Monday, September 2, 2013

Day one - Ideologies of a Revolution and Nation Building

Prereading (i.e. write before you read!): Clarify in your post which document you are reading. Have you read this document before (be honest)? How long ago? What is the gist of the document from your memory?

 Postreading: What was the author's biggest complaint about his government? What makes you say so?


  Please post your response in the comment section below.

9 comments:

  1. John Locke's Second Treatise on Government

    Prereading: I have never read this before.

    Post reading: It was very confusing to follow, but I believe that the author is complaining about the king in England and sir Robert. It seems to me as if he is mocking him in a sort of way. I got this sort of idea from this quote "there was never so much glib nonsense put together in
    well-sounding English."

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  2. Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence

    Pre-reading: My knowledge of the Declaration of Independence prior to reading was that it was a base for the writing the constitution. Like a rough draft, it outlined the main ideas but did not go into as much detail about liberties and regulations that the constitution does. But it was the first legal document to outline these rules and regulations in America.

    Post Reading: It was about the right of man, and the liberties that will be granted to each American Citizen. It also describes the protection of each citizen under the government. These rights may not be stripped from them. It says there will be a representative government that will be elected by the people in order to inflict rules wanted by the citizens. This document is hypocritical because there were still slaves when it was written. It was a good start to express what freedoms will be given, but they were only given to some.

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  4. Prereading: I have never read this before.

    Postreading: Thomas Jeffersons biggest complaint in the Declaration of Independence is the King of England being a tyrant. He expresses dislike to this by listing all the tyrannical things he has done to them ever since England ruled the colonies. I think that it was somewhat hypocritical when it talks about every human has rights that should never be taken away from them, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, because there was still slaves owned by citizens and will be for hundreds of years to come.

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  5. John Locke on Slavery

    Pre-reading: I have never read this before.

    Post Reading: After reading the passage several times, I am still slightly confused, but to my understanding, John Locke’s biggest complaint about his government was that he resented that one man could have the potential to have complete power without any repercussions. John Locke felt that government was set up to give people an outline of how they should live their lives and felt that the rules that were set up should apply to every member of society.

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  6. Thomas Paine's Common Sense

    Pre-reading: I've never read this before.

    Post-reading: This is a bit difficult to follow, but I believe Thomas Paine's biggest complaint with government is that it is unnecessary and causes way too many problems. He talks about how sometimes a country with a government is subject to the same miseries one would expect in a country without a government. He also says "government even in its best day is but a necessary evil in its worst day an intolerable one."

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  7. Excerpt from Thomas Paine's Common Sense

    Pre-reading: Well, totally new stuff for me. I don't even know this person.

    Post-reading: This reading is kind of hard because it contents ideas about the society and government, which is kind of philosophical.Thomas compared a country with a government and a country without a government and he believes that sometimes a country without a government is better because people can still suffer with a government. At last, he said: "And as a man, who is attached to a prostitute, is unfitted to choose or judge of a wife, so any prepossession in favor of a rotten constitution of government will disable us from discerning a good one." I think it means that people can choose a better life without a government that is unhelpful.

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  8. Pre Reading: I have never read this document.

    Post Reading: I found the language in this reading extremely confusing. John Locke's biggest complaint about his government is that one man makes all the political decisions. Locke believes that man should be free from any superior power. Locke says "THE natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power." Locke also explains that he does not like the way the government controls man's everyday life.

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