Thomas Jefferson His Presidential Legacy Essays -

Thomas Jefferson: His Presidential Legacy Thomas Jefferson: His Presidential Legacy Thomas Jefferson, our third president, was born in 1743 in Virginia. He studied at William and Mary and then read the law. In 1772, he married a widow lady, Martha Skelton and he took her to live at his partially completed home at Monticello, the plantation consisting of approximately 5,000 acres that he inherited from his father. Mr. Jefferson was considered to be a gifted writer, but he was not a public speaker. He wrote his support for the patriotic cause in the House of Burgesses and the Continental congresses but he did not give any speeches. He was a silent member, and as such, drafted the Declaration of Independence. He became the first Secretary of State under George Washington, but resigned the post in 1793. His resignation was due to political conflicts with Alexander Hamilton and his sympathies for the French Revolution. As political differences grew in the new nation, two parties began to form; Jefferson became the leader of the Jeffersonian Party, which later evolved into the Democratic-Republican Party. He opposed a strong central government and was a champion for states rights. In 1796, he missed being elected President by three votes. Instead, due to a flaw in the Constitution, he became Vice President. In the next election, the flaw became much more apparent. The Republican Party cast a tie vote between Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson. Alexander Hamilton voted for Jefferson, even though their political views differed. When Mr. Jeffersons second term was completed, he retired to Monticello and worked on his designs for the university of Virginia. He died on July 4, 1826. Mr. Jeffersons presidency left several legacies. The most important, in chronological order, were the Supreme Courts decision in the 1803 case of Marbury v Madison, the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, and the adoption of the 12th Amendment to the Constitution in 1804. The landmark case of Marbury v Madison involved William Marbury and James Madison. After his defeat in 1800, then President Adams appointed as many federalist judges to the court system as possible, but the commissions were not delivered. Mr. Marbury was appointed as a Justice of the Peace for the District of Columbia; James Madison tried to use his power as Secretary of State to shelve Mr. Marburys commission. Mr. Marbury sued in the Supreme Court for the delivery of the commission and based his appeal on the Judiciary Act of 1789. However, Chief Justice Marshall dismissed the suit, explaining that the Judiciary Act of 1789 was unconstitutional because it attempted to assign powers to the Supreme Court that the Constitution had not foreseen. He adamantly asserted his opinion that the Constitution embodied a higher law than regular legislation. Chief Justice Marshall stated that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is His decision gr eatly increased the authority of the Supreme Court; the Court now had the final say-so in the interpretation of the Constitution and to determine the constitutionality of a law. Just a few months later, in May 1804, Jefferson completed one of the largest land transactions in history. He purchased the entire Louisiana Territory, consisting of more than 800,000 square miles, from Napoleon for $15 millions dollars. The United States government paid $11,250,000 directly to the French government and the United States government assuming French debts to U.S. citizens covered the balance of $3,750,000. This purchase was the result of serious concerns for free trade and navigation along the Mississippi River. In 1800, Spain and France entered into a secret pact in which Spain ceded New Orleans and the territory to France. The United States government was afraid that it would have to go to war with France to acquire control of the port of New Orleans, so Mr. Jefferson sent Robert Livingston and James Munroe to negotiate with Napoleon for the sale of New Orleans and as much land to its east as possible for a maximum of $10million. They were also instructed that if negotiation with Napoleon failed, they were to begin negotiating with England for an alliance. Jefferson was willing to form an alliance with the former enemy, England, against a former friend, France,

