Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death

We are almost to the end of the Founding Fathers section of Unit One!

We are going to spend some time this week looking at Patrick Henry's famous speech.

According to historian George F. Willison, at this time Henry was "some six feet tall, [and] trim… [He] was not ahandsome man, but personable and engaging. His manner toward all men, from the humblest to the highest, was quiet, friendly, and unaffected… Henry when speaking publicly was often something of an actor… Even so, his words and his posturing [often] carried the day."


Henry was a lawyer who specialized in the plight of the common man. That ability to relate to the common man and to the lawmakers of his time earned him the respect of his fellow Americans. Putting his money where his mouth was, Henry then went on to be a military leader in the Revolution. He also assumed responsibility for the emerging American nation by becoming governor of Virginia.

Thomas Jefferson remembered Henry as "the idol of his country beyond any man who ever lived...It is not now easy to say what we [Americans] should have done without Patrick Henry.*"

Here's what he said about you: "The voice of tradition, I trust, will inform posterity of our struggles for freedom. If our descendants be worthy the name of Americans they will preserve and hand down to their latest posterity the transactions of the present times."


So this week, I am asking you the same questions that men such as Henry, Franklin, Jefferson, Washington and others consciously asked themselves:

What does it take to be a great American individual?

What is my job in society?

What freedoms do you have that you appreciate?

What American traditions have been handed down to you?

Remember; answer any or all, but get some conversation going!

*Schmittroth, Linda, and Mary Kay Rosteck. "Henry, Patrick." American Revolution Biographies. Ed. Stacy McConnell. UXL-GALE, 2000. eNotes.com. 2006. 15 Oct, 2006

Virtues Post

In English 11 today, we read the "Moral Perfection" excerpt from The Autobiography of Ben Franklin.

We talked about how the Puritans' children and grandchildren took the Puritan religious ethic of self-scrutiny (constantly checking for sins) and morphed it into the Englightenment ideal of human perfection.

Benjamin Franklin took this concept very seriously. He set up a system whereby he practiced a list of virtues [in a scientific way] in order to become a better person.

We looked at Franklin's list and discussed whether or not some of the virtues listed by Franklin need new definitions for the modern world. They are as follows: Temperance (self-control), Silence, Order (organization), Resolution (Determination), Frugality (thrift) , Industry (hard work), Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility and Chastity (sexual purity). We asked: should we subtract from the list Franklin made to "fit" it to today's world, or should we add to it?

Here's the list Period One came up with:
being a leader
being peaceful
being honest
being law-abiding
being in control of one's self
valuing education
being free
respecting equality
being respectful
following the Golden Rule
being a patriot

In your post you might consider any of the following questions:

• Which of these qualities (from the Period One list) do you think are the most important in today's society?
• Which of the Period One list qualities are of less importance in today's society?
• Which of the qualities from Franklin's list are most important?
• Which of the qualities from Franklin's list have little relevance in today's world?
• If you were going to make a list for your peers and yourself to follow, which ones would you choose?
• Which specific qualities in Franklin's list of virtues might be undervalued?

American Authors Post

So, why don't we post this week on whom you've chosen for your author study and why. I'd like to hear your reasons for chosing the author, the time period, even the genre (i.e. why you chose a poet, or a horror writer...) Rachel Gordon sent me a link that I found very interesting. If any of you hasn't chosen an author (!), you might want to choose Robert Frost. Shortly, they are going to post a new poem by him that's just been found and verified. Exciting stuff. It could be the centerpiece for a very cool multi-genre paper!