The Declaration of Independence: And the Second Continental Congress

The Declaration of Independence is a document in which the 13 colonies unanimously declared independence from Great Britain.

In 1775 people all around the colonies thought that the only way to gain alliances for the war was to be independent from Great Britain. So the colonies gathered for the second Continental Congress. At first the delegates weren't so sure that they should take such a giant move but the war started and they would need an alliance from another country if they wanted to win the war. But nobody was going to ally colonies of Great Britain, so they ended up asking Thomas Jefferson to write a declaration of independence. It was accepted by the congress on July 2^nd, 1776 and signed and sent to the colonies to be ratified on July 4^th, 1776. But it wasn't ratified by all of the now states until five years later in 1781.

In the document it states all the things the King has not done for the states. For example:

"He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures."

And these are just a few of the many things the states didn't like. Thomas Jefferson also mentioned that they had written petitions to the king in a very gentle way but they were returned with, “repeated injury.”

And to wrap up the document it states this,

"We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

The result of the Declaration of Independence was this;

The delegates thought that now they were a free country they needed to put a governing document into place, so they decided to write a whole new document called the Articles of Confederation.

When the second Continental Congress started, they weren't so sure about the Declaration, so they wrote another petition. This petition was called the Olive Branch Petition. This was sent to the King in one last hope that a war could be avoided. But the King refused to read it and declared the colonies to be in full rebellion. After that, the King officially declared war on the colonies. So, seeing that the King wanted war, the delegates asked Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration of Independence. After they had written this they saw the need to put a governing document into place. So, in November of 1777 they approved the Articles of Confederation and sent it to the new states for ratification. Just like the Declaration, it wasn't ratified by all the states until 1781. Of course we all know they weren't officially a country until 1784 when the Revolutionary War ended. But at least they were ready to be a full running country when it did end. 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Written by Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was written by Mark Twain in 1876. The book is based in the early to mid 19^th century.

Tom Sawyer is a boy of about 10. He has no parents so he is being raised by his Aunt Polly. He has two cousins, Sid and Mary. Tom is a very clever and mischievous boy. He is always trying to outwit his Aunt and succeeds most of the time. Except when Sid finds out what really happened and tells on Tom.

One example of Tom outwitting his Aunt is when she told him to paint the entire fence with white paint. And to make matters worse he has to do it on a Saturday! But Tom finds a way out. One of his friends comes over to ask Tom if he can play. Tom says that he can't. “Why?” asked his friend. “I have to be a man and work instead,” said Tom. His friend is intrigued and wants to know if he could be a man too. “Oh no, you can't paint this fence only I can do it,” said Tom. But his friend kept insisting that he wanted to paint the fence. “Okay, give me the rest of the apple in your hand and you can paint the fence,” said Tom. His friend was delighted. This went on for the rest of the time that the fence was being painted. More of Tom's friends would come and prove himself worthy of painting the fence. Tom would ask them to give him something and then they could paint the fence. So instead of losing the day, Tom actually gained a lot. After the fence was painted in record time (even with three coats) Tom went inside and told his Aunt the fence was done. She was shocked that he had done it that quickly. Naturally she didn't believe him. But when she checked herself she was even more surprised that it actually had been painted. With three coats too! So she excused Tom and he went running off to find his friends.

The book continues with a lot of stories like this one. In one story Tom and two of his friends sail to an island in the middle of the Mississippi River and become pirates.

Another one describes how Tom fell in love with a girl named Becky Thatcher.

This book has its ups and downs like any other book. But I like how Mark Twain retells the adventures of his boyhood friends in this novel. He said at the beginning of the book that these were real people that he knew in his childhood. I think that's kind of cool.

Lewis and Clark: As Told by Red Thompson

Meriweather Lewis and William Clark

These fine men are to lead the Corps of Discovery

Will you be one of the fine young men to explore

the west with them?

Sign up in St. Louis, Missouri today!

This is what the poster said and I wasn't about to let this opportunity go by. I wanted to explore the west with Lewis and Clark!

Hi, I'm Red Thompson, I grew up in the frontier state of Tennessee. So it was expected that when I read this ad I would be in St. Louis as fast as possible. I'm 24 but I still live in the house I grew up in. So naturally my Ma wasn't too happy with me deciding to sign up. But my Pa was thrilled, in fact I think he would have signed up himself if he hadn't of been 73 years old!

