The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad 

The Underground Railroad was a system that moved fugitive slaves to the North or Canada. The Underground Railroad was just another building block for the South as they were going to secede. The Underground Railroad and the people who were involved in it played a big role the beginning of the Civil War.

Ever since the beginning of slavery in America there has been certain abolitionist that have tried to free slaves. When George Washington was president there are reports that some of his slaves escaped and freed by Quakers. This Underground Railroad wasn't a completely new phenomenon at the time, things like this have been going on forever. The Quakers were believed to have started the famous Underground Railroad. A man named Levi Coffin, known as the king of the Underground Railroad, was believed to freed close to 3,000 slaves. When the Underground Railroad first started people saw sparks arise but they did not know that this would lead to something like a Civil War.


Abolitionist who worked the Underground Railroad wanted to spread the anti-slavery movement across America so their way of doing it was through the Underground Railroad. People all throughout the network would talk about it and it would eventually spread to everywhere orally. Unfortunately the word on abolishing slavery and the Underground Railroad got to the slave owners of the already frustrated South.

With the secession of the South the Civil War was in the near future. No one can really blame the whole cause of the Civil War on the Underground Railroad but it played a big role. The Civil War was a fight over the South wanting slavery and the North wanting to abolish it. Some may say the Civil War was started because South the was being stubborn but, at the end of the day we do not know why it all started. All I know our country would not be the same strong country it is without it.

The Underground Railroad was a major event in our country's history. The Underground Railroad built character in our country, it tore apart our country and effected our country in many different ways. One could say it effected the South much more than the North but it effected them both in different ways. Since the Civil War this country has shown to be one of the most diverse places on earth and I find it very hard to believe that any of this even happened but I guess its stuff like this that shapes our country and makes it the great country that it is.

Transcendentalism

Beauty of Transcendentalism 

Transcendentalism is the belief that society and it's institutions corrupt the purity of an individual. Transcendentalist truly believe that people are the best when they are self-relient and independent. Ralph Waldo Emerson was one of the men who started off the theory of Transcendentalism. Emerson wrote an essay entitled "Nature" which began the Transcendentalism era. Transcendentalism was very nature oriented and believed that society ruined the original creation and wanted to preserve all nature.

The picture above symbolizes Transcendentalism pretty well. All transcendentalism artist of the time made sure to make every piece art was independent and real. I think that in today's world we need a little more independent and real things. 

American Influence on Canadian Nationalism

American Influence on Canada


Ever since the war of 1812 America has influenced Canada greatly. The agressive American behavior has julted Canada's nation as a whole. For example the Canadian national flag was established in 1965 becasue of Canada's hopes to become an independent country. Canada also began to speak English because of the American influence in the major cities across Canada including Quebec. I think that Canada wants to very similar to our country because they have seen how succesful we have been ever since the war of 1812. America has overcome many things to become the free country it is and Canada wants to have the same "story" as us. Canada's "history" was very similar to America's but just happened 40 years later. I couldn't tell you if the mirroring history has anything to do with Canada wanting to be America but both country's definitley have had similar events they had to overcome to become a free country.

    America has always been the country to get in everyone's business. America is just south of Canada and America has and probably always will play a role on Canada's culture, Especially in the bigger city across Canada that American people migrate to. In the big picture America has definitley played a role in the development of Canada but at the end of the day it is it's own country and it has done a lot on his own to become an independent country.

Some comparisons of Canadian and American cultures are
Tim Hortons vs. Dunkin Donuts
Hockey vs. Football or Basketball
CFL vs. NFL