Charlie Baker

 If I were 18 and eligible to vote, I would vote for the republican nomination, Charlie Baker. Baker favors and is working towards many important changes that our state needs. He focuses mainly on secondary education and wants to hopefully raise the states limit on charter schools. I believe that a bigger focus on secondary education is necessary for making sure that more students continue with their education. Charlie Baker advocates for online learning as well as potentially reducing the costs of college by creating a three-year bachelors degree program and a four-year bachelor and masters' degree program.

Baker is a supporter for less sick time for all Massachusetts workers. Only businesses with 50 plus workers would be eligible for paid sick time and the workers would only receive one hour of time for every 40 hours worked. 

Charlie Baker also has bigger plans for our welfare reform. He has incentives to businesses that would hire welfare recipients as well as stricter welfare conditions on recipients searching for work. Baker wants to raise the age for work exemption from 60 to 66.          

His competitor, Martha Coakley, mainly focuses on a changed reform to cut spending, however, many of her plans may take years to pass. Also, her top priority is early childhood education primarily in impoverished areas. Baker’s focus on secondary education pertains to a greater range of people and would benefit more students. Even though Baker's platform involves spending more money on reform, his plans would greatly benefit our state and that is why I would vote for him. 

Ratification of the 13th Amendment

Abraham Lincoln had many difficulties when ratifying the 13th amendment. The movement to abolish slavery was and still is one of the most controversial topics in history. Many of the difficulties in the movement included: a resistant political cabinet, getting 20 democrats to change their vote, and most importantly, racism. Racism was the number one issue with the proposal and ratification of the amendment. Predominately in the south, the nation did not want the amendment to pass because many felt that with the ratification of the amendment, that blacks would then receive all of the same abilities and rights that white had such as voting, owning property, holding and taking office in congress, and having a high rank in the military. Many were also fearful of intermarriages.
When Lincoln was proposing the amendment, his cabinet was very resistant of helping him. They did not believe that the amendment was going to directly end the war and they were wary of what the south would do if it passed. Many congressional members did not want to vote for it because they thought that they would "be shot dead". Because of these difficulties, Lincoln had to use his implied powers to reconstruct the people's and congresses outlook on the bill.


Lincoln needed the amendment to pass and he did anything and everything he could to make sure that it did. He used him implied powers on congress to have it passed, though most of them were not ethical. In the final hours of the hearing, Lincoln falsely signed a document that said he had not known of any peace commissioners left, however, he directly knew of one living in Richmond, Virginia. This act could have led to an impeachment and trial of treason of it had gotten out to the public, but Lincoln took the risk. Lincoln twisted the truth in other situations as well to persuade people to vote for the amendment. He offered jobs to lame duck politicians in exchange for their vote so when they were not up for reelection, they would still be employed.
When Lincoln passed the emancipation proclamation, it was not embedded into the constitution, and therefor was not guaranteed to remain after his presidency; with the ratification of the 13th amendment, it would be. Without changing the constitution, the emancipation proclamation could be rescinded and the war on slavery would not have ended. Abraham Lincoln believed this amendment needed to pass to end the war and to have equality throughout America.

Petoria

   When Peter Griffin tries to receive a tax refund and realizes that he is ineligible because his house is not officially apart of his town, he decides to succeed from the United States to form his own independent nation. He creates a dictatorship called Petoria which is run by Peter Griffin himself. In this new nation he grants himself diplomatic immunity so he is able to do whatever he wants without being incriminated. Peter steals his neighbor's pool, runs of grass that is not suppose to be touched, and does not have to abide by any rules. He is allowed to live how he wants and makes his own decisions.

  Eventually, the United States does not want to recognize Petoria as its own independent nation and begins to make laws against it. The US does not allow Peter's family to go to school, go grocery shopping, shuts off their water and shuts off their electricity. When a missile is presented in front of his home, and Petoria had been struggling for weeks, Peter is forced to surrender to the United States. Without an army, Petoria has no defense and quickly recalls the nation. 

Ratifying the Constitution

     When the Constitution was being drafted, nine of the thirteen states needed to approve it. The later ratification became especially hard because of this. Nine out of thirteen states needed to advocate for this change and reject a reformation of the Articles of Confederation.
     There were many issues that paused the advancement of the Constitution. The fore-fathers that were constructing the constitution were all from Philadelphia and were considered to be the "well-born few." People thought that if those were the ones to draft the constitution, then it would only represent and protect the high upper-class. Another objection was that the Constitution would give "too much power" to the central government and that we were not be able to control it.

     The ratification debate that occurred in Virginia made one of the most important counterparts. The new Constitution failed to contain a Bill of Rights. During the debate, James Madison argued that a Bill of Rights was necessary. When a Bill of Rights was finally assured that it was to be embedded into a constitution, Virgin approved it and the Constitution was then ratified.

Articles of Confederation

Sarah Hirst

Articles of Confederation

            The Articles of Confederation went into effect in 1781 and spread across New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The Articles of Confederation were then abolished in 1787.

            The Articles gave rights to both the state and federal government, however it was created to be a weak government. The colonists were afraid to have a strong central government because of what their government was like in Britain. They did not want the government to have to ability to get too powerful and become an anarchy like their previous one had. Because of the loose connections, The Articles of Confederation has been described as more of a “firm league of friendship”(Article III).

            The Articles of Confederation failed because it failed to hold a strong and organized system. Under the Articles, the government could not collect taxes and could only amend articles with a unanimous vote from all states. There was only one house of a body of delegates, and no matter the size of the population, each state would, "have one vote"(Article V)..The Articles made is so that they could only discuss issues that were affecting all 13 states at the same time and that to pass a vote, it required nine of the thirteen states. The only thing the government could firmly do was declare war, conduct foreign affairs, and make treaties with other nations.

            The Articles of Confederation where abolished because America needed a sturdier platform to run our government on. We needed a strong government with more regulations, thus the Constitution was drafted shortly after.  Without a stronger government, the nation would not have been able to succeed. 

Why we have a government

Sarah Hirst

American Government

            The United States government was created to limit the power of a single person but to also make the United States a nation for the individual rights of citizens. When the colonists arrived to America from England they were living in a country with kings and queens, where one person was the sole controller of the entire nation. There was no democracy or voting, just a monarchy.

            The citizens that came here from Great Britain wanted freedom to be who they are and freedom to elect who runs their country. The constitution was first drafted in 1787, which in turn created the federal government when George Washington took office as the first United States President. The goal of having a government and an elected president was for the nation to constantly be in check so that one person does not have total control. America wanted to have a government that was the complete opposite of what Britain had.

            The government was created to. “To form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty.”  Citizens wanted to be apart of a nation that was of the people for the people.

            A country without a government is a country without rules and regulations. If the United States had no established government then our nation would not be able to function. The government provides us with schools, health care, insurances agencies, hospitals, security, and other nation wide necessary jobs. Without a government the country would be chaotic.  The federal security would not exist to protect our nation, and neither would public schools (government funded establishments). Without a government America would not be as much as a prosperous nation as it has become with the government. Although the government is not as favorable to some as it is others, having no government would result in a failure to organize freedoms and succeed as a nation.