~Can A Civilization Develop/Advance Living In Cyclical Time?~

~Ashlee Lawrence~Honors History 10~04/16/08~

Abstract:

This paper will prove that a civilization can advance and develop living in cyclical time. I will use various internet sources as well as The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by

David S. Landes.

A civilization can advance and develop living in cyclical time. The Native Americans lived in cyclical time and developed their own way of living and advancements. Along with Native Americans the Ancient Greeks and the Egyptians also lived in cyclical time and had no problem advancing and developing a civilization.

Cyclical time is compared to looking at the pattern of life as a circle. Linear time is looking at the pattern of life as an on going progression. In linear time you look ahead to the future, you predict and plan for the future. Cyclical time is very much the opposite. Spring comes, (birth) then summer is here, (thriving point of life) then fall and winter bring the death; with the pattern repeating, starting with the rebirth in spring. There is no prediction of the future, it is all living in the moment and what is necessary to stay alive now.

The American Indians lived in cyclical time. They did not think about their need for more food in the future because of population growth, nor did they see the need to advance their civilization because it was working fine for them at the time. Their civilization although it hay not have been as advanced as those around it was plenty advanced for what they needed to do to survive. They could properly feed and clothe themselves, they had houses to live in, and they had established their own kind of government.

The Native Americans were not the only culture living in cyclical time that were advanced in some way. The ancient greeks were guided by the changing of the seasons and the migration of animal herds and without their advancements many things could not have been achieved in other civilizations and today. Heronas originated the automatic doors that we see everywhere today. He is also responsible for the first steam engine which was run off of methods that we still use today.

Egypt being as advanced, maybe even more advanced than the ancient greeks ran on cyclical time. The birth of classical greece from the dark ages is laid on egypt's shoulders. All fo the advancements they had made they passed along to the Greeks which helped them come out of their 500 year re-developmetn. Egypt had many of the world's firsts. The first library, the first physician, they created geometry, astronomy and were among the first to explore the human beings existence. Along with these advancements they also built the sphinx and were the only culture to raise pyramids.

As you can see from the Native Americans, the Ancient Greeks and the Egyptians a civilization can advance and develop living in cyclical time. There is no need to see the future [and how the advancements of today can help people of tomorrow] to advance today.

~Change Over Time~

~Ashlee Lawrence~Honors History 10~04/16/08~

Between the time of the founding of Jamestown and the American Revolution the natives were in a continuous cultural revolution because of their contact with the Europeans. Religion was one major revolution to the natives brought on by the Europeans, whereas health was another. Throughout this cultural revolution the way the natives are looked at through English eyes has not changed.

The natives were a very spiritual people. Everything that they did in life was for a purpose. They had certain ways to deal with the animals and crops as to satisfy the gods and to help them prosper. When the Europeans came, the natives way of living changed dramatically. The Europeans were Christians and had the idea in their head that they were going to convert all of the natives to Christianity. They saw the natives as nothing more than savages and were hoping that by converting them to Christianity they would civilize them. The natives did not like being told that the way they had been living their lives was wrong. Many generations had been living this way and they could see nothing wrong with it. Still the Europeans converted! They created praying towns which were towns that were made of all Christian Indians and where English customs and trades were taught in addition to religious instruction. What the natives didn't realize was that by learning Christianity, they were learning the english language, which would slowly made them less like themselves and more like the Europeans. By 1650 most Indians were in praying towns and in 1680 there were over 700 praying Indians.

Another way the natives were impacted by the Europeans was their health. When the Europeans came over they brought with them epidemics and diseases that the natives had never seen before. The Europeans had a lifestyle of living in close quarters with domesticated animals usually used for farming. When the natives were hit with smallpox, typhus, measles and many others they had no immunity built up to them and therefore came upon them one of the largest population decreases ever recorded in history; some say up to 95% of the native population died. Along with the diseases that the Europeans brought they also needed food which had to be provided by the natives. Where the Europeans were used to using domesticated animals for their food they had no idea how to hunt in the wild, therefore the providing of food depended completely on the natives. This put more stress on the natives as well as decreasing their amount of food.

Through all of these changes that the natives went through there was one thing that never changed, the way the Europeans looked at or saw the natives. The natives never changed in the eyes of the Europeans. They were always inferior to them and were seen as not really useful. The only thing that the Europeans could see that they needed the natives for was food, but the Europeans figured out how to hunt soon after they came over.

