Andrew Jackson according to Zinn and Boorstin

For this assignment, you'll need to be familiar with "As Long as the Grass..." by Zinn, and chapter 9, pages 224-245 in your text. We will work and talk about it in class Wednesday.

Because both Zinn and Boorstin thought deeply and broadly about their subject, both historians present Jackson more complexity than the usual golden halo seen in many textbooks.

In a post in the comments compare and contrast how Jackson is portrayed in each text. Is there anything you suspect is missing from both accounts? What else would you like to know?

Also, compare the wishes of Americans who want to feel comfortable "having a beer" with the president have with the popularity of Andrew Jackson as described by Boorstin?

Who in the current GOP race for the presidential nomination do you think is vying for the "having a beer" vote most successfully?

Ron Paul

Rick Santorum

Mitt Romney

Peoples History Discussion Questions

Be prepared to locate and discuss the answers to these questions from 'As Long As Grass Grows...' from APH of US

1. Why did almost every important Indian nation fight on the side of the British during the American Revolutionary War?

2. What was Jefferson’s policy toward the Indians?

3. What prompted Tecumseh’s rebellion?

4. How was the Battle of Horseshoe Bend won?

5. Why would demanding that Indians own private property make them more vulnerable to losing their land than if they continued to use the land in common?

6. What reasons did Jackson give to explain his invasion of Spanish-owned Florida? What resulted from the Seminole War of 1818?

7. How did President Jackson’s Indian policy compare (in practice, rationale, and effect) to his predecessors’?

8. How did Jackson act unconstitutionally?

9. What caused the outbreak of the Second Creek War?

10. How did Speckled Snake describe the history of European-Indian relations? Do you agree with his synopsis? If not, how would you alter it?

11. If you went up to a Creek or Cherokee in the 1830s and asked if you could buy some of his or her land, what would he or she say to you?

[Extra Credit : respond in a three to four paragraph comment. Remember to link to outside sources. Also see 'Persons of Mean and Vile Condition' in APH of US.] 12. Is there any parallel between Bacon’s Rebellion and the Indian Wars preceding the War of 1812 with respect to the dynamics among Indians, poor whites, and rich whites? If so, explain how the situations are parallel. If not, what factors are different enough so that there is no structural parallel?

13. What strategy(ies) did the Cherokees adopt to fight removal?

14. What position did Senator Frelinghuysen take regarding Indian removal? What action did Ralph Waldo Emerson take to oppose the removal of the Cherokees? Does the existence of ineffective white opposition to Indian removal indicate that white Americans were swept away by historical forces? Why or why not?

15. What happened to the Choctaws after they signed their treaty of removal? Were the terms of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek observed by both sides?

16. Why did the Georgia militia arrest Sam Worcester and Elizar Butler? Were the actions of the militia consistent with the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the U.S. Constitution? Why did it not matter whether the Supreme Court ruled in favor of or against the Cherokees?

17. By 1832, how long had the Creeks been defending their lands against the Europeans?

18. Place the following events in the order in which they usually happened:
a. Indians appeal to federal government to enforce treaty that protected the integrity of Indian land.
b. White settlers encroach on/invade Indian land.
c. Federal government does nothing.
d. On Indian land (by federal treaty) whites and Indians attack each other.
e. Federal government orders Indians to move farther west.
f. [Are any steps missing?]
Why did this process repeat itself over and over again?

19. What were the conditions under which the Creeks moved west?

20. How did the Seminoles resist removal? How effective was the Seminole form of resistance?

21. If the Cherokee removal was so dreadful that it was to be known as the Trail of Tears, why did Van Buren feel that it had the “happiest effects?”

22. Draw a map that includes the following: Appalachians, Mississippi River, Rocky Mountains, Florida Territory, Tallapoosa River in Alabama, the state borders of Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, the location of the Battle of Horshoe Bend, the Trail of Tears.

23. Debate Resolution: Andrew Jackson’s Indian policy represented a fundamental change from the Indian policies of previous U.S. presidents.

Zinn, Howard (2011-04-10). A People's History of the United States: Abridged Teaching Edition (Kindle Locations 2264-2276). Kindle Edition.

Women and the Workforce

Currently, men and women share the workforce equally. However, on average men are paid more than women for doing the same job. Despite this, women have come a long way from decades past when they were confined to the house and made a quarter to a half of what men made doing the same job. It is encouraging for women, this upward trend, and it should continue especially as labor intensive jobs become less in demand and there is more demand for organizational and office-based work. Also because more women than men attend college and receive degrees, women will be more qualified for those jobs. It will take years for this shift to happen, as women move through college and grow older move up the job ladder. However, I predict that eventually women will surpass men in the workforce and on average hold more jobs and make more money.

For tomorrow...

read page 111 through the end of the chapter in "A Peoples History of the United States," a chapter about the other half of the population.

Leta will make three multiple choice questions and answers for the first third of the assignment; Riley will make three questions and answers from the middle third; and I will write three questions for the last section.

Submit them to me in writing or via Google Docs by class time tomorrow, please.

