Done

I just took my last exam for History 350 (American Revolution) and i have to say it was awesome. I learned so much about that time period that i think i could write a book, or at least a long essay. Oh wait, i did that already! I am pretty sure this is the part of history that i want to cluster around but i still have a long way to go before i decide for sure and at least 12 more history classes to take. I am on break now until January the 8th when i take two more classes. See you then :)

What does Thomas Paine mean by common sense?

Common sense is a pretty simple concept; it’s urging the colonist of America to open their eyes and see that they don’t need to be dependent on Great Britain to make it in this new world. Thomas Paine wrote common sense using simple writing and biblical references so that the regular colonist would understand what he was trying to say. It was a radical move at the time because no one had really come out and said “Let’s do it!!” just yet. In common sense Paine discusses things like the society and government, the British monarchy, the relationship between America and Great Britain at the time, and America’s great potential. He makes a lot of great points that turned the heads of a lot of people.

Personal journal entries of John Adams and Anna Green Winslow

I honestly wasn't looking forward to reading these journal entries but i actually kind of got into them. Its nice reading something that the person actually wrote, rather than reading something someone else wrote about that person. You get to see their exact thoughts, and see how they phrase things; you can tell a lot about a person from their writing style.

I really liked Adams' entry about getting up late. You could tell from that entry that he was just a normal guy who didn't want to waste his life away sleeping (i can relate). Adams had a thirst for knowledge that i really admire, i find myself doing the same things he was writing. He talked about his ambitions in regards to reading certain books and allotting time to thinking and mediating on his thoughts. He was a total people watcher as well, most of his journal entries were about people he met and watched in public. You have to think about how it was back in his time though, with no TV or radios that WAS the entertainment. He mentions a man who dances silly and people who say radical things just to get laughs. He also mentions a man who is mean to his wife. Adams is so professional when it comes to his work. He really loves law, my second favorite journal entry is when he defends it against justice dyer's views on the subject.

Anna’s journal was a lot easier to read than Adams because her language is much more simple. In her earlier entries she mentions multiple times that her Aunt says things about how adults shouldn't listen to the ramblings of a child, etc. This really frustrates me because sometimes they have the best things to say. She is obviously a very smart young girl who mentions taking her lessons at school and at home. During this time girls studied regular lessons as well as womanly lessons like quilting and homemaking. My grandfather used to say women were bred to breed, it always made me laugh. she mentions quite a few sick people in her entries, which i imagine was frequent during her time. In her journal entries she also mentioned going to watch military trainings in the courtyard, watching hangings, and being present at funerals. I don't think i would like life during this time as a young girl, i would get into too much trouble.

"The Revolution Preserved Social Inequality"? Why or why not?

I think this question comes up a lot when people talk about the American Revolution because we always go on and on about the freedom that we earned and people start to ask, "Well who really was freed?" It certainly wasn't the slaves or the women. And even then there were still poor people working their butts off for some of the more rich families. So i would have to say yes and no, which seems to be the general consensus of the group. We were freed as a nation from the tyranny of Great Britain, but it took us a long time to overcome the tyranny we had put ourselves under regarding slaves, women, and social inequality. I think during this time religion had a lot to do with it. Some people could be upset with me saying this but in my opinion, plain and simple, old men used religion to control people during this time (and even still today). They twisted the context of the bible to say that slaves were inferior and women had no rights. I think this went on a long time before some people began to pull away from that thinking and that’s when we began to see a real change in the freedoms of women and slaves.

The American Revolution

I have gotten answers to questions about the American Revolution that i never ever even though to ask before this class. I also have gotten to learn lots of cool things about people that were involved in the AR like John Adams, Ben Franklin, and of course George Washington. I am still working on my twenty page essay about the good old GW trying to find the words to match the man. Sometimes i think about what it would be like if i went back in time to meet him. I would probably freak. It seems like every week i have to read more and more, but i think i am getting into it now. If you embrace the reading, it seems to get better. Here's to learning!

