Monday May 23rd:

 “The Declaration of Independence” by Thomas Jefferson indicates the harness that King George showed his people. Jefferson used these guidelines to help better himself and America by making changes to what King George established. Jefferson states that 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. If and when any of these things become extinct then we are allow to abolish these and create a new government based on the truths of God and equality. I think that Jefferson was a firm believer in Christ and that is his background when developing the new land with the laws he put in place. I think that from Jefferson basing our foundation off these principles has made a huge impact on what we are today.

Crevecoeur defines America as a place where you are free from pretty much anything. He states in 25 pages pretty much the same thing over and over saying that America is a country where you have decent houses, developed landscapes with forest and gardens instead of the wild woody areas that use to be present. You have a diversified population culture from different countries rather than being in a country with the same breed. It’s a place where everything that has ever been known has come together and works efficiently. The value of America is great! People value the idea or concept of being free in a country where you are able to come together with so many people. One line that really sticks out to me was “Men are like plants; the goodness and flavor of the fruit proceeds from the peculiar soil and exposition in which they grow”.  I interpret this as depending on where you are from depends on your culture. We are all still people which is the plant but we are all together in sense that we live in America and bring different things to the table. In the religion factor I grasp that it means we have the freedom and will power to believe what we want and from that we are able to leave the rest to the God that we choose to believe in.

“The Crisis” by Thomas Pain is an extraordinary story that demonstrates the view of equality in a different way. After reading this passage I discovered that Paine’s view of equality stood for what America could be on her own and what she should be instead of being under the command of Britain.  He obviously was rooting for America and wanted this county to have the same equalities and powers of Britain and let the people of this country run it rather than sit back and tack orders.  He fought in the war and truly understood what it meant to fight for his own rights and equality.  He stated “not a man lives on the continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, “If there must be trouble let it be in my day, so that my child may have peace.””  This sentence says a lot as to how Paine felt on equality and looking into the future of a country that he had such high hopes for.  Paine references religion in his article and I get the feeling that he is a true believer and he believes that he has been so successful in his endeavors because he has God on his side.   

The poem by Wheatley is interesting. She comes across as being very merciful for being brought to America. Wheatley shows that no matter the case of her being a salve and being black she has found something that has in a sense made her equal to others. She uses hidden words to indicate that no matter her color she is “joining the angelic train” which means as long as she is Christian she is together mixed with blacks and whites.

Due to the evolvement of America thing have certainly changes. The values that I have today and what sets me apart from others a being equal is certain different from those that my grandparents had. Throughout the decades many things have come about and the world is more developed, from this brings change to the world which one may thought would never come. Sometime I wonder what life would be like if I were to grow up in the older days but then I think about what we have now and I’m grateful.

Last semester I had a multiculturalism class and we focused on equality, as well as other aspects of life. The things that we have discussed today about being equal and the views that have made equality and important aspect in life make me think about to the many days and lesson that we had on why equality is important and how life as we known has evolved.

Questions: Why is “Letters from an American Farmer” 25 pages long when he could of summed up everything and made it 5 pages long- reading this made me very bored and tired of reading the same thing over and over.

Do other people in other countries consider their life to be something based off equality?