HIS 131 95
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- Instructor Charlotte Brow and class outside entrance
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- Brinson M. and Lisa H. viewing diorama of battle at Fort Necessity.
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- Mallory F. with portrait of George Washington at the NC Museum of History
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- Brinson M. at Charles B. Aycock Birthplace
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- Service Learning – old school house/church
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- Service Learning at the Charles B. Aycock Birthplace
The honors program is a great program for those looking for a more in depth that makes you think not just memorize for a semester.
As originally proposed in 1787, the Constitution was met with great dissatisfaction and skepticism. One major concern with the new document was the exclusion of personal liberties and rights. Federalists, or proponents of the newly adopted constitution, thought that the new division of power in the government would suffice for protecting the liberties of the population. However, delegates who were against the new constitution, or anti-federalists, refused to ratify the Constitution because they felt it threatened their liberties. Therefore, a significant effort was undertaken to compromise on the issue. After great debating, negotiating, and voting, the delegates produced the Bill of Rights, which listed specific, unalienable rights of the American citizens and laid the foundation for the freedoms American citizens enjoy today.
With the first amendment to the Constitution, several clauses set forth guidelines protecting the freedoms of American citizens. Of these clauses, two govern religious freedom in the United States of America. One clause is termed the establishment clause which states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” This disallows the government from passing legislation to create or establish and official religion in the United States. The establishment clause also prohibits the government from displaying favor of one religion over another or non-religion over a religion. In addition, the establishment clause upholds the idea of “separation of church and state” that causes widespread controversy especially in the school system. The second clause pertaining to religious freedom in the United States is identified as the free exercise clause. Continuing from the establishment clause with “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” the free exercise clause prohibits the government from interfering with individuals’ rights to hold religious beliefs and freely practice religion. Also, schools must address the issue of religion in schools while remaining under the jurisdiction of the first amendment, and unfortunately teachers are largely affected by laws governing religion in schools. As a student, I too am affected as to how I am able to express my religious beliefs in the context of a school. Due to the fact that religion plays a major role in many peoples’ lives, including my own, I find the first amendment crucial and therefore, I view it as one of the most important of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights.
Another key right addressed by the first amendment is the freedom of speech. As a very vocal person, I am highly appreciative and grateful for the first amendment’s protection of my freedom of speech and right to petition the government. Without such rights, the voices of the people, especially the smaller, rural, grassroots organizations would not be heard. In addition, the first amendment’s protection of our right to peaceably assemble not only for religious purposes, but also for the purposes of addressing local issues, petitioning the government, and voicing our opinions is vital in a democracy and allows the people to truly have a hand in their government.
The first amendment sets down the most basic, unalienable rights of the American people, and I believe it is of the most important amendments to the Constitution. Without our freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, right to petition the government, and right to peaceably assemble there would exist a great threat against the liberties of citizens and the American people would be stripped of their individuality.
In my opinion, the amendment of the constitution which is most important would be the first one concerning religious, political, and other freedoms. The constitution was crafted out of the need to distinguish the rights of all individuals in America. This country has a lingering theme of freedom and the first amendment states that the government cannot and shall not infringe on the many freedoms that Americans have. Without this amendment in the constitution America would be like every other country, who looks to stifle their citizens freedoms and make them subjects not citizens.
To be a so called “free” nation, we must have freedoms delegated to each of us. That is why in my personal opinion the first amendment to our Bill of Rights is the most important. If we are given the power of speech, religion, press, assembly, and freedom to petition we have been granted the power to run the country our way and make our voices heard. In other countries such as communistic China, their rights are taken away from them by their leaders causing them to sacrifice rights that we take for granted today. The framework of our country lies with these simple words etched in fine print and still stands strong today as the ideals of modern day America. I believe without this amendment to our Bill of Rights that there would be no special rights to give. If I was not able to get up on Sunday, read my morning paper, enjoy the Dear Abby column, go to church, worship as I please, invite my friends over to talk about our lives and maybe even some social problems, and petition the loud band playing noisily across the street to stop playing so loud on our day off, then I do not know what America would be like. It would be as if we had a voice but it was not heard, and it would be as if the government had ultimate ruling power over our nation, our lives, and our freedom. That is why I believe that this is the most important amendment in our constitution.
