19th Century Reformers

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born on May 25, 1803 in Boston. In 1832, he became a Transcendentalist leader who later wrote the essays "Self-Reliance" and "The American Soldier." He was both an essayist and a poet. Emerson wrote essay in order to express his ideas on transcendentalism, along with other figures. The very first article that he published was titled "Thoughts on the Religion of the Middle Ages" in 1822. Ralph Emerson was also known for giving lectures to people.

http://public.wsu.edu/~brians/world_civ/worldcivreader/world_civ_reader_2/emerson.html

Author: The author of the excerpt is Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Place: Self-Reliance, the essay written by Emerson, was published in London in the year of 1844.

Prior Knowledge: He was a leader of the American Transcendentalist along with others. He was also an essayist and a poet.

Audience: The essay was directed to the people who believed in transcendentalism. 

Reason: Emerson wrote this piece in order for him to propose to the audience that being an independent individual is important, thus giving it the title "Self-Reliance."

T: Emerson wanted to be able to share his ideas on transcendentalism with his audience.

S: The significance of his essay was to not only express his ideas, but for his audience or the people in general to take action in what they are doing.

Sylvester Graham

Graham was born on July 5, 1794 in Connecticut. After becoming a minister, he became a part of the temperance movement. He believed in good dieting that involved eating an abundance of fruits and vegetables. Graham is best know for the invention of Graham crackers today. Due to the fact that he was ill, he began to be interested in nutrition. He also gave lectures to people based on his idea of what dieting meant to him.

http://www.ivu.org/history/williams/graham.html

A: The author that describes Graham's ethics of diet was Howard Williams.

P: It was published in the year of 1883.

P: Sylvester Graham was the one who discovered Graham flour; later discovering a type of diet.

A: This piece was intended for people who was into dieting.

R: To show people that there are different ways of dieting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

T: The main idea was to show how dieting was a major issue to Graham so he decided to invent a diet.

S: The significance to this writing piece is to show the importance of how dieting was a big thing back then like it is today.

Oregon Trail, Wagon Trail Member

The Oregon Trail was a route that emigrants usually took, which started from the Oregon Valleys to the Missouri River. The trail was the main route that people often took when they were trying to get to the Oregon country.  The first people who used the route were explorers and fur traders; however, a couple of years later, there were settlers that were using the Oregon Trail. In the year of 1836, the very first wagon train was put together. Despite the fact that there were wagon trains for people to use, they would still encounter hardships. The Oregon Trail is known as a part of the westward expansion.

http://oregontrail101.com/00.ar.sager1.html

Catherine Sager Pringle tells her experience about the Oregon Trail. Her family considered moving to Oregon because immigration was the big in the winter of 1843. She explains how saying goodbye to relatives was one of the most difficult parts. Being on the wagon train made the passengers sick due to all the movement and how long the trip was. She then describes incidents that happened while they were traveling to Oregon.

The Chesapeake Leopard Incident

The Chesapeake did make the right choice because the British could not be trusted on whether they were being honest or not. Giving up four sailors from the British would not have been one of the best choices. If the incident would have occurred further off shore, there may have been more risks opposed to the original spot. However, being closer to shore could have possibly led to more chaos than what there already was. Even though this incident was a major deal for the Americans, they should not have declared war.

Of course if the Chesapeake was more military prepared the outcomes would have been positive for them. Being economically stable would have also helped the Chesapeake. The main focus on the incident was not necessarily based on the kidnapping of American sailors. By the British not yet abandoning the forts they had, one assumes that they would be the most prepared for the war.

The British should have the full right to demand the return of their sailors back to them. The British should not force any of the sailors to do anything they refuse to do. An American captain should not be held responsible for a fugitive, much less if they do not even know a fugitive is on board. This situation is not worth a war. The justice in this situation is that the fugitives will be sent home rather than a worse outcome.