The Presidential Veto and Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson is one of the most controversial presidents. He is considered by some people as the "People's President" while others think the opposite. The Presidential veto is when congress sends the President a bill to approve and the President rejects it. This is controversial to some people because some think that it is a display of how to President has too much power over congress. Unlike the previous presidents Jackson used the veto much more than the other presidents.  In Jackson's eight years in office he vetoed twelve bills. Of those twelve bills seven of those vetoes were "pocket vetoes" which kills the bill by not signing it after congress has adjourned. The six presidents before Jackson only vetoed ten bills combined. The artist created this political cartoon wants to show the viewer that Jackson wasn't a good president. This cartoon displays how Jackson thought that he was above and  shows disregard of the constitution because it is torn up while being stepped on along with the arms of Pennsylvania. It also displays Jackson abusing the veto to use its power to only have the bills he desires and to show his power over the constitution and the Bank of the U.S.. The cartoon shows that Jackson use of the veto makes him like a king.  The artist displays Jackson as thinking of himself as better than others because of the scepter and the apparel of a king.  Jackson was not the peoples president. His actions were not for the people; but more for himself. He used the veto for political reasons that affected him instead of being unselfish and vetoing unconstitutional bills. Jackson put himself above the law and was undemocratic making him not the people president.

Did Everyone Really Have a Say?

In the United States democracy has not always been like it has been today. Democracy is a government run by the people where the majority rules. Back in the 19th century things were run differently but the United States still considered itself as a democratic union.

The United States was less democratic in the 19th century. Instead of having a government that was run by the all people it was run by the property owners. There was a significant amount of people who didn't have the right to vote because they did not own property. Benjamin Franklin said, "Today a man owns a jackass worth fifty dollars and he is entitled to vote; but before the next election the jackass dies.  The man in the meantime has become more experienced, his knowledge of the principles of government, and his acquaintance with mankind are more extensive, and he is therefore better qualified to make a proper selection of rulers – but the jackass is dead and the man cannot vote." Benjamin Franklin is saying that even though the man has become more knowledgeable but because his donkey died,  now the man doesn't have fifty dollars worth of property and can't vote. In the 19th century the democratic system was based more on your material possessions rather than the persons intelligence. Today in in the 21st century voting is kept track of by someone so a person can't vote more than once, but in the 19th century all someone had to do was raise their right hand to the judge and say they haven't voted yet. The problem in this is that someone could go to another county and vote again, skewing the results by telling the judge they haven't voted. The results of an election could be changed because everyone casts their vote aloud to the judge and the people close can hear the vote. If a person wanted another person to vote for a different person than the voter wanted to it could cause problems since people can hear vote casted. A voter in the 19th century could be pressured into voting a different way than they wanted to and a judge could write down a different vote than what the voter said.  Today voting is done with panels around the voter so people can't see the vote and it's on paper written by the voter so there is far less chance for the election to be corrupted today unlike in the 19th century. The 19th century was less democratic from the rules of who could vote, and the privacy of the voter. 

In this picture it shows how an election was important and a public occasion.

Picture image:  http://www.terminartors.com/artworkprofile/Bingham_George_Caleb-The_County_Election

