Woody Holton Theory Analysis

Woody Holton Theory Analysis Woody Holton is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Richmond in Virginia and is a member of the Richmond Research Institute. He has published three award-winning books: Abigail Adams (2009), a Bancroft Prize winner, Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution (2007), a finalist for the National Book Award; and Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia (1999) winner of the Organization of American Historians Merle Curti award for social history. In 2006, the OAH named Holton one of its Distinguished Lecturers.[1] In his book, Unruly Americans, Holton endeavors to revive Beards arguments in An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution that our Constitution was created to protect the interests of a small group of wealthy farmers and creditors over those of small farmers and debtors. However, Holton shifts the focus from the wealthy few to the ordinary people who opposed the concept of a strong centralized government. Holton sides with Beard that the principal purpose of our Founding Fathers was not to safeguard civil liberties but to protect their own financial interests. (xi) The author contends that the arguments and efforts of ordinary farmers who maintained that the post-Revolutionary recession could have been ended without making the United States a less democratic country that resulted from the Constitution. (17) We are indebted to these farmers for insisting the Bill of Rights be added to the Constitution. Holton argues that these amendments directly contradict the Framers antidemocratic intent. (277) He goes on to state that besides initiating the Bill of Rights, the tax rebels with no rebellions, there would have been less tax and debt relief legislation, and without relief, there would have been much less need for a powerful new national government. (277) According to the author, few supporters of tax relief wanted to repudiate debts, but in at least nine states they suggested to discriminate, treating the original recipients of bonds differently from those who had purchased them on the open market. (55) The rigorous tax and debt collection had prevented Americans from realizing their full potential as laborers. (101) Holton shows that tax burdens for ordinary Americans were three or four times higher than colonial levels which made them question whether they had been better off under British rule. (29) The author relies on newspapers, pamphlets, and political tracts to prove his thesis. He depicts the conflict between the debtors struggling to regain their economic footing after the Revolutionary War while Congress encourages the state governments to increasingly impose new taxes upon them. Holton describes the contributions of previously unknown individuals such as Herman Husband, a North Carolina farmer, and William Mathews, a Massachusetts tavern keeper. He also mentions Adonijah Mathews who owned a tavern in Virginia. Their inclusion allows him to go beyond the leading Anti-Federalists. (274) Meanwhile, states struggled to compensate the bondholders who loaned them money, Congress battled to pay off the commutation certificates of former officers in the war, and debtors and creditors clashed over whether paper money should be used to satisfy outstanding taxes and debts. Holton argues that because state governments failed to maintain order and fulfil their obligations, reformers decided to meld those thirteen sovereignties together and launch and empire of their own. (3) He states, the democrats unconsciously initiated a powerful reactionary movement as bondholders and creditors attempted to put the democratic genie back into the bottle. (5) According to Holton, James Madison and others accused that state representatives had shown excessive indulgence to debtors and taxpayers. They had refused to force farmers to pay what they owed. (8) The argument from the debtor side was that thousands of other Americans contended that the remedy for the recession was not to press harder on taxpayers and debtors, but to ease up on them. (100) Holton contends that the Framers of our Constitution saw disproportionate democracy as the root of tax leniency which obstructed bondholders and thwarted investment. Holton argues that the need to reign in the states weighed far more heavily upon the convention than the motive that has received the most attention from later generations of Americans, strengthening the Confederation. (182) While this reviewer appreciates Holtons arguments on behalf of the ordinary Americans, this book is very repetitive. Some points such as the perspective of farmers on democratic government and the influence of bondholders on the creation of the Constitution are stated multiple times. His mention his intent is to focus on individuals such as Adonijah Mathews, yet he tends to go off on a rant about our Founders such as James Madison. Mathews and Husband received but a few pages of reference in the index, but Madison has eighty-three pages listed under his name. This seems to flip Holtons assertions that his book is about ordinary Americans rather than about the Founding Fathers. Holton also impedes his own arguments when he states that although bond speculators were among the Constitutions most enthusiastic supportersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦it is also clear that thousands of Americansà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦supported federal taxation not because they owned bonds-many did not-but for other, more public-spirited reasons. (215) Holton further contends that Some of the most avid supporters of the Constitution were not creditors but debtors. (230) Therefore, his own arguments contradict Holtons conclusions that the adoption of the Constitution was largely the result of class conflict in the fledgling nation between the haves and the have-nots. [1] Simon and Schuster, Woody Holton http://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Woody-Holton/44139211

Willa Cathers Death Comes for the Archbishop :: Willa Cather Death Comes for the Archbishop

Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop - A Powerful Non-Novel Responding to the criticism that Death Comes for the Archbishop is not a novel, Willa Cather proposed that the work was a narrative. Her choice of the word narrative signifies that the structure of Death Comes for the Archbishop is closer to that of a biography. A narrative is a type of composition used to recount events over a period of time and can incorporate description as well plot, but it does not necessarily have to. Death Comes for the Archbishop follows the guidelines of a narrative in that it recounts the events of Father Latour's life, beginning when he is appointed to New Mexico and ending with his death. Cather incorporates description into her narration, but does not offer dramatic plot structure. A novel utilizes the elements of narration, specifically including description and plot. Novels also incorporate a climax to the story along with denouement. Plot is unfolded by the actions, speech and thoughts of a character. It is these actions that lead to the climax and the resolution of the story. Based upon the guidelines used to classify a novel, Death Comes for the Archbishop does not meet the requirements and is therefore not a novel. Her work tells a story, but does not offer plot, climax or resolution. The events that are recounted in Cather's work do not build upon each other in order to offer a climax. Each event is no more significant than the one before it; for example, Cather places just as much emphasis on Latour's relationship with Olivares as he does with helping Sade pray (p 175, 213). While the events themselves do not add up to create the dramatic plot structure necessary to call Death Comes for the Archbishop a novel, each individual event experienced by Latour, is in itself a story that includes both climax and resolution. An example of this is Father Latour's death. It begins with him getting sick and living his last days, building up to his final moments and culminating in his death. The resolution to this individual event is the bell tolling and Latour being placed in the church he built. Each event in Latour's life does have plot and resolution, creating difficulty in not calling it a novel. However, if the work is examined as a whole piece, from beginning to end, it is evident that while it fits the boundaries of narration, it does not meet the qualifications of a novel.

Problems Faced by Women in the 1880s

During the 1880s, many women faced difficulties because of gender issues. Because of this, females were sometimes described as weak, emotional, and overreacting. As well, it was believed that they did not match the same qualifications as with men in certain work fields. Women who were hired as hired girls back in the 1880s had little control over their earnings. They also believed that their employer would take care of them and would not hurt them. But due to the disadvantages that they had and what they believed in, the employers often took these weaknesses for granted and benefited from them. These women often faced the danger of sexual harassment by their male employer and/or by other brutal men because of their weaknesses such as: they could not disrespect their bosses and they did not have the strength to fight back. Women, at that time, did not have much opportunity to pursue a higher education, which caused a lack of qualified female workers during the 1880s. Most of the women were hired as servants, farmers, or factory workers. In contrast, married women took care of their families and served their husbands. Indeed, women had faced many difficulties since that time because of their gender disadvantages. My Antonia showed many situations that girls were often used as tools by the people in their work fields. Moreover, women workers back in the 1880s did not have the same amount of wages as men did even when they performed the same duties. The women who had jobs did not have the chance to enjoy their earnings because they had to send it to their families in order to help with the family expenses. They had to keep very little for their own living. The same was true with the married women who became housewives just to serve their husbands while raising and taking care of their children because their earnings also went to their husbands and children. In My Antonia, Antonia was taken advantage of by Ambrosch because he took her wages and Antonia could not do anything about it because he was her boss. Lena also did not have the authority over her wages because she had to provide the financial support to her family. Neither of the girls had control over their earnings, and had no power to spend the earnings for their own needs. Among all of the risks that women had faced during the 1880s, the most challenging was sexual harassment. This easily occurred because women were physically weak to resist the advances of their bosses, coworkers, or even husbands. Women back in the 1880s can be simply raped and sexually harassed at all places including the farm, factory, or even at home. The sexual harassments often resulted in favoring the suspects, and blaming the victims for their â€Å"misconducts† that had caused the unlucky event. For example, in My Antonia, Antonia almost became a rape victim when she was approached by her boss, Mr. Cutter, who was going to sexually abuse her. And in another case, Antonia was fired due to her â€Å"misconducts† while dancing and parting, which attracted the men in the parties. These showed that there were really aspects that were against womens' behavior and social order. Willa Cather compared the condition of being raped as being â€Å"ruined. † Comparing the working conditions and social issues that were addressed in the 1880s to the present, there are changes but it had not been completely solved. Nowadays, we have more legal documentary that protects women against hostility from unnecessary forces. Nevertheless, it is still common that women are viewed to be weak and sexual harassment issues still appears to be common. Also, gender discrimination still exists today.

