Extra Credit Opportunity

Attend the event advertised below and write a 250-word blog about what you learned. Aim the blog at students who wanted to attend but couldn't.

Mark your calendars! On April 3rd, from 12-2pm in E-111 the Writing and Literature Major of the English department will be hosting the event "You Can Do Anything With an English Major."  The event features speakers from multiple professions, all talking about the ways being an English major helped them achieve their career goals. We will serve refreshments and raffle off books and gift cards and there will be time following the event to talk one-on-one with our speakers.  

If you'd like to know more about the event, please contact Neil Meyer (nmeyer@lagcc.cuny.edu) or Jesse Schwartz (jesseschwartz@lagcc.cuny.edu).

Reading for Next Class

See the syllabus and changes we made in class; for the next class, we will read:

the first assigned pages of The Sport of the Gods (in bookstore, a novel)

the entire short story "The Lynching of Jube Benson," (link at right)

An argument about Slave and Citizen

Note Check out the bold-faced phrases as possible "templates" for your own writing (not required).


TITLE: The Irony of the Moral Personality of the Enslaved

In Frank Tannenbaum's 1947 monograph Slave and Citizen, he argues that the cultures of western slavery depended on the varied colonial belief systems of the nations colonizing the New World, including the British, Spanish, and Portuguese - and later, after the Revolution, the United States. While he elaborates on the "rights" some Latin American colonies and governments granted to enslaved persons, he points overall to the contrast between that culture of limited rights and the culture of the British and the United States. In the slave economies of those latter countries, enslaved persons were at the mercy of legal, religious, and social regimes that entirely denied any African American - including the "liberated Negro" - any form of official recognition (Tannenbaum 97). In many moments throughout his text, Tannenbaum argues that the main difference between the Anglo and Latin slave systems was the belief in a "moral personality" of the enslaved. In this essay, I will argue that his focus on the "moral personality" of the enslaved poses a problem in his argument. On the one hand, he repeatedly claims that Anglo-Americans denied African-American this moral personality, while the Latin slave systems granted her it. On the other hand, both the Anglo and Latin slave economies relied on the horrific middle-passage to transport the enslaved from African to the Americas. I will argue that the Latin American reliance on this cruelty, which Tannenbaum elaborates on in the first third of the text, contradicts his claim that the Latin system was less violent. In fact, it relied on extreme forms of violence even if the Latin American culture of enslavement could have been considered less violent for those that survived. In my essay, I will support this point by investigating Tannenbaum's summary of the middle passage, his discussion of "moral personality," and his emphasis on sexual relationships in New World slave economies.

Slave and Citizen: concluding passage notes

97 - element of human personality
98 - remained a person
100 - moral and biological inferiority
103 - West Indies and America: slave as chattel
104 - the denial of the moral status of the slave...greatest handicap
105 - Latin America social structure...two crucial differences - 1) "easy passage" 2) post-manumission
106 - from this point of view, no slave system (!)
107 - slave/free (in US) = black/white
109 - revolution
110 - no escape: revolution
110-112 - footnote on the end of slavery as system
112-113 - post-Emancipation US
114-115 - color blind philosophy
117 - total pattern of a slave society
117 - "nothing escaped"
118 - social theory
119 - biological mobility
120 - new biological type
121 - a "point of pride" in Brazil
122 - the "mistress" (see page 4)
123-124 - sex and rape
124-125 "mulatto" and mobility
126 - French West Indies
127 - slavery "inevitably mobile"
127 - "same process" (Britain, US Civil War, Haitian Revolution"
127 - revolution and force (cultural change)

Framing the Quote / Quote Sandwich

here is the link to They Say / I Say.

And here is a sample paragraph that contains a direct quote. I will note the particular parts of the sentence that contains the direct quote.

1. topic sentence. Statement or re-statement of a supporting claim for the thesis.

