Monday, November 1, 2010

Election Day

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010 is election day.  Many elections throughout our country will be held today.  Elections today look much different than they did back in 1852 as depicted in this image, The County Election, created by George Caleb Bingham.







To Do:
*Find these Elements:
     -A white dog
     -A seated man in a top hat wo might be sketching or writing: He is located in the center - that's the artist
     - A man pouring drinks
     - A man with a bandaged head and a horse and rider
*Answer these Questions:
     -Why are there no women in this scene?
     - What message does the artist Bingham give in this crowded scene about the election process in American democracy?
*Summarize:
     -Compare this election scene to the contemporary American voting scenes below.

  

13 comments:

  1. Well back in 1852 people were much more social than today when we have computers and cell phones.
    And seeing a dog in the picture means that there aren’t as many rules restricting ware they go and what they do.
    The picture is kind of like one big party ware in our pictures we are much more organized and people would be thrown out for doing some of those things.

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  2. I think that there are no women in this scene because women could not vote. What was the point of them being there if they couldn’t so anything with voting.
    I think that Bingham sends the message that only men could vote because they had more power than the women. He also sends the message that it was very open to men. That they could talk about the voting and is wasn’t very private to the person that was voting.

    I think that in Bingham’s picture the voters were everywhere. It was very crazy and disorganized. In the present day picture it is much organized. People are not talking to each other on what they voted for. There are places for people instead of standing in a big group of people.

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  3. There are no women in this scene because back in 1852 and even later years than that, women did not have equal rights like men. I believe that the artist is trying to send the message of how different voting was back then compared to today’s elections, where everything is all sophisticated and proper as opposed to back then when everyone was just having a good time with people they know.

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  4. 1. There aren’t any women in this painting because this was before the women’s rights movement, and women weren’t allowed to vote. This was painting is set in 1862, and women could not vote until the 1900s.
    2. The message being sent is that, yes, we do not have a king and, woo-hoo we are voting, but there are also other messages. The system included no women; it was dirty, loud, crowded, and mostly unorganized. Today there is a lot of privacy when voting, but in the 1800s they didn’t have polling booths, and if your neighbor read your vote, so be it.
    3. In today’s election scenes, it is very clean, quiet, and organized. There are women, and they have little booths to hide their votes. It is inside rather than outside. So basically it is opposite in every way except for the fact that they are voting for their government leaders.

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  5. There aren’t any women in this scene because way back then, women weren’t allowed to. The artist captures a disorganized election that doesn’t seem to have any method or order. You can see some men drinking at the far left side of the picture, and some kids look like they’re playing in the dirt nearby.
    That picture has some very drastic differences to the ones below it. You can plainly see that the people voting in the photo are following rules; all the while standing in organized booths to vote without influencing others. There are some volunteers at desks to make sure you are a legal voter, and, of course, there are women voting as well. It’s pretty obvious by now that our voting system has changed a lot since those times.

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  6. Hello, fellow bloggers

    There are no women in the scene because in those times women were not allowed to vote. Women were though of as property and that they had no rights. He shows that the elections were very unorganized and sloppy. Alcohol is being served, and people are running around with no sense of what they are doing. There are people in line and it looks like a slow progress. Today’s elections are a lot more organized. The people today get no alcohol, they are in an organized fashion, they are in a building and out of the elements, a machine tell the tallies apart, and lastly there are no horses in the voting area.

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  7. There are no women in the scene because, this picture was made in 1852 and women were not allowed to vote.

    I think the artist is trying to show that we are a country run by the people for the people, we are not under the control of one person, I also think he might be trying to show what a mess the election process can sometimes be.

    The election scene in the first picture appears to be much less organized than the ones shown in the other two pictures, in the first picture there are many people all crowded together waiting around in a jumbled mess, in the other two pictures there are fewer people and they are all waiting neatly in line.

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  8. In 1852 women were not allowed to vote, for they were thought to be “lesser beings”, but in the picture below women are voting. The message the artist had in mind was probable to show all the people that the United States of America was a free country, with no king. The top picture looked like there was no control, and the one below it had calm booths to vote in. In the top one there are drinks being handed out, but in the bottom two there are none. The top one is very crazy, unlike the bottom one.

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  9. There are no women in this scene because women weren’t allowed to vote, because at that time barely anybody could vote. It felt like if you get there, you get to vote. This is much different from modern day voting. Now, we have lots of organization and security. In the other picture, there is little or no security and organization. The modern voting looks more silent and less active, while the older picture looks like it could be very loud.

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  10. There are no women because it’s a picture based on the olden days when they used to give women no rights. He gives the image that’s its crowded but still in order and working well. He shows that people care about who runs their country and that our country is ruled by everyone’s choice, not just one king’s choice.

    The voting in present time is more secretive and less outspoken. In the olden days u could just walk to an open area and vote in public with people all around. I think they take it more seriously now because they don’t want to let everyone to know whom you are voting for. Voting was not private at all back then it was just people walking around and talking to people before they vote.

    Dyl

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  11. There aren’t any women in this picture because women weren’t allowed to vote back then. I think the artist is trying to show that election day has become way more serious these days. In the picture, everyone looks like they’re actually having a pretty good time, almost seems like it’s a party. Everyone is talking to each other, you can’t do that nowadays.
    People must have been way less serious back then as we are today about voting. Today, you can’t really talk and it’s not just an open area to roam around. Back then, you could talk to others and you could somewhat just walk around. Now in time, you basically go into the building, wait for a voting booth to open up, go in there and vote, then leave, all without talking. Back then, everyone’s walking around and talking to each other and treating it like a social gathering. Election day has changed a bunch.

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  12. I think that the artist was trying to convey an accurate picture of an 1800's voting booth. It was a less organized than today, and more of a social event. There were no women, because women couldn't vote until after the early years of America. They had no rights until then. Also notice how there are only white men. Slavery was a problem then too. Blacks weren't given rights either. Today, it is more organized, with everyone going to a certain building and voting. It is less of a social event, and more of a necessary event that people go to. Now, everyone can vote, and help decide our country's future.

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  13. There are no women in this scene because they weren’t allowed to vote until later when women gained their rights. He gives a sense of how important it is to vote and to get out and give your opinion on what you think. Back then it was probably harder to vote because they had to stand outside and wait in line for a long time. Now voting isn’t as formal as back then, now we are just casually dressed, whereas they were all dressed up for the special occasion that it was. Now multiple people are voting at once and back then they voted 1 or 2 at a time. Now it’s in a building and not outside. Today it’s easier because everyone gets to have his or her own paper to fill out and it goes a lot quicker than before. Today we have more privacy because before it was in the open and now people are in voting boxes.

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