The Clinton administration

In a more modern sense, the conflicts in Bosnia, Somalia, and Rwanda were liberal efforts to assist the U. N. in maintaining humanitarian ideals throughout the globe. The Clinton administration could not gain support for these efforts from Congress, which showed that we had a liberal leader at the helm of a realist Congress. Today, the need for international cooperation is greater than ever. Global borders, once so vital, have eroded to the point that they are no longer visible to any but the most redoubtable warmongers.In an era where one can contact Bora Bora in an instant, the necessity of communication and understanding is greater than ever. It is true that human nature will not change; what we can change is the manner in which we deal with it. Many people argue that the United Nations is an impotent organization whose time has passed. Others debate that the U. N. is the only forum in which the smaller nations of the world have a voice. Unfortunately, both views are correct. For instance, in the case of Bosnia, Serbian soldiers seized 350 UN peacekeepers as hostages.The United States was forced to intervene in August of 1995. By November of 1995 the nations of Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia arranged to sit down and discuss the matter, and by the 21st of that month an agreement was signed (Mingst 121). In this instance, then, the UN was powerless and had to look once more to the U. S. to provide international leadership. Realists quote this episode as the strongest example of their belief in the importance of military leadership. For the American public, too, military leadership is palatable, but only if the conflict is brief.Other organizations, such as the ICC, or International Criminal Court, are of more recent origin. While it is not a new idea to punish nations in retaliation for war crimes, using an international forum in which to do so is an idea founded after the conflicts in Yugoslavia and Rwanda. The ICC covers a very specific group of crimes and seek s to penalize the individuals responsible. The dictates that the ICC covers are genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression. The ICC should help to avoid extradition issues in that the ICC has absolute jurisdiction over these aspects of international law.It will also serve as a sounding board for enforcing individual and national accountability (Mingst 190). In order to comprehend the effectiveness of international organizations, one must first analyze how liberals and realists view them. Realists are basically state-centered; that is, they believe that states only act to preserve their own self-interests. While they acknowledge that international law has a place in preserving order and the status quo, they also feel that states only comply with international laws because it serves their self-interests to do so (Mingst 191).Order brings benefits; therefore states should comply with imposed order to reap these benefits. For example, it behooves states to f ollow the dictums of maritime law and not invade foreign waters. Conflicts can be costly on an economic, psychological, and military level; therefore, most states abide by international laws to avoid reaping these costs. As for international organizations such as the UN, realists are skeptical. They feel that most of these organizations have more weaknesses than strengths. They aver that the UN has proven unproductive and ineffective.An example of this might be the failure of the UN to enforce the 2003 resolutions against Iraq. In this manner, they claim, international law will only stand to reinforce the powerful states, because the dominant states are the only ones with the means to bring such causes to fruition. The realist belief system is essentially anarchic—they believe that states only cooperate with one another because it is in their self-interests to do so. If they choose to disregard the strictures of international law, they will also do so, particularly if the law in question directly affects their economic or military wellbeing.Realists believe that international organizations and NGOs are completely useless in that they have no means of enforcing their dictums. They cite as examples the failure of the UN during the civil war in Yugoslavia. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the nation of Yugoslavia had no effective arbiter, i. e. the U. S. S. R. , to mediate disputes. Yugoslavia had major fault lines within the country: religious, political, cultural, and historical (Mingst 204). The conflicts that resulted after Russia could no longer control the nation were so ferocious that the world was appalled.Serbian leaders tried to maintain unity in the face of strong opposition from separatist movements from the Slovenian, Croatian, and Bosnia-Herzegovinian nations. Several countries jumped into the fray, supporting one cause or another, but this only served to make the situation worse and emphasized the ideals of Yugoslavia as a divided nation. Both the EU and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) tried to start negotiations, but none could come to a successful conclusion. Fighting broke out among the warring factions in the meantime.At this point, the UN got involved to try to deliver humanitarian aid and establish a peacekeeping force. In the end, no international arbiter was able to settle the conflict, and Yugoslavia ultimately ended in the division of the country into four separate nations: Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Slovenia. In this manner, then, realists assert that this was the ultimate failure