The Tree of Death

             One cold winter day in the land of sorrow, there was a petite stone cottage nestled in the woods. In the wee cottage there lived a little girl whose name was Teegan, but everyone just calls her Tee. Teegan was a beautiful girl. She had hair as fine as silk and eyes as icy blue as a sunny winter day. But the peculiar thing was her cape which was the color of a blood. It was a gift from her mother when she was much younger. Teegan lived with her mother who took care of her and who took care of the family's job and got food onto the table. Teegan's dad had died when she was three years old. Now, her mother had a peculiar job. She was Death. Do you know who death is? Death is a person who wears red and when someone's time has come to die, death goes and kills that person. Now that Teegan was old enough to inherit her mother's job, she became what her mother had been. Death. Teegan had still not gotten used to the fact that she had to kill people, for she was friends with the people and animals of the forest, and she couldn't bare seeing them die before their time had truly come. Yet, Teegan knew that she had to do it, for she had to put food on the table, and it was her responsibility now. Now, the way the procedure would work was that in Teegan's backyard she had a tree that had little slips of paper growing on it. Every day, Teegan goes out and picks a slip of paper from the tree. The slip of paper has a single name on it. that name is the person that is supposed to die that day. Unfortunately Teegan was always afraid that she would pick a slip of paper and it would say her friends name on it.  Little did she know, that the next day that very thing would happen to her. 

             The next day, Teegan went out to the tree and pulled a slip off of one of the branches. When she opened the slip , she almost fainted from fright and surprise. For on that little slip of paper was the name of her very best friend Annabelle. Teegan let out a little sob of distress and sank to the ground. This is not good at all thought Teegan. What am I going to do? Teegan just couldn't kill her best friend, yet she knew that she couldn't argue with the tree of life, because it was never wrong. So Teegan started trying to figure out a plan on how to save her friend from having to kill her. She suddenly figured out that she could just kill one of her enemies namely Jessica and then her friend would be safe. So the next day, Teegan went to school and found Jessica. She said. " Hey Jessica," "What's up?" " OH nothing much, Why?" Asks Jessica, "And why are you talking to me?" No reason I say." Do you want to go and take a walk with me?" "Sure" Says Jessica. I take her into the woods and quickly chop her head off with my sythe before I chicken out and then bury her body in the woods. With that I walked away feeling relieved that my friend was safe and that I didn't have kill her.

A fox's Tale
Written by: Gillian Perry

          It was a beautiful sunny day in the forest. The sun was streaming down onto the forest floor dappling it with soft light. I was walking along taking my time to sniff the air for a hint of prey. I was hunting for some fresh kill for my babies: Sparrowkit, Turtlekit, and Hollykit, because they hadn't eaten for days. It was the middle of leaf bare, when the prey was all hibernating in their burrows and dens. I had had a bad hunt for the last few days, and I was desperate for food for my babies and I. As I was trotting along through the forest, I suddenly caught a faint whiff of a rabbit that was nearby. My instincts kicked in and I swiftly went into a crouch like I had been taught all my life as a fox. I began to inch forward inch by inch stalking my prey but also making sure that I was downwind of the rabbit so that it would not sense my smell and run away. I barely made a noise as I kept inching closer. When I was close enough to pounce, my bushy white, black, and red tail stopped twitching and went still. All my senses were focused on the rabbit in front of me. For I knew that if I lost this piece of prey, then my kits and I would have to go hungry for another night. I tensed up by muscles and pounced swift and quick onto the prey using my fore-paw to hold it down as I quickly went in for the kill and sank my jaws into its neck until I heard the snap of the back bone breaking. 

          I picked up the kill and started to head back to the den where my babies sat hungry waiting for me to return with a juicy morsel to fill and satisfy their raving hunger in their bellies. When I reached the den, I greeted my pups with a nuzzle and set the fresh kill on the ground in front of them. I let them eat first, since I knew that if they were going to survive, then they needed all of the nourishment and protein they could get. After they had their fair share of food, I ate the rest and then told the pups that we should get some rest. I curled up in the back of the den and my pups came tumbling and rolling over their tiny fur paws trying to get the warmest spot next to me first. Once we were settled in, We fell fast asleep.

