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Assignment # 10: Questions

- On Friday April 17, my class had a class discussion about the War of 1812. At he end of the class, we had to answer a couple of questions Ms. Pollock gave us. Here are the questions:

- In your own opinion, who won the War of 1812? Explain.

- In my opinion, I think that the British won the War of 1812 because not only did they fight harder and smarter, they won more battles than the Americans did. When the Americans burned some of Canada's houses and land, the British wanted revenge so they burned Washington, including the White House. Also out of all the important battles, the Americans won only one battle but the British won six. These examples prove that the British were more committed to win and they should have won the war.

- Does there need to be a winner?

- I think that there should always be a winner at a war because if there is no winner, then the countries that were at war would have earned nothing at the end, and many lives would have been lost for nothing. They would also suffer a lot of destruction and financial instability because weapons and ammunition cost a lot of money . Victory at the end of a war would somehow cover up for these losses.

Santana's websites: Review

- According to Miss Pollock, Santana is her best searcher. She always says that her websites are full of information that can help us when we are doing our assignments. I have also looked at the websites and I think they are pretty cool. They are full of very useful information that really could help you in your assignments.

- First, let's start with the website she mentioned on Black Loyalists. I think the website on Black Loyalists was awesome. It was full of very useful information on the Black Loyalists. It was very detailed, it was filled with accurate information, and it was very organized. to see it, click this.

- I will put my next review later.

Assignment #9: Journal of Captain John Patrick Mason

- I am responding to assignment #9 on Mike's blog.

Journal of Captain John Patrick Mason

- The American Revolution had ended but unfortunately we, the British, lost. Even though we fought very hard, we were not able to conquer the Americans.

- During that War, I was a Loyalist and I served as Captain John Patrick Mason. I was very loyal to the Crown. I payed taxes and I shared the political views of the Queen even though I was in a different continent. I was the leader of many missions and most of them were successful. I was also included in missions with Major General Benedict Arnold which was a great honour to me because many of us in the army considered him as the best general. I was awarded many medals for my achievements, and I was considered a very important figure in the war. I was also very wealthy. I inherited all my money from my father.

- Life was already hard during the American Revolutionary War. I lost one of my sons in an explosion and I knew that we had to go somewhere safer but we couldn't. Fortunately, the rest of my family was safe until the end of the war. At this time, there was no use for staying in the United States of America. That is what the Americans called their country after they won the war. Many Loyalists decided to leave. They were called the United Empire Loyalists. Some of them went back to Great Britain. Others, specially blacks, went to the Bahamas but many wanted to go to British North America where people over there were still loyal to the Crown.

- Today, I decided that I should also take my family to British North America as many Loyalists did because it is more peaceful there. I discussed the matter with my family and they all thought that it was a splendid idea. We all agreed to go to a town in Nova Scotia called Shelburne. We heard it was a peaceful town and many of its residents are also loyal to the Crown. Therefore, tomorrow we set out to British North America.

- I am a little nervous of going to Nova Scotia because this is my first experience there. I don't know how life is going to be even though many of of friends who already left there told me how well they were treated. I am also nervous that my two younger kids might not like it there but I'm sure they will get used to it. I was also informed that if I go there I will receive 700 acres of land for my services as Captain which is good news because I can use that land as a starting point for my new life.

- Captain John Patrick Mason


- Sources:

- The Wikipedia article on Loyalists

- Wikipedia articled on Shelburne

- The United Empire Loyalists

- Another website on United Empire Loyalists


- I got the name John Patrick Mason from an awesome movie called The Rock that stars Sean Connery who plays a British Operative called Captain John Patrick Mason.

P.S. Unfortunately, it is hard to see the map of Nova Scotia clearly so just click on it and you'll get a bigger image.

FutureMe.org

* Hello Readers,

* A while ago I mentioned Dan Brown in one of my blog entries and he found something really cool. He found a website that lets you send e-mails to send to yourselves but you will receive in the future. You get to choose when you want to receive the e-mail (example in 10 years). I already sent my e-mail (I should receive it in 10 years!) and it would be really cool if you guys did it too.

Here is a link to the website: Future me

* Later

Assignment # 8: The Real Riel

- I am responding to assignment # 8.

- Firas: Hello everyone and welcome to “Interviews with Firas Darwiche” and today I am going to be interviewing a very colorful person: Mr. Louis Riel. Now before I start interviewing Mr. Riel, I would like to let you know that this interview is taking place in jail where Mr. Riel is spending his last weeks before being executed as he was sentenced to death. I am going now to give a small introduction about him.

