Monday, December 21, 2009

WH II Honors: 21 December 2009

Prayer (alphabetical):
Current Events:



Baucus States He Can't Verify if Senators Self-Certify Competency to Understand Bill

Per the announcement on Twitter and the Calendar, the Ch. 12, Sec. 2 Quiz is on Tuesday, 10 Fill-in answers. The Ch. 12, Sec. 2 page on Shanawiki is of course locked at this point per the announced procedure.


Crankshaw describes the tragedy of Bismarck. It is not that he "subordinated morality to the supposed needs of the state," many politicians do that; it is that "his countrymen surrendered to the principle (pp. 413-414)."

The German people saw it happening and lacked the will to stop it. Bismarck and the people each corrupted the other. To say that Bismarck was a direct precursor of Hitler is evidently untrue; but it is not untrue, I think, to say that those aspects of the German character which made it possible for Bismarck to rule for just on thirty years were those same aspects which made it too easy for a Hitler to take power and keep it (p. 414).

Nationalism and Reform in Europe

Great Britain

France

The Austrian Empire

Russia
Although serfdom had almost disappeared in Western Europe by the 1700s, it survived in Russia. Masters exercised almost total power over their serfs. A noble turned revolutionary described the treatment of the serfs:

“I heard . . . stories of men and women torn from their families and their villages, and sold, or lost in gambling, or exchanged for a couple of hunting dogs, and then transported to some remote part of Russia to create a [master’s] new estate; of children taken from their parents and sold to cruel . . . masters.”

—Peter Kropotkin, Memoirs of a Revolutionist



Learn

Focus Question

Why did industrialization and reform come more slowly to Russia than to Western Europe?
Reading Check

Examining

How was Great Britain able to avoid a revolution in 1848?

Nationalism in the United States




Graphic Notes: "Downfall of Mother Bank," depicting President Andrew Jackson holding up an "Order of the Removal of the Public Money" during the fight over the Bank of the United States, 1833. E.W. Clay lithograph.

Citation: American Antiquarian Society, 185 Salisbury St, Worcester, MA 01609-1634 and the Library of Congress.

Nicholas Biddle was the president of the Bank of the United States during the Bank War of 1832. Biddle held a great deal of unwarranted power over the nation’s finances, which President Jackson resented. When Jackson vetoed a bill to renew the Bank’s charter, Biddle agreed with Senator Henry Clay that this would hurt him in the upcoming presidential election of 1832, but both of them were proven wrong. When Jackson tried to end the bank by withdrawing deposits, Biddle caused a financial panic to try and prevent Jackson from attaining the presidency which failed when Jackson was re-elected.
The Bank War began with Senators Noah Webster and Clay with their Recharter Bill: Clay and Webster presented Congress with a Recharter Bill for the Bank of the United States in 1832. Although four years before the charter would expire, Clay hoped to make the Bank an issue in the upcoming presidential election, which he hoped to win. Clay hoped to quickly pass the Bill in Congress, then send it to the White House to be signed by Jackson. Clay knew Jackson would most likely veto the bill, alienating the elite in the upcoming election, therefore favoring Clay. Jackson did veto the bill, but contrary to Clay’s expectation, gained popular public support for his statement.

The “Pet” banks where surplus federal funds were placed after the closing of the Bank of the United States. The banks were chosen for their support of president Jackson and soon flooded the country with paper money as there was no longer a central, federal finance institution. As a result of the massive amounts of paper money, inflation skyrocketed, and Jackson was forced to try to slow inflation with his Specie Circular.

The Specie Circular (1836) was decreed by Jackson which stated that all public lands had to be purchased with “hard” money, gold or silver. Jackson took this measure to slow the runaway inflation caused by his closure of the Bank of the United States.


Reading Check

Explaining

How did the election of Andrew Jackson influence American politics?
The divisions between Americans eventually led to fighting in the Civil War.

You can learn more about music from the period by listening to:
"When Johnny Comes Marching Home." In this exercise you can 1) view the exhibit; 2) read the lyrics; 3) learn more; and, 4) rewrite the song.

The Emergence of a Canadian Nation

Reading Check

Describing

How did the British North American Act change the government of Canada?

Map: The Dominion of Canada in the Nineteenth Century


A novel about the Crimean War:

Master George by Beryl Bainbridge

Visit an interactive exhibit about the gold rush.