of international organizations versus the self-interests of states. The liberal view on international organizations is that human beings will ultimately follow the ideals of right.Therefore, they follow international law because it is morally just to do so. In the liberal mind, all states will benefit from doing what is right and moral, and international organizations represent t he ultimate culmination of this goal of international cooperation. States have general expectations about other states’ behavior (Mingst 190). In a system of mutual cooperation and respect, liberals argue, the system of international law will succeed. They do agree with the realists on one point: the system only works if powerful states become involved.A request for aid or a diplomatic protest from a small or weak nation will most likely be ignored unless the vulnerable nation has a powerful ally. On the plus side of this argument, this type of international hegemony is precisely why treaty organizations and international courts function so well—they keep the large powers in check while protecting the interests of the smaller states. Thus it befits all nations to cooperate on an international level. The United States is not the only party to blame, however. The only nations who seem to take the U. N.completely seriously are the ones who have the least power to affect c hange. The United Nations needs to act more quickly and definitively and not leave the burden of responsibility on the U. S. While our role as the defenders of freedom is one which we have embraced readily in the past, it is not viable for the future. The U. N. and the WTO need to impose harsher penalties for those nations that fail to meet international laws, and the ICC needs more power to punish wrongdoers. In short, we need to stop being an anarchic collection of deviant nations and come together to fight for humanity.This solution sounds simplistic, and is one which we may never realize within our lifetime. It is not an impossible solution, however. The EU was a pipe dream for years. Many of the European nations had resentments and issues that dated back for hundreds of years. What we and the international organizations can do is this: we can find a sustainable global economy and we can find viable solutions to issues that concern all of us. We can review the U. N. Charter and eliminate all outdated and useless language.If this does not work, perhaps forming a new organization might be the key. We could take responsibility for nuclear weapons and finally make a definitive decision concerning their use and misuse. The easiest way to maintain global stability from terrorism would be to create a permanent U. N. army, with all nations represented. The U. N. would then have the military might to go beyond its peacekeeping duties but would be able to stop conflicts before they escalated. Ratification and acknowledgement of the ICC would also be a positive change (simpol. org).If all nations knew that tyrants and terrorists would be punished accordingly and brought to justice it might eliminate the temptation to hide these criminals. John Bunzi of the International Simultaneous Policy Organization believes that these solutions are possible. As he writes, â€Å"The Simultaneous Policy is a peaceful political strategy to democratically drive all the world’ s nations to apply global solutions to global problems, including combating global warming and environmental destruction, regulating economic globalization for the good of all, and delivering social justice, peace and security, and sustainable prosperity† (simpol.org). The relevance to me as the reviewer is that the article allows me to infer my own ideas of human performance and how it can relate to my own business practices. The vacuum system is used too often in organizations and the needs and dilemmas of certain business training, and practices comes into full view as felonious when I read the article. In the article, it mentions that there are positive and negative consequences in the feedback level. If a worker is performing at the top of his or her ability then the company’s response is more work, which they conclude is a positive feedback.Instead of continual delivery of on-time projects, because the worker is being laden with work they stop performing so well b ecause they see that their co-workers are getting paid the same amount as them, but without the extra work. So, the dilemma is that the organization might view certain types of feedback as positive while the worker sees it as negative and thus the feedback affects the performance of their work. I have seen this played out many times in my own business relationships.It shows me that a clear line of communication in the human performance system is integral to the performance of the entire organization. Without clear communication the faults in an organization remain unaddressed in certain training programs and as the authors state, the company does not always know what is ‘broken’, to what extent, what area is at fault (human performance? ), how the performance is lacking in output, and what activity is causing the deficiency. Each of these areas, in my experience, is typically ignored in the business world.No one wants to be assigned blame; so general maneuvers such as t raining programs are instilled as answers to what is wrong, when in fact what is wrong might not even be known. To further examine the tenacity of the aforementioned groups that provided succor to Bosnia certain questions should be research. The first question that needs to be asked is the cons of having an organization come