Historically interesting ideas

HI 214 – Midterm Exam

Below you will find quotations from five primary sources that were assigned during the first half of this semester. In a brief analysis describe what you think each of the following five authors is saying, and then explain why these ideas might be historically interesting or important, and how they relate to some of the issues and events that we have covered in the first half of the semester. In other words, write five separate mini-essays (one or two paragraphs for each answer) analyzing the quotes. All of the passages are taken from documents in the Andrea/Overfield book that we have discussed in class during the first half of the semester, or from the documents on the course website.

1. 1. Sarah Stickney Ellis: “The love of woman appears to have been created solely to minister; that of man, to be ministered unto. It is true, his avocations lead him daily to some labour, or some effort for the maintenance of his family; and he often conscientiously believes that this labour is for his wife. But the probability is, that he would be just as attentive to his business, and as eager about making money, had he no wife at all.”
2. Adam Smith: “Whoever offers to another a bargain of any kind, proposes to do this. Give me that which I want, and you shall have this which you want, is the meaning of every such offer; and it is in this manner that we obtain from one another the far greater part of those good offices which we stand in need of. It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.”
3. Simón Bolívar: “Americans today, and perhaps to a greater extent than ever before, who live within the Spanish system occupy a position in society no better than that of serfs destined for labor. Yet even this status is surrounded with galling restrictions, such as being forbidden to grow European crops, or to store products which are royal monopolies, or to establish factories of a type the Peninsula itself does not possess.”
4. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels: “The bourgeoisie, wherever, it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his ‘natural superiors,’ and has left no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous ‘cash payment’…”
5. Samuel Smiles: “With respect to the poorer classes—what has become of them in the midst of our so-called civilization? They work, eat, drink, and sleep: that constitutes their life. They think nothing of providing for tomorrow, or for next week, or for next year. They abandon themselves to their sensual appetites; and make no provision whatever for the future. The thought of adversity, or of coming sorrow, or of the helplessness that comes with years and sickness, never crosses their minds.”