Success or Failure?

This past week in our honors history class we learned about the Congress of Vienna. The essential question is what should people in power do when there power is threatened? The man in power of Austria was Klemens Von Metternich. He held a crucial role of power because there was tension between France and Austria, and tempers were raging all over Europe. In class we watched a video of a conversation between Metternich and Napoleon. In this video Napoleon asked for peace, but Metternich wanted him to restore the natural boundaries. Napoleon was appalled by this request and threatened war. Secondly, we analyzed a map which showed the spread of revolutions across Europe.

Klemons Von Metternich

After all the chaos the Congress of Vienna was called to meet. Representatives from United Kingdom, Austria, Prussia, and Russia met in Vienna to restore peace to Europe. The first thing they had to do was decide how reset the borders. Once this was done they faced several new problems. These problems included,  Balance of Power, Principle of Legitimacy, Holy Alliance, and Principal of Intervention. The Congress did not exactly solve these problems quickly. Vienna was a very beautiful and lively city so naturally the men enjoyed that by going out and drinking and partying. For that reason they were not extremely productive most of the time. The main problem I will focus on is the Principle of Intervention. This is principle was put in place to limit revolutions around the continent because one revolution leads to another and another. The principle of Intervention meant that any great power could send their troops into another country to extinguish any revolution happening there. The intruding country did not need permission to insert themselve into harms way. Not everyone was crazy about this idea because some people don't want foreign countries barging in. More Info

I believe that the way European powers handled the threat to power by assembling the Congress of Vienna was a good solution. I believe that the result of the Congress of Vienna was more of a success than it was failure. After the congress there was not major wars in Europe for the remainder of the 19th century. I feel that powerful people should be willing to sacrafice some of there power if that is what is better for the country, but unfortunately there are few people back then, and today who are willing to do so.

Interesting Idealogies

What were the major ideologies of the 19^th century and how did they influence social and political action? Ideologies are recognized as systems of ideas and that form the basics of economic and political theory. To answer this question in class we split into six groups and everyone did a 60 second presentation on their ideologies. There were only three ideologies so there were two groups per each ideology. Once the presentations were prepared the two groups that had he same ideology faced off against each other and the class voted on the better one.

Our presentation helped define our ideology by showing points of view from several different social classes. We had a middle class male, an aristocrat, a liberal leader, and a poor man. Each person had a different view on liberalism. Liberalism influenced political action because liberals pushed for a constitutional monarchy over absolutism. Socially, liberalism influenced the middle class male because liberals believed that the middle class deserved more power in politics so it wasn’t just all-aristocratic points of view. Liberals felt that there was god given rights in every person and people could show them using reason. Liberals felt that traditions were mostly had no facts to back them up. 

Conservatism was very different from liberalism. In conservatism tradition is vitally important because these people felt that tradition was proven over time to be successful. Conservatives pushed for a monarchy, and wanted mainly aristocrats in power. Conservatives felt that reform and revolution led to serious problems. Nationalists believed that a nation was an important place where everyone had shared interests and characteristics. For example language and heritage are some characteristics that bonded people together. Nationalists did not like when borders were interfered with. 

How Powerful Was Napoleon?

Napoleon Bonaparte had a unique influence on not only France, but many other countries as well. Napoleon was a general of the French army, and is recognized by many as the greatest general of all time. The essential question in class was, “What was Napoleon’s impact on the social, economic and political systems of Europe?” In class we answered this question by analyzing several documents and maps about Napoleon.  We used a document from Madame de Stael, a document from Marshal Michel Nay, and a Map of all the countries Napoleon ruled. In the documents from Stael and Ney we highlighted any points that either of them made about Napoleon.

Napoleon on his horse directing the troops.

Napoleon heavily influenced the social, economic, and political systems of Europe. He influenced the social environment in Europe because wherever he traveled people trembled. Napoleon conquered many countries and because of this he influenced many lives. In places he conquered most of the people who lived there had to change the way they live in order to follow his rules. When Madame de Stael was describing Napoleon she said,” By Alternating between cunning and force he has subjugated [conquered] Europe.” This quote proves that people knew Napoleon wasn’t afraid to use brute force to overtake a country. Politically, Napoleon mainly influenced France. Napoleon had enough power that he was able to make himself emperor of France. Napoleon worked to create a system where people were rewarded based on how hard they worked as opposed to their family. Economically, Napoleon made several key decisions that greatly influenced France. First, he was in charge of how much people could charge for items. He tried to be fair with these prices. Second, Napoleon made the decision to sell Louisiana in 1803. Even though France received a decent amount of money, the sale of Louisiana doubled the size of the United States.