into a country without having full knowledge of the situation; in the case of Bosnia however it was with the media that the world became aware of the genocide and thus, under the strict rules of advocating for human rights, the United States had to step in.In some instances, the predicted behavior or reaction an institute exhibits in a chaotic environment isn’t calculable; this is witnessed repeatedly in the Bosnia conflict as no one organization stepped into the situation of Bosnia until after genocide and after destruction; the political world knew what was about to occur in this realm of the disintegrating Yugoslavian countryside, no political party or nation took responsibility and helped Bosnia. The human capacity for enduring extreme environments is astounding.In the case of Bosnia however, a far less serious outcome may be become of the situation had prescience been used. Even if every level of organization is cooperative to the output deliverance of the institute, the reliance of that output depends on the human element, and that element must not be regarded as capable of extreme high performance of extreme low performance. Thus, when Bosnia effectively asked for help from Europe and the United States they did not expect either to say ‘no’.Questions that should also be raised alongside the general ones presented in this paper in regards to the way in which national organizations have decided to deal with the Bosnia conflict are the benefits the people receive after being released from refugee camps or concentration camps: where will the people go? Who will help them? Each of these questions is relevant when cons idering human endurance in any capacity. The lack of, or the involvement of, these questions can deter a person from achieving their home or even of a company of maintaining in the person the belief that aid came when there was some to offer.In human performance, though the macrocosm is important, there should also be a high degree of microcosm involved in the international environment if the question is about raising acknowledgment in all levels of political policies, and maintaining that performance. Research at this level should yield supporting data to human endurance and further state the fallacy in the vacuum system where communications are lost such as when does Bosnia need help, should they be helped, etc.?Institutions such as NATO and the UN do not work to their highest quality in a vacuum. A vacuum isolates the institute from the people who need their help. In a vacuum setting the assumption of progress being made is linked to training input without any direction to what i s fundamentally wrong with performance. If the organization doesn’t know what is wrong and tries to fix it, then nothing seriously is being accomplished. Also, if the international organization does have a downfall, then to what extent is that downfall hindering performance?An alternative to this vacuum procedure of dealing with pitfalls in the international environment is to view country in need of aid as a priority. There are five points in the performance system when it comes to international politics and state agendas, they are: the institute, input, output, consequence, and feedback. At each level there is an interdependent relationship that allows for a well performing organization. Since the relationships are dependent on each other for high performance the organization must be adaptive.In this adaptive system there are three levels: organization level, process level, and the individual level. To improve an organization and to steer clear from the vacuum effect, an org anization must consider that within the society these levels, and improving performance, depend on whether or not on each level’s problems are being addressed and this begins with the question, it what ways have the international organizations failed? The main strength of the international organization lies in its ability to dissect and expound the idea of fast performance when a country is in need of such swiftness.The organizations, especially the UN exude well thought out plans and deliver the idea of human rights being their number one priority as can be witnessed in their involvement with Bosnia during the crisis years. There are six variables by which the UN, NATO, etc must measure themselves, they are; performance specifications, task interference, consequences, feedback, knowledge/skill, and individual capacity. In this system these points make for a higher quality performance.Another strength of the UN is that it doesn’t parlay the fault of lack of succor on a ny one country entirely but instead they focus on the positive and try and enlist help from other countries instead of bribing other countries, but allows for fault in all parts of the hierarchy in social concern. Both performers and how the UN addresses weakness in the input/output system should be under scrutiny, because the weakness must be dealt with in all parts of the hierarchy in order for the UN to be successful. ConclusionIt may be surmised that Bosnia, though perhaps unavoidable could have been handled in a better international capacity, as such the genocide that was endured could have been side stepped. In fact, the new initial facts that the UN should support itself in political and international quarry as stated above should, chiefly among the idea of working towards stronger and better human rights, include the cooperation of other countries in its venture. The purpose of such an organization is to ensure that something like the genocide in Bosnia is not repeated.Work Cited Cox, Marcus. The Right to Return