10/17-10/18

Yesterday in history we filled in our papers with summaries of the different parts of the Declaration of Independence. Then as a class we compared Brutus' trust of the other conspirators to stand with him through out the whole thing versus the signers of the Declaration adding their signatures and binding themselves to the document. Brutus trusted the people's word although if things had started going downhill for the conspirators they all could have just left and lied about their involvement. Today we had a sub and we read Thomas Paine's Common Sense. It was written to get the American colonists more pro-revolution and anti-Britain. In the southern colonies, most people were Tories and supported the crown. Thomas Paine wanted to change their opinions and make more than just 1/3 of the country support the revolutionary cause. After reading it, we had to write an essay either agreeing or disagreeing with the statement "these times (2012) are still the times that try men's souls."