Alexander MacAllister

Alexander MacAllister moved to North Carolina from Scotland where he became a wealthy and successful land owner and mill proprietor. Upon becoming successful he sent word back to Scotland that everyone should come over to North Carolina because there was a ton of land. After saying this many people came over from Scotland so quickly that towns became overcrowded and hostile towards the immigrants. If I were Alexander MacAllister I would have kept my mouth shut and kept all the land to myself. Some might call me greedy and selfish but I wouldn't want my business disrupted by a whole bunch of people flooding in from Scotland. Now instead of having acres of unsettled land around him, he had houses and farms around him which isn't something I'd like very much.

the "patriarchal" attitude of slave owners

In chapter 12 of "America, a Concise History" it mentions that plantation owners built cabins and churches for their slaves to help influence their behavior and claimed to be "paternal" characters to their slaves however; at the bottom of the page there is a black man who's injuries are so gruesome it's disgusting. To say that a slave owner who treats his slaves like that but says he is a father is abominable. If a slave owner treated his own children in that manner then he would at least be speaking the truth in saying he is a father to his slaves because they get equal treatment. However, how can a person say that they are a  father, padre, père, Vater, or any other translation of the word without acting on it with no shame. If a slave owner wants to beat his slaves why does he hide behind a mask of "fatherly love" instead of coming straight out with it and saying "yes, I beat my slaves". A man who tells the truth has more respect than a man who doesn't no matter how terrible that person may be or how grudgingly people bestow that respect upon them.

Native American Sovereignty

I decided to go to the Native American speaker on Thursday, November 17th and expecting to be bored I was actually surprised at how energetic the speaker was. I went in with the mindset of "Oh boy here it goes, an hour of some guy talking about Indian rights and other things I could care less about". The topic he talked about was, to put it bluntly, terribly boring; However he sparked life into this bland and boring subject on Indian Sovereignty by his fervor and energy by which he spoke. He brought up one interesting point in the very beginning and it was somewhere along the lines of within 150 miles of here, in the eight cardinal directions, is a Native American tribe. He was from Oregon and was... Shawnee I think? I forgot to write that part down. however I thought that was interesting that we have such a diverse population of Indians within a 150 mile radius.

One thing he brought up was his card stating that he was a Native American. He had an interesting story about this card. He and his family went to Canada for a couple of days and had no trouble getting into Canada. They had fun and did whatever Native Americans in Canada (which I am sure is very much the same as any other person visiting our "friends" across the northern border). However, after their vacation, they realized that they did not have a birth certificate or any other form of documentation to show that his daughter is a citizen of the United States. As they were about to clap his daughter in irons and cart her off to prison (dramatization), he had the brilliant idea to show them her Indian card thingy. After seeing this card, they allowed her to cross the border back into the United States with no trouble.

I thought that was interesting and came to find out it is because Indian Tribes are sovereign groups with their own rights and these cards that they carry are sufficient to cross the border. All I can say is i wish i was part Indian. I could carry a cool card to get be across the border and I could get money from the government. Cool!