One of the people that I've found interesting in our history class would have to be Alexander Hamilton. I am surprised that I find his life and beliefs intriguing because I've heard his name a million times before and never gave it a second thought on why he is in the history books. Reading a section in chapter 8 in our A People and a Nation books it says that he thought of people with " unvarnished cynicism." Which is really interesting to me because when I think about that time period of the nation getting started with our government, I always imagined it with hopeful and optimistic people all ready to selflessly help the needy. I know the optimistic side of me likes to believe that people will sacrifice their selfish needs for the good of other people, but when I think about it more and more , in reality, people are the way Hamilton explains them to be. I think we all do things and work harder for certain things when it benefits us more, rather than someone else. And although the idea does sound cynical, look at how that idea helps our nation today. Big corporations and rich and powerful people start with having their own selfish ambitions. But by serving their own ambitions it often times benefits other people, even though it was started off with self-interested motives.

Like most of us history students, I am relieved and overjoyed the stress of the midterm is over. As I was taking the midterm and reviewing all the history that we had learned about before the test, I found that the Columbian Exchange was actually more interesting than I thought. I was relieved that I found it interstice while reviewing it ,because it helped with the essay portion of the midterm. But, what I found interesting about it was that the Columbian Exchange was necessary for the development of the United States yet in order for the development the consequence was 90% of the Indians dying of smallpox just doesn't seem fair... It doesn't seem fair to me that in order for a nation to begin that thousands upon thousands of people have to suffer. And the Europeans mostly benefited from all the voyages they made. They got land,a better diet, and a whole new world for them to discover. I think it was pretty selfish of them to just take over land knowing that it was already taken. But at the same time, it was because of their selfishness that I am able to live here in the United States.

As I was reading about the Loyalists in chapter 6 in A People and A Nation, I couldn't help but feel a little admiration for them. Although, I strongly disagree with them opposing American independence, I find myself admiring the fact that they believed so strongly in the the cause of staying with Britain. So much so that when the war was over they started a whole new life. It takes a lot of courage and loyalty to be able to go against such a impopular subject and throughout the war they stuck to their beliefs and showed true courage and dedication. And also , I felt sympathetic towards them because I feel they didn't know any better. All they knew was British rule and I think probably they were just scared to try something new. It seemed sad to me almost that they prefered British rule over independence. But then can you blame them? If they took the side of independence, it could of been disastrous...by siding with the British it was safe and familiar.

I was going over again the reading of chapter 5 and looking at how the Boston Tea Party occured and I was thinking to myself, why this event, out of all the others in history, why were we taught this to be a big deal? I know that this is a important event in history, but the way I learned about it , I always picutred in my head thousands upon thousands of poeople throwing tea into the water and in reality it was only about 50. I am not upset at the fact that my whole educational career I was thinking that the Boston Tea Party was the way I pictured it, but I am more confused on why teachers don't just tell the whole truth, I mean, is that not why teachers are there for? Practically every time I enter our history class I am taught something different that I thought was the truth, and I cannot think of a logical reason why I was taught lies.