Critiques Definition and Examples

Critiques Definition and Examples A critique is a formal analysis and evaluation of a text, production, or performance- either ones own (a self-critique) or someone elses. In composition, a critique is sometimes called a response paper. When written by another expert in the field, a critique can also be called a peer review. Peer reviews are done to decide whether to accept an article for publication in a scholarly journal or, in an education setting, can be done in groups of students who offer feedback to each other on their papers (peer response). Critiques differ from reviews (these are also different from peer reviews) in that critiques offer more depth to their analysis. Think of the difference between a scholarly article examining a work of literature in a journal (critique) and the kinds of topics that would be covered there vs. a few-hundred-word review  of a book in a newspaper or magazine for the lay audience, for readers to decide whether they should purchase it.   Compare the term critique with  critical analysis,  critical essay,  and evaluation essay. Critiquing criteria  are the standards, rules, or tests that serve as the bases for judgments.   Critiquing a Paper A critique starts out with a summary of the topic of the paper but differs from a straight summary because it adds the reviewers analysis. If a critique is happening to the first draft of a paper, the issues brought by the reviewers need to be large-scale issues with the premise or procedure of obtaining the results- in the case of a scientific paper peer review- and arguments, such as flaws in logic or source material and fallacies, rather than be criticisms on a line level (grammar and the like). Ambiguity and irony presented in the paper could be targets as well. The  critique  is the process of objectively and critically evaluating a research reports content for scientific merit and application to practice, theory, and education, write Geri LoBiondo-Wood and Judith Haber. It requires some knowledge of the subject matter and knowledge of how to critically read and use critiquing criteria. (Nursing Research: Methods and Critical Appraisal for Evidence-Based Practice. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2006) A critique should also point out what works well, not just the flaws in the paper.   A critique should emphasize first what the article contributes to the field and then identify the shortcomings or limitations, write authors  H. Beall and J. Trimbur. In other words, a critique is a balanced appraisal, not a hatchet job. (How to Read a Scientific Article. In Communicating Science: Professional Contexts, ed. by Eileen Scanlon et al. Taylor Francis, 1998) The Purpose of a Critique Arguments by the reviewer also need to be backed up with evidence. It isnt enough just to say that the paper in question is flawed but also how its flawed and why- whats the proof that the argument wont hold up? It is important to be clear about what a  critique  is supposed to accomplish, write authors  C.  Grant Luckhardt and William Bechtel.  They continue: A critique is not the same as a demonstration that the  conclusion  of someones  argument  is false. Imagine that someone has circulated a memorandum arguing that your company  retain  your current legal counsel. You, however, are convinced that it is time for a  change,  and want to demonstrate that....It is important to note here that you can prepare such a demonstration without mentioning any of your colleagues arguments or  rebutting  them. A critique of your colleagues demonstration, in contrast, requires you to examine the arguments in the demonstration and show that they fail to establish the conclusion that the current legal counsel should be retained.A critique of your colleagues demonstration does not show that its conclusion is wrong. It only shows that the arguments advanced do not establish the conclusion it is claimed they do. (How to Do Things With Logic. Lawrence Erlbaum, 1994) For more information on how to put one together, you may wish to also read How to Write a Response Paper. Self-Critiques in Creative Writing A related term to critiquing used frequently in scholarly Bible study is exegesis, though it doesnt apply only to Bible scholarship. An exegesis (in a creative writing discourse)...is a scholarly piece of writing  with a focus on textual analysis and comparison using literature which relates to your creative writing project. Usually an exegesis is longer than a critique and reads more like a dissertation. There tends to be greater emphasis on your chosen comparative text than on your own creative writing project, with a clear thesis linking the two.The good news is, once you learn how to write a critique on your creative process, you will find that it actually helps you to better understand your creative writing. (Tara Mokhtari,  The Bloomsbury Introduction to Creative Writing. Bloomsbury, 2015)

Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 23

Philosophy - Essay Example These tactics forced the slaves to adopt survival tactics of living, reinforcing the beliefs of white people that menial labor was all the slaves were capable of – higher thought was clearly beyond the capacity of their more primitive brains. Making the situation even worse, this societal attitude was successful in convincing many of the slaves that these assumptions were correct. Proving that this was not the case, though, was Frederick Douglass. An escaped slave from Maryland, he was the first black man to appear on a presidential ticket in America. Douglass told the world his story revealing in the process how literacy changed him deeply to transform him from a masterless slave to a freethinking human being. These ideas are also revealed in his early narrative Frederick Douglass: Life of an American Slave. Although his exact birth date is unknown, Douglass believed he was born sometime in February of 1818. He died on February 20, 1895. Today’s common perception is that slavery, at least the brutal form of it, was confined mostly in the south on the big plantations yet Douglass witnessed many brutal beatings on his master’s Maryland farm where he lived for his first seven years. As a child, he was often required to endure cold and hunger because the master kept most of the slave-generated products, including food and fuel, for his own comfort and well-being. Normally a very traumatic event for a child, when 7-year-old Douglass’ mother died, he felt almost no grief. â€Å"Never having enjoyed, to any considerable extent, her soothing presence, her tender and watchful care, I received the tidings of [my mother’s] death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger† (Ch. 1). The important lesson Douglass tries to conv ey in these early chapters is how the slave is created from birth. He is separated from his family to destroy any natural human feelings of