LO+APARTS+method+primary+sources+response

26 August 2009 Hernan Cortes Conquers Mexico (1519-1526) **A**-The author of this source is Hernan Cortes, in a letter to the king of Spain. Hernan Cortes’s point of view comes from the fact that he was a conquistador and that he went to the new world only to conquer and please his king.
 * P-** This letter was produced in Segura de la Frontera on October 30, 1520.
 * P-** In 1519 Hernan Cortes and other Spanish conquistadors conquered the Aztecs in Mexico. They were able to do this because Cortes had their ruler, Moctezuma, convinced that he was their god arriving from the heavens. While in Mexico, the conquistadors tried to change the religion of the Aztecs along with controlling their other ways of life. They were in search of god, gold, and glory. By the time the Aztecs found out that Cortes was not their god it was to late because the spread of the European diseases to them had already begun.
 * A**-This source was directed towards the king of Spain during the 1520’s. This greatly affects the reliability of the source and makes it not very reliable because Hernan Cortes could have skewed his accounts of certain events and told lies just so that he could please his king.
 * R-**Cortes wrote this letter to the king of Spain in order to prove how much power he had in Mexico. He wanted to show that he was able to easily defeat the Aztecs because they were gullible and believed that he was actually their god, and that they were willing to give him anything he wanted. He also showed that he was determined to start converting the Aztecs to Catholicism and move them away from their ways.
 * T-**This source shows how much power and control Hernan Cortes had over the Aztecs. They readily believe that Cortes is their god and they honor him and give him gold. The Aztecs also readily drop their own religious practices when Cortes imposes Catholicism onto them. Cortes wants to change their life style and the Aztecs are willing to let him because they feel that he is their god and what he does is right.
 * S-** This source is important because it represents the Spanish greed. Hernan Cortes jumps on any opportunity to gain riches for himself and Spain. When the Aztecs assume that he is their god Cortes does not deny it because he knows that it is a way to get more gold and control them. The Spanish wanted to start to push out other lifestyles of the people living in the area and offer their own life style. This occurred a lot with Catholicism because the Spanish wanted to convert the Aztecs even though they had a religion.

Aztec Chroniclers Describe the Spanish Conquest (1519)
 *  A-  ** An Aztec native that witnessed the invasion of the Spanish conquistadors and the confrontation between Hernan Cortes and Moctezuma.
 * P-** The event took place in the Aztec Empire in 1519, but the source was created in 1529.
 * P-**The Aztecs were conquered by the Spanish when they invaded Mexico. Cortes pretended to be the Aztec god so that the Aztecs would give him gifts of gold and other prized possessions. Many of the Aztecs were killed by the spread of the European diseases. This is essentially about the time when their culture began to fall.
 *  A-  ** This source was created for a Spanish Franciscan friar named Bernardino de Sahagun who was writing an account of the Aztec culture’s history. This does not affect the reliability of the source because it was a first hand account of what really happened in 1519 by an Aztec who was there. The Aztec probably did not have much bias because the event was happening to his own culture and he had no reason to lie about it.
 * R-** This source was created to show the true feelings of this Aztec. He was not happy with the Spanish conquistadors because they killed off his people just because they had different practices than the Spanish. The Spanish tricked the Aztecs into believing that Cortes was their god so that they could get gold. This Aztec wanted to get the point across that the conquistadors were not as good as they seemed to be.
 * T-**The Spanish did not really respect the Aztecs. They were only out for gold and control over the city. They locked up Moctezuma so that they could do this. The Spanish showed interest in seeing one of the Aztec’s rituals, but then when it started the Spanish started killing the people because they saw their ritual and their ways as being barbaric and savage.
 * S-**This source is important because it shows that although the Spanish came across as being the Aztec god sent down from heaven, they were far from it. The Spanish attacked the Aztecs after they received their gold, and after this the Aztecs were able to see that the Spanish were just using them.

Both of these sources depict the same exact event although they are written from two totally different perspectives. The first source was written by Hernan Cortes in a letter to the King of Spain. Cortes explained how the Aztecs willingly took him as their god and then gave him gifts of all sort, including gold. He describes how the Aztecs were willing to put aside their religion and tradition and take up Catholicism without any sort of complaint. According to the letter he was nice to them and they were nice to him and there was no violence. The second source was written by an Aztec who witnessed the invasion of the conquistadors. This is a completely different perspective because it was from the opposite party. The Aztec explained how Cortes did not really want any of their gifts except for gold. He locked up their king so that he could have better control of the city. They demanded certain foods and they fired cannons just to scared and confuse people. When the Aztecs preformed the Fiesta of Toxcatl the Spanish brutally attacked them saying that their ways were savage. The one thing that is similar between these two sources is that both of the opposing cultures saw each other as savage.

31 August 2009 “A Young African boy is taken into Slavery” Pg. 24-26  1. The Most upsetting features of being taken from his home for Venture Smith must have been seeing a foreign army invade his country and the first moment he sees them he is hit with a gun, held around his neck, and has a rope put around him. He then has to see the same thing happen to all of the women he knows from his tribe. The most disturbing of all must have been to witness his father being cruelly tortured and killed so that the pride and secret of his family’s money could be kept a secret.  2. Robertson Mumford made Venture Smith feel like a person rather than a slave by giving him a name with meaning. Venture Smith’s behavior also helped him adjust to the New World. He was obedient, honest, and faithful. This made it possible for him to avoid getting beaten and for his master to trust him which eventually led to his freedom. “The intolerant Act of Toleration” Pg. 38-39  1. Lord Baltimore says that Catholics or any other people believing in Christ will not be harassed for their religion or forced to change. Catholics and any one else believing in Christ also should not be subject to the calling of offensive names. Any one who committed these things would be punished.  2. Jews and atheists would have been killed if this rule was enforced because they do not believe Jesus to be our savior and the son of God. They also do not believe in the Trinity. These peoples’ land would have been taken away and given to Lord Baltimore. “Framing the Mayflower Compact” Pg. 43  1. The Mayflower Compact was the first American constitution because they signed their names promising to untie as a civilized group of people and to make decisions for the company as a whole. This contract bonded them together and kept them organized.  2. The Mayflower Compact foreshadowed a start of the democratic government because in it they were bound together as a civilized body to make laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices for the good of the people. They also agreed to meet together from time to time to make these plans. “Anne Hutchinson is banished” Pg. 47-48  1. This record of the court reveals that the Puritan way of thinking is very orthodox and stuck in its ways. Anyone going against it in any way was punished. Anne Hutchinson was punished both because she was a woman and because she was making her own twist on Calvinism. She had claimed to have been spoken to by God. This made her seem like a heretic and was therefore banished. This decision had justice in it because in the newly settled colonies the people did not need someone that was troublesome and threatening on top of all their other problems. Governor Winthrop was just trying to protect the community. “The Blue Laws of Connecticut” Pg. 50-51  1. In these set of Blue Laws the only punishment listed was to be put to death. At times this punishment seemed a bit harsh for the circumstances, such as when people believed in a different God, cursed the name of God, have evidence to be a witch, or curse their parents and are disobedient towards them. At other times it is the right punishment such as when a person commits murder, kidnap, poisoning, or wrongfully blaming a person of murder.  2. Murder, poisoning, kidnap, and being a false witness are still regarded as criminal today.