Chartist Petition of 1838

The theme of this reading is to explain to us just what exactly the Chartist Petition of 1838 was. The Chartist Petition was written to successfully change Parliament's laws for both the working and middle class. This petition was centered around reform and meant for a social democracy. The men who wrote this wanted to make six main changes: universal male suffrage, a secret ballot, no property qualification for members of Parliament, pay members of Parliament, constituencies of equal size, and annual elections for Parliament. 

Several things that came to my mind when i read this is that the Chartist Petition was also commonly called the "People's Charter". This came from the movement of Chartism. The goal of this was to gain as much strength as they could, however the Chartist Petition was rejected. This was the first mass working labor movement to come together for a particular cause.

    

After reading this i noticed that it stated, "Universal suffrage will, and it alone can, bring true and lasting peace to the nation; we firmly believe that it will also bring prosperity." I just loved this because I just have a big hard for loving people and helping people and peace. I realized though that these people felt that there would automatically be peace once everyone could vote. This however is false because just because you can vote it doesn't mean that things are all going to be happy go lucky or that there will just automatically be peace. Because even when you have a large amount of the population that can vote, it doesn't mean that there will not be dissent among the people for reasons by election. 

    

 Reading this makes me think about how there are many reforms that have taken place. There are reforms like: the African American suffrage and also the women’s suffrage. These all have to do with the fight for equal rights for women just as human beings and in the workplace. 

This reading relates to the text because in the text there were members of the London Workingman's Association that met or talked with those who wrote the Chartist Petition or were part of the Parliament. We also learned about how the Chartist movement died after several years. Overall this reading was okay, for me it was kind of hard to grasp or understand. But it was a good reading.

Women Miners in the English Coal Pits

The theme of this reading is that of misuse. During the late 1700's and early 1800's many women and children were misused. This reading also told us that women and children were given the same jobs as men but that they just worked for a cheaper pay than men. I just feel that it is not right that they all were doing the same job because they weren't men they weren't treated as fairly. 

Several things that came to mind when i read this was that because this was that during the industrial revolution things like this occurred more often than not and this was because families had to find ways to earn more money. This was due to the fact that at that time families were not doing well financially. However, women and children usually only brought home less than 1/3 of the pay given to men. This kind of work was very common, but after several decades a law was put into place that banned children under 10 years and all women from working in the mines.

  

 After reading this i noticed it said, "In many of the collieries in this district, as far as relates to the underground employment, there is no distinction of sex, but the labour is distributed indifferently among both sexes.” I understand that women wanted to do a lot of the same things as men and gain more freedom and equal rights but I do think there needs to be a line somewhere too. Especially in the workplace because were not all built the same to be able to all be capable of doing the same jobs. Its kind of sad to think what these children and women had to go through to do the same work the men had to do yet get paid even less.

  

Reading this story makes me think about how grateful i am that there were laws put into place to protect children and women from having to do extreme work that the men could endure but children could not. Its awful to think of what they had to go through that they should not have. Children are precious to God and to have little girls working alongside grown men in full nudity and therefore vulnerable to sexual indiscretions must have really upset Him.

    

This reading relates to the tex because the book talks about the Industrial Revolution and the roles of men, women, and children during that time. The reading and the text both talk about how children younger than 13 years old made up a lot of the work force. They both talked about what the women and children faced and the trials and difficult times they endured. They also covered wages and the work environment and what was produced in certain industries.

Modern History Sourcebook: The Crime of Galileo: Indictment and Abjuration of 1633

The theme of this reading is that of the conviction of Galileo for his beliefs. He was tried twice for crimes against the beliefs of the church. The Catholic church brought him in because he did not believe that the earth was at the center of the universe and unable to be moved. Galileo discovered that the sun actually the center of our solar system and that the earth revolves around it instead of the idea that the sun is circling the earth.The Church officials accused Galileo of heresy and wanted him to go back on his believes and turn to the "correct" beliefs.

Several things that came to my mind when I read this was that most of western civilization had believed and taught the Ptolemaic system. This system told how the earth stays still while everything else revolves around it. Copernicus was the first to challenge this idea. He felt that it was the sun that stayed still while everything else moved around it. Everyone seemed to believe the Ptolemaic System until Galileo's idea proved to make much more sense than any of the others. After writing his book, "Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems-Ptolemaic and Copernican" in 1632, many people switched beliefs to support his view. This caused the Roman Inquisition to step in and end this "heresy".

