THE CIVILIZING MACHINE Essays - American Culture,

THE CIVILIZING MACHINE Gertrude Bonin's "The Civilizing Machine" deals with the issues that arise in the authors life as a young Native American leaving her family and way of life to be educated at a Quaker school in the 1800's. Being a Native American and then being immersed into an European education system that existed to "civilize" her in the ways of the white culture caused much confusion in the author's struggle as a teen to develop a since of who she was, "Even nature seemed to have no place for me. I was neither a wee girl nor a tall one; neither a wild nor a tame one." Other conflicts arise in Gertrudes life that deals with her mother's ability to relate to her daughter's feelings of unhappiness, "She was not capable of comforting her daughter who could read and write." In this essay Gertrude is trying to show the effects of her schooling to be one of a negative nature, which she fails to do. Gertrude while seeming to despise her schooling, "It was inbreed into me to suffer in silence rather than to appeal to the ears of one whose open eyes could not see my pain, I have many times trudged in the day's harness heavy-footed, like a dumb sick brute." Yet she still yearns for the benefits of her education when she wishes to be taken along to her cousins party. Another issue that takes away from her ability to show her schooling to be a negative experience, is that without it how would she have been able to express these feelings about the effects of the way she was educated. While I feel she failed to truly show her education to be all that bad of thing for her to go through, she did an excellent job of showing what emotionally Native Americans had to deal with while their culture was being deprived and another way of life being forced upon them.

Andrew Jackson Essays - Second Party System, Taney Court

Andrew Jackson Essays - Second Party System, Taney Court Andrew Jackson Guardians of Freedom? The first and truest ideals of democracy were embodied in the political ideas of Andrew Jackson and the Jacksonian democrats. Calling themselves the guardians of the United States Constitution, the Jacksonian politicians engendered wide spread liberty under a government which represented all men, rather than only the upper class. While some policies under the democrats had evident flaws, they were, for the most part, eager social reformers who strived to put the power of government into the hands of the common citizens. The convictions and ideals of the Jacksonian Democrats can be best illustrated through a passage written by George Henry Evans. Evans was an editor with strong democratic principles who created The Working Mens Declaration of Independence (Doc. A). Within the declaration, Evans stresses the importance of establishing democracy. He uses words and phrases from Jeffersons Declaration of Independence to clarify his points and stress his convictions. Stating the absolute necessity of the organization of the party, Evans explains that it will be possible to prevent the upper class from subverting the indefeasible and fundamental privilege of liberty. And finally, Evans states that it is the common citizens right to use every constitutional means necessary to reform the abuses and provide new guards for future security. In doing so, he documented the characteristic attitude of the majority of the country in the 1820s and 1830s. Evans was only one of the many Jacksonian democrats to contribute to the success of the party and to the reforms that they made. Chief Justice Roger B. Taneys opinion in the Supreme Court Case of Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge was a capitalist decision which was a typical response for a Jacksonian democrat (Doc. H). This decision stated that while the Charter of 1785 allowed the Charles River Bridge to be constructed, it did not prohibit any other bridges from being constructed. Therefore, Taney decided that the capitalistic competition would be healthy for the economy of the regions along the Charles River. In doing this, Taney was eliminating the monopolies of the elite and creating equal economic opportunities for all citizens. As a result, Taney contributed to one of the major achievements of the Jacksonian Democrats - to create economic equality. The President of the United States of America and leader of the Democratic party, Andrew Jackson, was perhaps the most outspoken democrat of the time. He used his position as leader of the country to give more power to the common man. Even before his election as president, he succeeded in having the property qualification eliminated, therefore, increasing the voting population tremendously. Jackson became the first president truly elected by the common man, rather than only high society. For the first time in the history of the nation, the middle class received the opportunity to participate in the government that ruled them. Jackson did not stop with the reformation of the election process. Instead, he attacked the Bank of the United States and vetoed the re-charter for the institution. President Jackson explained that the banks stock was held by only foreigners and a few hundred rich American citizens. As a result, the bank maintained an exclusive privilege of banking... - a monopoly (Doc. B). The Democrats believed the bank to be a tool of rich oppression and a dangerous institution because the men in power were of the highest class and utterly irresponsible to the people. So, President Jackson vetoed the re-charter and it was closed. The money was dispersed into several state banks and the monopoly was disintegrated. Indeed, the Democrats succeeded in creating a new government for the rule of a society of middle class citizens. And, the middle class began to prosper under the struggle for economic equality. Visiting the United States in 1834, Harriet Martineau reported the prosperity of the country (Doc. D). She discovered the absence of poverty, gross ignorance, and insolence of manner as well as towns with newspapers and libraries. She also reported on political debated with common citizens as judges. It is quite clear that the expansion of suffrage, support for individual rights, and advances of democratic society were responsible for the prosperity of the time. However, it would be both irrational and naive to assume that the ideals of Jacksonian democrats were without flaw. And it would be preposterous to conceive a period in American history without its low points. This holds true for the period of 1820 - 1830 as well. A number of middle class citizens misinterpreted democratic reforms as an opportunity to disregard