Reflections after Charles B. Aycock Birthplace service project.
Upon mention of serving at the birthplace as an option for our class project, I thought it would be a fun and new experience. I was completely unaware of the labor and raw learning that would occur. On Saturday, October 9, 2010, our class traveled to the birthplace of Charles B. Aycock to serve and learn. We dressed in the typical 19th century fashions and participated in educating the public on the practices of 19th century open hearth cooking,clothes washing, cross-cut sawing, sewing and operating a loom, and the style of a one-room schoolhouse education. I myself was stationed in the one-room schoolhouse for the majority of the day although I did venture from my post to educate myself and to participate in other areas.
The schoolhouse located at the birthplace was built in 1893 and moved to the birthplace form its original location in Nahunta in 1961. Although I was aware of many of the practices and logistics of a 19th century one-room school house, I was not as familiar as I am after having lead tours on Saturday. I was given the unique opportunity to shadow an experienced volunteer at the birthplace and bask in their knowledge of the schoolhouse. Before the day was halfway over, I began participating in the tour and ultimately, along with a fellow classmate, lead the tours with minimal aid from the experienced volunteer. Having been given such an opportunity, I felt as if I was reliving history as a 19th century schoolhouse (or better yer, schoolroom) teacher.
The experience overall enlightened me and gave me great insight to the daily chores of a 19th century family. On the Aycock farm, everyone was involved in the running of the household and our participation on Saturday allowed us to see the labor that was involved in every aspect of daily chores. Whereas now we utilize luxuries such as dishwashers, washing machines, running water, and technology, the Aycock family lived from the simplest of means. Perhaps we would feel less of a burden if we were to reexamine our history and realize the simple and humble beginnings from which we were born. Without the hustle, and rapid pace of modern society, we would possible be able to utilize more time for the simple and greater things in life.
Waking up to a well engineered alarm clock ringing at 7:00 a.m., taking a shower and brushing my teeth with warm running water, putting on clothes different from the ones I wore the day before, and turning down the Heat as I leave me house in my black mustang are all things I seem to not notice in my everyday routine. Back in the time of Governor Charles B. Aycock they had no two-story homes, no heat or AC, they had no grocery stores, cars, etc. Everything was collected, grown, built heated etc by hand and after spending only a few hours in character, I soon realized the harsh reality that came with their form of life.
My job for the event Saturday October 9, 2010 at Charles B. Aycock Birthplace was cross cut sawing. Cross cut sawing is what colonial Americans used to chop down lumber for firewood, building materials, clearing wooded areas, etc. In this method of labor, two is better than one because this saw cannot be used without having two men steering the saw. One on each side of the tree or log as each person takes a turn pulling the saw towards them, never pushing the saw towards the other person. The saw is designed with four cutting teeth planned to be longer than the rest of the teeth causing the wood to cut freely and smoothly. As the cutting teeth go to work, sawdust builds up in the incision in the tree. If this happens, the saw will become jammed and will cease to do work. This is where the drag teeth come into play. The drag teeth come after every set of cutting teeth and have to be the shortest teeth on the saw. These well-crafted metal sections keep the incision free of debris. As the saw moves back and forth, the cutting teeth grind away at the tree slicing perfect blocks of wood as the drag teeth keep the saw running smoothly. The amount of force, energy, and time it takes to perform a task such as this is not comprehendible at a daily level.
This experience of living history has not only taught me a little bit of the lifestyles of Colonial America but it showed me what 2010 has to offer and how modern day Americans take many things that we are given for granted.
I must say that I had a blast working at the Charles B. Aycock Birthplace with my fellow history students on Oct. 9! I was able to dress up as a colonist of the 1800’s and was stationed in the Aycock’s old kitchen. Throughout the day, groups, families, and individuals ventured into the kitchen where I would answer questions, quiz their knowledge, demonstrate, and explain about open hearth cooking and various items located in the Aycock’s old kitchen.
Starting out the day my knowledge about open hearth cooking and the items found in a 19th century kitchen was very limited. But with the amazing guidance from a regular Aycock volunteer named Sarah, I now feel that I could tell you anything you wanted to know about that old kitchen. I learned so much and had so much fun regurgitating my new found knowledge to the community.
