11/27/12 & 11/28/12

Yesterday we read an article on the case of Dred Scott. He was said to be property while he was a slave so when he and his owners crossed boarders in to a free state, it did not matter. he was still considered a slave because owners are allowed to bring their "property" any where. Dred tried to fight the "once free, always free" point but that did not work. This shows that even if the people do vote for a free state, it doesn't matter because slaves can still come into the state without the slaveholders being penalized. Today we watched a clip of a movie and read multiple articles about the debates between Stephen Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was pretty out right in saying he was against slavery. Douglass takes a different route and doesn't come out right and say he is for slavery. He always recalls what Lincoln said to make it seem like he is the opposite of him, but it can never be proved that he is. He believes in popular sovereignty, so he says that whatever the states want, they can have. But there is still the issue that it doesn't matter if the state is free because slavery can still come into those states. It was also weird to see that Abe said he never thought that blacks would be equal at all. He only believed they were entitled to their natural rights. Everyone always makes out that Abe was so against slavery and wanted blacks to be equal with men but he says in his speech that they never will be.

11/16/12 &11/19/12

On friday we read a long, long, long chapter from the book "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beetrice Stowe. It was hard to understand with the old language adn the slang. The men that are talking don't sound that educated so I found it difficult to read it. We ended class with this and didn't get the chance to talk about it until today. The story was about a women slave who ran away. The slave owner wants her back becasue she can work, she is capable of bearing children, and she is pretty. The men don't want to use dogs to find her becasue they are afraid that the dogs will tear her apart as they saw them do to another runaway. It was clear that this chapter was to show the evils of slavery adn slaveholders. Mrs. Stowe wanted to make people into Abolitions or have them support the anti-slavery. I'm sure she did just that. Some days I don't even tell a joke. I think my three day challenge has changed from talling a joke to making people laugh and laughing myself. I don't feel the need to tell a joke anymore because I find everything funny. Sometimes I just laugh at nothing. Sometimes I laugh when I see peoples faces becasue i'm just so happy to see them. I'm always laughing and I find that I'm so happy all the time.

11/14/12 &11/15/12

On November 14th we talked about the Mexican War. Mexico and the US fought over land. America claimed the land in texas as their own and when they entered and we attacked by mexico they caled it American bloodshed on American soil. It was weird to hear that America had just easily claimed land that didn't even belong to them. On November 15th we went even further into detail of the Mexican War. States were becoming part of the Union as either slave states on free states. They ended up evening each other out so that in the Senate it the ideas were equal. I told my jokes and they make me happier. I actually find that I am in a better mood all the time and it is hard for other people to change that.

William Lloyd Garrison (recorded)