Linsanity breaks Asian stereotypes

Can Asians play basketball? This is a very new topic wether Asians can play basketball. For a long time now basketball has been know as an African American sport. There has been only one well known NBA player, Yao Ming from China. Athletics is not one of the main stereotypes of Asian people.

Jeremy Lin is a point guard for the New York Knicks. Lin attended Harvard and graduated in 2010 with a degree in economics with a 3.1 grade point average. Lin lead Harvard to their best record of all time. In his senior year he averaged 16.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.1 blocks. Lin finished his collegiate career with 1,450 points and set the record for most points at any Ivy League school. 

Lin began his NBA career as unrestricted free agent and signed with Golden State Warriors in 2010. This is interesting because the best of the best are picked by teams in the first and second rounds of the NBA draft. The rest of the players are unrestricted free agents, meaning if the player are willing, any team can sign them. Lin did not get much playing time for the Warriors. Before the 2011-2012 season Lin was claimed by the Rockets but was dropped the next day and picked up by the New York Knicks as a 3rd string point guard (meaning he would not be expecting much playing time). On February 4, 2012 Lin made his first start in his NBA career; he had 25 points, five rebounds, and seven assists (all career highs). Lin set the NBA record with 109 points in 4 starts. Lin pulled the Knicks out of a slump and got to prove his worth.

Before his first start Lin never had any recognition.

"Players playing that well don't usually come out of nowhere. It seems like they come out of nowhere, but if you can go back and take a look, his skill level was probably there from the beginning. It probably just went unnoticed."

—Kobe Bryant, after Lin scored 38 points on February 10, 2012

I agree with Kobe and I think this will start a movement to recognize Asian players. With Asians as athletic role models there is a chance that the stereotypes Asians have held may change.

Religion+Music

Ah yes, Religion and modern music, two forces that have been forever colliding. "The Music of the Devil", or Rock n' Roll, is the genre of music that is most commonly torn into. Even with the invention of Christian Rock, there are still people who believe that all Rock music is evil.


The jack-ass, I'm sorry, "author", responsible for the article I linked above, is one perfect example of religious intolerance towards Rock music. He says that even Christian Rock is Satan's music, since it is still Rock music, which as a whole is "evil". He says that the artists who perform Christian Rock aren't true christians. "The reason is simply because they are carnal and have no desire to obey the Word of God.  They claim to want God, and to do His will; but, they only obey the Scriptures that are convenient for them." Oh, and that's not all. He uses this argument to also inject his views on Wicca, Abortion, and Gays, saying that they take the "truth of God, and twist it to fit their own purposes. "When we put all these things together, it becomes so OBVIOUS what Satan is trying to do.  Can you imagine a Bible that teaches that it's ok to murder your baby, be a homosexuality, practice witchcraft, and listen to Devilish music?  This is the exact type of crazy thinking the Devil's crowd wants us to accept.  It won't happen!  The carnal man desires to live in sin without any guilt.  The only way to accomplish this is to REDEFINE the Truth of God's Word."

But, it's not only Rock n' Roll that's being attacked by religion, This guy decides to use Skrillex's song, Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, winning a Grammy, as an excuse to attack someone and something that they are unfamiliar with and scared of. He says that Skrillex uses Satanic and Homosexual influences to win, saying that "As long as Skrillex wins Grammys and is accepted by mainstream media, he will claim souls for Satan and molest our children through his perverse philosophy of futuristic devil machine music." He also says that Skrillex's name translates from Latin into "Homosexual Satan Wasp". What. The actual. F#ck? I checked it out. Skrillex translates, both from English to Latin, and Latin to English, as Skrillex. He says that Dubstep was created to provide a "drop", which is somewhat true, but this guy says that a "drop" is a slang term for obtaining and doing drugs. WRONG. The drop in Dubstep is when a song goes from a more mellow tone, to a more aggressive, in your face beat with a lot more low-end power. Oh, and it STILL gets better! "In addition, the rhythm patterns he employs in his “music” are known to cause seizures to certain people, which provides ample opportunity for other concert-goers to rape said afflicted person(s)." AND "Over 100% of homosexual gays listen to, or have listened to Skrillex in their life — mostly while participating in door-to-door recruitment for sex orgies or attempting to molest children in one of the patented “Rape Vans” used by the gay homo community." Take a look at the link of the article, and look at the picture of Skrillex drinking coffee with an "X3" on the side (which I'm gonna guess stands for 3 shots of espresso), he has a caption under it that says "(Skrillex, shown here drinking “ecstasy”, in particular the potent “X3″ version)".

Now even though the Skrillex article is a satirical article, the saddest part is that there are people out there who actually do believe this sort of thing truly in their hearts, and believe that people like Skrillex are Satan-born terrorists, hell-bent on world domination, as proven by the first article I linked, which is not satirical.


And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason I am not a religious person. 

More or less how the Christians seem to operate on these matters

Prejudice Predictions

Write a blog post here that describes in detail you predictions regarding a specific prejudice in the U.S.

So far, Leta is going to comment on women's position. Is it in politics, Leta?

Craig is exploring religious objections to popular music.

Riley will write about the future of our stereotypes about Asians, in particular the phenomenon of Harvard's Jeremy Lin and his success on the New York Knicks team.