The American Civil War.

Everyday life of a Civil War soldier

Civil War diary accounts

The Civil War: A Film by Ken Burns

Short animated movie about the American Civil War


Preview:
Ch. 12 Sec. 4 Culture: Romanticism and Realism
Main Ideas

At the end of the eighteenth century, romanticism emerged as a reaction to the ideas of the Enlightenment.
The Industrial Revolution created a new interest in science and helped produce the realist movement.

Key Terms

romanticism

secularization

organic evolution

natural selection

realism

Objectives, at the end of the section the student should:

*Understand what themes shaped romantic art, literature, and music.
*Explain how realists responded to the industrialized, urban world.
*Describe how the visual arts changed.

People to Identify

Ludwig van Beethoven

Louis Pasteur

Charles Darwin

Charles Dickens

Additional Terms, People, and Places

William Wordsworth

William Blake

Lord Byron

Victor Hugo

Gustave Courbet

Louis Daguerre

impressionism

Claude Monet

Vincent van Gogh


Note Taking

Reading Skill: Identify Supporting Details Fill in a table like the one below with details about the artistic movements in the 1800s.



Romanticism
Albert Bierstadt, Hetch Hetchy Canyon, 1875


Witness History

Sunset: Audio
In the 1800s, many writers turned away from the harsh realities of industrial life to celebrate nature. The English poet William Wordsworth described the peace and beauty of sunset:

“It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
The holy time is quiet as a Nun

Breathless with adoration; the broad sun

Is sinking down in its tranquillity.”
—William Wordsworth, Complete Poetical Works

Audio

Romanticism does not refer to romance in the sense of an affectionate relationship, but rather to an artistic style emphasizing imagination, freedom, and emotion. Romanticism was a reaction to the neoclassical writers of the Enlightenment, who had turned to classical Greek and Roman literature and ideals that stressed order, harmony, reason, and emotional restraint. In contrast to Enlightenment literature, the works of romantic writers included simple, direct language, intense feelings, and a glorification of nature. Artists, composers, and architects were also followers of the movement.

The Romantic Hero

Romantic writers created a new kind of hero—a mysterious, melancholy figure who felt out of step with society. “My joys, my grief, my passions, and my powers, / Made me a stranger,” wrote Britain’s George Gordon, Lord Byron. He himself was a larger-than-life figure equal to those he created. After a rebellious, wandering life, he joined Greek forces battling for freedom. When he died of a fever there, his legend bloomed. In fact, public interest in his poetry and adventures was so great that moody, isolated romantic heroes came to be described as “Byronic.”

The romantic hero often hid a guilty secret and faced a grim destiny. German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (gur tuh) wrote the dramatic poem Faust. The aging scholar Faust makes a pact with the devil, exchanging his soul for youth. After much agony, Faust wins salvation by accepting his duty to help others. In Jane Eyre, British novelist Charlotte Brontë weaves a tale about a quiet governess and her brooding, Byronic employer, whose large mansion conceals a terrifying secret.

Inspired by the Past

Romantic writers combined history, legend, and folklore. Sir Walter Scott’s novels and ballads evoked the turbulent history of Scottish clans or medieval knights. Alexandre Dumas (doo mah) and Victor Hugo re-created France’s past in novels like The Three Musketeers and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Architects, too, were inspired by old styles and forms. Churches and other buildings, including the British Parliament, were modeled on medieval Gothic styles. To people living in the 1800s, medieval towers and lacy stonework conjured up images of a glorious past.

Music Stirs Emotions

Romantic composers also tried to stir deep emotions. Audiences were moved to laughter or tears at Hungarian Franz Liszt’s piano playing. The passionate music of German composer Ludwig van Beethoven combined classical forms with a stirring range of sound. He was the first composer to take full advantage of the broad range of instruments in the modern orchestra. In all, Beethoven produced nine symphonies, five piano concertos, a violin concerto, an opera, two masses, and dozens of shorter pieces. To many, he is considered the greatest composer of his day.

Biography: Audio

Ludwig van Beethoven

An accomplished musician by age 12, composer Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) agonized over every note of every composition. The result was stunning music that expresses intense emotion. The famous opening of his Fifth Symphony conveys the sense of fate knocking at the door. His Sixth Symphony captures a joyful day in the countryside, interrupted by a violent thunderstorm.