Some of the things I learned were that people back in the 19th century had a use for everything they owned! Ashes were saved and used to make lye and the lye would then be used to make lye soap. Pig intestines were cleaned out and with the use of a sausage stuffer, were used to contain freshly made sausage. Yum! They even had a use for their old cornhusks. After shucking the corn, the cornhusks were weaved through holes of a flat piece of wood that was attached to a long wooden handle which, by doing this, would create a 19th century mop!
Also, I learned and was able to teach others about open hearth cooking! Because a fire was going almost all the time, the kitchen was separated from the rest of the house; just in case it would catch fire the family would still have their home. People in the 19th century would not always cook directly over the fire due to the intensity of the heat. When building a fire, the firewood would be piled on racks in the fireplace of the kitchen, allowing there to be room between the floor and the burning wood. Many meals were prepared by collecting the hot ashes and coals, which would fall from the burning wood, and spread them out onto the open hearth. Then, the cooks would use some sort of cast iron pot such as a spider-pan (a pan that has legs on the bottom of it) or a dutch-oven and place it onto the pile of hot ashes. If the pot had a lid, ashes and coals could be placed on top of the lid as well. The heat that comes from the ashes and coals would heat up the pot and cook the food. While I was working in the kitchen, Sarah and I had the chance to cook some biscuits, some sausage, and an apple pie by using this open hearth cooking technique. I also learned that Mrs. Aycock used to make over 150 biscuits every day. Now that would be a job!
I had a blast and learned so much while serving hands on at the Charles B. Aycock Birthplace and I am hoping to have the opportunity to return very soon!
I firmly believe that first amendment is the most important of our country’s Bill of Rights in order to truly be considered a free nation. This amendment deals with the freedoms of religion, speech and press, also to be able to have peaceable assembly and to petition.
As a Christian, this is the most important amendment to me. I take so much for granted such as being able to go to church and worship openly without the fear of having to be quiet or suffer an ambush that could turn into a massacre. I am so blessed to be able to read my Bible without the fear of persecution. I know that I can invite my friends to church and Bible study without fearing that they might tell on me and I soon could find myself imprisoned, being tortured, or executed for my faith. By having this first amendment in place, it extinguishes a great deal of fear that many citizens in other countries must live with every day.
The establishing of the first amendment is just another amazing attribute of this great country! God bless America!
I have always enjoyed reading historical accounts, and historical fiction (when it is solidly based in fact!), and so I had a great deal of intellectual “experience” already before I arrived at the Aycock Birthplace last Saturday to meet my fellow History students. I was very eager to begin our day, as I am very interested in learning many of the forgotten lifeways that were once so integral to daily life. I spent the majority of the morning in the main room of the house, watching as a regular volunteer coached one of the Birthplace employees through her first attempt at spinning wool. I was immediately interested, as this is a skill I myself would like to possess, and my fascination only deepened when I realized that Rebecca would be learning on the exact same type of spinning wheel that I have at home! (A legacy from my father-in-law, who was a master craftsman specializing in 18th century reproduction furniture.)
As we sat in the main room, we three women talked and laughed and worked, much as it must have been those many years ago when the house was actively occupied. Rebecca and her volunteer coach spun on their respective wheels, while I sat on the floor nearby and separated seeds from raw cotton. (Not necessarily because I HAD to, per se, but it simply seemed wrong to be in a place that was once such a site of constant domestic industry, and yet to remain idle….) After a bit, another volunteer, a gentleman this time (sorry, I am very bad with names!) arrived with two children in tow, and the room suddenly seemed to come alive. All of us were in costume, and our conversation was general in tone, speaking of places we had been and things that we had done there. Our “gentleman caller,” if you will, had been to a number of places as a reenactor, and so had a wealth of interesting stories to tell, some of them even ghostly!
Since I (sadly!) had to leave a bit early, I wandered the grounds a bit after lunch, to see some of the other areas. I enjoyed the corn-grinding demonstration, among other things, and if I am not greatly mistaken I have actually seen one of those corn-grinders lying in our smokehouse at home…I very much intend to find out if that is the case, and to put it into practice if at all possible! I have believed for many years that an unfortunate side-effect of our current society has been a steady movement away from the land and our roots, and I want to bring some of those lifeways back on my home farm.