2. Defining vocabulary from the topic sentence. Define the key terms you are using.

3. Introduction of text you're using to support the claim. Author, title, publication, any additional information.

4. Brief summary of the major argument of the text.

5. Brief summary of the immediate context from which you are pulling the direct quote. You do not want your reader to be confused by the meaning of the quote, or where it's coming from. Consider, too, that the text you're using was itself in conversation with other texts and authors. If you know anything about that conversation, this part of the paragraph is the time to demonstrate that.

6. The direct quote.

a. The signal phrase. She writes

b. The "direct quotation" (remember that the quote must be 'integrated' into the voice of your sentence. Avoid "dangling quotations" or "dropped quotations," in which the quote lacks even a signal phrase.

c. The (citation).

7. The paraphrase of the direct quote

8. Critical Thinking

a. agree/disagree/both
b. connect to another idea from the same text
c. connect to another idea from a different text
d. connect to another idea from another form of media (film, etc)
e. if you've already connected to other textual ideas, you can relate a useful and appropriate personal experience, or a topic from the news
f. re-state the topic sentence claim by connecting your critical thinking discussion back to your thesis

Note: as you relate the supporting ideas from the direct quote and critical thinking, it may be that all of your connections aren't a "perfect fit." be conscious of that, and honest about it. Constantly define the words you use, and be clear about what "works" with your thesis and what doesn't. In order to raise these thoughts, you'll have to ask yourself critical questions: is this really a neat fit? am I missing something? Is there a problem with the point of view I'm using? Could someone disagree with this? how?

Class Agenda 3.19

1. Reading Quiz: Life in the Iron Mills and Slave and Citizen

2. Announcements
Books in bookstore
Blog recap
Blog assignment: TBA tomorrow
Essay assignment: see syllabus
museum trips

3. Group Discussions: Slave and Citizen

Before we pack into groups of three, I will give you 3 minutes to find a claim from the reading (it may be the one you wrote about for your quiz). Focus on pages 97-128.

Review terms: claim(s)

Each group should identify the following


a. A claim a student could incorporate into an essay

b. A claim that could serve as a "major" claim of the text

c. A claim that we could "challenge" in discussion

4.Reports : Each group will present the page number for 1 and 2, while identifying the claims to the class. For 3, the groups will offer a brief challenge of their own to the claim. We will use this time to discuss some of the claims that arise.

5. Break

6. The Quote Sandwich and Framing Quotations: a review

Quote, cite, and paraphrase the student correctly (we can review the instructions for citing a blog in previous blog agendas. There are links provided to you, as well as directions in previous course blogs). If there is no claim made by the student, focus on a claim included in their blog (presumably, Tannenbaum).

Sample quote sandwich /quote framing / citation

Rules for citing websites and other sources


15 minutes writing exercise: framing a quotation from Tannenbaum

8. Review short films on industrial factory labor

9. Individually: write the summary of Life in the Iron Mills, and find a passage that you found useful, interesting, problematic, or confusing.

10. Class discussion: Life in the Iron Mills.

Class Blogs: a Recap

Antonio summarized the "Trail of Tears" film well.

Christopher linked the Indian Removal Act to contemporary instances of what's called "eminent domain."

Dehlia reflects on the different slave systems in the US and Latin America, and reveals what she didn't know.

Jennyrose discusses the big differences between the US and Latin American slave system, too. She should talk to Dehlia!

Judy makes an important point about whether or not slavery could ever be "normal," even in Latin America.

Kenny's view of slavery has changed a lot: it was "not terrible." Would you write a counter-claim to his first paragraph? Thanks for the provocation, Kenny!

Loriana is missing her second blog, but her first is a doozy.

Luis hasn't left us with any thoughts!

Melanie agrees with Tannenbaum's argument about why racism outlasted slavery. 

Mercedes makes a reply to Kenny, in agreement with Judy.

Michael aptly summarizes some of the major claims of Tannenbaum.

Rachelle also zeroes in on the main point from Slave and Citizen. 