- Louis Riel was probably one of the most controversial figures in Canadian History. He was born in St. Boniface 1844. He became a politician, the founder of the province Manitoba, and the leader of the Métis people of the Canadian Prairies. Louis Riel was a Métis himself, which is a son or daughter of an aboriginal and a European, and sought to preserve Métis rights and culture.

- Firas: Alright Mr. Riel let's begin. In the year 1858, you were sent to Montreal with the hope to become a priest. What happened then?

- Louis Riel: Well Firas, I didn’t like being forced to do something I don’t like, so I dropped out because I wanted to study law with a man named Rudolphe Laflamme.

- Firas: What did you do after that?

-Louis Riel: After that, I also dropped out of college. Then I found work in Chicago and in St. Paul, Minnesota. Later, I returned to Saint-Boniface in 1868.

- Firas: Thank you and now I have another question. What was the purpose of the Red River Rebellion?

- Louis Riel: When I returned back, the Canadian government decided that all of the Métis farms would make great places to install English-speaking settlers from Ontario and without regard for the Métis rights. Faced with this threat, we decided to resist. We set up a provisional government for the territory we called Manitoba. I was elected as the president of the federal government so I decided to take over Fort Garry (which is Winnipeg) and made a list of Métis rights. I thought this will emphasize to the federal government the importance of negotiating with them Manitoba's entry into the Canadian Confederation. Sir John A. McDonald decided to negotiate but I was sent into exile for the United States for executing Thomas Scott, an Ontarian. I think this was a bad idea because this execution provoked hate against me especially in Ontario.

- Firas: That is a very good answer. But I am still wondering, why did you kill Thomas Scott? Did he threaten to kill you maybe?

- Louis Riel: I didn't execute him because he was trying to kill me, I executed him to demonstrate to the Canadians that the Métis must be taken seriously.

- Firas: Thank you for clearing things up, but I do have more questions. In 1882, federal surveyors once again descended on the Métis and treated them exactly as they had done in 1869. What did the Métis do this time?

- Louis Riel: I was still living in the United States, the Métis once again appealed to me to come back, be their leader, form a government, and organize a resistance. This time though, we had support of the Plains Amerindians, who also saw them selves threatened by the encroachment of settlers from the East. The government refused to negotiate and sent troops to fight against us. The combined force between us and the Amerindians wasn’t strong enough and some of my people fled away so I was imprisoned and charged with high treason.

- Firas: What happened after you got imprisoned?

- Louis Riel: I went to court and gave two long speeches about why I did this and many more but the judge sentenced me to death.

- Firas: Wasn’t there any attempts made to overturn the death sentence?

- Louis Riel: Yes of course. My defense tried very hard to prove I am not guilty by reason of insanity. However, I rejected these attempts. I prefer to die as a hero and not live the rest of my life as an insane.

- Firas: Beside politics, did you do something else?

-Louis Riel: Of course, I am also a writer. I have lots of publishing related to poetry, religions, and politics.

- Firas: When is the death sentence is going to take place?

- Louis Riel: Very soon, on November 16, 1885.

- Firas: Thank you some much for letting me interview you Mr. Riel and just to let you know, I am on your side.

- Louis Riel: Thanks.

* I hope you enjoyed this assignment. Happy Blogging. Here is a list of websites I visited that helped me:

1- Wikipedia: Louis Riel

2- Louis Riel

3- The Heritage Centre: Biography of Louis Riel

-P.S. Special thanks to Timmy for helping me understand more about Louis Riel and for Tale for helping understand more about the Métis.

-P.S. In a website I visited, it said: "In early 1999, in response to a favourable survey of federal Members of Parliament, MP Denis Coderre introduced a bill in the House of Commons to pardon Louis Riel. The pardon would rehabilitate him in the eyes of history and give him the honour he deserves as a champion of the rights of the Métis and the Amerindians", so they declared him innocent.

Help for assignment # 7

Hello Everyone,

*First of all, I want to wish everyone that is doing assignment 7 luck since it is the biggest assignment yet but this is not what this entry is about. I have found a great website that gives a huge list of very important Canadian personalities. This is important because if you are having trouble finding your three Canadian personalities, you check this website out. To check it out, click Important Canadian Personalities. Happy Blogging!