Dear Reader,

I am writting today on the fourteenth of April in the year two thousand and eight. I am recalling myself to life to tell you about the plan of union for Albany. In July of 1754 there was a war on the horizon. The French were crawling into American country and interrupting the lifestyles of the Indians. I believe it was well known that the Indian colonies could not survive on their own; hence my plan of union. My intent with this union was to bring all of the colonies together to make them stronger and capable to defeat the enemy. I am not affraid to say that i failed; the Crown disapproved my plan. I put alot of time and effort into my plan and was not the most joyful person at the Crown's decision. My best wishes to any plan that you may come up with!

B. Franklin

Albany Plan of Union

Ben Franklin

Ashlee Lawrence

April 15, 2008

Honors History 10

Being Ben Franklin and all I would like to take this time to share with you my marvelous, yet not so successful Plan of Union for Albany. In July of 1754 a war was on the horizon. The French were crawling into American country and interrupting the lifestyles of the Indians. I believe it was well known that the Indian colonies could not survive on their own; therefore there was a need for a “plan of union”.

Commissioners from each colony gathered together at Albany to come up with a plan. They knew it would be hard; most of the colonies could see nothing good from the others. They were commonly feeling that they wouldn’t want to help defend a colony that in return might not help defend them. Why would they want to disrupt their time of peace with the enemy to help someone else and potentially put themselves in danger? It seemed impossible to get each colony to agree to act as one in defense against the French. Therefore it was necessary for parliament to take action if the union was going to stay together. And so the journey began of unity.

One original thought was to create two or three distinct unions. After drafting this proposal even the ones who suggested it declined it. It was a bad idea for many reasons. First, you were still lacking the strength of combining all of the colonies. Yes it was better than having single colonies out to defend themselves, but it wasn’t enough for preservation. Second, some of the colonies were naturally stronger than others. If they were paired with only one or two other colonies there wouldn’t be equality and that would weaken the union. Overall, having all of the commissioners together would give them a better understanding of everyone in the colonies, therefore allowing them to provide for each other in a better manner.

Each having governments that were run differently, the only common ground they could find was their representatives. After the act had passed the house of representatives that was in office at the time would pick the representatives for the united colonies. The number of representatives from each colony would be determined by the population, with the parameters of having no less than two but no more than seven to represent each colony. Elections would last three years and as the population would fluctuate the number of representatives would be taken from the population paying taxes at the end of the third year of the election. The number of representatives would have been as follows: Massachusetts’s Bay and Virginia having 7; New Hampshire and Rhode Island having 2; Connecticut having 5; New York, Maryland and North and South Carolina all having 4; Pennsylvania having 6; and New Jersey having 3.

Seems how the colonies were spread out, Philadelphia was selected as the nearest to the center of all. The roads surrounding it were well built and forty to fifty miles could be and were travelled on them a day. Much of the traveling could be done by water in the summer time. For the unfortunate ones like New Hampshire and South Carolina the journey on horseback could set them back a good 15 to 20 days. This brought up another issue.

Soldiers may from time to time be needed in emergency to defend a specific geographical destination of the union. If you have some soldiers that can’t make it to your destination for a good 15 days how are they going to be of any help in the emergency situation? An excessive amount of money is going to be spent on getting them there and the event will most likely be taken care of by the time they do get there. This problem was thought to be solved by offering bounty money and having soldiers raised right where they would be needed, ready to be discharged when their services were of no longer of use.

In the terms of money and traveling each representative would be paid some wages. (Not too much, so that unsuitable persons should be tempted to join for the sake of gain, but enough so that people of greater knowledge would be willing to put in their time.) These members would have to travel to an annual meeting where sufficient business would be discussed to improve the efficiency of the union. The president general was left at liberty to place the meeting when and where he saw fit. In time of war the preferred meeting place may be where the most action is taking place. He also had the authority to call emergency meetings which in some cases could cause frequent long journeys that were unnecessary therefore the consent of at least seven colonies was needed to proceed with a meeting of this sort.

After many revisions and days of deliberation the Crown did not approve my plan of union. Although there were many advantages of uniting these eleven colonies, the Crown did not see a need for it. In previous times these colonies had defended themselves without the help of neighboring provinces or the mother country and turned out just fine. However, a change was made and a new plan was approved. In this new plan the governors from all of the colonies along with one or two of its respected members would be present at a meeting to discuss the defense of the whole as well as the erection of forts where needed along with troops, all the while having the power to draw money from the treasury to be reimbursed by a tax laid on the colonies by parliament.

Sometimes the best solution for a group of peoples is just out of reach for what you have to work with. My draft for Albany’s Plan of Union was just the case. With the right people it would have been a success, but in order to unite you have to have peace, and it was a long shot to peace with these eleven colonies!