           The next day was warm and sunny, and my babies were still fast asleep. As I headed out of the den, I checked the surroundings to make sure t was safe, and then I left to go and search for breakfast. As I was walking along, I decided to go down to the stream and search for a few water vole. As I headed in the direction of the river, my delicate little black nose quivered in the air sniffing for stuff that smelled like prey. Suddenly, I heard a rustle in the bushes. With my ears listening keenly, I started to move toward the sound and spot of the prey. My sharp eyes caught a flash brown and white, and at that moment excitement coursed through me. I knew that that was a rabbit and that meant that we would have full bellies if I managed to catch it. So I followed its scent making sure to stay downwind. I came out of a bush, and there it was, just sitting there in a clearing of a meadow munching on grass oblivious to what was going on around it. I crouched forward and with a swift silent spring, I landed on my prey holding it down with my sharp claws. With a swift bite to its neck, the rabbit twitched one last time and then lay still. I Felt immense pride and happiness coursing through my thick fur. I had just secured a good and filling catch for me and my babies. Things are looking up, I thought to myself, as I walked back toward my den with my head held high, and the prey hanging limp in my jaws like a golden trophy. I was Happy and Content.

THE END

Mother Fox
Moon

Top: Sparrowleap
Middle: Firepaw
Bottom: Hollyleaf

 

Gillian's Jeffersonian Report

 Jeffersonian Blog and Research paper

Thomas Jefferson's Biography

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743 in Shadwell Virginia. He was brought up into a family that was very wealthy. (Hill) Jefferson had nine siblings, two of which only survived for a few years. His mother and father had been Jane and Peter Randolph. (Hill) Jefferson’s father owned five thousand acres of land. During his free time, Jefferson liked to read books. He began his studies at a boarding school at the age of nine. He did well in classical languages (Hill).

Later in 1760, He studied at the College of William and Mary. There he took math, science, philosophy, and literature. He later decided to go and study law. During law, he met Martha Wayles Skelton. They both loved classical music. (Benton) They got married and had six children. Sadly, only two of them survived beyond adulthood, the rest died. After they were married, Jefferson built his home called Monticello on the hill where he used to play during his child hood. His mother died in 1776 (Benton).

Accomplishments of Thomas Jefferson

            Thomas Jefferson made a lot of accomplishments during his life time. Before Jefferson became president, he had a lot of other big jobs. He was picked to join the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1769. (Sheppard) There, he led the patriotic faction. Later in 1776 to 1779 he became the legislator for Virginia. Then, even later after that, Jefferson was the governor of Virginia. (Sheppard) While he was Governor, Jefferson tried to keep the British from invading, but unfortunately he failed. The good news was that Jefferson did great guiding his people through the last parts of the American Revolution. (Sheppard)

            Later, he was asked to join the Continental Congress. There, Jefferson created the Declaration of Independence. (Monticello.org) This document tells us and the government that men and women regardless of their birth, or status both have equal rights. (Monticello.org) It also states that the government does not control us entirely, but that it helps us make our decisions. In 1790, Jefferson agreed to become the post of secretary of state. Soon after that, he became the vice president. (Monticello.org) He ran for president, but he lost by three votes against John Adams. Back then, when they voted, the person who won became the president, and the person who lost became the vice president. Then Four years later, he became the third U.S president. (Monticello.org)

            During his term as president, Jefferson achieved many things. One of those achievements was the Louisiana Purchase act in 1803. (Truman) Then later, Jefferson decided to send out 2 men named Lewis and Clark to go and explore the area of uncharted land. (Truman) This lasted for two years. Later, in 1804, Jefferson decided to run for president again. He defeated Charles Pinckney with 162 votes to 14 votes. During his second term he made the Embargo act of 1807. (Truman) Unfortunately it was not a favorite and it was repealed in 1809. Even though Jefferson tried to stop a war from happening, his efforts were futile. We still ended up going to war against Britain in 1812. (Truman)

