The Long but Significant Lewis and Clark Expedition

       The Lewis and Clark Expedition, opened the Louisiana Territory to settlement and trade. This expedition also reinforced U.S. claims to the Oregon region in the Pacific coast. This expedition was also known as Corps of Discovery, and it was located in North America. Lewis and Clark were the first Europeans to cross the Western half of what became the continental United States. President Thomas Jefferson chose his private secretary, captain Lewis to complete this journey. With the approval of President Thomas Jefferson, Lewis then invited his longtime friend Clark to be his co leader. During their long two year expedition, Lewis and Clark traveled through future states of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Lewis and Clark were searching for a water route through the continent. The instigator or this entire expedition was President Thomas Jefferson. On January 18, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson asked Congress to authorize an appropriation of $2,500 to send a military expedition to explore the Missouri River up to its source in the rocky Mountains. The two main reasons why President Thomas Jefferson wanted to conduce this search was to prepare way for extension of the American fur trade to the Native American people and to advance the geographical knowledge of the continent.

        According to George Washington's Farewell Address, the information which I discovered would help to provide examples on the International Politics which George Washington was discussing. Lewis and Clark were the first Europeans to cross the Western part of the United States, so they would be considered to be international politics. George Washington would think that the information which I discovered, would be helpful in the International Politics area which he was discussing in his Farewell Address. George Washington would also be in favor of this Expedition as was Thomas Jefferson. My event reflected the values which were discussed in Washington's Farewell, because they were part of the International Politics area.

       According to the Constitution, the Lewis and Clark Expedition matches up with what we've been studying so far. In Article 2, section 1 of the Constitution it states that executive power is in the President of the United States of America during a four-year term. President Thomas Jefferson was in power as president at the time and he appointed Lewis and Clark to go on this very significant expedition. The Liberty ideas or notions that that have been expanded from reading about Lewis and Clark were that while on their Journey, they came across people who helped them such as Sacajawea, the Bird Woman. Lewis and Clark came to rely on Sacajawea as well as her husband as both guides and interpreters. Sacajawea was showing them liberty and freedom in the United States. The Constitutional questions which arise are "Did Lewis and Clark even have freedom of speech in deciding if  they wanted to attend this expedition when ordered to do so by Thomas Jefferson?" This event helps to accomplish the goals which were set forth in the Preamble. The reasons for this is because Lewis and Clark helped to form a more perfect Union in our country by discovering the Western States of our country, and being the first Europeans to visit them.

Connecting Historic Documents to Pictures from September 11th, 2001

"These are the times that try men's souls" (51).

I paired this photograph and quote together, because to me this photograph shows that in times of trouble and attacks when people know they will die, they become completely different people and do things that they never thought they would do before. In this picture the people are falling from the building, because they would rather die by falling than by burning to death. As the quote also says "try men's souls" which is saying these hard times are testing how far each person would go, as in how they would die, and what they would do in order to stay alive or die. To see the words of 1776 being paired with this image from 2001, shows to me that history does repeat itself. In every tough and historic situation, people are always challenged in their survival, and depending on the type of person, they will do whatever it takes to stay alive or the opposite. The connections that I see are that all the people in this photograph are jumping to their death, and that is what is testing and "trying" their souls.

Connecting Historic Documents to Pictures from September 11th, 2001

"It is natural for man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts" (34).

My thinking behind the pairing of this quote from 1776 and the image from 2001 is that they connect highly to one another. To see the words of 1776 being paired with an image from 2001 tells me that history does repeat itself if it is not learned, and if people don't try to stop bad things from happening. In 1776, many devastation's have also occurred, and people reacted the same way to them as they reacted in 2001, to the September 11 attacks. The connections that I see is that the woman in the picture is shutting her eyes, and is terrified from what has happened. They are trying to not accept the painful truth of the terrorist attack, but in their hearts they know that they need to accept what has happened.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Post # 1

1. What are your thoughts about Oskar at this point in the novel, after "Heavier Boots"?  Do you sympathize with him?  Are you critical of him?  Choose a specific action of his as the basis for your comment.

At this point of the novel after reading "Heavier Boots", my thoughts about Oskar have changed a lot. I definitely still do sympathize with him on the death of his father, and all the misery that he has gone through, but I'm at the same time becoming more critical about his actions. Oskar seems like a very determined and smart boy who will never give up until he succeeds in his goal, but some of his actions seem to amuse me. Oskar tells his mom: "If I could have chosen, I would have chosen you!" (171). I could not believe that Oskar would tell his own mom that he would rather have her die than his dad. He's starting to spill his anger out on his own mother who doesn't even deserve it. After the argument Oskar tried to comfort his mom after hurting her by saying, "I said I take it back...You can't take something like that back." (172). Oskar actually thought that after saying something that cruel to his mom, he could fix it all by saying "I take it back." Even though he's nine years old, he still needs to realize that his actions and words can hurt others greatly.