I bought my stage coach ticket the day after reading the ad. I was leaving the next day at 9:00 AM! So the next day at nine, I said my goodbyes and I was off.

I arrived in St. Louis at 6:00 PM after a bumpy ride in the stage coach. I paid my fees and I immediately went to the town hall to sign up. The Captains were going to pick their team in four days!

So in four day's time we finally met the two captains, Lewis and Clark. They looked all of us over and finally chose a group of about fifty young men. I was one of them! Yeehaw!!!! I'm going west!

We packed all the things we needed for the long journey ahead of us on two keel boats. And we were off within a week.

We started our journey in 1804 and none of us knew that it would be two years before we saw the U.S. again. Most of the expedition took place on the Missouri river. We paddled our way upstream on our keel boats. And let me tell you, it was hard work! To start, we had to have people resting and some men paddling. Then after a bit we would swap. But even with short rests we were exhausted by the end of the first day. The rest of the summer basically was the same as the first day, paddling, eating, paddling, etc.

But we also had encounters with Native Americans more frequently as we paddled closer to the Rocky Mountains. A handful of the Indians were friendly but others not so much. One of the less friendly was the Sioux Nation. When we arrived at one of there many villages we were all prepared for a fight. It was a good thing too because the village Chief wasn't pleased with the gifts we were presenting to him. Most of the other tribes were very pleased but not the Sioux. We also didn't have a very good translator. So when the the Captain tried to explain what had happened to the land we were on, the Chief didn't really know what was happening. And once again this didn't please him. Things weren't looking to good. Especially when the Chief ordered his Braves to take our canoes for themselves. We scrambled to take them back. Eventually we paddled away safely with no one injured but that was the worst experience with Native Americans so far.

When winter started to approach the Captains decided that we needed to find a friendly Indian tribe to spend the winter with. When we came upon the Mandan tribe we all thought this was the tribe we had been looking for. They were very friendly and even gave us food in return of our usual gifts to the Indians. Metal beads, medals, gems, and other trinkets like that.

The Captains found an area to build a fort for us to stay in during the winter. This fort would be called Fort Mandan in honor of the Indian tribe right next to it. We all helped build the fort and after a few weeks of intense labor we finished it. It wasn't pretty but it would do nicely.

That winter was a very cold winter. We didn't enjoy the cold but we did enjoy the fun we had. Singing around the campfires at night. Dancing to the fiddle and other things like that.

When spring rolled around we didn't want to say goodbye to our Indian friends but we had to. During the winter an Indian girl and her husband had decided to go along with us. Their names were Sacagawea and Charbonneu. Charbonneu was a French trader. Sacagawea was a Shoshone Indian who had been captured by the Mandans in a war.

And so the expedition continued. The first leg of the journey was grueling. We had to go through the Rocky mountains. During the winter we had traded our canoes for horses. That was so it would be easier to go across the mountains with all of our cargo. We didn't want to carry our canoes all the way. That would be tough.

After hard weeks of hiking we made it to the top of the Rockies. We found the head waters of the Snake River we made dugouts. Dugouts are canoes that are made by carving or burning ou the inside of a tree trunk.

After we had made enough dugouts for all of us to fit into, we found suitable water and continued our journey. This time instead of paddling against the current we were going with the current. So all we had to do was steer and hold on tight. The reason I say hold on tight is because there were a lot of rapids. Sometimes we would even have to go around the rapids by land because the current was to strong for our tiny canoes.

We made our way down the Snake River and eventually ended up finding the Shoshones. That's right the Shoshones, Sacagaweas family, Shoshones. She was thrilled to finally get home. And to make things better, she found out that her brother was the Chief! They were overjoyed to see each other.

After the family reunion, we made our way to the Columbia River. We all started to get restless. Where was the Pacific Ocean?

A few days later we had in view what looked to be the Pacific Ocean! We had arrived! But in the morning we spotted land on the other side of the water. If this was the Pacific then how could we see land on the other side? We finally concluded that the river had just gotten sooo wide that it made it look like an ocean.

So we continued our journey. A few weeks later we finally reached the Pacific Ocean! And this time we had actually found it! Wa-hoo!

But the celebrations were short lived. We realized that winter was coming and we needed a place to stay and fast. So the Captains searched for suitable places to build a fort. We finally found a spot. And it was near the Clatsop Indian tribe too. Which was a good thing because they were friendly and offered food to us. So, we built Fort Clatsop.