Impacts that Thomas Jefferson made on American Democracy

            Thomas Jefferson made many kinds of impacts on American democracy. Jefferson was very intelligent. During his life, he was very busy with multiple jobs. He was a politician, statesman, diplomat, intellectual, writer, and scientist. (Teitelman) From these many jobs, Jefferson got new information that made him smarter and wiser. During his presidency, Jefferson made an effort to try and make the states a better place. Jefferson helped lower taxes and helped build up the army and navy. He also supported International Commerce which helped benefit farmers. (Teitelman)

            Another thing that he did was that he passed a bill saying that America could no longer send ships to Britain to trade goods. (Robbins) This was supposed to keep peace between them, so that they would not start a war. Unfortunately this made many people unhappy. (Robbins) It also made trading slower and less efficient. (Robbins) Jefferson retired after two terms. He decided to elect James Madison to run for president. The vice president was going to be George Clinton. (Robbins)

            One last thing that Thomas Jefferson did was that he believed in the rights of man and women. (Galbraith) He also believed in getting a good education wherever you lived. That is why he decided to build the University of Virginia. Another thing that Jefferson believed was that there should be two different groups of learners. (Galbraith) Those who worked in labor would learn more about how to farm and get better crops. Those who worked in science and health would learn more about science and new ways to treat diseases. (Galbraith) He then began to plan a system of schools all over Virginia and Charlotte so that all kids could have a fair education. (Galbraith) These are only some of the major impacts that Thomas Jefferson made in life, but they are still very important in learning how our history began and came to be. (Galbraith)

James Madison Biography

James Madison

            James was born on March 16, 1751, in Port Conway, Virginia. His Mother and father were called Sr. James Madison and Nellie Conway Madison. James was born the eldest of 12 children. (Biography.com)  Unfortunately only seven of them plus James survived past adult hood.  The place where he was brought up was on his family’s plantation in Orange County, Virginia. James’s father worked as a planter on their plantation. (Biography.com) They owned plenty of slaves who worked in their fields for them. When he was old enough to go to school, James entered a boarding school in 1762. He stayed there for five years, and then returned to his home. (Biography.com) After that, he hired a private tutor and studied at home. The sad part was that James was not a very healthy boy. He was going to experience bad health throughout his life. But that didn’t stop James. Later, James decided to go and enroll into college at the college of New Jersey in 1769. (Biography.com) He learned and studied Latin, Greek science, and philosophy, as well as many other subjects. (Biography.com)

During his adult career, James did many things. Later, James’s health got better, and he was soon elected to Virginia’s 1776 Revolutionary Convention. (Brant) While James was there, he drafted a document guaranteeing the freedom of religion for the people. (Brant) After two years of working with them, James was asked to join the Continental Congress in March 1780. Then in 1784, James went back into the Virginia legislature. (Brant)

Then he managed to persuade the states’ rights advocate who was John Tyler to sponsor the calling of Annapolis Convention of 1786. (Brant) This thanks to James led to the making of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Later after he had dropped out of the Virginia Convention, he was elected to the new House of Representatives. (Brant) That is where James created the first ten amendments to the bill of rights.

For a few years, James had been courting Dolly Payne Todd. (Truemen)Then in 1794, Him and Dolly who was now 43 years old, decided to finally get married. Dolly had one son before she met James. (Truemen)  James Madison also helped create and signed the Declaration of Independence. (Brant)

Achievements of James Madison

            During James’s later years, he made several Achievements. One of them was the Embargo act. As mentioned earlier, Thomas Jefferson had already tried to pass the embargo act of 1807. Unfortunately it failed. And that is where James Madison comes in. When that act had failed, Madison replaced it with the Non- Intercourse Act. (Schulman) After this came the Macon Bill. It soon replaced the Embargo act when it had been repealed. Unfortunately the British did not like this bill, and a new tension started to build up. Then on June 1, 1812, Madison asked to declare a war on Britain.  (Schulman) The bad part, was that the U.S was not at all ready or prepared for a war. The war was not a good one for the Americans for a while, until Andrew Jackson took command, and that was when they all fought hard against the British and won. (Schulman)