Richard has left us with nothing!

Robert makes an important observation about the power of color in feeding the self-righteousness of southern US white men. 

Shehab wants an A, but he hasn't written anything!

Stacy illustrates how the Cherokee actually adapted to Anglo-American culture, but were removed from their land and homes anyway.

Vanessa speaks to Judy, Kenny, and Mercedes above. 

Veronica meditates on the geographic and culture differences in the global slave system.

Ali finds some of Tannebaum's major claims problematic, but he doesn't say why! Tell us why!

Books are in the Bookstore

Please note that the books are in the bookstore. Please get them sooner rather than later. They are all pretty much accurately priced. In some cases there are deals - you can rent Life in the Iron Mills for $6!

Blog Assignment Number Two

Paraphrase one of the claims from the text that you found interesting or problematic. After you paraphrase it in your own words, discuss why you found it significant.

claim - an argument that supports the main argument of the text. Sometimes a "major claim" could be the major claim of the text.

Notes on the film "Scientific Racism"

Last week we watched the first 20 minutes of the above-mentioned film, produced by the BBC. The film opened with an image of bleached bones in the Namibian desert. The narrator identified the bones as the victims of a German extermination campaign that preceded the holocaust by 3o years or so. The narrator then explained that such "imperial victims" died as the result of a complex project conceived by many, not just militaries, including scientists, philosophers, writers, and religious authorities.

                                                                       (Source)

The film then took us to Tazmania in the 1830s. In that decade, Great Britain decided to end slavery after battle fought by religious institutions and abolitionists (an abolitionist is someone that fought to end slavery). The scholar David Dabydeen explained that for 50 years, since 1787, "thousands of ordinary people" had organized to end Britain's role in the slave trade. Nonetheless, white Britain's still considered non-whites to be "little brothers." They were not equal.

                                                                        (Source)

Another scholar, Catherine Hall, added that culture and civilization became the new imaginative 'screen' by which the British measured equality. Perhaps non-whites would be equal to whites in the future, she summarized, but to reach that measure Britain would have to "raise" non-whites up to the "English level." Ironically, to accomplish that they would need utilize Christian missionaries to convert non-Christians. Thus, the same religious institutions that rejected slavery now gave impetus for colonialism. This process of colonialism, however the British justified it through spiritualized civilization, would destroy indigenous cultures around the world. This violent process of destruction via a complex colonization of other cultures is what we call imperialism.

This imperial colonization, if that's not redundant, also gave the British discretion to "exterminate" those that they could not "civilize." Yet such exterminations would occur sometimes in strange ways, with some British practicing an outright method, and others, the religious, attempting to secure colonization and missionary conversions as an alternative. Slavery might have ended, but the painful appropriation of power from other cultures' labor and bodies had not.

                                                                        (Source)
To demonstrate these parallel attitudes of British colonization, the film takes us to Tasmania, Australia, in 1803. (Note: this example begins in an era that precedes the 1830s battle to end slavery discussed earlier in this blog and the film.) The film observes that when the British colonists encountered indigenous peoples in Tasmania, they "saw people through ideas," and this 'screen,' or filter, helps us to understand why the British felt "disgust" and "shock" (indigenous refers to those peoples that called a place home before others arrived). The indigenous peoples practiced a radically different kind of culture than the British; the British, in turn, saw them as "left behind by history." They believed that they needed the British to help them. After all, in the "Great Chain of Being" that the British conceived, the "races" were arranged in an hierarchy, with the white British at the top. Colonizing and settling Tasmania - and these people - was their moral duty.

                                                                         (Source)

As you might expect, this process of colonization turned violent. Many of the indigenous peoples were displaced and abused. Bain Attwood relates how the struggle with white colonists over territory led to violent clashes. The British settlers, armed with sophisticated weapons, began to kill the indigenous peoples with the goal of wiping them out. This was genocide, or the practice of exterminating another group or ending its ability to reproduce according to the group's own desires. Kidnapping and rape became commonplace. Both groups came to view each other as "sub-human," or non-human. The film argues that this "non-human" demonstrated how "racial division tips into hatred."

