Oxford High School - Ravelins Yearbook (Oxford, MA)

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THE RAVELIN S 1938 no crltxcxsm of hls actlons promptly set up a court to hear the complamts In thxs tr1bunal he acted as Judge and Jury He sentenced An ders to be hanged and to lnsure proper per formance of the sentence, he served as Ander s executxoner hlmself Forts were erected both at the Wharf of Rocks and at T1n1cum Island where Governor Prmtz had h1s headquarters He commanded the people to fulf1ll the purpose for whlch they had been sent to Amerlca namely to trade w1th the Indxans For a txme the new colomsts busxed themselves m exchanglng knlves axes kettles and gewgaws for valuable furs but thexr hearts were not ln thxs buslness They found that they were better farmers than trad ers and so dug themselves ln They were far happler as they began to cultlvate corn and ralse anlmals They made one attempt at chrlst lamzmg the Indlans but gave lt up and devoted themselves to remaxnlng frxendly wxth them There IS no record of any trouble between the Swedlsh colomsts and the Red Men even though settlers of other natxons were often en dangered by the Herce war lust of the Indlans As IS customary wlth the Swedxsh people ev en today, these early people were contmually lmprovmg thelr communltles They lald roads bullt crude but eflicxent beglnmngs of mdustry held courts admmlstered laws establlshed schools and churches and pald thexr taxes There were twelve more expedltlons from Swe den and from Fxnland together The expand mg colony soon covered a good part of what IS now Delaware south western New Jersey Pennsylvama and a small part of Maryland It was at thls perlod of thelr colon1zat1on that they were taken over by the Dutch whom they served loyally Later, together wlth the Dutch ln New York they were absorbed mto the Amerlcan colorues and many of Amerlca s statesmen and leaders trace thelr ancestry back to those first Scand1nav1an colomsts It IS the tercentenary of the modest begmmnvs of thls loyal and steadfast band, commemorat 1ng the contrlbutlons to Amerlcan culture made by these two sturdy and s1ncere countrles that wlll be celebrated thls year Delaware has made a publlc park of the land1ng place calhng xt the Fort Chr1st1na State Park A monument to be placed there w1ll be a glft from the Swedlsh people havmg been pald for by popular sub cr1pt1on ln Sweden One of the ma1n Delaware hxghways leadlng to Pennsylvanla has been renamed Governor Prmtz Boulevard Amerl can Unlversxtles have mvlted leadmg Swedxsh scholars durlng the current academlc year to serve ln thelr lnstxtutlons as tercentenarv lec turers One of these great men wxll be Professor The Svedberg of the Unlversxty of Upsala w1n ner of the 1926 Nobel prlze ln Chemlstry who wnll take part ln the dedlcatlon of the new chemlstry buxldlng at the Unlverslty of Dela ware m October The prlncxpal ceremony of the celebrat1on w1ll be held IH W11mmgton Delaware on June 27 1938 Presldent Roose velt accompanled by other Umted States d1g nltarxes wall go to meet Crown Prlnce Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and other members of the Royal famxly on the very rocks on whlch three hundred years before the1r ancestors landed There will be other ceremomes throughout the country to commemorate the three hun dredth anmversary of the commg of these peo ple who have contrlbuted by the sweat of thexr honest brows thelr manual Sklll thelr mven tlveness and thelr speclal tralts of character to the growth of the Umted States THE ORIGIN OF 'IHIL CONISTITLTIOV By Russell Proctor As thls year marks the 150th annxversary of the adoptxon of the Const1tut1on It 1S only Ht t1ng that some eflort should be made to com memorate thls memorable event For thls rea son I have chosen as my toplc, The Orxgln of the Const1tut1on A constltutlon accordlng t0 Webster IS the fundamental law of the state 1ts purpose bemd to put mto wrltten form the baslc framework of the pohtlcal system of a natxon The Const1tut1on of Our Umted States has three component par s deflmng the mode of government of a unlted country ruled by the people It outhnes the ma1n organs of govern ment the method by whlch ofHc1als are chosen and the dutxes whlch they perform It appor 20 ' , 9 7 . . . , , . , - - . .. 7 ' . . . . 97 . 3 7 Y 9 ' - 1 1 y v 9 - ' ' v x - as ' rs - nz 77 - . . . . . . . 9 1 . Y - - - u as . . . . ' v a 1 u , , I - . , , - ' 1 Q 9 9 ' , , - . , - 1 v ' v - V W i w 1 I I , ' , . - . L . Q U . H . . . - - rv . . 1 y 1 7 J Q - '

