Blog 5 questions and the constitution

When writing up the constitution of the United States of America the founding fathers had many questions to answer. The founding fathers were not trying to make a temporary government; they were making a government that would last forever. However, they were not trying to make a perfect utopian society. What the founding fathers were trying to do was unheard of, it had never been done before and because of this they had many questions they had to ask and answer to be able to write such a magnificent document like the declaration of independence.
What I see as the biggest debate in the constitution is slavery. All of the delegates had different views on slavery and it divided all of the delegates. Because of this debate the worlds slave or slavery are never mentioned in the constitution. I believe this is happened because God inspired the United States of Americas constitution. Because it is a divinely inspired document it of course it would not mention slavery. The topic of slavery separated America in the north and south. Because the congress was in Philadelphia the southern delegates had to come up to defend slavery. The congress did have to find a middle ground to make both the north and the south happy. The middle ground decided was that a slave counted as 3/5 of a person, that other states were required to return fugitive slaves and that the continental slave trade would be ended for twenty years. Most of these were a good middle ground for the north and the south. But I do feel that some of the clauses did give the south more power, for example the slaves having 3/5 of a vote gave the south many more votes then it would have had without it. This gave the south a lot more power in the house and congress. Another thing that I felt that the north lost on was that fugitive slaves had to be returned. However, I feel that the big loss on this decision to put that in the constitution came many years later in the Dred Scott decision. This decision made slavery legal property and could never be citizens in the United States. This decision greatly changed slave life in America until the American Civil War. Slavery was not fully tackled while making the constitution. It was just put off for 20 years to be solved later.
Another question that the founding fathers had to talk about was the Virginia plan. At this time Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were in Europe as ambassadors at the time so James Madison and other delegates had to take lead in the constitution. James Madison is known as the father of the constitution mainly for his writing of the Virginia plan. Even though the Virginia plan ultimately won there was also the New Jersey plan that was proposed by William Patterson. The New Jersey plan was similar today’s United Nation with equal representation. However, It did not get adopted and James Madison two house Virginia plan won and was voted to be part of the constitution and be Americas government.
In this blog I have only briefly covered the questions that the founding fathers ask. I feel that the most important question that slavery was the most important part of drafting the constitution and because of this I felt that I had to talk about slavery the most. Slavery was a big issue as it was in the past and once again was just put aside for the time being to be picked up again later. Besides this I know that that the constitutional congress did do everything right. A two house is the best way to have a government because it solves the needs of the people and the needs of the states.

Blog 4 - John Adams

Tom Hank’s adaptation of David McCullough’s book John Adams was very intriguing. Besides the section that we read for class I have never read the book John Adams before, however, I have read David Mculloughs book 1776 and quite liked it. Because of this I was quite thrilled to watch the HBO mini series with Paul Giamatti. I have heard good things about the mini series and remember when I watched John Adams win award after award at the Golden Globes. Watching it, I thought that for the most part that it was historically accurate. I felt that Paul Giamatti did a great job portraying John Adams. As Dr. H mentioned in class Tom Hanks did not want a handsome actor like Brad Pitt, he wanted a plain man, because that’s what John Adams was. Usually, when making a book into a movie it is very hard to keep the movie historically accurate. I think that making a mini series makes it a lot easier to keep the movie historically accurate. A regular movie is about two hours and the John Adams mini series is nine hours. Because of the extra seven hours the mini series is far more accurate then a normal movie adaptation of John Adams could be. I have heard several times that John Adams was obnoxious and a little annoying. I have heard that he used to wake up at four in the morning and plan his whole day out and then follow that plan to great detail. Another thing I have heard that is on thanksgiving he said that the American people should fast and not eat plentiful amounts of food. Paul Giamatti portrays John Adams in a similar fashion. Paul Giamatti’s portrayal of John Adams is obnoxious, however, when the viewer watches it he roots for him. Everyone who watches it is a little biased because they want American independence so of course they take John Adams side. But when I think back on the circumstances of the American Revolution it was quite the gamble. That is why I feel that it is truly amazing that John Adams and the other delegates were able to persuade the other colonies (or states) to go for independence. I know that had to have interfered for them to get a victory in the revolutionary war and become an independent nation. Their were only two things about the min series that I was surprised about was the portrayals of Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. However, I feel that I was surprised was because I have never really learned too much about the personalities of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was a little shyer then I thought he would be but I really liked the scene with John Adams editing the Declaration of Independence. This scene is what we read in the book for class and I really enjoyed how the film crew directed this scene. With Ben Franklin what surprised me was how he didn’t vocally back up the idea of independence at first. I have just always assumed that he had been public about his support of independence. It was surprising to me that he was more secretive of his support, however, it definitely was a learning experience. From the John Adams movie I learned a great deal about the personalities of the founding fathers. I found the mini series very interesting and I enjoyed it a great deal. I am glad that I had the opportunity to watch it because I am not sure if I would have watched it by myself.