Update on my school

This semester i am taking the History of Geology and the American Revolution. I was seriously excited about these two classes at the start of the semester but i don't think i realized how much work they were going to be.

For starters, Geology is AMAZING. I think i have learned more about the earth in two weeks than i have ever learned about any other subject ever. It is a lot of memorization and charts but the earth is all around you, so its hard NOT to be interested.

The American Revolution is so so so much reading. I'm finding myself wishing my textbook was on an audio CD. I have read 1 million essays that were probably written by a dictionary and every other word is 15 letters long. I love history more than anything but come on, its like they want me to fail by sucking the life out of it. I like to study the passion of the people, not a 20 page long essay about the rational explanation of why the revolution occurred through the eyes of a dictionary. I will muddle through it some how, better get to reading!

Band of Brothers: Continued

I mentioned a while back i was watching the series Band of Brothers. It has taken me and my husband a little while to get through the series (even though it is only nine episodes) because it is really emotionally draining. I am on the second to last episode now and i would highly recommend it if you are into history. It has taught me a lot about WWII as well as people during a time of war. Please watch it with a friend because it is seriously heart wrenching.

Here is the link to the series on IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0185906/

Presidents: Thomas Jefferson!

Do you know that Thomas Jefferson's tombstone says nothing about the fact that he was president? If i was president i think that i would at least want people walking past my grave to be like...Oh cool, they were president once.

He was a very BAD public speaker.

He fell victim to the first every really awful smear campaign when he ran for president. His opponents in the race spread rumors about how he was an infidel, which back in the early days of America was really bad. This was completely false however as Thomas J was hugely religious. These views shaped the way he live and also the way he did politics.

He loved wine!

He played a mean violin! No really...he was amazing. He stopped being so good however when he broke his wrist trying to impress a girl.

He opposed slavery.

Most people say that he was a very cool and laid back guy, i would like to have met him.

So excited!

Next semester i will be taking a class on my absolute favorite part of American History: The American Revolution!

I hope to be able to share some of findings here on my blog, i can't wait to get started. I will also be taking a class on physical geology. FUN

Next in line for presidents...I'm thinking Thomas Jefferson.

Presidents: James Madison!

James Madison was the fourth president of the United States of America.

He was the first of 12 children, five never made it into childhood.

The reason why James Madison is so interesting is because he was so involved in the founding our country. He was heavily involved in the constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Another interesting thing about him is that he was America's first graduate student. After his last year at the College of New Jersey he decided to stay for another year to continue his studies.

He was the smallest president ever! He was only five foot four inches tall and weighed around one hundred pounds.

He suffered chronic arthritis and had frostbite at the end of his nose.

He was related to my FAVORITE president George Washington.

He made 5k a year for being president.

All in all James Madison wasn't the most interesting man in the world, but he was very intelligent, and this country wouldn't be what it is today without some of this mans input!

Update

I have been in school now for about 3 weeks and it is super fun :) I have also been reading a lot about states and their history. I got interested when i started watched the show on the history channel called How the States got their shapes. Next President up for fun facts? James Madison!

Presidents: Andrew Jackson

First of all, let me say, Andrew Jackson was CRAZY!

He joined in the fighting in the Revolutionary War when he was only 13 years old. He was actually the only president to serve in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

He fought in a TON of duels, and barely escaped death a few times. He had bullets stuck in various parts of his body, including his arm and chest.

He also used to win and lose his money betting on horses.

He actually was 1 of 3 presidents who adopted, he had 11 children that were not his own.

His parrot "poll" crowed cuss words at Jackson's Funeral.

He was the first president to almost be assassinated. He was shot at point blank range at a funeral but the gun misfired...twice. He then wrestled the man to the ground and i would imagine a beating ensued.

All in all Andrew Jackson was a complex man, he did wonderful things, and he did horrible things...

But one thing is sure, he was rough around the edges and i bet he told AWESOME jokes!

Next in line: Presidents!

Next in line for my posts on presidents:

Andrew Jackson
Thomas Jefferson
Ulysses S. Grant

These aren't going in order of election, they are more in order of interest. I prefer the older generation of the United States when it comes to history so i always start there first.

