America was discovered in 1492 when Christopher Columbus embarked on his extravagant journey and throughout the many years, America continues to grow and set examples for other countries since its discovery. America gives people the freedom of speech and religion, which are two principles that make us who we are. The American Metanarrative describes a story of what we do in our everyday life and can be an observation of past times such as the study of the colonial period. The colonists were determined to find independence and freedom in their new settlement in America. Like the colonist, Americans now have a metanarrative to tell. The values, beliefs and behaviors that were set by the colonist in the early years are still relevant in today’s society. The three values that emerged in the colonial period that support the common good and are still …show more content…
The first value that is still relevant in today’s society is freedom. Freedom is the right to act, speak or think without any restraint. In America, freedoms were granted through the Bill of Rights, which guarantees certain rights that the government can never deprive the people of. The start of freedom practiced in America was when the Puritans broke away from the Roman Catholic Church to travel to America and practice religious freedom. The puritans believed there were more opportunities for freedom in America than in England. As stated in the Democracy in America, “ Nothing is more wonderful than the art of being free, but nothing is harder to learn how to use than freedom” (Tocqueville). The quote described by Tocqueville, describes how important freedom is to the people but it also takes time to practice how to use freedom in the everyday life. Just as the Puritans left for America, several people travel to America for the rights of freedom that
In the book, “Rereading America” by, Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle, it starts off on page 210 describing a well educated Black Man of the times in 1960s. “Born Malcolm Little; Malcolm X was one of the most articulate and powerful leaders of Black America during the 1960s. A street hustler convicted of robbery in 1946, he spent seven years in prison, where he educated himself and became a disciple of Elijah Muhammad, founder of the Nation of Islam” (p.210). Here I want to focus on the strength of a single black man in the 60’s and what it was like to be uneducated as an African American. The many struggles of a black person in general were enough, but a black man had it hard.
This chapter, “Three Old Worlds Create a New, 1492 – 1600,” covers the social, political and economic events that occurred in the worlds that made up America between 1492 and 1600. This chapter explores the history of the small societies that became the United States in broad contest of European exploration and exploitation. There existed conflicts between European kingdoms and this led to interest in colonies that strengthened the emerging nations. The curiosity of Europeans helped introduce them to African and American societies that had evolved over the centuries. The social and cultural collisions of these worlds changed and profoundly influenced Western history.
America: History and Life, with Full Text. 9 Apr. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Web. The Web.
In the making of the United States, there were many events that are important. This paper intends to highlight a few of those events including; Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and the Federalist Papers. Many events in America’s history helped to establish the United States as a free and independent country. The Declaration of Independence in particular explains the rights and freedoms that Americans. Each document is like a stepping stones that leads to the next and building upon the pervious document.
For both Tocqueville in his “Democracy in America” and Locke in his “Second Treatise of Civil Government”, liberty holds a place of paramount importance in the pantheon of political values, specifically those in relation to democratic and republican systems (though Locke does not explicitly demand a republic as Tocqueville does) . From Tocqueville’s belief in the supremacy of liberty over equality , to Locke’s inclusion and conflation of liberty with property and life itself in his natural rights , liberty plays the crucial role of linchpin in both author’s political philosophy. Though this belief in the centrality of liberty is found in both Tocqueville and Locke, they each derivate liberty from fundamentally disparate sources, and thus hold
America is a nation that is often glorified in textbooks as a nation of freedom, yet history shows a different, more radical viewpoint. In Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States, we take a look at American history through a different lens, one that is not focused on glorifying our history, but giving us history through the eyes of the people. “This is a nation of inconsistencies”, as so eloquently put by Mary Elizabeth Lease highlights a nation of people who exploited and sought to keep down those who they saw as inferior, reminding us of more than just one view on a nation’s history, especially from people and a gender who have not had an easy ride. In some respects, we can attribute the founding of America and all its subsequent impacts to Christopher Columbus. Columbus, a hero in the United States, has his own holiday and we view him as the one who paved the way for America to be colonized.
