Ralph Waldo Emerson

Personal Statement:
Hello. My name is Ralph Waldo Emerson. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 25, 1803. I loved to be taught by my aunt, Mary Moody Emerson. She was by far my best teacher and had a very positive effect on my life. My father died when i was eight. I began school when i was nine and i attended Boston Latin School in 1812 and later on, in 1817, i attended Harvard College. I was named class poet in my junior year and i graduated with a rank in the middle of my class. I wasn't the best student. I later on moved to a more tropical climate and started my career as an author.
Issues:
I took part in intellectualism, abolitionism, and religion. My goal with the transcendentalism movement was to praise the individual rather than society, as society corrupts individuals. My motives were religious because i believed that everything was divine.
Solutions:
I was involved in the transcendentalist movement, which encourages people to pursue their own style rather than copying their predecessors. People can discover things that rules sometimes wont let them. They may experience a deeper spiritual sense by their own will. My movement was successful because it influenced my peers to pursue their own style and their own view.
Relationship with Others:
I believe that education is important but authors don't necessarily have to do exactly as they are taught. I'm also against slavery and i told speeches to people in order to abolish slavery.

John C. Calhoun

Hello, My name is John C. Calhoun. I was born March 18, 1792 in South Carolina. I was the fourth child of Patrick Calhoun and Martha Caldwell. When I was Seventeen, I had to quit school to help my father's farm after he became ill. When I my brother gave me the money to return to my studies, I graduated college at Yale university and I studied Law. I eventually became Vice President under Adams and Jackson. I also was the secretary of State, and War. I was a senator and Representative for the great state of South Carolina.



Issue: I have an issue with the Tariffs placed upon us in South Carolina. The Abomination tariff impacts my State negatively. I believe that this tariff has been placed on us unnecessarily, and I believe it should be removed. I have my set of beliefs because of the tradition, culture and economic tendencies of my state. We already try and get a lot of work done so we have more crops and livestock to export, but these tariffs reduce our income and profit, making it harder for us to import goods.

Solution: I wrote the South Carolina Exposition in secrecy. This document was to help acknowledge our great disapproval of the Tariff. We eventually would nullify the tariff, but that only caused smaller ones to come in and consume us. I'm starting to think that the only effective way to end this problem is to secede from the union.

Beliefs and Relations: I'm very Pro-state and Pro-Slavery. I always wanted the peoples voices heard. I would feel comfortable sitting around people who live in the south, and like Slavery. I wouldn't feel comfortable sitting around northerns against slavery, or African Americans in the crowd. I feel like I would feel most comfortable sitting by Henry Clay, because, after all, I helped him with his American System. and We were War Hawks together. I feel that I would die if I sat next to Jefferson, because of the South Carolina Exposition that I wrote.

Harriet Tubman

Personal Statement:
I was born Armanita Harriet Ross to slave parents, Harriet Green and Ben Ross, in Dorchester County, Maryland in the 1820’s. Back then it wasn't important to keep documentation of our(the slaves) birth, so I don't know the exact date.I grew up as a slave , and my entire family was enslaved. I worked fro the Brodess family. Even with 9 children, including myself slavery still tore us apart. I married a free black man named John Tubman around 1844, and not far after, I changed my name to Harriet. I had seizures, delusions, and narcoleptic attacks due to a head injury so my owner tried to sell me, but a week later Brodess died. Following his death, my brothers and I fled on September 17, 1849 because we knew we were going to sold. Edward’s widow, Eliza, posted a runaway notice offering a reward for each of us to be returned. We went back on our own, together. However, I managed to escape one more time with the help of the Underground Railroad.The Underground Railroad was a long, taxing trail for slaves to freedom. I took over 19 trips on the railroad looking for m family and helping over 300 slaves to freedom in the process. In 1851, I returned to Dorchester County for the first time since my escape to find my husband John,but he was married to another woman and did not want to come with. In November 1860, I was in search of my sister and her two children as my last trip. When I made it back I found that she had died, and that I did not have enough money to free her kids. So, I made my way up back north with a group of fugitives. I finally settled in Auburn, and married a man named Nelson Davis, a war veteran. In 1874 we adopted our baby girl Gertie.

Issue: 
I went against slavery and the fugitive slave law.

Solutions:
Helped over 300 slaves to freedom through the Underground Railroad, and helped more flee to Canada after the fugitive slave act was passed. I joined a group of abolitionists, then assisted fugitives in Port Royal and serving as a nurse. I accompanied Montgomery and his troops in rescuing more than 700 slaves-- being the first woman to ever do something like that. For two more years I worked for the Union forces, then when the war was over I returned to my home in Auburn, New York. In my later years, I worked to promote women’s suffrage. I began attending meetings of suffragist organizations, and I was soon working alongside inspirational women like Susan B. Anthony and Emily Howland. I traveled to New York, Boston, and Washington, D.C. to speak out in favor of women’s voting rights.
Relationships with Others:

I would sit with Susan B. Anthony, Emily Howland, and anyone else like them.

Horace Mann

Hello my name is Horace Mann and I was born on May 4, 1796 in Franklin, Massachusetts. My family were farmers and due to the constraints of our budget I was in my younger years educated for only 6 weeks of the year. But I didn't let that discourage me, instead I took initiative over my education and avidly took advantage of my local library. At the age of twenty I was able to enroll at Brown University and 3 years shortly after I was able to graduate as valedictorian of my class. I then took up law for a time taught Latin and even became a librarian at the same school of Brown University. In 1830 I decided to marry Charlotte Messer, yet sadly she died 2 years later. In 1827 I finally took my venture into the political aspect by joining the House of representatives, later in 1834 joining the senate as a member of the Whig party, and finally becoming secretary of the newly formed board of education of Massachusetts in 1848. Within that time, on 1843 I remarried to Mary Tyler Peabody . 

As a education reformist a very keen issue I had to face was creating a equal opportunity to all students. I traveled to many schools with this goal in mind and bases off of my experience came up with the solution through 6 key principals:  (1) the public should no longer remain ignorant; (2) that such education should be paid for, controlled, and sustained by an interested public; (3) that this education will be best provided in schools that embrace children from a variety of backgrounds; (4) that this education must be non-sectarian; (5) that this education must be taught by the spirit, methods, and discipline of a free society; and (6) that education should be provided by well-trained, professional teachers. 
With these key principals in mind I created the Massachusetts normal school system to better address these needs. It's a start.