Preview

Informative Essay: The West Point Massacre

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
437 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Informative Essay: The West Point Massacre
Standing seventy feet tall, at the heart of Trophy Point, one of West Point’s most memorable sights and memorial is what is known as The Battle Monument. Honoring about 2,000 of American Army officers and soldiers who died fighting for their country during the Civil War. “Dedicated in 1897, the monument honors for those who freed a race and welded a nation” (Seidule). In 1971, President Nixon was curious to as of why there was no monument representing the Confederate side of the Civil War. General Knowlton, the USMA Superintendent at the time, gave the most precise answer anyone can give by saying, “West Point memorialized those who fought for the United States of American, not those who fought against it.” The American people show confidence …show more content…
The destruction happened in the historic name of slavery in the civil rights movement. John Calhoun is a historical and political figure who had achieved much greatness in his career. The street where this massacre occurred is named after him, as well as a statue overlooking the church. Also, one of Yale’s residential colleges is name Yale’s Calhoun College. After the massacre the students at the Calhoun College petitioned to change the name of the college because Calhoun fought for slavery and white authority. Since, Calhoun supported the confederates not only in the succession for the United States, but also the reign to keep slavery, he should not be memorialized across the United States. Calhoun believed that “the American dream depended on presumed inferiority and slavery” (Caplan). Calhoun thought freedom was based on slavery. For this very reason is why he should not honored as an American hero. Yale’s Calhoun College should have never been named after him. Many may argue Calhoun should be remembered for his incredible accomplishments such as, being known as one of South Carolina’s best senators ever because he opposed the Mexican-American War and opposed the admission of California as a free state. Calhoun was also known as the leading voice in those looking for the slave industry to continue. Although he fought for what he believed in and gave a voice to his followers, it does not make it okay for

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Robert E. Lee instructed Stuart’s troops to protect Rappahannock river and make sure it was clear of spies. Gen. Stuart decided to organize a distraction on the other side of the river because that’s where the Union troops where. Pleasanton added many men and had to have two attacks. The Union ended up killing Col. Benjamin Davis. Buford charged the arsenal but they took the guns before they could get to them. The troops at Kelly’s Ford where told to march around the opponent but Stuart’s office was there. Both sides added more troops and fought for 5 hours. Learning another Confederate militia was coming Pleasanton withdrew.…

    • 107 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Kent shooting were the shooting of unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam war at the Kent state university in Kent Ohio, by member of National Gaud on May 4, 1970. In May 1970, students protesting the bombing of Cambodia by United States military forces, clashed with Ohio National Guardsmen on the Kent State University campus. When the Guardsmen shot and killed four students on May 4, the Kent State Shootings became the focal point of a nation deeply divided by the Vietnam War. Numerous people protested the Vietnam War for these and other reasons as well. These protests usually were peaceful and included such things as burning draft cards, fleeing to Canada or some other country to escape the draft, protest rallies and marches, or simply remaining enrolled in college to avoid the draft. However, even peaceful protests sometimes turned violent, as United States involvement in the Vietnam War divided the United States public. The most…

    • 512 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “It is a very tragic day for us in virginia. My reaction was just shock. My first thought was just how tragic this was for the university” - Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. It was tragic day for the friends and families of the victims. Virginia tech massacre is a tragic event that in history and has impacted many people.…

    • 360 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shan had shot her boyfriend in his leg but she didn't killed him the reason of the shooting they had several conflict that she tried to fix but things never work out the right way so he had gotten her in the room they had some tumbling in the house so she caught him when he turned his back and she ease to the gun after he made her drop the gun and she pull the trigger and shot him in the leg. Investigators said the shooting happened in the 700 block of North 11th Avenue just before 8:30 p.m. According to the police report, responding officers found a 56-year-old man identified as Rodney Hibler with a gunshot wound to his right thigh. He reportedly identified his girlfriend, Shan , as the shooter. A witness told police said he saw the couple outside…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Another area which must be discussed is the metropole responses to acts of resistance in the peripheries. W.A. Speck mentions some British politicians believed duty on Tea was ‘a symbol of parliamentary sovereignty over the colonies’ (Speck, 2015, p.32). It could be argued the reprisal policies following The Boston Massacre demonstrate the metropole believed they had a right to exercise they perceived superiority, as they considered the peoples in the peripheries as children. Measures such as the The Quartering Act could be seen as the metropole exercising to its parliamentary sovereign. As mentioned above, the colonists saw these polices by the metropole is unfair. From a British point of view the acts of resistance were not only caused disruption to profits, it is highly likely some politicians they saw the acts of resistance as…

