Women's Rights Movement in the 1800's

In the 1800's the role of the woman was to birth children and take care of the home and family while the husband would work to provide for the home.  And when the man came home, she was to provide comfort for him and make sure he was happy.  The four characteristics of an ideal woman were piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity.  Piety was to be devoted to a certain religion, this relates to purity because a woman would have to make sure she never sinned and abstained from sexual natures until starting a family.  An ideal woman also had to be submissive and conform to the ideals that would make her appear beautiful. Much of this had to do with what kind of clothing she would wear.  Women's clothing was designed to reshape her body, and could restrict proper breathing or prevent proper muscle development. To be domestic is to be an object of the household, so a woman would generally stay at home and do the housework that needed to be done as well a take care of the family.  This was known as the private sphere, a place where the woman would be safe from the outside world and not have to worry about finances and big businesses.  Her husband would work in the public sphere and make money to provide for the household.

The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention.  Taking place over July 19-20, 1948 it discussed the rights and roles of women.  The Declaration of Rights and Sentiments was a major point of discussion at the convention. Written primarily by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, it was based on the Declaration of independence but included women in it as well.

Many women's lives however, were not improved by the convention.  Cherokee Native american, African Americans and basically all other races of women were essentially left out of all of the rights given to wealthy, white women at the convention.  The resolutions we came up with in class included equality to men and women, but we also gave the same rights to people of all races not just whites.  

I think that the most important resolution was that a woman was a mans equal and should be treated as such.  This is the most important because it bestows many if not all of the rights that men have upon a woman. Today this is something that we in the U.S. have no trouble accepting but in many places around the world women are still treated with less respect as men but it is a vast improvement from where we stood in the 1800's

Revolutions In Latin America

The Mexican revolution was started to end Spanish rule in Mexico, give back land to provide racial equality.  Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla started the Mexican rebellion with his army of peasants but was quickly defeated by Napoleon and his army in 1811. Many peasant leaders after him lead armies to fight the Spanish. However in 1820, Spanish liberals made reforms to please the Mexicans.  Later the Plan of Iguala deemed Mexico's independence. In 1821, Juan de O'Donoju of Spain signed the Treaty of Cordoba establishing Mexico as its own constitutional monarchy.  Race was a factor in the Mexican revolution because the Spanish gave less rights to the Mexicans or people with Mexican or Indian blood.  This was part of the reason that the revolution even happened among other things.


Today race still influences politics in the U.S.  Some people are prejudiced against the president because he is black.  Ed Pilkington's article on racial fear in politics says that to people who are uncomfortable with the changing demographics of the United States, Barack Obama is like a symbol for what is happening and because he is black, some people associate his skin color with what is happening in the country that they're uncomfortable with.  This event is important because it seems like many people dislike or disagree with Barack Obama and his actions because of the color of his skin.  Pilkingtons article does a good job of explaining why this may be and why it may affect the way people view other politicians with dark skin.  In some ways race still does have a lot of effect on politics because many people in our country are biased against people of different races and although some people do not see color in these situations it is still an issue that can not be ignored.  I think that race should not affect the way anyone acts toward another person and for people who are deciding what decisions we make as a country it disgusts me to think that someone would simply disregard another's input or idea just because they are of a different race.  This country was built on the basis that all men are created equal and that no man should be treated differently because of the color of his skin.

Pilkington, Ed. "Racial Fear Has Infected US Politics, Former Obama Adviser Axelrod Says." HomeUS. The Guardian, 10 Feb. 2015. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/10/obama-axelrod-racial-fear-american-politics>.

Russian & Ukrainian Conflicts

There is a conflict in the Crimea peninsula of Ukraine between The Russian and Ukrainian governments as the Russians are attempting to take over the land as it sits between the two countries and is rich in oil. But where does the United States fit in to all of this?  The U.S. congress is debating weather or not they should send arms into Ukraine to help fight the Russian army.  The U.S. is also attempting to stop the exporting of military equipment from Russia to other countries.

If the U.S. were following the principles of the Monroe Doctrine, they would leave the matters alone and let Russia and Ukraine settle their own battles. The conflict does not directly involve the United States so if following the Monroe doctrine, they should have no part in the battle. Since the battles are taking place nowhere near the united states, they should not even have arms in Ukraine if following the Monroe Doctrine.  Although the U.S. is simply helping Ukraine stand their ground from Russia, and trying to provide justice, the Monroe Doctrine would stand against everything the U.S. is doing in the conflict.

Articles Used:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28969784
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/12/15/ukra-d15.html

Congress of Vienna

Basically our task was to choose what decision we thought the Congress of Vienna should make for each problem given.  I thought it was a good way to not only sharpen our decision making skills but also learn about the Congress of Vienna, how it functioned and what decisions they faced as well.

The Holy Alliance was one way the major political powers of the Congress of Vienna made sure their power was not endangered.  Initiated by Czar Alexander of Russia, it stated that monarchs had the right to rule and any revolution would be treason against god.  This prevented many people from revolting because they did not want to upset their holy figure. 

I think that they made the right decision  because afterwords there was not many repercussions  that drastically effected the world.