Open Letter to King Louis XIV of France

The following blog post is set in the 17th century, when Louis XIV was the absolute monarch of France. I am writing to the king as a peasant who has been inside the palace of Versailles in the format of an open letter on the reaction to the grandeur of the palace and concerns of peasants' livelihoods and well-being.

To Your Majesty -

I was given the opportunity to tour the palace of Versailles a few days ago. I would like to compliment you, of course, on the beauty of your home. I recognize the work that must have been put into it. One would be blind to miss the sparkling chandeliers, the imposing portraits of Your Majesty, and the detailing on every surface. The War Room was of interest to me as well. All France and Europe know how much Your Majesty loves war, as you believe it expands France's empire.

However, your subjects who are not as fortunate as Your Majesty to live in such grandeur as at Versailles are growing increasingly more concerned. France's money has been spent on war and the Versailles palace, so much so that the country's wealth and its vitality have been drained significantly. The wars France has waged come with no results save for the hostility of Holland, Spanish, the Holy Roman Empire, and England. The French people are starving to death in their cramped homes, and the populations are dwindling. French industries are dying down, and countless workers are losing their jobs. The harvests are becoming increasingly worse as the weather also worsens, and none can bear the the burden of such heavy taxes. Land is expensive and the price of food is extremely high. As Your Majesty was building the palace, your people were struggling, and still are. We are trying in vain to feed our families.

A peasant such as myself cannot do much to change this. Your Majesty is the King of France. The chief finance minister is Jean Baptiste Colbert, who boasts of bolstering the economy and promoting trade, and of encouraging mining and farming. But the fact remains that France has countless citizens hovering on the edge of poverty, and more already below the poverty line. Perhaps, instead of waging fruitless wars and constructing palaces, the royal treasury should go towards helping the French people. After the Huguenots fled, the economy suffered. It will continue to suffer if nothing is done about it. Thank you for reading this letter.

-Anonymous

A view of the palace from a garden.

"Versailles Chateau." Photograph. Wikipedia. 

         http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Versailles_chateau.jpg

The Salem Witch Crisis of 1692

         The Salem Witch Crisis began in 1691 and continued through 1692 in Salem Village, Massachusetts. The instigators were Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, the daughter and niece respectively of the village's minister. They began to complain of things such as prickling sensations and the feeling of being choked. As time went on, more girls followed in their footsteps. It was decided by the reverend and a few doctors that witches were the cause of the girls' behavior. The girls were persuaded into naming the witches who were tormenting them, and they named three women initially. From there, the girls and even the accused began to accuse others of practicing witchcraft, sentencing them to jail. Trials were carried out upon spectral evidence, meaning that the girls were believed no matter what they said, despite whether or not the accused witch was doing something visible to them. Governor Phipps put an end to these trials upon spectral evidence when his own wife was accused of being a witch, but by then, twenty of the accused had already been killed and over a hundred more were still imprisoned.

         There are numerous events and pieces of evidence that are thought to have caused the crisis. For instance, Cotton Mather, an influential leader in Massachusetts Bay Colony, made the argument that witchcraft is mentioned in the Scripture, obviously one of their most trusted sources, and also that people have experienced the "horrors" of witchcraft. This would have led to countless people believing the girls' testimonies. In addition, Abigail Hobbs was one of the multiple accused witches to admit to witchcraft, even admitting to having seen the devil. If the accused were seemingly admitting to their crimes and making such claims as seeing the devil, the public would have good reason to believe them. It is also known that farm sizes during the Salem Witch Crisis were smaller than they had been, and those who accused witches were able to take their land. This would lead to greedy citizens to turn in their neighbors to seize their lands for personal gain. The last piece of interesting evidence is the map of Salem Town and Village. Salem Village was home to many of the accusers, while Salem Town was home to many of the accused. It is theorized that this could be because the citizens of Salem Village were required to pay taxes to Salem Town, and the villagers might have been bitter about the practice.

        In 1711, a couple of decades after the crisis, the families of the accused were apologized to and offered clearance. However, six families chose not to come forward with the others to accept the state's apology. Only in 2001 were all the witches publicly declared innocent by Massachusetts State Legislature, though in 1957 more amends had been attempted by the state as it cleared Ann Pudeator "and others". The amends came with mixed emotions from the descendants of the accused. Some were relieved, others felt pity for their ancestors, and still others thought it inappropriate and even disrespectful that the legislature had passed on Halloween, though then-governor Jane Swift's spokesperson insisted that the timing had been pure coincidence. It had taken Massachusetts 309 years to finally apologize to the victims of the crisis in Salem.

An 1876 depiction of a courtroom during the trial of an accused witch.

