- Dec 2017
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engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu
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they supposed that the governing considerations should be the healthiness of the site, the fertility of the neighbouring country, and it’s centrality to the white population of the whole state
Looking back on what we have done in this project so far with Danielle Allen's ideas in mind, this statement is not democratic at all. By including the "white population" as the most important and acknowledged demographic in the state, this document hurts and damages the lives of people who are not white. Allen, throughout her book, seems to suggest that one can only have true democracy with equality and that the two are intrinsically connected. This document doesn't even consider non white or female individuals worthy enough to be part of the audience that would read this document, which directly violates equality, democracy, and Allen's arguments that she made in her book.
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To develope the reasoning faculties of our youth, enlarge their minds cultivate their morals, & instil into them the precepts of virtue & order.
Although this statement seems fine on first glance, considering how education at that time only benefitted and included white men, the words "cultivate their morals" and "instill into them the precepts of virtue and order" seem rather frightening. These phrases are frightening to me mainly because this probably meant these young men were probably further indoctrinated in believing and practicing racism and sexism. Once again, there is hypocrisy in this document and the concept of true equality is ignored and missing.
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- Oct 2017
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engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu engagements2017-18.as.virginia.edu
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banishing all arbitrary & unnecessary restraint on individual action shall leave us free to do whatever does not violate the equal rights of another.
Although stating that no person should violate the equal rights of another, the University and people within it did exactly that by keeping women and minorities oppressed and distanced from educational and social opportunities. The most alarming aspect of this statement is that in this point of view at the time, it was expected that everyone should exclusively treat white males with respect and equality while not recognizing or upholding the freedoms and rights of others. Jefferson and others in this time did not see people of color or women as people, or as "another with equal rights," but as objects meant to be used. Even though the United States wanted to be different from England and its abuses of power, it and its early leaders did the exact same thing by hurting and exploiting people that should have been protected and given freedom and equal rights.
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To develope the reasoning faculties of our youth, enlarge their minds cultivate their morals, & instil into them the precepts of virtue & order.
On first glance, this statement seems just and logical, as young people should certainly develop reasoning and critical thinking skills and enlarge their minds with knowledge. However, I found a problem with the second part of the statement "cultivate their morals and instill into them the precepts of virtue and order," mainly because this language is dangerous, as it was used by this institution to oppress women and people of color and to keep certain groups of people from obtaining an education. These mentioned principals of "virtue" and "order" are words meant to perpetuate a culture that thrives on inequality and hurting others. The way the author writes this sentence makes it sound just and good, but when analyzed more carefully to see the irony and hypocritical nature of these words, this statement falls apart because the mentioned "virtue," "order," and "morals" were based in the degradation of others and the wrongful uplifting of mainly white males who tried to rationalize abuses of freedom and violations of humanity with weak and explicitly incorrect academic and intellectual thought, as well as "morals" which were not moral at all.
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