In the Penal Colony

movements regarding the advancement of democratic ideals gained traction from 1825 to 1850. Activists were concerned with social and institutional issues, principal among these being temperance, abolitionism, women's rights, religion, education, and the penal system. However, this period also saw the emergence of decidedly anti-democratic nativist policies designed to oppress recently naturalized citizens. The pressure for social reform began as a response to perceived degradations in American…

"Every ethnic minority, in seeking its own freedom, helped strengthen the fabric of liberty in American life” -John F. Kennedy. The Irish immigrants did exactly so when they faced the obstacle of having to come to the United States. In 1740, the Irish faced famine and persecution, forcing them to immigrate to the United States in hope of better opportunities, but instead were discriminated against their Catholic practices. The Protestant Reformation was a conflict for the Irish Catholics but led…

where he is held prior to his sentencing. He is then sent to Paris, where he is brought to trial. After he is found guilty, he is sent to Guiana, where the French penal colonies are located. Guiana is approximately the size of Idaho and is situated on the northern coast of South America (Info Please, 2015). While in Guiana, he meets a colony of lepers or people suffering from leprosy, a contagious disease that affects the skin, mucous membranes, and nerves, causing discoloration and lumps on the…

The legal concept of terra nullius is a Latin expression deriving from Roman law, meaning "nobody's land". It is used in law to define a region which has not been subject to the sovereignty of any state, or any previous sovereign has relinquished power. Sovereignty over territory which is considered a terra nullius may usually be acquired through colonisation. However, historians also to use the term to showcase a set of opinions prevalent in colonial administrators. While the concept is not…

Multiracial people are often seen as “watered down versions” of their ethnicities, who do not quite fit into society’s images of each culture they represent. They are half this, half that, a quarter this; they are never labelled as “whole.” Frequently asked the question: ‘what are you?,’ by anyone who wants to know, multiracial human beings can have a difficult time figuring out and understanding their own identity. Does one ethnicity dominate the other, simply because the features are more…

Due to his deeds, he became the symbol of freedom and democracy in his home country and far beyond its borders. For almost 30 years, from 1964-1982, he was imprisoned on the Robben Island penal colony, sleeping in a tiny, Spartan cell, or working in the blistering sun, chipping rocks at the limestone quarries. In spite of the indignities inflicted on him, he used his 27 years while imprisoned to grow as a leader; to persist in his belief in…

Within the past century, many changes have taken place in the Russian criminal justice system. The former socialist republic system during the 1920's, the communist era, was manipulated and dominated by a harsh communist party. Prison life at the time was under socialist regime and it was based on punishment and hard labor. The justice system was founded on the concept of gaining profit from the hard labor of convicted prisoners and the primary goal was to cause prisoners "hardship and suffering…

Expectations, the answer is not the one you would necessarily choose. This novel by Charles Dickens is centered around a poor boy named Pip who comes into great expectations of wealth by a mysterious benefactor, who turns out to be a lifer exiled to the new colonies named Magwitch. Because of this revelation, Pip struggles with the predicament of protecting Magwitch while trying to avoid the heavy hand of English “justice”. Throughout Dickens paint a picture of injustice,squalid descriptions,…

gained Turkish land, completing Russia’s biggest expansion in the time of Catherine the Great. Catherine also expanded in many other areas such as: defeating the Ottoman empire which lead to expansion into the Black Sea; founding the first Russian colony in Alaska thereby expanding eastwards; and lastly founding many cities in a venture to modernize Russia. Although expansion is not exactly a modern idea the way Catherine approached the expansion was modern. Catherine expanded in order to make…

During the beginning centuries in which the whole of Ireland was owned and governed by Britain, political issues were raised from the way in which Britain treated the people of Ireland and furthermore used them only to profit for the motherland of England. The British government boldly put forward governed acts against the Irish working people; these acts were established throughout the 17th century. The way in which the British government drove their proposed acts on Ireland made it harsher for…