“The public use of a man’s reason must be free at all times, and this alone can bring enlightenment among men.”
Immanuel Kant - 1784
September 2011
17 posts
The June Days Revolt
June 24-26, 1848
The provisional French government created national workshops in 1847 to deal with the country’s growing unemployment problem. The national workshops offered simple, low paying jobs to the unemployed but the system was soon overwhelmed in 1848 and had to be shut down. News of the closures spread throughout Paris and soon sparked protests and riots. Eugene Cavaignac was called upon to end the uprising and was made head of state by the National Assembly. Cavaignac brought in the national guard to put down the uprising, killing many people and arresting even more. A constitution was soon put into place after the uprising and Napoleon III was elected president of the republic (he would later seize complete power) by conservative voters who were sick of revolution.
“Whoso belongs only to his own age, and reverences only its gilt Popinjays or smoot-smeared Mumbojumbos, must die with it.”
Thomas Carlyle
The End of Japanese Isolation
In 1639, Takugawa Iemitsu (the ruling shogun, not the emperor) enacted a policy of sakoku (locked country), that for the most part sealed off Japan from the rest of the world. The policy forbid foreigners from entering the country and also Japanese from leaving. It also restricted trade to only Dutch, Chinese and Korean traders. This policy would remain intact, with a few exceptions throughout the years, until the arrival of American Commodore Matthew Perry with four warships in 1863. Perry threatened to destroy everything in range of the warship’s cannons unless he was allowed to come ashore and present a letter from Millard Fillmore to representatives of the Takugawa shogunate (he thought they represented the emperor). Perry returned to Japan the next year with seven warships to sign the Kanagawa treaty. The treaty opened up two ports to American trade and ensured the safety of shipwrecked sailors. The treaty was followed other treaties with America and some European countries. the unevenness of the treaties led to civil strife in Japan and led to end of the Takugawa shogunate and the restoration of power to the emperor.
“Have patience awhile; slanders are not long-lived. Truth is the child of time; erelong she shall appear to vindicate thee.”
Immanuel Kant
Woodrow Wilson's Fourteen Points
January 8, 1918
Woodrow Wilson gave his “fourteen points” speech to a special joint session of congress in order to gain support for America’s involvement in World war 1 and to outline his goals (the points) to ensure peace in Europe after the war.
1. Open diplomacy
2. Freedom on the open seas outside of territorial waters
3. Removal of economic barriers
4. Reduction of armaments
5. Adjustment of colonial claims
6. Removal of troops from conquered Russian territory
7. Respect to Belgium’s sovereignty
8. Restoration of captured French territory
9. Adjustments to Italy’s borders
10. The splitting up of Austria-Hungary
11. Removal of troops from the Balkans and respect to the independence of the Balkan states.
12. Respect to the sovereignty of the Turkish area of the Ottoman Empire
13. Reconstitution of Poland
14. Creation of a league of nations.
“I am bound to tell what I am told, but not in every case to believe it.”
Herodotus - The Histories
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
John F. Kennedy - 1962
