User talk:Littlefluff82/sandbox

This is a test--Littlefluff82 (talk) 23:10, 16 January 2018 (UTC)

Still a Test
This is the original comment--Littlefluff82 (talk) 23:12, 16 January 2018 (UTC)
 * This would be a reply--Littlefluff82 (talk) 23:12, 16 January 2018 (UTC)
 * This would be a reply to the reply--Littlefluff82 (talk) 23:12, 16 January 2018 (UTC)

= Article Evaluation =

Here, the article on North West Company will be evaluated. Looking at the article's talk page, it is graded as a start-class with low importance. While, I would agree with the start-class distinction. However, from Daschuk's book, I think that the article is of greater importance.


 * Something that distracted was an inconsistency in heading capitalization
 * Article did not seem too biased. That said, in the talk page of the article another user disputed the founding date of the company. In the article there is no mention of the dispute
 * The article could defiantly use more frequent citations
 * : some of the resources used are outdated
 * : Some references are drawn from Friesen, Innis, and Labour/Le Travail all credible sources that help the article — Preceding unsigned comment added by Littlefluff82 (talk • contribs) 03:24, 19 January 2018 (UTC)

= Bibliography for "1837 Great Plains Smallpox Epidemic" =

My addition to this article will focus on the epidemic in Canada. My work will consist of two major parts. First, a summary of how the epidemic unfolded in Canada. Second, the debate on whether or not the European spreading of the disease was intentional.

Here is a running bibliography of sources I will likely utilize:

= Draft/Outline of changes to "1837 Great Plains Smallpox Epidemic" article =

While the article focus on the smallpox epidemic in Mexico, the United States, and Canada, all the info is on its history in the US. My additions will focus exclusively on Western Canada.

Contribution to History section
Smallpox has afflicted Native Americans since it was carried to the western hemisphere by the Spanish conquerors, with credible accounts of epidemics dating back to at least 1515. Smallpox was particularly deadly in the plains because no one in these communities had been exposed, and developed immunity before. This is why mortality rates were so high. By the 1730s smallpox had made its way west in Canada and northern United States. The Assiniboine First Nation had controlled much of this territory, but were forced to give it up as their population decreased dramatically. Along the Missouri River the Arikara population was reduced by half by the end of the 1730s. Other communities that were decimated in the 1730s by smallpox include the Lower Loup, Pawnee of Nebraska, Cherokee, and the Kansa. In short, smallpox in the 1730s created major population changes Indigenous communities living on the North American plains.

The smallpox infection spiked again in 1780s, as persisted in the plains into the 1837 epidemic. In what is now Canada fur trade brough communities such as the Mushego Cree, Anishinabe, Ottawa, and the IThe Mandan tribe, also called the People of the Pheasants, had previously experienced a major smallpox epidemic in 1780-81 which severely reduced their numbers down to less than a few thousand. Many other tribes along the Missouri river suffered smallpox epidemics during 1801-02 and 1831. Despite Edward Jenner's research with vaccines and immunizations, there had not yet been an immunization brought to the Western world.[5] Sporadic efforts were made to promote vaccination among the Native Americans since the turn of the nineteenth century, and a couple years and after the Indian Removal Act the U.S. Congress took its first step in 1832 to generate public support for vaccination of the Native Americans. But shortly after passage of this congressional act to extend vaccinations to Indians, Secretary Cass stated that no effort would be made "under any circumstances" to send surgeons to vaccinate Indians up the Missouri River beyond the Arickaree tribe. This Great Plains epidemic spanned thousands of miles, reaching California, the northwestern coast and central Alaska before finally subsiding in 1840.

Contribution to Epidemic section
This is the section I plan to add the most to. I will begin broad, talking about total numbers and common facts across the entire region. This will be followed by a few specific examples of different communities and how they were effected.

Contribution to Responsibility and intentional spread of smallpox section
Currently the article discusses the topic solely from an American perspective. I will either add to the section, or split it into a sub-heading of the US discussion, and one of the topic in Canada.--Littlefluff82 (talk) 00:33, 9 February 2018 (UTC)

= Notes =

Peer Review
''Of Note: I would like to point out that this is not, in fact, the Sandbox, but the talk page of the Sandbox. The fully-fledged Sandbox has superior editing tools. To access the Sandbox, please click on the 'User Page' tab above. My apologies for any inconvenience my posting here may cause.''

- Overall, the planned additions of information seem to be on topic, with one meager departure that could arguably be considered viable (The Mandan tribe, also called the People of the Pheasants.) Beyond this minor departure, there are are no issues in terms of relevancy of information.

- To my knowledge, this draft lacks any meaningful biases that would pervert or misrepresent the information in question. Assuming this objectivity is to persist into updating the actual article, then there are no grounds for complaints here.

- This draft states that it intends to broaden the analysis of the article in question from a purely American perspective to both an American and Canadian perspective. While I most certainly can appreciate the effort to broaden the scope, the draft mentions that the epidemic also occurred in Mexico, and assuming the truth of this statement, then a section on the Mexican portion of the epidemic is in order.

- The sources offered by this draft, by my judgement, are reliable and credible. Their publishers include University presses and historical bulletins. All statements that would require sourcing are given said source, and there is no apparent lack.

--FrancoSaxonJackson (talk) 23:55, 14 February 2018 (UTC)