Our day at the Aycock Birthplace was very enjoyable, on a number of levels, and I hope that I will have another chance to go back and help out again someday…
While I firmly believe that all of the original ten Constitutional Amendments are vital to the success of our country, the one that I feel is most important is the second amendment, the right to bear arms. This is a constitutional right which we as a country are trying very hard to give away, and the implications frighten me, to be honest. But, I’ll save that particular soap-box speech for next semester’s Social Problems class…lol.
The right to bear arms is important to me because it means that I have the right to defend myself, my family, my home, and my livelihood. It also implies that I have a responsibility to defend my country in the event of a domestic attack – something which prior to September 11, 2001, was a thought which many people would have considered to be virtually heretical in nature. Unfortunately, we have learned, to our sorrow, that we are indeed vulnerable to attack on our own soil, and would well behoove us to keep the means of our defense to hand.
And if we give away our right to bear arms? What then, you ask? Well, for one thing, we give away a tremendous part of our country’s heritage! Where would we be as a country, if not for the “armies of farmboys” with their hunting rifles? We would still be toasting the King! Well, rather, Queen, but you get the idea… If we had not the right to bear arms, we would never have been able to take a stand against the British in the first place, or to defend against “Indian” attacks (never mind that we were stealing their land in the first place…), or even to put meat on the table at the founding of the colonies.
Our class had the opportunity to go on an amazing field trip to the History Museum up in Raleigh. The trip turned out to be a wonderful and very fun learning experience. We were able to explore all sorts of exhibits in the museum, but my favorite one was the George Washington exhibit. The exhibit was very intriguing and contained numerous paintings of George Washington, information about his family, wife, and step children, a hands-on quiz game, three life-size models of Washington at different ages, the family Bible from Washington’s personal library, and even Washington’s dentures that are made from ivory, human teeth and animal teeth. It was also neat to sit in a replica of Washington’s church pew and watch a short film about Washington’s religious beliefs. But what fascinated me most were the weapons on display! The knives, rifles, and handguns were very unique and the intricate designs and engravings on the stocks and handles of the artillery were astonishing! I had so much fun and am very excited that the Honors program has given me this learning opportunity! Thanks!
After experiencing the Washington Exhibit at the Raleigh Museum of History, I gained a new appreciation for our nation’s first president (or fourth depending on who you’re talking to). it was thrilling to see the History Channel’s wax figures of Washington as he progressed through his life. in addition, the exhibition of his false teeth was amazing. I found it enlightening and engaging to be able to walk through George Washington’s life rather than just flip through it in a book.
Prior to the awesome experience at the museum, our group indulged in a great cultural experience as we dined in an authentic Lebanese restaurant. The food provided great insight to another country’s lifestyle, and transported us there through the music, atmosphere, and delicious authenticity of the food.
Learning by experience has always had a greater impact on me than sitting idly in a classroom. Therefore, I thoroughly enjoy every opportunity the Honors Program offers to learn in a different setting and experience the world around us. Through trips, innovative projects, and engaging discussion, the Honors program defies the norms and allows you to earn an education from an amazing experience.
On December 7th, I participated in the annual Candlelight Tours at Charles B. Aycock birthplace. This experience helped open my eyes to the life of the Aycocks, especially the women. I dressed in clothes that they wore, wore no makeup, and had to wear my hair in a bun. The simplicity of the clothing made me realize how simple things were back then. Working in the dining room also opened my eyes to how family was so important. All the children ate together and family was pivotal for the house, as well as outside farming. The table was covered with food and dishes that looked delicious. Jelly cake, chicken, biscuits, and collard greens were staple dishes. There Christmas like was many families today today, but the simplicity of it differed. The small room, separate from the kitchen, was lit by candlelight and the table and chairs were centered right in the middle.
The room itself was cold and without the door open to the fireplace the cold became unbearable. I could not see how the Aycocks could stand until I realized that they were strong people. They could endure without the trivial things we think we need in life. Overall, this experience made me realize how sometimes the simple family times are what we should appreciate the most, not only at Christmas but all year long.