Romanticism 



The Romanticism period of time where there was a movement in literature, music, and the visual arts that reacted to the order imposed by the enlightenment. During the Romanticism period the fine arts had special themes that were included in works,  such as: awe of nature, emotion, importance of the individual, grotesque, and or irrational. In the painting above Death of Sardanapalus by Eugene Delacroix, it displays Romanticism themes such as grotesque, emotional, irrational, and the importance of the individual. This painting displays a grotesque theme because in the circle on the right side that includes a man and a woman; the man is stabbing the woman in the neck. I chose this portion of the painting as grotesque since it is a helpless naked woman being murdered by a man with a vicious look on his face. This painting also has a emotional theme. The woman laying on the bed with her arms spread and head down is one of the emotional parts of this painting. It is an emotional part of the painting because it displays by her body language that the woman is sad because everyone else in the painting will be killed. This painting is also very irrational. The theme irrational is not circled because the whole painting doesn't make sense and is irrational. The story behind this painting is Sardanapalus the last king of Nineveh who is represented being the man laying down on the bed in white, found out his city was going to be attacked. Since Sardanapalus didn't want to a humiliating defeat, he decided to burn and destroy his concubines, horses, slaves, and himself. This entire painting is irrational because displays everything that was destroyed and all lives people and animals that were lost. It is also irrational because the painting is based on an event where instead of fighting the king just assumed a loss, burning and destroying this he cared about in his life. This painting displays the theme importance of an individual because it has king Saranapalus wearing all white clothes making him stand out more than other parts of the painting. It is also has this theme because he is important part of this painting, he's the one who made the decision to not fight causing harm to others and himself in the painting.   


source: http://www.artble.com/artists/eugene_delacroix/paintings/the_death_of_sardanapalus

picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Delacroix_-_La_Mort_de_Sardanapale_(1827).jpg

Revolutions of 1830 and 1848

The revolutions of 1830 and 1848 were failures as many historians have concluded. No country had a complete success during these revolutions but some countries suffered more harshly than others. For instance  the Hungarian revolution would be considered as a complete failure. In this revolution their goal was to gain independence from Austria and to make a constitution. There was a terrible result for the Hungarians in this revolution, they didn't gain anything and they started in a worse place than they were in before. Many people died and the people that didn't die were exiled. Although gaining a constitution was a complete failure they Hungarians did manage to force Metternich out of power and have him flee to Vienna during the early stages of the uprising.  

Another revolution that blatantly shows as a complete failure is the Decembrist Revolt in Russia. In this revolution the Russian's goal was to obtain a constitution. Many young people in Russia saw what was going on outside of Russia and could compare to how life was in Russia and wanted a change. The result of this revolution was terrible. They did not gain a constitution and the peasants lost some of their rights putting them in a worse place than before the Decembrist revolt. One of the main reasons for failure was the revolt was not well organised and was in a spur of the moment while the government was in a period of instability. 

Another revolution that was not a complete failure but was close is the Polish Revolution. The goal of this revolution was to gain independence from Russia. The outcome was that Poland gained independence and remained independent for a short while but after a Russian victory at Ostroleka. After the Russian victory the Russians occupied Warsaw, leading to the takeover of the Polish government. This revolution should not be considered a considered a complete failure because there was hope and they gained independence even though they lost it a few months later. 

This just goes to show how the revolutions were concluded as failures. The revolutions described above were the ones with the worst outcomes but the other revolutions like the one in Germany and the two in France weren't complete successes either. Since the majority of the outcomes from these revolutions were negative with little positives historians can conclude that the revolutions were failures. 

This map shows territories revolts of 1848

Showme of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848: http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=h8MbOZk  (not mine, my groups show me did not work)

image link: http://fc.greensboroday.org/~ldrewiczewing/Revolutions1848.JPG

Monroe Doctrine

The United States had different responses to the Quintuple Alliance. Like when Russia tried to take control of Alaska and the northern part of the United States and Alaska to gain the trading ports on the coast; Monroe stepped in and put a stop it. Monroe said to the Russians that it was not their land to claim since the U.S. had also claimed the land. Monroe says "a full power and instructions have been transmitted to the Minister of the United States at St. Petersburgh to arrange, by amicable negotiation, the respective rights and interests of the two nations on the northwest coast of this continent." The United States and the Russians came up with a compromise which concluded that the Russians would still gain more land but the United States could still have the land on the coast to open up trading ports. Another example of the United States reacting to the Quintuple Alliance is when the Monroe made his statement on European powers re-colonizing any country that recently gained their independence. Monroe said "We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers, to declare, that we should consider any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere, as dangerous to our peace and safety." He is telling the European powers as said in this quote that if any of them that try to interfere with another country then they are also interfering with the United States. Lastly when the United States are asked to join an alliance with Britain to stop Spain from regaining colonies and to stop Russia from gaining the Oregon area. The United States declined this offer. Monroe says " nevertheless remains the same, which is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of any of its powers" The United States decides to tell Britain they would like to consider working with them but they don't want to ruin their relations with other powers of Europe. 

