Amendment III of the Bill of Rights

Amendment III of the bill of rights states:
No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

This amendment protects the peoples right of not housing soldiers during wartime by force. In 1765 British Parliment passed the Quartering Act, in which troops were to be housed by people during times of war. When they were housed, it was expected that the families or owner of the house, was to supply the soldiers with food, and shelter. This act was put into effect to cut the cost of supplies for the soldiers and to protect them from attack. However, when the Constitution was ratified, the quartering of soldiers became enabled. Thanks to this amendment, we as the people have the right to say "NO!" to the housing of soldiers during wartime.

Thomas Paine's Common Sense

The passage on Thomas Paine's view on the seperation from Great Britain was brilliant to me. He made a pamphlet called Common Sense (1776), in which he brought about his plan about America completely seperating from the crown. He thought it was "common sense" to remove ourselves from a country that didnt treat them well. All the taxes Britain brought on them, the prevention of America trading with other countries, Paine was saying in other words enough is enough! Paine also states how being connected with Britain will also led to more quarrels with enemies of Great Britain, hurting our chance of alliances with other countries.
What also stood out to me in the passage was Thomas belief that "A government of our own is our natural right". I liked that saying because it remind me of Lockes beliefs of natural rights of life, liberty,and most importantly property. America is the colony's property and should be governed amongst themselves.

"Paradise of Negro Slaves- A Dream" by Benjamin Rush

Benjamin Rush had a dream about him being in a place that only had blacks in there, and they all looked happy and cheerful. He described how when he approached them, panic fell upon them and they all looked at him. Next thing he knew one by one each person came up to him with a story to tell about how life was like as a slave to a white man. He also tells how all of them were asking him that if he sees their master tell him they hope he repents for what he has done. Rush says of how when he tried to speak more people would come up to tell of their story, that he never got a chance to speak.
This particular passage stood out to me because it shows how there was someone during this time of such slave dominancy who had feelings, even a little bit of sympathy, for the blacks who were victims to slavery. More suprisingly that it was a white man who felt that they were treated badly and that it should end. I believe Rush had this dream because all of the burden every white slave owner put on blacks, and to open his eyes to all the emotions they had kept inside from the brutality of slavery.

"Moral" and "Natural" Liberty of John Winthrop

     From the passage on John Winthrop, what stood out to me was his ideas of "moral" and "natural" liberty which he delivered in his famous "little speech". In his speech Winthrop states that "natural" liberties are what make man evil and corrupt because it is the liberty to do what ever he wants to do, good or evil. He believes natural liberty causes defiance to authority, and will eventually turn man into "beasts" if exercised over time. The idea of "moral" liberty is Winthrop's more "ideal" type of liberty that he thinks everyone should follow. He states from his speech that, "this liberty is the proper and object of authority...it is a liberty to that only which is good , just, and honest"(Winthrop's Journal).In other words, he believes that by exercising this liberty, this will help man to become "perfect" or "more Christ like".
     I agree with Winthrop in his belief of moral liberty being the best type to live by because it will help make man more "good" in God's eyes. If we all live by this liberty, maybe people would'nt have much conflict and war with each other because we would always think "what is the moral and civil way of handling things!".

Today's Lecture on the origin of our political system in America

     Today Professor Murdaco gave an interesting lecture on the origins of the American political system. I learned that some of the many influences of the American political system was from John Locke, Montesquie, Romans and the Greeks. Locke believed that when people are born, they are entitled to what he calls "natural rights". His most known aspects of natural rights are "life, liberty, and property", these are rights that cannot be tooken away. I found this to be amazing because during this time Europe did not believe in such natural rights Locke did. Locke's ideas of "natural rights" is still present in the Bill of Rights today. Montesquie believed in "seperation of powers", which was the idea of seperating the government into 3 branches; executive, legislative, and judicial. These branches of government is still used today as well as our type of democratic government which was created by the Romans and Greeks.