Another achievement of his was that James had wrote most of the US Constitution during his time at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. (Kyrnin) When James created the U.S constitution, he also managed to create a strong federal government. Later, after James had dropped out of the Convention, he and two other people decided to create the federalist papers. These papers helped change public opinion about ratifying the New Constitution. (Kyrnin) After that, in 1808, James decided to run for President. (Kyrnin)  It turned out that Madison had won 122 votes out of 175 from the electoral votes. He had managed to defeat Charles, and had now became the president after Thomas Jefferson. (Kyrnin)

James also created the bill of rights. (Truemen) This was a document that stated to amendments for the Constitution that stated the ten rights that the U.S people have. Soon after it was drafted and created, the Bill was ratified in 1791. (Truemen)  In 1803, while Madison was still the Secretary of state, he helped Thomas Jefferson buy the Louisiana Territory from the French. This helped increase the size of America. During his presidency, James decided to try and re run for re-election against Federalist DeWitt Clinton. (Truemen) James won the re-election and ran for another term as President.

The last thing that James did was that he stopped the war with Britain by signing a treaty called the Treaty of Ghent on December 1814 in Europe. (Truemen)

James Madison’s Impact on American Democracy

            James Madison made many impacts on the states that are still in effect today. One of them was that he helped make it a right for people of any race to believe and worship in their own religion. (Quigley) He did this by adopting the Statute for Religious Freedom that was written by Thomas Jefferson. (Quigley)This law made it possible for people of all races to have a right to believe in different things, while still respecting other people’s religious views from their own. (Quigley)

            Another thing that James did, was that he went to war with the British again. (Pavao) After hearing about the war with Napoleon, James decides to put a new  Congress into effect that would go to war. He then gathers an army of soldiers and joins the war. (Pavao) Unfortunately, they are ill prepared, and the war becomes a tight struggle against the British and the Americans. Eventually the Americans won, but just barely. The war officially ended in 1815. (Pavao)

During his later life, James worried about slavery. He was conflicted on what to do about it.  Later, James decided to join The American Colonization Society. (Ketcham) This society helped to free slaves and to transport them back to Africa. James wanted the slaves to be with their own people, instead of being mixed with his own people who were white. (Ketcham) Soon after he had joined, James became the president of the society. When James Madison had died, he left a sum of 2,000 dollars and a piece of land that he gave to his Society in his will that he wrote before his death. (Ketcham)

Biography of James Monroe

James Monroe

            James Monroe was born on April 28, 1758 in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was born to his mother and father whose names were Spence and Elizabeth Jones Monroe. (Pettinger) While James was growing up, his father worked as a successful planter and carpenter. When James was old enough to start school, he was first taught at home by his mother for a few years. (Pettinger) Then, when he was older, James decided to attend the Campbelltown academy for about five years. While he was there, he loved to learn, and he excelled in all his classes. Later, he learned that he was supposed to inherit his father’s estate when he died, but his plans changed in 1774. (Pettinger) James decided to enroll at the college of William and Mary after his father died. There, he decided to study law. A few months later, he dropped out, and went to fight in the American Revolution. (Pettinger) That’s when he goes and joins the Continental Army. In 1776, James is promoted to officer in Washington’s army. During the war, James is severely wounded. (Pettinger)

            Later, in 1782, James was elected to join the Virginia Assembly. After a few years of that, he then decided to join and serve on the Council of State. (Antholis) In 1783, James was elected to join the Continental Congress. There, he worked to expand the power of Congress. He also helped to organize the government for the western countries. (Antholis) While James was working for them, he met a woman named Elizabeth Kortright. She was sixteen while he was twenty six. Even then, they decided to get married on February 16, 1786. They then agreed on moving to Fredericksburg Virginia. (Antholis) When they had settled down there, he went to study law again. A few years later, James decided to try and challenge James Madison for a spot to become a person that joined the U.S House of Representatives. (Antholis)  Unfortunately, James lost by 300 votes. Even after that happened, he still got to be appointed to the U.S Senate in 1790. (Antholis)

Achievements of James Monroe

            During his career, as president, James made several big achievements. One of them was that when James helped some slaves become free from slavery, and he helped transport them back to Africa with their families. (Truemen/James Monroe) He also helped to get more land for the U.S by annexing West Florida in 1810. Another thing that James had done was that he had helped make allies with Great Britain and France by signing a treaty that would help to make them closer friends. He also brought on the Era of Good Feelings after the war of 1812 that brought new confidence to his people. (Truemen/James Monroe)