The world had different reactions on how the United States responded. A Latin American revolutionaries were happy that America was defending them from Spain trying to regain colonies. They would still be resentful to European powers since America was the only one making a stand to protect them and other European powers weren't doing anything like America did.  The Latin American revolutionaries would not like that America chose to still be friendly with countries in Europe. Even though they weren't happy America still being friendly with Europe they were happy with the desicion with Russia on the Oregon area. If Russia colonized the area then the Latin America colonies wouldn't be able to trade there since Russia would close off ports. A Russian diplomat would have mixed feelings on the United States response. They would like Americas approach on the Oregon area since they would be expecting to negotiate on it. They wouldn't be pleased with Monroe's stand about not letting Spain place a monarchy over colonies in Latin America. They would also be worried about the U.S. joining with Britain because combined the two countries would have a very strong navy.  Lastly a member of congress would mostly agree with Monroe's decision. They support his decision with Russia on the Oregon area. They agree with his decision on being both friendly with both Latin America and European countries. A member of congress would be a little worried on Europe taking back back Spanish colonies because America would have to stand true to their stand that they would take action if a European country interfered with Latin American countries. 

This picture below displays that the United States took a confident stand and was hopefully other countries would do the same.

The Congress of Vienna

Multiple concepts came out of the Congress of Vienna.  One that the congress agreed on was the Principle of Legitimacy. This principle restored lawful monarchs as well as making France a constitutional monarchy. Once Napoleon was exiled from France The Congress had to decide who was going to have rule over France. The Principle said "Frenchmen are equal before the law, whatever may be their titles and ranks"; since Louis XVIII was next to be crowned he was appointed King of France.  Metternich would be pleased with the concept because he liked France as a monarchy. He didn't want a ruler of France to not have a blood relation with the family who is ruling. Metternich didn't like the new enlightenment ideas that Napoleon had spread when he was ruling and it would be back to traditional ideas with a monarchy. 

Congress of Vienna meeting and making decisions

The Congress of Vienna had a very big impact on France as a whole. The Principle of Legitimacy which was chosen by the congress but a new ruler in charge of France and had France rule under a constitutional monarchy. The congress place the blame of be an enemy on Napoleon and was France was off the hook with the exception of having to return stolen artwork and pay reparations to the allies. The peace settlement between France and the Allies was not terribly vindictive. After the peace settlement there were no wars between the five major powers of Europe until 1853. Overall the Congress of Vienna had a strong positive affect on France. 

Link for image: http://www.local-life.com/vienna/articles/congress-of-vienna

The Three Ideologies

This vine is a great display of nationalism.is the ideology that stated a nation is a natural, organic entity that tradition is the only trustworthy guide to social and political action. This vine represents conservatism because when I ask Dan if he can spare any change, he says no because he we doesn't want to change his current traditions. Conservatism influenced the social and political action because the people who are nationalists don't want to change what they go by now and want to stay the same.

The other major political ideologies of the 19th century were Liberalism, and nationalism. Liberalism is the ideology that stated the task of government was to promote individual liberty. Liberalism affected social action because liberals are more open to ideas and changing what they believe and do now. In the vine about liberalism displayed it because it showed a few girls reading then it goes to Kyra singing unlike the rest. This shows change since they aren't doing what each other are doing.  Nationalism is the ideology that stated that a nation was a natural, organic entity whose people were bound together by a shared language, customs, and history. This affected social and political action because nationalist want people or ideas like them (nationalists). In the vine Justin was rejected by Julie and Jane because he didn't share history or customs with them.