                                                                       (Source)
With the indigenous peoples of Tasmania on the verge of "extinction," George Arthur, the British Governor of Tasmania," received orders to halt the annihilation. On orders from England, he began a campaign to 'rescue' the remaining Tasmanians and began to promote an inter-racial fantasy through colorful posters pasted everywhere (an early propaganda campaign!). He sent the Army to capture aboriginals, who in turn began a campaign of guerrilla warfare. He enlisted the help of George Augustus Robinson, a missionary who knew some of the aboriginals. Robinson sought to convert the aboriginals in order to save them. He wanted a peace treaty.

                                                                    (Source)
Lacking superior numbers and technology, the aboriginals knew that they would never end the conflict with the British settlers. They could never win in conventional war, and would never expel the British from their homeland. Fighting would lead to their extermination.

Arthur had Robinson send many of the remaining aboriginals to Flinders Island, with Robinson as their Chief Protector. On the island, they built a European-style settlement where they hoped to finally turn the aboriginals into British subjects. The film describes the settlement as a "factory" for "transforming savages into Christians."

                                                                      (Source)
Yet this form of settlement proved lethal. In combination with newly introduced viruses, the aboriginals broken spirits led to the death of the entire settlement, one by one. Children stopped being born. The health of everyone went to steep decline. Robinson fretted over the conditions of what we might call an unintentional "death camp," but salved his conscience by reflecting that the aboriginals had received the message of the Gospels. These beliefs protected him, as someone in our class noted, from any feelings of guilt.

                                                                       (Source)

Rules for In-Text Citations

In-text citations

Author is quoted or paraphrased but not named in the text. (MLA Handbook, 6.2)

It may be true that "in the appreciation of medieval art the attitude of the observer is of primary importance . . ." (Robertson 136).

Author is quoted or paraphrased and is named in the text. (MLA Handbook, 6.3)

Sigmund Freud states that a "dream is a fulfillment of a wish" (154).

Smith developed the argument in his 1997 book (185-91).

According to some, dreams express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184), though others disagree.

According to Foulkes's study, dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (184).

Is it possible that dreams may express "profound aspects of personality" (Foulkes 184)?

In-Text Citations for Print Sources with Known Author

Human beings have been described by Kenneth Burke as "symbol-using animals" (3). Human beings have been described as "symbol-using animals" (Burke 3).

Citing a Work by Multiple Authors

The authors state "Tighter gun control in the United States erodes Second Amendment rights" (Smith, Yang, and Moore 76).

Citing Indirect Sources

Ravitch argues that high schools are pressured to act as "social service centers, and they don't do that well" (qtd. in Weisman 259).

Citing Non-Print or Sources from the Internet

With more and more scholarly work being posted on the Internet, you may have to cite research you have completed in virtual environments. While many sources on the Internet should not be used for scholarly work (reference the OWL's Evaluating Sources of Information resource), some Web sources are perfectly acceptable for research. When creating in-text citations for electronic, film, or Internet sources, remember that your citation must reference the source in your Works Cited.

Sometimes writers are confused with how to craft parenthetical citations for electronic sources because of the absence of page numbers, but often, these sorts of entries do not require any sort of parenthetical citation at all. For electronic and Internet sources, follow the following guidelines:

• Include in the text the first item that appears in the Work Cited entry that corresponds to the citation (e.g. author name, article name, website name, film name).
• You do not need to give paragraph numbers or page numbers based on your Web browser’s print preview function.
• Unless you must list the website name in the signal phrase in order to get the reader to the appropriate entry, do not include URLs in-text. Only provide partial URLs such as when the name of the site includes, for example, a domain name, like CNN.com or Forbes.com as opposed to writing out http://www.cnn.com or http://www.forbes.com.

