Lucretia Mott

http://gos.sbc.edu/m/mott.html

APPARTS
Author:
The primary source was written by Lucretia Mott.
Place: 
The primary source was written in the United States in 1849 as a speech and distributed as pamphlets.
Prior Knowledge:
Mott was a Quaker minister, but also a pacifist; she was against the Mexican War and Civil War.
Audience: 
The primary source was written for men and women of her congregation, as well as the general public.
Reason: 
The primary source was written to express the women's rights in different situations of daily life.
Main Idea:
The point of the primary source was to have her audience, specifically men, listen to what she believes about women as well as provide examples.
Significance: 
The source was a prime example of the growing desire among women to be given their natural rights.

     The biggest issue facing America was slavery and women's rights; both were my main focus as an activist. I am a Quaker, and naturally I believe slavery was a depiction of evil; no matter the color of our skin, we are human and therefore should be treated as such. Women should also be treated as humans; we are deprived of rights that are said to be naturally born with humans. What moral difference is there really between man and woman? Both attend church, both are needed to create families; why should both not be regarded as equal? Under the present system of government, social justice for women cannot and will not be achieved. 

     Human nature is good; our actions as human can be bad. We are only as good as our actions, and by condoning issues such as slavery and the oppression of women we condone evil as well. A law can change human behavior or worsen it; it is up to ourselves to look into our hearts and find the will to change our attitude and state of mind. Immediate change can happen and i hope they do, but by gradually gaining followers and empowering our movement, we will see a more permanent impact. 

     I believe that active involvement will create improvements in our society; if one wants something done, they must do it themselves. A good society is one that follows the will of God; this can only happen if we stop discrimination and accept the equality of women and different races. 

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Declaration_of_Sentiments.ht of Sentiments
Author:
The primary source was written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Place:
The primary source was written in Seneca Falls, New York and given as a speech at the Seneca Falls Convention.
Prior Knowledge:
Elizabeth Stanton was a writer, suffragist, woman's rights activist and abolitionist.
Audience:
The primary source was created fro the attendees of the Seneca Falls Convention.
Reason:
The primary source was created in order to put in published form the rights that women should and will be given.
Main Idea: 
The point of the source was to adequately covey the sentiments or views that women face from men on a daily basis.
Significance: 
The source was a first hand account against the wrongdoings men constantly did to women in the nineteenth century.

   Elizabeth Cady Stanton was born November 12, 1815 in Johnston, New York. She was agnostic and married in 1840. She had four children and died October 26, 1902.

 

     The biggest issue facing America is women's suffrage and the movement to obtain rights for woman; I fought for women's liberties for parental and custody, property, employment and income, divorce from husbands, and so forth to name a few. Women are undervalued and seen as insignificant by both African American and Anglo American standards; the only thing we are good for is producing children. This needs to change; women are not only vital, they are the caretakers of American values and are responsible for creating the next generation to carry on these morals. Under the present system of government the United States of America,  social justice for women cannot ever be obtained; our system is overrun by men who preserve the very idea that women belong in a kitchen and not a career.
     Individual human nature, i believe is interchangeable. As a young girl, i did all i could to make my father as proud as he was my brother, yet all he wished was for me to be a boy; an exact opposite, my neighbor Rev. Simon Hosack was a believer in my abilities, and saw past the fact that i was a female. Human nature is both good and bad; the bad weighs out the good and the good weighs out the bad. Legislation can change human behavior; i explain so in my speech, the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions. Immediate changes will be the answer to  our problems.
     Society is improved by active involvement. African Americans did not achieve the 14th and 15th Amendments by merely waiting; they went out and fought for their rights. Now women of all races must take notice and realize that if they want rights like a man, they must go out and fight for them like a man. A good society consists of equality between the genders, not one undermining the other.

Colonel Ethan Allen Hitchcock/U.S. Naval Officer

I am a professional soldier, graduate if the U.S. Military Academy, commander of the 3rd Infantry Regiment. I am an aide to General Zachary Taylor. Like President Polk, Taylor wanted wanted a war with Mexico, so he moved troops to the Rio Grande-- territory claimed by both Mexico and Texas-- to provoke the Mexicans. Eventually, the Mexicans did attack, as Taylor and Polk knew they would l. And now U.S. leaders have their war. The United States doesn't have any right whatsoever to move into Mexico. The government is looking for war so that it can take over as much of Mexico as it wants. The United States is the aggressor. My heart is not in this war. But I am an officer in the U.S. Army and I must carry out my orders.

http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/hitchcockdiary.html

From the diary of Hitchcock, recounts on the days of June 30, 1845 to March 26, 1846 speaks of Hitchcock's view from the invasion of Mexico. He describes the event with as much detail as possible, yet from his point of view, this invasion has no grounds to happen and itself describes the repulsion Hitchcock has towards these efforts. He also talks mentions the two main forces behind the war with Mexico: Polk and Taylor. They are the main ones who push for the invasion.

I'm a luck man. I got to sail into California to seize that territory for the United States of America. Its our a now, not the Mexicans'. Here's what I wrote in my diary when I sailed up from South America and landed in Monterey, California: "Asia will be brought to our very doors. Population will flow into the fertile regions of California. The resources of the entire country will be developed. The public lands lying along the route if railroads will be changed from deserts into gardens, and a large population will be settled." This is where I'm going to settle after we defeat the Mexicans once and for all.

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=009/llsl009.db&recNum=975

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was a treaty that designated the Rio Grande as the borderline between the two countries of Mexico and the United States. It was signed by the countries on February 2, 1848 and officially ended the Mexican War. Mexico was paid 15 millions dollars in exchange for new territory that included California, Texas and Nevada.

The Chesapeake Leopard Incident

The Chesapeake was correct in their decision to refuse the British captain's request; there was no evidence that what the British were saying was true. To give up four sailors just because the British said to would betray the idea of American independence from Britain. The idea of this situation being closer to shore would not have helped; that would have merely meant that more innocent civilians by the shore would have been injured by the scuffle. Although it was a serious incident, it should not have caused America to declare war, though it should have implicated that the Americans should prepare for anything possible.
Had the Chesapeake been more militarily prepared, they would have not been so easily defeated; however, it was itself a warship, meaning shouldn't it have been prepared enough? Would this have been applied to all American warships, or only this incident? Economically, we should not have to spend an excess amount on the military, but in those days, with the revolution having been only 20 years prior, being stable would have helped. The British kidnapping american sailors is not exactly cause for an entire war, though they should be retrieved; the  un-abandonment of British forts would be even more reason to be prepared, not attack.
The British do have a right to demand their sailors back, but only if the sailors are on the actual boat. There was no certain way of knowing whether or not the fugitive sailors were on a boat, and taking four random sailors is unethical. The American captains and the Navy cannot be held responsible for these fugitives; they are fugitives after all, meaning they sneaked onto the ships without consent. If anything, the fugitives are the ones to be blamed for their unwillingness to stay with their ship. It is not worth a war. The justice is the actual fugitives being  returned, not just random sailors picked at hand to replace them.