Home: International Intervention and the Ethnic Cleansing In Bosnia and Herzegovina. The International and Comparative Law Quarterly. Vol. 47, No. 3, pp. 599-631. July 1998. Gutman, Roy. A Witness to Genocide. Macmillan Publishing Company. New York. 1993. Lieber, Robert J. : The Eagle Adrift: American Foreign Policy at the End of the Century. Glenview, Ill. Scott, Foresman, 1998. Mingst, Karen A. Essential Readings in World Politics. New York, NY. WW Norton & Company, 2004.Mingst, Karen A. Essentials of International Relations. New York, NY. WW Norton & Company, 2004. Reiff, David. Slaughterhouse: Bosnia and the Failure of the West. Simon & Schuster. New York. 1995. Slack, Andrew and Roy R. Doyon. Population Dynamics and Susceptibility for Ethnic Conflict: The Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 139-161. March 2001. Walt, Stephen M. International Relations: One World, Many Theories. Foreign Policy, Iss . 110. Pg. 29-45. Spring, 1998. www. simpol. org

How the Meiji Restoration Ended Shogunal Rule in Japan

How the Meiji Restoration Ended Shogunal Rule in Japan The Meiji Restoration was a political and social revolution in Japan from 1866 to 1869 that ended the power of the Tokugawa shogun and returned the Emperor to a central position in Japanese politics and culture. It is named for Mutsuhito, the Meiji Emperor, who served as the figurehead for the movement. Background to the Meiji Restoration When Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. steamed into Edo Bay (Tokyo Bay) in 1853 and demanded that Tokugawa Japan allow foreign powers access to trade, he unwittingly started a chain of events that led to Japans rise as a modern imperial power. Japans political elites realized that the U.S. and other countries were ahead in terms of military technology, and (quite rightly) felt threatened by western imperialism. After all, mighty Qing China had been brought to its knees by Britain fourteen years earlier in the First Opium War, and would soon lose the Second Opium War as well. Rather than suffer a similar fate, some of Japans elites sought to close the doors even tighter against foreign influence, but the more foresighted began to plan a modernization drive. They felt that it was important to have a strong Emperor at the center of Japans political organization to project Japanese power and fend off Western imperialism. The Satsuma/Choshu Alliance In 1866, the daimyo of two southern Japanese domains- Hisamitsu of Satsuma Domain and Kido Takayoshi of Choshu Domain- formed an alliance against the Tokugawa Shogunate that had ruled from Tokyo in the Emperors name since 1603. The Satsuma and Choshu leaders sought to overthrow the Tokugawa shogun and place the Emperor Komei into a position of real power. Through him, they felt that they could more effectively meet the foreign threat. However, Komei died in January 1867, and his teenaged son Mutsuhito ascended to the throne as the Meiji Emperor on Feb. 3, 1867. On Nov. 19, 1867, Tokugawa Yoshinobu resigned his post as the fifteenth Tokugawa shogun. His resignation officially transferred power to the young emperor, but the shogun wouldnt give up actual control of Japan so easily. When Meiji (coached by the Satsuma and Choshu lords) issued an imperial decree dissolving the house of Tokugawa, the shogun had no choice but to resort to arms. He sent his samurai army toward the imperial city of Kyoto, intending to capture or depose the emperor. The Boshin War On Jan. 27, 1868, Yoshinobus troops clashed with samurai from the Satsuma/Choshu alliance; the four-day long Battle of Toba-Fushimi ended in a serious defeat for the bakufu and touched off the Boshin War (literally, the Year of the Dragon War). The war lasted until May of 1869, but the emperors, troops with their more modern weaponry and tactics, had the upper hand from the start. Tokugawa Yoshinobu surrendered to Saigo Takamori of Satsuma and handed over Edo Castle on April 11, 1869. Some of the more committed samurai and daimyo fought on for another month from strongholds in the far north of the country, but it was clear that the Meiji Restoration was unstoppable. Radical Changes of the Meiji Era Once his power was secure, the Meiji Emperor (or more precisely, his advisors among the former daimyo and the oligarchs) set about refashioning Japan into a powerful modern nation. They: Abolished the four-tiered class structureEstablished a modern conscript army that used Western-style uniforms, weapons, and tactics in place of the samuraiOrdered universal elementary education for boys and girlsSet out to improve manufacturing in Japan, which had been based on textiles and other such goods, shifting instead to heavy machinery and weapons manufacturing. In 1889, the emperor issued the Meiji Constitution, which made Japan into a constitutional monarchy modeled on Prussia. Over the course of just a few decades, these changes took Japan from being a semi-isolated island nation threatened by foreign imperialism, to being an imperial power in its own right. Japan seized control of Korea, defeated Qing China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894 to 95, and shocked the world by defeating the Tsars navy and army in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 to 05. Blending Ancient and Modern to Build Anew The Meiji Restoration is sometimes characterized as a coup detat or revolution ending the shogunal system for modern Western governmental and military methods. Historian Mark Ravina has suggested that the leaders who created the events of 1866–69 did not do so only to emulate Western practices but also to restore and revive older Japanese institutions. Rather than a clash between modern and traditional methods, or between Western and Japanese practices, says Ravina, it was the result of a struggle to bridge those dichotomies and create new institutions that could evoke both Japanese uniqueness and Western progress.   