One online film critic stated that Fitzcarraldo is "...a beautiful and terrifying critique of obsession and colonialism" (Garcia, “Herzog: a Life”).

Page number unknown

As a 2005 study by Salary.com and America Online indicates, the Internet ranked as the top choice among employees for ways of wasting time on the job; it beat talking with co-workers—the second most popular method—by a margin of nearly two to one (Frauenheim).

Selection in an anthology

In “Love Is a Fallacy,” the narrator’s logical teachings disintegrate when Polly declares that she should date Petey because “[h]e’s got a raccoon coat” (Shulman 379).

Web site or other electronic source

Your in-text citation for an electronic source should follow the same guidelines as for other sources. If the source lacks page numbers but has numbered paragraphs, sections, or divisions, use those numbers with the appropriate abbreviation in your in-text citation: “par.,” “sec.,” “ch.,” “pt.,” and so on. Do not add such numbers if the source itself does not use them. In that case, simply give the author or title in your in-text citation.

Julian Hawthorne points out profound differences between his father and Ralph Waldo Emerson but concludes that, in their lives and their writing, “together they met the needs of nearly all that is worthy in human nature” (ch. 4).

When citing more than four lines of prose, use the following examples:

Nelly Dean treats Heathcliff poorly and dehumanizes him throughout her narration:

They entirely refused to have it in bed with them, or even in their room, and I had no more sense, so, I put it on the landing of the stairs, hoping it would be gone on the morrow. By chance, or else attracted by hearing his voice, it crept to Mr. Earnshaw's door, and there he found it on quitting his chamber. Inquiries were made as to how it got there; I was obliged to confess, and in recompense for my cowardice and inhumanity was sent out of the house. (Bronte 78)

Slave and Citizen first draft summaries

Please consult the blogs of the following students:

Leonore

Nadira

Nico

Paul

Sean

Future Reading Quiz

Open note or text if student can demonstrate notes across a majority of the text.

Paraphrase one of the claims from the text that you found interesting or problematic. After you paraphrase it in your own words, discuss why you found it significant.

claim - an argument that supports the main argument of the text. Sometimes a "major claim" could be the major claim of the text.

Reading Quiz

If you did the reading:

Did you take notes? Or highlight the text? If so, document your notes throughout the majority of the text to professor as the quiz begins. Once approved, you may use these notes for the quiz.

Did you do the reading but not take notes? Rely on that amazing memory of yours!


If you didn't do the reading:

Write an explanation explaining the choices you made before this class that led to this result.

Quiz Question

Something you learned. Discuss an idea, figure, fact, or event from the reading that you hadn't considered before, but that you found interesting. Briefly summarize it, and then explain whether or not it might be suitable material for Friday's blog.

Quiz Question for 5 points

Something you learned from the film "Scientific Racism: The Eugenics of Social Darwinism." Discuss an idea, figure, fact, or event from it that you hadn't considered before, but that you found interesting. Briefly summarize it.

Class Agenda 3.12

1. Reading Quiz

2. Announcements

Blog reminder: half-credit for first blog if sent by Tuesday at 5pm.

Course blog reminder: extremely vital to check course blog frequently.

May Museum dates: important to check work schedule and course schedule. All conflicts must be brought to professor by the next class.

Next week: students are responsible for bringing in Slave and Citizen as well as Life in the Iron Mills. They must have access to these texts, whether on screens or through printing. Note that both should be read in their entirety by next week. 

What you maybe missed: blog titles since last week.

3. Review of essay assignment number 1.

4. Review of claim, evidence, and paraphrase.

5. Brief textual tour via professor around theme of "labor" and New World slavery.

6. Together:

Class identifies the "major" claim (the main argument) of the text. We locate the passage from the text that contains this claim (or one of the passages, since it is repeated).

Alone and with a partner: Paraphrase that claim in your own words. Exchange your paraphrase with another student. A brief discussion with the class.