  

After reading this i noticed how the officials stated, "for holding as true a false doctrine taught by many...also, for having pupils whom you instructed in the same opinions; also, for maintaining a correspondence on the same with some German mathematicians; also for publishing certain letters on the sun-spots, in which you developed the same doctrine as true; also, for answering the objections which were continually produced from the Holy Scriptures, by glozing the said Scriptures according to your own meaning; and whereas thereupon was produced the copy of a writing, in form of a letter professedly written by you to a person formerly your pupil, in which, following the hypothesis of Copernicus, you include several propositions contrary to the true sense and authority of the Holy Scriptures." These reasons actually seemed very convincing to me. It shows just how stubborn the Roman Catholic Church was and how almost contradicting they were. Through their stubbornness they felt they were actually doing what was "right" which i found ironic.

  

Reading this makes me think about how Galileo had so much courage. He was very determined in uncovering the truth and stood for what he believed. He even "stood" when everyone was against him. I thought it was really cool how he still had the courage to put his findings in writings so that everyone could see what he discovered and how he truly felt. I see a connection here with ourselves and how our walks with Christ should be. We should feel the need to "stand" and be courageous and determined in our beliefs for the whole world to see even when the world may be against us God gives us the strength to persevere.

This reading relates to the text because in class we talked about Galileo and read about all of these people: Ptolemaic, Copernicus, and stuff and read in the text information about this same topic but just in greater depth. As well as, discussing how Galileo ended up in from the Roman inquisition because of these new discoveries.

from The Duty of a King in His Royal Office Sir Walter Raleigh, 1599

The theme of this reading is to show how absolutism was a part of monarchy. This reading by Sir Walter Raleigh shows us that during that time the kings had complete power that they compared to the power of God. Raleigh talks about how kings are not only compared to the divine power but also compared to the father of a family, a father figure politically, and the power of "the body of man". He  describes and defends how the kings of this age think very highly of themselves and have much power. He uses metaphors and comparisons, to show us what roles the Kings play and the responsibilities that they have over their land.

   

Several things that came to mind when I read this was that Sir Walter Raleigh was a very interesting writer. He climb the "power ladder" very successfully and was knighted in 1584. When he was in power he was a very good ruler and handled responsibility very well. He was shown to be fair to his workers however at the time this reading was written, Raleigh was not well liked in Europe. Another thing that stood out to me was when in the reading it stated,"The state of monarchie is the supremest thing upon earth; for kings are not only Gods lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon Gods throne, but even by God himself they are called gods." What I don't understand is why he felt like he could state these things as if he had the authority. He clearly was not turning to the Bible for this because where in their Bible is it written that human kings filled with sin and God's angels are the same. I know that in the Bible God doesn't want us to call anyone else God besides Himself so that statement seems incorrect. We are to follow the laws unless they go again what God has commanded and I feel like due to this statement, this would one of this instances where you would have to go towards what is commanded by God rather than following that law. It is an issue of loyalty.

   

After reading this I noticed that in this reading Raleigh states, "No one man should have all that power". I feel that this making a valid point. I don't think that a large amount of power should ever be given to a very sinful person, which would include all of mankind, which there means that no one should have all that power like Raleigh is talking about.

   

Reading this makes me think about how it can be compared to how powerful of a company Mcdonalds' is in comparison to the competitors in the fast food industry. So many people show so much respect to it and everyone all over seems to know what it is because of all the advertisement especially. People don't notice the major flaws of the restaurant because of how much authority it is given by mankind, as far as fast food is concerned at least. There is arguably no other fast food company in the world that can match the absolute power of Mcdonalds.

  

This reading relates the text because in our book the European monarchs practiced absolutism by eliminating the other parts of their country that were either weak or a threat to their authority.This is exactly how it was describe in Sir Walter Raleigh's reading. They had the ability to cut off weak members and such as if to show they weren't needed or wanted. Which is a lot like how the monarchies of Europe wanted to extend their state and therefore their power just like the kings are the natural fathers of their families and therefore want to expand and control the new incomers.