    • 315 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    the British plan was to squeeze the city and its garrison into baltimore by doing a land/sea maneuvers…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The fact that he never wanted the South to break away from the United States as it would a decade after his death, his words and life 's work made him the father of secession. In a very real way, he started the American Civil War. Slavery was the foundation of the antebellum South. More than any other characteristic, it defined Southern social, political, and cultural life. It also unified the South as a section distinct from the rest of the nation. John C. Calhoun, the South 's recognized intellectual and political leader from the 1820s until his death in 1850, devoted much of his remarkable intellectual energy to defending slavery. He developed a two-point defense. One was a political theory that the rights of a minority section in particular, the South needed special protecting in the federal union. The second was an argument that presented slavery as an institution that benefited all involved. John C. Calhoun 's commitment to those two points and his efforts to develop them to the fullest would assign him a unique role in American history as the moral, political, and spiritual voice of Southern separatism.…

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    who had once terrorized the law abiding middle class. Calhoun believed that “slavery instilled in…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    John C. Calhoun was born on March 18, 1782 and died on March 31, 1850. He was an American Politician and a political theorist. He began his career as a nationalist, modernizer, and a proponent of a strong national government. Over time his views changed and he became a greater proponent of states’ rights, limited government, nullification and free trade, he saw this as the only way to save the Union. He was very well known for his intense defense of slavery as a positive good his distrust of majoritarianism and for pointing the south toward the secession from the Union. Calhoun built his reputation as a political theorist by his redefinition of republicanism to include approval of slavery and minority rights, with the Southern states the minority in question. To protect minority rights against majority rule, he called for a "concurrent majority" where the minority could sometimes block offensive proposals that a state felt infringed on their sovereign power. Always distrustful of democracy, he minimized the role of the Second Party System in South Carolina. Calhoun's defense of slavery became defunct, but his concept of concurrent majority, whereby a minority has the right to object to or even veto hostile legislation directed against it, has been cited by other advocates of the rights of…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tom Van Putten served nine years in the U.S. Army, two of which were spent in Vietnam. In a phone interview with Tom, I asked him if he had ever visited the monument. In fact, he did and he discussed with me how hard it was to see a dozen names of men he knew that were put on that wall. "It 's really an awesome monument; it is hard remembering what it was like coming home. I was definitely changed for life " (Van Putten).…

    • 885 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fort Hood Shooting Essay

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Fort Hood massacre, like all things, has a before, a during, and an after. Before the shooting, people were going about their day as if nothing were new. During the shooting, people became the people they were meant to become. After the shooting, people felt the pain of loss; they thanked God, and they moved on. “I just thank God he missed me” (CNN). “Unit at Fort Hood deploying a month after shootings” (Fox).…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Jonestown Massacre Essay

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Jim Jones originally came from “humble beginnings”. He was born on May 31, 1931 in a rural part of Indiana. Being a minister to a few Christian churches around the Indianapolis area was how he made money to start a church of his own. He formed his church(cult) in Indian in the 50’s, it consisted of a mixed race of people which was odd for the time. But later relocated to Northern California in the 60’s. Then in the 70’s he relocated his group to San Francisco and also opened up a temple in Los Angeles. He helped to raise money for many charitable causes and even had programs set up for those in need such as: free dining, drug rehabilitation and medical assistance. To him it was important that everyone was equal disregarding their race, age…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the article, “The Vietnam Veterans Memorial: Commemorating a Difficult Past”, Wagner and Schwartz state three issues that arise when a memorial will be constructed. “(1) the social problems of fixing painful parts of the past (a military defeat, a generation of unredeemed veterans) in the public consciousness, (2) the political problem of commemorating an event for which there is no national consensus, and (3) the cultural problem of working through and against traditional expectations about the war memorial genre” (Wagner and Schwartz). As a group, Americans had to cooperate with one another to determine what the memorial would symbolize. Even though this process sounds simple, it is the opposite because every individual views the Vietnam War in a different form. With no guidelines, the masses had to decide what the significance of the memorial would be and to many the memorial would recognize the troops that died in combat, while to others the memorial would demonstrate a lesson to avoid in the…

    • 1406 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The majority of these monuments were put up from 1900-1920 when Jim Crow laws were at their peak, and when the Ku Klux Klan began to reemerge in the south, and one of the main arguments for creating these monuments is to commemorate fallen soldiers (Whose Heritage?). Since most monuments were put up almost four decades after the Civil War, it’s less likely that they were put up to commemorate the soldiers and more likely that they were put up for white southerners to reassert their dominance over…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The United States has the highest rate of civilian gun ownership in the world. That also comes with having the most mass shootings even rivaling war-torn countries. In 2015 only there has been more than three hundred plus mass shootings. With more shootings happening a lot more frequently, it is apparent that not nearly enough background checks into gun owners are being run. Three-quarters of people either own two or more. But what should be done about those who are attempted buyers that are turned away? Implemented in 1998 and Created under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System allows licensed gun sellers to check with the Federal Bureau of Intelligence, as required by the law, before a sale is made. While background checks have prevented tens of thousands of unlawful gun sales each year, opponents have said that the government doesn’t prosecute enough of the attempted buyers (‘‘The Case against Gun Background Checks’’, Good). More than 76,000 denials for gun purchases in 2010. 62 people were referred for prosecution and only thirteen of said prosecutions resulted in verdicts or guilty pleas. Some feel like there are already enough gun laws and that there…

    • 421 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays