Activity for Lecture 3
Please type your essay answers into an email. Please do not send as an attachment. Send your email to profkaupert@gmail.com
Please answer this first question:
Consider the
Declaration of Independence. Compare the language and ideas
expressed in the Declaration of Independence with the French,
Declaration of the
Rights of Man and Citizen What are the rights of men? Why are governments created and
under what circumstances can they be dissolved? On the basis of which
philosopher(s)' ideas are these documents written?
NOW, please choose ONE of the options below and address the questions presented. Please follow the instructions provided by me on how to write an essay.
1. Compare and contrast the views held by Thomas Jefferson and Andrew
Jackson
respecting how the Native American Indian population should be 'handled'? (these
are linked in
the table below)
2. Consider
Abigail Adam's exchange of letters with her husband, John
Adams. What do
you think were the rules/laws Abigail alluded to her
letter? What was the situation
for a woman in 18th century America? What
rights did women have? What was the
status of a woman within society at
that time? Do you think that Abigail was arguing
for equality?
3. Please first consider the
Northwest Ordinance, penned by Thomas' Jefferson in 1787
then read
Thomas Jefferson's letter to James Heaton
written almost 40 years later.
Jefferson has been asked for his opinion on
slavery. The letter is entitled NUNC
DIMITTIS deriving from Luke 2:29-32 (The Canticle of
Simeon). Why did Jefferson
entitle his letter thus? What does Jefferson mean when he says "A good cause
is often
injured more by ill-timed efforts of its friends than by the
arguments of its enemies?"
What does Jefferson's letter to Heaton say about
his view of slavery? To what cause
did Jefferson attribute
the end of slavery? Why do you suppose Jefferson knew
slavery would
eventually end?