Wednesday, June 10, 2015

The Marie Antoinette Scandal


Instructions: 
Marie Antoinette’s fondness for clothing and material things gave her the reputation for being an insensitive queen, as so many of the French people were poor and starving. One key event captured the feelings of the French toward their queen. “The Affair of the Diamond Necklace,” as it became known, was a famous misunderstanding which confirmed her reputation in the eyes of many French citizens. At the library or using the Internet, research this event and discover what happened. Then, pretend that you are a member of the Third Estate. Write a letter to the editor of a French paper describing your opinion of Marie Antoinette based on what you have discovered from learning about this scandal. 
Assignment: 
Dear French editor,
     This is an outrage! Have your heard what our crazy Queen has been doing? She is living up her life while we die in vain! Wasting all the money we could be getting, on some piece of jewelry. She is more concerned with her goods and looks than the well being of the French people. We should be spending money for necessity rather than want. 
     Just this week I lost another one of my family members. They died of starvation because we good not afford any food. This injustice must stop! 
She doesn't deserve the position of the queen. The queen should care about the country and take care of us people rather than letting us fend for ourselves. It's the monarchy like The Queen that leave us in this position. 
      If you haven't heard the story, I heard from many people that The Queen was behind all the letters and the thievery involving Cardinal de Rohan. She and the Cardinal were corresponding to secretly gain money for the necklace. It was not even meant for Marie in the first place. She gave the Cardinal false hopes by  " romantically" being with him. This is not acceptable, he is a leader of the church and she is married. Just because she can't get pregnant doesn't mean she can sleep with everybody she wants to. If she thinks that she can cheat on her husband and purchase lavish goods under the nose of the French people, then she has got another thing coming
     The fact that she would do it in secret just to make sure that we couldn't find out is horrid. She already lives lavishly with big feasts and fancy clothing. Why does she need more? The necklace wasn't even made for her. It was ordered by Louis XV for his mistress. Why does she think that she can own it and sell it off for more money? 
     We deserve every dollar she gets from her selling the diamonds from the necklace. She has been taking the many diamonds off the necklace to trade with other places. It is so rude that she would take someone's hard work and give it all away. I hope she realizes how many people she is letting down, the whole country. The people of France deserve better than that scum from Austria. 
                                                                                       Sincerely,
                                                                                       Anonymous Third Estate Member 

Extra:
If interested in learning the real story visit these links:

Monday, June 1, 2015

Rebellious Reasons

In this lesson we were trying to answer the essential question which asked: is rebellion acceptable? How should the Government respond?  In order to answer this question we watched two videos and read a couple different articles. Our answers are based off of studying Shay's Rebellion and the Whiskey rebellion. These were two of the major rebellious events that shaped America. We looked at how the people that rebelled were affected by the Government and their response to the situation. Then we learned about how the government reacted to stop the rebellion. This is how we were able to form an opinion to this question. After each part of the lesson we discussed our opinions and thoughts of what truly happened. This made it easier to fully understand what we needed to and hear others opinions along with forming our own. 
The Whiskey Rebellion


I believe that in the case of Shay's rebellion and the Whiskey rebellion that it is acceptable. I find that rebellion was acceptable because the things that the government were taking away from the people wasn't fair. In Shay's rebellion the farmers were fighting back because the government took their land away. The was OK to do because the farmers had fought in the Revolutionary War and they had not received money from the government for their service. So they all started their farms with little money and all the resources they were getting from their farm they used themselves or traded with other farmers. They were not making money and they deserved the money they earned from fighting.The government was being unfair by taxing them because they didn't have any money to give and they took away their land because they couldn't pay the taxes. What the farmers did next was justified because they found out that America needed to adjust the constitution. The Constitution was not allowing the government to collect taxes from the states to pay the war veterans and the government couldn't really form an army to stop the farmers. In this case the government should have fought back to make it end and then solve the problem by adjusting the Constitution and their abilities. However they were not able to fight back until they changed the Constitution which allowed them to do what they needed to. The whiskey rebellion was also acceptable because they government was taxing the wrong people. They added tax to the people that were making the whiskey rather than the ones drinking it. This was not justified because the people making the whiskey were poor and needed the money to survive. The government was just taking away their money rather than letting them get their money for all their work. Their fight back was acceptable because it was not right for the government to be taking away the farmers money just because they could. The government only wanted it because they treated whiskey like money at the time and so it was very valued and the government was getting a lot for it. The government then allowed their to be political parties in response to the the whiskey rebellion. In these the rebellion was because there was something wrong with the government which was able to be fixed. 



In my opinion I think that rebellion is acceptable if what the government is doing is wrong. If they are just doing things to get more money I don't think it is right of them. If the government is doing something in order to make America a better place or have a specific reason that most people agree with I don't think that a rebellion is acceptable. In the case of these to rebellions it was acceptable because they were in response to something wrong with how the government is run. If we used the essential question in the U.S.A today I would have to think that rebellion is not acceptable. I think this because we have been able to live by the government and laws pretty much peacefully for a while. So their would be no justified reason to fight back. I also think that the government has enough handle over America that they would just make harsh punishments like jail for whoever acts out.