Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Catherine the Great Trial

Well gang;
We are more than half way throught the course now. It's been terrific so far! I have a few ideas for our next trial.

Catherine the Great

We'll do first come, first served. These are the positions for the next classroom trial.
Leave a blog entry claiming it and its yours. As usual this will be a 50 point assignment. Each position is available to each class. Those not selected will be assigned.


Catherine the Great
Peter III
Empress Elizabeth
Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy
Alexander Bezborodko
Gavrila Derzhavin
Count Grigory Orlov
Grigory Potyomkin
Voltaire
Denis Diderot

Judge
Defense Chair 1
Defense Chair 2
Prosecution Chair 1
Prosecution Chair 2
Reporter (press)

Catherine the Great ruled Russia from 1762- 1796. In that time Russia embraced European policies. Catherine's fierce enforcement of repressive serfdom and the limits she placed on the growth of the middle class make her a contrversial character.

The trials will be on the 18th and 19th of December.
Peace Out
Cub Scout.


P.S. Here is a website to get you started. You can link to it on the Helpful Resources listed on this page.

http://womenshistory.about.com/od/catherinegreat/p/catherinegreat.htm

25 comments:

x_melissa. said...

hey parker :]

it's melissa, i wanna be Empress Elizabeth!


please and thank you. :]

x_melissa. said...

and i wanted to know if you added my extra credit to me grade yet. :]

Cosmic Faultline said...

Can I be a Juror?
it's not on your list, but I like the feelings of power and decisiveness x3

plus... Did I get any extra credit from my post about Yali's question?
:O

luiz (u just lost the game) said...

hey sp i want to be a juror too plz and ty

marta_flinn said...

this is marta, i would like to be a reporter!!!
thank you and see you today in class!!

Gabsters said...

Hey Parker!!!!

Its gabby!......Can I be Voltaire??

Criz Ayala said...

I want to be Denis Diderot

PLEASE!!!


EXTRA THANKS IF I GET IT

M@RI@H @RIEL! said...

hey mr. parker i would like to be empress elizabeth!!!!hehe!!! this sounds like its gonna be fun!!!!!

Gingersnap said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Gingersnap said...

and uhmm...i dunno what ii wunna be =.=; lol XPP

hmmm....i guess i'll be empress elizabeth

-karen

Gingersnap said...

i wunna be Catherine the Great Mr. Parker

-Kathryn H.

Gingersnap said...

Mr. Parker can i be the judge?

-Ricardo M.

d-vanilla said...

Hello Parker. it's Daniela :D

i was wondering if i can be Voltaire????? or possibly a juror?!

Ernesto Bermudez said...

Denis Diderot

rickyricardo said...

Judge please mr parker, i'm using ricky's blog name thingy at the moment, btw he wants to be the judge aswell, so make us both JUDGE!:D

-Alyssa Pierce and Ricky Mena

koreanguy said...

i would like to be one of the prosecutors.

-Eujean

kdromo said...

Catherine the Great please??? It's a name thing. Easier to respond when spoken too.

kdromo said...

p.s. it's Katie R ...aka Katherine :]

Duran said...

This is Eric. I would like to be defense chair 1

『海李』Melea™ said...

I would like to be Gavrila Derzhavin

- Melea

katiebaby11 said...

can i be one of the prosecutorsss?
please =]
thanks parker!

- katie d

rOx said...

um hey about the whole artilcle reprt thing when do i have to post it and where?? how do i add the pics?? can u like e-mail me or sumthin?? (i really dont know much on blogss n internet stuff)
Man next time i will so be prosecution katie and jean definatly needed my help!! well newayz give me info at teranrxn@aol.com
-thanks

x_melissa. said...

Don't forget about my extra credit for Yali's Question and the Epic Failure's band playing for your awesome song :]

RebeccaG said...

my paper for the trial
A Questionable Trail

Yesterday, on Thursday December 18, 2008 Catherine the Great was put on trial for adultery, conspiring to kill her husband and unnecessary murder during wartime. The jury decided she was guilty of adultery, but innocent of the charges of conspiring to murder and murder. As a result, the most honorable Judge Ricardo sentenced her to 100 years in jail. Was this a reasonable punishment? You decide.
A few witnesses felt very strongly that Catherine the Great was guilty. Her ex-husband, the late Peter the III felt strongest about this. In his words she was a “Cheating W**** who had him murdered.” Peter III claims that a few of his guards turned mutinous on him and killed him. He believes that his wife, Catherine the Great, was behind this unusual behavior and actually planned to kill him. Peter III was also convinced the son Catherine the Great gave birth too was not his own. She also has admitted that the child was not his. Then whose child is it? The Honorable Judge Ricardo refused to let the prosecution enter into the details of this ‘strange’ relationship.
Another questionable witness was Potymkin. He is quoted to have said, “I kind of, sort of, secretly married her.” After the death of Peter III, Potymkin married Catherine the Great in order to “keep her company.” Although the two were married, Potymkin does not know whether or not they had kids. This sounds very odd to me. However, before this odd response could be cleared up, the Honorable Judge Ricardo banned any discussion of Catherine the Great’s sex life. He felt the prosecution was getting to carried away about this subject…
Although Catherine the Great was considered an adulterer, she also brought back serfdom. Serfdom is peasants who work for nobles. Statistics that the Defense thoughtfully provided showed that 97% of the population of Russia were peasants working under the control of nobles. She felt that she was “giving the nobles power to protect her country.” However, even her friends and acquaintances, such as Denis Dedriot, believed that she did not treat her subjects equally. This is a major contradiction to Catherine’s belief that she did what was best for country.
The prosecution believed that Catherine the Great created horrible mass murders during the wars to expand her territory. Catherine the Great felt that it was necessary to burn down villages, kill innocent men, women, and children, and destroy crops. The prosecution was fighting very hard against the defense that were claiming that “it was necessary, all is fair in war.” Is this a correct assessment of what heinous crimes Catherine the Great committed? Even the bailiff, Mr. Parker felt that the Defense had no clue what they were talking about.
Did Catherine the Great get what she deserved? Is there no way that even 100 years in prison can cleanse her heart of the evil she committed? She may have helped Westernize a country, but that was the only thing of worth that she has done in her years of reigning over he country. Is she guilty? Or innocent? You decide.

-Rebecca Griva
Block 2 AP History

Anonymous said...

i have to say that our trial kinda sucked. even i didn't do well at all! because she was innocent of everything except audultery. i think i got nervous.

oh well. next time i WILL be judge.

<3