And it didnt happen in a vacuum. At the time a global political transformation was underway, involving the rise of nationalism and nation-states. The long-established multi-ethnic empires- Ottoman, Qinq, Romanov, and Hapsburg- were all deteriorating, to be replaced by nation states who asserted a specific cultural entity. A Japanese nation-state was seen as vital as a defense against foreign predation. Although the Meiji Restoration caused a lot of trauma and social dislocation in Japan, it also enabled the country to join the ranks of world powers in the early 20th century. Japan would go on to ever greater power in East Asia until the tides turned against it in World War II. Today, however, Japan remains the third largest economy in the world, and a leader in innovation and technology- thanks in large part to the reforms of the Meiji Restoration. Resources and Further Reading Beasley, W.G. The Meiji Restoration. Stanford University, 2019.Craig, Albert M. Choshu in the Meiji Restoration. Lexington, 2000.Ravina, Mark. To Stand With the Nations of the World: Japans Meiji Restoration in World History. Oxford University, 2017.Wilson, George M. â€Å"Plots and Motives in Japans Meiji Restoration.† Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 25, no. 3, July 1983, pp. 407-427.

Free Essays on Like Mother, Like Daughter

Like mother, like daughter When I was a little girl, my mother said I never liked to leave her side. Whenever she tried to leave, I held on to her leg and would not let go. People would comment that I looked just like her, which I took as a compliment. I admire my mom and I think she is a great role model. As the years go by, I see myself following my mother’s footsteps with what she did in life. From the interests and activities she did, to what she persued as a career, I am going to be like her. One afternoon I met with my cousin, Jhawn, and I asked him to describe me. First thing he mentioned was that I have my mother’s features. He said that my mother and I have the same smile and he once mistook me for my mom when I laughed. Our other family members said that my upper face shows a resemblence to my mom because we have the same eyes. My mom said that I have the body shape she had, for example, she was built with wider hips which I got from her. When my mom was younger, she was thin and active in sports just like I used to be. One day my mom and I went to the fabric store, picked out a few materials, and made a unique curtain for the living room. We often do little projects together like decorating the rooms or creating our own Christmas decorations. When it came to style, my cousin said I was about seven years old when I showed an interest in fashion by wearing her coat and shoes. Now that I am older, my mom and I have the same taste in clothes and often share purses. Sometimes when we go shopping together, my mom chooses my clothes because she has good taste. My mom and I both like to shop for my father and brother because they do not have the taste in style like us. Traveling is an activity I love to do. You can say that I got this from my mom also because when my brother and I were younger, our parents traveled a lot bringing us to different places. My most memorable traveling experience was going to the Philippines... Free Essays on Like Mother, Like Daughter Free Essays on Like Mother, Like Daughter Like mother, like daughter When I was a little girl, my mother said I never liked to leave her side. Whenever she tried to leave, I held on to her leg and would not let go. People would comment that I looked just like her, which I took as a compliment. I admire my mom and I think she is a great role model. As the years go by, I see myself following my mother’s footsteps with what she did in life. From the interests and activities she did, to what she persued as a career, I am going to be like her. One afternoon I met with my cousin, Jhawn, and I asked him to describe me. First thing he mentioned was that I have my mother’s features. He said that my mother and I have the same smile and he once mistook me for my mom when I laughed. Our other family members said that my upper face shows a resemblence to my mom because we have the same eyes. My mom said that I have the body shape she had, for example, she was built with wider hips which I got from her. When my mom was younger, she was thin and active in sports just like I used to be. One day my mom and I went to the fabric store, picked out a few materials, and made a unique curtain for the living room. We often do little projects together like decorating the rooms or creating our own Christmas decorations. When it came to style, my cousin said I was about seven years old when I showed an interest in fashion by wearing her coat and shoes. Now that I am older, my mom and I have the same taste in clothes and often share purses. Sometimes when we go shopping together, my mom chooses my clothes because she has good taste. My mom and I both like to shop for my father and brother because they do not have the taste in style like us. Traveling is an activity I love to do. You can say that I got this from my mom also because when my brother and I were younger, our parents traveled a lot bringing us to different places. My most memorable traveling experience was going to the Philippines...

