Bio. of William Bradford

William Bradford was a member of a Seperatist church and was aboard the Mayflower on its journey to Cape Cod. Once there he was elected 30 times to be governor, after the death of John Carver. He was the main architect of the Mayflower Compact, and he was also the second signer on this same document. He kept a handwritten journal telling the first 30 years of the Plymouth Colony, which later was published as Of Plymouth Plantation.

Thesis Statement

In an excerpt from William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, although the puritans experience hardship in their voyage to America, in their initial arrival and in their dealings with the indians, they still maintain their reverance to God and to one another.

Summary

Passengers on the Mayflower go through an indurant journey to arrive at Cape Cod in the new world, only by the grace of God, to face a barrage through living conditions, a scarce food supply, and the conflicting natives.

Passage Which Impressed Me

Thus it pleased God to vanquish their enemies and give them deliverance; and by His special providence so to dispose that not any one of them were either hurt or hit, though their arrows came close by them and on every side [of] them; and sundry of their coats, which hung up in the barricade, were shot through and through. Afterwards they gave God solemn thanks and praise for their deliverance, and gathered up a bundle of their arrows and sent them into England afterward by the master of the ship, and called that place the First Encounter.



This passage impressed me because before this they encountered the Indians, who shot arrows at them and tried to injure them. But by the deliverance and grace of God they made it out unharmed and alive. God delivered them from evil, and saved them from pain or death. They also named that place the First Encounter, meaning the first place where the Indians encountered warlike behavior from the Natives.

Political Cartoon

Immigrating from a country filled with poverty, to a country with alot of benefits always seems like an easier way out, than staying where you are. the first thing seen in this cartoon is a fence, and on one side there is large sign that says USA KEEP OUT. But that is exactly the opposite of what these people are doing. The benefits of the USA are better than what these people have wherever they are at. The cartoon shows booths with names such as health care, jobs, and education. This portrays that obviously what is seen on these booths is what these people want, what they need. The next thing seen is a hole in the fence, and another booth on the other side that says maps to the USA. This shows that the people are getting maps to know where they are going. Where the best health care or whatever is. Whatever they need. All this cartoon is trying to say is that these people who immigrate here arent trying to overcrowd us, or take over the USA, their just trying to get what all of us have. They are trying to start over and find a better life for themselves, which in everyones hearts is what they truly want, a better life for them & their family. You only want the best, but you take what you can get.

This relates to the Puritans because they want better than what they have, they want freedom, which is why they move to Cape Cod to live.

Journal entry: William Bradford

Dear Journal,
1620: Today was a long and dreary day for us. All day we worked. We were told to find food, find shelter, get water, prepare the right living conditions for our permanent stay here. I was made to find shelter, but while exploring i ran into a dilemma. I lost my way and was hopelessely lost. My first thought was 'what if no one notices im missing? There is a large amount of people who came here.' But i reassured myself by praying to God, asking him for guidance in this unknown area. After a little while of stumbling around looking for a sign, i heard familiar voices. I followed them and eventually got back to the ship. It was only by the Grace of God that i was guided and delivered from all harm, for he delivers all from danger.
Yours Truly,
Patty Polinski

The reason why one of Bradstreet's poems impressed me

Anne Bradstreet's poem "Upon the Burning of my House" impressed me the most out of all 3. This is because she loses everything, all of her possessions but yet she knows everything will be okay. In the beginning she seems sad that she has lost everything, but in the end she knows everything will be okay. She gets to a point where she gives it all to God and she knows he will be there for her. He wont let her go without anything, everything has a reason, bad or good. She makes alot of biblical references in this poem. In line 14 she says ' I blest his name who gave and took', well Job 1:21 says: 'Naked i came from my mother's womb and naked i will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away may the name of the Lord be praised.' She makes it known that everything she h ad, she had because of the Grace of God, and if he decides to take that away from her it is okay because he is the one who provided it for her. The next biblical reference which impressed me was the last line (line 54) which says 'My hope and Treasure lies Above.' Luke 12:34 states 'For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.' This is saying that all her Treasures lie in Heaven with the Lord for that is where her heart is. That is why i liked this poem the best.

