Week 28 in Mr. Bruce's History

Students and Parents,

After a good, solid week into the 4th marking period, we are fit to take a break - Spring Break. And after the week we have had, I think we did our best to earn this week off. Don't get me wrong, it has been a very good week. But we have challenged ourselves with historical understanding to a sufficient degree this week.

As a matter of explanation, I feel compelled to share that as we study Westward Expansion of the United States (1803-1853) I desire to insert the necessary context into it. Last week it was pausing to look at the Missouri Compromise at the same time we were acquiring Florida from Spain. This week it is looking at the nature of Indian Removal as the U.S. was considering the addition of Texas to the Union. 

This is a peculiar topic of study due to a number of reasons. First and most of all is the sensitive nature of human rights that must be considered. And this is not because of the "faults" of our leaders and decision makers of the past, but rather because we must endeavor to understand the reasons for their decisions, actions, and behaviors in the context within which they were made. This is the most challenging aspect of history for any student. Ordering hundreds of thousands of people to march hundreds of miles to a new home, thousands who will die along they way, is not easy to understand. 

It also forces us to face the fact that intolerance and human rights violations are just as much a part of our history as we were at the same time (and are still continuing) striving to achieve the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the Constitution (i.e. "all men are created equal..." and "...secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity..."). 

Lastly, it invites us to seek to understand and attend to the lone voice that cries out for justice. Sometimes the whisper is lost to the roar of the wind. Others, as in the case for abolition of slavery, others join in to affect change at significant cost to personal, social, and political forces. It also is what leads us to a new understanding of the American Civil War. 

But that's for after break...

As I said, we earned it this week. Until then, I remain yours,

Mr. Bruce