Extracting Main Ideas:
The Founding Fathers
On Voting*
Today's
Snack: Let's "extract" peanuts out
of their shells and then eat them for a nutritious snack. (See the definition of
"extract" in today's Treat.) Have a nice glass of apple juice with your peanuts,
and see if you can find out exactly how juice is "extracted" from apples.
--------------------
Today's Treat is for students in
middle school or high school
You'll need a pencil, a highlighter marker pen, and a
dictionary
At election time, we choose which
candidates to vote for, and how to vote on ballot issues. That provides each of
us with an opportunity for good citizenship. But it also makes it more
important than ever that we all have good reading comprehension.
If you don't have a big enough vocabulary to
understand what candidates say and what ballot issues would do, you can't be an
informed voter. And you'll probably make mistakes. As an election comes up, you
need good enough thinking skills to analyze how well the ideas and positions of
the various candidates might work, or what could go wrong with them.
You don't have to be an expert on the details . . .
but you do have to be able to get the main idea.
Who has time to research all these candidates and all
these issues? Not very many of us. But there's a reading skill that can come in
really handy. You have to be able to "scan" a paragraph or a page of text, and
"extract" the most important idea from it.
By "scan," we mean to glance at a paragraph or a page
of text, and read just a few words of it quickly. The key ideas should jump out
at you. If they don't, scan it again, and maybe a third time. If you still
can't understand the "nut" of the idea, then buckle down and read it carefully,
as you usually do.
By "extract," we mean to harvest or glean or capture
the most important idea.
To "extract" something is to get, pull or draw out.
Dentists "extract" a bad tooth. Surgeons
"extract" an infected appendix. Manufacturers of the essential baking
ingredient, vanilla, are able to "extract" the best flavor from the vanilla
bean to make the "vanilla" liquid that is added to cookies and cakes and makes
them taste so great.
After you have scanned a paragraph of text, imagine
your mind scooping out the "nut" of the idea from it. Imagine your mind as a
miner, digging out that valuable nugget of gold.
Maybe that's why highlighter pens come in yellow -
it's like you "extract" the key word or phrase from a paragraph and mark it in
gold. Well, yellow - but close enough.
If you can extract a key idea and write it down in
one short sentence or phrase, you've really improved yourself as a thinker and
a writer.
Let's take some examples of paragraphs that were
written by American founding fathers about the privilege of voting in our
country, and scan them to extract the main idea.
After each paragraph, there will be space for you to
write down words you don't recognize, and you can look them up in the
dictionary and write down the definitions briefly. That will help build your
vocabulary, which will also help you be a better voter!
Now scan these, and use your highlighter to mark the
key word or phrase. You might have to look up an unfamiliar word or two in a
dictionary, and write down a brief definition. Then take your pencil, and sum
up each point in just one sentence. Let's do the first one together.
Samuel Adams
Let each citizen
remember at the moment he is offering his vote
that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual - or at
least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is
accountable to God and his country.
[Samuel Adams, The Writings of
Samuel Adams, Harry Alonzo Cushing, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's
Sons, 1907), Vol. IV, p. 256, in the Boston
Gazette on April 16, 1781.]
Vocabulary (define the word):
Compliment - to express praise; to commend
Executing - carrying out; accomplishing
Solemn - serious; sober
Accountable - forced to answer, report or explain
Main Idea: Voting is an important duty of
a good citizen.
Nothing is more essential to the establishment of
manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust
be men of unexceptionable characters. The public cannot be too curious
concerning the character of public men.
[Samuel Adams, The Writings of
Samuel Adams, Harry Alonzo Cushing, editor (New York: G.P. Putnam's
Sons, 1907), Vol. III, p. 236-237, to James Warren on November 4, 1775.]
Vocabulary:
Essential
Establishment
Unexceptionable
Main Idea:
Matthias
Burnett
Consider well the important trust . . . which God .
. . [has] put into your hands. . . . To God and posterity you are accountable
for [your rights and your rulers]. . . . Let not your children have reason to
curse you for giving up those rights and prostrating those institutions which
your fathers delivered to you. . . . [L]ook well to the characters and
qualifications of those you elect and raise to office and places of trust. . .
. Think not that your interests will be safe in the hands of the weak and
ignorant; or faithfully managed by the impious, the dissolute and the immoral.
Think not that men who acknowledge not the providence of God nor regard His
laws will be uncorrupt in office, firm in defense of the righteous cause against
the oppressor, or resolutely oppose the torrent of iniquity. . . . Watch over
your liberties and privileges - civil and religious - with a careful eye.
[Matthias Burnett, Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Norwalk, An Election Sermon, Preached at Hartford, on
the Day of the Anniversary Election, May 12, 1803 (Hartford: Printed by
Hudson & Goodwin, 1803), pp. 27-28.]
