Author: WyattPitts

What was English life like under Oliver Cromwell? According to Wikipedia “Oliver Cromwell was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the British Isles.” Oliver Cromwell was a very strict person. All his laws were strict and he even banned Christmas once. In 1658 He died. A couple years later they dug up his body, put it on trial, and executed it. 

What was the Glorious Revolution? The Glorious Revolution began when King James II was replaced with his daughter Mary and her husband William of orange. Why is the Glorious Revolution significant in English history? According to History, “Many historians believe the Glorious Revolution was one of the most important events leading to Britain’s transformation from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. After this event, the monarchy in England would never hold absolute power again.”

On what grounds does Locke believe people can establish a claim to property ownership over a previously unowned good? According to Libertarianism, “…Locke held that individuals could come to acquire property rights in previously unowned goods by ‘mixing their labour’ with it, ‘for this labour being the unquestionable property of the labourer, no man but he can have a right to what that is once joined to’”

Now that I have finished the section Montaigne, would I read any more of his essays? Why or why not? According to Wikipedia, “Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne, also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a literary genre. His work is noted for its merging of casual anecdotes and autobiography with intellectual insight.” In his life he wrote several essays. According to Wikipedia, “The Essays of Michel de Montaigne are contained in three books and 107 chapters of varying length. They were originally written in Middle French and were originally published in the Kingdom of France. Montaigne’s stated design in writing, publishing and revising the Essays over the period from approximately 1570 to 1592 was to record ‘some traits of my character and of my humors.’ The Essays were first published in 1580 and cover a wide range of topics.” According to Wikipedia, “Montaigne wrote in a rather crafted rhetoric designed to intrigue and involve the reader, sometimes appearing to move in a stream-of-thought from topic to topic and at other times employing a structured style that gives more emphasis to the didactic nature of his work.” According to Britannica, “Montaigne’s Essays thus incorporate a profound skepticism concerning the human being’s dangerously inflated claims to knowledge and certainty but also assert that there is no greater achievement than the ability to accept one’s being without either contempt or illusion, in the full realization of its limitations and its richness.”

Would I read any more of his essays? Why or why not? No I would not. I did not understand any of them. They were confusing and boring. If I found an interessting one then maybe, but otherwise no. 

What was the English Civil War all about? According to Wikipedia, “The English Civil War was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists led by Charles I, mainly over the manner of England’s governance and issues of religious freedom.” Soon enough the Parliamentarians won the war and executed Charles I. Eleven years later Charles I”s son Charles II Claimed the throne. 

Who were the Levellers, and what did they believe? According to Wikipedia, “The Levellers were a political movement active during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms who were committed to popular sovereignty, extended suffrage, equality before the law and religious tolerance.” 

What was the key issue that led to the outbreak of the Thirty Years’ War? It started when Emperor Ferdinand II Tried to force the Protestants into Catholicism, but they rebelled causing the Thirty Year’s war. What religious accommodation was reached by Catholics and Protestants in the Peace of Westphalia? This meant that the two religions were equal and the princes were allowed to choose any religion for their territory. 

If the state is strong enough to do something good for you, it can also do something bad to you. There are many good laws that keep people safe, but there are still a lot of bad laws. The state hurts people a lot by something called inflation. According to Wikipedia “In economics, inflation is a general increase of the prices. This is usually measured using the consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduction in the purchasing power of money.” The Federal Reserve prints millions of dollars each year. And when more money is made the price of it goes down. There are three ways that inflation can hurt. 1# The price of products go up, but their value goes down. 2# The price of products go up, but the value of your money goes down. 3# The value of the product and your money go down, but the price is the same. The government makes themselves richer while making everyone else poorer. A lot of people don’t even know what’s happening. Our society is failing because of inflation. 

(1) What were the causes and consequences of the Spanish revolt that occurred after Charles left to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor? After Charles was crowned King of Spain, he left Spain to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor, but while he was gone there was a revolt in Spain. The people who revolted made a new ruler, Queen Joanna, Charles own mother. Around a year later the Comuneros were defeated at the battle of Villalar ending the revolt. 

(2) What were the causes of the Dutch revolt? What was the “demonstration effect”? According to The Memory, “The Dutch Revolt or Eighty Years’ War was a series of battles fought in the Netherlands between 1568 and 1648 which began when part of the Habsburg Empire resisted the, in their eyes, unjust rule of the Spanish King Philip II.” The “demonstration effect” is when people saw what other nations do, and try to implicate that into their own nation.

