11 Matching Annotations
  1. Mar 2018
    1. "Agreement -- whether through consensus or majority vote-- had to be achieved in more than fifty separate instances at a minimum."

      This phrase is a piece of evidence, including the list of compromised events just before this statement, shows the fact that there was a purely democratic approach to the Declaration. In this case, since these individuals were chosen to work on this project from the various states, it is also evidence of the equality throughout the states (despite slavery, which sadly was still present during this period of time).

    1. we cannot have freedom without equality

      This is both a thesis and a claim because while this is easily the basis of the paper, it is also a bold claim that someone cannot have one without the other.

    2. language is one of the most potent resources each of us has for achieving our own political empowerment.

      This is a strong claim because not only does it weigh heavy in this second paragraph, it provides an entrance to a large discussion on the chosen language of the Declaration of Independence.

    3. We are not all readers, and the reading habits of those of us who are diverge markedly

      This is a good fact that I will personally use in my essay because the fact of the Declaration is for all of us, it would have to be in terms that all of use could understand and take away from. Since there is such diversity in reading habits, constructing such a document is quite a feat. On the terms of equality, with the massive diversity, the Declaration needed to be a compromised relic for all types of readers.

  2. Feb 2018
    1. the Poor Law

      The Poor Law

      This law was one that stated that a citizen who was in need of financial help would look to their parish (their local district) for that assistance. This however became a growing problem because the costs of keeping it enacted was growing annually until it was costing way too much. There were concerns that the people using this system too much were also having too many children, adding to their financial need.

      I would like to add a possible conversation point that this seems to be a similar law to our welfare system in the nation, although the district is the state/federal government.

    2. In the medieval towns, on the other hand, examples of genuine and equal citizenship can be found. But its specific rights and duties were strict1y local, whereas the citizenship whose history I wish to trace is, by definition, national.

      This passage shows how, in history, there were towns that had equal citizenship at a local level but whenever the national scale became an ideal, there seemed to be a difference between the two.

    3. As Maitland said: 'The further back we trace our history the more impossible it is for us to draw strict lines of demarcation between the various functions of the State: the same institution is a legislative assembly, a governmental council and a court oflaw .... Everywhere, as we pass from the ancient to the modern, we see what the fashionable philosophy calls differentiation.'

      Who is Maitland and how does he play into this discussion? I ask because whenever I looked at the footnote, I could not find where he was cited from.

  3. Jan 2018
    1. You, their survivors, must determine to have as unaltering a resolution in the field, though you may pray that it may have a happier outcome.

      In any war or battle throughout history, there has always been the struggle for survivors to continue having the courage to fight. On top of this, as any soldier would, they pray to come home safely after the battle is over and done with, which can lead to the choice of losing that courage to stay and fight, or it can strengthen their courage.

    2. instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all.

      This is a claim about how in other places discussion can be seen as a wall that slows the process of action, but here it is seen as a wise action to discuss things.

    3. And I could have wished that the reputations of many brave men were not to be imperiled in the mouth of a single individual, to stand or fall according as he spoke well or ill.

      This is an important observation because it shows that having only one person give an eulogy and how his words will affect how people might view him is not a perfect system. If multiple people talked about one individual, it would show more of who they were.

    1. What does it mean to be a citizen of the USA; of some other nation; of the world?

      Based on this sentence, will we be studying a great deal outside of American Literature or will we do a mixture of World and American?