Black Thunder
In the year 1800 Thomas Jefferson was campaigning very hard against John Adams for the presidency of the United States. Across the Atlantic, in France, Napoleon Bonaparte had consolidated his leadership of France. Meanwhile, in Santo Domingo (later Haiti), Toussaint L'Ouverture, with the succor of his countrymen and tropical diseases, repelled 20,000 French troops and formed a new black republic.
The exploits of Toussaint did not go unobserved by slaves in the United States, especially in Virginia's Henrico County. In Black Thunder, Gabriel's Revolt: Virginia: 1800, author Arna Bontemps tells us what legacy the age of revolution brought to the slaves of Richmond.
The chief character and leader of the slaves is Gabriel, the youngest of three brothers. although he is the biggest and strongest of the three. Gabriel and his brothers, Martin and Soloman, are the property of plantation owner Thomas Prosser. Gabriel's ascendancy to the leadership role of the slaves is secured when he bests Ditcher, a huge slave, who defeated Soloman and Martin in previous combats.
Gabriel's' awakening and enlightenment to freedom starts and grows from his many trips into Richmond as Mr. Prosser's carriage driver. In Richmond, Gabriel makes it his duty to eavesdrop on the conversation of M. Cruezot and Alexander Biddenhurst, Frenchmen whose discourses are often laced with phrases of equality and liberty. These Frenchmen are referred to as Jacobins by the whites. Moreover, Gabriel and others are regularly listening to a freed slave, Mingo's reading of the Bible; they find passages about the Children of Israel's deliverance from Egypt and David's slaying of Goliath interesting. The slaves consider themselves another Children of Israel in another time.
With a natural yearning to be free, and the enlightenment to reinforce and fuel his urge, Gabriel starts to lay a plan to smash the shackles that bind him. Everything is in place, the revolt is poised to be executed, but the unexpected and most unwelcome thing happens -- a thunderstorm. The streams become inundated, the roads turn into rivers of mud, and Gabriel's legions are bogged down, unable to rendezvous with him. The torrential rain breeds superstition and it in turn breeds desertion. Some of the slaves say the stars are against them, and others question the rightness of their mission. A dwindling force is not one that insures victory, so Gabriel postpones the revolt to await more favourable weather.
During this time, Pharaoh and Ben, two slaves who are assigned the task of rallying support from the slaves of Carolina County, are having second thoughts about going through with the plan.
Deep within African mines, elusive diamonds lay enveloped in the Earth’s crust. Possessing much influence, beauty, and tension, nature’s hardest known substance causes parallel occurrences of unity and destruction on opposite sides of the globe. Diamonds, derived from the Greek word "adamas", meaning invincible, are formed deep within the mantle, and are composed entirely from carbon. Moreover, only under tremendous amounts of heat and pressure can diamonds form into their preliminary crystal state. In fact, diamonds are formed approximately 150km- 200km below the surface and at radical temperatures ranging from 900-1300 C°. When these extremes meet, carbon atoms are forced together creating diamond crystals. Yet how do these gems, ranking a ten on Moh’s hardness scale, impact the individual lives of millions of people besides coaxing a squeal out of brides-to-be? These colorless, yellow, brown, green, blue, reddish, pink, grey and black minerals are gorgeous in their cut state, but how are these otherwise dull gems recognized and harvested? Furthermore, how and why is bloodshed and violence caused over diamonds in Africa, the supplier of approximately 65% of the world’s diamonds? (Bertoni) The environmental, social, and economic impact of harvesting, transporting, and processing diamonds is crucial because contrary to popular belief, much blood has been spilled over first-world “bling”.
In the year of 1800, Jefferson ran for the second time averse to former president, John Adams but unlike the previous election, John Adams wins the presidency, Jefferson was able to defeat John Adams. The Adams lost the election due to passing the Alien and Sedition Acts, Considered unconstitutional laws because the Acts took away the first amendment, freedom of speech. Jefferson was a more promising choice as he promised to have a “Republican Revolution”, Jefferson promised to help the yeoman farmer and decrease the Federal debt the United States had at the time period. Jefferson’s presidency was to a certain extent a “Republican Revolution” and to a certain extent it was a Federalist Continuation.