All The Saints Into A Short Film

overall length of the short film affects its structure, characterisation, plot and especially story. ‘The longer a short film lasts, the more the audience wants it to be a story. They want it to mean something.’ (Cowgill (2005 :9)). This means that shorter films, up to 5 minutes, are usually a comedy sketch with a punch line, such as in Knob, or a horror with a twist, like Selfie From Hell. The reveal or surprising ending seems to be common in the under 5 minute short, as the film has little time to†¦ All Saints day or Dia de los Santos is celebrated throughout the world and sometimes referred to in North America as the Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos. All Saints Day is a Catholic celebration on November 1st that celebrates all saints that have gone to heaven, and is followed by Souls day on November 2nd that celebrates all who has died (Catholic 2015). However, everyone throughout the world celebrates Saints Day and Souls Day differently with their own unique traditions. For instance,†¦ Rhetorical Analysis of â€Å"Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film† Joyce Carol Oates is an esteemed short story author with over forty novels, many of which have gone on to become films. Smooth Talk, one of such movies is based off of Oates’s short story, â€Å"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?† â€Å"Smooth Talk: Short Story into Film† is an essay response by Joyce Carol Oates to her short story and its movie counterpart in her book, (Woman) Writer: Occasions and Opportunities. The essay was published along†¦ The Hero’s Journey in Film: The Boondock Saints The idea of a clear and precise pattern that nearly all heroes follow is not something new. In fact, one of the most famous examples of a hero cycle is the one created by Joseph Campbell. In his world-renowned book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell sets up and explains how every hero follows the same basic path until he/she winds up back at the beginning and another cycle begins. â€Å"The mythical hero†¦is lured†¦to the threshold of adventure†¦journeys†¦ Animation films have a way of expanding one’s imagination in a way that ordinary films do not. The ability of the animated movies to make us understand and make a connection with a non-existent world is fascinating. Most animated films are created in imaginary environments, and the characters are created, creatures. This factor explains why some of the characters including animals are given human voices. Walt Disney Pictures produces movies that are meant to be enjoyed not only by children and teens†¦ Arguments can be expressed through verbal language, writing compositions, and visual designs. Director Jacob Kornbluth’s film Inequality for All is a visual argument, which allows for a stronger persuasive effect than by just using words alone. The film successfully advocates former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich’s economic idealisms and concerns. Due to the combination of video clips, pictures, and text, Reich is able to effectively communicate the argument that the gap in income inequality is†¦ No Justice for the Short-film Judgment Was Minnie Foster going to quilt it or knot it? When this question arose in the short story A Jury of Her Peers, two women were slowly piecing together Minnie Foster’s murder mystery, and when the dominant male characters overhear the women’s conversation, they merely scoffed and couldn’t seem to understand why the women were worried about ‘trivial things’. Little did they know, it was the ‘trivial things’ that gave clues to figuring out the motive for the†¦ â€Å"So that 's all. You come here, you look and leave?† Her voice was low and trembling, begging him to face her, but he just kept walking forward, â€Å"two years of my life and you just walk away! Face me, Caryll! Say something!† Her voice was a loud scream as she couldn 't contain herself anymore. Tears poured down her face as she turned from the view of the sunset to Caryll, her voice cracked and the tears glistened in the light as she struggled to catch her breath. Both her hands clenched the pendant†¦ Romantic love in Casablanca The film Casablanca is noted to be one of the most romantic films of all time. It inspires many and is held near and dear to our hearts. Casablanca continues to hold that place in history today. The art of romance is hidden amongst the film and shows us what a true classic love story is all about. The film Casablanca was released on November 26th, 1942 in the United States. It set a new benchmark for what we consider to be romance in film making. The romance in Casablanca†¦ The work that I want to propose is a short film. The film takes place in the future. The main character creates a doppelganger of himself by authorise and connect the robot to his cellphone. Through download and search the data that were stored in the digital device or been uploaded to the cloud, the doppelganger is able to conjecture and simulate how the main character communicate and react to others. Then the main character began to rely on the doppelganger and eventually been replaced by it.†¦