7. Summary. Discuss and define summary.

Together: students note the major supporting claims of the text.

Alone and with partner: Students will construct a summary of the entire argument of the text. They will exchange this paragraph with their partner from earlier in the class. They will observe and note their techniques.

8. Group Activity: skill: critical thinking. Do we agree with the major claim of the text? What are the problems or biases with this text?


Share main points of discussion with class. 

10. Film. 

Class Notes 3.5

Transfer Assistance Announcement

The Office of Transfer Services is now offering assistance with essay
writing for scholarships and personal statements. Assistance is offered on
a walk-in basis, but students who make an appointment will get preference.
The hours are listed below.

Monday 11a.m. - 2p.m.
Tuesday 10a.m - 12p.m. (appointment necessary)
Tuesday 4p.m-5p.m
Wednesday 9a.m - 11a.m. (appointment necessary)
Thursday 9a.m. - 11a.m. (appointment necessary)

Please contact Alquena Reed for more information:

Alquena Reed
College Assistant/Liaison
Office of Transfer Services
B- 215
(718) 482-5185
areed@lagcc.cuny.edu

The Reading for Monday: Questions and Answers

Students are responsible for the entire text of Slave and Citizen for Monday, which is broken up into different scans on the right-hand side of this blog. Please check the syllabus: you are responsible for the pages on the day they're listed.

IF you would prefer PDF copies of the reading, email me for them and I will send them to you as attachments. 

Here are some potential Frequently Asked Questions and Answers related to this assignment.

Do I have to read the entire thing?

Technically, no. I expect you to read the opening, and then to begin reading the first sentence of every paragraph. When you get to a paragraph that's important or interesting, I'd like you to stop and read that paragraph. If you're reading a paragraph and you 'get the point,' move on to the next paragraph.

How do you propose I use my time?

You probably can't read this in one sitting. I would break it up into five sittings of 25 pages at a time. Since you're not reading all of those 25 pages in one sitting, let's say you read somewhere between 50-75% of the full text. Today you should read and scan the first 25 pages. Tomorrow you should read and scan the next 25. If you do the same on Saturday and Sunday, that's all of it read by Monday. You need to budget your time accordingly.

What if it's totally impossible for me to read the entire thing?

If that's the case, I would read at least some parts from each section, so that you've read parts of the beginning, middle and end of the text.


How will I know what's important?

This class assumes you've had the prerequisites for college reading and writing. We can review, but I'm comfortable that you can tell the difference between a claim an author is making (an assertion, or an argument) and when an author is giving evidence for that claim. The most important part of your reading process will be to identify the big arguments made and then to review some of the evidence.


With that last question in mind, can you give me an example?

Yes. On page four of the text, the author, Tannebaum, uses very outdated language to make a basic claim: in a paraphrase, he says that African-American women, and persons of color generally, were treated differently in Brazil ("the Empire") than in the United States. As an example, he gives a longer quote from another source (you can see it on page 4; it's the only indented, quoted block of text on the page). This is an example of the author giving a claim (slavery was different in Brazil than in the US) and then citing evidence.

It's important to note this because the author will sometimes give evidence for pages at a time to support one claim he makes. You don't have to read all those pages. But you have to read skillfully and note when new claims pop up. Look first in topic sentences. Also, keep track of these moments in your notes.

Will there be a reading quiz on this?

Yes. The quiz will be open note and open book if you can prove you did a 'majority' of the reading.


Can you offer me any other advice?

Sure. Look at the questions below. Ask yourself the following questions with a text like Slave and Citizen.


What do we notice about the style?
What do we notice about the tone or voice of the text?
What do we notice about the vocabulary?
What do we notice about the citations?
What do we notice about the geographic terms?
What do we notice about the data?

How are we able to define the terms?
How are we able to tell what passage is important?
How are we able to distinguish claims from facts?
How are we able to decide the difference between argument and evidence (or, major claim and supporting claim)?
How are we able to identify the most important claims? Or the one most important claim?
How are we able to identify major themes?
How are we able to decipher the purpose of specific paragraphs and passages?