That winter there was hardly one day without rain. It rained and rained and RAINED! And to make matters worse it was really cold. I can't believe it didn't snow!

After a grueling winter we headed back up the Columbia River towards home. Our journey home took a whole year less than our trip going. One and a half years going, six months back. But that doesn't mean it wasn't just as hard. Because it was just as hard.

After the Rockies it was smooth sailing. Instead of paddling against the Missouri, we were paddling with it. We arrived back in St. Louis on September 23, 1806.

There were huge crowds to welcome us back! We were heroes! And guess what?! My Ma and Pa were there to welcome me back to the states too!

That day was even better than the day we found the Pacific Ocean!

The End

Little Men: By Louisa May Alcott

Little Men was written by Louisa May Alcott. It is a realistic fiction book based in the late 1800s.

Not to get confused with its prequel Little Women it tells the story of a group of boys who go to a sort of boarding school. At the beginning of the book a 12 year old orphan boy named Nat comes to the school and is accepted into the “family.” The owners of the house/school are Fritz and Jo Bhaer, they quickly accept the challenge of making this homeless orphan boy into a fine young man. Nat loves to play the violin and he is quickly made part of the band that the house has.

Each chapter tells a different story in the life of the boys and even girls that live at the house. After the first chapter introduces the newest member of the house (Nat). The second chapter introduces the rest of the group. It tells you all the needed information about every boy and girl there. Then it goes on telling you what happens in the house every day for six months till the book's end. The book really is a bunch of tales put together.

The favorite thing for Ms. Jo to do for her “children” is to create new games for them. She creates things from a working play kitchen for Daisy to a museum of nature for everyone to put all the things they find in the great outdoors. They also like huckleberry picking, so every summer they go out into the huckleberry field and pick as many as possible. After they harvest the berries they make pies and tarts out of all the huckleberries they pick. That makes for a lot of pies!

One day while picking berries Nan and little Rob decide to hide in a cave and wait for everyone to find them. Nan being an adventurous and brave girl talks little Rob into hiding with her. They end up being in the cave till the sun is almost down below the horizon. Nan realizes that nobody came looking for them so she decides to try and lead Rob back home before it gets dark. They end up getting lost after dark. They lay down in the grass to sleep and quickly fell asleep from exhaustion. As you can imagine Ms. Jo is very worried to find that her son Rob and Nan never made it back from picking berries. And to add onto her worries, it was almost dark! So, with lanterns in hand, they all go searching for Nan and little Rob. They search and search to no avail but finally after a couple of hours Ms. Jo found them sound asleep with little Rob lying in Nan's lap.

Little Men has its ups and downs but overall it's an okay book. Filled with joy, play, and a little sorrow as well, it has the components of a great book. The writing style of Louisa May Alcott is unique in the sense that she writes each chapter almost like different tales with the same characters in them. So if you like realistic fiction books maybe you should give it a try.          

An Achievable Small Business

There are many small businesses out there in the world, from baking to fixing things. But in this short paper I'll talk about one small business that is achievable. Lawn mowing.

I have already started a quasi lawn mowing business, but there are a few things that could make it even more successful and I want to share my ideas with you.

First you need to have a mower that works. Once you have that, create a name (i.e. A/M Lawncare etc.) To start just hand write a flier with your options on it and then copy it in a copier. Make sure it includes either your phone number or e-mail address.

Second you need to come up with those options that will be available to potential customers. A few examples are:

Mowing (obviously)

Edging

Leaf Removal

Seeding

Weeding (pull weeds in their garden)

Aeration

Snow Removal and

Shrub Trimming

Now this might seem like a lot of work for you but remember, you can only do what you have available. So, for example, if you wrote down that you can remove snow but you don't have a snow blower that won't go to well for someone who wants snow removed. It wouldn't be good for your reputation at all. So I say all that to say, go down the list of possible options and by process of elimination, eliminate the things you can't do.

Third go around your neighborhood and tape the fliers to people's mailboxes. And what I like to do is for the people you know need someone to mow their lawn. Go up to their door with a flier and tell them about it. It creates a relationship between you and the customer. That way they are more likely to remember you over the bigger lawn care businesses.

Fourth BE ON TIME. Being on time is 80% of the the job the other 20% is hard work. But being at your customers house the day you said you would be there is KEY! It is especially important for the first few months. It leaves a good first impression and you only get one!