Band of Brothers

I just recently started a new mini-series with my husband called Band of Brothers. It is a nine episode series about the 101st Airborne division in WWII. I just finished the first episode last night i can already tell i'm going to need tissues. Its one thing reading about it in a book, but seeing the faces of these men that fought along side each other going through this traumatic war is another thing.

It is movies like this that remind me why we are such a great country. I don't ever want to lose that feeling and it makes me angry when people don't appreciate what they have in america. We are lucky to be able to have the option to say, "I don't agree with that." We are lucky to be able to choose what religion we want, to eat where we want, to be able to start our own business, to talk to who we want, when we want. While things might not be perfect all the time and we may not always be happy with the way things are going, we are still very lucky. I wish more people would think about these things rather than sitting idly by watching the world slowly pass them. Eventually you are going to have to answer for your actions, so make them good ones.

Now that i'm done with that tangent, please watch Band of Brothers if you haven't already :)

Presidents: Abraham Lincoln!!

Abraham Lincoln was another president that truly inspires me. Even through a grueling depression he still managed to shape this nation into what it is today. If you haven't watched the special the History Channel did on him in Civil War Week, you should check it out. 


Here are some really cool facts about Abraham Lincoln... 


He was the first ever president with a beard!
He was 6ft 4!
He had a pet Turkey!
He would hide documents on top of his head, inside his hat. 
He almost died when he got kicked in the head by a horse. 
He was the only president to ever hold a patent. He patented a device that lifted boats over shoals.
He has some really interesting coincidences with president Kennedy, please google it. :)
He was a very good wrestler.
His son was saved from a train accident by the brother of his fathers killer.
He dreamed his death a week before it happened.
He held seances in the White House trying to contact his dead sons and other loved ones.
He made a speech at the Illinois Republican Convention which was said to be his best ever, but no records of it exist.


I think Lincoln would be one of the most interesting presidents to meet. He seems like one of the more down to earth presidents. He struggled with depression his entire life, and even had to be on suicide watch a times, but he still did so many great things for the country. He led us through the Civil War and even the abolishing of slavery. There are accounts of people he worked with in the white house who say he had the funniest jokes, i bet he had very funny laugh too! As i read about him i find all these interesting quirks he had that make him so unique. 


These are just some of the reasons why i think Lincoln was a great president, and its only the tip of the iceberg.  I'll leave you with a quote from him that i really like, "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."

August session

I just ordered my books today for school and i am super excited. YAY :)

If you haven't watched the Gettysburg series on the history channel that was on a few weeks ago you should buy it from their website now. It has SO much information on Gettysburg as well as a four hour special on Abraham Lincoln. He will be my next post in my Presidents series that i will post later this week.

SO, do you know the presidents in chronological order of election? If you don't, you should google it and learn them. :)

Today in History!!

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: 1389 > Geoffrey Chaucer is named chief clerk by Richard II. 1861 > Confederacy signs treaties with Native Americans. 1862 > Medal of Honor created. 1957 > A new Aga Khan. 1984 > Ferraro named vice presidential candidate. 1965 > First Marine wins Medal of Honor. 1990 > Yeltsin resigns from Communist Party. 1998 > France beats Brazil to win FIFA World Cup.


Everyone that loves history needs to like The History Channel on facebook to get these updates everyday! I think if you go on the site you can even get them by email. Some days are so interesting :)


http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history Is where you can look for them on the History channel website.


I am also going to start getting the History Channel magazines every month, very excited!


Their website has some seriously interesting stuff, and their shop has ALL the history dvd's i could ever want. I'm going to start sifting through some their stuff to see what i'm going to get for my birthday. :) 


I wonder if they sell life size George Washington posters? ;)

Presidents: George Washington!