Sample Reading Quiz

If you did the reading:

Did you take notes? Or highlight the text? If so, document your notes throughout the majority of the text to professor as the quiz begins. Once approved, you may use these notes for the quiz.

Did you do the reading but not take notes? Rely on that amazing memory of yours!

If you didn't do the reading:

Write an explanation explaining the choices you made before this class that led to this result.

Quiz Question

Something you learned. Discuss an idea, figure, fact, or event from the reading that you hadn't considered before, but that you found interesting. Briefly summarize it, and then explain whether or not it might be suitable material for a future blog.

Incredible Opportunity

2013 Intercollegiate Partnership (ICP) at Barnard College for LaGuardia Community College Students  

Information Session with

Dr. Paul Hertz, Professor of Biological Studies, and the Director of ICP at Barnard College  

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

3:00-5:00 PM

E-242

(Refreshments will be served) 

David Walker's Appeal

...I must observe to my brethren that at the close of the first Revolution in this country, with Great Britain, there were but thirteen States in the Union, now there are twenty-four, most of which are slave-holding States, and the whites are dragging us around in chains and in handcuffs, to their new States and Territories to work their mines and farms, to enrich them and their children-and millions of them believing firmly that we being a little darker than they, were made by our Creator to be an inheritance to them and their children for ever-the same as a parcel of brutes.

 **

Are we MEN! ! -- I ask you, 0 my brethren I are we MEN? Did our Creator make us to be slaves to dust and ashes like ourselves? Are they not dying worms as well as we? Have they not to make their appearance before the tribunal of Heaven, to answer for the deeds done in the body, as well as we? Have we any other Master but Jesus Christ alone? Is he not their Master as well as ours? -- What right then, have we to obey and call any other Master, but Himself? How we could be so submissive to a gang of men, whom we cannot tell whether they are as good as ourselves or not, I never could conceive. However, this is shut up with the Lord, and we cannot precisely tell -- but I declare, we judge men by their works.

The whites have always been an unjust, jealous, unmerciful, avaricious and blood-thirsty set of beings, always seeking after power and authority. 

**

See your Declaration Americans! ! ! Do you understand your own language? Hear your languages, proclaimed to the world, July 4th, 1776 -- "We hold these truths to be self evident -- that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL! ! that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness! !" Compare your own language above, extracted from your Declaration of Independence, with your cruelties and murders inflicted by your cruel and unmerciful fathers and yourselves on our fathers and on us -- men who have never given your fathers or you the least provocation! ! ! ! ! !

(Source)

The Bill of Rights of the United States

The Preamble to The Bill of Rights

Congress of the United States
begun and held at the City of New-York, on
Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.

Note: The following text is a transcription of the first ten amendments to the Constitution in their original form. These amendments were ratified December 15, 1791, and form what is known as the "Bill of Rights."

---

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

---

Amendment II

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

---

Amendment III

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

---

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

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Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

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Amendment VI

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

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Amendment VII

In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

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Amendment VIII

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

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Amendment IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

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Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

(Source)

First Articles of the Constitution of the United States

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

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Article. I.

Section. 1.

All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.

Section. 2.

The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States, and the Electors in each State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New-York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three.

When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.

The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment.

Section. 3.

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the Legislature thereof for six Years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, during the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacancies.

No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

Section. 4.

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.

Section. 5.

Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.

Section. 6.

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.

Section. 7.

All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a Law, be presented to the President of the United States: If he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the Same shall be a Law, in like Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not be a Law.

Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States; and before the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill.

Section. 8.

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Section. 9.

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.

No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed.

No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.

No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.

No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another; nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another.

No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.

No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

Section. 10.

No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility.

No State shall, without the Consent of the Congress, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.

No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.

(Source)

The Declaration of Independence

The Declaration of Independence: A Transcription

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IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

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