Kansas-Nebraska

     The Kansas Nebraska act lead to bleeding Kansas which is an event that sparked the tension for the civil war. The Kansas Nebraska act, 1854, splitted the Nebraska territory into two states. These two states governed themselves.
     Stephen Douglas as a US senator mandated Popular sovereignty in these states. This meant that the states got to decide whether or not their state will be a free or a slave state. This went against the Missouri Compromise saying that anything above _____is free and below is Slave. Except Missouri which is a slave state. The congress made popular sovereignty in these states because they could not decide themselves. It got so difficult that the congress almost split I to two, but instead they handed the decision to the people.
     At this time there were two different kinds of settlers. There were the pro-Slavery settlers which were later known as the southern Whigs. The southern Whigs then became the party known as the Democrats.  They wanted slaves to use for the railroads that they where going to use the new land for. The other was anti-slavery settlers also known as northern Whigs. The northern Whigs became the  Republican party later on. They didn't believe that slaves were moral.
     It was a hard decision and brought much tension. These two groups of settlers, like congress did not come up with a decision to be free or slave. They started physically fighting in the streets about wether or not they should be free or a slave state. This is known as Bleeding Kansas.

Example:
     In the photo above you see the northerners wanted to use this new land for farming, on the other hand the southerners wanted to use the land to become rich from making a railroad. But to build this train track the southerners needed their slaves. So they ask if there are slaves allowed. When this happened the northerners and the southerners righted about it and handed the decision to congress. As congress discussed about it they couldn't come to a verdict so they made popular sovereignty to give the settlers the power of the decision. In a result they start fighting again, because they couldn't decide.

The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow

"The Legend of the Sleepy Hollow", by Washington Irving, is a story we all know even if we haven't read it or have seen it. It's a piece of Literature commonly known to people as the story of the headless horsemen. This story takes place in the US and can only be understood in the US based on financial, economical, historical situations. Sleepy Hollow has a powerful meaning behind it both metaphorically and realistically. Sleepy can mean that the town is quiet and there's nothing much going on. Hollow is a small wooden ravine on the Hudson River and metaphorically looking toward a community under a spell.
This story is about a man named, Ichabod Crane a school teacher, coming to this town in New York from Connecticut. He is a timid person yet loves scary stories. He finds himself in his own scary story. Everyone around him in the town scares him for different reasons. The one person not scary to him is his love Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter of the rich Dutch Farmer. He is invited to her party and he goes to the party and has a good time, but in the end he finds out her affections are not the same. On his way home he runs into the "Headless Horseman" in the woods, later finding out it was actually another guest from the party scaring him. They had told stories and then pulled a prank on Ichabod, on his way home, making it seem like he encountered the Headless Horseman like in the stories they had told. After that day nobody ever saw Ichabod crane, they said he had left for a distant country.
Irving's beliefs and personality really show in this piece of literature. It also shows the time period by the fact of social classes and the era that it had been written in.

This book has been made into several scary stories and movies. Disney has made a movie and a cartoon based of the book. Also the Halloween story "Headless Horseman" came from this piece of literature. There are much more versions of the story and different cartoons and movies made. It is truly an American classic. 

Star-Spangled Banner

The Star-Spangled Banner History

A poem by Francis Scott key called "the defense at fort McHenry" is now out national anthem, "Star spangled Banner". This poem was make September 18, 1814 after the battle at Fort McHenry when the British fleas and the US put up the national flag. Francis Scott key witnessed this battle and was inspired to write about it. The poem was put to a famous english bar song "To Anacreon in Heaven" by John Stafford Smith. It turned into the national anthem March 13, 1931.

This is the original lyrics for the song "To Anacreon in Heaven" by John Stafford Smith it was London's Anacreonic Society song that used to be sung in bars.

 This is today's national anthem "Star-Spangled banner" lyrics by Francis Scott Key.