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THE RAVELIN S 1938 mlles apart He signs a reglstratlon book and pays the 25 cents fee for an overmght lodging and hands his pass to the house parents At 10 P M the hosteler has to be qulet and have his lights out or the house parents may collect a double fee In the morning the hosteler cooks h1s own breakfast t1d1eS his room at the hostel and leaves generally by 9 A M after the house parent has returned his pass A hosteler may stay ln one place from one to three nights nev er longer because of the necesslty of making room for new travelers Internatlonal hostellng makes It posslble for its American members to see Europe as well as Am r1ca and at the same rates The rules in European hostels are much the same as those in America Drinking and smoklng are both forbidden the greatest s1mpl1c1ty of l1v 1ng condl ions 1S the rule lHl bill DISH ILRLI NTLXARX IN ANII RICA By Evy Carlson Although the Scandmavlan countries are an unobstruslve group they have proved them selves quite eHic1ent ln developing both the economlc and social fields of the1r living Nab oth Hed1n tells us in his article in the maga zme Forum for October 1937 Sweden has today done more than any other nation for the promotion of soc1al welfare and a wlder d1s tr1but1on of wealth and yet she was one of the first coun ries to recover from the depresslon to balance the budget and to restore normal employment Thls year marks the tercent enary of the landlng of the ancestors of the Swedish and Finnish Amemcans It is appro pr ate then to review at this time the experx ences and contributions of these worthy people Therefore, I have chosen this topic for my es sa lit was 1n the year 1600 before any settle ments had yet been made 1n America and be fore other nauons were even planning to colo n1ze there that the Dutch were busy persuad 1ng Gustavus Adolfus King of Sweden wmch then covered the present terr1 org, of N rway Sweden and Finland to send some of his people to America wiere r1ches was to be found 1n abundance The Dutch traders had wanted a colony 1n Amer1ca as a powerful tradmg sta tion and had looked for an approprlate leader to guide them through the lnevltable hard ships wh1ch they must undergo Tney had turned to Gustavus Adolfus because of his fame as a genius and a leader m organlzatlon at home and abroad He was at that time busily engag d 1n a Wai with nelghbcrmg coun r1es and could not devote time to plan for any fur ther expan ion He did however, authorize the Dutch traders and Peter Mxnult to recruit 1 party of colonlst from the Swedlsh towns This was not easy to do for the Swedlsh people were not anxlous to leave the1r homeland des plte the allurxng storles of r1ches ln America It was not untll 1637 that a group could be or ganxzed whose members were ready to leave lhey sailed from Sweden 1n January 1638 1n two sturdy boats, one named Kalmar N yckel wmch means the Key of Kalmar, and the other F ogelgrip which IS translated to mean The Eagle, bravmg the stormy ocean and finally landing in March on the shores of wnat is now Delaware wnom they eventually bought the land lying on the West slde of the South' or Delaware River and extend1ng from its mouth as far up as that polnt on the Schuylkill River where the c1ty of Philadelphia now stands Here they erected a totem pole w1th the coat of arms of the K1ng of Sweden Shortly after the1r arrival another boat came bringing their governor, a huge four hundred pound man by the name of Johan Prmtz It was to h1m that the success of the colony was due He was a dom1neer1ng man wno supervised everything him elf and d1d xt successfully des plte the hatred and fear whlch he aroused 1n hls sub Jec s Mr Carl Wahl trom Cha rman of the Worces er Ccmml tee for tne Tercentenary Celebration, has done a great deal of researc 1 on the history of this early group and he tell the following enhghtenmg story to illustra e Governor Prlntz method of administering Jus ice Anders, The Finn, a member of the colony, protested at the hnrsh rules and the strict regulations to whlch the governor held the group Governor Prlntz, w1o could brook 7 , 19 ' . . 7 - 7 s 'I . n Q , YJ . ., . c , 7 , . u o - , Q . L , V T J Y Y : V S : W 41 V F Y Y Y ' T A J JA A L 4 4 - 4 1 ' 7 Q' ' - ' G5 ' Y Y 7 Y ' . . . . - H ,, I ' , 7 3 , . - ac ' ra - - - 7 I 7 ,, . - ' - 1 . ' ' ' A - ' . - They were met by three Indian chiefs from 1 1 a H ' . . . , ' 1 v ' f L, . - . , Q A . . 7 . . , . . . . j 7 V F . Y L N- 9 . , l a , . . 3 , - . . A Q . ' . , . 3 , o ' ' L '47 1 ' . L 1 1 I I 1 L . . . N , .3 . . . . . , . . . C . 1 . . . , . . Z. I ., . . - in , A-. . . L . L. . ' 9 4 -Q . . . - 1 ' ' u A

