US Government, Friday, January 26 [1st period]

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh was mainlining coffee this morning. He didn't believe that caffeine really counted as a drug, and was hoping the assembly this afternoon wouldn't be teaching people otherwise.

Outside the classroom, a small herd of teal deer were making themselves comfortable.

"Today we'll actually start talking about the American part of American government." He pointed to the board. "As most of you know, the Americas were discovered by Columbus...well by a bunch of other people first, and then Columbus, and Columbus was still convinced he had found India because Columbus was a moron, my rant about this is way more US history than US government so we'll just move on." He didn't even stop for breath. "So Columbus found a couple of continents, and soon all the major European powers were over here searching for gold and oppressing the indigenous population, as you do.

"The English arrived in the 1600s--about a hundred years late to the party--but they made a huge impact on this country. The English colonies were different because you didn't have to be English to live there--you could be from anywhere and if you were in an English colony, and admittedly, were a white guy, you were granted the same rights and privileges as an Englishman living back in England."

"The 13 colonies in North America had a pretty decent relationship with England. But they had been colonies for 150 years, and that's important to remember. Generations had grown up in America and were developing their own culture, and wanted their voice to be heard in decision making. England? Not so interested in that." Josh began pacing around the room.

"Things came to a boiling point when England instituted a series of taxes on the colonies to help pay off the debt for the French and Indian Wars. Without asking the colonists' opinion on the matter, or really caring that their response was, to paraphrase, 'aw, hell no.' The tax on paper--the Stamp Act, passed in 1765--pissed people off because before there was TV, the only way to get news circulated was on paper, and the colonists were huge into letter-writing, pamphlet making, and newspapers. But the Tea Act in 1773 was the last straw. The colonists came up with the super-spiffy chanty motto 'no taxation without representation'--something you'll see on license plates from Washington DC, which is a conversation for another time--and threw all of the tea that was supposed to be taxed into Boston Harbor."

Josh looked up. "This was called the Boston Tea Party because we have a sense of humor about things sometimes. The British, as you might imagine, didn't react with laughter. They closed Boston Harbor, clamped down on the Massachusetts government, and pretty much led directly to the battles of Lexington and Concord that started the Revolutionary War."

He reached onto his desk and picked up a copy of the Declaration of Independence. "Which leads us to perhaps the best written 'screw you and the horse you rode in on' document in the history of this planet. The Founders of this country wanted to make it perfectly clear to the world why they were severing ties with England. So they listed the many, many, many things that England, its parliament and its king had done wrong."

He held the paper in front of him. "But the part that has stuck with us is the 35 words in the second paragraph." He cleared his throat. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

He put the Declaration down. "This section was cribbed from John Locke--one of the guys we talked about last class--but he said we had inalienable rights to property, rather than happiness. We won't get into the definition of 'men' in that sentence, or if we think that the United States has lived up to that ideal, or if 'pursuit of Happiness' is legally binding." He sighed. "Though I do give you permission here and now to smack any crazy person who writes a letter to the editor declaring pursuit of happiness a constitutionally granted right. It's not in the Constitution, and they should learn to read."

He passed out copies of the Declaration of Independence. "Okay. I want you to go through the list of grievances that the colonies had with England and tell me the one that would make you the most cranky. Next week we're going to have a very exciting quiz on everything you've learned up until now."

Josh perched on his desk and waited for the first student to comment.

Comments

Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Which grievance is most grief causing?

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Oh, definately the one about preventing trade with other place," Turtle said, deciding on that one immediately when she saw it. "What were the British, Commies, or something?"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"This was way before communism," Josh replied with a small smile. "From the British perspective, they were just trying to capitalize on their investment. They didn't want their colonies setting up deals with countries that weren't them. You can see why the colonies might have other opinions."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

"Just trying to capitalize on their investment?" Turtle snerked a little. "Didn't do a very good job, did they? You can't maintain a market by depriving it." She shook her head.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"They learned that lesson rather thoroughly, yeah," Josh agreed.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[stocksgrrl.livejournal.com]

Turtle threw her arms up in celebration of capitalism. "Yay!" And then chuckled, because, man, was she a dork.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[irulan-atreides.livejournal.com]

Again there was conflict in Irulan's beliefs and the beliefs held by the society she was studying. She rather liked the phrase Professor Lyman mentioned but the next lines...

She frowned. "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government." Yes, there would be issues a many.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh blinked. "Not exactly what I had in mind..." he muttered to himself. "Okay," he said in a more normal voice, "I'll bite. When governments are being oppressive to their people, it's not the right of the people to rise up against it?"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[irulan-atreides.livejournal.com]

"They will try but they will fail." She said matter a factly. Ten thousand years of Corrino rule and she had yet to see a successful rebellion.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Okay, logistically speaking it might be a bit difficult--look at Ireland for, oh, most of its history--but you don't believe it is the right of all human beings to be free? To choose their own fate? And their own leaders?"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"Were the British extra mad about the tea party because it wasted tea?" Jim asked. "I mean, we all know how big on tea they are, right?"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh snickered. "That's what made it such a statement. I don't think they would've been nearly as upset if we'd dumped molasses."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

"What else do you think would have generated that response? Scones? Politeness?" Jim asked.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

Josh thought about it. "Maybe a refusal to wear wigs? The entire city of Boston holding up signs that said 'friends don't let friends wear tacky shoe buckles?'"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

Pam listened to the exchange and giggled before tossing a note over at Jim.

Nice work.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[fat-halpert.livejournal.com]

Jim threw a quick note back before becoming completely re-engrossed in the discussion.

What?

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[keds-champion.livejournal.com]

"The king made up offices?" Pam said. "Like, he would say 'Oh, Pam, you are the High Minister of...Pencils, and you now have the authority to go steal everyone's writing utensils'?"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"He would call it requisitioning, and yeah," Josh said. "And just to add insult to injury, you'd probably be replacing some colonist in this job as Chief Pencil Snatcher. And if the king got tired of you--decided you had stupid hair or something--he'd totally fire and replace you."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[likethegun]

"I think the worst grievances were the ones involving the armies - having a standing army when it wasn't necessary, quartering them with civilians, letting them get away with crimes, and so on."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Excellent choice," Josh said with a smile. "There's a reason the quartering troops amendment is so high up in the Bill of Rights, even if it doesn't seem like that big a deal to us modern types."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[likethegun]

"I can see how it's a big deal. I don't need extra troops in my house - my dad is enough," Sam said with an eyeroll.

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"Making the military superior to the civil power," Dawn shuddered, imagining how bad it would be if that still happened. "And why didn't we attack their tweed and scone industries, too?"

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Have you ever tried to burn tweed?" Josh asked. "Not pretty."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[lilpunkinbelly.livejournal.com]

"Have you ever tried to wear tweed?" Dawn shot back. "Itchy."

Re: Answer the discussion question!

[professor-lyman.livejournal.com]

"Only that one time in college," Josh said. "Three beers and a stupid dare. The leather elbow patches are a wrongly shunned fashion statement, though."