Beethoven’s career was haunted by perhaps the greatest tragedy a musician can face. In 1798, he began to lose his hearing. Still, he continued to compose music he could hear only in his mind. How did Beethoven’s music reflect romanticism?

Other romantic composers wove traditional folk melodies into their works to glorify their nations’ pasts. In his piano works, Frederic Chopin (shoh pan) used Polish peasant dances to convey the sorrows and joys of people living under foreign occupation.

Romanticism in Art

Painters, too, broke free from the discipline and strict rules of the Enlightenment. Landscape painters like J.M.W. Turner sought to capture the beauty and power of nature. Using bold brush strokes and colors, Turner often showed tiny human figures struggling against sea and storm.

Romantics painted many subjects, from simple peasant life to medieval knights to current events. Bright colors conveyed violent energy and emotion. The French painter Eugène Delacroix (deh luh krwah) filled his canvases with dramatic action. In Liberty Leading the People, the Goddess of Liberty carries the revolutionary tricolor as French citizens rally to the cause.

Checkpoint

How did romantic writers, musicians, and artists respond to the Enlightenment?

Learn

Focus Question

What artistic movements emerged in reaction to the Industrial Revolution?

Audio

William Wordsworth, along with William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Percy Bysshe Shelley among others, was part of a cultural movement called romanticism. From about 1750 to 1850, romanticism shaped Western literature and arts.

Reading Check

Examining

How did the popularity of Ivanhoe reflect the interests of the nineteenth century?

A New Age of Science

Reading Check

Describing

How did Darwin's theory of natural selection influence the way in which people viewed the world?

Realism
The Call to Realism: Audio

By the mid-1800s, a new artistic movement, realism, took hold in the West. Realism was an attempt to represent the world as it was, without the sentiment associated with romanticism. Realists often focused their work on the harsh side of life in cities or villages. Many writers and artists were committed to improving the lot of the unfortunates whose lives they depicted.

Novels Depict Grim Reality

The English novelist Charles Dickens vividly portrayed the lives of slum dwellers and factory workers, including children. In Oliver Twist, Dickens tells the story of a nine-year-old orphan raised in a grim poorhouse. In response to a request for more food, Oliver is smacked on the head and sent away to work. Later, he runs away to London. There he is taken in by Fagin, a villain who trains homeless children to become pickpockets. The book shocked many middle-class readers with its picture of poverty, mistreatment of children, and urban crime. Yet Dickens’s humor and colorful characters made him one of the most popular novelists in the world.

French novelists also portrayed the ills of their time. Victor Hugo, who moved from romantic to realistic novels, revealed how hunger drove a good man to crime and how the law hounded him ever after in Les Misérables (lay miz ehr ahb). The novels of Émile Zola painted an even grimmer picture. In Germinal, Zola exposed class warfare in the French mining industry. To Zola’s characters, neither the Enlightenment’s faith in reason nor the romantic movement’s feelings mattered at all.

Realism in Drama

Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen brought realism to the stage. His plays attacked the hypocrisy he observed around him. A Doll’s House show a woman caught in a straitjacket of social rules. In An Enemy of the People, a doctor discovers that the water in a local spa is polluted. Because the town’s economy depends on its spa, the citizens denounce the doctor and suppress the truth. Ibsen’s realistic dramas had a wide influence in Europe and the United States.

Arts Reject Romantic Ideas

Painters also represented the realities of their time. Rejecting the romantic emphasis on imagination, they focused on ordinary subjects, especially working-class men and women. “I cannot paint an angel,” said the French realist Gustave Courbet (koor bay) “because I have never seen one.” Instead, he painted works such as The Stone Breakers, which shows two rough laborers on a country road. Later in the century, The Gross Clinic, by American painter Thomas Eakins, shocked viewers with its realistic depiction of an autopsy conducted in a medical classroom.

Vocabulary Builder

emphasis—(em fuh sis) n. special attention given to something to make it stand out



Checkpoint

How did the realism movement differ from the romantic movement?

Reading Check

Evaluating

What factors helped to produce the movement known as realism?





New holiday feature: keep Christ in Christmas
GoFish, "Christmas With A Capital "C"






HW email to gmsmith@shanahan.org
Monday HW
1. Study for Quiz, Tuesday, Ch. 12 Sec. 2, 10 Fill-in answers.