12/17/12 & 12/18/12

Yesterday we did a scavanger hunt of th er codes. It was so much fun. I didn't really learn tat much about the battles becasue I just wanted to win. We didn't even finish though. Mike decided to keep his ipod in his pocket adn not take it out until we only had like 3 more to go. Rennie was just being Rennie and had no idea what she was doing. We were just a mess but you can tell that it always brings out the best in people(: Today we did work sheets on abeas corpus. We got into a heated discussion about whether or not Abraham Lincoln was justified in suspeneding it or not. I thought he did but it's hard to explain why so everyone kept going back and forth.

12/10/12 & 12/11/12

Yesterday we discussed Lincoln and his theory for the United States of America. He thinks that the Declaration of Independence is the most important government in the history of the US. He says that natural rights and "liberty to all" is made first. Without it, there would be no Union or Constitution. The Union and the Constitution are the "picture of silver", of the frame. They are made around and for the Declaration of Independence, "the apple of gold". Today we talked about how the constitution is the highest governmental authority and the president must enforce the laws. Therefore, the president (Lincoln) cannot abolish slavery where it already exists because it is legal there. Also, we found that the south felt that republicans were hostile to the South by electing Lincoln. The south believes that it's not the time for democrats to rest because they have to fight for what they want and believe is right for the country. They are arguing that they are seceding as a means of self-defense because the government is not protecting their rights.

12/3/12 & 12/4/12

Yesterday we went into even more detail about Lincoln and Douglas. We interpreted a political cartoon with those two and the two other candidates, Bell and Bignerwick (?). There was a map of the U.S. hanging on the wall. Lincoln and Douglas were fighting over the west side of the country because they were really fighting over the votes. Bignerwick was grabbing the south because he was all pro-slavery. Bell was standing on a high chair used by babies and was trying to glue the map back together. This is because he never mentioned slavery and tried to avoid the issue. he just wanted the country to come together. People said he was acting like a baby. Today we did an Ed-cafe about important people during this time period. I thought the most important person was John Brown because he started the fighting. He was the first person to actually do something about slavery instead of just stand around and say things.

12/29/12 & 12/30/12

Yesterday we compared Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. We found that Abraham was only for ending slavery but not for equality of blacks. He never believed that blacks would be equal to whites. They were only equal in the facts that they had natural rights and deserved to own what they worked for. Stephen Douglas said that he wanted what the people wanted. He never said what he wanted slavery. Today I was not in class. I went on a field trip to Wolf Hollow in Ipswich. It was so cool. I saw a pack of wolves. The Alpha male was old and fat. They were just like dogs because they ate treats out of the women's hands. They didn't remind me of wolves at all and it was said because they are suppose to be wild animals. The only way someone could tell they were wolves was because of their size or their eyes. They were either red or yellow. My favorite wolf was a half dog half wolf. His name was bear. He looked like he had the playfulness of a dog but the wildness of a wolf. The most beautiful wolf was a young girl. She had black fur that turned red in the sunlight. he eyes were the same red as her sun-turned hair. She was very shy so she wasn't very high on the ranking order but I really liked her. It was a lot of fun to see them.