Henretta, James A., Rebecca Edwards, and Robert Self. America: A Concise History.( Boston: Bedford, St. Martin's, 2006),
The beliefs and writings of our Founding Fathers’ answer the many issues and crises in our America today. Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech may have been intense and almost extreme; it personifies the struggle for one’s rights to self government and autonomy. Even though our country faces different challenges and obstacles, we should turn back to the ideas & principles given to us from our Founding Fathers.
The colonists who first arrived in America came to this land because they saw an opportunity to regenerate their religion and to live according to it without subjugation. The immense size of the land sugge...
Defining the American character is quite difficult because American identity is vaguely founded on shared values and ideologies, more so than a particular creed, race, or culture. In order to describe the American character, we will consider the dominate and distinctive qualities of Americans as interpreted by J. Hector St. Jon De Crèvecoeur and Thomas Paine. First, we will examine how Crèvecoeur illustrates Americans as industrious, prideful, and political in “Letters from an American Farmer.” Then, we will analyze from Thomas Paine's “Common Sense” how he depicts the prevalent qualities of Americans to be driven by justice, liberty, emotions, and individualism. Also, because both authors consider the American character and culture different
Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing written by; Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle, Eighth Edition, published April, 2007 by Bedford/St. Martin’s, is a textbook about writing and critical thinking. In the first chapter of Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing, “Thinking Critically, Challenging Cultural Myths”, the Authors begin by setting a relatable scene of what it’s like for a college student. How a new found independence can be overwhelming, especially with regards to critical thinking, showing that what we have learned, needs to be re-evaluated and that an open mind in essential. "What Is Critical Thinking" In this section of the chapter the editors explain what it means to be a critical thinker. They explain that critical thinking is not just studying dates and facts, but rather taking those facts and examining them. The editors then proceed by explaining how having an open mind, and taking others' perspectives into account when formulating our own opinions on what the author is trying to say to us is important. A critical thinker takes all aspects into account and reflects on personal experience as well. The editors also point out that different cultural experiences bring different opinions. They suggest that we need to become active learners, continuously questioning the meaning behind everything, testing not only the theories of others but also our own experiences and analyzing the text rather than going for the obvious. They show that thinking outside the box is the epitome of critical thinking. Basically, we need to step outside our comfort zones and what we have always been taught. The editors also suggest that we need to re-evaluate our per...
"Freedom" a word that is expressed for so many reasons and can be interpreted in so many different ways. Freedom is so important to the United States of America, because our country is known to be free. In our country, people are supposed to have the freedom to be able to follow whichever religion that one chooses. Religion plays an immense factor in everyone's lives, this is because, there are several people in the world that believe in different things and they base their lives conferring to the guidelines of their religion. Religious oppression occurs when an individual or a group of individuals mistreat others as a response to their beliefs; religious affiliations or lack of belief. "The tendency of societies or groups within society to alienate or repress different subcultures is a recurrent theme in human history." (Cram101)
During 1607-1753, Colonial America was founded. Starting on 1492, when Christopher Columbus discovered land beyond the England, people were launched into a new life. A group of puritans departed from England to escape the growing stress of the English government. Searching for freedom, in both religion and government, they sailed towards America. Their main goal was not only to start e new life, but also to convert the savages; “Indians.” With this move they experienced many difficulties. Upon starting a new life, they had to learn a new way of political life, social life, educational life, and above all religious lives.
During the colonization of America, individualism was the main push for starting new colonies. After the discovery of “the New World,” new colonies were started for many different religious purposes. The Plymouth colony was founded in 1620 as a way to get “[r]eligious freedom fo...
Liberty: Liberty to me is best exemplified by the phrase “Live and Let Live”. That is, I can live the way I would like to as long as my actions do not cause disturbances in others lives. Although liberty allows me the luxury of doing what I want, it also has some restraints that are imposed inherently to facilitate smooth functioning of a society where human interaction is a must. By extension, liberty to me is a virtue of a man living in a society.