LAD #10 - Monroe Doctrine

1.  What did the issuing of the Monroe Doctrine express from an American perspective post War of 1812?

The Monroe Doctrine expressed isolationist policies and stated that new colonies could not be settled in the United States by foreign powers. Doing so would be seen as an act of aggression towards the United States. By doing so, this doctrine would help to prevent the United States from being caught in another European conflict as it did during the War of 1812.

2.  What was Secretary of State Adams' hope when he wrote the Monroe Doctrine?

Adams hoped that the United States would be taken more seriously after the Monroe Doctrine. He believed that if the United States defined the consequences of treading on our ground and disrespecting our borders, foreign powers such as Europe would take us much more seriously than before.

3.  What is the key phrase in the entire document that you need to remember as the cornerstone or American Foreign Policy?

"...the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers."

Columbus Blog

Christopher Columbus, although considered to be an excellent navigator and may have faced some odds when it came to traversing the Atlantic Ocean, is not all that we celebrate him to be. He never truly "discovered" the New World, merely stumbled upon it on his search for a more efficient trade route to Asia. Columbus' original intent for the journey was for gold, not to discover whether or not the Earth was round (most people of that time didn't even believe that the Earth was flat). His opinions of the natives? They were weak and he could "could conquer the whole of them with fifty men, and govern them as [he] pleased." His treatment of the natives in the New World was even worse. Columbus enslaved the natives, taking some back, and a great deal of them died on their way to Europe. The only reason he is "celebrated" and has become a federal holiday is because of lobbying from a group called the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic group during Roosevelt's administration, all because they wanted a celebrated Catholic figure. Before that, Columbus Day had been celebrated since 1892 as the 400th anniversary of Columbus' arrival because of President Benjamin Harrison.

And so every second Monday of in October we dedicate an entire 24 hours to a man who mistreated an entire group of people and cared only for the potential gold that lay beneath the surface of the New World.

LAD #9

In Jefferson's Inaugural Address, Jefferson begins by celebrating and thanking the people for electing him as president. He continues by stating how the country should continue to provide for the individual rights of the people through the Constitution. Jefferson additionally states how it is important to consider the opinions of the minority, even though they may not be reasonable. He believes that in this country, "every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern." In the next paragraph, Jefferson lists and emphasizes the parts that make the "sum of good government," such as practicing a "benign religion" that inculcates "honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man." Jefferson also lists the principles by which he will lead the country, such as treating his citizens with equality, "honest friendship with all nations," and avoiding alliances. Jefferson ends his inaugural address by acknowledging the fact that not all of his policies and ideas will be met with complete acceptance, but he asks for his citizens' "indulgence for [his] own errors."