Blog 3 MOA visit

Going through the types and shadows exhibit at the MOA was a very interesting experience. I have never really seen religious art as unique and cool as the art they had there. I haven’t really seen that much religious in my life and it was a good experience to see some good religious art that aren’t just the pictures that are on the pages in a Book of Mormon. Before going to the exhibit I had always thought of religious art as being just depictions of the people and story from the scriptures. The exhibit showed me that religious art was more then just depictions, it can be three dimensional or even representative (like the three panel piece on the prodigal son). I had two pieces that were my favorite in the exhibit. Those two pieces were the iron rod veil piece and also the piece of Jesus holding the cross. I like the iron rod veil piece for the artistic qualities. I really like metal art and liked the way the metal sheet was placed over the arm. I especially liked that his fingers were reaching out from under the metal sheet veil to show how much he was trying to do to help the person who had let go or was trying to grab the rod. Another element I liked about it was that the rod wasn’t very big and that it seemed hard to grip. I liked this because it is not always easy to live a strait and narrow life, however, it is possible. The way that God is reaching out to the person in distress really gives the viewer hope and personally reminded me of times when God was there for me. The other piece that was my favorite was the picture of Jesus holding the cross. I liked this because it was so realistic that it could be mistaken for a photograph. The wood that made up the cross was my favorite part because it looked like real wood that I could touch and feel the wood grain. This piece was also good because it reminded me of everything that Jesus has done for the world. He went through a lot of pain and suffering so that I can repent and live with him again someday. The atonement of course is very important in my life, my brother has autism and I want to be with him and the rest of my family forever. Besides my two favorite pieces I liked all of the other pieces a great amount too. I found that overall the MOA exhibit was a good experience and I was glad that I had the opportunity to visit it because I don’t think I would have seen it if we wouldn’t have gone as a class.

Sober Expectations

I feel that Martin Diamond’s title of “Sober Expectations” means a few different things. When Martin Diamond says sober expectations I think he means like the term “sober up” which means to be more realistic, or sober as in plain. I believe this because the founding fathers did have very realistic expectations for their new government. The founding fathers knew that for there new country to survive they needed to create a government that would tend to the needs of the colonists. One thing that I have really thought about that Dr. H mentioned in class was that the founding fathers were not trying to make a utopia. They knew that they couldn’t make a utopia and had very realistic expectations on the government they were setting up. That is why I think that the founding fathers were able to compromise on such issues as slavery. The founding fathers knew slavery was a big flaw but knew that they would have to leave it alone for the time being to know for the revolution to take place. They knew that later when the United States of America was more established they could correct some of the flaws and eventually they did correct some of the flaws. That is what is great about the government that was set up was that it could correct itself and restore order. An example of this that Dr. H talked about in class is President Richard Nixon leaving office after the Watergate controversy. In many other governments if an event that bad happened the whole country would be in utter confusion and peril. The United States of Government has been set up in such a beautifully structured way that problems such as the Watergate scandal can be solved peacefully. I also think when Martin Diamond said “Sober Expectations” he meant sober as in plain. The American Revolution was not like other revolutions in the past. The American Revolution did not kill the government officials above them or overthrow them. There were many loyalists that were disgraced but I have read that the favorite tactic of the patriots to intimidate the loyalists was to tar and feather them. Being tarred and feathered is very painful but it will not kill you. All of the revolutions before the American Revolution had been very violent, lots of blood was shed, and heads of the leaders were usually chopped off with guillotines. Which makes it so amazing that the founding fathers could create a revolution that ended up working without much fighting within the colonies. Martin Diamonds “Sober Expectations” eloquently praises the founding fathers for being realistic and explains how they were not trying to make a utopia. I found the article quite interesting as it explained how the American Revolution was the first of its kind. From reading the Book "Just and Holy Principles" I give credit to the founding fathers but I also believe that most of the credit should go to God. The American Revolution only happened because of divine intervention. Many founding fathers actually believed that the revolution only happened because of the helping hand of God. I believe that God did play a major role in the creation of the United States of America and am very thankful for it.