LAD #10

In a summary Monroe wanted the political powers of Europe to cease colonizing the American continents and to leave the Western Hemisphere to deal with is own problems without the guiding hand o of Europe. Monroe believed that "It is impossible that the allied powers should extend their political system to any portion of either continent without endangering our peace and happiness" and that it would be benenficial if the United States was the strongest power in the region. Monroe also states that he wants Spain and Portugal to improve the conditions of their colonial states. The main point of the Monroe Doctrine was still however to protect the rights of smaller countries in the region and for the United States to assert its dominance in the region. The United States alos wanted to keep its policy of neutrality unlesss its defense and liberties were threatened. It states that America lost a lot of blood securing this land and that if they were threatened the United States would not hesitate to fight back.

LAD #9

In Thomas Jefferson's first inagural address begins out very modestly. He says he does not know if he is up to the challenge of leading the nation. He then tells the people what a great land this is and that he is "humbled" to take on such "the magnitude of the undertaking." He was really showing his anti-federalist roots in an attempt to connect to the common man here. After that he says that the Constitution will guide him, and that he will consult it when he encounters difficulties. He then tells the people that they are in charge of Congress, and that he will rely on their adive and support to "steer with safety the vessel" that is the nation. He is basically saying that the fate of the nation is not in his hands alone, but the you the people will run the country with me, in order to steer to the greater. He talks  about how each person there has equal rights, no matter their social class or influence. He also talks about the potential that America has, and how it will rise to a greater status in the world. Then like many of the other leaders of the day, he talks about how important it is for the nation to stick together. Like Benjamin Franklin once said, "United We Stand, Divided We Fall."

Columbus Blog #8

Christopher Columbus. Inspirational explorer or greedy fame hunter? Most likely the greedy fame hunter. While most people in the United States think that Columbus is  an inspirational person, who defied the common logic that the world was flat and sailed to a distant world. Firstly, the Ancient Greeks had figured out that the world was sphericaly shaped in the third century B.C., meaning that people had already discovered Columbus' great "discovery" seventeen hundred years before he set sail. Second, Leif Erikson had already discovered the North American continent well before Columbus, almost 500 years in fact. And thirdly and most importantly, the autrucities that Columbus and his men commited once landing in the new world, while highly overlooked, is a stain on Latin American culture that cannot be erased. First look at his encounter with the Taino Indians in his first encounter with the native people in the New World. The Taino were peaceful people, virtually defenseless and little military power. They proved almost too easy for Columbus and his men, being almost wiped out soon after the arrival of Columbus. Five hundred of them were captured and sent back to Europe, as part of the blunders that were sent back to Queen Isabella in Spain. Columbus states in his own journal that “They [Indians] have no weapons and are all naked without any skill in arms and are very cowardly so that a thousand would not challenge three,...Thus they are useful to be commanded and to be made to labor and sow and to do everything else of which there is need and build towns and be taught to wear clothes and learn our customs.” This shows that Columbus was not going to the New World for a peaceful exploration of the area or to prove that the world was round, but to exploit the native people of the area for their labor, wealth, and livelihood. Columbus does not deserve a day in his honor, and people should remember the millions of native people that lost their lives as result of his fateful landing.