            Then in 1823, James went to speak with Congress about a document called the Monroe Doctrine. (Truemen/James Monroe) This document helped to form a relationship with Central and South America between the U.S. He also later helped to build up the state’s infrastructure as well as expanding the states territory. (Truemen/James Monroe) He also fought in the Continental army and was a general for Washington’s army. He also fought in the war with Napoleon and just barely won the fight. James was also President during the First Seminole War during 1817 and 1818. (Truemen/ James Monroe)

         

Impacts the James Monroe made on American Democracy

            James Madison made many impacts on our government. One of the things that he did was that he was the one to start the Era of Good Feelings. (Truemen/James Monroe) During this new time, people in the U.S were starting to become more confident because they had won the war of 1812. (Truemen/James Monroe) He also helped to buy France from Spain, and while doing so, they gained more land for the U.S. This was called the Louisiana Purchase. This was happening around the 1800’s. James soon became the minister of Great Britain because of what happened with the Louisiana Purchase. (Truemen/James Monroe)

While he was minister, James created another treaty that was put into effect to make the relationship between Britain and the U.S stronger and friendlier. Then in around 1818, James decided to create another document, this one was called the Missouri Compromise. (Truemen/James Monroe) This document made it illegal to have slavery in the Louisiana Territory and in the Missouri areas. The Document was signed by James in 1820. Later, in 1820, James Monroe decided to make another document this time naming it after himself, and calling it the Monroe doctrine. (Truemen/James Monroe) This was put into effect, to put an end to Europe having colonies in the Western Hemisphere. These are just some of the many impacts that James Monroe made on American Democracy. (Truemen/James Monroe)

Hyperlinks

http://www.historycentral.com/Bio/presidents/madison.html
http://www.biography.com/people/james-madison-9394965
http://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Madison
http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/james-monroe
http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ho-Jo/Jefferson-Thomas.html
https://www.montpelier.org/james-and-dolley-madison/james-madison
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/jamesmadison/p/pmadison.htm
https://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/thomas-jefferson-brief-biography
http://www.revolutionary-war.net/james-madison.html
http://www.biography.com/people/james-monroe-9412098
http://www.civiced.org/resources/curriculum/madison
http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/jefferson-inaugural-president-election-1800/1647641.html
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/History/presidents/Presidents_3_Jefferson.htm
http://www.historycentral.com/Bio/presidents/madison.html
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h664.html
http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/james-madison
http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/james-monroe
http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/thomas-jefferson

Bibliography

Antholis, William. Miller Center/ University of Virginia. publish dat N/A.

Benton, Michael. Thomas Jefferson Family Tree Descendants. N/A.

Biography.com. The Biography.com website. publish date N/A.

Brant, Irving. Encyclopedia Britannica. 1768.

Galbraith, Kenneth. ManyThings.org. N/A.

Hill, McGraw. Encyclopedia of World Biography. 1973.

Ketcham, Dr. Montpelier.org. 1852.

Kyrnin, Jennifer. http://americanhistory.about.com/od/jamesmadison/p/pmadison.htm. 2007.

Monticello.org. Jefferson Monticello, Monticello.org. 1987.

Pavao, Janelle Pavao and Esther. http://www.revolutionary-war.net/james-madison.html. 2010.

Pettinger, Tejvan. Biography.com/ James Monroe. publish date N/A.

Quigley, Charles N. Center for Civic Education. 1965.

Robbins, Dr. Jill. VOA Learning English. 2013.

Schulman, Marc. History Central. N/A.

Sheppard, Brad. Sheppard Software. 1982.

Teitelman, S. Robert. U.S History. 1942.

Truemen, C N. History.com/ James Madison . publish date N/A.

Truemen, S. Robert. History.com/ James Monroe. publish date N/A.

Truman, C N. History.com Thomas Jefferson. N/A.

Hyperlinks for pictures

www.biography.com

www.biography.com

en.wikipedia.org