs and expectations, they treated their slaves differently with different punishments and severity levels. They instilled different conditions on their slaves. After being captured, Solomon was sold to a slave owner called Mr. Ford. Mr. Ford was a kindhearted owner (despite the fact that he owned slaves) who liked Solomon. Mr. Ford valued Solomon’s input and suggestions. While a slave for Mr. Ford, Solomon and other slaves were able to service others for pay and keep the pay. The living conditions on Mr. Ford’s plantation were easy as his slaves would be grouped in cabins and not overcrowded. Because of Solomon’s hard work and nature, he was granted a violin by Mr. Ford and a treasured place with Mr. Ford. With Mr. Ford Solomon was respected and complimented. However, Solomon was then sold to Mr. Epps because his was no longer safe at Mr. Ford’s plantation due to a brawl with the rude and harsh overseer, Tibeats. Upon arriving at Mr. Epps’ plantation Solomon was treated harshly. He was whipped from the start for not picking at least the average weight of cotton. Solomon was not used to the working conditions or living conditions set by Mr. Epps’ since he had been treated respectfully by Mr. Ford. Mr. Epps’ living conditions were terrible as he bunched his slaves into large cabins and overcrowded them.

Mr. Epps and Solomon.