Vocabulary:
Posterity
Prostrating
Institutions
Impious
Dissolute
Providence
Resolutely
Iniquity
Main Idea:
Frederick
Douglass
I have one great political idea. . . . That idea is
an old one. It is widely and generally assented to; nevertheless, it is very
generally trampled upon and disregarded. The best expression of it, I have
found in the Bible. It is in substance, "Righteousness exalteth a nation;
sin is a reproach to any people" [Proverbs 14:34]. This constitutes my
politics - the negative and positive of my politics, and the whole of my
politics. . . . I feel it my duty to do all in my power to infuse this idea
into the public mind, that it may speedily be recognized and practiced upon by
our people.
[Frederick Douglass, The
Frederick Douglass Papers, John Blassingame, editor (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1982), Vol. 2, p. 397, from a speech delivered at Ithaca, New
York, October 14th, 1852.]
Vocabulary:
Assented
Exalteth
Reproach
Constitutes
Infuse
Main Idea:
Charles Finney
[T]he time has come that Christians must vote for
honest men and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them.
. . . Christians have been exceedingly guilty in this matter. But the time has
come when they must act differently. . . . Christians seem to act as if they
thought God did not see what they do in politics. But I tell you He does see it
- and He will bless or curse this nation according to the course they
[Christians] take [in politics].
[Charles G. Finney, Lectures on
Revivals of Religion (New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1868),
Lecture XV, pp. 281-282.]
Vocabulary:
Consistent
Exceedingly
Main Idea:
James Garfield
Now more than ever the people are responsible for
the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless, and
corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness, and
corruption. If it be intelligent, brave, and pure, it is because the people
demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature. . .
. [I]f the next centennial does not find us a great nation . . . it will be
because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of
the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces.
[James A. Garfield, The Works of
James Abram Garfield, Burke Hinsdale, editor (Boston: James R. Osgood
and Company, 1883), Vol. II, pp. 486, 489, "A Century of Congress," July, 1877.]
Vocabulary:
Reckless
Corrupt
Centennial
Main Idea:
Francis Grimke
If the time ever comes when we shall go to pieces,
it will . . . be . . . from inward corruption - from the disregard of right
principles . . . from losing sight of the fact that "Righteousness
exalteth a nation, but that sin is a reproach to any people" [Proverbs
14:34]. . . .[T]he secession of the Southern States in 1860 was a small matter
with the secession of the Union itself from the great principles enunciated in
the Declaration of Independence, in the Golden Rule, in the Ten Commandments,
in the Sermon on the Mount. Unless we hold, and hold firmly to these great
fundamental principles of righteousness, . . . our Union . . . will be
"only a covenant with death and an agreement with hell."
[Rev. Francis J. Grimke, from "Equality of Right for All Citizens,
Black and White, Alike," March 7, 1909, published in Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence,
Alice Moore Dunbar, editor (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2000), pp.
246-247.]
Vocabulary:
Disregard
Secession
Enunciated
Covenant
Main Idea:
Alexander
Hamilton
A share in the sovereignty of the state, which is
exercised by the citizens at large, in voting at elections is one of the most
important rights of the subject, and in a republic ought to stand foremost in
the estimation of the law.
[Alexander Hamilton, The Papers
of Alexander Hamilton, Harold C. Syrett, ed. (New York, Columbia
University Press, 1962), Vol III, pp. 544-545.]
Vocabulary:
Sovereignty
Exercised
Republic
Estimation
Main Idea:
John Jay
Providence has given to our people the choice of
their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as the privilege and interest of our
Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.
[John Jay, The Correspondence
and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed. (New York: G.P.
Putnams Sons, 1890), Vol. IV, p. 365.]
Vocabulary:
Providence
Privilege
Main Idea:
The Americans are the first people whom Heaven has
favored with an opportunity of deliberating upon and choosing the forms of
government under which they should live.
[John Jay, The Correspondence
and Public Papers of John Jay, Henry P. Johnston, ed. (New York: G.P.
Putnams Sons, 1890), Vol. I, p. 161.]
Vocabulary:
Deliberating
Main Idea:
Thomas
Jefferson
The elective franchise, if guarded as the ark of our
safety, will peaceably dissipate all combinations to subvert a Constitution,
dictated by the wisdom, and resting on the will of the people.
[Thomas Jefferson, The Writings
of Thomas Jefferson, Albert Bergh, ed. (Washington: Thomas Jefferson
Memorial Association, 1903), Vol. 10, p. 235.]
Vocabulary:
Elective
Franchise
Dissipate
Subvert
Main Idea:
[T]he rational and peaceable instrument of reform,
the suffrage of the people.
