David Koresh, Leader of Deadly Branch Davidians Cult

David Koresh (August 17, 1959–April 19, 1993) was the charismatic leader of a religious sect known as the Branch Davidians. During a deadly standoff in Waco, Texas with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF), Koresh and more than 80 of his followers were killed. Early Years David Koresh (born Vernon Wayne Howell) was born in Texas to a fourteen-year-old mother. He never knew his father, who broke up with his mother before she gave birth. The young Koresh Howells mother later moved in with a violent and abusive man. When Koresh was four years old, he was sent to be raised by his maternal grandmother, but when he was seven, his mother got married and he went back to live with her and her new husband. However, he still attended religious services regularly with his grandmother, who took him to her Seventh Day Adventist church. As a teenager, Koresh struggled with dyslexia and was placed in special education classes. He was considered awkward and unpopular. He dropped out of school before his senior year of high school, and in his early twenties, he committed statutory rape, resulting in a 15-year-old girls pregnancy. He was later thrown out of his mother’s evangelical church after pursuing the pastor’s teenage daughter and saying that God had ordered him to marry her. By the early eighties, he moved to Waco, where he joined the Branch Davidians at their Mount Carmel Center. Within a year or so, Koresh was claiming to have the gift of prophecy. Sygma via Getty Images / Getty Images The Branch Davidians When Koresh joined the Branch Davidians, it is believed he was involved in a sexual relationship Lois Roden, the wife of Branch Davidian founder Benjamin Roden. Koresh said that God wanted him to father a child with Lois, who was 65 years old at the time, and that this child would be the â€Å"chosen one.† His interest in Lois soon waned, however, and in 1984 he claimed that God wanted him to marry a 14 year old named Rachel Jones. In 1984, Jones parents gave her permission to marry Koresh, who had at this point adopted the Koresh name (though he would not change it legally until 1990). After escalated infighting between Koresh and the Roden family, particularly Lois’ son George, Koresh and Jones left in 1995, along with 25 other members of the group. They moved to Palestine, Texas, 90 miles away from Waco, and lived in buses and tents for several years. Koresh used this period to recruit new members, not only from Texas but from California, Israel, and the United Kingdom. Following Lois Roden’s death., Koresh and George Roden found themselves battling for control of the Waco compound. George challenged Koresh to a spiritual duel of sorts, involving the resurrection of a corpse. Koresh took advantage of the opportunity to go to law enforcement and get George out of the way once and for all. He was told he’d need to provide evidence that George had illegally exhumed a dead body, and when he and seven supporters arrived at the compound, a gunfight erupted. George Roden was injured, and Koresh and his men were arrested. When they explained that they were on the property to gather evidence of abuse of a corpse, they were acquitted of the charges of attempted murder.   In 1989, George Roden was himself charged with murder after killing one of his own supporters with an axe (the man had claimed to be the true Messiah). Once Roden was sent to a psychiatric prison, Koresh and his followers were able to raise the money to purchase the Waco property themselves. Accusations of Abuse There were repeated accusations against Koresh of statutory rape and â€Å"spiritual marriages with underage women. Koresh claimed to have fathered children with several women and girls in the group; he said he had received a revelation from God, telling him to father two dozen children to serve as leaders once the Rapture came. There were also claims that Koresh and other members of the group were physically abusing children. One incident involved the beating of Koresh’s three-year-old son Cyrus. A lengthy investigation by Child Protective Services was launched. Michelle Jones, one of the alleged victims, was assigned a surrogate husband to throw investigators off the trail. The investigators ultimately failed to turn up any concrete evidence. Meanwhile, Koresh and his followers had begun stockpiling weapons, forming an â€Å"Army of God,† to prepare for the apocalypse. Koresh claimed to have cracked the code of the Book of Revelations and warned that the End Times were near. Shelly Katz / Getty Images The Waco Standoff In February 1993, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) went to the Waco compound to serve a warrant for illegal firearms and take Koresh into custody. The raid turned into a four-hour gunfight. At its conclusion, four ATF agents and six of Koresh’s followers were dead. This led to a standoff, which lasted 51 days.   Did You Know? In the years since Waco, law enforcement officials have spent time studying the failed raid and the standoff itself in an effort to determine what went wrong. As a result, several changes have been made to federal law enforcement protocols in cases of hostage situations.   Negotiators from the ATF and the FBI worked endlessly to end the standoff, and a few of the Branch Davidian members were able to exit the compound safely. However, more than 80 men, women, and children, remained inside.  The ATF and the FBI used tear gas in an effort to end the siege. In response, the Branch Davidians continued the gunfire. As a result, the compound caught on fire. A few people managed to escape the fire, but 76 were killed. Most died when the compound collapsed during the blaze, while others were killed by gunshot wounds, including Koresh, who was found shot in the head. It has never been determined whether Koresh killed himself, or whether he was shot by another member of the group. Nearly two dozen of the dead were under the age of 17.

