The RoseWood Journal

The world is a fickle place. We as humans tend to put people on pedestals and are unwilling to ever let them fall. Yet, what if everything we were taught in school was wrong? What if our heroes are not what we want them to be? In all honesty, it should be no surprise to us when those we treasure most of fall flat on their face, or that we learn a mistakes they made. To err is human. Take Martha Washington for example. She was the first first lady of the United States and the wife of President George Washington; she was also a slave owner.  When we think of Martha Washington we often think of a reserved and private woman, we also think of her freeing slaves. Yet, "great emancipation" is sometimes not what It seems. The Washington's lived a very comfortable life. After George passed on, it became well known that after the death of Martha his slaves would be freed. We know that, about two years before her death, Martha Washington freed those slaves.   Based on a

The United States Supreme Court case entitled Gibbons vs. Ogden is yet another vitally important case, it is also a complicated one. In 1808 the Legislature of New York granter Robert Livingston and Robert Fulton exclusive rights over all waters within the jurisdiction of the state. They started a ferry company that was successful for thirty years and had grown to have a similar contract with the Orleans Territory, essentially creating a monopoly.  A man by the name of Aaron Ogden, a former New Jersey Governor, attempted to start his own ferry business, but was crushed by the existing monopoly. He ultimately decided to purchase a licence from Livingston and Fulton in 1815 and entered into business with a partner, Thomas Gibbons. Their partnership was unable to last three years, collapsing after Gibbons licensed and operated a steamboat on Ogden's rout between Elisabethtown, New Jersey and New York City (fun fact: Cornelius Vanderbilt was one of the ferry captain's). Althou