           I wanted my first post about presidents to be about my favorite president, George Washington. I don't want this to a boring biography about him so if you want his birthday and all the wars he ever fought in chronological order, please visit another website. :) 
          When i think about George Washington i picture the painting of him in his military uniform by Rembrandt Peale. So poised, intelligent, honorable, and just down right handsome! 
          I am very lucky to have been able to have visited his home in Mount Vernon. This is the place where he truly felt at home; Washington never lived in the White House because the capital was still in Philadelphia at the time. I was able to walk where he had walked, lived, and breathed at one time, it was surreal. 
         It's funny to think that he was such an intelligent thinking man had his schooling ended at the age of fourteen. This was very common back in the day to have your education ended at such a young age but you would just not think it about him. He made such good decisions in his military and presidential career that you would think he would have been a Harvard graduate with a degree in military strategy but i guess some people are just born with it. :) He joined the Royal Navy at the age of fourteen also, so he had an early start.
        Washington never really wanted the lime light of the presidency and he mentioned it on several occasions, “bid adieu to happiness, public life will be a more distressing one than any I have known yet.”. At the time people wanted him to be the new King! They wanted to start all over again with what they had just left and let him have all the power. Luckily George Washington was a humble man with another vision. He took the presidency because he wanted our country to grow and flourish into what he knew it could be, and that is the great democratic nation that it is today. He is the only president what was ever unanimously voted in to office.
         Washington was such a great man, sometimes i wonder what it would be like going back in time just meet him. One day i am going to write my masters thesis on him, but for today here are some other cool facts about Washington that you might not have known. :)


Cool Facts::
He never had dentures made of wood! Maybe of cow's teeth and hippopotamus ivory, but not wood.


He had a fear of public speaking, his farewell address was written in the newspaper but never given orally. 


His family grew marijuana on their farm, it was used as hemp for rope, clothes, and other things.


He loved pineapples.


He NEVER wore a wig.


He gave his name to 1 U.S. state, 1 capital city, 33 counties, 7 mountains, 9 colleges, 121 post offices, and many more obscure things.


He was the only founding father to free his slaves. He freed them in his will at his death and left them money to live for quite a long time after he had been gone.


He had lots of dogs, some were named Sweet Lips, Madame Moose, Vulcan, and Taster. 


He also loved horses, and to fish.


He died of a throat infection at the age of 67.


I hope you all have learned something here, that George Washington was an awesome guy :)

Just an Update

I have registered for my classes this fall and i wont be taking any of my core history classes yet. I will actually be taking an English class that is called Sci-fi and fantasy and my cultural class on France. I'm going to start a new blog piece about one of my favorite things, PRESIDENTS! I'm going to start with my favorite president which just so happens to be the first president, George Washington. Ill be working on it over the weekend, and look for my first post on Monday morning. :)

Is a history degree right for me? What can i do with it?

Is a history degree even right for me? 

Here are some skills that are needed if you are getting into history field work:

The ability to read and write effectively: These are very important to any history student! History involves reading books on top of books on top of books so that you can learn a subject well enough to regurgitate it without thinking. You will also have to probably write about it depending on your field work, not to mention that 20,000 word master's thesis! 

The ability to research: In any history related job you will need to be able to have the skills to look at a story with little information and be able to trace the roots of that story to other sources of information and incorporate that into your own analysis of that information.

Critical thinking: This is the ability look at a problem in depth and find solutions for them. The best analysis skills are the creative ones! Don't be afraid to think outside the box about an issue and create new and inventive ways to solve problems and make things better!

The most important characteristics you should have are to be willing and eager learn, to be disciplined, and to persevere.  These characteristics will follow you throughout your life making your job more of a lifelong educational learning experience than a 9-5 way to pay the bills. 

What can i do with it?

If for some reason you are pursuing a history degree with no idea what you are actually going to do with it, i can help you.

