30 Matching Annotations
  1. Nov 2019
    1. The monsoon winds determined the access of trading ships to the south China coast. From June to September the winds blew from the southwest, allowing sailing ships to ride smoothly downwind across the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, and the South China Sea. When the monsoon ended in October, ships remained in the Canton region for a four-month trading season. The northeast monsoon winds beginning in January gave them smooth sailing back to India and ultimately England.

      new

    2. The Manila galleon brought bullion directly across the Pacific from Latin America to Spain’s colonial possessions in Asia.

      new

    3. Macau was under Portuguese control from 1557 to 1999.
  2. Feb 2019
    1. Approved, Tuesday, January 29, 1861

      Summary: Feels like the state of Georgia is declaring itself free of the United States because the other states have failed to uphold the compact that established the Union, the U.S. Constitution. Many of their gripes are true. Many facts are also omitted. Under it all, is the divisive issue of slavery and the inherent economics that made abolishing slavery so difficult.

    2. The Supreme Court unanimously

      Dred Scott v. Sandford decision.

    3. Claimants are murdered with impunity;

      I would need to research this. Could be true...slave owners murdered for going after fugitive slaves.

    4. A similar provision of the Constitution requires them to surrender fugitives from labor.

      Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 but most Northern states had enacted "personal liberty laws" that worked to prevent the capture of runaways in the North. They weren't always effective, but effective enough that the South was angry about them and listed them here.

    5. ordinance of 1787.

      Sometimes called the Northwest Ordinance.

    6. They have sent emissaries among us for the accomplishment of these purposes.

      John Brown

    7. because their avowed purpose is to subvert our society and subject us not only to the loss of our property but the destruction of ourselves, our wives, and our children, and the desolation of our homes, our altars, and our firesides.

      My understanding of this is a reference to John Brown's Raid on Harpers' Ferry. Otherwise it is a bit hyperbolic.

    8. amounting to more than one-third, who united with the unanimous voice of the South against this usurpation;

      I assume this is referencing the Northerners who didn't vote for Lincoln in 1860.

    9. They raised their standard in 1856 and were barely defeated.

      John C. Fremont v. Pierce (Democrat) v. Fillmore (Know Nothing)

    10. The North demanded the application of the principle of prohibition of slavery to all of the territory acquired from Mexico and all other parts of the public domain then and in all future time.

      Hi, I'm the Wilmot Proviso back again!

    11. equal participation in the whole of it.

      Which they got. Both Utah and New Mexico Territories, formed under the Compromise of 1850, were open to slavery by the use of popular sovereignty.

    12. Northern anti-slavery men of all parties asserted the right to exclude slavery from the territory by Congressional legislation and demanded the prompt and efficient exercise of this power to that end.

      I think I've underestimated the Wilmot Proviso and its contribution to the start of the Civil War. Previously, I thought, "Why did it matter, it never went anywhere?" But as I read through this, it really did anger the South in ways they were still fuming about over a decade later.

    13. All these classes saw this and felt it and cast about for new allies.

      The tariff was stopped, so domination of the South by the North had to find other means. And so anti-slavery ramps up.

    14. But when these reasons ceased they were no less clamorous for Government protection, but their clamors were less heeded-- the country had put the principle of protection upon trial and condemned it. After having enjoyed protection to the extent of from 15 to 200 per cent. upon their entire business for above thirty years, the act of 1846 was passed. It avoided sudden change, but the principle was settled, and free trade, low duties, and economy in public expenditures was the verdict of the American people. The South and the Northwestern States sustained this policy. There was but small hope of its reversal; upon the direct issue, none at all.

      I feel like this is the Walker Tariff of 1846, which was passed by pro-slavery legislators. In 1857 the tariff was revised again and was favorable towards Southern agricultural interests. Often we hear that tariffs were a cause of the Civil War, but if I read this right, Georgia's writers feel they stopped the tariff exploitation. It's hard to see the full picture without seeing some of the debate as to the meaning behind this paragraph.

    15. we offer the judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest judicial tribunal of our country,

      See Dred Scott v. Sandford court case.

    16. Even the owners of fishing smacks sought and obtained bounties for pursuing their own business (which yet continue), and $500,000 is now paid them annually out of the Treasury. The navigating interests begged for protection against foreign shipbuilders and against competition in the coasting trade. Congress granted both requests, and by prohibitory acts gave an absolute monopoly of this business to each of their interests, which they enjoy without diminution to this day. Not content with these great and unjust advantages, they have sought to throw the legitimate burden of their business as much as possible upon the public; they have succeeded in throwing the cost of light-houses, buoys, and the maintenance of their seamen upon the Treasury, and the Government now pays above $2,000,000 annually for the support of these objects

      It's been hard to find information as to what this directly references. (Well, on the Internet, because there are probably books written about the Georgia Secession Convention.)

    17. While the subordination and the political and social inequality of the African race was fully conceded by all

      This is probably a mostly true statement.

    18. In several of our confederate States a citizen cannot travel the highway with his servant who may voluntarily accompany him

      It's fun to read the hubris here. That a slave, here called a servant, may "voluntarily" accompany his/her master is very blind thinking.

    19. The manufacturing interests entered into the same struggle early, and has clamored steadily for Government bounties and special favors.

      You can tell Georgia is ticked about some of the special treatment and protections given the Northern interests. It is also interesting how it doesn't see the over-representation of the South via the 3/5ths compromise or the Fugitive Slave Act or Indian Removal as special favors. It was specific to Georgia that the federal government sent troops to remove the Cherokee, in direct violation of Worcester v. Georgia. A stark reminder that we often overlook our own benefits and highlight others' advantages.

    20. The question of slavery was the great difficulty in the way of the formation of the Constitution.

      True and False. The 3/5ths Compromise proves that but the debate over proportional and equal representation solved via the Great Compromise disproves it.

    21. persistently refused to comply with their express constitutional obligations to us in reference to that property

      Reference to lack of enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850.

    22. dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America

      Uses specific language to bring the reader back to the Declaration of Independence's "dissolve the political bands".

    1. Northerners and southerners came to disagree sharply on the role of the federal government in capturing and returning these freedom seekers.

      It's good to see the "states' rights" put in its proper light. The North was using states rights in ways that angered the South. If you read South Carolina's secession arguments, they start with this. However, go talk to somebody on the street, and they will say that the South was for states' rights.

    1. temperance

      I always tell students that temperance means "moderation" and that the Temperance Movement was trying to cut down drinking, not eliminate it. However, at many meetings, they asked people to sign a pledge to drink less. If you were really committing yourself, you signed your name, and at the end you put a "T" indicating that you would now "totally" abstain from alcohol. These individuals were soon called "teetotalers".

    2. later of Currier & Ives fame
    1. Highlights can be created by clicking the button. Try it on this sentence.

      This is a test.