The late 18th century and early 19th century was a prominent time period in which the French Revolution and Haitian revolution occurred. Both revolutions were connected to each other such that they shared similar causes and consequences. Together, France and Haiti were angered by the inequality and unfair privileges that continued to appear in their societies. At the same time, they were inspired and hopeful of bringing the Enlightenment ideas into reality. Although they were able to accomplish most of what they fought for, such as the abolition of slavery, they still took part in bloody revolutions. However, one of the greatest differences in their outcomes was that France emerged as a new, firm government as Haiti staggered with its new independence.
In alignment with what the Bible told them, abolitionist understood that each man represented one of God’s creations and that men were part of God’s plan. If slavery was allowed to exist, then man was interrupting God’s de...
During the election of 1800, Thomas Jefferson succeeded in defeating the incumbent, John Adams, and assumed the presidency. In terms of elections though, the election of 1800 itself was a fascinating election in that it a heavily-contested election and was effectively the first time political parties ran smear campaigns against each other during an election. The Republican Party attacked the Federalists for being anti-liberty and monarchist and tried to persuade the public that the Federalists were abusing their power through acts such as the Alien & Sedition Acts and the suppression of the Whiskey Rebellion (Tindall and Shi 315). The Federalists, on the other hand, attacked Jefferson for his atheism and support of the French Revolution and warned that his election would result in chaos (316). By the end of the presidential election, neither Adams nor Jefferson emerged with his reputation completely intact. Still, rather than an election between Adams and Jefferson, the election of 1800 ultimately boiled down to a deadlock between Jefferson and his vice presidential candidate, Aaron Burr, who each held seventy-three electoral votes, resulting in the election was sent to the House of Representatives. In the end, the deadlock was resolved only by Alexander Hamilton, whose immense hate for Burr allowed Jefferson to claim the presidency. However, the election of 1800 was more than just a simple presidential election. The election of 1800 was the first peaceful transfer of power from the incumbent party to the opposition and represented a new step in politics, as well as a new direction in foreign policy that would emerge from Jefferson’s policies, and to this extent, the election of 1800 was a revolution.
Haiti had over a half million enslaved Africans working on sugar plantations owned by the French. The sugar was hugely profitable, but conditions for enslaved worker were horrendous. Many were cruelly over worked and under fed. Haiti also had a population of both free and enslaved mulattoes. Free mulattoes, however, had few right and were badly treated by the French. In 1791, a slave revolt exploded in northern Haiti. Under the able leadership of Toussaint L'Ouverture, Haitians would fight for freedom and pave the way for throwing off French rule.
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson took his presidency with the hopes of continental expansion and a reformed government, creating a new vision for America. He made many advancements that make America what it is today such as the Louisiana Purchase that doubled the U.S’s size and reducing the government’s responsibilities. Unfortunately, in the midst of these he did not change the place of Native Americans and Africans within the society for the better. His views of their treatment helped shape Indian policy throughout the 1800s.
The “buzzing insects” have physically, emotionally, and legally violated celebrities. The most devastating event, which was believed to be caused by paparazzi, was the death of one of the most adored members of the British royal family. In attempt to evade paparazzi, the imperial Princess Diana, along with her boyfriend, chauffeur, and bodyguard, suffered a terminal car crash. Granted that her chauffeur was intoxicated, the public still argued that the paparazzi’s irrational tactics caused him to speed. Fleeing from paparazzi on motorcycles, the car crashed into a concrete pole, spun a number of times, and collided into a tunnel wall. Nevertheless, Princess Diana was not the only victim of this cat-and-mouse commotion. In attempt to avoid being provoked by paparazzi, LeAnn Rimes collided into vehicle in 2009; January Jones crashed into two parked cars in 2011; Tori Spelling clashed into her children's school the same year; and recently, Lindsay Lohan struck into a truck (Glinow, n.p.)
Jefferson was elected to be president in 1800. His opponents during the electoral run were Adams, the second president who was a Federalist, and Burr, a fellow Democratic-Republican. The Federalists had...
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