Journal Entry: Anne Bradstreet Today

Dear Journal,
Today has been one of the hardest days since my husband left me and my children. He shall return someday soon, but for some reason i missed him dearly today. One of my children has decided to move away and leave me, its too soon but she has made her mind up. I must let her leave. I wish my husband were here to help me persuade her to stay, but i know he is busy and he is fullfilling God's plan for him. I cannot, must not, and will not interfere with that. Though i miss him dearly, especially since the loss of our house, i cannot let anyone know this feeling for it is not within the Puritan doctirines and i will surely be in trouble with others. I cannot stand hiding my feelings but i know i have too. It id only by the love of God that i have been here, and it is only by his Grace that my husband will be returning soon, so until that faithful day i leave you now.
Love Yours Truly,
Anne Bradstreet

Political Cartoon: Plight of Women in USA

Women haven’t always had rights like men have; women had to fight for their rights while men had theirs handed to them. This political cartoon shows an arrow with a sign that says Women’s Rights, but on the sign there is a spider hanging on a web with a ‘?!’ above it. This shows how old the rights are, and more so, no one has really exercised their rights recently as illustrated by the cobwebs and spider. Women rarely ever get rights of their own. This relates to Anne Bradstreet because she as a woman doesn’t have many rights, and if she does she doesn’t have many. Next, we see a woman with a rope around her waist and a hand pulling the rope, dragging her further from Women’s Rights which are what she wants. We can also see she is putting up a struggle because of the claw marks on the ground. This is portraying that she, like other women, want rights. She is fighting for her right to do things, she wants to be treated the same way men are. This relates to Anne Bradstreet because she is pulled from things which she wants, and she has no way to fight for it. Women wish to have rights that mean something, like Men’s Rights. In conclusion, women just want to get out of the past where they had no rights and move toward the future where they hope to have many rights.
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Edward Taylor: Thesis

In the poem "Huswifery" Edward Taylor applies diction and literary conceit to compare how sewing thread together to make cloth with earning Gods Grace to get to Heaven. In this way it is shown how we must earn Grace by living our lives in a way that is pleasing to God. We must work toward it and try our best to accomplish it.

Summary of the poem "Huswifery"

This poem shows how earning Gods Grace is compared to sewing together a cloth. You have to be tedious and be sure of what your doing so you are sure to get it right. Earning Gods Grace is never easy but it could be. You could do things to help it and not things that are against it.
My group (Amanda and Johnathan) compared going to Isaac Bear with building a sand castle.
The pails and shovels are the teachers for they shape us into what we need to be
The sand is us for we are young and need people to mold us
Once the castle is done it is beautiful and it is made into something that should stand for a long time. Unless the water washes us away, which could be us getting into the wrong crowd at school or us getting into bad things later in life.

With this poem what impressed me the most was how Edward Taylor made all the comparisons. In almost every line there was a comparison between earning Grace and sewing cloth. It was interesting to read because the comparisons were explained to us and we then were able to go back and comprehend what he was talking about.

Johnathan Edwards

My favorite excerpt from this poem is this:
He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night - that you were suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.

This is my favorite because in this Edwards shows the Grace of the almighty God, he does not let nonbelievers fall into hell, he holds them up with his righteous right hand and saves them from it. Edwards also says that those who are not saved offend him more than anything else. Edwards in this passage says alot of powerful things to the nonbelievers, he tries to scare them into religion with thoughts of hell and over exaggerations of what hell will be like. Edwards is a powerful writer and his messages hopefully spoke to alot of people.

Sinners in the hand of an angry God Collage

Reflection of My Collage

My collage shows the mouth of hell, and the monsters which live there. It also shows the fiery flames of hell, consuming spider webs and what not. This is to represent all of the situations in Edwards sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Johnathan Edwards speech was very powerful and even though my collage, as well as anyone else's, can never represent the power of his words and comparisons, i think mine does an O.K job of showing somehow wht he is trying to say.

Olidauh Equiano: Political Cartoon

Our country has become so prone to automatically being racist towards those who are not the same color as them, that sometimes they dont even notice it. In this political cartoon there is a man blowing something into another mans ear, forcing out an insect, classified as a racial prejudice bug. This shows us that Americans dont even realize they are being racist unless someone else is pointing it out for them. Next, we see the man saying 'Gracious! Was that in my head?'. He seems surprised that this bug was in his head, thus firther implying the fact that Americans cant realize they are being racist because they have become prone to it. They are so used to just kicking people out because of their skin color thatit doesnt even phase them anymore. If this keeps occuring sooner or later people are going to be planting this so called bug in the minds of their children, showing them that it is okay to be racist against those who are different thatn you are, but really its not. Our skins ays nothing about who we are and what weve done with our life, its whats on the inside that really counts.