[Thomas Jefferson, The Works of
Thomas Jefferson, Paul Leicester Ford, ed. (New York: G.P. Putnam's
Sons, 1905), Vol. 12, p. 136.]
Vocabulary:
Instrument
Suffrage
Main Idea:
[S]hould things go wrong at any time, the people
will set them to rights by the peaceable exercise of their elective rights.
[Thomas Jefferson, The Works of
Thomas Jefferson, Paul Leicester Ford, ed. (New York: G.P. Putnam's
Sons, 1905), Vol. 10, p. 245.]
Vocabulary:
Peaceable
Elective
Main Idea:
William
Paterson
When the righteous rule, the people rejoice; when
the wicked rule, the people groan.
[Supreme Court Justice William Paterson reminding his fellow justices of
Proverbs 29:2. United States Oracle
(Portsmouth, NH), May 24, 1800.]
Vocabulary:
Wicked
Main Idea:
William Penn
Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men
give them; and as governments are made and moved by men, so by them they are
ruined too. Wherefore governments rather depend upon men than men upon
governments. Let men be good and the government cannot be bad. . . . But if men
be bad, let the government be never so good, they will endeavor to warp and
spoil it to their turn. . . .[T]hough good laws do well, good men do better;
for good laws may want [lack] good men and be abolished or invaded by ill men;
but good men will never want good laws nor suffer [allow] ill ones.
[William Penn quoted from: Thomas Clarkson, Memoirs of the Private and Public Life of William Penn (London:
Richard Taylor and Co., 1813) Vol. I, p.303.]
Vocabulary:
Endeavor
Warp
Abolished
Main Idea:
Daniel Webster
Impress upon children the truth that the exercise of
the elective franchise is a social duty of as solemn a nature as man can be
called to perform; that a man may not innocently trifle with his vote; that every
elector is a trustee as well for others as himself and that every measure he
supports has an important bearing on the interests of others as well as on his
own.
[Daniel Webster, The Works of
Daniel Webster (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1853), Vol. II, p.
108, from remarks made at a public reception by the ladies of Richmond,
Virginia, on October 5, 1840.]
Vocabulary:
Trifle
Elector
Trustee
Bearing
Main Idea:
Noah Webster
In selecting men for office, let principle be your
guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate - look
to his character. . . . When a citizen gives his suffrage to a man of known
immorality he abuses his trust; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but
that of his neighbor, he betrays the interest of his country.
[Noah Webster, Letters to a
Young Gentleman Commencing His Education to which is subjoined a Brief History
of the United States (New Haven: S. Converse, 1823), pp. 18, 19.]
Vocabulary:
Principle
Sect
Denomination
Sacrifices
Betrays
Main Idea:
When you become entitled to exercise the right of
voting for public officers, let it be impressed on your mind that God commands
you to choose for rulers, "just men who will rule in the fear of
God." The preservation of government depends on the faithful discharge of
this duty; if the citizens neglect their duty and place unprincipled men in
office, the government will soon be corrupted; laws will be made, not for the
public good so much as for selfish or local purposes; corrupt or incompetent
men will be appointed to execute the laws; the public revenues will be squandered
on unworthy men; and the rights of the citizens will be violated or
disregarded. If a republican government fails to secure public prosperity and
happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the divine commands, and
elect bad men to make and administer the laws.
[Noah Webster, History of the
United States (New Haven: Durrie & Peck, 1832), pp. 336-337, �49.]
Vocabulary:
Entitled
Discharge
Incompetent
Squandered
Divine
Main Idea:
John
Witherspoon
Those who wish well to the State ought to choose to
places of trust men of inward principle, justified by exemplary conversation. .
. .[And t]he people in general ought to have regard to the moral character of
those whom they invest with authority either in the legislative, executive, or
judicial branches.
[John Witherspoon, The Works of
John Witherspoon Edinburgh: J. Ogle, 1815), Vol. IV, pp. 266, 277.]
Vocabulary:
Exemplary
Main Idea:
John Adams
We electors have an important constitutional power
placed in our hands: we have a check upon two branches of the legislature, as
each branch has upon the other two; the power I mean of electing at stated
periods, one branch, which branch has the power of electing another. It becomes
necessary to every subject then, to be in some degree a statesman: and to
examine and judge for himself of the tendencies of political principles and
measures.
[John Adams, The Papers of John
Adams, Robert J. Taylor, ed. (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1977), Vol. 1,
p. 81, from "'U' to the Boston Gazette" written on August 29, 1763.]
Vocabulary:
Statesman
Examine
Tendencies
Main Idea:
* These quotes are from:
www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=80