With a history degree you have the foundation to do anything, but another degree in your specialized area will most likely be needed. Here are a few examples:

1. Teachers/Librarians

2. Researchers 

3. Museums and Historical society's

4. Writers/Editors

5. Lawyers/Business people 

These are just a few examples of careers you could go into with your foundation in history. I am one of those people that before i make any move i contemplate one thousand outcomes of that move. I knew i wanted to work in a museum, and i knew i wanted to get a history degree, however, that is not all there is to it. You can't walk into the Smithsonian and say, "Hey, i'm here for that job opening." It doesn't work like that. I had to research what i wanted to do in the museum and contemplate getting another degree in that specific field (Historian, Archivist, Curator, etc.) My point is, you're a history major, do some research. :)

Online schooling

I mentioned in my last post i would talk to you about going to school online. I have a lot to say about this subject because some people tend to give it a really bad rap when in all actuality it is a very good choice for some people.

Right out of high school:
If you want to go to an online college right out of high school please please please do your research!! It took me around six months to find a school i liked that was accredited and had a FULLY online degree i could get. When you are looking to do an online degree please choose to do it for the right reasons. Don't do it because you think it will be easy and you will have more time to party. Online school is just as difficult if not MORE difficult than going into a class. Your teachers don't care if you turn your work it, YOU have to. You have to be disciplined and set up a regular time to study and do your tests. I choose online schooling so that i could move out on my own and get a FULL time job as well as go to school FULL time. Also, please don't feel like a technical school is step down from a four year school; because another thing to talk about is price, technical schools are cheaper!! A lot of times scholarships you get can give you a full ride to a technical school. Not only did i go to school for free, but got a check in the mail every semester. Another thing to think about is if your school is "brick and mortar". This means is your school bases solely online, or does it have a school other kids can actually go to. You want to choose a brick and mortar school because while more and more people are attending online schools it still looks better to get your degree from a well known B&M school. You WONT be able to tell you went online on you're degree, it will look the same as everyone other degree out there from that school.
After you're two year degree:
Congratulations graduate! Now you want to move on? Can i stress even harder now to do more research? I started looking for a four year school as soon as i started my associate's degree. Once again make sure your school has the right accreditation. Price is even more of an issue now because four year schools cost more, just look around and take your time and pick the degree that is right for you.
Post four year schools:
This is where it gets HARD and REALLY expensive. If you are going to get a masters or doctorate please be ready to study, study, study, because if you go into this degree as a slacker it will be a disaster.

TLDR;
1. Do your research
2. Choose online schooling for the right reasons
3. Be disciplined
4. Shop around
5. Did i mention to do your research?

Courses for my History Degree

In my first post i told you that i just finished my associate's degree in history. I took most of level 1 and 2 courses you take your first two years that are pretty generic, like Western Civ. I & II, American Hist I & II, etc. This year i get to start taking my in depth core classes for my degree where i get down and dirty with history (Yes i went there). You get to choose from American clusters, European clusters, and World Culture clusters. I choose mostly from the US clusters because it is what interests me most. My favorite classes are going to be the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and US military history. From the rest of my clusters i picked more out of the box stuff like the Philosophy of Revolution, The History of Science, and Environmental History. I should state pretty early on that i am a completely online student. That may be scary to some people but it is actually very un-scary. I will make my next post about online schools to give some information to people out there who are interested in online schooling. So ill save that rant for another time. In the end i need 60 credits to have my bachelors degree in hand before i move on to bigger and brighter things. I start in August this year and can't wait to get reading! I take 2-3 classes at a time for 6 weeks at a time and should be finished by the end of next year. Is it possible to be in school for the rest of your life as a job and NOT be a teacher? If so sign me up!

In the beginning...

I am a junior in college majoring in History. I just received my Associates degree in History last last May and I am starting my new school this August to pursue my Bachelors degree in World History with my clusters mostly in United States History. Once I have my bachelors degree I plan on attending another school for my Masters degree in Museum Studies, and from there? Well, the sky's the limit. I have wanted to work in a museum since before i can remember; there is just something that comes over me when i enter a museum, it seems like all the history in the room rushes over and through me filling me with a since of pride,  wonder, and excitement. I hope to be a source of information for other students of history as well as a nice place to find something to read. I plan on using this blog as a tool for my studies creating fun lessons for others to read and participate in as well as learning a few things along the way myself.

"Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company. "