Essential Question answer for Olidauh Equiano

We dont know what the american dream is. No one does, because no one is an American. An American is someone wh odoesnt judge others based on their skin color or background, an American isnt rude to those who come here looking for a better life, an American has freedom and wont let anyone take that away no mater the costs, an American fights for their rights and keeps justice in place, An American is none of us.

Reflection of Patrick Henry

In Patrick Henry's speech Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death he uses rhetorical questions to illustrate his opinion of war to the house of representatives. Patrick Henry was at first scared to share his opinion with the house but after heavy thought he found it was okay to do that because he had to get his opinion out there. He needed to let everyone know what he was thinking and why he was thinking it and what they could do about it. The things on his mind was: War, Freedom & Slavery. He was trying to convince the house to join the revolutionary war. He wanted them on his side, he wanted them to see his point of view and listen to it. He needed them to join the revolutionary war so that they could do as he wanted. He was encouraging them. From this i can see that Patrick Henry really wanted the revolutionary war to prosper.

Diary Entry for Patrick Henry

Dear Diary,
The date is March 23, 1775. Im writing you this evening because today i , Patrick Henry, spoke to the H.O.R about my opinion on the Revolutionary War. I must admit that i was truly petrified when i stood up to address everyone, but once i told everyone that i had to say my opinion and how i hoped it wouldnt offend anyone i felt genuinely better. What did i tell the house, you ask? Well, i told them that i thought they should join the War. Why, you say? Because it is for the better cause, they are all fooled by Britain. When really Britain is going to betray them. Thankfull they listened to me. I asked many questions on how we could fight them, why we should fight them, and when. What do you mean, did they answer? Of course NOT, all the questions were rhetorical, what if's and what nots. All i can say is that i hope they take what i said to the heart and ponder it dearly, and come back with the righ decision. But for now i musnt worry i must rest. Til tomorrow, dear diary, good night.
With love,
Patrick Henry

Reflection for Thomas Paine

In Thomas Paine's, The Crisis No.1, he speaks to the soldiers who are fighting in the Revolutionary War, as he tells them to perservere for there will be better days. I think THomas Paine's speech was much more heartfelt than Patrick Henry's, simply because Paine is trying to reach the heart of the everyday soldier by telling them it will be okay and that they have to stay strong and be men. Paine uses pathos and logos to reach the soldiers. He makes things simple, and he just flat out tells the truth. He tells the soldiers that the ones who stay strong and loyal to their country are the men who deserve praise because those who back out are cowards who have done nothing. He tells them that Britain is trying to control them and that war is the only way out. Which in this case is true. So through Paine's speech we note compassion as his tone when he speaks to the soldiers.

Diary Entry for Thomas Paine

Dear Diary,
Hello, its me Thomas. The date is December 23, 1776, and i recently have spoken to some very important people, soldiers of the Revolutionary War. I decided i must encourage them to fight, which you know is unusual for me, but they have to fight or else we will be overun by Britain. I cannot let that happen so i told them that they must stand strong and not be cowards who flee before they have completed their duty to their country. I told them they have to fight for their freedom and perservere for better days, for they will soon come if they are loyal. They must fight for their country as they would for their family. I then spoke one on one with a few soldiers who awared me that they were frightened by the thought of war, i reassured them that if they fought like men then it wouldnt be too bad, they would surely make it through. I must go now. Til later. Goodbye.
Love,
Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine & Patrick Henry

Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry have one thing in common: Both of them say what is on their mind, and tell what they think is best. These men, both, gave alot of input on what they think would be best for teir country, War. In my opinion i see no political figures as willing and as compassionate and caring as Henry or Paine. The days have changed alot since they were around. People have become less and less passionate towards others who have different opinions as them. If your different your immediately pointed out nowadays. Which is why we have to get back to the old days and try to pick up the passion that Paine had, as well as the perserverance that Henry had.

Personal extension

everyone tries to live out their american dream, but its only their opinion/idea of what the american dream is. As for me, im trying just like everyone else. My idea of the American Dream is for a good life here on this earth just as it should be, sure i would like obstacles to be put in front of me because they make me stronger than i was the day before, but other than that i want to reach all my goals in life and do great things for i was made to be a great person. Whenever i hit an obstacle i try my best to overcome it, but if i cant then i get help from friends and family but mostly God. He helps me in any way possible as much as he can whenever i need it. Things get hard sometimes but i always go to my favorite verse in one of my favorite songs, the verse is: "There will be a day, when the burdens of this place will be no more and we'll see Jesus face to face.' That verse is true because their will always be a better day, where nothing can ever get to us, we all have good days just as well as we have bad. We just have to keep pushing on.