Influence Of The Declaration Of Independence - 711 Words

The Influence of the Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, influenced the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights which was later written by James Madison in 1787. The purpose of the Declaration of Independence was to declare independence from England and outline what rights they wanted and why they should have them because their voices and opinions were not being heard. The goal for the US Constitution was to ensure that the new government did not follow the pattern of an English Monarchy. The Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution had many similarities in that they define what rights humans have and what is equality and how our government is run. The Declaration of†¦show more content†¦The US Constitution, later written by James Madison in 1787, established America’s national government and fundamental laws and it guaranteed necessary rights for citizens. It was written for the colonists and for future citizens that would be in their same position. It argued the correct way to establish a government for America and to not follow the pattern of English rule. Instead separate from England and build a new self-ruling government. The cause of the Declaration of Independence to be written was unfair treatment to the colonists by England. This influenced the Constitution to be written, so this unfair government rule would not be repeated. The Constitution took the rights of the Declaration of Independence and made them into laws that every person would have basic rights of freedoms. It created a government that was requested by Thomas Jefferson from the Declaration of Independence and made it into America’s government system. The Declaration of independence laid out what the colonists wanted as a government and what they wanted as their rights and the Constitution put it into a legal document to specifically write out the government structure and rights for every human. T he Constitution shows a unified country with all the differences but the one similarity of being an American. â€Å"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for theShow MoreRelatedThe Influence of Locke’s Social Contract on the Declaration of Independence869 Words   |  4 PagesThe Influence of Locke’s Social Contract on The Declaration of Independence During the 1700s the American settlers suffered the abuses from their Mother England, and constantly fought through the rebellious spirit that lived within them. As their last hopes for independence dissolved by the greediness of the king, a man raised his voice, encouraging his subalterns to defend their freedoms. Richard Henry Lee proclaimed, â€Å"that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independentRead MoreJean-Jacques Rousseau Influence on the Declaration of Independence743 Words   |  3 PagesThe Declaration of Independence is the foundation of America. It contains â€Å"the words that made America,† (Fink, 9). Five of the founding fathers got together and penned this important document. As they penned this document, they were inspired by a number of European philosophers and writers. 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Did the wall street crash cause the great deppression Free Essays

In the commencing essay, I will be evaluating whether the Wall street crash caused the Great Depression or not. I will be discussing whether is has played a major part in the Great Depression, whether it was just a minor incident. The Wall Street Crash was a defining moment in the American economic history. We will write a custom essay sample on Did the wall street crash cause the great deppression? or any similar topic only for you Order Now It occurred on October 29, 1929. Before this, the American economy was booming. During the 1920’s, share prices were rapidly increasing and businesses were doing very well. The image the world received from America was that that everyone was rich, which wasn’t. The farmers were given very small amounts of money for their work. This meant that people had more money so more products were being sold. There was a lot of speculation that share prices would continue to rise. However, in 1929, the stock markets began to fall dramatically and caused devastating effects on the American economy. This was the beginning of long-lasting consequences for the whole country, and the world. The Great Depression was a long gradual period in which America suffered great economic depression, during which financial activity slowed down and unemployment was high. America had a high rate of starvation, homelessness and poverty. People were living in poor conditions with very little money. There were a few causes of the Wall street crash. One was overproduction. Throughout the 1920’s there was a man known as Henry Ford began to produce cars at an extremely rapid rate. The amount of goods produced by the industry was increasing especially these auto mobiles,l and consumer goods. However, this was stopped from the 1930’s. As a result of overproduction, there was not enough wealth for people to keep on buying. The second cause was the weakness in banks. At the start of 1920, there were 30,000 independent banks. Most of these were small banks, in rural areas. They were liable to being withdrawn loans by their customers in large amounts. 10 years later, 5000 banks were gone, which was 1/6th of the country’s banks. Another main reason was the extremely uneven distributions in income. In 1929, a staggering 1/3 of the country’s wealth belonged to just 5% of the population. Meaning that just 2/3 belonged to 95%. This was a factor of overproduction as limited amount of people in the country could afford new products. Probably the main reason why the Wall Street Crash happened was that there was an international problem with the economy. The ability of the European country’s being able to sell goods to America and helping them out with debts, was limited by a Tariff policy which was introduced. This policy (Smoot-Hawley Tariff) was increasing the tax on imports. As a result they were not helped and assured by European countries with trades. This Wall Street Crash impacted many things. As well as the economic downfall, it also caused banks to come to bankruptcy. People borrowed money from the banks, and when the Wall Street crash happened, they were unable to pay the banks back. More than $8.5 billion was loaned out, which is even more than the entire American economy. This great crash also affected the everyday lives of the American citizens. Over 20 million American citizens lived on $2000 per year. People lost their jobs because the business they worked for couldn’t afford their wages. So people began to work in the agriculture. Also, all businesses were struggling to survive in this crash. Share prices increased rapidly, and the businesses were unable to pay for their stock. This was a cycle which inflicted on each other, and each one started from the other. The Wall street Crash itself was not the sole reason of the Great Depression. There was very severe drought in the 1930 in the USA, which impacted America even more. If the farmers were unable to grow crops, how would they receive money, and feed their families? If the businesses do not receive the crops, how would they be able to keep receiving profits? As a result, these farmers had to sell their land. This was when famous author John Steinbeck wrote the book ‘The Grapes of Wrath’, which was based on this drought. Also, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff as mentioned above, was a vital part in this depression, as trades were limited. In conclusion about whether the Wall Street Crash caused the Great Depression, personally I believe that the Wall Street Crash was not the sole reason for the Great Depression, but was definitely the main reason. If there was no economic downfall, the Great Depression would not have happened. The Wall street crash opened doors for many different problems, such as bankruptcy. If the Wall street crash itself did not happen, these things would not have occurred. How to cite Did the wall street crash cause the great deppression?, Papers