Tyler Durden (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tyler_gone) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2009-01-29 08:16 am
tyler_gone) wrote in fandomhigh2009-01-29 08:16 am
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American History, Thursday, Period 2, Lesson 4
"Manifest Destiny," Algren said, launching into the lecture the moment the last student's butt hit their seat. Tyler stood back and observed this week; it was clear to him that Algren had the subject well in hand.
"The American ideology that saw us believing that not only was our nation destined to expand clear across the continent, but it was also ordained by God Himself." He clasped his hands behind his back, a gesture that was probably growing familiar by now, and paced in front of the class as he spoke. "Some people took it farther, believing that it meant more than simply expanding from sea to shining sea. The term was also used from time to time to refer to the eventual conquest of the continent as a whole. Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and Central America. Clearly, we Americans have simple desires. We only want everything, after all."
"While the notion of Manifest Destiny was popularized in the 1840s, it wasn't where America's major expansion really began. Roughly a quarter of our nation was actually attained in 1803 in the Louisiana Purchase, when Thomas Jefferson, the American President at the time, struck up a deal with Napoleon Bonaparte, the ruler of France. The deal consisted of portions of fifteen current states and two Canadian provinces, and cost us, between money paid and French debts forgiven, $15,000,000." Algren quirked an eyebrow upward slightly and smirked. "Lunch money, considering it worked out to less than three cents per acre of land in the currency of the day."
He frowned thoughtfully, and then leaned backward against the desk.
"Of course, for all that the land was now legally the property of America, all that was really purchased was the right to take the land away from someone else. After all, there were people in America long before anyone thought to call it 'America,' and the American Indians weren't so much as informed that the sale had taken place. It would be, essentially, as though some man who lives somewhere down the street just up and selling your house to your annoying new next door neighbor. And now they would like you to leave. It's their house now, after all."
"Which brings us to our assignment for today. At the back of the room, you will find a couch. There's only enough room on that couch for so many of you. Half of the class will fit, and I want that half to all get up onto it right now. Stand on it. Shoulder-to-shoulder, make it work. The rest of you? That's your couch that they're standing on. Really. Pair off with someone that's up there and try to convince them to leave. You'll be armed with these Nerf guns, here. That ought to make your conquest nice and simple, right?"
"Don't put anybody's eye out," Tyler chimed in for the first time as he went to hand the Nerf guns to the students who were getting them. "Other than that, this is a free-for-all."
"The American ideology that saw us believing that not only was our nation destined to expand clear across the continent, but it was also ordained by God Himself." He clasped his hands behind his back, a gesture that was probably growing familiar by now, and paced in front of the class as he spoke. "Some people took it farther, believing that it meant more than simply expanding from sea to shining sea. The term was also used from time to time to refer to the eventual conquest of the continent as a whole. Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and Central America. Clearly, we Americans have simple desires. We only want everything, after all."
"While the notion of Manifest Destiny was popularized in the 1840s, it wasn't where America's major expansion really began. Roughly a quarter of our nation was actually attained in 1803 in the Louisiana Purchase, when Thomas Jefferson, the American President at the time, struck up a deal with Napoleon Bonaparte, the ruler of France. The deal consisted of portions of fifteen current states and two Canadian provinces, and cost us, between money paid and French debts forgiven, $15,000,000." Algren quirked an eyebrow upward slightly and smirked. "Lunch money, considering it worked out to less than three cents per acre of land in the currency of the day."
He frowned thoughtfully, and then leaned backward against the desk.
"Of course, for all that the land was now legally the property of America, all that was really purchased was the right to take the land away from someone else. After all, there were people in America long before anyone thought to call it 'America,' and the American Indians weren't so much as informed that the sale had taken place. It would be, essentially, as though some man who lives somewhere down the street just up and selling your house to your annoying new next door neighbor. And now they would like you to leave. It's their house now, after all."
"Which brings us to our assignment for today. At the back of the room, you will find a couch. There's only enough room on that couch for so many of you. Half of the class will fit, and I want that half to all get up onto it right now. Stand on it. Shoulder-to-shoulder, make it work. The rest of you? That's your couch that they're standing on. Really. Pair off with someone that's up there and try to convince them to leave. You'll be armed with these Nerf guns, here. That ought to make your conquest nice and simple, right?"
"Don't put anybody's eye out," Tyler chimed in for the first time as he went to hand the Nerf guns to the students who were getting them. "Other than that, this is a free-for-all."
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"...that one guy."
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"Liir knows 'bout Ichigo," Ino said. "He's my brother, of course I told him."
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"What do you mean, like it's an arm?"
And then another.
"And, Ino, a lot of guys here talk about their arms quite a lot."
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Just, uh, more words.
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A beat.
"And that he was leaving and not talkin' to me 'til I got off my high horse and went to talk to him. Which'll be never 'cause I don't see that I was being so high and mighty when he was being just as bad."
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"Good grief."
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For a long moment.
"No." Seriously, now.
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