To be quite honest with everyone, I always was the one in class in high school bored to death by history in high school. When I learned about the stamp act I never took a interest in it because it always seemed boring, but by reading some sections of "A People And A Nation" and especially the section of the stamp act I learned things that I never knew before. It was amazing to know all the chaos and events that occured by trying to put into effect the stamp act. I think the stamp act was incredilby outragous at the time, but now a days I doubt that people would react in the in the same way as the colonist did back then. Thats why I found it so interesting that the colonist reacted the way they did... they fought for what they wanted, and now a days I think people would be too lazy to react.

As I was reading document 5, chapter 3 entitled " Jonathan Edwards pictures sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, 1741", it seemed vaguely familiar to something I read in high school. Then of course , I realized I actually did read it in high school. And as I was trying to think about the discussion we had on this speech Edwards gave, I read it again over and over again in my head and, the same feeling of astonishment came over me once again. Edward's used fear in order to get the people's attention. He made the people scared and terrified at the thought of enraging an already "Angry God." And the thing that astonishment me the most was that it worked. His speech was so persuasive and effective , that the people actually believed and followed his words. His whole speech is directed at the "sinners" and terrifies people into believing that they are doomed for a life of misery if you are against his words. It is hard to imagine how life would be like if a man preeched the way he did in this day and age. I doubt that it would cause such choas in today's world because most people now automatically think that their God is forgiving and not as angry as Edwards makes him to be.

It is completly distirbing to me the treatment of the Aztecs during that time in 1519. As I read the accounts of Fray Bernardino, I couldn't believe how people could do such a thing to a people. The spaniards had no sympathy for anyone and slashed people to death and slit their bodies open. The Aztecs did nothing to deserve that treatment and as I read on , I felt more and more sad and in a state of disbelif. I have always known what happend when the spainards came, and what happend to the Aztecs , but until reading this it never really occured to me that that time period was so gruesome and brutal. Fray Bernardino, really gave such a clear describtion of everything, and I could imagine everything going on as if it was right in front of me. When he said that " Moctezuma himself wept in distress he felt for his city" it made the whole situation tragic to me- to see a man of power feel so overwhelmed and hopless to the point of tears. And when Bernardino described the fathers running their hands over their son's hair and smoothing it and saying " Woe, my beloved sons! How can what we fear be happening in your time?,"it made me feel more and more helpless. The whole account of the spanish conquest of the Aztecs was depressing, but I'm glad that I read it because I've never read history that real. It's one thing to read history that just tells what happened , but it is so different to read the acutual accounts in such detail