Sources Cited:
     Author Unknown. "Massachusetts Clears 5 From Salem Witch Trials." http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/02/us/massachusetts-clears-5-from-salem-witch-trials.html
     Sally Cragin. "Salem witches exonerated." http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE|A83032374&v=2.1&u=mlin_n_readingmh&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=94beb3736a73c9cf6a222519f8bf609d&digest=0ec226b1fcc33f9278de06b7e219d961&rssr=rss#.VMlz7q8JXEg.email
     "Witchcraft at Salem Village." File:Witchcraft at Salem Village.jpg. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Witchcraft_at_Salem_Village.jpg

Modern Day Slavery: It Exists!

Slavery Is Everywhere: Slavery, though hidden within many different names, exists in every corner of the world. Regions include, but are certainly not limited to: Africa, the Caribbean, India (specifically the Punjab region), Latin America, New Zealand and the European Union. In the Asia-Pacific region alone, there are an estimated 11.7 million people in forced labor.

Child Labor: Exploiting the World's Children: The numbers associated with modern-day child slavery are staggering. Worldwide, there are about 215 million children laborers between the ages of 5 and 17. Of those, 115 million are working the worst possible child labor conditions. Furthermore, 53 million children under the age of 15 are in dangerous, even life-threatening work. Child labor work includes prostitution, forced begging and domestic work.

Bonded Labor: Taking Advantage of the Less Fortunate: Bonded labor is a type of slavery in which people are forced to labor because of an unpaid debt of loan. Beyond that, force is used to keep slaves in possession. This includes human trafficking and has existed for centuries. Those in bonded labor are very unlikely to be able to pay off a debt or loan, because the slave owners find ways to create more debt to be paid off, such as insisting that they had given the slaves more food one month and therefore that debt needs to be paid off.

Lack of Government Enforcement: Slavery is ruled illegal both by the 13th amendment to the United States Constitution and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. However, governments in countries are rarely willing to enforce those laws, despite the fact that slavery is only beneficial to the slave owners, not the economy as a whole.

The Story of Maria Suarez: Maria Suarez was in some form of captivity for 28 years. At the age of 15, she was tricked into slavery. While she was a slave, her slave owner rented out an extra house. The couple that rented it was young. The slave owner ended up killing the man, and he told Maria to go and hide the stick. Knowing nothing but obedience, Maria did so, hiding it under the house. When the police came to make an arrest, Maria was the one taken into custody. She had no resources, and was forced to employ a bad attorney on his first case. Due to this, she was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison. She was also hesitant to involve her family because her slave owner had threatened to hurt her family. However, Maria was eventually rescued from prison by the INS, though this doesn't erase the fact that she was not only bought as if she were property and not a human being, but she was also imprisoned for a wrong and crime she did not commit.

How to Conquer This Evil: Learn about and research the problem. This would help in knowing what you're up and fighting against. It would also be beneficial in speaking about the topic because one would gain enough information on the problem to speak on it. Another way to be on the way to stop slavery is to spread the word. This can be done through making posters, or talking to groups of people, or even starting fundraisers!

Slave Ship Reading Response - "Sarah"

  For this assignment, we used excerpts from "The Slave Ship: A Human History" to learn about personal stories about the slave trade and much of what went on within it.

In the excerpt Sarah, the personal story of a young woman onboard the Hudibras, a Liverpool slave ship. She was a vibrant and lively girl despite the terrible conditions, and the entire crew of the ship adored her, even the captain, Captain Evans. Sarah was not her birth name, but rather a name bestowed upon her by Captain Evans with the inspiration of the biblical Sarah. It was no coincidence, because perhaps the captain wanted her to remain subordinate and submissive. Sarah was one of the captain’s two “favorites”. These two girls were ones that he favored above the rest, and showed them both greater favors and more leniency than to the others. However, there was trouble on the ship when the enslaved men decided to try and mutiny. The resistance was stifled almost immediately, and Sarah (along with her mother) was immediately suspected. Though they both went through thorough questioning, their involvement in the plot wasn’t revealed until the others enslaved began to shout angrily. It was then revealed that they had both been in on the planning and distributing of tools to help the men break free of their bonds. Sarah greatly benefited from her position as a favorite, which let her move around much more freely on the ship.

There is very blatant evidence of resistance and turmoil onboard the Hudibras in Sarah’s story. Sarah herself was involved in the mutiny that arose. It was carried out by the enslaved men onboard, but it was planned and contributed to by Sarah, who was ideal for the job because she had privileges the other slaves on the ship didn’t. The men were able to get out of their shackles and other bindings. To add to the turmoil, after the mutiny failed terribly, both the men and women shouted accusations into the night, which, in turn, revealed Sarah’s involvement in the plot.

From this personal story, I learned how some girls were chosen as “favorites” of the captains of these slave ships, and that these girls would be given more privileges and favors than the other slaves aboard the ship. I also learned that an uprising from the enslaved could be shut down extremely effectively and rapidly. The crew on slave ships truly never let their guard down, not even for a second, it seems. I also learned how resilient the slaves were, and marveled at how they had the strength to revolt after living in such horrid conditions for a period of time. It made me wonder how many, if any, mutinies were successful on other ships.