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THE RAVELIN S 1938 t1ons the respect1ve powers of the natlonal government and of the governments of the sep arate commonwealths We Amerxcans are often lnclxned to vlew the Constltutlon of the Umted States as entlrely self created and developed 1n lsolatlon Such IS not exactly the case It IS essentlal to keep ln m1nd that 1n the early perlod the Amerlcan colomes were outposts of England and were constantly affected by her lnternal problems and by the reactlons of other of the European governments to her Th1s wlll account for a slxght European background xn our ldeas of government Yet It IS true also that our Const1tu tlon has evolved to a great degree, from the 1nd1v1dual experlence 1n government that each of 1ts colomes had We must remxnd our selves that var1ous Amerlcan colomes were settled by d1fferent types of people whose purposes ln commg to the new world varled cons1derably V1rg1n1a was founded by a trad 1ng company and was managed for a t1me l1ke a commercxal corporatlon Massachusetts was settled by a rellgxous group 1nterested ch1efly 1n perpetuat1ng 1ts own form of worshlp Rhode Island was founded by refugees from the re lxgxous persecutxon of Massachusetts New York was or1g1nally establlshed by the Dutch Penn sylvan1a was conferred upon Wxlham Penn ln payment of a debt owed to his father by the crown of England Georgxa was founded as a barrler agalnst the Spanlards ln Florlda and as a refuge where long 1mpr1soned Engl1sh debtors could make a new start 1n llfe The per1od of settlement covered over a century and a half durmg whxch t1me lmportant changes were tak1ng place ln the 1deas of the settlers 'I'he settlements extended for more than a thousand mlles along the Atlantlc seacoast The cl1mate and the manner of 11 vmg d1ffered great ly for each group Yet 1n spxte of these pomts of dxfference ln purpose and 1n envxronment, the gradually envolvmg governments of the varlous colomes showed marked s1m1lar1t1es Each of the thlrteen colomes had a governor a legislature of two houses fexcept ln Penn sylvanlaj a Judlclal system and a system of local goverrunent The ch1ef d1fference appear ed 1n the method of selectmg the colonxal gov ernor In e1ght of the colomes the governor was chosen by the Br1t1sh Crown He was usu ally an Enghshman sent to Amerlca to look af ter the xnterests of the mother country In three of the colomes the governor was chosen by the hexrs of the proprletors to whom the colony had or1g1nally been granted The remalmng two colomes, under thelr charters, possessed the nght to choose thexr own governors Wlth the outbreak of the Amerlcan Revolu t1on the colonxal form of government ln the Amerxcan colomes went to PIECES The royal governors were dnven out In many cases the Colomal Assembly was dlssolved by the gov ernor s orders before he departed Consequent ly, some 1mmed1ate arrangement had to be made to ma1nta1n internal peace and order Fmally at the suggestlon of the Contmental Congress, the var1ous states exceptlng Con nectlcut and Rhode Island, whxch retalned thelr charters, each drew up a wrltten plan outlm 1ng a framework of government for xtself These were the first effect1ve wr1tten constltutlons of modern t1mes The 1dea of a wrxtten const1tut1on had come from var1ous sources The charters 1ssued to the colomal commercxal companles had been use ful 1n help1ng to suggest th1s 1dea The great documents of Eng11sh hxstory The Magna Car ta The B111 of Rlghts and The Act of Settle ment, contr1buted to the 1dea of a fundamental wr1tten statement upon whlch the powers Of government and the restr1ct1ons upon 1ts au thorlty should be based The general belxef 1n the theory of socxal contract, accord1ng to wh1ch government was based on a voluntary cove nant among the governed was laso a v1tal fac tor 1n establxshmg th1S 1dea The fact that 1t had already been applxed m the Mayflower Compact and 1n the Fundamental Orders of Connectlcut, showed 1tS mfluence on colomal thought Durmg the txme of Cromwell a wrxt ten const1tut1on The Instrument of Govern ment, had been drawn up by the Independ ants 1n England Th1s document, Whlle never put 1nto practxce, no doubt swayed lead1ng th1nkers m Amerlca ln the d1rect1on of a wrxtten const1tut1on to stab1l1ze thexr umon From 1643 wlth the formation of the New England Confederat1on and w1th the Albany Convent1on of 1754 the 1dea of a umon was grow1ng apace When the war broke out m 1775 the Second Contmental Congress was forced to take charge of the campeugn ralse money to wage war, and enter 1nto relatlons w1th forexgn states as well as regulate domes txc affaxrs ThlS body finally provlded the rules for a form of umon ln the Artxcles of Confed eratxon adopted 1n 1781 Th1s plan was weak as 1ts provlsos show It 1 , 21 . . . . . - ' , 1 . . ' , , 1 . , - , .. 1 , ' ... . . . , . . . . . - - . .. . - .. - . - - . . .. . . . . . . , - 1 1 .. . .. . .. . . . . . .. . , . , - . 1 Y ' . . . . . . .. .. . . . .. . 1 ' 1 ' . . . .. U ' 1 . . .... . . . ' 1 . . . o Q .aus , I ' . . , 1 1 ' . 1 1 1 I . ' 1 ' 1 .