Last week you were summatively tested on your ability to describe the advantages and disadvantages of the earliest forms of government in Ancient Greece. I will be assessing them this week. Yesterday we continued our learning about the United Nations and the Declaration of Universal Human Rights. We created a graphic organizer and discussed the bumpy road that has led to the creation of this document. The Newsela reading this week is a primary document, which is Eleanor Rooseveltʻs speech to the United Nations to encourage its ratification. Because this is Newsela, there are various reading levels to choose from.
We briefly discussed the Write assignment, and began the close read. Today we will discuss the reading, and the Write assignment.
For those who were absent yesterday or would like to reread the information, here is a summarized version of the road to the document,
Cyrus the Great – 530 BC – Conquered Babylon, but then freed the slaves and offered religious choice. Can be read in the Cyrus Cylinder.
Roman Empire – 27 BCE – Recognized that there are rights that all people naturally feel belong to them. They called them the Natural Laws.
England – Magna Carta – 1215 AD – The kings signed this document, which said that no one, not even a king, can overrule the rights of the people.
Revolutionary War – 1777 – The colonists from England broke away from King George and created a new democratic country they called America.
French Revolution – 1789 – Declaration of the Rights of Man – Natural Law has evolved to Natural Rights
India – Mahatma Gandhi – 1915 – All people of the world have rights.
I am only documenting two declines in this timeline.
Napoleon – After gaining power in the French Revolution, then invaded many countries, trying to become the Emperor of the World.
World Wars I (1914 to 1918) and II (1939 to 1945) – So much death and destruction, primarily in Europe and Asia. In WWII, over 90 million people died, and half of the Jewish population of the world were killed.
1945 – United Nations was founded and their ultimate goal is “to reaffirm faith in fundament human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person”.