(3) Who were the contenting parties in the French wars of religion? What was the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre? What was the Edict of Nantes? According to Lumen, “The French Wars of Religion (1562–98) is the name of a period of fighting between French Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots).” The Catholics didn’t like the Huguenots so they tried to get them to convert to Catholicism or to die. Eventually the Catholics asked the king if they could kill a bunch of Huguenots and the king agreed. This killing was called the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Eventually, the Edict of Nantes was signed, ending the dispute between Catholics and Protestants.

(4) Describe the religious policy of Elizabeth I. Elizabeth never had a permanent religion. At some points she just had none and other point where nobody was sure. 

Is the language of Foxe still compelling today? According to Wikipedia, “John Foxe, an English historian and martyrologist, was the author of Acts and Monuments, telling of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but particularly the sufferings of English Protestants and proto-Protestants from the 14th century and in the reign of Mary I.” According to Britannica ““John Foxe, (born 1516, Boston, Lincolnshire, Eng.—died April 18, 1587, Cripplegate, London), English Puritan preacher and author of The Book of Martyrs, a graphic and polemic account of those who suffered for the cause of Protestantism. Widely read, often the most valued book beside the Bible in the households of English Puritans, it helped shape popular opinion about Roman Catholicism for at least a century.”

Foxe’s greatest work was his book Acts and Monuments. According to Wikipedia “After his death, Foxe’s Acts and Monuments continued to be published and appreciatively read. John Burrow refers to it as, after the Bible, ‘the greatest single influence on English Protestant thinking of the late Tudor and early Stuart period.’” 

Is the language of Foxe still compelling today? For some people yes and some people no. It is not as compelling for some than is was a couple hundred years ago. 

Describe Bastiat’s concept of the politics of plunder. According to Wikipedia “Claude-Frédéric Bastiat was a French economist, writer and a prominent member of the French Liberal School.” He was born on June 30, 1801 in Bayonne, France, and died on December 24, 1850 in Rome, Italy. 

When Fredrick Bastiat was a member of the French National Assembly he introduced the parable of the broken window. According to Wikipedia “The parable of the broken window was introduced by French economist Frédéric Bastiat in his 1850 essay “That Which We See and That Which We Do Not See” (“Ce qu’on voit et ce qu’on ne voit pas“) to illustrate why destruction, and the money spent to recover from destruction, is not actually a net benefit to society.” He also wrote many other things including The Law and Taxes. According to Wikipedia “The Law  is an 1850 book by Frédéric Bastiat. It was written at Mugron two years after the third French Revolution and a few months before his death of tuberculosis at age 49. The essay was influenced by John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government and in turn influenced Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson. It is the work for which Bastiat is most famous, followed by the candlemaker’s petition and the parable of the broken window.”

Describe Bastiat’s concept of the politics of plunder. According to OLL, “The basis for Bastiat’s theory of class was the notion of plunder which he defined as the taking of another person’s property without their consent by force or fraud. Those who lived by plunder constituted “les spoliateurs” (the plunderers) or “la classe spoliatrice” (the plundering class).” Plunder is taking someone else’s property by force. Bastiat observes that a society where plundering is practiced, soon it will become legal. 

“Online education is bad for society because it puts classroom teachers out of work.” There’s good and bad things about this. Some bad things are it does put people out of a job. If they went to school to learn how to teach a subject and the school gets shut down where will they work? 

Some good things are with online education you can do school from home. Kids who go to public or private school have to wake up early. If you’re having online education from home you can get up at any time. I am homeschooled and I do Ron Paul curriculum. I wake up when I wake up, feed my animals. then do school. With online you can go back in a lesson if you forgot something, but when you go to school you can’t have anything repeated. 

I prefer online education because anyone can do it. If a teacher gets out of a job find a better job. 

How was the English Reformation different from the German Reformation? There were many ways how these two were different, but one reason is the German Reformation delt with mostly beliefs while the English Reformation was mainly politics. 

What do we learn about St. Francis Xavier’s missionary work in the letter you read for lesson 13? St. Francis Xavier wrote this letter to the “Society of Jesus” at Rome while he was in India. In this letter we find that St. Francis traveled round the world to teach others about Jesus. At one point he went to Japan and when he got back he wanted to go to China, but died before he could. 

What kind of impression are you left with by the Spiritual Exercises? Why is Ignatius concerned about careless discussion of faith and good works? According to Wikipedia “The Spiritual Exercises, composed 1522–1524, are a set of Christian meditations, contemplations, and prayers written by Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th-century Spanish priest, theologian, and founder of the Society of Jesus.” They were meant to undermine the Protestant belief. The Protestant views were based on faith so Ignatius view was on works, not faith.