Overall, I feel that Napoleon generally was a great help to France during this time. I agree more with Marshal Michel Ney than with Madame de Stael because I feel that de Stael’s opinion is biased because she is a member of the aristocracy and Napoleon was a believer in earning your value in life, and he wasn’t all about the aristocracy. 

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Capitalism, Socialism, Communism

Imagine winning ten Hershey Kisses in an intense ten minutes of rock paper scissors and then having to give them back. In class on Friday we played a game which involved a series of rock, paper scissors games. Everyone started with two pieces of chocolate, and every game of rock paper scissors someone one they were awarded a piece of chocolate from the person who was defeated. (Capitalism) As a skilled rock paper scissors I did well and went from two pieces of chocolate to ten pieces of chocolate. In this game if someone were to run out of pieces then they had to sit down and they couldn't play. After about ten minutes of this our teacher had us all sit down and we had to give the chocolate back. This was very frustrating because I was ready to eat. Next, she gave us all two pieces of candy, and told us that we could either play again or keep the candy. Everyone who did poorly did not want to play again but everyone who had ten or more pieces in the first round wanted to play again. Our teacher decided that we should all have two. (Socialism) In the end without any teacher interference everyone ended with two. (communism) I was not happy because I could have had ten, but we had to restart.

Adam Smith Painting

Photo of Karl Marx

Both Marx and Smith had different approaches to helping the poor. Karl Marx came from a middle class family and studied at a university in Europe. His wife, Friedrich Engles, a GWF Hagel, heavily influenced him. Marx’s theory was most similar to communism, but it had some differences. Marx felt that capitalism would always revolt in a revolt from the poor workers. These revolts would occur because the poor people could no longer afford the product they were making. After workers revolts a socialistic society would occur. In this society the poor would become much more equal with the wealthy with the help of the government. Eventually Marx’s goal was a classless society, which governed itself.  Adam Smith had a theory called the Invisible Hand Theory. This was that if the government kept their hands off their subjects then they would be more successful. Smith believed that if he allowed free trade, and free market then the people who were the most poor would benefit. He thought that if one company were to lower their price on cloth then everyone would go to them for cloth, and that would force all the other cloth dealers to drop their price.

 

Video on the life of Karl Marx and his theory. 

Video on Adam Smith's Theory. 

In my opinion there is no one solution to stopping people from being poor. There are always going to be people who are not motivated enough to make money and they will fall behind. On the flip side there are always competitive people who will always try and get ahead of others because that is what is in their nature. No matter the laws, or the penalties, that will happen. It is in human nature to be competitive. I feel that the best system is a combination of capitalism and socialism. The hope of this system is that people will be allowed to get ahead, but the government will help people who may be falling behind. Also, the government would create  a law for the people who are wealthy. This law would be something along the lines of; wealthy people must donate a small portion of their wealth to the poor in exchange for the government allowing them to get ahead.

Life of a Lowell Mill Girl

One of the main jobs for factory owners was recruiting girls to come and work in the mills. To do so, owners would send employees out to farms in rural areas in Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. Farm girls were tempted to travel to Lowell and work in the mills so they could earn money, get off the farm, and experience city life. Many parents were afraid of losing their daughters to the big city life style, but then they realize that their daughter will be sending home money that will help the family big time. Some of the disadvantages of being a mill girl were strict rules, unfair pay, injuries, threat of being black listed and a damaged reputation. A damaged reputation was a risk because most girls during this time period stayed at home and did household activities, so when a girl left the house to work she was subjected to criticism. Many people thought that women who worked would never find a husband. Some of the positives included earning a salary, making friends, education, and access to city life.

More Info on Lowell Women  

Video on Children of Industrialization

A Picture of Lowell Mill Girls

(From https://yesteryearsnews.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/mill-girls-cotton-mill-1908.jpg)